derek

Above: a bus somewhere on the Russia-Estonia border.

Yesterday was a long day of traveling from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia. We got to the city around 8 pm last night, did some exploring, and then a bit of partying.

Tonight is New Years, and soon we’ll be going out again. I have a lot of beautiful pictures of Tallinn to upload, but the internet here at the hostel is dead slow — the above picture took maybe 5 minutes to upload. So, more updates to come later.

Until then, Happy New Years from Tallinn!

Tomorrow Claudio leaves, which is a shame. I’ve had a great week hanging out with him. Since I left the United States, I’ve almost exclusively spent my time with Russians living normal lives — studying, working, etc. It’s very different to spend time with a traveler. Claudio, like me, is out to see the world. Like me, he’ll run out of money somewhere and will take a job to refill his funds. Unlike me, he doesn’t care so much about Russia and plans to work somewhere else.

Last night was the best. In Claudio’s words, “last night was legendary.”

Here’s a few pictures from his camera, on his website:

“Bubble Bar” (I think), circa 12 am — 2 am. Perfect place to go to hate humanity.

Feel the seething hatred.

“Fidel” bar, circa 2 am — 4 am.

Still “Fidel.” Notice my terrible haircut. Way too short. That’s the danger of getting a haircut in Russia from someone who doesn’t speak English.

Back to my camera (meaning noticably worse pictures).

Back in the hostel, circa 4 pm.

And a few unrelated pictures:

Contrary to popular opinion, bears do not actually roam the streets of Russia. Horses do roam the Nevsky Prospect, though.

A snow-covered park.

While walking around, I found this castle. What the hell is that doing here?

Remember that jazz concert I went to? Since Claudio brought way better equipment on his travels than I did, he recorded a video and put it on YouTube. Here it is:

In a day or two (not sure exactly when) I’m getting on the bus for Tallinn, Estonia. Next time I write, I’ll probably be there.

Happy New Years!

Okay, I know I’m a day late for the Christmas wishes, but it’s easy to miss here. Russians celebrate Christmas in January instead of December, thanks to some ancient calendar conflict I don’t care to learn more about.

And, only some of them celebrate Christmas. The big holiday here is New Years. That’s when people exchange gifts, take vacations from work, etc.

Above: a “New Years’ tree.” Really. Someone tell Bill O’Reilly the War on Christmas has come to Russia!

As I said in the last post, I’m living in a hostel now. Here’s some new pictures of my past two weeks in St. Petersburg.

Zhukovskogo ulitsa, the road I live on. House number 57, the unassuming entrance.

How cold is it here? This cold.

I feel like this picture says something about life in Russia. I’m not sure exactly what.

The first time I was in St. Petersburg, I saw this mosque but didn’t take any pictures. Here they are, a month later. Traveling Russia has really given me a new appreciation for beautiful architecture.

Somebody told me that this is the “biggest mosque in Europe.” Considering how many Muslims are immigrating to western European countries, that is probably not true.

Fun job.

One thing I appreciate about being back in St. Petersburg is the various museums. This city probably has some of the best museums in the world. And there’s tons! Lately I went to two. The first was a museum of political history.

A political poster issued not long after the 1917 revolution.

A handful of politicians in the new Communist government. Everyone pictured was sentenced to death by Stalin.

History was made here. The museum is hosted in a mansion which, pre-revolution, belonged to a famous ballerina under the patronage of the tsar. After the revolution, she feared she may become a potential target and fled the country. She was right. The Bolsheviks seized the mansion, and this desk was where Lenin came to work every day.

Not pictured (be happy) — the Kunstkamera (a German word). That was, by far, the most absurd museum I’ve ever seen. One part of it is a museum of ethnography. So, you’re walking through the museum looking at traditional Japanese dress, artifacts of Native Americans, etc. Then you get to this room dedicated to 300-year-old science experiments. Peter the Great wanted to cultivate science in Russia, and he created a supportive atmosphere. This was during the early days of dissection. So, next thing you know, you’re surrounded by tons of jars holding perfectly preserved dead babies with abnormalities. There’s conjoined twins, cyclops, two-headed babies, decapitated heads, etc. Next room: traditional Russian folk music!

In my hostel, I met a Swiss guy — Claudio (pictured above, left). Great guy! I’ve been showing him the city the past week and having a great time.

Here, we’re in Fish Fabrique, a bar I went to on my very first night in Russia.

Sitting beside us were two Belarussians (one of them above, right). They drank some absinthe, and it was the first time I’d seen anyone have some. The process involves lighting the alcohol on fire, drinking it, turning the glass upside down, and sucking the gas out of it with a straw.

Immediately after they had their absinthe, one of them looked down, put his head in his hands — paused — and vomitted right on the floor.

Above: a minute or two after vomitting on the floor. Time to party!

He told us he’s a jazz musician and apparently in one of the most famous local jazz groups. So, Claudio and I decided to catch his show, which just happened to be on Christmas night.

First he played a totally awesome classical guitar solo. Really. It was just beautiful.

Then the full band came on and it turned into cheesy jazz that sounded like the theme song from a 90’s family sitcom.

Lastly… in anticipation of the New Years, a short story: I was taking Claudio to one of my favorite spots in St. Petersburg, the Eternal Flame monument. As soon as we get there, fireworks started!

Wonder how they knew we were coming?

Somebody (you know who you are!) is borrowing my camera cable now, so I can’t upload any new photos taken since returning to St. Petersburg. Instead, I can put up a few older ones from Vladivostok.

Derek, where do you live now?

I live in a hostel. It’s sort of like being homeless, but a little better.

http://www.redmedved.com/

This hostel — Redmedved (“red bear”) — is located right in the center of St. Petersburg, on Zhukovskogo street, right next to Vosstania street. The hostel hosts an English language conversation club for Russians to practice their English. These conversations are always hosted by native English speakers. I’ve agreed to do two of these a week in exchange for living here for free.

During the winter, there’s hardly any guests. Apparently in the summer, the place gets packed. There’s only one bathroom for everyone to share. I’m not looking forward to warmer months here.

Where are you going next?

Tallinn, Estonia. Before I start working in Russia, I need to change my visa. To do that, I need to leave the country. So, I’ll go to Estonia to celebrate the New Years and then stick around for a few weeks while waiting for a new visa.

And then?

I’ll go back to St. Petersburg and begin my job as an English teacher.

And then?

Who knows. Eventually I’ll travel more. I have no idea when.

Anyways…

MacCoffee — true American taste! Believe it or not, this marketing actually works here.

Mmm, refreshing!

The picture above shows one of the main streets in Vladivostok. Look closely, and you can see a statue at the bottom. It’s right at the water, and it serves as a sort of center of the city. The train station is just down the road. I passed by this place almost every day.

Yesterday, there was a riot there. You can watch Russian special police stuffing protestors into vans here:

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=q52Dg056tIs

The New York Times has a story on it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/world/europe/22russia.html

The political situation in Russia is fascinating, and I definitely want to write more about it later. Short version: I have a new appreciation for politics in the United States.

After perestroika (the end of Communism and the privatization of property in the early 90’s), Russians lived terribly. It was a real struggle. In Penza, the Nazarov family told me that once a month they would take a train to Moscow (a day away!) to buy food. Imagine! It was the only way they could find something to eat. The only reason they could afford this was help from a foreign friend. Life was not easy. But… for the first time, Russians had some sort of political freedom. There were free elections, a free media, and an open environment for political discourse.

Putin has been rolling back all these changes. The media is tightly controlled by the government — complete propaganda.The elections are scams for Western eyes. It’s not unusual for government opposition to be killed.

And yet… Russians don’t protest. In their mentality, what is to be done? Nothing! They discuss the government as if it’s the government of Canada — something foreign, a world away, why bother? Government happens. It makes sense where this mentality comes from, after the generations of Soviet rule. Nevertheless, it’s disturbing to see this attitude in the younger generations.

So, having said that — I was shocked to hear yesterday that protests erupted in Vladivostok!

Vladivostok is a criminal city. The former mayor was connected to the mafia and other organized crime. He was recently jailed, but of course nobody knows why. The official version of the story is a fairy tale. Someone else, from a different part of the criminal world, has taken over.

Did the people protest over this? Of course not!

The protest was over rising tariffs for car imports in Russia. In Vladivostok, this does affect people more than in Western Russia. There, all the cars are imported from Asia. In Western Russia, there is a local car industry (Volga, Lada, etc.) — crap cars, but at least a possibility. In Vladivostok, your only choice is Hyundai, Toyota, Honda, etc.

Cars will be a little more expensive now, so people rioted in the center of Vladivostok, got themselves stuffed in vans, and only God knows what happened next.

Fascinating place.