So, words and pictures are of the past, right? well this long awaited for (right?) post is going to be a video. below, you'll find the song "Moi Koctyor", or, "My Bonfire" which sums up a whole bunch about my russian experience without expending time on useless words in english! Translating stuff is impossible.



by the way, i mentioned showing the etching I made of a stray dog in st. petersburg, right? Well, its there in the middle of the video.

strength in the movement towards dryness, warmth and sunlight

Shout For Milk and Cereal

no, shout for oatmeal kasha or buckwheat kasha. This is a quickie, because I have a lot of emails to respond to before heading out to the city of Vyborg tomorrow. My life has been interestingly multi-varied. It's interesting what happens when you go to an institution that doesn't take up 150% of your life after going to one that does.

Along with taking 4 academic classes (International Relations, Anthropology of City sub-cultures, Russian Revolutions, and Russian Language) and auditing 1 class (Jewish history/anthropology) I've been taking a studio art class on printmaking with an amazing artist, learning the bayan, and still have time to myself, time with friends, drinking at 8am, wandering the streets at 1am, contemplating escapism, avoiding Nevsky, sitting down on a bench in the park with Pushkin and Gorkii with some bread, cheese, and kalbasa.

and photos to prove some of it:



totally not fitting in with the glam Russian scene


i did the makeup myself


on a skype with Reed Russian level 1 and 2 classes .. was lots of fun.

much love to all my readers,

vlad

p.s. this city has lots of stray dogs. I made an etching of one of them, hopefully I'll be able to post that up next post..

This post is dedicated to the people named in it!

A week ago I was happily surprised by a couple of owls that flew over from Lynnae's Room, PDX. Without Lynnae's knowledge, the owls secretly stopped by Peter's Room, The CCPV, to carry a letter [not in photo]. All arrived safely and brought warmth to this more-often-than-not cold land. :)


Working on my first paper of the term and just wanted to share a quick photo of a delight that was on my desk before it no longer was:




Fresh from the 'rinnik'! I hope everyone gets the chance to try 'ikra' some day; getting a taste for salty and pickled foods first might help.

The 8th of March

поздравляю 8ого марта!!!

Happy 8th of March -- International Womens Day!

Today was a good day. The sun was shining, people were walking about the city and on the river.

Also, today I became a Walrus. I used to be a Polar Bear, but now I am a Walrus:

I took a nice short swim in the Neva, much like the man in the photo below -- in exactly the same spot.

photo here:
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=4&photo_id=1782

"I feel extreme excitement and physical euphoria when getting out of that cold water," said Ivanov, a 43-year-old engineer, pulling on his clothes over skin reddened by the sub- freezing water. The outside temperature that recent afternoon was minus 2 degrees Celsius. Ivanov is one of at least 100 St. Petersburg ice swimmers -- or morzhi (walruses) -- who regularly make their way to a 12-square-meter pool cut through 30-centimeter-thick ice on the Neva near the Peter and Paul Fortress. ... "

Then we sunbathed by standing along the side of the peter and paul fortress on the river bank.... ahhh

is it no wonder that I have found a heart in my motherland?

this post is dedicated to Chris, the Red Road, and the great blue heron in the sky.

welcome back to my life. been taking my sweet time getting comfortable here in Russia, and so I've neglected posting up to this blog, but after this post I think i'll actually tell people about this travelogue. so far, i've only told a handful of people about it. this post will be mostly photos, as usual, because its more fun for me to post photos and i'll assume its more fun for you, my dear anonymous (or not) reader, too. also, sentences will be rushed and broken, alas, there is a lot i want to share and it is already late

so, a few weeks ago I made my residency "mine". I turned my room into a warmer place by placing my various things around. The effect has been wonderful, especially when I put up some of my prints and got a bayan (more on that later). Below is a print I made a few weeks ago, and a shot of my room.




before my real classes started (two weeks back), and without any net-connection, my desk didn't have much purpose.. so gave it new purposes:

(please notice that I am wearing "tapochkii" on my feat. everyone wears them inside, because the ground is considered dirty and it prevents socks from wearing out quickly.)

but then, I started taking lessons to play the bayan, which is like an accordian but different. (picture below) and my classes began. With that, my desk started getting filled up:



here is what my bayan looks like:



and, for contrast, what it looks like outside my window:


other things that have made me very happy here, is the russian food. Though the country has changed rapidly in the last 10 years with the coming of capitalist dictatorship and acceptance of globalisation, it is still possible to find inexpensive and preservative-free food that tastes right. not sure if you, my dear reader, know this, but preservatives follow capitalism. the only food i'm excited about eating back in the states is kale, but everything else doesn't taste the way it aught to. Cheese here is amazing, milk tastes like milk, chocolate milk tastes amazing (chris!), and there are "ryinkii" large (markets) to go to where there are fresh veggies, meats, cheeses, breads, etc, etc every day at low prices . my heart can be uplifted from my stomach. luckily, i walk about 10 kilometers a day which helps burn all this yummy eating. as for alcohol, it is inexpensive and high quality. at least vodka is, and i've found some good beers too. a week ago I purchased some pickled mushrooms from a grandma on the side of the road and have been so happy (they disappeared pretty quick once I shared them with my host-family). below is shot of me keeping food in my window:

not a good beer, by the way

yum

and now, on a totally different note, the electricity went out yesterday and it made me really happy. here is a photo of the experience:



And now, a "pamnik" (remembrance) for the great Blue Heron. I often wonder how it's faring out there, and whether it has the kind of friends it did but a year ago.


the main human rights issue visible in st. petersburg / russia right now is the large fascist/nationalism uprising/movement. every week i go to the banya and on the way there I walk past a building with nazi grafitti and then "GAY RIGHTS" sprayed over it. I'm planning to do a mini-project collecting fascitst/anti-fa grafitti around the city. There is a notable park in the city where fascist groups and anti-fa have met (and still meet) to fight each other.

for those of you who read this far, i'd like to share a story with you.
During my second week here, I was sitting in a bar around 11:30pm with some americans who were part of the program when 3-4 guys started yelling and throwing punches. chairs and tables went flying pretty fast, a few russians immediately got up and left (the smart ones), but we remained as the fight progressed. body guards couldn't/didn't really do much as one of them started yelling "fascist! nazi!" while kicking a guy who was laying nearly under our table. for the most part I just kept talking with a friend about nationalism/fascism (ironically), but then the fight got pushed to the entrance and out the door and we heard a gunshot. some folks ducked under the table and I jumped into the back room while another gunshot went off and lots of glass was being smashed. russians pretended nothing had happened. The ordeal ended shortly after, and no one was hit by the gun shots, but it has made me much more aware of my surroundings, my safety, and nationalism/fascism in this country. the ordeal also made me think of my friend chris (hope your reading this), and I thinking about his stories of working as a bouncer, I feel like I understand a little better what it was like. Thinking about what he would do, I focused on taking care of the people I had been drinking with, many were pretty shaken. Afterwards, I checked in with myself on how it effected me.

and so, I'll probably write about fascism some more. In a country where it is a miracle whenever I see a black man/woman, i've had some really interesting conversations with Russians about racism, equality, nationalism, fascism, and so on.

This is not the U.S., and for many americans on the trip, it has been difficult adjusting to this land. some find it cruel and unloving. Feeling more comfortable here, I understand it and it's culture, and have found where the love resides. and it is good. more on that later.

To my friends, loved ones, and all my relations, I wish you health and understanding.

Vladik
Vladislav

more coming...

Hello, just a quickie to say that I'm working on a new post that'll be a major and quick update on my latest adventures. Plus, i think i'll start dedicating my posts to certain people -- as their influence on me seems to influence my camera.

lets start moving along, shall we?

Hello folks, internet access has been rather unavailable, with about enough to post an email and then move on, but now I seemed to have found a spot which will occasionally give me internet access at home.. and i'll try to post something quick before it goes away again.

Arriving in the mythic city of st. petersburg was, well, educational. The stories I've read, have become a reality:



Instead of free Bibles in the hotel rooms, its something far more useful... to me at least. I like it here already:



Yup, and here are some shots of the city in action. The building are all very old looking, with the insides looking much like the outsides -- a perpetual romantic sketch of a city which has survived a war or two.



Even as this country accepts its new capitalistic future, many feel sorry that Lenninist/Communist Russia is gone and soviet imagery remains without issue. I hear the food was better back then, too. It seems like preservatives follow closely behind the iron curtain. Not a surprise.


Well, before my internet cuts out, I'm going to leave with an image of my desk.. a week ago. This weekend I'll post up some photos of the apartment I live in and try to stick some more really information into these posts :) Also, I have a photo that everyone over at the Turtle House will love. But that's for the next post :) Until then, take care.