So Thanksgiving was this week, and somehow turkey was eaten by all. It's a Thanksgiving miracle!
I guess Tom, our Resident Director, knows a guy, or something, and got his hands on a French turkey. So the whole gang piled into his apartment on Thursday and had a potluck Turkey-day. I came earlier in the day to help put the bird in, and to stuff it, but the Turkey wasn't fully gutted, and we were grossed out, so we didnt end up stuffing the damned thing. I just tossed and onion into the "cavity" (shudder), and called it a day. The stuffing came out pretty well, my cranberry sauce did not. Live and learn. Other food items included mashed potatos, some bitchin' carrots and beets, and a few pies...and like 6 bottles of wine. A good time was had by all, and once we were all fed and watered, we sat down to watch some South Park. God Bless America.

I am Thankful (in Russia) for:
-My host-mother
-Bowling
-Putinka
-The popularity of mashed potatos
-The cheapness of public transportation
-The Banya
-My backgammon board
-And of course, the great group of students I've had the pleasure of meeting here

Happy belated Thanksgiving to the readers...if they're still out there. I'm also thankful for internet access.

Woof, what a day.
I've spent it trying vainly to recover from last night, while feebley defending myself from my host-mother's hangover cures. She still got me to take a shot of pickle brine after a shot of wine, but that was it. Not that it really mattered what I put into my stomach this morning, as it all came back up anyway.
Yesterday started innocent enough. We had a tour of a Russian Kindergarden, and after that we went to the Banya for Andrushka's birthday party. The banya was sick. It had three huge rooms, one with a pool table, another with a dining room and stereo, and then the sauna/pool room. We threw down pretty hard, I have no memory of leaving the place. My memory comes back into focus a few hours later, when we met up with some ACTR students from Moscow who were in town visiting. We assembled at the Shesh-Besh restaurant and then proceded to a bar. My memory slips back out of focus again at this point. All I can remember are random images...but not too many. I have no recollection of getting home, except that I fell out of the taxi, and I only remember that because of the big bruise on my arms and knees.
So, today, of course, was miserable. This marks the third alcohol related vomit session in my life. Dan Paggi veterens may recall my last episode following the Sleaze Ball freshman year. That time it was Tequila, this time my best friend and worst enemy, vodka, was to blame. It was terrible. But I'm feeling better now, just a little headache and a little weak. Maybe I'll take it a little easier on my birthday...

So it's been snowing for like...a million days now. There's a good seven inches on the ground, though it melts and then comes back, so it's hard to keep track of how much as really fallen in all. The roads are surrounded by slush puddles so gross, it's hard to tell them apart from...well...icy poo I suppose.
Speaking of ice, I went ice skating a few days ago in the local rink. It was pretty cool. An open air arena filled (to the brim) with Russians in varying states of drunkeness. A good time was had by all.
It's amazing how fast winter set in here. One day it was raining, and the next, as if someone had flipped a switch, it just decided to turn to snow. I enjoy it though. It reminds me of home, walking into a snowy gale, eyes squinting out the melting water. Good times.
Life carries on as normal though. It will be strange staying here over winter break. I will be the only student remaining here, so I'm really going to get to know myself pretty well. Or, you know, die.

For Moe:

I had a cat, his name was Moe,
And n'er shall I forget;
That fateful day in Burlington,
The day that we first met.

N'er before had I chance to see
Such dignity in a cat;
Humanity in every glance,
As on my lap he sat

Regarded each other, did he and I,
And it was then I knew.
Part of my life, this cat must be,
A boon companion too

We took him home, and from his box,
He burst forth like a gun;
Scaring me and mom half to death,
Wondering what we'd done.

And from that day, a friend we had,
A fat, black, furry creature.
His long, dark, shining, curly tail,
A most unique of features.

And though sometimes, he'd piss us off,
By howling through the night,
We couldn't help but love him,
Such a warm and friendly sight.

But now he's gone to greener fields,
To chase mice through the grass;
And no more shall I hold him,
And feel his bulking mass.

How I shall miss the way he'd sit,
And stare, his eyes agleam.
Then opening his toothless mouth,
To voice a silent scream.

And coming home, I'll never meet,
As through the door I'm heading,
A hungry little fellow there,
Irked, and sternly breading.

I hope that where he is today,
abounds in fish and cheese.
That when he wants, he goes outside,
To lay out in the breeze.

I'm sorry I couldn't be there,
upon that sad, sad day,
To stand right there beside you,
As they sent you on your way.

And so to me, there's nothing left,
It's time to drop the pen.
I'll miss you Moe, my little friend,
One day we'll meet again.




Rest in peace little buddy.

So here are some pictures from St. Pete. Nothing too too exciting unless you really know what you're looking at, but they're pretty none the less.

So this first one is of the Hermitage Museum, which was formerly the Tzar's summer palace. An imposing building on a large square which has a big monument in the middle of it. I have a picture of the square, maybe I'll put it on facebook or something. The Palace/Museum itself is big, probably about the size of the Met in NY, but the collection, in my opinion, is not as good. That's not to say there wasn't a ton of great art, it just didn't really do it for me. Maybe I was too hungover to really appreciate it.



This shot is just a random canal in the city. I thought it would make a good picture, so I snapped it. Pretty picturesque. The city is filled with these kinds of canals, and lots of bridges of varying sizes, most of which are quite beautiful in their own right. You'll notice that the architechture here is a lot more like in a western-European city. You can thank Peter the Great for that one. Pity he didn't make it to Vladimir.



Here's me and some of the girls in front of the River Neva. It's big, it's cold, and it's pretty damn sweet. There are bridges that run across the river all the way through the city. They're draw bridges that go up a couple of times a night to let commercial traffic through on the river. In the summer, they have what is called the White Nights, where, due to the proximity to the arctic circle, it never really gets dark. Supposedly viewing the bridges raised at this time is something really special, but I couldn't tell you. They just looked like a bunch of bridges to me, not nearly as beautiful as the smaller ones on the canals.



Here, we're taking a plunge into the river. Nah, I can't pretend. I wanted it to look that way, but it didn't really come out the way I wanted it to. I still think it's a nice picture though.



Here's another Palace, this one was built originally by Catherine thr great, and each Tsar who followed, added a little something something. It is ginormous. The whole thing was completely ravaged by the Germans during the Second World War, but it has since, been restored to most of it's former glory. They have pictures all over the place of how terrible it looked after the Nazis had finished with it. It's really amazing how much work has been done to fix it up. The grounds were also quite impressive. Gardens and beautiful ponds and theaters and such abounded, though the theaters and small buildings out and about were not in such good shape, many boarded up and crumbling. Sorry about the slant in this shot. I was in motion.



So there's a taste of what I did in St. Petersburg. I have, of course, many other pictures, but I don't feel like posting them on here. That's it for now. It's snowing again, this time more than before.