ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

St Petersburg, Russia
Day 1… Shitty
I arrived this am – the airport is tiny for such a large city. No one speaks English and everything is in Russian – I am lost. Big time… I finally catch a cab – started at 1800 ruples… talked the guy down to 1000 after about 45 minutes – still probably getting taken advantage of. And off we go – and lovely yellow ford of some type. As we travel down the highway – my first sight some very old Russian automobiles and nuclear power cooling towers - as the steam cools in the cold morning air I get my first taste of St Petersburg driving. Normally there is some type of order when it comes to driving… lanes are nicely separated, lines are painted on the asphalt – some type of respect of give and take. Not so much… In Russia that does not exist. From having a 3 and 4 lane rush to get onto the freeway, taxi drivers barreling down the shoulder, weaving in and out of traffic in a desperate race to reach the city first. As we wait, and wait, and wait some more in bumper to bumper traffic – I look to my right just in time to see people leaping off the sidewalk as a black Range Rover races by… 2 minutes later – a Nissan Maxima follows in its footsteps.
As I arrive in my hostel – I am a little concerned. Very, very bad neighborhood – trash everywhere – and then when I finally get in… signs everywhere not to drink the water… I have to boil it first. Oh… and don’t leave anything of value in your room. I am supposed to use the hostel safe. I am also welcome to use the community shower – think high school locker rooms with no dividers between shower stalls. Internet… yeah right. Don’t even think about it. After receiving my set of 27 year old tattered sheets I head up the four flights of stairs to my star room – with a 3 inch mattress – peeling walls, and probably the nastiest bathrooms I have ever seen. 2 toilets for the entire floor. I accidently peek on some fat hairy foreigner in the shower… oops… I get yelled at in some foreign language and peace out cub scout.. Nolando loads up the backpack with valuables and hits the street. After my leisurely 4 mile walk to civilization I find the tourist office.. nope… No English. So I head to the water – hop on a boat.. . go to some Island… no clue where I am going… what I am doing, etc… They ask me in Russian – I nod… I have a ticket to some place… then after a 30 minute boat ride I watch St. Petersburg disappear in the smog and pollution and arrive at some sanctuary… again… nothing is in English so I have no clue what I am looking at. It is nature – some museum of sleighs… (yeah… like santa drives in the winter) and lots of water features, statues, gardens, etc..…..
After waiting 2 hours for the boat to come back I begin my blog, watching the sun set, the waves lapping at the sides of the boat and my mind wondering about my day – processing…thinking… and searching for meaning.
After my boat ride I return to Saint Petersburg and find a hotel. $300 a night.. but the city is sold out… and right now… all I want is someone who speaks English, a comfy bed, and some food.
I go out for 2 beers…Wednesday night.. town is dead.
Day 2 and 3
Shitty…but not as bad. Only the morning was frustrating. And… that is part of the experience. Went shopping for a power adapter – after being directed from place, to place, to place… I finally found one. Nothing like a little show and tell. I show you the power adapter.. and you tell me if you have one by nodding your head yes or no.
I want to blog a bit about language and communication… Especially being a psychologist – language and communication are very different. Language, I think; is perhaps our most important asset as a human being. Communication, in my viewpoint, implies understanding. Language, of some sort, transcends across all cultures. Unfortunately, understanding (I.e. communication) does not always follow.
Lets give an example. Привет – do you know what that means? Try Hello. Pronounced ‘PreeVYet’ with lots of rolling r’s. I do not even see an ‘r’ in there… but ok. I remember reading a quote somewhere: “ If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American.” How true is this? Russian has never even been offered at any institution of learning that I have attended. Neither has Chinese – yet these nations are both Superpowers. And they are heavily populated with some of the most brilliant people on earth. Why are these languages not offered? Is it a way to keep power in check? Are there economic or government reasons? If you cannot speak the language of another can you truly learn about their experiences? Their culture… their opinions, viewpoints...
If you cannot communicate then you cannot change a viewpoint. Communication is the key to pedagogy and learning. It is how we develop our identity and form stereotypes. Is language the great separator? Maybe even more powerful than money, skin color, race, gender, sex, or class? .Perhaps it communication and understanding that keeps people apart – creates the great divide and holds back competing viewpoints, ideas, and experiences. Language is the most imperfect, confusing, ambiguous, and expensive means yet discovered for communicating thought, feelings in hopes of making some meaning of the world.
There is an amazing little spot on the 5th floor of a shopping mall – called Seven Sky bar. It is very cool, hip, and modern. It is here that I had my first conversation about Russia. Anna is a very beautiful IT consultant for a Trust Bank in St Petersburg. We talked about economics, culture, Russia, USA, and even the conflict in Georgia. I think Media is such an interesting medium. Again.. not language but communication. Most of the media in the Russian Federation is state run and controlled. Even though Russians have great freedoms of speech and the Russian Federation is a democracy the government still has tremendous controls. The story that we in the American media got about Georigia is radically different than the story the Russians got. In essence – Georgia was once a part of USSR. Then with the Russian Federation and fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 – became its own country. There is an area within Georgia – Ostensia which wants to separate from Georgia. There has been conflict with this area and the Georgian government. Keep in mind the Georgian government has thrown million and millions of dollars in lobbying money at Bush. It turns out that Georgia sent its troops this area – there was some fighting and then Russia sent their army to fight the Georgians.
Yesterday was actually a great day. I saw almost all of the sights of St Petersburg and it is truly an amazing city. Undeniably beautiful, old, romantic…the city is crisscrossed by several canals – and it is called by some the Venice of the North. No, no gondolas but hoards of tourist boats. The interesting thing – is not much has changed. There are very few new buildings here. The highest building is 5 stories – since nothing can be taller than the old royal palace. No modern hotels or sky scrapers, no intricate glass and steel – just basic concrete block design with some modern interior touches.
Day 3 was the Hermitage Museum.. think the Met in New York or the Louvre in Paris. It was that good and that beautiful. See the posted pics… the artwork and the building in and of itself were amazing.