This weekend was pretty uneventful. After surviving our first two days of class, we were ready. On Saturday, the group of American tourists came to visit us and talk about Russia, Vladimir, the American Home, and lots of other stuff. Afterward, we went to a jazz concert put on in honor of den' goroda, or City Day, a kind of festival celebration with people out roaming the main street and lots of games and entertainment for kids. The concert was very good, apparently the trevelling jazz orchestra is one of the best in Russia.
On Sunday, we woke up and discoevered that the weather was very cool and rainy, but we braved it because Eric and I had promised to participate in a "streetball" basketball tournament, held outdoors in the park, rain or shine. We had a Russian, Igor, as our third player. We won our first game very easily, drew a bye in the second round, and then lost in a close one in the third round. We had fun and got t-shirts as a prize. Alexei, our director, took some pictures that I will try to post sometime soon.
This morning is cool and wet, about 50 degrees. We have also been getting calls from newpapers and other media asking for our recollections and impressions of 9/11, since we are the only Americans that they can find on such short notice.
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So what did you tell them about 9/11? Make sure you save the clippings if you get quoted. NYC is very subdude today, more so than normal. I was up and out early to avoid rush hour. Today is a beautiful day, just like in 2001.
I volunteered twice to be intereviewed. The first was for a TV station and they asked us to speak Russian. I tried, but I stumbled a lot, especially when the reporter asked me a follow-up question. The main point I made in that one was that it was a big event in the lives of our generation, kind of like the Kennedy assasination for our parents'.
The second time, also for a TV station, I was able to speak English and Galya, our directer, helped me to translate what I wanted to say. This time after some more thoughts, I was able to relate it to the way I felt during the Beslan school hostage crisis that took place two years ago while I was in Petersburg. In general, just a sense of shock and changing the way we look at the world, but at the same time that its not somthing that most Americans think or worry about every hour of every day.
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