My Birthday & My First Felony

I woke up not even realizing I was 24 today.  To be honest, with everything else going on I haven’t really given it much though.  But here it was. 

We went into the city centre and took a bus tour.  Of course it was in Russian.  Even though I DO speak Russian, I have to concentrate to understand anything complicated and anything spoken too fast.  Whereas English, I can understand in passing alone, whether I concentrate or not.  This made listening to the tour guide and sightseeing at the same time very difficult.  I decided to stick with the sightseeing.  Meh.

We then went inside inside the Kings Palace where we pretended to be “local authentic Russians,” as opposed to tourists.  Tourists (aka foreigners) pay a premium price for tickets apparently.  Obviously, this meant keeping my mouth shut (as my accent is a dead give away) and letting my mom do all the talking. The tour guide here talked even faster.  Damn. You. Have. To. Speak. Slowly. Please.  I stuck to just sightseeing again.  Apparently, the tour guide was very good.

Then we bought tickets to the ballet for Sept 18th. YAY! Happy Birthday to me! (Again, discounted pricing for locals.  Again, I kept my mouth shut and lurked in the corner).

To round off the day we had tea and desert (aka bday cake) at a local cute Starbucks-like cafe.

Finally, we got on the metro. (If you enjoy personal space, you wont enjoy the Russian metro system.  Last time I was that close to someone, we were dating).  Stopping by at the local supermarket for food, and realizing the cashier didnt ring in my apple juice, closed the day off by having committed by first felony. (We ran away hoping she wouldnt notice).

OBSERVATIONS FOR TODAY:

• If you’re a man and you’re over 40 and you dont have a mustache, you aint no man at all.
• Scrunchies are cool.
• Update to yesterdays #1: WOMEN mullets are cool too.
• Its ok to dress in every colour of the rainbow.  I will never understand the fashion here.  Its like an 80’s couture runway show gone bad.  Can you call Stacey and Clinton and get them to tell a whole country what not to wear? (In retrospect, they probably say the same about North Americans.)

Mother Russia? Da!

On September 7th, I leave for my 2week vacation with mother to Russia. St. Petersburg to be exact.

Even though I was born in Russia (well technically it was the Ukraine, but it was all the USSR back then), I really don’t remember anything at all. I was only 6 years old when we immigrated to Canada. It will be like seeing it for the first time, so I’m pretty excited! I still get torn whenever I watch any sporting event – do I cheer for Russia? Ukraine? or Canada? They are all winners in my heart.

Since I will be turning the big 2-4 (OMG, I’m almost in my mid-twenties, *insert heart attack here*) on September 9th when I happen to be in Russia, my mother is taking me to the Russian National Ballet to see Giselle. Growing up doing competitive dance all my life, this is a BIG DEAL!

Back when it was still called “Leningrad” (to be pronounced in a thick Russian accent), my mother attended University here, and still has friends living in the area. School in Russia is very different than it is in North America. While we change our classmates every year when we enter a new grade, the Russians enjoy the comforts of having the same people move from Kindergarten all the way up to highschool. So you can imagine how close you must become with the people you’ve spent your whole childhood with. My mom is pretty excited to show me the places she used to visit and where she studied. It will be good to get an insiders perspective since she can compare it to what it was then to what the places look like now. Also, good to get off the tourist track sometimes.

My mom is also convinced that all we need to bring is 1 carry one luggage each (since we have a layover in Amsterdam she is scared our luggage will get lost). She doesn’t see the need to bring shampoo’s or any other liquids along with us as she thinks we can buy it all there or borrow from friends. While I think this is a tremendous idea in theory – I’m afraid she has grown too accustomed to the North American life, and forgets that there isn’t a 24hour convenient store nearby where we can pick up all necessary things for 2 weeks for a cheap price. Am I wrong to think that my facewash is not readily available in downtown St. Petersburg? (And just to justify the fact about my facewash – I’m a redhead with extremely sensitive skin – trust me, skin products are like my 3rd leg).

Russia here I come!

Q: Any of you have tips on what to see in St. Petersburg? What to watch out for? What to bring? What NOT to bring?