Russian memory

The Hermitage

I finally went to the Hermitage!! Twice already, actually. In case you didn't know, it's ginormous. So far I've seen most of the wings of Russian art, 19-20th century French art, and a temporary Picasso exhibit. Even though I spent hours there, I feel like I barely even scratched the surface of what's in there. Supposedly if you stopped to look at every object on display for 30 seconds, it would take 3 years of constant walking to look at the entire museum. Luckily, I get in free with my student ID, so I can go back as many times as I want. =)

Late Sunday afternoon I felt like my brain would explode from all the art, so I decided to take a side trip to the Pushkin House Museum. Pushkin is considered to be the first and greatest Russian classical author, and I'm pretty sure that all Russian schoolchildren (and usually students of Russian, too) are required to memorize at least one of his poems. The house I visited was Pushkin's last residence before he died in a duel with a Frenchman who had been flirting with his wife in public. A few of the rooms in which Pushkin lived have been preserved exactly as they were when he died, down to the papers lying on the desk. It was interesting to see the books in his library and his house slippers, but I was more surprised by the wide range of people who were on the tour with me: older couples, families with teenage children, even girls my age who I never would have suspected to be interested in Pushkin. It's hero worship to an extreme that just doesn't exist in the US.

Alexander Column

Hero worship seems to be a big thing here. Or maybe it's just that certain historical events have become such an important part of the Russian narrative that they pervade everything. I'm actually planning to take a course about this in Russian this semester, "Historical Memory." Certain events, like World War II, were collectively remembered as shining moments in Russian history. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the interpretation of these events in the public sphere has been gradually changing, which I find to be really interesting. I had my first lecture for the class today -- my first in Russian, for Russians class ever!! The entire 3 hour long lecture I knew what the professor was talking about. But then sometimes he'd go into specifics or start looking out the window, and I'd kinda lose track... I know it's normal, but it makes me nervous that I can't understand everything Russians say to me. I can always get notes from other people, but I'd rather have my own notes most of all. Oh well. Hopefully by the end of the semester I'll understand everything. And have written a 20 page paper in Russian. And have given a presentation in front of Russians for 10-15 minutes. And get a good grade. And maybe, maybe be able to speak enough Russian to be understood?

Finally, and most importantly, I hope that everyone has a 

shana tova u'metuka, v'ketiva v'chatima tovah!!