A short update

Hello chaps,

I have not updated you all in a while about what I’ve been up to, which is very bad form, I know. The truth is that I’ve been ever so busy. My folks have been in town so I’ve been doing my best interpreter impression, as well as acting as tour guide and holiday rep.

I have to say, interpreting is immense fun, I really do enjoy it, but I think I’ve got a long way to go before the UN Translation service come knocking on my door! It’s been great for my Russian though, having negotiated a pharmacy, the hotel’s theatre box office and river boat tour booking office – plus taxi drivers and countless restaurants. My biggest test came when I had to interpret a Russian language boat tour for an hour and a half as all the English language ones are now out of season. Interpreting is tough because you have to understand the Russian, translate it in your head and speak idiomatically in English – while still being provided with new information all of the time. No wonder the UN team work in 20 minute shifts. I have always had immense respect for them and it has definitely been rehashed following on from this.

I previously posted about how rude some people are about my Russian. I can happily say that this has now reduced as I have become very stubborn and will refuse to speak English to anyone Russian. Indeed, people have been remarkably receptive to my attempts at pidgin Russian this week, especially the concierge assistant in my folks’ hotel – whom it later transpired spoke perfect English. I appreciate this immensely and it has certainly improved my view on Russian people, whose manners as a culture are often a bit of a shock to the system sometimes.

Manners cost nothing, let’s just leave it at that for now. If this was twitter, my hashtag here would be #moralhighground .

I am somewhat loathe to list everything I’ve been up to on this blog, as it is usually very mundane, but this week has been particularly cultural, so I suppose I’ll list a few highlights.

On Friday I went to watch the bridges being raised at 1am – which is a magical sight. I ended up absolutely sodden back at my hostel at 3am as the heavens decided to open when we were walking back, but it was certainly worth it. Anyone who comes to Peter must see the bridges – it’s a condition of your visa being granted. (Not really).

 I went to see The Cherry Orchard performed in Russian on Saturday, which was fantastic. I understood the language, which came as a nice surprise. I am a huge fan of Chekhov, having studied a large number of his works in my second year of university. I find his works exceptionally cleansing to read, even if they are often rather bleak in subject nature.

I went to see Sleeping Beauty on Sunday at the Rimsky-Korsakov conservatoire, which was performed by the students there. I really was pleasantly surprised by the standard of the overall performance, having previously been rather unimpressed by the ballets I’ve seen in Russia. Granted they were in Kazan, but to have a ballet without an orchestra is like a cat with three legs! There was an orchestra this time around and the conductor looked only about my age, which was another surprise. It was an exceptionally mature performance, especially by the musicians. Tchaikovsky is my favourite Russian composer and his music for Sleeping Beauty is certainly one of his best scores, however I do think it requires a degree of musical maturity in order to properly expose its subtle charm.

 The whole performance was made about sixteen times more hilarious by the poor American woman on my row, who was completely convinced we were in the Marinsky watching Swan Lake. She asked my mother where all the swans were. I reserve comment on this.

I also visited the Hermitage and the Russian State Museum, both of which are places that one should be legally compelled to visit on entering St Petersburg. I won’t bother describing them, as frankly they’re much better seen in person and I would have to write “spoiler alert” all over this post. (Another picture stolen from room mate - this one is the Hermitage)

I’ve also discovered the best borsch in Russia and realised that if you mispronounce “bottle” in “bottle of water”, you end up with a pint of beer. If I liked beer, this would definitely count as a win. Actually, saying that, Baltika Seven beer is actually drinkable and this is coming from someone who normally doesn’t touch the stuff.

My year and a half long craving for shashlik has also been successfully quelled – I’ve not had one since leaving Kazan last year and I’ve been dying for one. Delicious.

No one does shashlik quite like the Russians.

My week was marred somewhat by the fact I got bitten on the eyelid by a mosquito for the second time this month. The whole thing swelled up to the extent that I couldn’t see out of it for two days, which is made more ridiculous by the fact I doused myself if DEET on the night I was bitten. Come on guys, give me a chance here! I can’t exactly put it on my eyelid! Taking piriton proved to cause more harm than good, I’ve not felt so terrible in a long time.

Not impressed.

I must say though, I think everyone’s been feeling it this week. I’ve been struck down by homesickness and a lot of others have too. I’m running on adrenaline this week if I’m honest. I’ve heard that it’s known in Cambridge University as the five-week fatigue.

I want to make a short comment here about the fact this week marks the three year anniversary of the passing of an old friend, a certain Mr Christopher Robin Waldron (17-01-1992 – 01-10-2009). I know a lot of my readers from back home will have been thinking about him this week, so it seems fitting to make a short comment. His sense of humour and general love for humanity are still fondly remembered. His homemade wine less so.