1 April 2005

Since its been awhile since I have written anything substantial, allow me to update you on what I've been doing lately.

2 weeks ago Alina and Sasha went to Finland for spring break to ski with their dad/step-dad. By the time they left, Marina was on the verge of tears from stress and too much kid-time. I was almost at my wit's end too, living with so many crazy people. They're wonderful, don't get me wrong, but they're crazy too. We went to the Hermitage one afternoon and to the theater as well where I saw "A Streetcar Named Desire" performed in Russian. Go figure. Marina also introduced me to this wonderful thing called the Baltiskii Waffle Tort.

You know those waffle cookies that have a sugary filling in the middle? Well, the Russians do those to perfection. And here in St. Petersburg there is a place that makes cakes out of them - waffle cookies with a coffee filling and a yummy dark chocolate on top. Lets just say I'm addicted. I'm coming back with a whole suitcase full of them. Oh my god.

Meanwhile the parrot has decided it hates me and regularly attacks me in the morning. Especially when I go for my yoghurt. I've started wearing a bandana around the house because he seems intimidated by it. He's also learned to say "Nyet! Nyet! Nyet!" recently in the same voice I use when I scream when he flies at me. Everyone thinks this is very funny.

I've actually been working too, believe it or not. My evil archive recently announced that they are closing for the month of April to repair the floors. Guess I'm not doing any more research there! I've recently infiltrated the Communist party archive, but we'll see if they give me any useful stuff. I've been working on my final reports for my IREX grant, which was officially over as of yesterday. For months I've been intellectually and creatively impotent and its been really really frustrating and has been a major source of my general disillusionment with graduate school and the idea of writing a dissertation. Well on Tuesday I was sitting around working on this darn report and all of a sudden, I started having ideas, and the 7 months of research I've done so far started to make some sense. I even came up with a dissertation chapter outline! I was so excited I could barely sleep that night. So I now I have new energy, new drive. Although I realize that I will probably be coming back to Russia next spring to fill in some holes that I already know that I have but can't fill right now. I have to wait to come back until all my friends are done getting married this year! :-)

Spring tried to come, and we had temps in the low 40s for 3 days. Heck, it even rained. And then the cold came back. Oh, it was depressing. Not just for me, but for everyone. You could tell, just by looking at the way people walked on the street. Hopes had been dashed, dreams had been shattered as we dipped back into the upper teens, low 20s. But hope springs eternal and we got back up to 40 degrees yesterday and there was sun. Many people were still skeptical and walked around in their furs and hats, but some of us, myself included, had a little more spring to our step, and were almost smiling. (Okay, so I was smiling because I'm an American, but you could tell that other people wanted to - "Must not smile, I am pessimistic Russian") Now if only the river would unfreeze - hello! its April already!

I've gone running twice. Both expeditions sucked. Not only am I out of shape, my shins are on fire. Bah. I've been doing the same exercises from physical therapy last year but they are hurting again. Its probably because I am out of shape and running too slow which results in bad form. Bah.

One final observation about spring in St. Petersburg - almost all of the snow has melted, including the snow on the little garden/tree areas between the streets and the sidewalks (do those things have a name?) When the snow melted, it revealed 4 months worth of dog shit. Yes, every morning I walk by mountains of dog shit and its really disturbing. Scoop your poop laws have not come to Russia yet. Ugh.