Алые Паруса - Alay Parusa

On the 20th of June , a festival Алые Паруса was held.This festival is to celebrate the graduation of russian students from university.And you bet , the whole town was flooded with party-goers dancing to the music and waiting for the fireworks.There were stages outside the Hermitage and onVasilyevsky Islandlet where performances were being held.

Here is a link ( in russian )
http://www.fontanka.ru/2010/06/20/002/

The fireworks started at 2am,the darkest point of time of White Nights.And the Ship with red sails sailed down Neva River a few minutes after the fireworks.
 

Picure from http://www.google.ru/imglanding?q=%D0%9F%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D0%B0-2010&imgurl=http://www.allsauna.ru/pics/news/parusa2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.allsauna.ru/hotnews/55.html&usg=__WKVdPjKJn4YVKG5Eemr9IahCKRw=&h=313&w=300&sz=23&hl=ru&sig2=j9uvCBt0SL7pwS2LJeb1-Q&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=4mIUauSwuvWpTM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%25D0%259F%25D0%25B0%25D1%2580%25D1%2583%25D1%2581%25D0%25B0-2010%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dru%26newwindow%3D1%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GZAZ_en%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=sckfTLaPK5CFOPbV9Y0K&um=1&newwindow=1&sa=N&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GZAZ_en&tbs=isch:1&start=0#tbnid=4mIUauSwuvWpTM&start=0

This was a old tradition but was stopped for many years during the soviet times.But recently , the festival was revived once again.The event was sponsored by банк россии.( Bank Russia ),A new bank which Putin has a stake in.

For this special occasion, the metros opened at 4am instead of the usual 6am.And exhausted people were so desperate to get home that they refused to join the queue ,climbing over the barriers to get into metro station.Much to the discontentment of those who queued up.

Interns from Singapore

I was told that there were 5 other interns from Singapore in Saint Petersburg , out of which 2 of them will be on the same project as me.I was quite stunned when i heard that.Since when were Singaporean students so adventurous as to want to come to Russia to do some volunteer work? And 5!

Then i found out that I was the only Singaporean out of the 6 interns from Singapore.The other 5 were of other nationalities ,studying in Singapore.4 of them are from China and 1 from Indonesia.I am not sure why , but somehow i felt quite strange hearing the Russians refer all 5 of them as Singaporeans when i am the only Singaporean there.But I guess Singapore is a very cosmopolitan country and welcoming towards foreigners.

Anyway, i met up with the 4 students from China .1 of them returned back to Singapore for summer semester last friday and after sending her off at the airport , i invited the other 3 to my place for dinner.

The dinner was not possible without the amazing cooking skills of Xu Su ( the guy ) .He is the only one who knows how to cook rice with a pot on the stove. I on the other hand have ended up with half cooked rice most of the time and continue to dream about having a rice cooker or pressure cooker whenever I am overseas.

Apartment Owner

The apartment owner ,Sergie joined us a little later for dinner and an engaging conversation..in english.Sergie ,a russian holds a degree in political science from a university in Munich and now works for a oil and gas company.As we discussed about things happening in central asia , ukraine ,poland and Russia , it struck me how intelligent this russian man actually is.Fluent in Russian , English and German.He also knows lithuanian,belarusian and ukrainian.

And before Sergie left , he left me a gift of some belarussian money!Isn't that cool? I'm so inspired to head over to Belarus right now and see for myself if his description of Belarus is actually true!

The cool people of Petersburg

It has only been my first week in Petersburg and I got acquainted with some really cool russians living here.Petersburg was never my favourite city.I wasn't inspired by the european architecture or particularly happy about losing my camera on my first trip here last year.But i had some great time with my international and russian friends wandering around exploring the city.And now , as i spend more time here, meeting new people , it has occured to me that there is one very cool crowd of Peterburgians living in this city and this might just make me fall in love with Petersburg!

The Buddy

On my 2nd day here, my russian buddy,Sasha met up with me.It was his first time being a buddy to a foreigner.A young freshie at university ,he just got a job working as a waiter at a restaurant  at one of the top hotels for summer and for the next few years when he is studying.A job he now needs in order to pay off his university school fees for the next 3 years.

This job also gave him an opportunity to practise his english and meet some interesting people.While he shared with me about his job experience during the first 5 days of his work,i can't help but feel extremely proud of this hard working and positive boy!He is the kind of son many mothers will dream of having!

Efficiency in Russia

Efficiency is something nobody expects from Russia.But surprisingly enough , i received just that here in Petersburg.The probability of this happening is 1%.And somehow my experience with registration papers is always within that 1% interval.I must be really lucky over here.

All foreigners who are staying in any russian city for more than 3 working days have to get registered at a local office.For my registration, a russian student has to help me register.By the first working day ,i met up with the student Lena who was doing my registration papers.By the 2nd working day , i got my registration papers and passport back.

My Korean roomate was not that fortunate.Her buddy did not have her registration papers submitted ,even after her17th day of stay in Petersburg...

Living in SPB

I lived in a student dormitory in Moscow ,with a host family in Petrozavodsk and now , i have been given the opportunity to live in an apartment in Saint Petersburg.I wonder what will come next....

A very kind ,intellectual and charming russian who is a commercial director of a russian company agreed to help out in the White Dove project ( the project i am on ) by letting 2 interns stay in his cozy apartment.He has moved to his mother's place to stay for the time being.So, Jiwon , a korean girl and I live together in this spanking new and comfortable apartment.

The rest of the interns were not as lucky as I am.Jiwon has changed her accomodation nearly 3 times before settling in with me.The other interns had to make do with staying with other russians and in hostels.Meanwhile ,I got to enjoy the privacy and the comforts of this amazing apartment!

Jiwon , my korean roomate

Update on Russian - Polish Relations

For those with accounts with http://www.russiaprofile.org/

There is an article "Flexible Friends " on Russian - Polish relations

There was a air disaster in Smolensk in April ,where the plane which the Polish president was travelling in to commemorate the Katyn massacre crashed.A widow of one of the victims in the plane crash discovered that a sum of money was withdrawn from the victim's bank account hours after his death.

Apparently , it is said that soldiers combing the wreckage site took the credit card from the victim and went on a shopping spree soon after

Extract from http://www.russiaprofile.org/

I'm pretty speechless after reading this.

Arrival in Saint Petersburg

This trip to Saint Petersburg was slightly problematic ,largely due to my ignorance which resulted in confusion and problems on the russian side.But all the problems have been solved and....  I finally arrived in Saint Petersburg on the 14th of June, happily settled in!

I am to embark on a project to teach english at a few orphanges in saint petersburg  but due to some communication problems with the orphanges , the project is slated to start in July instead of the intended month of May.Most of the interns arrived in Saint Petersburg between mid May- early June and found themselves not being able to do any volunteer work,so they have been travelling around seeing the city .There has been a disatisfaction among the interns due to this, but most of them are not complaining about this great opportunity to see SPB and the free accomodation.

The Russian project organizers have been trying their best to contact the orphanages and setting up meetings with the people in charge.But when they arrived at the orphange , the people in charge ,miraculously disappeared claiming that they had some family issues to tend to.To add to the difficulties , the organizers are having their examinations til the end of June.

Sometimes, it's really not the young russians who are not trying or are lazy.The russians i have met are a really hardworking intelligent lot .The system ( ie.Bureaucracy ) however creates so much hassle and problems that makes everyone's life so difficult.And to add to the problem , sometimes people holding higher positions break the promises they made .

For a Singaporean who has been used to efficiency and a fast paced life in Singapore , the fast paced life in Moscow or Saint Petersburg may become extremely frustrating because there is an extremely long waiting time,paperwork and frustration attached to the fast paced lifestyle.