No bucket list?

     Got word this week that the parkour gym in Baltimore is closing. While I am rather saddened by this, I'm choosing to focus on the fact that I got to study parkour for a year and a half, and that there are opportunities to continue doing so, if I choose to take them up. Having decided on that point of view, however, I started thinking about all the things I've gotten to do in life. You frequently hear about bucket lists - things that people want to see and do before they die - and google is full of "best ideas to add to  your bucket list" pages. I get stuck, though, on the concept of having a list of things you want to do - or think you want to do - or think you should want to do - just lying around waiting for you to pay attention to it.

     I don't have a bucket list (surprise, considering the title of this post). Don't get me wrong, there are probably things I want to do before I die, but instead of making a list based on things I want now, which, let's face it, is apt to change as life progresses, I prefer to live life in such a way that when opportunity or interest hits me, I can go and do it. My father has a story he's fond of telling about a person who would"someday" go on that bucket list trip to Europe. Things kept never being quite right, and they died having never gone on a simple trip. Don't wait for "someday," he says, make it happen.

London/Ireland trip, part 3

(continued from previous post)

     Ok, I promise this will be the last post on this trip! After leaving Killarney, we headed up to Galway, We checked out of the hotel a little late, because we wanted to soak up the peace and quiet as much as possible, so we pulled into Galway right around rush hour. The hotel was pretty decent,
although it had terrible wifi, and had an attached restaurant where, with a reservation, we became the least-well-dressed and youngest couple (by at least 20 years) to have a freaking delicious meal. Thankfully, we both overate horribly, because the waitstaff was not what I'd call speedy, so we had plenty of time to digest before the bill came and we went back to the room to pass out.

     The next day, we drove into oldtown Galway, parked by the water, and began to wander. Since we didn't really plan anything, this turned into somewhat of an adventure as we left the shopping district, found a train station, trespassed on abandoned private property to get a good view of the Bay, got rained on, and found a random cemetery. Knowing that my gentleman and I both appreciate quiet and old spaces, we decided to duck in, counting on the fact that it had a plaque near the front gate to indicate that it was, indeed, open to the public, and we weren't further trespassing.

London/Ireland Trip, part 2

(continued from previous post)

     Having successfully navigated London and Dublin, we climbed back in the car and headed out to see other parts of southern Ireland. After navigating out onto the appropriate highway, I learned two things. 1) The best way to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road is to be on an open highway for mind-numbing hours. 2) Drivers in less urban areas are rather nice, and pretty darn mature. We quickly picked up that the thing to do is to be in the left lane (slow lane) until you need to overtake someone. You move right, go around them, and then get back in the slow lane. We had zero issues with getting stuck behind some jerk going slowly in the fast lane and holding everyone up. It was quite pleasant.

London/Ireland Trip, part 1

   My gentleman and I recently went on a trip to London and Ireland - my first vacation in years, our first big trip together, and his first time off the continent. Overall, it was very good, and we had some serious soul-searching on whether or not to come back. The siren song of steady paychecks were what finally won out, but we have both agreed it will not be our last vacation together or abroad.

London:

   We intentionally flew out on Monday night, so that we could have a weekend before our vacation to prep and be relaxed from the start. In hindsight, taking an overnight flight with a connection at 3am was maybe not the smartest thing, but I did like the mid-week start. We landed at London Gatwick at about 9am local time, and hopped a cab into London. Somewhat expensive, but we were both pretty fried at that point. Moreover, even the cabbie got lost looking for the hotel, so I'm pretty sure if we'd tried it ourselves, it would have been a rough start. The hotel itself was nice, if typically British (i.e. very narrow rooms with high ceilings, as if height makes up for lack of elbow room). Breakfast was included, and we slept in both days we were there. 

Quick update, post-move

     I am alive, and made it through the trip from CO to MD unscathed! My car suffered some minor damage, but it appears all of my stuff made it unbroken as well, which is highly appreciated. While things are not completely settled in the new place, we do at least have all the furniture where it ought to be, and basic internet connections set up. With luck, posts will resume Monday as per usual, probably with a recap of the move. See you then!

Chatting with strangers

     I’ve never really figured out what the standards for my shyness are. Generally speaking, I don’t like talking to people from whom I need a favor, and I abhor talking about money (I am a horrible haggler). I’m not fond of socializing in large groups of people, and I have a low-level dislike of humanity as a whole. Yet, when I’m standing in a line, or waiting for a plane to take off, or just randomly passing people on the streets, I have no problem chatting with them and starting up a friendship. Perhaps it’s the level of engagement that’s involved, I don’t know. But I am continually fascinated by how much information and background you can get from a totally random person just by saying hello.

     This past week was spent looking for a place to live with my gentleman after I graduate. We looked at a couple different places, and finally settled on one that, while not perfect, is acceptable. After we gave the go ahead for the agency to hold it for us, we took some time, driving around the neighborhoods and shopping areas nearby, to get a feel for what there was. One of the things that I saw and really liked was what looked like a neighborhood pool, basketball court, and community center not two blocks away from where we will be. Curious, I asked Angel to stop in so we could inquire about rates and suchlike.

FTP 43 - Try new things

     Many years ago, I worked at a casino in the food court. Being a friendly (if introverted) person, I soon got to know pretty much everyone on all three shifts in all of the restaurants and the production areas. One day, one of the guys who worked in the bakery pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to go to a concert with him. It turned out he was the drummer for a punk band that would be playing in Worcester, MA, and wanted me to go with him. Despite having no real interest in punk music, I figured it would be interesting, and agreed.

     On the day of the show, I drove over to his place, and right away, things got amusing. He'd decided at some point in the past to take out the front seat of his car in order to fit his skateboards (yes, plural) in there, so I rode in the back passenger seat, with loads of legroom. We chatted the whole way up there, and discovered, once we got there, that the people who were supposed to help get things set up hadn't shown. The guy who drove their gear up looked at me and said, "well, any interest in being a roadie for a night?" I laughed, because no not really, but said I'd be happy to help, long as they showed me what to do.

Lol, no. But thanks.

     It didn't get any more serious after that, either. To my surprise, my friend's band was the headliner (which meant they went onstage at like midnight...), so I had a lot of waiting around to do. Being a responsible person, however, I was back at the place about 15 minutes before time, and found out that my friend was the only band member there. Since someone had to be there, he asked me to go hunt down the members of his band... at midnight... in a town I didn't know... for people I'd met all of once. Somehow, I managed to do so, and they all got on stage on time, where I promptly discovered that no, thanks, I am not a fan of punk music. We finally packed everything back into the trailer at 1:30 or so, and my friend and I started back to Connecticut.

     Am I glad I went? Heck yes. I had a very interesting time, and learned a lot. Some of it was what I'm not interested in, but by doing those things, I have narrowed down a lot of possibilities, and it gets easier to find what I do like. Cheers!

Re-entry

     Coming back from a vacation is always an interesting time. You never know what surprises await you, because of course it can't be as easy as simply taking up the reins of responsibilities again. Not only is it the case that you have changed, in your time away, but also, inevitably, something will glitch and require attention before everything going smoothly again. It is simply a fact of life.

     I got pretty lucky on this trip, to be honest. Setting aside the sadness of leaving my gentleman behind, I came back to a reasonably warm, un-broken-into house, a car that was dirty but unharmed and still runs well, and a job that has plenty of work for me to do. Astonishingly, the financial aid department at college even managed to get everything correct, so for the first time in 4 years, I don't have to go in and fight with them. All-in-all, that's pretty amazing.

FTP 20 - Controlling the self

     Ok, I do believe we are back on track now. That is not to say that I have everything put away, caught up, organized and ready to go, but I've found enough breathing room where I can marshall my thoughts into something resembling order once more. With that in mind, here goes this week's FTP:

     A number of times during the last two months, people asked me, "don't you miss being home?" or, "aren't you tired of being on the road for this long?" If you had asked me even two years ago how I thought I'd handle being away from home for two months, I'd have told you I wouldn't deal with it well. I'm a fairly domestic person, I like having things the way I left them, and I like having my down time- alone and in silence.

Delays again!

     I know, I know, I've been really bad about posting updates the last few weeks. I am technically back in the states, but not really home yet. I've been busy meeting up with old friends and hanging out with family, so there's not been a need for updates; on the other hand, I haven't had terribly much downtime to plan out new post topics either, which is why things have been pretty quiet on the blogfront.

     I'm flying home this coming Monday, so I sincerely doubt there'll be a post up then, unless it's something along the lines of "what's wrong with airports these days, and what needs to be changed to return to a rational state of business." Lengthy title, but I may just have to do that one someday... Anyhow! Things should return to normal (i.e. Monday and Friday postings) as of this coming Friday, the 24th, with a return to FTPs. Until then, here's something to consider:

Readjusting

     Traveling to another country is always fraught with culture shock and differences, but it is expected and planned for. Coming back from other countries, however, can carry just as much adjustment as going to them, particularly if you don't immediately return to your home and routine. You have to readjust, not only to the fact that everyone speaks your native language now (so the nagging, subconscious mental command of "no english!" can finally be put to rest), but also to things that you've taken for granted in the past.

     In my case, coming back to the east coast instead of the midwest is as much of a culture shock as leaving the country. Even when traveling within the US, there is a huge variation in the attitudes, outlooks on life, and general behaviors between regions. Having been subjected to the general rudeness of Russians for the past month, I had come to cherish my memories of Colorado friendliness; it was therefor a bit of a shock to come back to the Baltimore/ DC area and realize that the people here are at least as rude, but now I can understand their language, and there's no excuse of "oh, it's another culture!"

Not over yet.

     So apparently my downward spiral hasn't quite hit bottom yet. While the official days for the seminars are over, we still have Russian classes next week- not a huge deal, as they're only in the morning, so we get the afternoon to go explore. I woke up yesterday with a scratchy throat, however, and today has been an exercise in finding paper products once I burned through my pack o' faux kleenexes to try to contain my leaky nose. As of 10pm, I have sinus congestion, a headache, and if I try to talk, I start coughing. I suspect that tomorrow will be spent in bed, or walking in the house so I can get some exercise without coming back with a pocket full o' snotrags.

     Yes, I made that one, specifically for how I feel right now. I am beginning to suspect that one simply cannot have a good visit to Russia- it's not allowed. Despite trying put the best face I can on everything, I think I'm done. Can't wait to get home, or at least back to a country where they know what cleanliness and sanity are. 

A weekend off

     Since I still don't have internet in my block, I decided to go to the local Coffee House (literally Кофе Хаус for those of you who know the cyrillic alphabet) and test out the "free high speed internet" that everyone was talking about. I'd hoped that maybe things had improved since the last time I tried using free internet at the McDonald's back in 2010, but alas, it was not to be.

     While I will admit that the internet here allows for much faster loading of things like comics, Facebook, and email, trying to use Skype to talk to my family back home was nothing if not stressful. Even with the video shut down, there was horrific lag and random gaps in the transmission. While the 15 Mb limit that was present last time was not in effect, the provider did manage to shut down the connection every 15 minutes, instead, and make you click on their little "aren't we awesome for giving you free wifi?" ad that popped up in order to get back on. Add in the thump thump of bad Russian-voiceover American techno in the background, and I have to say, I'm not impressed.

     I did manage to make friends with the lone representative of Croatia in the program here, however, as she is the only other strong-minded, outspoken woman in the group. The two of us ended up going out for dinner on Saturday, and stayed out talking until 2 am (it's very hard to judge time when it looks like 4 in the afternoon until right before the sun sets, at 11:30 or so). She managed to put words to a couple things that have been bouncing around in the back of my head, even if they're not terribly complimentary.

Halfway mark

     I was writing in my journal today when I realized that I've hit the halfway point of my time here in Russia. As excited as I am to get back home and have access to things like tacos, a vacuum cleaner, a washer and dryer, and my own bed, I have to say that this trip has been amazing. I read back over what I'd written the first time I was here, and it was basically a litany of severe unhappiness in the face of an unknown and incomprehensible country. Here are a few brief comparisons of the major differences:

     Many of the people here ask about the last time I visited, and almost without fail, they say "I'm amazed you came back!" As my dad pointed out, however, far better that it be this way than that I had a great first trip and returned to have a miserable one. Here's to another great 2 weeks!

Weekend Pictures

     In apologies for this being put up late, here is a slightly over-the-top (and badly-filmed on an inexpensive camera) video of the opening ceremony at Peterhof Gardens. There are something like 300+ fountains in the entire park, and 100+ of them are in one location: the display directly in front of the castle. This is what we got up at 8am to try to catch; apparently the people in front of us had gotten up at 6 to be there at 8 so they could get front-row seats for the 10:30 commencement. It's pretty, but not enough to wake up at 6 am, in my opinion. Here goes!

     With that done, here are some pictures of the gardens, randomly selected from the twenty or so that I took throughout the day.

The Gulf of Finland- the only place I've been where the
clouds make me feel claustrophobic.

Quick Monday

     I'm mildly ashamed to say that I forgot the cable to connect my camera to my computer, so the pictures and video that I took yesterday at Peterhof will have to be delayed til tomorrow. The good news, though, is that I was able to get said pictures, and I don't have afternoon classes tomorrow, so I should have plenty of time to upload everything here... provided I don't forget to put it all on my computer first.

     Yesterday was wonderful- we did end up going to Peterhof gardens, and while it was overcast and windy, it wasn't actively raining. We managed to get going before 9am, and took the "ferry," a decently-sized hydrofoil taxi, arriving before they turned the fountains on for the day. There were people who had gotten there hours ahead of time, so we didn't have the best view, but I still managed to get some shots of the whole thing. We wandered around as a group (an activity I hate, because everyone has different ideas of how fast to walk and what's interesting) for a couple hours, then had lunch at the same place I went last time I was there. It was kinda neat, though, because this time I knew how to order in Russian and didn't have to wait for our shepherd/ translator.

Stock photo of a rare, clear day at Peterhof.

Weekend! (plus pictures)

     At last, at last, the weekend is here! Sadly, that means my time here is 1/4 done, but I still intend to make the best of it. We had a meeting this morning to sign yet another Russian document- we're all trusting Kirill (our Russian leader over here) to ensure that they're not selling off our firstborns or anything like that. Anyhow, that was at 11:30, lasting til about 12:30, and then we were free. I'm slightly ashamed to report that I slept until about 10:30, having gone to bed just after midnight. I don't know if it's the weight of the humid, denser air down here or all the walking we do, but I'm sleeping at least 9-10 hours every night. I'm one of the few who do, though, as most of my group is underage and delights in getting smashed at every opportunity, coming back home at about 2 or 3 am. To each their own, I'd rather be well-rested.
 
     Anyhow, decided to walk around down on Nevski Prospect- the incredibly wide street that runs almost the length of St. Pete's and has an amazing number of restaurants and shops. I went again to Dom Knigi and managed to find the kid's section this time, coming back with two books of fairy tales that I hope to be able to improve my reading skills on. Along the way, I ran into a display of Navy (as far as I can tell) vehicles that were parked on the huge walkways. For some amount of money, you could hold rifles and get your picture taken with two rather un-war-like females in skimpy dress, but I refrained.

Tuesday update

      So it seems like connectivity and keeping in touch with you all will be much, much easier this time (thank goodness). It turns out that my apartment is one of the few who don't have a current internet connection, but it should be fixed within the next 2 weeks. Even if they don't, however, there is speedy and reliable connection at school, so there will be no vanishing into the ether this time. That also means that you'll be getting more, smaller updates, and probably fewer pictures, since I will mostly be at school or home, rather than gallivanting about the country, starving and cranky.

     Today was the first day of language class, but (because of course it wouldn't be Russia if there weren't some problem), they only had one room for all of us, so we were all together. Keep in mind we have people with everything from one year of Russian all the way through  fluent native speakers, so I wasn't sure how it would go. Thankfully, though, the class that I'm in is the largest, so the prof started going over cases, prefixed verbs of motion (which I still hate, but am getting better at) and a huge variety of vocab. For once, I was exactly where I needed to be, and everyone around me was confused. It turns out that the NY school focusses on reading and writing rather than oral skills (heh), and they were having a hard time keeping up at first.

     One of the other ladies in the group has just convinced me to hit up the shopping area, though, since it's only 2pm, so I'm off. More later!

Russia, post 1

     Hello to you all from very nearly the opposite side of the world! I'm going to preface this entire post by saying: this trip has, so far, been 100% better than the last one. There will doubtless be all kinds of comparisons to that trip, but I'll try to keep them limited. Not sure how much time I have before the next event happens, so I'll get as much down as possible, forgive the messy setup. I am now working off of someone's unsecured wireless router, so I'm gonna see if I can get some pictures up/ more sense made before they figure out how to add a password.

     To start with, the trip here was fine. I and one other person were at the airport before the counters opened up, so we got our seats and got in really fast. We were a bit nervous at first, because no one else  showed up until about 30 minutes before the flight, but we did eventually meet up and were assured we were on the right plane. The flight to Moscow was delayed a bit, and was incredibly uncomfortable, so I didn't get any sleep, choosing to read instead. When we landed in Moscow we had just made it to the baggage pickup area when we heard the last call for our connection flight to St. Petersburg. Fortunately, there were enough of us in the group that they held the flight for us, but it was not the comfortable, relaxed saunter through the airport that I usually go for. The flight to St. Pete's was uneventful, and we landed at 9:30 in the morning.

I was amused as heck that our plane was made by Rolls
Royce, apparently. 

Sunset from a plane flying about the 60th parallel.
Sunrise happened again in 3 hours.

Quick Update #2

     Good news! Just got an email from the Russian-end coordinator of the trip. Despite the last-miunte-ness of the contact, this is not the first year he's been in this position, so hopefully things will be reasonably smooth. The email was mostly just confirmation of stuff we've covered earlier (which I appreciate), but he did also mention that there will be a welcoming dinner when we arrive in St. Pete's- a positive sign that they intend to actually feed us on a regular basis.

     There was also a nice note that they will be showing us where the supermarkets on the island are, as well as local ATMs. They will be providing us with a map of the city (good, since mine from 2010 was used ragged), and metro cards. There will be a guided tour on the second day, after we've had a chance to recover from the 12+ hours of flight, and an optional trip to Moscow at the end of the month. Everything seems to be taken care of and planned ahead- here's hoping that things run smoothly!

     The only odd thing that came up is that the dorms are not actually on campus, as it were. While they are on the same island (thank goodness!), the university dorms are apparently a 30 minute bus ride away from the actual classrooms. I'm hoping that it's a reasonable walking distance as well (since the island isn 't all that big!), and I'll be able to get exercise on a daily basis. So far, though, things look pretty good. Tomorrow, Angel and I are heading up for NYC, and the day after, the adventure begins. Woot!

     In the meantime, here's a picture of my friend's little shih tzu that could quite make it on an entire walk with us. Fun, but he became a heavy lil bugger after a while.