женский день Women's Day

Women's Day is on the 8th MArch.

It is a day where people celebrate the work and achievements of women!THe flower and plant section of лента supermarket was filled with men nitpicking on the kind of flowers they will buy for their women!
After i came back from the supermarket , 5 year old Sasha presented me with a rose and a bar of золотая марка chocolates!My favourite russian brand!Sweet!

My host family invited me for cake together with them.And as the little kids get their hands pushed away from touching the icing of the cake , Yura , my host dad announced that this was indeed a tough and tiring day for the men to make the day special for women.

The rose that sasha gave me now sit next to the plant i just bought.Despite my love for plants , i have a problem of causing a premature death due to unidentifiable reasons.Let's see how long this one will last!

снег snow

Petrozavodsk was hit with extremely heavy snow and low temperatures of -30degree celcius this year.Snow is pretty when you stay indoors and stare outside.But not when you are outdoors,falling all over the pavements filled with uneven hard/ice/snow.Although the main streets were cleared of the snow , the parking lots of the apartments were not.Some people don't use their cars all winter.

THey might have a problem finding it if the need arises!

Starting from Kindergarten ( детский сад )

Staying with a family with children has its perks when you are trying to learn Russian .On Sunday , sasha has school for one hour and Tatyana invited me to sit in his class with the other parents .Although the 5 year old kids understood the lesson more than I did , it was still an interesting learning experience for me .Perhaps I will join kindergarten classes every Sunday as well.

The room ( моя комната )

Instead of staying in the dormitories, I decided to stay with a host family this time .My school shortlisted 2 families and eventually picked Tatyana’s family .The school called it the classic Russian family.2 adults holding respectable jobs and 2 children.

There is a King size bed, small table, a cupboard and a carpet .It is a nice room and I thought, “Well, she is a surgeon and her husband works long hours fixing machinery for roads, perhaps that’s why they can afford to have such a nice guest room.”

Then the hard facts sank in the next morning .I wasn’t living in the guest room.There was no guest room.There is only a master bedroom and a children's room.

For Euro190 a month, the parents had given up the master room for me and they now sleep on the living room couch outside.

It was difficult to sleep on that fact.

Host Family

650am.
My host.Tatyana picked me up from the Petrozavodsk train station.She's a surgeon ,married and has 2 children...5and 7 year old boys.Sasha and Tioma.
Sasha was having his birthday party in the afternoon.So that was how i spent my first day.A birthday party of a 5 year old russian boy.

Before the Party
I had my first glimpse of the supermarket in Petrozavodsk after Tatyana sent Tioma to the kindergarten.There used to be a market right next to where the supermarket is, but it was demolished and now a supermarket stands in its place.And most of the people of Petrozavodsk shop there.There are huge discounts if you buy the supermarket loyalty card.Thank goodness it is just a 10 minute walk away from the house.

Just before the party started,Tatyana went off to pick Tioma up from the kindergarten. I was alone at home with Sasha.Perhaps i made a very bad move by introducing my camera and laptop into his life , because the aspiring photographer and computer gamer couldn't take his hands off them, pressing ,clicking ,fiddling and constantly pleading to use them.

Party
So there was 6 children in the house.SIX.I never realized how difficult it is to handle 2 children until now.6 children...was ......exhausting.One minute they were watching tv,fighting over the educational computer games , playing cars.They were everywhere.Children.Regardless of which part of the world they are in , they are all the SAME.

I was looking through some of the past party photos and saw one of the girls ,with black front teeth.Apparently , the tap water is so bad that it has damaged her teeth and they had to be painted and this girl is just 5 years old.I made it a point never to use Russian tap water when brushing my teeth in the future.

Arriving into Russia

After spending 3 amazing days in Finland ( Tampere and Helsinki ) with Tiina and Lasse respectively , it was finally time to head to Russia.

The nice Finnish old man

As i was approaching the bus heading to Russia from Helsinki, a jolly fat man came forward to help me with my luggage and translation .He is a Finnish man ,Alex who spoke perfect Russian  and was on his way to the Caucacus for a vacation .He  will be making a 2 day train ride from Saint Petersburg the next day.

Alex talked to me on the bus , helped me with immigration papers and even brought me to the metro stop in Saint Petersburg where my train departed for Petrozavodsk.I knew the Saint Petersburg Metro well, but his sincerity to bring me there touched me.He was heading to the metro stop after mine.

He asked me to write him a postcard and call him if i ever needed any help.I gave him a $2 singapore currency as a souvenir .

The Bus Ride

The bus ride costed 15 Euros , 7hour from Helsinki.There were nearly 20 Russians , 1 Belarusian , 3Finns and Me , the Singaporean on the bus.Like Russian trains , the bus even has a hot water dispenser.

In terms of view , there didn't seem to be much of a difference between Finland and Russia.Snow,trees and vehicles.You can't see the difference initially , but you can definately feel it in the roads.A smooth ride on the Finnish side and a bumpy one on the Russian side.The bus driver adhered to the rules in Finland.But once he crossed the border ,the atmosphere became more relaxed , the bus driverplayed an old russian movie on the tv, drove faster , started overtaking all the slower moving vehicles on the road of potholes.Welcome to Russia.

Shock at Customs.

Unlike the smoot pass i had at Domododevo Airport  in Moscow last year ,my heart skipped a beat at the Finnish Russian road border.

Custom officer looked at me

" Вы говорите порусский?" (you speak russian ?)

Me :"немнога" ( a little )

Custom officer " #$^%*&|" something incomprehensible "

Me "uh.... непонимаю" ( don't understand )

Custom officer sighed , shook her head , made a phonecall.all i heard was "lalalalalal  ........сингапур"(singapore)

The russian in the next queue went off.

Another russian in the next queue went off.

Another russian in the next queue went off.

Then the militsa came in.A discussion ensued

Militsa took my passport , looked at the visa ..."hmmm....петрозаводск " Looked at me

Militsa flipped to my photo on the passport , looked at me

My eyes were already wide open, jaws semi dropped

He laughed , gave the custome officer my passport said something and left.

Yes.I got my passport back.

Train Station

Yes,you can get your train tickets online, russian price .But you have to exchange the eticket to a printed ticket at the international ticket booth.The train ride from Saint Petersburg to Petrozavodsk was smooth ,but getting to the train station was painful because i was carrying nearly 35kg of luggage.I didn't travel light after all.You can say that i seriously couldn't wait to get to Petrozavodsk the next day.

Petrozavosk петрозаводск Petroskoi

Capital of the Karelian Republic
Small city founded in 1703 in order for Peter the Great to build an iron foundry for manufacturing cannons and anchors used in the GReat Northern War between the Russians and the Swedes. (1700 - 1721)

Over the years , Petrozavodsk has been wrestled between Finland and Russia.
Now half of the Karelian Republic lies in Finland , while the other half in Russia.
And Petrozavodsk is in the Russian side of Karelia.

This is the city to reach in order to take a ferry to Kizhi Island.One of the UNESCO world Heritage Sights of Russia.And this is where i will be spending 2 months studying Russian !