My host family

Yes!  The post everyone's been waiting for.  The answer to the most burning questions, the ones I keep getting nagged to answer.


Where the hell do you live here in Russia??  Who are these people that are feeding you and giving you a place to stay??  How cold is it there??  This is Russia, how come your pictures don't have more snow in them??  Why aren't you wearing more layers, you're in RUSSIA for heaven's sake, you'll catch pneumonia if you don't bundle up.


Sheesh.


Let's see.....well, let me start with the most basic of things.  I live in St. Petersburg, the former capital of Russia.  It's waaaaaaay up north on the Baltic Sea, practically sitting on the border with Finland.

Just think of the big black dot as a You-Are-Here star

And indeed, according to Mihail, some St. Petersburg natives go grocery shopping across the border.  Cool yet crazy, right??  It was founded by Peter the Great, one of Russia's most fantastic rulers who pushed many good reforms through the government, lived in Amsterdam for a little over a year just to see what it was like to work as a commoner, used that knowledge to create Russia's first naval fleet, and brought Russia onto the global stage as a world power in her own right.

He also thought it was an ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT IDEA to build a castle in a swamp.

Seems legit

Yeah.  Everything here is on special pilings to make sure it doesn't get reclaimed by the marshland.  It does help the weather stay a bit warmer here (though everything is muddy and slushy all the time).  The winds blow west to east, and being a coastal city as well, not a whole lot of freezing cold comes our way here.  One of the Russians I talked to yesterday told me that I came at the wrong time and that we Americans know nothing of cold - don't we know it should be -22 here??  Thanks, we get it.  You're not big on us foreigners.  The weather now is not so bad, and it's been in the 30s for over a week, so shush.


So St. Petersburg, being built on the Neva River delta, is made up of a network of islands and a bit of the Russian mainland.  Here's a general overview of my new city.

Notice the little blue castle on the mainland by the river on the right??  That's Smolney - that's my school.


In the bottom left corner is a little dot labeled PULKOVO.  That is the airport I flew into.  Technically there are 3 airports here named Pulkovo (aptly named Pulkovo 1, 2, and 3).  Unfortunately for travelers, none of these terminals are anywhere near each other.  Pulkovo 1 and Pulkovo 2 are 6 kilometers away from each other.  I hope you're not connecting through St. Petersburg on your travels.....


Anyway, the big river that snakes along the right is the Neva River.  Currently it is frozen solid, and the water is a gross muddy brown color.  But hey, we can't drink the water anyway here.  It can be purple for all I care.  On the map towards the middle top there is an island connected by two bridges to the mainland.

This is Vasilievsky Island.  I live on the northwestern part of the island, right on the corner of one of those main roads.  It's a bit of a hike to get from here to school in the mornings, especially during rush hour, but it's not impossible.  And it's quite pretty, even in winter when everything's slushy and mucky and there's black ice everywhere.

We've even got kick-ass lighthouses

.......all I've got of the pretty parts of the island is the lighthouse.  There's more to it, and I saw it all on the bus tour the first few days I was here, but sadly my camera died before I could get more photographic proof.  You'll just have to take my word for it that my island can be pretty.

This is my home.  All residential buildings here in St. Petersburg are high rise apartment complexes.  From what I've heard, my family has quite a large apartment.  There are 3 rooms, a kitchen, a room for the toilet, and a room for the shower and sink and washing machine.  Yes, my bathroom is, in fact, TWO ROOMS.  Very European.  As for the other rooms, my host parents have a weird dynamic.  My host father has his own room right by the hallway door.  Most of the time he's in there with the light off either watching TV or coughing his way through sleep.  I swear that man is trying to drag his lungs out through his mouth.


Moving on.  My host mother has her own set of rooms, which are down the short hallway and across from my own room.  She has a combination living room and sitting room right off the hall.  I've only been in there twice, as it really isn't a common room for the apartment, but it's got a couch and some bookshelves and a couple photographs of her daughters and grandchildren.  Through that room is her bedroom.  From what I can see from my own doorway, it's got a bed somewhere out of sight, a TV, and a really comfy leather chair.

By the way, this is my host mother.  The wonderful Yulia Georgievna.

Юлия Георгиевна

Yulia is also completely in charge of the kitchen.  Unless she specifically tells you that things can be touched, hands off!!  Breakfast every morning is cereal and an open faced sandwich (bread, cheese, meat, lettuce) with tea.  Dinner is whatever she feels like making.  Usually I come home from school and dinner's ready within 45 minutes of when I walk in.  Every single time, I'm caught up doing something when dinner's ready, and when Yulia Georgievna says it's time for dinner, she means "drop whatever you're doing and come eat now".  All the host mothers seem to be that way, so ok then.  As long as I try each dish she makes, Yulia is happy.  And she's still trying to figure out what I can and can't eat (or more accurately, what I will and won't touch).  I keep some brick-like poptart things in my room for school snacks and in case I don't eat much for dinner, but that hasn't really been a problem yet.  Also she found out that I like oranges, so they magically appear - sliced! - right after dinner.

And then there's my room.  It's got a small TV, a little twin bed, a desk, two desk chairs, and an arm chair.  There's also a small corner closet that's surprisingly roomy (or maybe that's 'cause I didn't bring a whole lot of stuff with me) and a low bookshelf by the windows with a multi-volume set of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in Russian (obviously).  Currently one of the desk chairs is moonlighting as a night stand.  Unfortunately, pictures are super frustrating here.  I cannot get a good shot of the place from any angle.  You'll just have to take my word for it that it's decent sized and comfy.

This is the best shot.  Behind is the closet and arm chair, on the right is the desk

With the poptart bricks I keep a stash of emergency chocolate and juice cartons in my closet.  Literally every time I find myself in a grocery store, I pick up another thing of juice.  Mostly multi-fruit cocktails, since those are like drinking the nectar of the gods, but anything besides plain water is nice.  And all the juices taste fresh squeezed - except for the orange juice.  That tastes like Sunny D.

This confuses me greatly

Also, just a note - none of these rooms are big by American standards.  Each room is smaller than the average dorm room at college, which is perfectly sized for a single person.


Also also note - the cat is trying to get in again.  She keeps kicking me off my furniture if she gets in the room.  Risi is VERY affectionate, but she has the most massive claws.  And her way of getting people's attention if they ignore her is to use those talons to bat at them.  If I am sitting on a chair or my bed and she manages to find her way in, inevitably Risi tries to jump on me.  Most of the time I can stand up and out of the way before she jumps, but then she's on my chair.  At perfect batting height.  And she complains loudly.  It's kinda funny - at least once a day, everyone in this apartment gives the cat a look and asks "What do you want??" ("Что ты хочишь?")

She is cute, though.

So yeah.  This is my host family.




Note: In an earlier post, I accidentally misspelled my host mother's patronymic.  All of the patronymics were blurring together the first few days, and saying Yulia Georgievna is still a mouthful at times, but yes.  It's Georgievna, not Grigorievna.  My apologies.