"Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle... when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
This quote also applies to life Russia. I've been here for only two weeks, and I am absolutely exhausted. Simply living day to day will completely sap you of any energy you might have.
Despite this, I am absolutely loving it. My classes are very hard (and 90 minutes long!), but I'm learning a lot.
However, the best (and worst) part about living in Piter is the metro system. It is a complete microcosm of everyday life within the city. About 4.2 million people live in Petersburg, and a large majority depend on the metro to get them around. However, the system is very overcrowded, and still stuck with Soviet bureaucracy. For example:
Yesterday I got tired of buying tokens every time I wanted to ride, so I attempted to buy myself a monthly student card (a good deal at 350 rubles or about $14). I approached the surly babushka at the kassa and asked in my best Russian for a studenticheskii bilet na meyestev. Looking bored and like if I was a massive inconvenience, she asked me for my student ID card, then demanded my spravka (a piece of paper that has your information and gives you permission to be in the country. Everyone must carry it, and without it you are not a person). She looked at it for awhile, made some calls, looked at it some more, then slid it back to me saying "No. Come back tomorrow."
Well then. So much for that. So I buy a token (14 rubles, or maybe 45 cents), go through the turnstiles, and head down the escalator. The St. Peterburg Metro was built largely right after the war, thus the metro stations were constructed to double as bomb/fallout shelters. The escalators are usually about 300 meters long, and some take almost five minutes to descend.
Since it takes people so long to descend/ascend the escalator, many people either sit on the steps or stare down the people coming the other way. Some people (like me and some other students in my group) enjoy picking out the most beautiful girls coming the other way and trying to hold their gaze. We've succeeded a few times, but mostly the girls look away; embarassed.
The metro cars are a mix of newly built smooth carriages and old Soviet era relics. At the end of each carriage theres a plaque that says "The Order of Lenin of the Red Star is awarded to the builders of the Leningrad Metropolitan for construction of this line and this carriage" Many of the cars on the green line are from the 1970s; the oldest one I've found was from 1962 on the red line.
However, the bad thing about the metro is the amount of people (rush hour lasts from 6am-11am, and then resumes around 2pm and goes until 9pm). People are crushed into the carriages, and it is seriously the scariest experience one can have. You shall not show any sympathy towards anyone else on the metro, or else you will be picked out as the weak one and instantly preyed upon.
Today I shoved a babushka out of the way to get into a train. I have no qualms about that. As long as they dont fall, all is well. My friend witnessed a mother and young daughter get split up; the daughter entered the train, and the doors instantly closed after her. And when the doors close, they close. Hard. You cannot force them open, and a second set of heavy steel doors close after them to close out access to the tunnel. Too many a time I have arrived to the train to have its doors close in my face. I know not to trifle with doors of socialist industry.
On Saturday, we went out to Pavlovsk, where theres a beautiful park and a palace. I might go out there often; it reminds me a lot like Forest Park. It only cost $2 to get out there and back. Transport here is really cheap.
Anyway, I'll update more on Wednesday (when I only have one class).
- Alex
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