The Culture here is crazy; cars going 130 km/h (yeah the conversions are a change for us backward American science folks) not stopping for any pedestrian, even "feeble" babushkas. Special booths at each intersection occupied by Militia (police) left to "play" with the lights for both Drivers and Pedestrians. Broken glass, empty champagne bottles left over from the myriad weddings that occur on everyday of the week; not uncommon to have 6-8 brides walking down the streets with their entourage closely behind with their "paparazzi" as they visit every local monument. Breath...run on sentence man the kids are doomed with my grammar, I think that would even be considered conventions.
Dog poop everywhere but no friendly dogs, apparently a grudge transfered from owners to their human counterpart, Russian dog culture is left to be figured out eventually. Urine infused alleyways deposited from the previous nights imbibers, oh and it is common place to walk around with a beer in hand at all hours of the day even on the way to work, and probably intravenously while they sleep, wait!!! they don't sleep, silly me. Starting about midnight, every night, they drive up and down our road that boarders the Moika canal with their scooters gone wrong at the muffler shop, more like amplifier shop. Party/tour boats with bullhorn descriptions blaring the play by play as they meander through the canals. Don't get me wrong we absolutely love it here!!!
It is a strange mix of beauty and rich culture infused with spoils of a newly industrialized nation. Every where you look old architecture, art, and history mildly diluted by "civilization". We live right next to the Hermitage (two blocks a away that contains two original Leonardo Di Vinci paintings, Matisse paintings, an unfinished Michaelangelo piece, Treasures collected by Catherine the Great from all over the world some even circa 600 b.c.,art from culture of past including objects dating from the Palaeolithic to the Iron Ages, just to name a few of this majestic Museum.
Many, many more museums and churches to behold the physical beauty like the Church of Our Saviour On Spilled Blood a gorgeous piece of architecture built on the site where Emperor Alexander II, a very prominent figure in revolutionizing Russia, was assassinated in March of 1881.
Liv and I encountered great food and drink, in fact last night we went to restaurant directly translated means The Cow, as you probably inferred, we had steak (Mom, two steaks of Fillet Mignon for 300 Roubles, or 12 dollars!!!, hopefully not mad-cow ridden). I have even found a fish store a 10 minute walk away after we get a little more established a small tank will probably sprout in our "house", surprising I'm sure to most of you! There is plenty of water to, if lucky, pull out a three eyed Chornobyl special while fishing. I look forward to trying ice fishing which I have never done even back home. There is even the possibility of going out on the Sea of Finland to catch a lunker of whatever specie I will soon find out.
Lucy still thinks we are crazy for coming to such a concrete jungle but has made friends with the babushkas and the guards who look after our place. She definitely gets lots of looks from the locals and even some pats on the head with words said that make us feel very similar to her in understanding what they mean. blah,blah,,blah,LUCY,blah,blah,blah,собака(dog)... We finally know what it is like to be a dog! Lots of sleeping, tug of war, eating, protecting Liv when I am not in the house, and looking for cats and pigeons pass her time.
We have one request from you all and that is to when you get a chance please send us photos so that we may see your smiling faces!
Love to you all!,
The Variels in Russia
Below are links to the Hermitage and Church on Spilled Blood, if you are interested!!
http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/church-of-savior.asp
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Well here we are finally!
To all our Family and Friends,
Yes we know it is due time for us to update our blog as we said we would do frequently. So here it goes...
We are almost done with our first week of being at our school, with our classrooms coming together and our heads swimming with details, as it did our first year of teaching. We absolutely love our "home" that we have made and can't wait to share photos and stories of the locale.
Although Lucy is adjusting to less running without the Variel dogs, she still loves a good game of tug and meeting the babushkas. There is a great field we take her to, it is across the street from The Church of Spilled Blood.
St. Petersburg is an amazing city, the colors and sights are breath taking. Our walk to school takes about 25 minutes, we cross a HUGE bridge over the river Neva. We walk by the Peter and Paul Fortress everyday. I don't think they sights will ever get old!
The weather has been extremely muggy and warm. We are getting use to taking ALOT of showers.
Our school is wonderful and the people are great. They have welcomed us into their community with open arms. Although things are very different the challenge of making things work in RUSSIA has been fun. We will soon put pictures of our school and classrooms on the blog.
Beau is adjusting to teaching Middle School Language Arts, he has a stack of books on the counter to read. He will be teaching 11 6/7th grade students and 8 8th graders. I will have 8 students in my 5th grade class. CRAZY. When I tell teachers at our school that last year I taught 34 students they gasp!! :) I think it is funny.
It is hard to believe that we have been here a week. St Petersburg is a great place- it is still a little weird to call RUSSIA home. I think that will take some getting use to!
We miss you all very much and we look forward to hearing from you!
Take Care
Liv, Beau and Lucy
Yes we know it is due time for us to update our blog as we said we would do frequently. So here it goes...
We are almost done with our first week of being at our school, with our classrooms coming together and our heads swimming with details, as it did our first year of teaching. We absolutely love our "home" that we have made and can't wait to share photos and stories of the locale.
Although Lucy is adjusting to less running without the Variel dogs, she still loves a good game of tug and meeting the babushkas. There is a great field we take her to, it is across the street from The Church of Spilled Blood.
St. Petersburg is an amazing city, the colors and sights are breath taking. Our walk to school takes about 25 minutes, we cross a HUGE bridge over the river Neva. We walk by the Peter and Paul Fortress everyday. I don't think they sights will ever get old!
The weather has been extremely muggy and warm. We are getting use to taking ALOT of showers.
Our school is wonderful and the people are great. They have welcomed us into their community with open arms. Although things are very different the challenge of making things work in RUSSIA has been fun. We will soon put pictures of our school and classrooms on the blog.
Beau is adjusting to teaching Middle School Language Arts, he has a stack of books on the counter to read. He will be teaching 11 6/7th grade students and 8 8th graders. I will have 8 students in my 5th grade class. CRAZY. When I tell teachers at our school that last year I taught 34 students they gasp!! :) I think it is funny.
It is hard to believe that we have been here a week. St Petersburg is a great place- it is still a little weird to call RUSSIA home. I think that will take some getting use to!
We miss you all very much and we look forward to hearing from you!
Take Care
Liv, Beau and Lucy
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