July 17, 2008 || Meet-up With Masha

Well, today started off as early as in camp--I just couldn't sleep past 8 am, and I was waiting for Aria to come blasting over the speakers. I got up and ate a wonderful breakfast of blini with my host and the Russian pair, who raved about Valaam (sad that I'm not going to be able to go--there's just not enough time!), while the Americans headed off early to finalize some things. Their 10-day wait got waived, so they'll be leaving tonight for Moscow. Oh memories!

I met Susan early at Nevskii Prospekt metro, and we headed to the Hermitage from its opening at 10 am 'til about 1:45pm. I saw quite a few things that I'd never seen before (Egyptian sarcophagi, early Islamic art), and revisited some of my old favorites (giant golden peacock clock, halls of French art). I texted Luka but we didn't see him at all inside--however, the Peruvians I sat next to on the airplane to SPB found ME! The friendlier one tapped me on the shoulder, pulled me in for a hug, and asked how my trip was. We exchanged pleasantries and moved on, but I thought it was pretty cool to randomly run into people in Russia.

We ate at a great little pie shop, definitely a local joint, and then I left to find Masha. It was so good to see her! She looks great, dyed her hair darker and is smiling all the time. We talked about lots of things, both of us have had exciting years--me with boxing and scuba (Jaclyn, you do such frightening things!), and working in the camps here, and her finishing school and getting married. I didn't know it until tonight (probably she explained to me before but I didn't understand) but she and Vova met while working at a Russian children's camp! What are the chances... we walked towards the Lavra, all the way off the map, and even saw where her old school was (I don't want to look at it anymore! I graduated, I don't have to come back!). We reminisced lots, and went to see the beach festival outside of Peter & Paul Fortress. Judging will be tomorrow, so I think I'll go back after I visit the lavra and a banya ... in just a few hours. When we exited the metro, I tried so hard to get her to speak English--she never does and I really wanted to hear her practice. I mean, she reads Danielle Steele novels in English, so her grammar must be pretty good. But she was so afraid of making mistakes she completely clammed up. I felt almost like I was watching myself last year--nowadays I don't really care if I make mistakes anymore--the more confident you are, the better you speak. But when you don't feel comfortable in a language, so much of you is lost--your sense of humor, the complexity of your thoughts, your spontaneous feelings and snap connections to culture, that you inevitably seem like a 2-dimensional person (I'm sure this contributes to why we view foreigners as "other" all the time). We wandered around some more, then met Susan and some of her friends for dinner. What a fun group of people! A Katya, a Yulia, and twins: Masha and Dasha. We ate at a traditional Russian place and shared all sorts of stories, mostly camp ones. Their English was all very good, and again, I don't think Masha had a great time because she was very shy about speaking English. Her voice changes too! I think everyone's voice does, between Russian and any other language. Russian invariably makes your voice drop.

Wandering around with a paket makes me feel more Russian--I was even told that I'd picked up a Russian "bad habit." Oh well, I'll take that. Tomorrow both Marina and Susan talked about going to Petergof, but I don't really want to kill a whole day there. Like I said, I plan on chilling at the Nevsky Lavra, then visiting a banya and the beach sculpture contest. Hopefully I'll see Masha again (I've got to think of something great for a wedding present, I really miss just being able to talk to her whenever like we do, about films and literature and life and dreams and, really, it's amazing what you can end up communicating even when you don't speak the same language), and then I think I'll try to see both Marina and her friends and Susan and her friends again. Sushi for dinner, drinks somewhere else.

Oh, before I forget! Fidel is closed, and Dacha, because of their building undergoing remont--except they're gone for good. Too bad, really--they're the only 2 bars I might have gone to alone, since I know them and they're so close (not to mention always filled with Americans). Then again, I'm content having wine with dinner and heading home to a shower, book, and bed.

I'm really such a homebody, all this night life is completely wasted on me.

Home in just a few days! It's getting to be time--you know how when it's time to go, you start to get ready for it? Well, I've been preparing for awhile, sorting all my dirty clothes into "junk" and "keep" piles, relishing the thought of chucking all my dirty tapochki and toiletries, hoping I can squeeze everything into carry-on (but considering how many souvenirs I have, between all my new sweatshirts and jackets and notebooks and bric-a-brac and CDs, I doubt that'll happen).