Today (Saturday) was a very interesting day. I woke up about 10 times from 6am to 9am, when I finally decided to get out of bed. I showered and had breakfast with the family. After that, I went on the computer for a little and read some emails. Around 11am I left and got on a bus to go to work.
Since someone asked me how long it takes me to get to work, I timed myself each step of the way. I waited for the bus for about 15 minutes. I arrived to the final stop in another 15 and walked the rest of the way. The bus timings may not be accurate because it is Saturday, but the walking should not change a lot from day to day. I walked at a fast pace and it took me almost 20 minutes to get to the dig.
Now to the interesting stuff…
When I got there, I saw the people I met yesterday working and said hi. I then went to the supervisor and asked him where I could work for the day. He told me to work with a girl that was working alone. As soon as I sat down to work, we were given a 10 minute break. The people from yesterday came over to talk, and so did a few others. As usual, they interrogated me about many things, where I’m from, why am I in Russia, why I work at the archaeological dig, what do Americans think of Russians, do I like the pyramids in Mexico, do I like Russia, and many more… I love when this happens because I get to practice my Russian and meet people while doing it. During the next two breaks, I met more people and had more [very] short conversations. I learned that most of that group is from a big city [whose name I didn’t get] near the Ural mountains. This was their last day of work and they are all heading back home tomorrow. I hope the next set of people I meet are just as nice.
Once we finished, they did all sorts of strange things. Since it was the last day, they carried out some archaeological dig traditions. They all covered their eyes with shirts and other things and held hands. Some of the local people guided them through a small path with lots of plants, trees, and rocks. In the end they arrived back to the dig, where they had hidden some sort of chocolates [with wrappers] in some dirt boxes, so they dug them up and ate them. Then they gave everyone apples and proceeded to sing the archeologist’s hymn. The only reason I know what they were singing is because I saw a piece of paper that said “archeologist’s hymn” (in Russian of course) while they were singing. They also did some sort of pledge that they were now Novgorodian archaeologists and received some pretty cool antique nails to take with them. After that we all headed home.
I didn’t time my trip back home, but I think it took longer because that bus took forever to arrive. When I got home, I read a chapter of a book I have and later had lunch. Since I was a little bored, I decided to go take a walk, so I what I thought to be a small shopping center near where I live. Being my curious self, I went up stairs, into strange hallways, and got myself semi-lost. Apparently there are four floors in a building I thought was not part of the shopping place. I also found a small market under everything else. They sell fruits, fish, meat, clothes, cheese, and many other things.
I forgot to write about the title! The reason I chose that title is because over the last two days, I have seen many newlyweds. Yesterday I was walking around the kremlin and saw several brides taking pictures near some of the monuments. Later I saw two groups of cars all nice and decorated with flowers and balloons. The first or second car had the newlyweds (one was a limousine) and then there were about ten more cars behind them. Whenever I saw them drive by, everyone was honking their horns. Today I saw a few more, I heard them coming from far away.
So that’s it for today, I wonder what I will do tomorrow…