Ok, so today maybe wasn't typical. But it did feel very Russian.
I woke up this morning and Iuliia pointed out that it was snowing, just a little. During the night a nice white dusting had appeared. It always feels a little bit more Russian to me here when it snows. I spent the morning before I had to go to class doing some homework and looking out my window.
The first very Russian thing I saw was this: a group of boys who looked to be about 15 or so ran out of the building and started having a snowball fight. One of them had forgotten to put his coat on and just had a shirt. The other two were decked out in their jackets. Eventually one of them got a good shot and hit his friend in the neck. They chased each other up the walkway to school and out of sight of my window, where I'm presuming one tackled the other and they tired themselves out. They wandered back looking tired, formed a circle to chat, and pulled out their cigarettes. Classic Russia. I'm mostly used to people smoking now, but it still catches me by surprise every once in a while.
The second very Russian thing happened when I was downtown this afternoon on my way home from eating downtown. It was about 5:00 or so. As we walked through the central square two large fur-hatted policemen walked toward us toting a very drunk old Russian man. Between the two of them they were mostly just kind of lifting and dragging him out of the square. There was no yelling or fighting, just your average street drunk being carted off by policemen.
A note on the policemen: There are a couple different types of policemen around. They're more common to see standing on the street here and you see fewer cop cars. Mostly they just use the cars as roadblocks during rush hour traffic jams. But the great thing about the policemen is their outfits. They wear long coats and big furry stereotypical Russian hats and black gloves. They look so regal and old-fashioned. Especially since they all carry beatsticks, which freaks me out a little bit sometimes. But I've never seen one in action, which is good.
Anyways, I love seeing these odd sights that I know I would never really encounter in America. It's a different world here. Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad. It's just the way it is.
I woke up this morning and Iuliia pointed out that it was snowing, just a little. During the night a nice white dusting had appeared. It always feels a little bit more Russian to me here when it snows. I spent the morning before I had to go to class doing some homework and looking out my window.
The first very Russian thing I saw was this: a group of boys who looked to be about 15 or so ran out of the building and started having a snowball fight. One of them had forgotten to put his coat on and just had a shirt. The other two were decked out in their jackets. Eventually one of them got a good shot and hit his friend in the neck. They chased each other up the walkway to school and out of sight of my window, where I'm presuming one tackled the other and they tired themselves out. They wandered back looking tired, formed a circle to chat, and pulled out their cigarettes. Classic Russia. I'm mostly used to people smoking now, but it still catches me by surprise every once in a while.
The second very Russian thing happened when I was downtown this afternoon on my way home from eating downtown. It was about 5:00 or so. As we walked through the central square two large fur-hatted policemen walked toward us toting a very drunk old Russian man. Between the two of them they were mostly just kind of lifting and dragging him out of the square. There was no yelling or fighting, just your average street drunk being carted off by policemen.
A note on the policemen: There are a couple different types of policemen around. They're more common to see standing on the street here and you see fewer cop cars. Mostly they just use the cars as roadblocks during rush hour traffic jams. But the great thing about the policemen is their outfits. They wear long coats and big furry stereotypical Russian hats and black gloves. They look so regal and old-fashioned. Especially since they all carry beatsticks, which freaks me out a little bit sometimes. But I've never seen one in action, which is good.
Anyways, I love seeing these odd sights that I know I would never really encounter in America. It's a different world here. Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad. It's just the way it is.
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