Chapter 6: The wonders of the Hermitage Winter Palace and meeting Natasha E.

July 18, 2002

(Note: The reason I put Natasha E. in the chapter title is so as to not confuse her with Natalia T., my backup girl from Anastasia Web Agency)

As the three of us approached the giant gate of the Hermitage Winter Palace, we marveled at it's size. Its interior was decorated in splendor, and it was very crowded inside with both Russians and foreign tourists. I knew from my travel guide book that there was a cheaper fare for Russians and a more expensive fare for foreigners. I was hoping to try to get the local fare. When we got to the ticket office, they automatically charged me the foreign fare of $10 rather than the local fare of $2. Jasson had to pay the same fare as me but Jesús got the local fare somehow because of some special pass he had. We then were directed to leave our backpacks with some luggage clerks who took it and gave us a number tag claim. We made sure to get our cameras and video camera out first. As we went through the guards and ticket takers, one of them suddenly pointed to our cameras and we realized that we had to pay extra for bringing in cameras and camcorders. We went back and paid another hundred rubles for a ticket to do that, and came back in again.

After we climbed the first grand staircase to the first level (or is it second level?) we realized we were immediately in a labyrinth. There wasn't only one way to go either, there were multiple forks and turns at ever corridor, hall, and room. We knew we had to stick together because if we got lost, there would be no way to find each other and no intercom was set up there (and even if there was an intercom, I'm not sure how it would help anyway lol). Although the antiques, paintings, and relics were beautiful and grande, it was difficult for me to enjoy it all because the heat inside was incredible, and I constantly sweated a lot even though I rarely sweat in general. There was no air conditioning inside like there would have been in the states, and it was humid as well. And to make matters worse, the thousands of people around us inside raised the temperature in there with their body heat as well! Had it been cool, it would have been much more enjoyable. The relics and paintings here were not just from Russia, but from all over the world too.

(Some hot girls I was admiring)

As we went from room to room, hall to hall, in the labyrinth, taking pictures and video footage, I suddenly was not even sure anymore whether we were passing the same area twice or if this was new territory. It was hard to tell, so I kept asking "Have we been here before?" My bad sense of direction didn't help either. There were also little kiosks scattered throughout the Winter Palace which sold books and souvenirs on the Hermitage. We chatted and made small talk with some of the girls working at these kiosks and they taught us some Russian and were very friendly and open.

(Jesus with a girl selling souvenirs)

When we got to some windows, we looked outside at the humungus courtyard that lay in the center of all the buildings of this palace. Just to give you an idea, it looked about as big as the big courtyard in the middle of "The Forbidden City" did in the movie "The Last Emperor." Because of my vivid imagination and interest in military history, I imagined a vast army belonging to the Czar lined up in that courtyard in formations and beautifully tailored uniforms. However, rather than an army, the courtyard was lined with dozens of tour buses. We noticed plenty of tour groups everywhere in there, with the guide holding up number signs so their group members can keep track of where they were. As we passed these groups, we heard mostly European languages being spoken by the guides. But there were tour groups from all over the world in every language.

Eventually, we ascended to the second and third floors of the palace too. The third floor was mainly a small painting gallery with a gift shop inside. After that, we decided we had had enough and should begin descending to the exit. My feet were killing me at that point too. As we began trying to find our way down, we realized there was still plenty of areas of the palace museum that we missed, so we stopped in them along the way.

At one point, we passed through a big red room with a giant pot in the center. As I was filming footage of it with my camcorder, Jasson and Jesús passed to the next room. I started making my way to follow them when a girl with a great firm hardbody and dark brown hair tied in a braided pony tail walked by. The back of her looked a lot like the back of the video game character Lara Croft on the game "Tomb Raider".

Wanting to get a shot of her great looking backside, I turned the camera at her and walked forward. When she turned around, I turned off the recording in my camera. Immediately she made eye contact with me. I stared at her back and smiled. She looked like she had something to say to me, so I waited to see what she was going to do. After a few seconds of staring at each other, she said something, and I said "What?" And she said "You from Japan?" and I said "Me? Oh no, I'm from America, but I'm Chinese American. You?" to which she replied "Russian." She appeared interested in conversing further, so we did. Although she barely spoke any English, we at least made attempts to communicate with my dictionary and breaking our messages into small parts. I noticed that she sort of had an Eastern exotic look to her, though not Asian or Indian or Arabic. It's very difficult to describe. After a while, since I got good friendly interested vibes from her, I asked if I could call her and she said nodded. Borrowing a pen from someone nearby again, I got out some paper and wrote her my number at the hostel (I had no direct line there but people could call and leave messages with the receptionist), my email and number in the USA. I gave her a delicate brown piece of receipt paper and she wrote her hotel phone number, room number (so I could ask for the extension to her room, get your mind out of the gutter!), and mobile telephone number.

As we were doing this, Jasson and Jesús came back for me to see what the delay was. When they saw me and this girl writing stuff down for each other, they immediately knew what was going on and became patient in waiting for me. After we were done exchanging numbers, I introduced them all. Her name, she said, was Natasha. As we mingled for a bit, I noticed and liked how perky her personality was. She had a way of making you feel likable and giggly with her perky cute smile and voice. Her attitude and perkiness was contagious and I felt good and upbeat just being around her. As we mingled, we suddenly took out our camcorders and decided to film each other. Natasha also took out hers as well. It was a small flat square shaped video camera and looked very expensive. "She must come from a rich family" I thought. When I also noticed that she had braces, I thought that she must definitely come from an affluent family if she can afford that as well because so far I haven't seen anyone else in Russia with braces. We all filmed clips of each other introducing each other with our three camcorders. I also got a picture of me and Natasha taken with my camera by one of my friends.

Afterward, as we asked about each other, we found out that Natasha was lost and looking for her friend. I kept trying to ask her "Where did you last see her?" but she didn't understand my question. Finally, I led her out of the room to find a staff person. When I did, I explained to the staff person in English that Natasha was lost and asked if she could help her. The staff person spoke to Natasha in Russian for a while, and then told me that there was nothing they could do and that she would have to go wait at the front entrance for her friend. She also seemed to say that Natasha was part of a tour, so I asked "Can't you track down where this tour is right now?" and she replied "Russian tours are not like European tours. They do not wait for you. The only thing she can do now is wait at the front entrance." Natasha seemed in a hurry so she started walking toward the front entrance and I waved her goodbye.

As she walked off, I looked at her great looking back body side again and thought "I can't believe I just made eye contact with a good looking girl like that across a crowded room and just exchanged phone numbers like that! That NEVER happens in the USA! Russia sure is VERY different after all! I hope she really likes me. She gave me a lot of good vibes. I'll definitely call her tomorrow and I hope we get together soon. Perhaps Olga ditching me today was a blessing after all since I met someone far more interesting." Then I rejoined Jasson and Jesús and we slowly made our way to the entrance we came in through earlier.

When we got outside, I noticed that Natasha was standing out there re-united with her friend, who was a short blonde girl. I went up to her again and said "So you found your friend!" and she introduced her friend with the same name as her, Natasha again. As the five of us mingled, Jasson suddenly began chatting with two Arabic girls nearby. As me and Natasha were trying to understand each other, Jasson came forward with the two Arabic girls and told me that these Arabic girls could speak both Russian and Arabic and could translate between me and Natasha. I said "But I don't speak Arabic" and he replied "Ah but I do, so you just tell me your message in English, and I'll translate it into Arabic to these two girls, and they will translate it into Russian to Natasha." A light bulb clicked within me. "That's a great idea!" I said. So I began relaying messages through this process, to Jasson in English, then he to the Arabic girls in Arabic, and them to Natasha in Russian. Natasha replied by going the opposite way, to the Arabic girls in Russian, who in turn translated to Jasson in Arabic, who in turn translated to me in English. It was a perfect combination. I was amazed at the teamwork that was going on here. It seemed that outer forces were helping me get to know Natasha. Everything seemed to be clicking. I took this all as a good sign. Finally, Natasha relayed to me through the process that she and her friend were on their way to see the ballet, and that I could come with them if I wanted to. I didn't want to impose, and plus me and my friends already had plans to go explore St. Isaacs Cathedral after this, so I suggested that I call her tomorrow and we could just meet then. She relayed that that was a good plan, so we said our goodbyes and departed. I thanked the two Arabic girls for their help and we went on our way.

Chapter 5: St. Petersburg tours with Jasson and Jesús

July 18, 2002

The next day on Friday morning, I ate breakfast and wondered what I should say to Olga today. I decided that it's best to ask her what she thinks of me and if we have any chance at a relationship, so I didn't live in doubt and waste time with her. During breakfast, I got out my camcorder and took some footage of the breakfast area. Surprisingly, the breakfast server lady, whom I described before as always looking grumpy and apathetic, suddenly smiled when the camera was pointed at her. I said "Kak vas zavut?" which in Russian meant "What is your name" and she smiled and said "Maya". I guess people want to make a good impression in front of the camera. All the other tourists I filmed there also acted friendlier and happier than usual when the camera was pointed at them.

Then I went to the lobby to use the payphone there. I called Olga to see what she wanted to do today, but she said that she had to go shopping with her sister in the morning, then work all day and night again, first at her teaching job and then at her babysitting job at night. Frustrated, I said "Olga, you knew months ago that I was coming this week. Why did you not make time for us this week? Why did you not arrange your schedule in advance?" She replied "I told you before, my schedule changes everyday and I cannot predict it. Right now I have these obligations today and I have no choice. Call me tomorrow morning ok?" I sadly agreed and said "Ok, I will try to find something else to do then. Bye." and then hung up. Realizing that I had no idea when or if ever I would see Olga again, I decided to start enacting my backup plan (described in the Preparation, Plan and Strategy section) in the meantime and went to my room to take out the paper sheet of phone numbers from my luggage, to call Natalia from Anastasia Web, who started writing me shortly before I left for my trip. She had agreed to show me around when I arrived in this city.

When I got back to the lobby, there were two guys there, one was speaking with a Mexican accent, and and the other was dark skinned but I couldn't tell what nationality he was. They were talking about a tour and so I asked about it, knowing that I might not have anything to do today. They said that they had a guided tour around the city scheduled in a van with a tour guide, and that if I came, it would be cheaper for all of us because the fare would be divided into three instead of two. I asked the price if I joined, and he said 15 dollars so I agreed, but said that I just needed a few minutes to make a phone call to someone. I called Natalia and when she answered, it was obvious that she couldn't understand anything I was saying so I looked at the hostel receptionist across the lobby and beckoned with my hand for her to come over. I said "Can you ask her where and when she wants to meet me?" and she said ok and spoke with her briefly in Russian and then hung up and wrote down the name of the metro station that she wanted to meet me at, and said that she'll meet me there at 8pm. She said that this metro station on Nevsky was the easiest place to meet someone because it is small and has easy to see entrances and exits which are close together. This was perfect, I thought, because it now gives me time to go on the tour with these two guys first. I thanked her and put the paper in my pocket. Then I grabbed my backpack with my camera and camcorder inside and told the two men that I was ready. We got into a parked van outside with a male driver and female English speaker inside, and then got acquainted. The Mexican guy was named Jesús (pronounced Huises) and was from Los Angeles touring both Russia and Europe. The other guy was named Jasson (yes his name is spelled with two "s"'s) and was from Lebanon. We got acquainted very easily and felt like old friends and comrades.

The van first stopped on request at a nearby electronics store, and we went in because Jesús wanted to get a voltage converter (from the foreign 220 volt to American 110 volt) so he could charge his camcorder batteries. When they said they didn't have it, I told him "Don't worry. I brought one that I got from Radio Shack. You can just borrow mine." so he agreed and we went back to the van. The next stop was at their tour agency office, so we could pay the tour fee. After I paid them the 15 dollars in cash, I asked them if they could give me some contact information for any local marriage agencies. They said they worked with one called A Foreign Affair and gave me their contact number. "Perfect!" I thought "since I had ordered addresses from their agency before and was just wondering if they had a local office in this city." I put the paper in my pocket and thanked them, and we were on our way.

As we drove through the main streets, the female guide spoke through a microphone and described the sights that we passed by. Our next stop was at a plaza with historical buildings all around it. Immediately, some salesman carrying boxes full of souvenir boxes came to us to pitch their hard sell. They spoke English very good too, and I was surprised that they'd use their great language skills to do this.

As I hesitated and looked at the boxes, they continued with their exotic Russian accents in trying to persuade me with what they could give me for what price. I did like the boxes and the Russian decorations and pictures on them, so they did catch my interest. When I bargained with them, they said my price was too low and below their cost. Then Jasson nudged me and said "Just walk away and they'll give in." So I did but they still persisted at getting me to agree to their price for three boxes. Finally, I got tired of all this bargaining and re-bargained for a middle price and bought two boxes. Jesús also bought one of the boxes himself. Then we took pictures for each other with our cameras around the site and got back on the tour van.

(Above: Our female guide, Yana)

The next stop was in front of the big massive cathedral structure called The Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ that you often see in photos and films of St. Petersburg with a canal leading to it.

Just before we got out, the male driver said "Be careful of the gypsies." I asked "Why?" and then got out when the van door opened. Immediately, a dark gypsy girl who looked about 4 or 5 years old ran up to us and said "money, money" and even starting grabbing Jasson's arm while he was walking around. (See image of her below below from my camcorder footage)

I noticed that the girl's parents were in the background sitting down while letting their daughter do this work. The little girl looked like she hadn't had a bath in a long time too. I felt bad for them. I gave the little girl some rubles and then we walked around the giant cathedral.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us go inside for photos without paying admission, which was pointless since we had a short time limit on how long we could be there. So we walked around the plaza and took pictures of the structure from outside. (You can see these photos in my online photo album too.) Along the courtyard, there was a girl playing wonderful serene music on her guitar.

We took photos with her and donated some money in her donation box. I filmed her with my camcorder too, and amazingly if you watch the tape on any TV (even an old one) you will hear the sound from her guitar music coming out just like if it was coming from an acoustic wave radio. I have no idea how it comes through so well. We also got some snacks to eat too, and since I was a vegetarian, I got a potato sandwich. Jesús also took a lot of footage with his camcorder, which was much newer then mine and had a much longer lasting battery, so he was able to take much longer shots than me! After a while, the guides called us and we went back to the van.

We next stopped at a park alongside the Neva River's edge. It had a spacious view of the wide section of the river. There was a post wedding tour going on there, and a lady in a wedding dress was riding on a horse there. It was a lovely scene.

After taking pictures for each other, I went to a souvenir stand nearby and bought a blue matroska doll, which is five wooden dollars in one with each progressively smaller doll inside the larger one. Then we got back in the van and went in front of the famous Hermitage Winter Palace Museum, a gigantic palace that harbored a vast collection of art, paintings, scultures, relics, antiques, etc. from all over the world. It used to be the palace of the Czar Peter the Great. The courtyard between the buildings of the palace was huge, and I could visualize it once harboring an army of 10,000 soldiers easily. I badly wanted to get a chance to go inside this palace. It looked so massive and surreal. Jesús talked to our tour guides and then said that they could drop us off here to go inside at the end of the tour. "Awesome!" I thought. Next we went to a location near the horseman statue carousel that is often shown in pictures and films of the city. From there we could also see St. Isaac's Cathedral. After taking some more photos, we headed back to the Hermitage Winter Palace, where our guided tour ended.

Chapter 4: Taking care of business and further exploration of the city

July 17, 2002

The next day, on Thursday, since Olga wasn't available that day, I decided to take care of some business. I had to register my visa and also email people on my situation and ask for advice about Olga. I tried using the hostel computer for email, but it was too slow and AOL's complicated website for checking email was too much for the old computer to handle. After an hour of frustration, I gave up and talked to this Australian guy there who told me that the internet cafes in downtown were faster and cheaper too. He said that he was headed there today and that I could come along. After I got the directions from the hostel staff for the visa registration office, we left.

As we got down the metro station into the subway (thank goodness I didn't have to try to ride this hectic system alone yet!) he, David, explained to me that he had just finished several weeks of volunteering at as a Christian teacher and counselor for a summer camp for kids, and that he was spending his last week in Russia touring St. Petersburg. He definitely was a nice kind-hearted chap for sure! We got off at the same main metro station on Nevsky Prospect that Olga took me to the prior day. The big inexpensive internet cafe we went to was just across the street from it, and it had air conditioning too! Inside, I thanked him and we both sat at our computers. AOL's site was still slow, but it was working at least. I began sending a mass email to everyone on my list who was interested in what was going on with me, updated them and asked them for advice about Olga, saying that I had mixed feelings about her because although she expressed an interest in seeing me again, I didn't feel that we had great chemistry together. But I said that I still wanted to try, because she was as hot as hell, and even looked a little like Britney Spears, and couldn't be any closer to my ideal physical type. I knew I was sounding immature and shallow to tell everyone that, but I was telling it like it is!

As I was finishing up checking my email, my computer was getting slow and taking very long to load every webpage. So I glanced around and noticed a cute girl behind me who was also waiting for a website to load up. Making small talk, I said "It's slow isn't it?" and to my surprise, she fluently answered "Yes, very much so." Glad that she could speak English, I continued making small talk with her, and complimented her on her good English. I learned that her name was Lilia, and that she was assisting a French student next to her by helping him with errands and showing him around the city. As she was finishing up, I was enamoured that she was so friendly and open, so I asked her if she would be interested in getting together sometime to do something, and she said sure, so we exchanged phone numbers and emails. (I gave my hostel number and home number) Then David, the Australian guy, came up and said goodbye to me, and I thanked him for his help. Then I waved goodbye to Lilia as well.

After I was done checking email, I took a long walk to the visa registration office, which was on Ligovsky Prospect, asking directions along the way. As I neared the last block, the street suddenly became filled with rubble, concrete, construction equipment, bulldozers, dangerous holes, etc. I wondered if I was in a restricted area, yet the crowd was continuing to walk through it. I thought "This is unbelievable. In the USA, an area under heavy construction like this would be restricted from the public due to safety laws, yet everyone here just walks right through it like it's a normal sidewalk!" Carefully making my way along the street, I looked for the office by searching the numbers of each building, but I couldn't find it, so I went into a fast food place to ask about it. They pointed me through an archway to a back alley, and I went up to the metal door, thinking "This is crazy. Registering visas here for tourists is the law, and the place to do it at isn't even labeled well, and worst of all, you have to go into an alley off the street to find it. Talk about making things convenient for tourists!" I rang the bell and went up to a smoke filled office to register my visa. I was disappointed to learn that I had to pay another $20 to register my visa, because I had already paid that fee to the travel agency GoToRussia.net, but apparently I found out that it would only apply for the Moscow visa registration office, not the St. Petersburg one. (I was originally going to register my visa at the Moscow airport when I transferred flights to St. Petersburg, but when I switched airlines to Luftansa for the reasons I mentioned in the Preparation, Plan and Strategy chapter, I went to St. Petersburg directly from Frankfurt, Germany instead.) I reluctantly paid them, hoping I could get a refund from GoToRussia.net later (which I did).

On my way back, I stopped at a hip looking Starbucks-like place with a parrot on its signage called "Marko Cafe" to get some dessert because I was hungry. Inside, I was taken aback by all the tall skinny hippish gorgeous girls there were inside. "Wow", I thought, "This place looks so modern and these gorgeous city girls are all stylishly modern dressed. The American media that made Russia look primitive and backward was certainly wrong!" The jello dessert I got was mediocre, but at least it was sweet. Then I walked back to the metro station to head back to my hostel. This would be the first time I would be riding it alone. "Here goes nothing", I thought. I paid the cashier at the window for my metro token and went down the escalator hoping that I wouldn't end up being lost for hours.

As I stood on the long descending escalator, I funnily noticed that some people would be rushing down the escalator passing you on the left side, but on the escalators going up, no one would be running up the long flight of stairs. lol I guess at least gravity was constant here :) I also noticed that many young couples were taking the time on the escalator to hold and kiss a lot. I felt envious and thought "Those guys on the email list that said that Russians were uncomfortable with public displays of affection were sure wrong!" When I got to the bottom of the platform, I realized that I now had to figure out which train on the right and left was going north. I opened up the metro train map that was given to me by the hostel with my hostel station circled, and used it to ask for help from people. I went up to people and pointed to the circled station on the map and asked them which of the two trains to take to go that way. They gladly helped and showed me the right train. Onboard, I did the same and asked people how many more stops to get to the circled station on my map. They understood my question of "How many more stops?" when I signaled 1, 2, 3, and so on with my fingers. I realized that I could just count the stops until my station by just looking on my map and counting the stops between the station I came from to the one at my destination. When we arrived at my station, the people I asked to help me pointed to me that this was my stop. I thanked them by saying "Spashiba" which is "thank you" in Russian and got out. When I got up to the top of the escalator, I was relieved to recognize the interior of my local station :) Whew! I made it through safely on my first metro ride alone! I got something to drink and relaxed and watched the sunset.

Then I walked back to my hostel and relaxed, wondering about the approach I should take with Olga tomorrow. I also ran into David the Australian again and told him about my day. I then went up to the fourth floor of the hostel, where I heard there was a balcony where people there hung out at and drank at night. Up there, I found some Dutch guys hanging out and celebrating their last day here. I talked to them a bit and told them about Olga the day before, showing them video clips from my camcorder of Olga the day before. I explained that although Olga was gorgeous and my ideal looking type, she had no personality or depth to her at all, and that I wasn't sure what to do with her next. One of the guys told me that it didn't matter how a girl looked, because if no chemistry was there and she didn't treat you right, it wasn't worth "sh**". He said that one girl he met in the bar the other night kept holding him and begging him to take her away with him back to Holland, but he brushed her off.

Chapter 3: Meeting with Olga

July 16, 2002

After waiting in front of the building for a while, I became anxious. I had talked to her for a long time by phone and email, and now we were going to meet. I was nervous about how it would turn out. I always felt that she was kind of one dimensional and not much substance to her, based on our phone conversations, but I didn't really care because she was my physical type and she expressed interest and attraction to me, which were all that mattered to me now, since women that are my type in the USA do not tend to even acknowledge my existence. Therefore, anything above that would interest me. (You can see her photo and profile that I first saw at this link, but keep in mind that in person she looks way better: http://www.russianfriendfinder.net/showa.shtml?id=679)

As I waited, I became more anxious that I was in the wrong place, so I went up to a guy nearby sitting down and pantomimed to him that I was waiting for a friend, and asked him if he could call her for me. He agreed to and I gave him the number to call. He called her and spoke some Russian and then hung up and told me that she was already on her way and that I was in the right place. I kept pacing back and forth thinking "This is it." Finally, she ran up the stairs to the plaza and blew me away! She was blonde, tan and gorgeous. Much more than I expected from her photos! She looked like a bombshell. I thought "Oh my gosh!" and went up to her and gave her a hug. I think I kissed her cheek too, if I remember. Then I asked the guy who called her for me to take our picture and he did, which is how I got the picture with her in the photo album. (She looked way hotter in person than in that photo though.)

I pointed to the theatre and asked her "You don't live there do you?" and she said "No of course not. I decided to meet here because the taxi driver would know it better than if you had given him my address." Then after some small talk, she suggested we go to a cafe, so we went.

As we walked through the streets and the crowd, I kept thinking how flabbergasted I was at her appearance. Usually a hot blonde would never give me the time of day, now I was going somewhere with one! To me, this was a historical moment, like the breaking of a world record. (I know that sounds cheesy and geeky, but that's how I really felt!) I felt like all the other guys looking at me now were envious, wondering why she was with me. I felt a high from that because such a moment is so rare back in the USA. She pointed out to me the school that she taught at, which looked really old, and then we stopped at the entrance to her apartment building. She told me to wait there for her, while she takes the roses and gift I brought for her (some perfume from JC Penney) and puts it away in her flat. (their term for "apartment") I was hoping she wasn't about to ditch me! She came back down after a short while and we continued walking. I felt like we were running out of things to say, so I kept looking around for things to comment on.

Finally we reached the cafe. It was very nice inside, like a Valentine treat in red colors, for a romantic setting. When I saw the menus, I was glad that there was an English section too. The items seemed very tasty and were named with romantic sexy overtones. This was obviously a lover's cafe. I wondered if she was implying anything by bringing me here :) After we ordered some desserts and pancakes, we started making small talk and getting to know each other. I did not feel we really had much to talk about, and I had mixed feelings about the chemistry we were having. But I thought "Well she's so hot, it doesn't matter! I guess I'll try my best to get along with her and produce chemistry. I mean, man it's worth it. If I could ever bring a girl like this back to the USA, it would be a prize/trophy that would be bigger than winning the Nobel Prize!" What a thought! Finally, our food came and it was very tasty. It was also easy to enjoy since the prices were pretty cheap too. After we were done, we ordered some more and more. Since the quantity of the dishes were small, it was easy to eat a lot of them. They were very tasty and good, like French dessert cuisine. I offered to share some of what I ordered with Olga, but she refused. When I asked her if I could try what she had, she reluctantly agreed. Not exactly a very giving or sharing person, I thought. I wondered if that was a bad sign. Something was strange about her. She didn't seem all there. She spoke decent English though. When she didn't understand me, she took out her English-Russian electronic dictionary (that thing was very fancy!) to look it up. After we were done, I paid for the check and we left. All of what we ordered was only 500 rubbles, which was about 17 dollars, wow!

After the cafe, we went shopping for a bit and she gave me a walking tour of some of the area. Then we headed for an internet cafe that she knew of, so she could check her email. The one she usually went to to write me back was closed, so we looked for another one. Finally we found it. It was very hot inside and humid, and the fan barely helped. As she checked her email, I tried to get on the computer to check mine too. When I looked at the Windows screen, I noticed that all of the words and menus were in Russian. "Great" I thought. I managed to find a way to switch to English though. However, I could not check my AOL email because their browser would not load up AOL Anywhere, which probably was too intricate for their browser. So I went to my Yahoo email instead and wrote emailed my parents to tell them that I had arrived safely. After I was done, I went over to Olga to show her how to search for things on the internet. As I was looking over her shoulder, I kissed her on the cheek and she blushed and giggled. Then I asked if she wanted a massage and she said ok so I massaged her for a while. For some reason, her skin did not feel as good as it looked. There seemed to be something fake about her. I can't explain it, but maybe it was the way her makeup was put on or something, and she obviously had a lot on.

After Olga was done, we went out and found a park bench to sit at. As we talked, I kind of felt like we ran out of things to say, so I kept trying to look for more things to comment on. She seemed pretty dense alright. Then I showed her some footage from my camcorder of the sights I filmed so far, and then I took some footage of her sitting on the bench.

After a while, we got up and she said that she had to meet a friend at 6pm to help her pick out something for two hours, and that I could come with her, but she would have to leave me somewhere for two hours and meet up with me later. I agreed so we went down to the nearest metro station to go to the downtown area. I paid five rubles for the metro token, then descended this incredibly long escalator down this tunnel. It looked surreal in a way. There were so many people constantly heading down and up. You never know who you could run into here! When we got to the bottom, I followed her into the subway which was also very crowded. The signs at each stop and the announcement over the subway intercom were all in Russian. Like my tour book said, they consider it your duty to learn their language here. We got off at the huge metro station on Nevsky Prospect, the biggest street downtown, with shops and billboards inside, including a gigantic screen with advertisements and promotions running on it, with various networks of escalators going in all directions. If it wasn't for Olga, this would be like a gigantic maze to me, and I'd be lost among all the non-English signs. We both got some soft drinks while we waited for her friend, under the big promo screen. When her brunette friend finally showed up, she introduced us but I thought her smile was kind of strange. Then Olga told me to meet them back here under the big promo screen of the metro station in two hours. She showed me where I could take a walking tour of shops and cathedrals in the meantime, so I waved goodbye and set about exploring the area by myself.

As I walked the other direction I couldn't believe how crowded it was, and also how fast everyone was walking. It didn't look like everyone was in a hurry either, it just looked like their normal pace. I just kept on walking forward, making sure to stay on the same street, and let the moment guide me. After a few blocks, I came to a huge dark brown cathedral on my left, with a big fountain park in front of it. (I now know it as Kazansky Church, or The Cathedral of the Mother of God)

After I strolled around the fountain park, doing some people watching, I walked up to the entrance of the cathedral, hoping that it was free to get in. No one was taking tickets at the door, so I just walked in. Inside was a magnificent display of Christian art, paintings, colored glass, etc. It was also nice to be out of the heat too. I assumed that it was a Russian Orthodox Church. There was a ceremony going on in there, and a priest was at the podium reading something in Latin, while the people gathered in front were repeating back what he said. I toured around and took some pictures. You can see these pictures in my online photo album. Suddenly, a staff person came up to me and pointed to my camera and waved his fingers in a "no" fashion. I got the message and put my camera away. I found a curb along the wall to sit on to take a rest and marvel at the interior of this building, and the exotic Latin chants and songs I was hearing in the background. As the ceremony progressed, the group of priests started walking around, followed by the crowd. When I took out my soda bottle to drink, another staff person pointed at me and waved a "no" again. I felt embarrased and put it away in my backpack. After a while, I got up and headed back outside into the heat again.

As I looked around the crowds of seated people, I saw a little short blonde girl sitting by herself on the curb, so I sat near her to try to strike up a conversation. As I took out my Russian phrase book, I talked to her to see if she could speak English and asked her some questions about the cathedral. She didn't understand me, but she looked intrigued by me. So I continued and pointed to phrases in the Russian phrasebook to try to communicate with her. It was very difficult, even to just make small talk. All I could figure out was that her name was Natasha and that she was 19 and lived in the outskirts of this city. Since she looked curious and intrigued by me, I continued, even though we weren't getting anywhere, but it was amusing to try. Apparently, she showed the same patience toward me. We both spent a lot of time sifting through my dictionaries and phrase books to try to talk to each other. All I could gather about what she was doing there was waiting for her brother, which I wasn't even sure I understood correctly. lol After a while, I looked at my watch and realized that it was almost time for me to go back to meet Olga and her friend again. I signaled to her that I had to go back to the metro station, and she got up and said that she was going to go there as well, so we started walking back together. I asked her "But aren't you waiting for your brother?" but she didn't understand. As we walked along the sidewalk together, she asked me if I had a photo to give her. Puzzled since no one I just met had ever asked me that before, I said "Why would you need a photo of me if you already know what I look like?" Was she that fond of me already, I wondered? She didn't understand my question, so I said "No I don't have any photos with me, (I always carry photos of me in case someone asks for them. Right. lol ) but I can email you some. Ok?" She nodded, and I asked her if I could get her telephone number and email, which she understood because they use the same words for those things in Russia. She nodded but signaled that she had nothing to write with. Well neither did I, but I had paper so I took it out and attempted to stop a passing pedestrian to ask to borrow a pen. The first few people I asked didn't understand me, so they just continued walking on. I wasn't sure if it was normal here to ask for help from strangers, so I felt a bit embarrassed, hoping I wasn't making a fool out of myself. As I looked for someone friendly to ask for a pen, I suddenly realized how cute this scene was. Here was a little blonde girl who looked sweet and innocent standing in front of me looking intrigued and waiting for my next move, while hordes of people rushed by us like race cars. It was such a cute scene!!! Finally, a lady stopped to let us borrow her pen, and we exchanged phone numbers and emails on pieces of paper. Afterward, she motioned that it was better to write her rather than telephone her, since she could understand written English better than spoken English. Then she pointed across the street and indicated that the metro station there was closer, and to follow her. I said "No, I'm headed to the other station this way, because I have to meet my friend Olga there." I wasn't sure if she understood me, so I opened up my dictionary and pointed to the word "rendezvous" to her, and then pointed at myself and toward the metro station I was headed to. I wasn't sure if she understood me or not, but we waved goodbye to each other anyway. (To this day, she has written me some emails and surprised me because she is able to write decent English by email even though in person she could hardly speak any!)

When I got back to the big promo screen at the main metro station, Olga and her friend showed up only minutes later. She introduced us and said her friend's name was "Nata". They decided to take me back to the area where my hostel was and get something to eat in that area. I followed them along while Olga's friend kept asking me questions about me and America, due to her curiosity with foreigners. I wondered if she was interested in me or not, but it didn't matter because Olga was way hotter. On the subway, Olga explained to me that I needed to start learning how to ride the metro because she couldn't always be with me on it. I said ok, but asked how I would know which direction the train was going and when to stop. Her answer was very vague and she basically said to just do it. Not exactly very helpful.

When we got off at my station, which was called Ploschad Lenina, Olga's friend Nata took us to an eatery with a singer/keyboard player inside. We ordered some food and sat down. The music was very good. I took out my camera and set it on an adjacent table and filmed some footage of all three of us.

When the keyboard player sang a soft romantic song, Nata asked me if I wanted to dance, but I said "My dancing is very bad." I then asked Olga if she wanted to dance, but she said that this wasn't the right place to do it. At the end of our meal, Olga finished her bottle of mineral water and asked if I could get her another one. I said "sure" and took her empty bottle, brought it to the cashier, gave them the empty bottle and said "one more" while making the "one" signal with my index finger. They took out a bottle from the fridge with a different color wrapper on it, and I asked "Are you sure it's the same kind?" and they nodded "Yes" so I paid 20 rubles for it. When we opened the new bottle and tasted it, we found that it was mineral water with gas in it, like a Club Soda. Yuck! I took it back with an American consumer complaint on my face, and said "This is the wrong one. I wanted water with NO gas!" So they gave me another one without gas in it. I assumed they were fixing their mistake so I took it without paying for it. After Olga and I shared it and finished it up, we were about to leave when the cashier said something to me. Olga said that they wanted me to pay for the extra bottle of water. I told Olga that they made a mistake in giving us the wrong kind of mineral water, and that I shouldn't have to pay for it. She translated it to them and told me "They don't want to pay for the extra water bottle." to which I replied "Well I don't want to have to pay for their mistake either! I gave them the exact bottle that I wanted another one of, so they should have known!" But Olga said that things didn't work that way here in Russia, so I gave in and gave them another 20 rubles.

When we got outside, Olga explained to me that this was Russia, not America, and that here if they mess up your order, even if it's their fault, you still have to pay for it. That's the custom here, and that the exception to it was if you went to a fancy expensive restaurant. I shook my head and said "I still don't think that's right" to which she replied "It doesn't matter what you think. No one cares what you think here. You have to follow the customs here." When we got back to my local metro station, it was about 9pm now even though it was still bright daylight. I asked if Olga wanted to come to the hostel with me so I could introduce her to everyone and open the bottle of wine with her. She replied "But you told me that your room isn't very nice" and at that point, I kind of regretted staying in a hostel, but oh well, if she really liked me, it shouldn't matter. Then Olga told me that she would be busy all day and night tomorrow, Thursday, with her teaching job and babysitting job, and that I should call her Friday morning so we could plan to get together again. I said ok and thanked her for the meeting. I gave her a goodbye hug and moved in to kiss her, and she turned her cheek to me. After kissing her cheek, I pointed to my lips, and she blushed and shook her head, and then waved me goodbye. As she was about to leave, I suddenly said "Olga, wait. I have a question. Do you still like me after today?" because I didn't want to be guessing all night whether things would go anywhere from here. She smiled and said "Yes, why not?" and left. I had no idea if that was genuine or not. Back at the hostel, I told the Europeans hanging out there about my day, how hot Olga was and how I was on a high to be around her. I even showed them video clips from my camcorder and they all agreed that she was hot alright.

Chapter 2: Getting acquainted in a strange foreign land

July 16, 2002

The next morning, I woke up early. (being in a new place always makes me wake up early) I still couldn't believe I was in Russia, the land of the forbidden. "Wow!" I thought. I looked out my window and marveled at it all, even though there was just a street alley outside. I watched as many well dressed people walked through that alley, all with stoic faces. I wondered if they were happy or not. I went to the shower/bathroom and took a shower and brushed my teeth. Along the way, I said good morning to all the other hostel guests, which were all smiley and friendly. It was a cultural mix alright, there were people from everywhere.

When I went to the cafeteria for breakfast, there was a tall skinny gorgeous brunette serving the free included meals.

She looked apathetic and robotic, like someone doing a mindless chore. I tried to make small talk with her to try to learn what Russian girls were like, but she spoke no English. I sat down at an available table and ate. It actually wasn't too bad.

After I was finished, three young girls came in and sat at my table. I said hi to them and when they greeted me, I noticed that they had American accents. It turned out that they were all from the USA. It was nice to hear some familiarity in a foreign land. As I explained to them that I just arrived and was new to everything, they told me that they were actually near the end of their year long trip. I was surprised, since all three of them looked young enough to just be out of high school. They told me that they had just spent most of the year in a rural area of Eastern Siberia, along the east coast of Russia facing Japan. They had just finished their term of service (as to what, I don't really remember) and rode the famous Trans-Siberian Railway across Siberia to visit European Russia and St. Petersburg, and were leaving tomorrow to go back home. As I explained to them the purpose of my trip here, I tried to withhold telling them about my dissatisfaction with American women back home, for obvious reasons. :)

After breakfast, I went to the reception lobby and told them that I needed to find a bank to exchange money in and find where the nearest metro station was as well. They gave me a free map and circled where they both were, but the marks were ambiguous. I decided that I'll just go take a walk and probably find it somehow and ask for directions if I needed to. With nervousness and excitement, I walked out the front door to see St. Petersburg in daylight for the first time! I felt intrigued as I realized that I was now in a public part of a non-English speaking world. It would be an exciting challenge at least, I thought. As I looked at the street in front of me, I noticed how small and European-looking the cars were, and how some of them looked poorly maintained as well. I began walking in the right direction down the block, and noticed how attractive and well dressed the girls here were. And almost all of them were thin too, hardly any were overweight. I also noticed that the dress styles of the girls here were unique and individualistic. Unlike American girls who dressed according to a common or trendy norm with narrow variations, in comparison each girl here dressed according to her own individual style, even if that style was odd or exotic looking. There was much more variety and artistic flair in their dress style. Well I wasn't sure where I was going, so I decided to ask for directions, and used this as an opportunity to try to talk to some of the girls here. Remembering all the talk on the email list from the guys about how the women here were as easy to pick up as flies, I stopped some of the girls passing by and said "English?" and they said a quick "No" and walked on by. "Gee", I thought, "thanks for the effort."

I didn't want to wander around aimlessly, so I decided to turn around back to the hostel and as I did, I took some photos of the area. When I got back to the hostel entrance, I met some other American tourists and explained where I was going to them. They offered to help me find the bank and metro station if I followed them, so I did. As we walked, they told me that their passport had been pickpocketed recently and that they were in a mess trying to get a new one. I told them that I was lucky to have a passport protector belt around my torso under my shirt, which I now realized would come in handy. We made a right turn and walked toward the big metro station. There was a small street in front, but it was difficult to cross it because the drivers were storming by there and not stopping for the pedestrians. It looked pretty dangerous, and even more so when I saw how close they were zooming by the pedestrians, who did not have the slightest look of danger on their faces. Such a low marin of error, I thought, but it all seemed normal to them and no one seemed to get hit, even if lots of cars zoomed by them within inches while they were standing in the middle of the street. "Like I said" I thought "this is a different world." When we got inside the metro station, I noticed how people rushed in and out of the gates, like they were in a big hurry. They did not seem anxious or aggressive either. The rush was like a natural thoughtless flow that was normal to them. A few times I felt as if I was going to be run over. The American couple waved me goodbye and pointed to me where the bank was. I walked out and noticed a lower side into the station building. Inside was a huge waiting area with ticket windows and a gigantic schedule on the wall. I saw some people sitting in the waiting area including a tall skinny tanned gorgeous blonde who was an absolute knockout. "Now's my chance to meet some of the women here" I thought. I would use the asking directions to the bank as a conversation opener. When I talked to her, she didn't speak English but pointed in the direction of the bank. I thanked her and was about to leave when I turned back around and asked if I could get her telephone number and call her sometime. She politely said "No. Please no." I hoped to find some women soon who were interested in me, I thought.

I left the station and looked for the bank, but couldn't find it. None of the signs were in English so I couldn't use any clues to help me. So I took one of my Russian phrase books out of my backback and looked up the phrase "Where is the bank?" with the corresponding Russian sentence beneath it. I showed it to some pedestrians and they tried pointing me in the right direction along with Russian words I couldn't understand. However, there were just too many businesses and doors on every street that it was hard for me to find it from just from a finger point. As I got closer and closer, eventually someone pointed to the exact entrance, so I went in and exchanged 100 dollars there, which equaled about 3200 rubbles.

Afterward, I walked back to the hostel to call Olga to see what time and where she wanted to meet. I bought a prepaid calling card from the hostel reception and made the call. One of the first things I learned about public calling in Russia, from looking at the screen that deducted your credits, was that even if no one answers the phone while it's ringing, you still get credits deducted from your card! Like I already said, this is a different world! I called Olga and she told me to meet her at a public place near her home, that was across the bridge on another side of the city. I dared not ride the metro alone to try to find it since I couldn't even read the signs there, so I elected to take a taxi. I had a Russian staff person nearby talk to Olga and write down the name of the place to meet her at in Russian, so I could show the taxi driver. Then I went to the nearest metro station to buy some flowers to give Olga. As I was trying to cross the street to the metro station, I ran into the three Americans girls that I met earlier that morning during breakfast. I explained to them what I was doing, and they recommended that if I wanted to save money, I could hold out my hand with my palm face down and hail a gypsy cab, which is a private unmarked taxi cab driven by a person working for himself and not a company. I said "Are you crazy? That's dangerous! I could get mugged if I just got into any unmarked car that stopped!", to which they replied "Oh no. Here it is safe to do that. We have been doing it all year, and saved a lot of money doing it too. Trust us. It's the norm here." I replied "Well I'll think about it. I just arrived in this country and I'm not ready to be taking chances just yet." so I waved goodbye to them and wished them a safe journey home since it was their last day. I bought some roses at the flower stand outside the station. I remembered to get an odd number of flowers, since in Russian custom, even numbered roses were used at funerals. So I got three roses wrapped up and paid for it. It was sure cheap compared to the rates I'm used to back home. I walked back to the hostel and had the receptionist call for a taxi because if the driver didn't understand me, I could have the English speaking hostel staff help interpret. After ten minutes, the taxi pulled up behind the hostel, and I opened the door, leaned in and showed him the address written down. He nodded and then I took out my phrase book and pointed at the phrase "How much will this cost?" to him. He wrote down about 150 rubbles, which was about 5 dollars, but I managed to bargain down the price to about 100 rubbles. So I got in and he took me for a ride.

He drove pretty aggressively just like the first taxi driver that brought me to the hostel the night before. It looked very dangerous and a couple of times it seemed like we were inches from hitting other cars. I enjoyed the view though. There were lots of people everywhere, and well dressed too. The sights looked very historic and cultured, like part of a rich past and heritage. We finally drove across a long stretch of lawn with lots of festivities going on, games, mini-carnivals, little rides, etc. It was crowded. Finally, we stopped in front of a big building that looked like a theatre. I thought "This doesn't look like an apartment complex." and then I showed him the address and said "Are you sure?" and he said nodded and said that was it. So I got out and paid him for the ride.

Chapter 1: The departure, flight and arrival in Russia

July 15, 2002

First Week: The Wonders of St. Petersburg

As the weeks approached the departure date for my trip, I felt more and more nervous. I knew this was a venture into the unknown, and that anything could happen. The uncertainty of it all made me feel anxious, especially since I was going to be in a foreign country where all the rules I knew didn't apply. I started packing a week before my departure. The day before my departure, I spent the whole day packing. It ended up taking much longer than I thought, since I kept looking to see what I missed. In fact, it took up the whole night til dawn, so I did not even get any sleep before the flight. The next morning, my parents drove me to the Seattle Airport. I was to fly to Chicago first on United, then transfer planes and take Luftansa to Frankfurt, Germany. From there, I would transfer to another Luftansa plane and head to St. Petersburg, Russia.

During the flight to Chicago, I became so nervous that I kept asking myself "I can't believe I'm really going to Russia for real! What am I doing? Am I crazy? This is so unorthodox. I'm going to a foreign unknown country where anything can happen! It's a voyage into the unknown, and I'll have to trust and hope that a higher power will be watching over me!" Still, I kept wondering if all this was a big mistake. I knew it wasn't and that I had made the right decision, but human nature and the fear of the unknown kept putting these doubts in me. I tried to keep myself occupied by reading my travel guide most of the time. Near the end of the flight, as I went to the bathroom, I noticed a sexy young white girl that was all arms and legs sitting my herself. After mustering much courage, I sat next to her and asked if I could sit here and hang out, and she said "sure". I tried to make conversation, but after a while, she asked me to leave and I did so, thinking "I'm glad I'll be getting away from these snotty prudish American girls."

At Chicago's Ohara Airport, I had a few hours layover, so I went to eat at a Mexican grill place in the airport, and chatted with an American businessman there who was transferring to the same flight as me. He was on his way to Germany again after returning from there a few days ago, because of a business emergency that came up. We talked until the time came to get on the Luftansa flight to Germany. Since this was a long distance across the Atlantic flight, it was a big 747 plane. Onboard, I marveled at how clean and luxurious looking the interior of the plane was. It was much better than any American or Asian 747 airline jet I had ever been on.

I noticed that almost everyone on the plane was German. It appeared that I was the only one there who would be transferring to go to Russia. Not surprising I guess, given the number of flights going there. Oh well, I'm sure I would find some Russian people to talk to on the flight from Germany to Russia. The meals they served on this plane were also much better than any airline food I had before. But most of my thoughts were preoccupied. I couldn't stop thinking about what a big step this was, and I kept feeling nervous when I realized that I had absolutely no idea what lay in store for me the next six weeks.

During the flight, I talked to a nice German girl next to me who was on her way back to Germany after spending a year as a foreign exchange student in Texas.

While I was talking to her, I thought "Wow these European girls sure have intelligent and substantive things to say. Their words reflect an inner life that is well developed and sophisticated, and without snobbiness or attitude. If this were an American girl, we would have ran out of things to say after 5 minutes, with nothing left to say except 'yeah' and 'cool'. This is neat. I hope the girls in Russia are like this too."

After the inflight movie, the lights were dimmed and the window shutters were pulled down. It was sleep time. Now was my chance to catch up on some sleep that I missed the night before while packing. It seemed like I woke up many times and tossed and turned. Sleeping on planes is so hard. I don't know how people do it. When I woke up after who knows how many hours, the onboard TV screen showed a map that indicated that we were above London.


When we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, I had a five hour layover, so I walked around and shopped. It was a fancy looking airport, and I was enamored at the mix of so many people from around the world at that airport. Apparently, this was a big transfer airport, just like Chicago was. Unfortunately, the people working at the airport shops didn't seem that friendly. "Oh well" I thought. "This isn't America, and so I guess I can't expect the fake clicheish customer service smile that is mandated back in the USA." I bought a few postcards of Frankfurt to send some people. When I sat down at a coffee/espresso cafe to write on them, I sensed lots of smoke around me. "Wait a second." I thought, "Smoking is allowed in this airport?" As I glanced around, I noticed that every single person in the cafe was smoking, except me. I guess Europeans love to smoke. Oh well. While I was writing on the postcard, a group of Dutch tourists sat in the table next to me (yes they were tall) and starting making small talk with me. It was refreshing to finally run into some friendly people at this airport. It turned out that they were on their way back to Holland after visiting China.

Near the end of the five hour layover, I approached the gate to my next flight, and I sat down. An Egyptian girl next to me told me that there was an underground metro station below this airport, and that I could have taken the subway into the city of Frankfurt to look around. It was too bad I didn't learn this before, because that would have been fun, but now the time left was too short, and I'd hate to go and risk getting lost too. At the terminal to my next flight, I finally noticed some Russian people in the waiting area. Now I can mingle and talk about my trip! One of my immediate concerns was how to get from the St. Petersburg airport to the hostel I had reservations at. I had heard from the email list that the taxis at the airport are mafia-run and will charge you as high as $30 to $50 to take you somewhere, compared to the normal rate of $2 to $3, and it is best to avoid them if possible. I would gladly do so, but the problem is that since my flight arrives in St. Petersburg at 11pm, the buses and metro system would be closed by the time I got through customs! Therefore, I had no choice but to use the mafia-run taxis! To avoid this, I thought I might find some people on the flight to split a taxi cost with. So I started asking around, but I found that almost all the people there were part of a tour and would be taking a tour bus at the airport. Later on, I met a Russian woman and a tall Asian guy who was from Los Angeles. They were both being picked up by people, so I could not share a ride with them, but they suggested that I call for a city taxi when I got to the airport. However, neither of them were sure whether there were any pay phones at the airport, and they weren't sure if I could even exchange my cash into Russian rubles there either because the exchange center might be closed when we arrived too! So the Russian woman offered to make a call for me to a taxi service on her mobile phone (what we in the states call a "cell phone") when we got to the airport. As we all small talked, I asked the Asian guy from LA, named Brian, if he was there to meet some mail order brides too, but he seemed vague in his response, so I left it at that. All I knew was that he was meeting a woman friend there. (I would later run into him again in St. Petersburg. Read the chapter on the second week for details.)

When we all got in line to enter the gate, it was suddenly announced on the air that the flight was overbooked (cause everyone showed up this time), and that they were offering money and a free night at a hotel in exchange for volunteers to stay behind and take the next day's flight. As no one volunteered, they kept raising the compensation higher. Eventually it was $300 in cash and $300 in credit toward future airline tickets, and a free night's hotel stay in Frankfurt. It was very very tempting to me, and if I wasn't tight about my schedule and a control freak about it, I would have gladly volunteered. Eventually someone did volunteer, so we all proceeded onboard.

This was a much smaller Luftansa plane, and not as fancy. On the flight, a young Spanish guy and a young Russian guy sat next to me. They were both very talkative and friendly. We all talked like old friends. The guy from Spain was going to be a foreign exchange student and live with a Russian family. The Russian guy was from St. Petersburg and was going back after some long boat trip, though I wasn't clear as to what it was for, but it sounded like it was his work. The Russian guy gave me advice about getting around St. Petersburg and what to expect, and he was so friendly and positive that I was hoping that all Russian guys would be like this. After about two hours, the captain signaled that we were now approaching St. Petersburg. "This is it" I thought. As the plane approached St. Petersburg, I looked out the window and saw a lot of greenery all around. It wasn't like rolling pastures per say, but more like a worn and ancient landscape with some character to it. It looked very country and rural. I kept looking for big buildings and skyscrapers, but I didn't see any.


As the view of the land became closer, I thought "Oh my gosh! I can't believe I'm actually about to land in Russia. I never thought in my life that I would ever visit this country. All my life I've heard nothing but bad fearful things about this country from the media and from my history teachers. To Americans, this is like the land of the forbidden, and now I'm here! I only hope I live to tell about it. If I do, it'll be something to be proud of, since then I can say that I've been to a country that most Americans are fearful and ignorant about." As I got excited about this prospect, with my adventurous appetite flowing, I realized that unfortunately, I had absolutely no idea what would lay in store for me the next 6 weeks! It could be the best experience of my life, or the worst experience, or something I totally didn't expect! I also realized that I was now in a foreign country that I hardly knew anything about. It was like an alien land on another planet. Nothing I knew about how things are back in the USA would apply here. I had to drop all my preconceived notions and relearn everything from scratch, and go carefully one step at a time. After we reached touchdown, I suddenly realized that although it's supposed to be 11pm here, it was still light out. I asked the Russian guy next to me about this, and he explained to me that it was called "White Nights", which was a period of a few weeks in St. Petersburg every year in July when the sun would only set for a few hours, kind of like in Alaska.

When we all got off the plane and entered the airport, the three of us then exchanged email addresses and then got into the line for customs. Waiting in line, I noticed that all the signs and billboards in the airport were in Russian cryllic. "Oh great" I thought, "Now I can't even read anything around me. I'm illiterate now!" When I got to the customs lady, I noticed how gorgeous and cute she was, but she also had a frowned look and an apathetic one as well. I guess people here don't have to smile, which I already knew from my prior research. There was a good side to this though, because this also meant that since it was normal to look grumpy, people wouldn't be giving me BS pep talks for not smiling 24 hours a day like they would in the USA! (where people think there is something wrong with you and try to fix up your attitude if you're not positive and smiling 24 hours a day everyday) After the customs check, I went to the baggage claim area and met up with the tall Asian guy and the Russian woman I talked to in the Frankfurt airport. The woman tried to call a taxi service for me, but couldn't find the number. So I brought out the number for the hostel I was staying at, to try to see if I could get them to send a driver to me, which I learned from their website would be about $25, less than the mafia taxi. When I used her cell phone to call them, they said that it was too late to schedule a driver from them and that I had to schedule this in advance if I wanted this service. I also found out that the city bus and metro system were already closed for the night. Realizing that there was nothing I could do, I proceeded reluctantly to the outside exit, knowing that I would be scam bait for the mafia taxis. As I walked the corridor to the outside, I noticed some Russian stewardesses sitting in some chairs in a corner, and I marveled at how hot and perfect looking they were. They looked like they walked out of some magazine. I wanted to stop and say hi but the rush of the crowd behind me kept pushing me forward.

When I got outside, I immediately noticed the humidity and hot air and the sense that I was now in a strange foreign land. As I approached the parking lot, I saw a group of mafia run taxis parked in front of me, with drivers waiting outside of them, and to my right I saw the other passengers getting into tour buses to pick them up. I stopped and contemplated what to do, and how to not be scammed. But the mafia taxi drivers didn't even give me time to think. When they saw me stop and look indecisive, they approached me in their nice suits and offered a ride to me. They spoke pretty good English, obviously. When I asked about the price, they wanted $50. "Yeah right" I thought. I argued and negotiated with them, and finally they brought it down to $35, but no less. Being alone in a foreign country, I feared for my safety, so I asked to see some proof that they were an official service. I didn't want to risk being kidnapped! They had none to show me, but they offered to call the airport security so I could ask them if it was safe to get in their car or not. I agreed, and so they called a uniformed guard out from the airport. He couldn't speak English, but I managed to point to the taxis and say to him "Is it ok? Yes?" and he said "Yes" and nodded. So I conceded and got in the car with my luggage and showed the driver the address I needed to get to. He sped off immediately and right away I noticed how worn and bumpy the roads were, even at the airport. I knew I could not expect smooth maintained roads here. None of the safety laws of the USA applied here!

As we approached the city of St. Petersburg, it gradually became dark. I looked at the window and was in awe at what I saw. The city was much more modern than I had expected. I didn't know why I thought it would be primitive. But there were flashing neon signs, urban sights, and people walking everywhere in well dressed outfits. I knew that it would be like this from the descriptions I read on the internet, but seeing this myself was even better because it confirmed all of it. It was nothing like what you would see of Russia from the US media, which often showed Russia to be poor and primitive. And furthermore, the Russian pop music that was playing in the taxi cab confirmed to me further that I was in some strange exotic land. I did some people watching during the ride too, and couldn't believe how many tall gorgeous women with long legs there were, even at this time of night. I couldn't wait to get out and meet them, and test to see if all the talk I heard about them being friendly and approachable to foreigners was true or not! I sure hoped it was. If so, this would be a paradise! As it became dark, the city lights and life looked very colorful and fancy. My fear was replaced with excitement! As we drove, I also kept looking closely at the mafia cab driver to see if he would suddenly pull out a gun and yell "Stay right where you are!" To calm my nervousness about this, I made small talk with him and tried to be funny and act innocent.

Finally, we arrived at my hostel which was on the side of the big Neva River. The driver got out and helped me unload my luggage. I paid him the $35 and as I was about to turn around he said "What about tip?" I said "I thought I read that you don't tip taxis in Russia!" but I went ahead and gave him a dollar anyway. I walked up to the big old door of the hostel, and opened it. The interior of it looked like an old building with a history all right. I walked in and looked around. There was nobody there, not even a receptionist. "That's funny" I thought, because I was told by them on the phone and on the website that there would a hostel staff available there 24 hours a day. I looked around and noticed that the office to my right was locked and closed and the security booth to my left was empty. Not knowing what to do, I yelled out "Hello! Is anyone here?" No one responded. I could have sworn that I was at the right place because the big sign outside did say "St. Petersburg International Hostel Holiday". I went out and double checked it and confirmed it. When I got back in the hall, I thought "Well there's another big door in front of me. Maybe I should just go through it and I'll be able to find a receptionist beyond it." It's the only logical answer. So I did that, and sure enough to my left was a hallway with a reception area. I walked to it and greeted the receptionist saying that I arrived. I checked in, paid by credit card for a few days, got the key to my room, some blankets, pillows, and toiletries. I would be in a double bunk room, but I would have it to myself since no one else needed it. I also noticed European guests coming and going throughout the lobby. They all spoke with exotic European accents.

Before going to my room, I called Olga, the lady I came to see in this city, and told her that I arrived. She was glad and said that we would arrange to meet tomorrow. Even though I hadn't slept well for 48 hours, my adrenaline was pumped with excitement at being here, so I wasn't really tired but full of energy. I went outside to gaze at this exotic new world in the moonlight. I looked at the romantic Neva River and bridge, lit by the moonlight. The sight was surreal and I could feel the culture all around me. As I sat down outside and marveled at it all, some European girls came up to the door and we exchanged hello's. I asked them where they were from and they said Holland. I told them about my long time Dutch pen pal Karin, and then I explained that I just arrived here and asked them how they liked this city so far. They said it was great, but then pointed to the bridge and warned me that if I cross it to the other side of town and didn't come back before 1am, that the bridge would open up for a few hours to let the ships pass through, and that I would be stuck on the other side for several hours until 4am. They explained that it had already happened to them, and they didn't mind it because it was fun being on the other side just drinking and mingling with people and hanging out. I thanked them for the advice and wished them goodnight. I went to my room, settled down, and laid on my bed. As I lay, I felt relieved that I had made it safely here, with English speaking staff here ready to help me get around. I quickly fell asleep.