Last Day In Russia

I am a confidant independant well traveled person. I have been to many
countries and experienced many cultures. I can take care of myself and
get into and out of complicated situations. This does not mean I do
not accept help.

It takes time (sometimes multiple times) for me to learn a lesson.
When I travel I want to prove to people that I know what I'm doing and
can "handle" myself. On this trip I learned a lesson in accepting help
from others. My friends here like Mehkty and Vitya and Julia give so
freely of their time and assitance, I am sometimes reluctant to accept
it. Although they have offered many times (and I should have welcomed
it with open arms) to help me I have not embraced it fully.

On this trip it took a simple act from Valya to know how important it
is to recognize the value of help from friends. I'm sure she does not
know the impact it had on me and maybe when she reads this she will
recognize the profound effect it had on my mentality for the remainder
of my trip, and my life. We often say in discovery, you never know
what repricussions even the smallest action will have, and this is
just such a case.

We were walking through St Petersburg and, of course, it was very
cold. I was bundled up in two jackets, a hat, gloves, and a scarf. She
nonchalantly reached up and adjusted my scarf around my neck and
tucked it in. Immediatly I felt a signifigant improvement in my
warmth. I guess I did not know the propper application of scarves.
This is no surprise since I grew up in Sourhern California.

This friendly gesture made me realize the wealth of information I am
lacking and the value of learning from others. From that moment on I
made a concerted effort to listen to the advice of my friends and heed
their warnings and incorporate them into my actions.

It's funny how the little things people do can embed themselves into
your soul and transform you into a different person. This will be my
last post from Russia for some time. I have grown and learned so much
on this trip, perhaps more than any previous excursion here. I am
thankful for the people that I have become close to. I look forward to
returning here and continuing my relations with them.

Today I say бака (bye) to Russia but I think the French say it better
"A bien tot" until we see each other again.

-Dana

A Relaxing End to My Trip

I have spent the last few days in Moscow, staying at Yasha's flat with
his girlfriend and roomates. This has been a time for quiet
conversations with friends and reflection on my adventures.

Traveling is a time for adventures and new experiences. It is also a
time for introspection and reflection. I joke with people here that I
do good things now to balance out all the bad things I do at other
times. In all honesty I think the bad things I do are limited mostly
to my thoughts of action and not to the realization of those impulses.
I do seek balance in my activites and endevours.

I spent several hours with a good friend yesterday, one who I am not
able to connect with as often as I would like to. We cought up on the
last year over 4 hours of sushi, coffee, and cake. It is times like
this that replenish my energy for moments like hoping in a cab at 3 AM
to head to a club to go dancing after a day full of drinking.

On this trip I have had quality moments with so many wonderful people.
I have heated whine on the frozen Finnish marshes. I have eaten kabobs
outside, in -20 degree weather. I have watched people juggle fire. I
have walked through a torrent of water careening down the middle of a
street. I have taught people to trust each other I little more than
before. I have made friendships that will last a life time. To me this
means I have "lived" and I will continue to do so in the future while
encouraging other to partake in their own lives.

As I write this, a very dear friend of mine is about to embark on an
epic and life changing journey of her own. She will spend the next
three months on her own in South East Aisia, touring the land and
meeting new people. I wish her the best on her journey and look
forward to reading her posts at http://sumsumterp.blogspot.com I hope
you too will enjoy what she writes about. I like to think that in some
small way I was an influential factor in her decision to uproot her
life and make introductions to the world around us.

Tonight is my final night in Moscow. I am meeting friends for a
farewell dinner at Nina's house. I will be sad to leave all these
wonderful people but they like I, must return to the semi-normalcy we
call our lives. I have already begun to schedule myself for work and I
feel the weight of responsibility looming over me like a piano being
hoisted to the second floor. I know I can bear it and I know I will be
successful, but still it is slightly unnerving to stand underneath.

I have a 14 hour stay in Frankfurt on my way home. I have already
arrange for a hotel very close to the airport. I will attempt to find
"something" to occupy my time. The last time I was in Frankfurt I
ended up in a flat of strangers with no money and no battery on my
phone. I had to walk to my hostel over several hours...it was a good
time.

-Dana

To Arive is Divine, To Depart is Descent

As I travel, there are many goodbyes followed by many hellos. I know
each ending is merely the begining of another journey. Departure may
be the worst part of any trip.

I am reminded of my childhood when I would visit my father. My parents
were divorced when I was three and I would spend part of my summer
with my father. I knew as I left my mother standing in the airport
lobby that I would see her again and conversly the same held true of
my father at the completion of my visit. That feeling of lonliness and
abandonment never seemed to wain. I became better at conceiling it and
keeping it inside but always it prevailed, like a deep current flowing
though my sea of emotions.

As I leave the different locations I travel to, that feeling is not
omnipresent. To feel this I must have a connection with someone. As I
connect and truly feel a bond with another person, the old feelings
will resurface inside me. Today is just such an occasion. I had such a
wonderful time with my friends here. I feel that my friendships now
have grown deeper, beyond the superficial acquantance, and have now
become a part of who I am.

In time I will be able to accept my feelings, but always, the void
will be inside me with the absence of their presence.

For now I will focus on my next adventure for three days in Moscow. To
my friends, as you read this please know that you are deeply missed
and will forever be in my thoughts.

As I write this I am fast approaching 30,000 feet in a big chunk of
metal with a couple of flaming spinning monstrosities attached,
pushing me fast than any human should be allowed to travel. Well
faithful readers, I will post again soon, to let you know what
mischief I have gotten myself into next.

-Dana

Ice Skating (каток)

As it happens, yesterday was not a total loss for me. Someone had
mentioned ice skating a few days ago. For some reason this sounded
like a Capitol idea. The plan was, to go two days ago, but I was
enjoying the sitting and talking so much, it never came to fruition.

Yesterday at about 5PM I got it in my head that I must go! Valya and
I were chilling at Anya's place and it took me a while to rouse her
interest. I found out later about her reluctance. We called Polina and
invited her to join us as well. There was an indor каток just one
metro stop down. So off we went into the wild blue yonder.

This was an indoor rink and funny enough it was much warmer on the
ice, in the rink than it was outside walking to it. Polina had her own
skates but Valya and I had to rent. It did not take long, less than 3
minutes, for me to get in trouble :-). I had decided to play a game of
tag with Polina.

I'm not great on skates but I can hold my own on the ice. We raced
around the rink several times. I was enjoying the encouragement from
the woman working in the rink. Finally Valya was able to flag me down
from her stationary position held tightly against the wall. She
explained that the woman was not actually yelling encouragments to me.
I was shocked (but not reallly) to find out she was bellowing for us
to stop playing around, and "don't you understad me!! I said stop".
And "someone make them stop doing that". Hehe, I guess this particular
rink was for serious skaters only who liked to run the rat race on ice.

We stopes our horsing around and accompanied Valya around the rink.
She had mentioned earlier she was not very good on the ice. What I
failed to comprehend until just now, was that she had NEVER been ice
skating before. It was amusing to let go of her and watch her come to
a dead stop in the middle of the lane and be unable to propel herself
forward at all.

Polina and I took turns giving lessons and by the end of the night she
was able to maintain a fairly steady progress forward and remain
upright.

It was a good night followed by a visit to a sushi ресторан
(restaurant). A perfect way to spend my last evening in StPb.

As I type this I am all packed with bags in hand. My flight leaves for
Moscow at 6:30PM and it is currently 1PM. Valya is off at school to
talk to her instructor about a paper she wrote. Polina will meet me at
4 to give me a lift to the airport. I am sitting in a bookstore coffee
shop relaxing with a кофе амерокано (american coffee, which really
means espresso with lots of water added). I look forward to making a
cup-o-Joe at home in the new coffee pot Alex bought.

See ya state side soon.

-Dana

Relaxing Day Out

I made plans with Olya and Polina yesterday to meet at Subway. Really
I wanted a subway club and they had free Wifi. I decided I was going
to camp out there at 7AM and stay until they arrived. So as I'm sure
you may have guessed I got there around 10:30 not 7AM.

I already told you about the yummy coffee goodness I got there and it
is still a fond memory for me. First Polina joined me and later Onlya.
It was marvelous. We just say and talked for hours about all sorts of
things. I may have been awake for the first time here. I think I told
more stories and talked more in a few hours than I have in an entire
month.

We kicked it there for a bit then went walking to find headphones for
me. We were successful in finding them but the shop did not accept
American express and I did not want to waste cash on those. I think
today I will bring another card with me to pay for them. We eneded up
in a Kenyan coffee house near Olya's work.

Sadly it was another bout of crap froo froo coffee. But the company
was awesome. Valya joined us here as well after class. We just got to
sit and talk and enjoy ourselves. It was an absolutly marvelous day.

Poor Polina was so worried about monopolizing my time. I had to
reassure her that meeting friends like her is my reason for being
here. Because I am staying with Valya's friend and I see her most
often, people assume she know where I am all the time. She has become
my "manager" here. When Polina or Olya want to hang out they call her
first and ask if I can come play. It is amusing and actually helpful
too :-)

We ended the evening at my favorite local sushi place. Sasha, a friend
of Valya and Polina joined us for a bit. His English was quiet good
and we had a few laughs. For some reason I was exhausted and had to
forego the evening of drinking and clubing with Olya.

I pretty much wasted my entire day again today just chilling in the
flat. With -20 degrees outside, I am perfectly happy with this. I
strongly believe that I should not need a vacation, after my vacation.
So chilling and kicking it is grand by me.

Lates

-Dana

If You are Looking for God, I Found Him

I make no claims to be an expert on religion or belief systems of
different people. If you believe in a higher power I have the perfect
place to be granted your wish of seeing a miracle in action.

He is currently awarding American coffee at the subway near the Nevsky
Prospect metro stop in St Petersburg to wayward tourists in desperate
need.

Thank you coffee god!

-Dana

Being Alone is a Good Thing

I was talking to my friend Katie today on IM and told her a good tip
about traveling.

Option A: always travel with friends
Option B: Travel alone and make friends quickly, then refer back to
Option A.

It is always more fun with a group of people to find adventure. I love
to meet new people or have new adventures with old friends. At the
same time it is very important to have time alone as well.

I need tme to collect my thoughts and reflect on the adventures I am
having. Today was such a day for me. My morning was unihibited and as
you can see from my posts, I had plenty of time to write and to post
online.

In the evening as I told you I had an appointment with Valya at her
work. She had asked me to meet her students and maybe do some activity
or something. I took this to mean she wanted a mini-discovery workshop
for her students. She told me she did not know what to expect but that
she wanted her kids to meet me. I took some time and wrote a program
with minimal equipment that would be good for ages 12-16. She teaches
an acting class, so this gave me the opportunity to include some
activities from my acting days that Jean does not use in her programs.
Jean would have been proud of me :-)

Getting there was an adventure all it's own. I left for the metro much
earlier than Valya suggested and it was a good thing. After the metro
stop it was another 40 minutes by bus to get to her town of Kolpino. I
had to take the 293 commercial bus, NOT the 293a bus. The only thing I
saw were many 293a busses and they all said "to Kolpino" on them. I
approached a driver and called Valya. Then handed him the phone. They
talked for a minute, then he very nicely directed me to the correct
corner. I was standing in the wrong place.

After boarding one of the many many 393 busses I asked Valya to send
me a text in Russian saying "please let me off at stop XXX". Sadly the
woman who read it to the driver failed to let me know when that stop
had arrived. As the last person left the bus I showed the text to him.

I understood by his gestures that I had totally missed my stop:-). So
again I called Valya and had her talk to the driver. He told her
exactly where I was. He was super nice and friendly to me and made
sure I understood what to do before he left me. Valya told me to stay
there and she would come to me.

Finally she found me. I was at her bus stop for her home so she knew
the area well. We hopped on another bus and made our way back to her
work.

The discovery program I wrote and lead went very well. We finished
exactly on time and the kids seemed to get something from it. It is
difficult to lead such a short program but I feel it was benificial
for them. It was nice to see where my friend lives and works. It all
seems so esoteric to me until I can see it for myself.

The students were lovely and friendly. Her work is at a nice location
as well. After we had tea and talked a bit with another teacher.

Finally, I am back on the bus heading to St Petersburg. Unfortunatly
this is the 201. I guess the 201 busses do not use heaters :-/ my
hands are FREEZing typing this to you but it is worth it to share good
information with everyone. If I am lucky, then the McDonalds WiFi will
be working when I return and I will post this tonight.

Tomorrow I will wake up early and head into town for a subway sandwich
and free wifi :-). Some friends are meeting me there later in the day
and we will have a good time I think.

Oops:-) I almost just got off the bus at the wrong place!!! That would
have SUCKed. Thank you iPhone for having a metro map. I showed the
driver the map and he told me it was further down the line. Yay me for
not getting lost, again!! У патитиэлса (translation: help me I'm
pathetic and lost)

-Dana