Tuesday, July 16, 2002

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.

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