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Christie Shu
ceshu@colby.edu
January, 2009
What an experience! Inauguration Day in St. Petersburg!
I had been so sad that I would miss inauguration day in the US,
that it would pass while I was in Russia and I would not be able
to experience the excitement and anticipation of ushering in a
new president who (it is felt) represents a new era. The other
Colby students were also put out. They decided to make the Mac
and Cheese that they had brought from home and ask one of their
host mothers whether or not she receives CNN on her TV.
Unfortunately, she does not. We would have had to watch the
inauguration an hour after it actually happened live, and dubbed
over into Russian. We decided that while this would be
interesting, the television program probably would not cover the
entire ceremony and it is impossible to perfectly translate and
dub Obama's speeches and way of speaking. One of the students'
mother found out online that the US Consulate in St. Petersburg
reserved a conference room at the Grand Hotel Europe (the nicest
hotel in St. Petersburg) to show the inauguration ceremony on a
big screen. We decided we would go there, meet other Americans,
and watch the ceremony together.
The other Colby students all live pretty close to each other. I
live about 45 minutes away by metro and about an hour and a half
away by foot. So, they all got together to eat the Mac and
Cheese before going to watch the ceremony. I decided to stay
home, do some studying because I knew that it would be a late
night for me, and prepare for my interview today.
We were to meet at the Grand Hotel Europe at 7:30pm (remember,
St. Petersburg is 8 hours ahead of the East Coast and 11 hours
ahead of California). The others took longer eating their Mac
and Cheese than they expected so they were about half an hour
late (you can see all of us Colby students in the picture!). In
the meantime, waiting for them, I found the appropriate room in
the hotel and I met a Fulbright dissertation student. She
studies here at the St. Peterburg State University and in the US
she studies at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is
a sociologists who is researching sex workers' access to HIV
support in St. Petersburg. She is here for a year to interview
sex workers and health care personnel. We enjoyed standing,
talking some, and watching the beginning of the ceremony
together in the back of the Tchaikovskiy room in the hotel.
The room was beautifully arranged and decorated. There were
candlelit tables sprinkled throughout the back-half of the room,
with various couches, easy chairs, and normal wooden chairs.
There were between 30 and 40 people there to watch the ceremony
between the ages of about 4 and 55 or so, I would imagine. It
was wonderful, like a big family getting together to experience
an exciting celebratory event. We were a little island of
America in the middle of Russia. Throughout the festivities,
people were cheering, applauding at certain points during
Obama's speech, spell-bound by the musical performances, and
sharing the feeling that hopefully in this new presidential era
it will be easier to be abroad as an American.
At the end of the ceremony the Consulate had the hotel bring in
a huge beautiful cake decorated with fire cracker sticks (see
the pictures!). The cake was phenomenal!
When I got home, my host mother asked how it went. When I left
the apartment and told her where I was going, she said, "Oh!
What time does it start?" She decided that she would watch some
online (we don't have a TV at home, very strange for a Russian
household). I don't know if she was aware that the inauguration
was happening today. This surprised me given all of the hype and
excitement of the prospect of Obama being our next president.
Since I have returned to Russia, everyone I have run into, the
moment s/he realizes that I am an American, immediately wants to
talk about Obama. Russians are so excited that we elected him.
There is definitely much more goodwill and respect for Americans
than the last time I was here. Fascinating. Nonetheless, it
seemed that not too many people were really excited about
watching the inauguration. As my host mother puts it, Russians
love to "curse and complain" but they are "apolitical and
passive." They may want something change!
d, but they will never do anything to direct and take control of
the situation. We'll see how relations with Russia develop
during Obama's presidency.
I hope that you all enjoyed the inauguration ceremony.
Best wishes to all!
January, 2009
Good evening all!
I am sitting at my desk at my host family's home in St.
Petersburg, Russia. It is 5:30pm, Thursday evening, 6:30am
Thursday morning in San Marino. It started snowing about half an
hour ago, big, huge, peaceful snow flakes. I live in the center
of St. Petersburg, on one of the busiest streets. The snow
muffles the sound of traffic and people walking home from work
or to social engagements. it has already been dark for several
hours. This far north, the sun begins to rise around 9 or 9:30
am and begins to set around 1:30 or 2pm.
I arrived in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Jan 6. We have been so
lucky so far, with sun and blue sky virtually all day, everyday.
Generally, winter in St. Petersburg is gray and gloomy.
I have had a whirlwind of a week, beginning Jan 1. As is
tradition for my family, we woke up early on Jan 1 to arrive at
Orange Grove by 6am. Every New Year's we walk along the floats
that have lined up for the Rose Parade. Then we find a good
place towards the beginning of the parade to watch the parade
get going. I left with my parents soon after the parade finished
passing us to go to LAX to fly out to Austin, TX for my ASETS
(Ambassadorial Scholarship-Elect Training Session) orientation
session Friday and Saturday. Every Scholar is required to attend
an outbound orientation session. I was sad to realize that it
would be inconvenient for me to attend our region's session,
held in the first half of February in San Francisco. It would
require that I miss a couple of days of classes. I found out
that a session would be held Jan 2-3 in Austin, TX, which worked
out perfectly for my January plans. So, I shipped out to Austin
and spent Friday and Saturday meeting fellow!
Scholars from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Illinois.
I learned about public speaking, how to be an effective Scholar,
and what Rotary expects of Scholars. I also had the opportunity
to speak to and hear from Scholar-alums who have just returned
from their year abroad and hear some wisdom from them. It was
such a wonderful weekend, full of talks, activities, and
socializing. We even had a Peace Fellow come from Japan to speak
to us! Rotary does such a wonderful job preparing us for our
duties as Ambassadors of Goodwill, of promoting cultural
exchange, and for creating pockets of peace throughout the
world.
I then flew out of Austin to Boston on the 4th. I visited my
aunt and uncle for the night, which was wonderful, because I
have not really been able to spend time with them in a couple of
years. My aunt took me back to Logan Airport Monday afternoon,
on Jan 5, to meet the Colby group that is spending JanPlan (the
month of January) abroad in St. Petersburg. I have returned to
St. Petersburg for the month in order to conduct lots of
interviews for research for my Honors Thesis that I am writing
this year. In my past stays in Russia, I noticed that folk
medicine is widely used, and often even preferred to Western
medicine. I want to understand why this is the case in a
technologically-advanced city. In my Thesis, I investigate the
resurgence in the use of folk medicine amongst the educated
class in St. Petersburg, Russia. I specifically target mothers
because they are the family members who take care of the health
of the family and so are most aware of medical options and!
they have to make medical decisions on a day to day basis. I
focus specifically on educated mothers because then I know that
they value western-style education enough to have completed
university studies, and so should have respect for science,
technology, and accepted principles about how the world works.
Yet, they still use folk medicine, a form of medicine that is
often thought of as primitive. So, this is what is occupying my
time and will continue to occupy it until the beginning of May
when I have to defend my thesis. Fun! It is so fascinating!
In the meantime, I am excited to return home for Spring Break
during the last week of March and visit you all on Thursday at
the Rotary meeting.
If you are interested, you can see the picture album that one of
the ASETS coordinators made at the following website:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=274901105/a=157324724_27642610/t_=157324724 .
I created an account to be able to access it. Use email address:
cs04870@hotmail.com ; password: 4zir229
I have also attached some pictures from St. Petersburg. I am not
in any of the pictures, but they show the Colby group, all
enjoying St. Petersburg and Russia for the first time in their
lives. They are so excited! It is wonderful!
The first is a picture at "The Point" on Vasilyevskiy Ostrov
(Basil's Island). The second is a picture of Smolniy Institute,
the best girls' school in Russia until 1917 and the revolution.
The buildings were first built by Elizabeth I (Peter the Great's
daughter and his successor). She thought that she wanted to be a
nun, but changed her mind before its completion. Catherine the
Great then adopted the buildings and the site to make it into a
girls' school. The third picture is the Church on Spilled Blood
on the left and the Canal Griboyedova, the canal on which I
live, several blocks in the direction in the camera is pointed.
Gorgeous!
I hope that all is well at home.
If any of you have questions or would like to remain in close
contact with me, feel free to email me at anytime at
ceshu@colby.edu .
Sincerely,
Christie |
