Muse back!
July 21, 2008 / Monday
Holy Cow, They Understood Me!
Boss and big boss left town this afternoon. That leaves me here, all by my lonesome.
I decided last week that once they left, I would start taking the subway to and from work. It would give me more independence and flexibility in my schedule, and besides, I wanted to see what the Metro looked like anyhow. It's the deepest subway system in the world, partly to get below the soggy soil and partly so its stations could double as bomb shelters.
When I told the folks at the office, they seemed worried. They wanted me to stick with a driver in the morning and to take a taxi home in the evening. I insisted, and so they found someone at the office who was headed my way after work to go with me. That was really nice of them, and Alexei definitely helped make my first subway experience go a lot smoother.
I did buy my tokens on my own, though. (Alexei kindly offered to help, but I told him I wanted to try it myself because I needed to learn.) Granted, all I really had to say was "Five, please," in Russian, but still, there was a chance that she wouldn't understand me! It actually all went quite smoothly.
Next came the escalator ride down. This was, by far, the longest. escalator. ride. of. my. life. I swear, this thing was so long that I couldn't see the end. Next time I take it, I'm timing it.
The Metro: Deep? YES. Foreigner friendly? No. It's hustling and bustling and almost all in Russian. It's cheap, though (17 rubles per token, less than one dollar), and the trains come quite frequently. A much better deal than BART. It's faster and much better decorated, to boot. Too bad I'm not allowed to take pictures; I'm tempted to try, but I really don't want to get in trouble with teh law.
Tomorrow, I do this in the other direction, on my own.
When it was time for dinner, I decided to cook, as I was tired of eating out. I bought some dried tortellini from the store downstairs, and then walked down half a block to an old lady on the street selling home grown vegetables. Through a combination of pointing and short phrases, I got a big bag of tomatoes and some garlic. One week ago, I wouldn't have dared try to communicate with someone that I knew for sure didn't speak English. Progress!
I had a bit of an amusing moment while preparing the tortellini. There were many languages on the bag, and while searching for the English section I simply started reading whatever I could naturally understand. After getting the information I needed, I took another look and realized that I'd just read the French section. Hah! That'll do. Nice to see that I'm getting to use a variety of languages on this trip.
Cooking dinner was really pleasant. It made me feel normal. Originally, I had lamented the fact that I didn't get to stay at a hotel in the middle of everything, but now I'm glad to have an apartment with a kitchen. Plus, it's not really that far out of the way; I'm one subway stop away from "everything", one block from the station, and only 20 minutes away by foot.
Mosquito bite++ on my back. That brings the tally to 33.
July 21, 2008 11:32 AM | St. Petersburg
Comments
yikes. you need to start winning this mosquito battle.
and you are so brave for doing the subway thing. me? i'd say "hello, driver!"
keep up the great posts!
Posted by: cheddah j at July 22, 2008 06:53 PM
The mosquitoes are ganging up on me!
I could say, "Hello, driver!" but that's about all he understands. I get a lot more out of wandering around on my own than I do trying to ask him questions he doesn't understand!
Posted by: Viv at July 23, 2008 04:44 AM