petersburg drawings: two

petersburg drawings: one

never seen by waking eyes

of all the cities i've had the chance to know, st. petersburg is very strange and haunting in a way i have a hard time describing in words (i did drawings).  i noticed that i am aesthetically and emotionally drawn to things of former glory, the decay of once-beautiful things.  the buildings are phantom-like. they all have a look of shining long long ago, but have since become dirty and the paint is chipping.  caving in on themselves, along with the ghosts inside.  the names of businesses on old signs sound fake, like part of the set design for a play.  there is some strange weight in the air that i sense but can't describe.  creepy in a beautiful way, beautiful in a creepy way.  i am incredibly frustrated by my inability to convey this, though i can see it right in front of me, flashing in pictures of peeling wallpaper, silent films of women with high collars and frilled white parasols, and horse-drawn trams.  political conspiracies, snuff boxes, and tragic characters. always looking for something somewhere else when there was so much right in front of me all along, i am sorry i only took notice of it now.  

only a northern song

we went to our summer cabin for a couple of days, but there wasn't much for me to do but read books and draw little crooked houses and fences.  i read three books during the two weeks.  back in the city, we took out the record player and listened to soviet bootleg beatles vinyls ("let's all get up and dance to a song that was a hit before your mother was born, though she was born a long, long time ago, your mother should know...") until the needle fell out (or dissolved) and we couldn't find it anymore.  then there were two plays, a jazz concert, some dinner parties, an extremely disappointing "night of museums" (but we had a good laugh) and a random ballroom dancing competition.  it was quite cold and windy up there, in the north.

ну и чего ж ты ушла-то, рыба моя?

hello, i am again in prague.  i was happy when we landed, and happy on the bus, then happy on the metro, and on the bus again. i was so happy to be back, and everything around felt like home.  the last two weeks have been really exciting and filled with activity, but the price was losing two precious weeks from my time in prague.  now i am frantically working on catching up at school.  and everywhere else in my life!

time for a short intermission

i have a flight to saint petersburg this morning, and i will stay there for two and half weeks.  i may not have a chance to write about it while i am there, but i am mentally taking you with me, friends, and you will hear all about it when i come back, on 24th may.  also i am sure you are all dying to know what will happen next in the adventure of the magical sweater czech, as am i.  until then, na shledanou!  (s., see you very soon!)