Time is flying by. I can't believe I have been here for 4 months now. Things are going well. I have negotiated with the school to lighten my teaching load to allow me to study more. So, I am very grateful for that. Starting in June, I will increase my Russian courses from 4 hours a week to 12 hours a week. It's going to be great because I really need lots of studying. It will also be difficult, but I am motivated to take this course, so I think I will be Ok. My Russkie is getting better. I am understand much more now than when I first arrived. I still have communication break downs, but they are not as often. Many times I understand about 75% of what a person is saying, so this helps me to have a basic understanding of what is going on, which is much better than 2 months ago. However, I am not fluent by any means. I’m close to intermediate level. I have also successfully given 3 people directions over the past two weeks. They actually stopped and listened to my directions in Russian without walking away bewildered.
(The picture above is from the base of the hill in Old Tallinn. On top of the hill is the castle wall and all the buildings.)
Also, I forgot to mention a "Lesson Learned" item in the previous blog, so let me quickly discuss it. It is important to know that when the snow begins to melt in Moscow, a person should not walk directly below the roof-line of a building. I saw a poor, unsuspecting guy get destroyed by a mound of melting snow that fell from the roof of the building he was walking next to. It was like Niagara Falls on this guy. (Of course I was laughing since it wasn't me.) Now this rule can apply to any city that experiences large amounts of snow during the winter season. I have only seen this in Moscow since this is the first city I have lived in that experiences so much snow.
Ok, so now I will move on to what I have experienced since the last blog entry. Last weekend me and two other teachers at the school took a vacation. There was me, Dave, another American, and Giorgio, the crazy Italian. Our plan was to visit Tallinn, Estonia for 2 days and St. Petersburg for 2 days. Quickly, let me give you our travel plans. We were to travel by train from Moscow to St. Petersburg and then to take a bus from St. Petersburg to Tallinn the same day. After 2 days in Tallinn, we would return to St. Petersburg via bus and spend 2 days there.
(This picture was taken on one of the roads in Old Tallinn. From the narrow cobblestone road you can see one of the towers along the castle wall.)
Ok, now let me tell you about our journey. So the Friday when we were leaving on our journey, we received an bad omen. Riots broke out in Tallinn that day. The Estonian Government removed a statue of a Red Army soldier from the center of the city. Well, this went over like a lead balloon from Russians living in Tallinn and the country of Russia. So some young Russian boys created a riot in the center of Tallinn. They broke some windows, burned some car, and I think one guy was stabbed. Needless to say, we were concerned about traveling to Tallinn after hearing about this. We're gambling men, so we decided to go ahead anyway and travel to Tallinn. We got on the train to go to St. Petersburg at about 9:00 Friday evening. The train ride was good. We arrived in St. Petersburg at 7:00 on Saturday morning. Next, we found the bus station to catch our bus to Tallinn. We all got on the bus and fell asleep immediately. We woke up when the bus stopped for the border control stop at the Russia/Estonia border. We went through customs and everything was cool. So we all fall asleep again. About 45 minutes later me and Giorgio wake up because we feel the bus stop. The bus has stopped at a gas station is some small town in Estonia. We saw the bus driver get off the bus along with other passengers on the bus. So we thought this is a great time to get off, stretch out, and walk around. I grabbed my coat, and me and Giorgio went into the store while Dave was still sleeping like a rock on the bus. I went to the bathroom for a maximum of 2 minutes. I walked out of the gas station door and onto the bus parked outside. As I looked at the people on the bus I noticed that none of them were familiar. I didn't remember any of these people. Then I looked at the color of the bus, and I realized I got on the wrong bus. I walked off the bus and looked to the back of the bus. There I saw Giorgio waving his arms. I will never forget his face as he looked to me and yelled, "that's not our bus...ours is gone!!" Then he immediately took two quick drags off the cigarette that he just bought. I looked at the empty spot behind this wrong bus and realized...."our damn driver just left me and Giorgio in some small city in Estonia!!!" All of our bags were on the bus. I guess the driver just stopped to buy some cigarettes. Me and Giorgio went through a state of denial for 15 minutes. We walked around the gas station thinking that the bus just pulled around to one of the sides. Nope...there was no bus. Next we thought Dave, who was still sleeping on the bus, would wake up and notice that we are no longer sitting next to him and make the driver stop the bus. So, we waited by the road looking for our bus to return. As we saw buses drive by our hopes would rise only to be shot down be reality...the bus is not returning. Dave is going to sleep the entire way to Tallinn. After 30 minutes of waiting by the road, me and Giorgio decided on move to Plan B. By the grace of God, I grabbed my coat before I got off the bus. In my coat I had my visa, wallet, and cell phone. My cell phone didn't work in Estonia, so I couldn't call Dave and wake him up. Giorgio wasn't as fortunate. He only had the cigarettes and banana he just bought at the gas station. He had no visa or any kind of documents, no wallet, and no cell phone. We were lucky that the gas station we were at was also a small bus station. I bought 2 tickets for me and Giorgio to Tallinn. We caught the next bus and arrived into Tallinn about 1 hour behind our original bus. Dave had no idea what had happened to us. He told us that the bus arrived in Tallinn, and he woke up to discover that he was now all alone. Dave got all of our bags off the bus, so everything was cool. Also the riots were only on the previous Friday night, so everything was calm.
Let me tell you about the city of Tallinn. It is a city that has two major sections of downtown. There is a old Tallinn and a new Tallinn. Each section is separated by a major street. There is a castle and many very old, small buildings in old Tallinn. It reminds me of a fair tale city that I would read about in a book. The castle has big walls that enclose about 2/3 of old Tallinn. You can look over the castle walls onto the old city. You see many tiny buildings very close to each other. You can't see all the roads because some are so narrow. It is great to walk around the old city. There are no cars. It is very peaceful. You can walk and sightsee without any hassles. When you are tired, you can stop at any of the many cafes and relax. Another cool thing is that there are small archways that open up to courtyards with more restaurants and shops. New Tallinn is like any western city with large office buildings and cafes. The city of Tallinn is also very clean. English is widely spoken, so there was no communication break downs. We stayed in Tallinn for 2 days, and then we returned to St. Petersburg. You know what that means...another bus ride.
(This is a picture of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I couldn't the whole building in the picture because it is huge.)
We returned to St. Petersburg on the bus, and this time everything was fine. I didn't get off the bus...hhaaa. St. Petersburg is a really cool city too. It has a completely different feel than Moscow. Moscow has the feel of a big, busy, industry city while St. Petersburg has the feel of a smaller European city. St. Petersburg has many canals running through the city. It is cool to walk down the smaller canals. If you walk down the smaller ones about 5 blocks you can get away from the major tourist area and relax at a local neighbor cafe or bar. You can get more of a local feel of the city. Of course, you can take boat rides along the canals too. St. Petersburg also has the Hermitage. This is a huge art museum that would take a person 1 week to see everything inside. So, after 2 days in St. Petersburg, we returned to Moscow. Our journey was finally over. Our vacation got off to a rocky start, but it turned out to be a good journey.
Now for the lessons learned since the last blog entry:
- Do NOT get off the bus unless you ask the bus driver that it is a stop for everyone. (It might be a stop just for the driver to buy a pack of cigarettes.)
- If you travel by bus with 2 or more people, then only 1 person get off the bus at a time because if the bus driver just leaves without checking to see if all the people have returned, there is someone on the bus to try to get the driver to turn around. At the very least, there is someone to hold your bags until you meet up again.
- When the snow starts to melt don't walk directly below the roof-line of a building.
Also, I forgot to mention a "Lesson Learned" item in the previous blog, so let me quickly discuss it. It is important to know that when the snow begins to melt in Moscow, a person should not walk directly below the roof-line of a building. I saw a poor, unsuspecting guy get destroyed by a mound of melting snow that fell from the roof of the building he was walking next to. It was like Niagara Falls on this guy. (Of course I was laughing since it wasn't me.) Now this rule can apply to any city that experiences large amounts of snow during the winter season. I have only seen this in Moscow since this is the first city I have lived in that experiences so much snow.
Ok, so now I will move on to what I have experienced since the last blog entry. Last weekend me and two other teachers at the school took a vacation. There was me, Dave, another American, and Giorgio, the crazy Italian. Our plan was to visit Tallinn, Estonia for 2 days and St. Petersburg for 2 days. Quickly, let me give you our travel plans. We were to travel by train from Moscow to St. Petersburg and then to take a bus from St. Petersburg to Tallinn the same day. After 2 days in Tallinn, we would return to St. Petersburg via bus and spend 2 days there.
(This picture was taken on one of the roads in Old Tallinn. From the narrow cobblestone road you can see one of the towers along the castle wall.)
Ok, now let me tell you about our journey. So the Friday when we were leaving on our journey, we received an bad omen. Riots broke out in Tallinn that day. The Estonian Government removed a statue of a Red Army soldier from the center of the city. Well, this went over like a lead balloon from Russians living in Tallinn and the country of Russia. So some young Russian boys created a riot in the center of Tallinn. They broke some windows, burned some car, and I think one guy was stabbed. Needless to say, we were concerned about traveling to Tallinn after hearing about this. We're gambling men, so we decided to go ahead anyway and travel to Tallinn. We got on the train to go to St. Petersburg at about 9:00 Friday evening. The train ride was good. We arrived in St. Petersburg at 7:00 on Saturday morning. Next, we found the bus station to catch our bus to Tallinn. We all got on the bus and fell asleep immediately. We woke up when the bus stopped for the border control stop at the Russia/Estonia border. We went through customs and everything was cool. So we all fall asleep again. About 45 minutes later me and Giorgio wake up because we feel the bus stop. The bus has stopped at a gas station is some small town in Estonia. We saw the bus driver get off the bus along with other passengers on the bus. So we thought this is a great time to get off, stretch out, and walk around. I grabbed my coat, and me and Giorgio went into the store while Dave was still sleeping like a rock on the bus. I went to the bathroom for a maximum of 2 minutes. I walked out of the gas station door and onto the bus parked outside. As I looked at the people on the bus I noticed that none of them were familiar. I didn't remember any of these people. Then I looked at the color of the bus, and I realized I got on the wrong bus. I walked off the bus and looked to the back of the bus. There I saw Giorgio waving his arms. I will never forget his face as he looked to me and yelled, "that's not our bus...ours is gone!!" Then he immediately took two quick drags off the cigarette that he just bought. I looked at the empty spot behind this wrong bus and realized...."our damn driver just left me and Giorgio in some small city in Estonia!!!" All of our bags were on the bus. I guess the driver just stopped to buy some cigarettes. Me and Giorgio went through a state of denial for 15 minutes. We walked around the gas station thinking that the bus just pulled around to one of the sides. Nope...there was no bus. Next we thought Dave, who was still sleeping on the bus, would wake up and notice that we are no longer sitting next to him and make the driver stop the bus. So, we waited by the road looking for our bus to return. As we saw buses drive by our hopes would rise only to be shot down be reality...the bus is not returning. Dave is going to sleep the entire way to Tallinn. After 30 minutes of waiting by the road, me and Giorgio decided on move to Plan B. By the grace of God, I grabbed my coat before I got off the bus. In my coat I had my visa, wallet, and cell phone. My cell phone didn't work in Estonia, so I couldn't call Dave and wake him up. Giorgio wasn't as fortunate. He only had the cigarettes and banana he just bought at the gas station. He had no visa or any kind of documents, no wallet, and no cell phone. We were lucky that the gas station we were at was also a small bus station. I bought 2 tickets for me and Giorgio to Tallinn. We caught the next bus and arrived into Tallinn about 1 hour behind our original bus. Dave had no idea what had happened to us. He told us that the bus arrived in Tallinn, and he woke up to discover that he was now all alone. Dave got all of our bags off the bus, so everything was cool. Also the riots were only on the previous Friday night, so everything was calm.
Let me tell you about the city of Tallinn. It is a city that has two major sections of downtown. There is a old Tallinn and a new Tallinn. Each section is separated by a major street. There is a castle and many very old, small buildings in old Tallinn. It reminds me of a fair tale city that I would read about in a book. The castle has big walls that enclose about 2/3 of old Tallinn. You can look over the castle walls onto the old city. You see many tiny buildings very close to each other. You can't see all the roads because some are so narrow. It is great to walk around the old city. There are no cars. It is very peaceful. You can walk and sightsee without any hassles. When you are tired, you can stop at any of the many cafes and relax. Another cool thing is that there are small archways that open up to courtyards with more restaurants and shops. New Tallinn is like any western city with large office buildings and cafes. The city of Tallinn is also very clean. English is widely spoken, so there was no communication break downs. We stayed in Tallinn for 2 days, and then we returned to St. Petersburg. You know what that means...another bus ride.
(This is a picture of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I couldn't the whole building in the picture because it is huge.)We returned to St. Petersburg on the bus, and this time everything was fine. I didn't get off the bus...hhaaa. St. Petersburg is a really cool city too. It has a completely different feel than Moscow. Moscow has the feel of a big, busy, industry city while St. Petersburg has the feel of a smaller European city. St. Petersburg has many canals running through the city. It is cool to walk down the smaller canals. If you walk down the smaller ones about 5 blocks you can get away from the major tourist area and relax at a local neighbor cafe or bar. You can get more of a local feel of the city. Of course, you can take boat rides along the canals too. St. Petersburg also has the Hermitage. This is a huge art museum that would take a person 1 week to see everything inside. So, after 2 days in St. Petersburg, we returned to Moscow. Our journey was finally over. Our vacation got off to a rocky start, but it turned out to be a good journey.
Now for the lessons learned since the last blog entry:
- Do NOT get off the bus unless you ask the bus driver that it is a stop for everyone. (It might be a stop just for the driver to buy a pack of cigarettes.)
- If you travel by bus with 2 or more people, then only 1 person get off the bus at a time because if the bus driver just leaves without checking to see if all the people have returned, there is someone on the bus to try to get the driver to turn around. At the very least, there is someone to hold your bags until you meet up again.
- When the snow starts to melt don't walk directly below the roof-line of a building.
