Be Positive

“Be positive” These were the words (in English) on a t-shirt worn by a young woman who sat down across from us on the metro. It was an unexpected reminder of what is necessary to have happy travels as well as a happy life. By nature I am not a very positive or outgoing person. Generally I would rather stay home and read a good book than go to a social event. I have to push myself hard to meet people, to be an extravert. In a foreign country with a strange language and strange customs, it takes all the positive energy I can create to have a good time. I have written these words of Rick Steves in my journal: “Be fanatically positive and militantly optimistic.”
Yesterday we went across town to shop for groceries at a sort of farmer’s market because Tanya says that the prices are less expensive there. When we started out we bought metro cards each with 40 rides. (I think it works out to about 30 cents a ride.) When I first put my card in the slot it didn’t work and made a an alarming noise. A kindly security guard came over and without saying a word turned my card upside down and inserted it in the slot and the gate opened. Even Tanya had the same problem, but now we know how to use our metro cards.
We went to Sennia Ploshed, the Haymarket Square mentioned in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. It has always been a rather poor, seedy neighborhood, but now there are some new multi-story shopping centers that are very clean and impressive. I even noticed a Hallmark shop. And of course MacDonald’s is omnipresent. After buying some house slippers for me for 100 roubles (exchange rate is about 28.4 roubles per dollar), we went on to the “farmer’s market”, a large warehouse with all kinds of produce, fish, meat, etc. in open stalls. The day was warm and I was thirsty. After I got a small mineral water, I sat in the shade outside while they did the shopping. A man with a bottle of beer in his hand sat down with me and started a conversation. He was surprised to learn that I was an American. I told him that I don’t speak Russian very well. He said, “Don’t be ashamed, just speak.” And he proceeded to speak to me as if I understood everything he said. I understood that he was a pensioner, had worked 33 years as a machinist, that he was born in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), that didn’t like the influx of foreigners from the Asian former republics like Uzbekistan, that he preferred the Soviet time to today. I have found that the majority of people over 40 years old also believe that life was better in the Soviet period. They would trade the freedom they have now for the stability they had then.
In the evening Tanya and I went to visit my old friends, the Paskin family. We were surprised that Sasha Paskin had completely remodeled their apartment which makes it look very bright and modern. They also have a nice new computer. We enjoyed a big, leisurely meal and discussed visiting them in their village of Borovichi. I was grateful that the twin girls, Masha and Katya, agreed to sing for the church choir on the 29th. The girls are 18 now and completing their second year at the Hertzen Pedagogical University. I first met the Paskin family 9 years ago when the girls were just 9. I’ve been able to visit them nearly every year and in 2001 I helped them visit us in America. It’s always a great pleasure to be with this warm, intelligent, and talented family.
Well it’s time for me to push myself out the door to new adventures. I’ll try to be positive.