Fun with iPhoto

I went to a wedding...

...and took pictures of everyone except the newlyweds! (At the request of the bride, every single person at the wedding party was wearing pink. It was the first and hopefully last time I will ever wear a pink tie in my life.)

L: Sveta and Shurik. Sveta I've known for a long time. Shurik has been my roommate for the last 4 months and will be until April when he marries...
L:...Polina. They're getting married on April 16th. I'm going to be one of the "witnesses" at the wedding. At Russian weddings, there are two witnesses (one male, one female) who sign the wedding certificate as part of the official government-approved ceremony which takes place at a government-approved "wedding palace." R: Me.
L-Me. R-Olya. Olya and I are currently recruiting people to go to Sweden on a ferry with us for a week at the end of July. So far there are four people on board. All interested parties can contact me for more information. :)

L: Me again. R: Kostya. Despite being a red-headed Siberian, he's still a good person. And as of two weeks ago he is a new father of a baby boy. Unfortunately they did not name the baby after me.

After the Bleak Midwinter

I'm sure it was ruling headlines around the world, but just in case you weren't aware, there was more snow this year in St. Petersburg than there had been for the last 140 years. It's now the end of March and the temperatures have just started rising above zero (Celsius, that is) and the mountains of snow are just now beginning to melt. The days of lethal icicles falling from the sky, sidewalks transforming into ice rinks, and thoughts about buying a dogsled and a team of huskies seem to be a part of the past...at least until November.

Hopefully these pictures (all taken near my work) will give you a good idea of the "winter wonderland" which has been St. Petersburg for the last 5 months.

Lives of the SPb Rich and Famous

Here's a partial list of the professions of some of my English students:

-the CEO of the St. Petersburg sea port. I also teach the main financial director of the sea port. (St. Pete is a HUGE port city, by the way.)

-a managing director of Baltika, the largest beer manufacturing company in Russia

-the director of a company which transports large amounts of radioactive materials (uranium) throughout the world. I also teach his wife.

-the director of a very large dessert manufacturing company which specializes in middle-eastern desserts. I will soon be teaching his children as well.

-the 3-year old son of a VERY wealthy member of the board of directors of a major banking chain

I am currently working very hard to be included in all of their wills.

My Daily Routine

I've been here for over 3 months now and my daily life has definitely got to the point of becoming a routine process of teaching lessons and traveling between lessons.  Here is my typical Monday schedule:

8:30-leave the apartment. Walk 3-5 minutes to the bus stop. Take a 10-15 minute ride on a bus to the metro station. Ride the metro for 30-35 minutes. Take a tram or bus to my 10:00 lesson.

10:00-11:30-Teach a lesson (Individual student)

After Lesson: Take the bus back to the metro.  Ride to the opposite end of the city  for 30-35 minutes.  Walk to my next lesson.

1:00-2:30-Teach a lesson (2 students)

After lesson: Get back on the metro.  Try to get to my Russian lesson within 30 minutes.  usually get there right on time.

3:00-4:30: Russian lesson with my teacher

After lesson: Back to the metro.  Ride a few stops.

5:00-6:30: Teach a lesson (Individual student at his office--he's the director of a company that transports uranium)

After lesson: Race to the metro. Ride a few stops

7:00-10:00: Teach a group lesson.  My current Monday evening group has 7 students.

After lesson: Walk to the metro (7 minutes), Ride the metro towards home (~25 minutes), Take a bus from the metro station (10-12 minutes late at night), Walk home

~11:15 PM: Get home from work 

My Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving 2010:

Location: Russia
Ethnicity of restaurant: Uzbekh
Ethnicity of food ordered: Japanese
Ethnicity of person eating the food: American (last time I checked)
Ethnicity of person singing music over the speaker system of restaurant: Jamaican

Happy Thanksgiving.

Weekend in Moscow

I went to Moscow for the weekend two weeks ago. There were five of us from St. Petersburg that went and we had a great time. The train ride to Moscow takes 8 hours so almost all of the trains to Moscow leave at night and arrive early the next morning. We rode in "sleeper" cars that don't have any private cabins--just 50 or so bunk-bed style beds in the car. It's kind of a fun way to travel. On the way to Moscow, we unfortunately were assigned the beds at the end of car right next to the entrance to the toilet. This meant that people were walking by us and opening the (very loud) door all night long. The train itself was rather old as well and I barely slept at all on the way to Moscow. The train back to St. Petersburg was VERY nice but unfortunately the passenger sleeping directly below me had a massive snoring problem and once again I didn't get much sleep.

I didn't go to Red Square this time--I'd already gone there on every other previous trip to Moscow--but I did go to the very first McDonalds restaurant in Russia that opened up in 1990. At the time it was the largest in the world and apparently they served over 35,000 customers on the first day of business. If you don't believe me, just watch this video.

Here are a few other pictures: