Greek Salads

Island hopping has been going spectacularly well. Two days ago we headed off to Mykonos and got there around noon. We were picked up at the port by Paradise Beach (our hostel) and taken to the beach. We were really psyched when we got there: the beach was beautiful, there was a sign for massages, Mykonos was pretty. Then we saw our bug hut. Its a hut because it was a 7×7 ft. room with two beds and a light bulb and jail-style window. It was a bug hut because when we arrived and rolled our suitcases in, I turned around and saw an extremely large grasshopper perched on my suitcase, ready to pounce on me. I screamed, Lu screamed, the grasshopper screamed, and I kicked that suitcase through the door and 5 feet outside. The grasshopper was still gripping the bag for dear life but we finally managed to shoo it off then lock ourselves inside to not let any more creatures in, even though ants managed to still bite me to death that night. After that little escapade, we got lunch (Greek salad and hummus) at the cafe on the beach. The weather was so perfect I thought I was in heaven. Then we took a bus to the city center. Traveling on roads on little Greek islands is a terrifying thing. The locals take every turn at breakneck speed and you feel as if you will careen off an edge and end up in a herd of donkeys. We survived, however, and explored Mykonos. We saw ancient windmills, went and had a drink on the water’s edge, went shopping in the teeny streets of the town, were you can’t see above any building (like a maze), got our ferry tickets for Santorini, saw the “three wells”an anti-climatic attraction that apparently virgins would drink out of and then find a husband (in ancient times). We loved Mykonos- lots of gay men, good shopping, and a good nightlife. After we had thoroughly explored the city, we headed back to the bug hut to have dinner and change to go out. While eating dinner (another Greek salad), an Australian guy we had met came up and started talking to us. After awhile, we all decided to go down town. However, taxis are pretty hard to come by at night so we ended up waiting for a while. While waiting, we met two Canadian brothers traveling and they decided to come down with us too. When the taxi finally came, there were two girls (one British, one Australian) looking for clubs but there weren’t any open on Paradise Beach yet, so we all ended up going to Scandinavian bar together, and meeting another Canadian girl we had met on the ferry there. Apparently I can’t get away from Scandinavia, no matter where I go. But the bar was really fun and we all ended up dancing there until 3 in the morning before taking a cab home.

As soon as we woke up the next morning, we left the bug hut for breakfast and the beach, where we laid out until we had to check out. After checking out, we went out to the beach again where we ran into our Australian guy friend and laid on the beach some more. As a result of that and five months of darkness, I now look like a tomato and take ibuprofen every day to cope with my sunburn. 😦 Midday we took the bus back to the port and got on the 1.5 hour speed ferry to Santorini. We were a bit worried because there was a big strike in Athens that day but it didn’t affect the islands fortunately.

After arriving in Santorini, we checked into Youth Hostel Anna, a big improvement from the bug hut. It had a fridge, a bathroom, two beds, and a balcony. We showered after avoiding the outdoor bathroom near the bug hut then went to the 24 hour bakery for a delicious sandwich, full of feta, olives, tomatos, etc. Shortly after we had dinner at a delicious restaurant where I had cheese pie, mousaka (an eggplant dish) and baklava. And beer! Which was only 3 euros of a huge glass, which was really exciting because in Copenhagen its 10 dollars for a small beer. After staying there for a while, we walked to the black sand beach but didn’t really see anything because it was too dark then came back and got a good nights sleep.

Today, we got up around 9 and headed out on an expedition all around Santorini. After taking a bus to the port, we boarded a sail boat and sailed for the caldera volcano that submerged the Manoans and Santorini thousands of years ago. Along the way it started to rain and by the time we started hiking up the mountain, it was a full-fledged downpour and thunderstorm. I had an umbrella but the rain was coming in from all sides and I was soaked in no time. But Lu and I were troopers and hiked all the way up to the top for some spectacular views. After we hiked down, we got back on the sail boat and sailed to the hot springs, where people had to jump in the freezing cold water and swim to the lukewarm springs then swim back int he freezing cold water and get on the boat. The thought of that made me cold. but Lu did it and she said it wasn’t worth it. While she was in there, I saw a mountain goat that hiked to a peak to watch the swimmers. I think it was laughing at them. Lu also said she couldn’t feel her entire body on the way back. I’m glad I didn’t go. After that, we sailed to the tiny island of Thirassia, home to about 50 inhabitants. We met two young doctors on the boat so we all had lunch at a little restaurant (greek salad and lobster and shrimp souvlaki) where I fed a stray kitten some lobster. After that, the weather had gotten nice so we basked in the sun before we boarded the boat again for Ia, home to its famous sunsets and the typical idea of what Greece is (blue domes and white houses on cliffs). We hiked all the way to the top of the mountain from the port, which was much harder than the volcano hike. I thought my calves were going to explode. We had a lot of time at Ia before the sunset so we did a little souvenir shopping. I bought some original paintings of Santorini and some new flip flops because mine broke in Thirassia and Lu, I and the doctors ate at a chocolatier which might have the most perfect view of Santorini ever, and I got hot chocolate and another Greek dessert, Kataifi, which is a lot like baklava. After walking around for a while, we made our way tot he castle ruins on one side of Ia to watch the famous sunset with about a billion other tourists and one crazy-looking stray dog. The sunset was pretty, but it was still kind of cloudy, so I’m sure it has been prettier. But the view was spectacular. After that, we took the bus home where we met the owner of our new hostel, Stelios Place, and he took us over to the hostel, where I am now. This hostel is the best hostel I have ever been it. It’s basically like a hotel. Clean, with sheets, towels, a fridge, a big balcony, a tv,  a gorgeous pool, etc. The staff, (which is just a family of a daughter, a mom, and a dad) are extremely nice and accomodating. If you ever go to Santorini, be sure to check it out. It’s really wonderful. After showering, Lu and I went on a hunt for food, and we found it in a teeny little fast food shop. We had wine, beer, greek fries (french fries with feta cheese) and greek salads and enjoyed our dinner. The place also had a grey parrot named Rocky Balboa, which was basically so cute. I wasn’t a big bird fan before but he would call out to get your attention, then stick his head out of his food slot and fall asleep while you petted him. If you stopped he would say something particular that I couldn’t exactly make out, and if you kept going he cooed. Then if you walked away he would say, ‘Hello. Hello. My name is Rocky.” He was very very smart and adorable too! After that we walked back to the hostel, and I got very sleepy and decided to write this blog. Traveling exhausts me, so I will get another good nights sleep then enjoy my last day in the islands.

xoxoxo

h

My Big, Fat, Greek Vacation.

HELLO SUMMER!!! After finally turning in my international law paper at the last minute last night, I was ready for a looong break. I packed my pink backpack and Laurent’s little black suitcases and headed up to Greece this morning bright and early. Of course Copenhagen was chilly as usual so I wore tights, a dress, a scarf, a cardigan, and a jean jacket. The flight seemed like it would be a good one, considering the clouds cleared up and the sun came out. But alas. We had terrible turbulence to the point where we were rocking back and forth and dropping in the air. Hundreds of babies were crying and screaming. Welcome to my personal hell. Trapped in a rocking metal tube miles in the air with choruses of screams and yells and the gnashing of teeth. I was so glad to land on ground. Upon arriving in Athens, I waited for my high school friend Lu Gao who was arriving from Rome and we set off on a Greek bus for our hotel in Port Piraeus. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Sunny, with blue water and palm trees. Of course my Copenhagen outfit was not cutting it and between asking the lady next to us which stop we were at (the stops were in the Greek alphabet, which I can semi-read because of Russian, and the paper we had was in English) and the sun shining on me through the window, I began to sweat, a sensation I have not felt in quite some time. After an hour bus ride, we were finally in Piraeus. We got a 3 euro cab to our hotel, which looks like a demolition site on the first floor because of construction, and were shown to our rooms by a very sweet Greek woman. Our little hotel room is nice, with a bed and towels and a balcony, but we didn’t stay in it for long. After changing into a dress and showing off my incredibly Danish pale legs, we headed to the port to grab our ferry tickets for the next morning. On the way to the port, we became very intrigued by the oranges in all the trees so Lu tried to jump and get one when a crazy homeless man ran into her and yelled in her face. We ran away laughing but he kept yelling, which only made us laugh harder. After that, we walked all the way back to the marina to find something to eat. We ended up eating a delicious dinner of baked feta, gyros and beer. And after, I got strawberry and chocolate gelato YUM. From there, we walked all the way to the metro and ended up going to see some ruins of ancient Athens. We somehow got to the city of Agora, where we would see Acropolis rising on a mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous. We hiked up all the steep hills and hiked on the ruins and watched the sun set from the top of the cliffs, a sight I never want to forget. From the top of the cliff, you can see the ancient temples lit up and all the ruins of the ancient city below. Truly a sight to behold. While we were on the rocks and I was slipping around on my sandals, we were accosted by two older men who would not leave us alone. We ended up getting the number of one of their brothers in Copenhagen (?!) just so they would leave us alone. But the men here are by far the most aggressive I have seen. I have been honked at 45 times, whistled or clicked at 67 times, checked out 200 times, and been talked to or approached 25 times. These aren’t exact numbers, but realistic guesstimations. Old or young, Greek men apparently really like women. After it got darker, we headed home again on the metro, and came back to the hotel. I never imagined we would do so much today, since I was kind of worried about our safety in Athens. But the ruins were breathtaking and Greece is wonderful- a real treat after that last paper. Tomorrow we head to Mykonos by ferry bright at early (7am!). I’m excited for the beach!

xoxoxox

h

What is Russianness??

Sorry about the complete fake-out on the Russia blog. I’m still working on it because I am not only incredibly verbose but I have also had one final and two large papers in the past 3 days. ANNNND I just booked my ENTIRE trip to Greece (Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini) as an after-finals treat (from May 18-24). yaaaay! Anyhow, I thought I would leave you with this little gem I wrote for my Russia Past and Present final, answering the prompt, “What is ‘Russianness’?”

Enjoy.

What is “Russianness”?

Winston Churchill once said, “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest” (The Quotation’s Page).  What exactly is Russia national interest? Generally speaking, it would be Russia’s goals and ambitions. But what are these goals and ambitions? After spending only one week in Russia, I am hesitant to explain them. Russia’s tumultuous history has produced many different, often conflicting goals and ambitions. Even after seeing and experiencing everything I have during my time in St. Petersburg, Novgorod, and Moscow, I have the feeling that I would need almost another lifetime to fully understand the Russian national interest, or to determine what exactly Russian qualities are, or what “Russianness” is. But maybe Russianness is not about being understood completely, but being appreciated for what it is— a paradoxical relationship between Russia and the West; a dichotomy between “the West’s advances in prosperity and technology” and a belief in “the inherent uniqueness of Russia and its superiority over the materialist, decadent West” (Bacon 3). It is this paradox that defines Russianness, a paradox that must be taken into account in order to fully understand the country. More specifically, this paradox illustrates the tension between the secular and the religious aspects of Russian life, an important if not major facet of Russianness that I observed while both sightseeing and interacting with Russians themselves. I believe it is this specific tension that most clearly defines Russianness in a way that highlights the all-important paradox while also providing tangible evidence that this is, in fact, the most Russian of Russianness.

According to Edwin Bacon in his book “Contemporary Russia,”

The Russian idea is, at its broadest, the sense that there is a destiny and identity inherent within Russian-ness which is not Western, which has different cultural roots and different core values. It is the idea – or perhaps more accurately, the myth – that Russians are less materialistic, less individualistic, and less shallow than their Western counterparts, and instead have a greater commitment to spiritual values, egalitarianism, community, and the deeper mysteries of faith and eschatology. (132)

 

So while the Russian idea ties itself up with religion, namely Russian Orthodoxy, and faith, the West introduces a secular aspect to Russian society, thus creating a tension central to the concept of Russianness. According to James Billington, this is part of what gives Russian culture its distinctiveness: “a traditional religious base” and “periodic borrowing from the West” (Bacon 132-133). How is this? “Russian Orthodoxy celebrates the mystery of faith, ahead of the intellectual explanations of Western protestants…nothing else serves to identify [someone] with Russis, its uniqueness, its history, its people,” says Bacon (133). On the other hand, Russia has recently experienced a “broad opening up to the West resulting in the cautious embrace of many of the facets of ‘globalization’ combined with a determined resistance against what the more extreme opponents of Westernization have called ‘cultural genocide’” (Bacon 133). So while Russian culture retains Russian Orthodoxy, it also struggles with the secular West, combining some aspects of that materialistic society with more Russian qualities to produce its own flavor of society, also known as Russianness. In the following sections I will describe how I saw this tension firsthand when I was in Russia, and end by discussing what Russianness implies.

The first aspect of Russianness that was prevalent throughout St. Petersburg, Novgorod, and Moscow was Russian Orthodoxy, or the religious facet of Russian life. Although stifled in the Soviet era as explained to us by the Russian monk Father Dimitri when we visited Novgorod, “the Orthodox Church has been resurrected as a national symbol, as indeed it was before the 1917 revolution, although now it maintains formal independence from the state” (Bacon 44). According to Bacon, a key feature of Russian Orthodoxy is its

Greater emphasis on mysticism and spirituality: Western religion, like Western thought, has since the Enlightenment has been dominated by a tradition of rationalism, that is the belief that the human mind is capable of explaining everything, eventually. This attitude applies to theology as much as to philosophy: theological statements must be susceptible to proof and human reason. Orthodoxy does not reject truths that arise out of reason, but takes much more seriously extra-rational sources of truth: the symbolic, transcendental, and spiritual. The religious icon, the form of the service, Russian religious music, and the emphasis on artistic aspects of worship, all arise out of an emphasis on experience and adoration rather than analysis. (45)

 

This complete departure from Western thought is what makes Russia’s religion so very Russian.

This aspect of Russianness was extremely visible in all three cities our class visited. In St. Petersburg, we were able to experience an actual Russian Orthodox service that was being conducted during the Easter holidays. As a Protestant myself, I truly felt the Russianness that these churches encompassed. At first glance, even the construction of Russian Orthodox churches speaks to the uniqueness of this aspect of Russian culture. The colorful, beautiful onion domes that dot each city’s skyline such as St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow and Cathedral of the Split Blood in St. Petersburg lets you know, without hesitation, that you are, in fact, in Russia. Nowhere else in the world can you experience cathedrals such as these. Greece may come close, but the domes are of a different style. Besides the obvious Russianness of the exterior of the Russian Orthodox churches, the insides also speak to a non-Western style of religion. Although I claim no expertise on religion, when I was in a service, I knew that I was experiencing something Russian. From the beautiful choir and Russian lyrics, to the wall of icons and burial places of Russian kings, queens, and saints, to the scarves worn on all women’s heads, to the lack of pews or seats, this religion represented Russian traditions centuries old, a distinct part of the country and the lives of those who live in it.

One interview I had with a Russian girl, Elizabeth Moiseeva, illustrates how important Russian Orthodoxy is to Russianness. She told me that she attended church almost every week and that during the Easter services she stood about 4 hours in a row at a church service. When I asked her if that was typical, she responded that it was just a part of her life and that many others are the same way. In her mind, standing up for so long was not out of the ordinary, and very much a typical aspect of Russian life (Moiseeva 2010). Thus, the Russian Orthodox religion represents the first half of what is Russianness: a non-Western religion that is an unparalleled as a fundamental part of Russia.

The second half of what Russianness is, or what the paradox of Russianness is, is the secular side of Russian culture, influenced by Western materialism and ideals. To clarify, I want to reiterate that the secular aspect of Russian society is not specifically anti-religion, but rather composed of characteristics of Russia that do not involve religion, or are nonreligious. Beginning during the reign of Peter the Great, Western thought slowly began to creep into Russia, thus producing the tension of the dichotomy between Russian religion and Western secularization today. The collapse of the Soviet Union contributed to this influx of Western influence, with Russia playing somewhat of a “catch-up” game with the Western world as far as technology and ownership of goods, items that are associated with Western secularization and materialism (Bacon 14-18). This secularization, another essential component of Russianness, can be illustrated by several things that I noted and observed in Russia.

First, Western secularization can literally be seen in the air in Moscow. It is to this day one of the smoggiest cities I have been in. I cannot say for sure whether the smog was especially bad when I visited Russia, but I believe the fact that my vision of buildings less than one mile away was obscured by smog is a testament to the influence of Western secularization, in the form of materialism, factories, and industrialization. According to Bacon,

Russia’s major cities have changed almost beyond recognition in the past decade, with the most immediately evident innovation being the arrival of large shopping malls and out-of-town stores. Anyone arriving at Moscow’s Sheremetevo airport these days will notice a vast IKEA furniture store on the outskirts of the city, along with restaurants and leisure complexes; in the centre of Moscow more and more shopping malls, replete with fashionably expensive goods, are evident; a short metro ride from the centre to the Gorbushka market will reveal a bustling indoor complex, crowded with Muscovites buying the latest electronic goods. (53)

 

The Westernization that supports the inundation of factories, stores, and crowds is a large contributor to the pollution, and the policies of the Russia government in regard to the pollution can be seen as Western as well. Because of all the consumption brought on by Westernization, waste and pollution are being created, yet nothing is positively being done about it. The heat and air conditioning are used inappropriately, recycling is not advanced, and cars crowd the roads, making travel stressful, if not almost impossible.

This brings me to my second illustration of the Western secularization aspect of Russianness, which involves the multitude of cars. As stated previously, the roads of Russia, particularly Moscow, are jam packed with cars, making traffic a nightmare almost any hour of the day and obviously contributing to the smog and pollution problem of the city. Because the Soviet Union so tightly regulated what consumer goods Russians could buy or not buy, when the USSR collapsed everyone rushed out to purchase cars, which led to an overabundance of vehicles on the road and unprecedented increase in pollution. Thus the influence of Western culture contributes to yet another typical aspect of Russian daily life.

The third example I encountered during my stay in Russia of Western secularization is that of the Russian brides. I think there is no better example of materialism and Western culture affecting young Russian people than during a wedding. At the outset, they are all decked out in their flashiest ensembles, sporting fur, tiaras, and sparkles among many other gaudy fashion statements that scream of materialism. When you get closer to the wedding party, you discover they are smoking, drinking, and parading around the city in limousines, experiencing the life of a Hollywood star for one day. What better example of Western secularization can there be? It is almost a gross parody of Western influence, a satire warning against the dangers of the West. The influence of the West on the lives of average Russians is immense, thus this Western secularization is accordingly a major part of Russianness.

Overall, my visit to Russia has opened my eyes to what I consider to be Russianness: a complex paradox with religion on one side and secularization on the other. It does not seem as if they should fit together, but for some odd reason, they do. They are what makes Russia so unlike any other country in the world, what gives Russia its Russianness. Bacon states “The term ‘Russian Idea’ indicates a set of interpretation, by Russian thinkers of various political and philosophical persuasions, of what is distinctive about Russia. Not all of these formulations are identical, but they do tend to share common features. The most important of these is that Russia is different from the West…Russia is defined, crudely, as not the West” (47).  Maybe Russia isn’t so different from the West than is thought. Or maybe it is not the anti-West as Bacon writes, but a different kind of entity altogether, something that cannot really be compared to the West. After my experience, I tend to agree with this sentiment. Russia is its own kind of animal, steeped in a mystical religious tradition yet reveling in a Western secularism and materialism. At the risk of sounding corny, I think I will call that animal Russianness.