Half Brothers?!/Дедушка pt. II

I've been getting a lot of love off of the Obama Moscow visit. Russians are even more fascinated by me now more than ever.

My English is deteriorating. Which doesn't mean my Russian is improving but I just make a lot of mistakes when I'm writing and speaking it. I also will occasionally think to put the soft sign (ь) in certain English words. I'm the first person to notice when people make you're/your mistakes. I've been making them frequently. I also am messing up on punctuation.

At the post office today another old Russian man (between 65-74 years old) came up to me. He was dressed in an old but nice blazer and an old Nike cap and his shirt and trousers also seem to be pretty old too. He was holding a bag of something but I didn't know what was in it. He came up to me and shook my hand... Almost breaking it. He was about 5'8 and showed no signs of ever having any brute physical strength. However, the firmness and strength in his handshake immediately made me take him more seriously and engage in conversation with him. I tightened and firmed my grip appropriately matching his level of strength on my hand.

He asked me an assortment of very random questions in Russian. And I responded as best as I could. He eventually let go of my hand and handed the receptionist a melted ice cream in a plastic bag from the bag he was holding and thanked her for it. He then gripped my hand again. Even harder and I asked me if my father was okay. I told him that my father was fine. He then told me in Russian that I was very strong and healthy. I wished him good luck and health as he disengaged me and walked away.

As if things couldn't get any weirder...

I just had dinner.

When I was washing my hands. My right one in particular. I heard someone playing the guitar in the kitchen/living room. I was preparing myself to meet up with some more of my host moms strange friends or maybe some of her patients (which sometimes come here I think) but instead I go into the kitchen and see two young blonde haired boys. She tells me that they are her half-brothers (in English). I thought she was just misunderstanding so I asked her if she meant cousins or nephews. But it turns out that this 14-year-old and 11-year-old are actually the sons of her father.

The older one plays hockey and he has really nice singing voice and plays the guitar extraordinarily well. He has really good technique and he knows how to play a lot of popular/cool English songs. The younger one according to my host mom is the champion table tennis player of St. Petersburg for his age group. When I first walked into the kitchen the older one wanted to shake my hand but it was still wet so I gave him a fist pound and he seemed to like that. As soon as his brother saw this he ran up to me to get a fist pound too. Dinner was really good by the way tonight. I had been invited to dinner by a friend yesterday and didn't tell my host mom. I felt bad and apologized today but she said that it wasn't a problem.

I offered to take them to the gym with me (I'm about to go right after this) cause they have table tennis there and some hockey training things. My host mom called her dad and set up a play date for us all. I am supposed to hang out with them all on Friday around one o'clock and play sports in their neighborhood... They don't live far from my school. Should be interesting.

As for my host moms father I talked to him on the phone and he speaks perfect English. No accent or anything. I'm sure he's Russian but she told me that he lived in Canada for quite some time. He's a huge fan of sports and I guess that's why both of his sons are both star athletes. My host mom never played any sports... Weirdest thing was that over the phone this man sounded like he wasn't a day older than 35. His voice was so youthful and English so on point that I almost said, "alright homie, later" before I got off the phone with him.

I realize now that my Russian fluctuates depending on how well I'm paying attention to what I'm reading or who I'm speaking with. If I'm completely focused on the person talking or what I'm reading then I can effectively communicate. If I've got other things on my mind or am trying to speak Russian and do something else at the same time then I sound like an idiotic foreigner. I find that I do my best work when I sit in the front row and don't take my eyes of the teacher for a second.

I'm going to go run to the gym now. I have to lift and I'll probably run some pick up games. When I get back I'll sketch out a little bit of my homework and then I'm going to go out with some friends.

Stay Tuned.

Walk in the Park

What do I have in common with an elderly Russian woman and her ten year old granddaughter? That was the question running thorough everyones mind today at the Park.

I have to do this quickly cause I've got homework but the pictures should explain it all.

I went on a walk in the park today with my babushka and her granddaughter Sonya. My babushka told me that she was from Ukraine and that she came to St. Petersburg and studied electrical engineering and then worked as an engineer for several years and then as a typist from home because she had children.

We went on a walk in the park and it was absolutely beautiful! The weather is so gorgeous today! The park is only a couple of blocks down the street from here and the first time I saw it there was some type of formal military ceremony taking place. There was the lake and people were relaxing and it was so nice! I wish the walkways were paved and not dirt though.

Random. This Russian guy comes up to me and tells me in Russian that he likes how I look.

Sonya brought her pet mouse. She keeps it on her shoulder 90% of the time (even at home). At the park she let it run around in the grass a little bit. She wanted some ice cream after we finished walking around the park. I explained fathers day to them but they said they don't have it here. They have family day and women's day though.

It's actually really funny now that I think about it. Imagine. Me and those two walking around a park together in Russia.

Anyway, we had to leave because my babushka had to go see her other daughter that lives in another part of the city and I walked back home with Sonya. And now I'm here and now I've to do homework.

Stay tuned.

Always Keep an Umbrella/Snacks

I think my host sister is trying to kill me! She cooked rice and chicken and of course the tomatoes and cucumbers and it all tastes awful! My host grandma when she was here cooked the best. Her daughter/my host mom Анастасия Михайловна (Anastasia Mikhailovna) cooks okay but the middle of my eggs in the morning are runny. I usually just eat the bread for breakfast with butter and I had some oatmeal bars my mom packed me but I finished those Wednesday. I take the eggs with school with me and have them with lunch. I usually don't even eat all of them. And I've just learned that the granddaughter/daughter Таня (Tania) cannot cook to save her life! I'm sitting here now with a plate of food in front of me that is disgusting.

Speaking of bad cooking I've devised an antidote! I made oatmeal this morning! And it was so good! I'm just going to tell her that I'll make my own breakfast every morning.

I saw a homeless person pick up a half smoked cigaret off the street today and start to smoke it. This country is just so (you insert a word here).

And it's cold! I've worn a jacket everyday! I know I'm in Russia but come on! Jackets in the middle of June?! It's preposterous!

Let's continue to talk cuisine. Two Restaurants this week. We first went to this baller Japanese Sushi Restaurant with the most Americanized name ever. "Oh! Sushi!" (it was wri But the sushi was fantastic! They even served filet mignon for only $12. I didn't order but I plan on going back and trying some. And I already mentioned the Georgian one. The pics I posted are of Georgian Foods. The lamb and chicken were crack! Although, I've had better prepared lamb before. Chicken was on point. And that bread! Was so delicious! I had like two plates of it!

We went to the Restaurant for this girl in our groups birthday. I should be a professional toaster. After I raised my glass to her and a few other things you could tell that she was feeling extra special. What can I say? I words have way with.

Still not sure what I should do with this plate of food next to me...

I almost brought my umbrella today but decided against it. Dumb idea. I get to the gym go to the school. Pick up my homework Do all these normal things and the weather is beautiful. I go down to the metro. And when I come back up at my stop it's pouring. And I'm just like "Why God?" So I sprint from the metro to my apartment building and I get in and the smell that hits you when you walk in was worse than usual. And the elevator was acting strange so I had to go up a bizillion flights of crooked stairs in a building that smells like urine and cigarets and that I was afraid of running into someone in the building cause they'd think I was robbing the place.

I think I'm just going to scoff this stuff down and then go run and meet up with Sif at the Hooka bar he works at. The cucumbers taste like dirt dude! She just cut them and didn't even wash them! I can't tell if she hates me or if she's just anti-social. I'm really nice around the house! I swear! I help them move heavy stuff. Carry groceries in! I use вы (formal) instead of ты (informal) (like vous and tu in French) even with the animals! Having a big strong southern gentleman around the house is the best thing that ever happened to this family!

My theory is she loathes men because her father left her mom or maybe it's cause I'm Black. Or maybe she just doesn't like me living here. Who knows. She can be cool at sometimes and other times not so cool. I'm slightly overreacting. We mostly just don't interact that much. That's all.

Anyway, got to eat this Russian culinary calamity then make moves.

Stay tuned.

Just Landed in Petersburg

So the flight here was straight*. Met up with a couple of girls from Brown that are in the program and we got aquatinted. Landed and everything looked like it was just liberated from Soviet Times. Even this house I'm staying in...

We got through customs and passport check really easily... No hassle. No searches. Just in and out. Waiting on us at pickup was the lady from Nevsky Institute. She immediately knew I was "James" and greeted me multiple times and sort of ignored the rest of the group... I have a feeling that my teacher told her that "James will be the tallest Black person at the airport and wearing a Yankees hat" Which was true. In France there were so many Black people. Working at the airport. Traveling. Living there. Here, it looks like it's just me.

Yo!* When we stepped outside! It was cold! It was cloudy and I was so happy that I bought a jacket. It wasn't FREEZING but it was cooler than Autumn weather. For those curious St. Petersburg isn't like New York or Boston in terms of location in the world it's actually more like Anchorage, Alaska. And in stereotypical fashion everyone outside started smoking cigarets.

We got into our Taxi provided to us by the Nevsky and left with our guide Nastya and some Harvard students and everything was all good. We talked. They were really cool.

As a side note right now I'm feeling kind of lightheaded... I don't know what it is... I'm kind of zoning out... I'll lay down after I finish this.

So the Harvard peoples were cool. This one chick from Harvard (her last name is Austin) lives up the street from me.

MY HOST FAMILY! I'm living with this very nice elderly Jewish Lady in a "nice" neighborhood and her granddaughter who is roughly the same age as me. The granddaughter speaks English. My room is straight. I have wireless. This building has a very Soviet type vibe to it though... It's actually kind of how I imagined it. I'll post pics later.

Everything was cool until their reasonably good sized black dog ran up on me! The dog has a muzzle on right now but if it wasn't wearing one he would have bit my hand off! And now he's outside barking... That dog better have a muzzle on at all times! I'm not trying to die this summer! They also have a cat a turtle that walks around on the floor and two rats? yeah... pet rats...

All of this happened ridiculously fast. The airport. The ride here. The family. All within an hour.

And that was my host mom... That I guess stays here too? She just invited me to come get dinner so I'm going to get on that. Dosvidanya!

Stay Tuned.