Back in Canada

After a grueling 26 or so hours in planes and airports we are now back in Canada! It was strange even on the plane hearing so many people talk in English. I wonder if people we couldn't understand in Russian were also talking about how their cell coverage is a rip-off. I would not be surprised.

I enjoyed some peanut butter for breakfast along with some milk that didn't taste kind of funky. I also had a really good Pita yesterday that was really easy to order.

Though it's great to be able to understand everything again it was still really saddening to leave Russia. All our friends in the dorm and the people who worked with our group have become such close friends that I'm sure I'll try to visit them sometime again in life.

I always thought Winnipeg was a big city growing up, but now it seems like it's actually not that imposing.

I had the sleep of my life last night also. After being awake for ~ 40hours I crashed pretty hard.

This post will most likely also be the final one for this blog, as the Briercrest Russia Program '09 is now officially over. Maybe I'll be able to transfer this account to someone for the '10 program. It could be you...

Trip to Vyborg

I was going to write about an incident that happened a little less than a week ago when a police officer stopped me in the metro and accused me of using marijuana, but since the end of our trip is so near, I thought I'd leave it to tell people in person. It was strange though.

A few days ago we had the chance to visit the city of Vyborg that lies close to the Finnish-Russian border. The city was actually Finnish until it was ceded to the Soviet Union after World War II. The city, although home to over 80,000 residents, felt like a small town. During our visit we got to see a medieval castle, the ruins of catholic monasteries, and the view of the city from a tower in the castle. Here are a few pictures to show what the trip was like:

A Russian Orthodox Church. We got to go inside and hear some of the service.

A Statue of Lenin. There are random statues and faces of him almost everywhere.

I thought this was some funny graffiti, it reads "Give me Power Crash my weakness," an almost poetic quote that also features a perplexed cat looking on. I think graffiti here is generally of better quality than it is back home. (That cat is just so surprised)

A crane working at the dock. The waters and lands as far away as you can see might be Finnish territory.

Here is the old watch tower that's stood in the city from its beginnings.

The castle that was used by Swedish forces in the 18th century to defend against Russian forces. Tsar Peter the Great finally captured the fortress after a long war between Russia and Sweden.

Ruins of a Catholic monastery in the city.

A funny car sitting beside an abandoned wall. I think this is a really Russian photo.

See you all soon! We are only here for 5 more days. I remember lying in my bed going to sleep the first night as clearly as if it were only days ago, hard to believe that it's been almost 4 months.

She had marvelous judgment... if not particularly good taste

I have an exam tomorrow on Russian History--I plan on writing it furiously.

We went to the crazy small theatre again. I'll try to post once more the day before we leave but this will be my last event post about what we've been doing in Russia.

With exams and Christmas coming up there won't be much time to post. I'll also try to put some good pictures up in the abundance of post-trip time I'll have.

The play today was called sans paroles and it was cool to watch because there were no words. Usually mimery isn't that appealing, but being in Russia it was nice to be able to understand as much as everyone else.

The play involved two people in sacks going about their daily routines without things amounting to anything. It's kind of a melancholic idea but they added a few funny elements to the production that really changed it from the original. I wish I had more pictures but my Camera batteries are quite low.

I'm sure I'll have some good photos once I get them from Justin again. Here's a picture of us in class.

Here are some videos of Elijah's metal band to fill the rest of the space:

A Trip that Took Longer than Expected

At about 3:00pm today Brennon came into my room and announced that he and Bergy were going to go to the Nike outlet store and see the Smolny Cathedral on the way. Though I have a language test tomorrow and a blog that needed updating, I knew that I couldn't miss the Smolny Cathedral.

I didn't get home until 12:30am. Moral of the story: short outings are never short.

It was worth it though. Here is a picture of Smolny Cathedral that I pulled off google images:

(I can't figure out how to resize it because I suck at the internet)

After visiting this amazing Church, Brennon and I went with our American friend studying theatre to see a tiny production of King Lear that literally took place inside the wall of Peter and Paul Fortress.

This was no ordinary King Lear--it was actually called Lear without Lear because the role of King Lear was played by a chorus of all the actors not on stage at that time. It was definitely not a classical portrayal--there was sand everywhere, about 20-30 apples were smashed, and a very nicely constructed paper castle was burned to begin the play. The whole thing was also in Russian, and having not read King Lear, I only had a tiny idea of what was occurring in the chaotic apple-and-sand flurry. There was a lot of destruction though and I can respect that in almost any artistic medium.

After the play we stood in line for like 40 minutes to get cheeseburgers at McDonald's. The perfect way to end a really cool night.