We made it to St. Petersburg...

...and on a semi-airconditioned sleeper train (what a pleasant surprise to
have cool air in the cabins!). We had a long day-- in fact, it's the SAME
day, actually-- in getting here. The train left on time from Moscow at
12:50 am. Most of the students got a good night's sleep; I, on the other
hand, didn't sleep at all (like last time). We got into St. Petersburg at
8:45 am, but couldn't check into the hotel yet, so we had breakfast there at
9:45 and then went on am incredibly fast tour of The Hermitage museum, where
it was warm and there were crowds amd we were all starting to spoil a
little, given the last showers we all had were before 9 am yesterday. After
that, we had some free time to wander around the center of the city-- the
weather here is gorgeous! It's like fall in Texas-- cool (low 70s), low
humidity, clear skies, and a breeze. Our hotel is right on the river Neva,
though about 8 or 9 miles east of the city's center. It's kind of sitting
all by itself; there are no Metro stations, Internet cafes, or coffee shops
(all necessities) within walking distance! I am writing this at 9:45 pm
from inside am Imternet cafe in downtown St. Pete-- some of the students,
the tour director, and I walked about 2 miles or so to a Metro station just
to get to this place.

The hotel is, otherwise, nice enough. The best thing that happened to me
today was a hot shower at 5:30 pm (it took that long before we could get
checked in). But the weather is cool enough that sleeping with an open
window should be comfortable enough. And the view of the Neva River from my
window is awesome!

While we were waiting around at the other hotel last night, Stepahine,
Katie, and I bowled (Abigail watched and Justin was hanging out with some of
the other kids) in the alley (in the hotel). It was fun and we learned that
the only place you can find a couch in the hotel is in the bowling alley.
That's where you sit to put on your bowling shoes...

So, for me, it's been another 30+ hours with no sleep. And since we're
smack-dab in the middle of the White Nights, I doubt I'll be in bed before
midnight.

Tomorrow we'll either be on a bus tour that we didn't pay for ahead of time
or, if we can't pay now, our group will be setting out on our own walking
tour of the city. Monday, we have a bus tour of the city, followed by a
canal/river ride, and I think some of the kids expressed an interest in
seeing the ballet Swan Lake tomorrow night. Not me-- we're leaving the
hotel for the airport at 4 am on Tuesday, so I'm going to try to get as much
sleep as possible. Tuesday promises to be another extremely LONG day.

Everyone is fine here and having a good time. And for you parents that knew
about the nice card and enclosed gift card for me from my "Russia Kids" (as
they referred to themselves), that was an EXTREMELY UNWARRANTED, but very
touching gesture-- your kids are THE BEST and I have gotten compliments from
the other adults about them.

Talk to you again once or twice, hopefully, before we depart for home...

E.B.

Which is worse...

...at 10:30 pm-- fireworks or an incessant barking dog outside your window?
Even in a room 16 stories up, the fireworks (in celebration of yesterday's
holiday) shot off at 10:30 last night RIGHT NEXT to the hotel sounded like a
war zone (and sure were bright and colorful)! But for 15 minutes or so,
they silenced the barking puppy that hangs out near the front of the hotel.
The barking and yipping starts up at sunrise (3:30-ish) and just goes and
goes. We could have shut our windows to drown out the noise...but then we'd
have suffocated... Besides that, the guy with the accordian outside across
the street that starts up around 9 really lessens the dog's barking, anyway,
so...

We had to check out of the hotel at 9 am-- even though it's now 4:30 pm and
I'm writing this from the Internet cafe inside the hotel-- because we're
leaving for St. Petersburg on the night (sleeper) train at 1 am. For most
of the day today, we were at the Sergeiv Posad monastery (with a lunch break
at, dare I write this, McDonald's; a Russian McDonald's is in itself a
cultural experience). Now we're temporarily homeless (really only roomless)
until we get to St. Petersburg. We have dinner here at the hotel at 7 pm,
followed by 3 and half hours of hang time before the bus takes us to the
train station. The train will arrive in St. Pete at about 8 or 8:30, and
we'll take a bus to the hotel, then immediately go for a bus tour of the
city. Based on my last (and first and only, really) experience with the
Moscow-St. Pete sleeper train, I'll be up for a good 30+ hours before I can
truly crash in the hotel tomorrow night. The sleeper cars have cabins for 4
persons each with VERY little ventilation and submarine-sized bunks. On top
of the cramped quarters, we'll have to stow our honkin'-big suitcases in
there with us... But, as I told my students, it's another cultural thing
that they have to do while they're here to get the bragging rights. I'm
sure that, like everything else, it'll make for some good stories upon
return home!

So all is well for this small American group from Texas in Russia, marrooned
for the time as we may be...

Talk to you again from St. Petersburg! (Where DUSHNO will likely no longer
be the Word of the Day!)

Poka!

E.B.

When we got to Red Square this morning...

...it was closed! Really. For a World War II commemoration.

We left the hotel this morning early with the Houston group (the other two
groups are kind of stand-off-ish; in fact, the one from South Carolina is
all adults) and Metro-ed to Red Square and were met by oodles of cops and
soldiers-- after I spoke with one of the policemen, we changed course, got
back on a train and went to the huge children's store Detskiy Mir to look
around and then to the Arbat (big touristy shopping boulevard), where we
wandered from one end to the other, stopping for an hour or so for lunch at
the Hard Rock Cafe (not my personal choice or preference-- too many loud and
obnoxious Americans and English-speaking waitstaff--but, sometimes you just
have to go along with the majority) where I had a $10 BLT...

While on the Arbat, Justin (my sole male student) was targeted by a
picpocket who bumped him and checked his back pocket-- fortunately for him
(not the pickpocket), his pockets were empty (as they were supposed to be).
We tell the kids, boys especially, to carry money, passport, etc. in their
front pockets. Just another cultural experience for the group!

After the Arbat, we returned to the hotel for a short break (I took a cold
shower-- remember, DUSHNO), we hit the outdoor shopping area adjacent to the
hotel to look around. Some of the kids bought a gift or two and we got
caught in a small thundershower while there. Most of the students aren't
too enamored with the food selections presented at our free meals, but other
than that, things seem to be moving along.

Tomorrow we have to check out of the hotel by 9 am., then we'll be
travelling to Sergeev Posad
(http://www.avrora.biz/golden_ring/city/14.html), which will be an all day
trip. We'll be on the bus to the train station to go to St. Petrersburg at
10:30 pm; the train leaves at 1 am and gets into St. Pete at 8:30.

So, guess that's it for now...

Poka from Moscow!

E.B.

The Cathedral of the Archangel Michael

I meant to mention this in the DUSHNO email...

While we were inside the Kremlin yesterday, we visited this church-- inside
there are remains (coffins/sarcophagi) of past tsars and grand dukes back to
the mid-1300s. While we were there, there were four guys dressed sort of
like priests or priests-to-be (but were neither) inside who are part of a
choir that sang for us a capella. The song was very beautiful, very moving,
especially given the accoustics. The were "selling" a CD of their
Orthodox-style choir music for a donation, so I got one (to play during
exams at school, just to haunt my students). It was really an experience to
be in the churches were tsars were baptized, coronated, and laid to rest--
in three different churches that open to Cathedral Square in the middle of
the Kremlin. I wish I'd had more time to really look around more, but we
were on a tight schedule, so, given the time constraint, I think we saw a
lot. If you'd like to see a little more about this part of our visit to
Russia, there is encapsulated, easy-to-digest info about it on this web
page: http://www.geographia.com/russia/moscow02.htm

And a footnote to yesterday's visit to Red Square: One of my students,
Stephanie, who is African-American, got more than a little attention as we
were taking pictures on Red Square! Stephanie, who is a very pretty young
lady, was asked by two guys if they could have their picture taken with her.
And another guy who was just taking pictures in general, surreptitiously
snapped one of her. I guess we must have looked a little strange to them (I
in my MHS Russian Club t-shirt walking along with 5 teenagers, 4 girls and 1
boy). Inasmuch as Stephanie may be a novelty to them (this happened with a
professor from UT in 2004 who REALLY suprised the natives as an
African-American woman who is conversant in Russian!), I really want to tell
the next rubbernecker that she not only knows a little Russian, but she
could also whoop 'em in chess!... Stephanie is a rated player, for those of
you who don't know).

Anyway. I think that, with Alex' (one of my students) disk reader, I may be
able to get a picture or two out soon... So stay tuned!

Poka!

E.B.

Doooooosh-na!

Your Russian word for the day is DUSHNO (pronounced DOOSH-nah) and it means
stuffy, as in hot and humid and little air circulation... That's what the
weather has been like. Partly cloudy, but hazy and DUSHNO. We were
sweating like you wouldn't believe yesterday and the rooms are kind of warm,
so a cool/cold shower feels pretty good. It actually rained here last night
for about 15 minutes.

I got a knock on the door at 10:30 pm and there were my students, back from
the circus safe and sound. I still don't know how I got left behind
(however, there was an apology note from our tour director slipped under my
door that I found this morning)-- I guess if I'm the only one to get
misplaced or lost here, that's better than a student (the rule still holds,
though-- as long as I come back with at least four of them, this trip will
have been a success!)...

We're going to wander today... More later.

Poka!

E.B.

Eventful Day

Today I was up at 3:45 am (after finally getting to bed and to sleep just
before midnight-- damn jet-lag!) and decided to just say the heck with it
and took a shower and wandered down to the 24-hour cafe. Actually, the sun
was up when I was awakened by the sound of yipping dogs just before 4 am.
That and the heat in my hotel room (no a/c and just one skinny little window
that I had open as wide as possible) made for a less-than-perfect first
night for us all, though most of the students got some sleep.

We took a bus tour (IT had great a/c) of Moscow, stopping for pictures at a
few places along the way before going into the Kremlin. I didn't get in
when I was here 2 years ago, so it was a pretty interesting experience for
me. The students enjoyed it, too. We took some pictures there and in Red
Square, so sooner or later I'll send some along. These computers don't seem
to support my camera's microdisk without a cable I didn't bring, so...

The students got their Metro (subway) wings this afternoon when we returned
from Red Square to our hotel by metro-- it took a little longer than it
needed to because I wasn't sure of our exit (we ended up two stops too far,
but made it back okay); they got a good dose of the tepid metro cars, crowds
in the stations, and tricky card reader machines (on the entrance
turnstiles).

Oddly enough, though, I'm here in the hotel alone at 7 pm. We all had
dinner and were supposed to leave for the circus at 5:30; I ducked out to a
little store in the lobby and when I returned, they all had left. I guess
they must have used the Metro, as the bus was nowhere to be found. (I
wonder if they even know I'm missing?)

In any event, I won't be alone for long, as my friend Aleksei here in Moscow
is going to drop by for a visit...

More later!

E.B.

It takes a long time...

...to get to The Other Side of the World. It's presently 10:30 in Moscow as
I write this (and still light outside) and 1:30 pm Texas time. I have been
up now for almost 34 hours straight-- We (5 students and I) left Dallas at 3
pm on the 19th... 9 hours to Frankfurt, 3 hour wait, then 3 hours to Moscow.
We landed at Moscow Sheremetevo Airport at 4:15 pm local time and waited
for the last group (of four, from Houston) for more than three hours in the
airport! Then an hour ride to our hotel near the popular and uber-touristy
Ismailovskiy Park on the northeast side of the city.

Our tour director (in Russia) is a twenty-something young lady named Gillian
who teaches English in Poland and has a most distracting Scottish brogue. I
haven't met the remaining two group leaders, but the guy leading the Houston
group is a retired Marine Corps captain who teaches social studies. He's an
interesting character who has a dream of one day cashing in on the lack of
self-service laundry mats in Russia. He's been to Russia once or twice, so
he's familiar with the layout, but doesn't speak the language.

This hotel is full of English-speakers, which detracts from the overall
ambience of the country we're in (but it has its advantages, too,
particularly for our students).

Tomorrow the bus leaves at 10 and we are off to The Kremlin (going inside, I
hear), which takes us to Red Square, of course, then off to the circus
(somewhere)... If I can send pics, I will. If not, I'll post them after I
get home on the 27th.

So all is well in Mother Russia tonight.

More tomorrow, hopefully...

Poka, ya'll!

E.B.

Tomorrow I leave for Moscow...

...on a 9-day whirlwind tour of Moscow and St. Petersburg as a teacher-sponsor of 5 students. I hope to be able to post email updates here. We will be meeting up with 3 other school groups in Moscow, another from Texas and two from other states...

Stay tuned.