bekastar718's Xanga

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:22:45 GMT

Well..........I'm finally home. I woke up at 5am today because, to me, its 2pm and I just can't sleep. So this morning, I woke up that early, turned on the TV and found out that there was a major terrorrist plot at London's Heathrow Airport on British Airways flights from the UK to the US. The terrorists were supposedly targeting JFK and Dulles. I instantly got chills. I just flew in from Heathrow on a US bound flight to Dulles(obviously), on British Airways, the DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY.
The terrorists were planning on blowing up the planes in middair between London and the US; they were going to use liquid bombs in the form of baby formula. When I heard this, I couldn't help but think about my flight. When I was going through security, there was this young middle eastern couple with an infant that was pulled from the line and searched MUCH more thoroughly than the rest of us. I even remember thinking "For Goodness Sake, they have an INFANT with them, he's not a freaking terrorist." Those terrorists today had an infant with them to play off the whole 'baby formula thing' and they were planning to kill that infant, along with hundreds of others. When I think about it, those terrorists today probably looked much like that young family that was getting on MY flight. Then, I heard on the news that often before these attacks, the terrorrists have 'practice runs' to make sure that their plan is going to work. What if this young Arab family with an infant on MY flight was a test run for this REAL terrorrist attack?! What if I had changed my flight to a couple days later like I originally was going to?! And then, what if they hadn't caught them? I could have been blown up somewhere over the Atlantic. Ok, I know, I know...a little too far fetched with the 'what ifs'. :) But I can't help but get totally creeped out that all of this happened on my exact flight information 2 days later.

On a brighter note, London was absolutely amazing. I will post later all of the GOOD things about my time in London with all of my sexy British friends. For now, I just wanted to write about how thankful I am that God has guided me through this summer. I made my way for over 2 months throughout the crazy Russian streets after getting sexually violated and mugged and then on another occasion, pickpocketed. I survived going to a Russian hospital after hemorrhaging. I saved a young man from bleeding to death. I have been followed home on many, MANY occassions by creepy former soviets :)....but nothing happened. I maneuvered my way through 3 huge cities, on 3 incredible confusing metro systems. I came home on a flight from London Heathrow two days before a major terrorrist attack was planned in the same airport on the same airline. I have survived my summer. There were so many times when it could have been bad.........really bad, but God is incredibly good and has guided me through every step of my crazy summer.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:52:22 GMT

I am loving London. Thats it.

Monday, July 31, 2006

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 19:29:10 GMT

So we had an excursion to the Russian circus. It was by far my favorite excursion since i've been in Moscow. I absolutely loved it. GETTING to the circus was the difficult part. Ok, me and my two friends, Sam and Liz were meeting up with the rest of our group at the Kuznevsky Moct metro stop. Unfortunately, it was raining and the mashrutka (the little Russian bus) took FOREVER to pick us up in front of the University. SO..... we were late. When we got to the metro stop where we were suppose to meet, I went to call and ask our group leader, Dasha, how to get there. OF COURSE, my retarded Russian phone had 1 and a half kopeks worth of credit. For those of you who don't know, a kopek isn't even worth the metal that is used to create it. One kopek is worth like a 10th of a penny. So, yeah- i had no credit on my phone, and we had no idea where this DAG FRICKING GOM circus was. We decided to just pick a direction and look for a big tent- all circuses are in Big Tents, right? Um, not in Moscow, Russia. We walked around for about 20 minutes with no luck. Finally, I asked Sam (who speaks the best Russian of the 3 of us) to ask someone where to find the circus. He didn't know the word for 'circus' in Russian (which NOW we know is tsirc). BUT................ he DID know the word for Tiger. And the tiger part of the show is the most famous. You guys know me; I have no shame. I am the girl that on a Russian metro where NO ONE TALKS, will blatantly practice my elementary Russian, asking my humiliated friends thing like "My friend, would you like to put your red pencil in my purple purse and then go to the store and buy bread with me?" I've been here over 2 months, you'd think I'd learn to blend in. Anyway, so Sam knows the word for tiger in Russian (which is just 'tiger' said with a thick sexy Russian accent). SO.....I spent the next 20 minutes wandering around Moscow asking random Russians if they know "where to find the tigers." hahaha! You should have seen these peoples' reaction. Most of them, despite the brutality and harshness of their culture could not help but straight up laugh at me. To get a Russian to laugh was well worth my humiliation. Finally, some stern old Russian man (who i made laugh, of course) knew where the 'tsirc' was. We went and had an amazing time.

I have 3 days left in Moscow.........lets see if I can survive them. Even worse, if I can survive my week with the British after this. :)

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 10:46:18 GMT

I'm going to England again! :) I got my flight changed so that the last week before I go home, I will get to spend in England. And I don't have to pay for my flight because Nicholai (you know, the artery boy who's life i saved) INSISTS on paying for me. I am really excited because 4 of my British friends are going to be at Heathrow to pick me up from the airport and they said that for the time I'm with them, I'm not only going to London but all OVER England. They are from all over the country- Cambridge, Esteridge, Nottingham, and they want to take me to all of their homes.

While I'm excited about that, I am sad that my time in Russia is coming to a close. I only have a little over a week here! I can't believe how fast it has gone. Today was one of my favorite days- we went on a tour of the Kremlin and Red Square. I have been there many times but I haven't a guided tour into all the breathtaking cathedrals etc. I saw the coffins of Alexander I, Peter II, Ivan the Terrible, and I saw many of Catherine the Great's outfits. It was awesome. I also went to Catherine the Great's favorite cathedral in Russia. Many of the places I went today were built in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was unbelievable. After being here I'm kind of embarrased that the states even HAVE places that we call 'old historical landmarks.' Here, almost every building I see is older than our constitution.

I'll be honest though, I'm getting weary of travelling and having to THINK in Russian all the time. I'm excited to go home for that reason. I can't wait to go up to a cashier at home and say, with no difficulty, "CAN I HAVE A FRICKING BIG MAC, PLEASE?" I greatly anticipate that moment. Oh, and I can't wait to be around fat Americans again. That's awful to say, I know. But here, I feel obese compared to these anorexic/belemic Russian girls.

Well, more later. :)

Monday, July 17, 2006

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 17:29:50 GMT

My story today has nothing to do with MY drama, but one of my crazy friends here. I haven't really posted much about my friends in Moscow I don't think- they are SO much different than in Petersburg. First of all, most of them are American- at least I live with all Americans (except for one Australian) I'll be honest, i miss the Brits SOOOO much and I wished I had all British friends here again. But i guess Americans will do. :)

Ok, so we went out the other night to Red Square and St. Basils Cathedral....it was beautiful. We had just gotten done watching The Bourne Supremacy and we were trying to go around to all the places where Matt Damon was kicking Russian butt. I think I stood in the exact place that he stood in one of the scenes of the movie. It's so crazy to be seeing all of these places EVERYDAY....i need to take more advantage of it because I've become comfortable just living here and forgetting how lucky i am to be going to these amazing places everyday.

ANYWAY, back to my friend's crazy story. SO we were going around the city and it was pretty late...like 1 or 2. (But there were guys with us so it was OK.) A major problem in Russia is the FRICKING bathroom. They don't have them...and if they DO have them you either have to pay for it (its like 15 rubles) or you just resort to contracting AIDS because the bathrooms are so disgusting. Oh, and Russians don't use toilet paper. SO...needless to say, often we just try with all our might to hold it til we get back home. So this night, my friend Liz REALLY had to go. She wanted to try and hold it til we got home but she just couldn't. So she gets this great idea just to go behind some building somewhere. Yeah....I would never do it, but I'm not in control of her (plus you all know what its like to have to pee really badly, you honestly don't care what happens to you no matter where you do it). So she goes behind this building and we all were on the other side of the building waiting for her.

The next thing we know is we hear yelling and see Liz walking out with the Russian 'malitsia' (police). We failed to realize that the builing that she chose to pee in front of....The Russian Police Station. To her defense, alot of buildings don't have signs on them. This one definitely didn't. So we spend the next hour looking at Liz through bars........yeah- she got thrown into JAIL!!. As much as it was horrible, it was probably the funniest thing I have ever witnessed in my life. What made it even more funny, was that the Russian police were completely amused by the entire situation. We were all struggling with our broken Russian to do whatever we could to get her out of jail. But did they let her out? No. Instead they kept trying to feed us CUCUMBERS!! Yes, cucumbers. For whatever reason, Russians love cucumbers; Saturday we even went to a cucumber fest. I honestly don't really understand this Russian fettish. It's so weird. But I guess the 'malitsia' thought that we would feel better by eating cucumbers...it was so funny!! My friend Oliver (who speaks the best Russian) was just like "No!! We don't want to eat Fricking cucumbers! We want to get our friend out of jail!!" Liz, of course, was humiliated. It wasn't one of those situations where we were scared; we were mostly humiliated because I guess the Russian police had a slow night and wanted to take some time to 'mess with' some crazy Americans.

Finally, we got her out of jail. We didn't have to pay, but we did eat all the cucumbers he offered us.

Well, thats all for today. Tomorrow is my birthday and we are having a Russian party in class. Oh- Another strange Russian tradition: For birthdays, the person WITH the Birthday prepares the meal, the cake, the celebration, EVERYTHING. So much for getting pampered on your birthday. :) Well guys, I have to go home and make myself a cake. :)

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:50:39 GMT

I can't post long because I'm going to go see Swan Lake tonight- i'm SO excited about it. :) But, I just thought I'd throw this out there. I was just reading all my comments on my blog, including my parents'- and I think that my blogs have quite possibly the worse grammar and sentence structure in creation. I'm sorry you guys. I just re-read that last one.......HORRIBLE. haha! Well, faithful readers, I appreciate that you don't mock me every time you read this. At least I am posting SOMETHING about my amazing summer, even if you have to read it 3 times to decipher what the HECK i'm saying. Anyway- I couldn't help but post a comment about my failure to even attempt to use my amazing PHC writing skills. :) Other than that..........yeah Russia is STILL amazing. Friday night we are going out to a really nice dinner for my Birthday that is coming up in less than a week- i can't believe it. But before that, we are going to a Russian Vanya (yeah, have NO idea how to spell that). I don't have time to explain what it is....but supposedly its just one of those things that you HAVE to experience while your here. More later....

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 14:57:53 GMT

Believe it or not, I have no horrifying stories to tell you! :) I am in Moscow. I have been here for a week- but internet is MUCH more difficult for me here than in Petersburg. My school is not in the center of the city anymore, its a little more in the suberbs. Originally, i was doing a homestay program, and i absolutely loved it. I learned more Russian from my wonderful homestay mother, Nina, than I did almost the entire time in Petersburg. UNFORTUNATELY, I'm in the dorms now. Nina lived in the straight up Moscow ghetto....it was bad. So every night when I was finished touring the beautiful city, I had to return home to her. Once inside the house, I loved it. But to get inside the house, I had to ride the metro byself, walk 20 minutes by myself through dark alleys with Russian men watching me the whole time and often yelling things I didn't understand at me, THEN I had to use the 7 keys that Nina gave me to get myself into her barricaded little home. Yeah.........THAT didn't work out for me.

The third day I was here, this guy followed me all the way from my bus stop to my school. I even "CIAed" my way off the bus at my stop for the school by waiting til the LAST minute before the doors closed and sprinted off the bus. It didn't work. He STILL sprinted out after me. Then he followed me through the little park to my school and then stopped when I stopped to smoke a cigarette. It scared the crap out of me. Especially since I've already been uneasy since my mugging incident in Petersburg.

I talked to my group leader and she got me a room in the dorms where everything is MUCH safer. Well, safer in comparison. I still have to lock my room every time i leave even to go to the bathroom. The Russians who live in the dorm know which floor is the Americans' and we are targetted INCREDIBLY. Students on my floor get robbed all the time. Everyday, SOMETHING gets stolen. I've been lucky here though. Nothing has happened. :)

I am quite sad about leaving Nina though. I absolutely LOVED her!!!! She was the best cook in the world. For the first time since I've been in Russia, I really began to appreciate Russian food. Her 'Borsch' has become my favorite meal here. She was so incredibly sweet to me. Even though the language barrier was really difficult sometimes, she was always touching me and rubbing my face. It was strange at first- she has NO understanding of personal space. but I loved her for it anyway. In the mornings she would always walk right into my room and rub my face saying "Cracivee Amerikanskee Devushka" (Beautiful American Girl). I am planning on going back and visiting her as often as I can.

The city here is absolutely beautiful. I am sitting at an internet cafe right next to the Kremlin and it is beautiful outside. The Kremlin and Red Square is the prettiest place I have ever seen in my life. Tomorrow I am going to go see Lenin. I'm kind of nervous to be honest because my friends who have already gone say it is REALLY creepy seeing him just lying there embombed. But I am glad I get to go because supposedly very soon they are closing him off to the public. I will get to see Lenin's actual body!! I'm excited...but a little creeped out. I'll let you know how it goes. Also, this week, I'm going to the KGB museam where we are having a private tour led by former KGBs. I''m REALLY excited about that one. Well, I better go- tonight were going to this American bar thing called "Bleachers" where they are playing the World Cup Championship! I'm excited to hear something in ENGLISH!!!!!!! Love you guys!!

Monday, June 26, 2006

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:46:38 GMT

I stuck my hand in one of my British friends arteries on Friday. Lovely way to start a post, I know. But it is the most critical thing that has happened- probably ever. It happened in my room when we were all dancing to the song "And I would walk 500 miles." it was the Brits' second to last night here. We were all marching to that song, carrying on, and having one of the best times of my life. It was followed by one of the worst times. Nicholai was standing on one of the beds in my room marching, being the crazy Brit that he is. I just remember hearing a loud crash and looking over and seeing blood pouring out of his arm. Everyone FREAKED out and most ran out of the room, not knowing what to do. As most of you konw, blood and I don't get along....at ALL. But it must have been the adrenaline rush along with the fact that i saw look of fear on his face and blood everywhere that i realized that someone HAD to do something. I grabbed a shirt rapped it tightly around his upper arm to stop the bleeding and attempted to hold the bloody mess together. I tried to hold the wound in his forarm together but it wouldn't close. Blood was literally all over everything. I looked in the wound and saw a HUGe piece of glass that prevented me from closing the wound to stop the bleeding. I honestly thought he was bleeding to death. Everyone else had left except for another one of the british, jack, that was holding his mangled finger that was basically just blood and tendons. Of course the Russian ambulance took forever but eventually, after a long time of holding a wound together with all my might, the amubulance finally got there. Nicholai just kept saying, half in shock, "I'm a good lad, i'm a good lad." he actually composed himself quite well- he was brave. The moment the ambulance left him, i looked down at my horror-movie self and almost lost it. I just remember jack holding me and saying, "Forget the CIA Beck-meister, your going to be a nurse!"

Nicholai is ok now, and is back in england. he will have surgury on his mangled finger and will probably never have feeling in it again. I will never forget in my LIFE him hugging me goodbye saying, choked up, that i saved his life. I never would have thought that something like that could happen, but i guess God really does give you the strength to do something you never would have thought you could do when you have too.

There are happy things about Russia, I swear. But as I told my worried mother yesterday, its much easier to remember and describe the devestating things rather than how beautiful a mosque was. I WILL show the pictures of this breathtaking city when I come back. I leave for Moscow on Thursday and part two of this journey begins. I love you guys!

P.S. I cut my foot on the glass that came out of his arm......ouch!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 11:47:40 GMT

This has been the most bittersweet 3 weeks of my life. But the longer I'm here, the sweeter it gets. :) Let me start with the bitter part. I got mugged the other day. Like mugged- just like you see on T.V. Actually, I think it was worse than that. Our group went to Novgorod- one of the most ancient and beautiful cities in Europe- it was GORGEOUS. I saw Cathedrals dating back to the 10th century....amazing. Anyway, so we were at the Kremlin and I was going through the markets getting some gifts for my family. I hardly ever go anywhere by myself because of how dangerous it is; but I figured that I could just look around the marketplace by myself since I know enough Russian to purchase things now. :) Well, I thought wrong. I was under the bridge of the Kremlin- in a huge CROWD- and all the sudden I felt a guy come up behind me and put his arms around my waist from behind. I thought it was one of the guys from my group - but the only guy that I hang out with from my group is Mormon and really conservative- haha- I KNEW he would never grab me like that. So I was confused. I went to turn my head and see who it was, and I felt a big burly face that prevented me from looking at me. He breathed heavy on my neck and said somehting right into my ear in Russian- I have no idea what he said. But I gather from how tight he held me around the waist and how he grabbed my hand that was holding money (b/c I was about to buy some things) that he wanted my 'dingi' (money in russian). He squeezed me VERY hard. I kind of went limp out of shock AND fear. Of course I gave him my money. He whispered something else to me and kind of almost kissed my neck- SICK- and he let go and ran off. Since I was in a crowd, another Russian guy saw that I was completely paralyzed by the situation and I guess he saw the look on my face and started yelling something to me and sprinted after the man. (This is actually surprising b/c most Russians don't care if someone gets mugged. It seems like they care more about stray dogs on the street than people.) Anyway, he didn't catch the guy- he was already gone. It was probably the scariest moment ever. BUT, at least he didn't take what was in my OTHER hand- my camera and my little purse with more money and my credit card. He only took a little over a thousand rubles (over 40 dollars). It wasn't the money that was so devestating anyway; it was the (sexual?) violation. But I'm alright now. :) I knew I would experience that at some time.

Ok, so that was the bitter part. Now, the sweet parts........ It is HOT here!!!!! I'm so excited!! Yesterday (at today as soon as i'm done with this) I'm going to go lay out on the Gulf of Finland! It is so beautiful. And talk about a 'day at the beach'. It doesn't get dark at ALL here. Yesterday I was laying out in my bathing suit top getting a tan at 9:30PM. And it looked outside like it was about 1:30. It's crazy. Another sweet part, is I have made great friends with the British and I have loved every minute of it. I haven't actually made alot of Russian friends (mostly because I don't speak the dang language that well yet) but the English are amazing! They live right below me in the hostile and I have spent every waking moment with them. The british guys are so preppy and hot.... I could sit around and listen to them talk all day. And I do. :)

I konw that when I go to Moscow, It will be completely different than here because I'll actually be living with a Russian family. My language will definitely improve then. I'm glad for the time I am spending here though. All my British friends are fluent and Russian and help me around everywhere. I think my language proficiency is upgrading to a kindergarder now. haha!!

Well, I have to go because I'm about to go lay out on the Gulf of Finland again with the Brits - I'm seriously so excited that its so hot here. I might come back with a tan after all!!! And then we're having an English barbecue tonight. And THEN, I"m doing all my homework. :) I love you guys!!

Dasvidanya!

p.s. I saw a former KGB on the bus yesterday!!! It was so cool!!

Monday, June 05, 2006

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:36:06 GMT

Strastvitsya!! Heck yes- i can say hello. :)

Well, Russia is incredibly interesting to say the least. It is so hard to get use to the culture but i'm attempting to survive. My physical problems have diminished, i think. Now, if i can only find nourishing food. Food is definitely one of the biggest culture shocks. I guess Russians are so anti-American that they refuse to have any American products here- I bought a pack of Pringles for FRICKING 5 dollars yesterday. It was worth it. Russian food is so hard to get use to- I've never seen so much sausage, pepperoni, salami, and other fat packed meats in my life. I can hardly find any food i like. I've wanted to lose weight for awhle and PHC definitely does NOT help with that- Russia has helped me lose 7 pounds....granted I am malnourished. :) It's part of the experience, right?

The conception of the Russian 'cold stare' is not an exaggeration. It is so intimidating walking around St. Petersburg sometimes. I just look at the beautiful buildings around me so I can avoid eye contact with the rude Russians- the women are the worst! I've never gotten so many glares in my life. But, of course, I just smile back and talk loudly on the metro anyway, like the spastic person i am. Then, they glare even harder. haha. My group leader, Olga, says I'm way too friendly and need to learn how to be rude back to them. I guess I'll just have to pretend the Russians are my roommates. :)

My hotel lies on the Gulf of Finland and it's absolutely beautiful. I have loved all the sights I've been to: St. Peter's Cathedral, and Catherine the Great's Palace (Jessica you and you Catherine the Great obsessed-self would love it here.) My school is georgeous- it's another palace that was erected by Catherine the Great and has been transformed into a beautiful school. Sometimes in class, when I don't get something and start daze off (alot of the time) I just look around around the room. It's seriously beautiful.

Russian is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life- but I'm gettting it. I could be introduced to a 4 year old and carry on a conversation beautifully. :) Menya Zavut Rebeka.:) I'll get there eventually. I love studying it though- its so much fun! Definitely a break from 'wannabe' freedoms. :) Tomorrow I'm going to the Dostoevsky Cafe and then to the Hermitage- I"m so excited! I don't have to worry about it getting to late to do anything- it gets dark at 1 AM here!!! It's crazy!! I can't wait for the White Nights festivals. Ok, i need to take my last shower for 3 days right now, they're cutting off the hot water for a few days...... CRAP.

Rebekah