Loveliness

Today is a red-letter day; we are getting ages of free time, although the first group is doing 90 minutes of translation while the 2nd and 3rd groups get internet time. Poor them.

We went to Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad--the largest, bloodiest battle of WWII) on Saturday. The city was big and beautiful, with many monuments and memorials to the soldiers. Pictures are up on the Photobucket. (Speaking of pictures, I now have almost 2G of them on my flash card...and it's only week 3!)

We rode the train overnight to and from the city (we left Friday at 9 PM and returned Sunday at 6 AM). I had never been on a train before, much less a Russian train. It was an interesting experience, but surprisingly comfortable. I was quite fortunate in my choice of coupe: we were gluttons rather than drunkards. (There are only two options to pass the time on a train--eat or get drunk.) I was with Maria, Sara, and Ross (2 of the 3 have blogs linked to mine). It was quite fun.

I would say that the majority of our group opted for the drunkeness option, which was pretty annoying after midnight. Vodka is forbidden (and illegal) on Russian trains, but almost everyone ignores the rule. Sara tells me that she has seen excessively rowdy drunk passengers ejected from the train.

I slept very well on the train. Everything you hear about the motion being soothing is true. I slept off and on the first night (I woke up for every stop), and then slept through Saturday night.

Poor Ross had his wallet stolen on the marshrutka on our way home from school on Friday. He was quite distraught, as we had just received our stipend (all 1500 rubles of it) and his bank and credit cards were in it.

I loved the weather in Volgograd on Saturday. It was cool and drizzly, with a breeze. Such a nice change of pace from the melting heat of the past 2 weeks. Even though we had a bus, we walked for ages and ages on different excursions.

We arrived at 9 AM, ate breakfast at a cafe (it was the lunch menu--but Lyuba pointed out the blinichki with tvorog. They are rolled crepe-like pancakes with sweetened farmer's cheese...so yummy...and in my diet), and then got on the bus. We walked the boardwalk and up the memorial park/lane to the central square of Volgograd (a giant circle back to the train station), an then went to the base of the memorial park on the highest hill in the city. Volgograd is home to a giant sculpture, Mother of the Motherland, which is taller than the Statute of Liberty. In order to get to the statue (you have to walk--no handicapped options here), you proceed through staircase after staircase, memorial square after memorial square, so on and so forth, until you arrive at a memorial pantheon (the Stalingrad version of the Vietnam memorial). From there you proceed up the slope to the monument. We basically climbed the highest hill in the area. Great views of the city.

After visiting the church at the statute, where I purchased an Orthodox ring (it says "save and protect me" in Church Slavonic), we walked a short way to the parking lot and got on the bus, in which we re-circled the downtown on our way to the museum. We were scheduled to eat lunch at Cafe Old Stalingrad. The atmosphere was awesome, but the food was terrible. Drusia had to scrounge black bread from another table (I'm not allowed to eat white), and I couldn't drink my grape juice (also not allowed)...and had to pay 35 rubles for apple juice. But it had ice and a straw in it. This utterly amazed David (he drank my grape juice). The restaurant served us LIVER and mashed potatoes for lunch. Ugh. I couldn't even cut mine. David was the only one at the table to finish his. Amazing.

After lunch we went to the war museum. There was a flat fee to take pictures, but my batteries were dying and I didn't feel like paying $2. On the 3rd/4th floor of the musuem--of course no elevators--was a huge panorama of the battle. It was amazing...the muraled wall blended perfectly with the floor's 3-D trenches and other residue of battle. The guide pointed out in the mural the still-standing, shelled factory next to the musuem we were currently in. I am really happy we got to see the panorama...although by this time I was thoroughly sick of staircases.

The musuem also has the sniper rifle of Zaitsev, the most famous soldier of the battle of Stalingrad, and subject of the movie The Enemy at the Gates (Jude Law's character, I think).

After the musuem, we proceeded to the Planetarium, where we climbed yet another set of stairs. I can't tell you much more than that, because I slept for the entire presentation. The seats were not very comfortable.

After the planetarium, we went back to the same cafe we breakfasted in. I have now been to the Cafe Limon 3 times, and in Volgograd twice. The same food was served for dinner as was for breakfast, but I ate apple charlotka and was content.

A quick forage at the grocery store across the street to purchase goodies for another gluttonous feast on the train, and then we got on our train to return to Astrakhan'.

In Astrakhan' Lidia Glebovna gave Sara, Maria, and me a ride to our respective streets. As soon as I got into my room, I fell into bed and slept for another 7 hours.

Sunday night (last night) Sara, Laura, and myself went to the Dramatic Theater (that is literally what it is called) to see a comedy...I can't translate the title. It was a period piece, and while the set was pretty, I didn't really understand much of it. (It was very confusing: the mom wanted her daughter to marry the Prince, but another guy wanted to marry the daughter, and the Prince liked the daughter but didn't want to marry her, and the daughter didn't want to marry anybody...I think.) This time Sara and I got on the right marshrutka going in the right direction, and had no troubles getting home.

After I got home, my mom called. This made me happy, because I had kept forgetting to buy an international calling card over the previous 3-4 days, and I knew my grandparent's 50th was approaching. I got to wish my grandparents a happy anniversary, and talk briefly to everyone. It was nice, but hard. I think it is harder this time in Russia just because I have so much more contact with everyone at home. I miss you more when I think about you, and with no real internet or phone options it is easier to push everyone to the back of my mind and enjoy the moment. But I wouldn't give up the contact for anything.

Allison--I cannot read the Russian biochemical information on the back of my drugs (well, I can, but I don't understand it), and I have no idea what they would translate to in English. My cream is "derma--something with an "a" sound" (--aid, ate) I don't know by Glaxo-Smith-Kline. I'm taking Zyrtec daily, and some mystery pill--it might be something like diazalene(?).

Mom--I talked to Tim today about my concerns that my symptoms are alleviated but haven't abated. He is going to see if it is possible to arrange a consultation with a dermatologist.

Today seems the closest we have ever had to a half-day or a light day. Maybe I can actually go sit in a cafe for a while tonight. I just wish I could have chocolate or eat desert. It is incredibly difficult to feed my sweet tooth when fruit and chocolate are forbidden. Thank God for honey.

I have to leave for choir now. (They have added a new class to our schedule: Choir). I am really excited about it!

Love y'all--all y'all. Shelley.