First Days of Classes, Novgorod, and Staraya Rus

My first day of classes went well. I am taking advanced grammar, phonetics, and conversation courses. The classrooms are small and intimate and the professors are great at creating a relaxed atmosphere. I feel very comfortable to speak in my classrooms and to make lots of errors. I am enjoying all my classes and combined with my home stay , I am excited to see how my Russian will improve in about four months from now. My host mom is also great at getting me to practice Russian at home. She doesn't know any English but does a great job at getting me to talk about my day, my excursions, and what I learn in class. I am also taking two political science electives: US/Russia Comparative Politics and Russian Culture which are both also taught in the Russian language. However, luckily one of the elective courses is so large in number and students from different levels are mixed that the professor is kind enough to throw in some English words once in a while (considering we are talking politics, I am very grateful).

Furthermore, my host mommy feeds me well. I absolutely love all the food here! I have a difficult time going to the grocery store because I want to buy everything so I actually avoid it as much as possible. I limit my choices to my host mommy's refrigerator. She has oladushki (Russian pancakes), katleti (Russian meatballs), boiled potatoes, selodka (marinated fish), schi (Russian soup), mushroom soup, chicken noodle soup, farshirovani perets (stuffed and steamed pepper), and more! And of course, every meal is followed by a hot cup of tea.

This past weekend, we, the American students, went on an excursion 4hrs South to the Ancient towns of Novgorod and Staraya Rus. They are fascinating villages with lots and lots of deep history, beautiful cathedrals, old statues, and ancient homes. There, I had the pleasure of witnessing how the peasants used to live, all cramped in wooden houses. I also got to experience my first Orthodox service, since Orthodoxy is a significant part of Russian history.

 

Making a wish

A Russian feast

Samovar

Where is Pushkin? (Hint: he is the curley-haired looking man staring off into space)

Our cute tour guide

The inside of one of the Orthodox Churches

We drove about an hour outside of Novgorod and arrived to a town called Staraya Rus late Saturday night. There, I had a different kind of adventure. There happened to be a Russian wedding going on on the first floor of the hotel. As I was sitting in the lobby, a crowd of boisterous and joyous people headed outside holding red balloons. I was curious so I followed them out. According to Russian tradition, during the wedding, all the guests go outside and release all the balloons into the sky. I wasn't sure why (and still am not quite sure why) but I got to talking to a few of them and they invited me in to the wedding. It went from helping the young people with their English, to writing a "wish" to the bride and groom in the guest book, to listening to drunk Uncle Vanya's stories. The wedding was very lively and joyous and nothing like I ever experiences before.

The hotel we stayed the night at in Staraya Rus

The next day, we got a mini tour of Staraya Rus. There, in the health spa, we got to taste real mineral water, straight from the ground. Which apparently is so healthy and heals all kinds of stomach and internal problems that people from all over Russia travel to this small village just to drink some of that water (which by the way tastes disgusting and just like river water. But knowing the health benefits, I forced it down.) We also got to see the great Dostoevsky's home that he lived in. It was reconstructed for viewing purposes on the exact same street and spot that he originally lived in. It was a very inspirational and humbling experience for me to stand in the place that inspired one of Russia's most venerated writers.

Spa of Staraya Rus

Calender made our of live plants

Natural Mineral Spring Fountain

Birch Trees in the Spa

The Mineral Water Pool

A sign about the Therapeutic Mud

We sampled the mineral water from this faucet

Some cute souvenirs 

Dostoevsky's House

The view from Dostoevsky's house

Lenin Statue

Dinner and a show! They danced and performed for us

How Russian peasants used to live

They really focused on details when designing the houses

The little crook on top of the roof meant the owners of this house were wealthy

The short door to the house

The families would cramp into this one room altogether. Some would sleep on the benches

The kids slept in the hole that is near the ceiling 

The "печка" or stove. The grandparents and/or kids would sleep on top where it was super warm throughout the winter

On the way home, we got stuck in traffic for about an hour and I didn't get home until about midnight because I still had to walk 45 minutes from the station. I at least learned a new vocab word during the traffic jam and that is "пропка" or "traffic."

One of my favorite parts about Russia is when I get to run down to the bakery across the street and buy a fresh булочка just to go with my coffee.