#3 - Organize Your Speech

A glimpse of Russia (St. Petersburg)

  1. Intro
    1. I am intent on staying up until the sun sets
    2. Mid June
    3. St. Petersburg Russia
    4. Sun set at 2am
    5. I visited in '97 and I want to share some of my experiences through an account of a fictional day, so you can have a better understanding of what Russia is really like.
  2. Start the day
    1. I am staying with a family in a two bedroom high-rise apt. Most Russian do not own a house, because there is no mortgage system.
    2. My family is the Mother, in her 40s or 50s, divorced, I think.
    3. Her 18 year daughter, lives at home, and works nights at a restaurant.
    4. Her 27 yr. Old daughter is married, and has a 6 yr old daughter. Her husband has a pretty good job with Caterpillar – they make big constuction equipment.
    5. The apt has a single hall running the length from the front door; about 40 feet total.
    6. The bedrooms are on either side of the hallway at the very back. The smaller about 12x12; the larger about 15x15.
    7. In the back wall, between the rooms is the closet toilet room, and the small bathroom next to it.
    8. The washing machine is small, and sits next to the bathtub. Washed clothes are usually hung in the bathroom to dry.
    9. In the middle of the apt on the right is a formal living room. It is about 20x20.
    10. The kitchen is at the front of the apt, on the right, next to the door. It is rectangular, about 10x15.
    11. The apt is old, not dirty, but shows its age and use.
    12. Bathe using a pan of stove-heated water – this is the month that the hot-water is shut off in the city so the pipe maintainance can be done.
  3. Shopping
    1. I want to do some shopping this morning so I leave the apt and walk the mile to the metro station. The metro is fairly inexpensive, and serves the entire city – much the the subway in Washington D.C. Outside the metro are vendors selling fresh fruit, produce, flowers, and clothes.
    2. I take the metro Nevskii Ave – the high-rent tourist section of the city – similar to Michigan Ave in Chicago. Its about a ten minute ride.
    3. The shops in Russia still functioned in the pre-communist fashion
    4. Ask clerk to show you item behind counter
    5. Get price
    6. Pay at cashier's booth
    7. Return to counter with receipt, and get item.
    8. If there are multiple depts, then you will need multiple receipts.
    9. The grocery stores function this way as well
    10. If a mistake is made, and you need change, there's a good chance the cashier and clerk will yell at each other across the room to straighten things out.
    11. This is a consistently inefficient experience. This makes both customers and workers frustrated, and often antagonistic. In some of the newer stores, though, they've begun figuring our that customer service is a good thing.
    12. Shopping takes the morning, so I go for lunch. Fast food is a bit dicey in Russia – the plates of food sitting on counters are not for show – that's what they serve you.
    13. So I go to McDonalds. It's safe, good quality, and their regional Black-Currant mikshake was very tasty
  4. Go to the park
    1. Meet Olya and Masha - students of Anna
    2. Go to park
    3. Formal park - for strolling, and canoeing. Not running, frisbee & football
    4. Come across some former house of a brother of a previous Czar
    5. Tremendous history in the city, spanning centuries
  5. The city
    1. Go back home, thinking about the city
    2. At first glance, it seems dirty and run-down.
    3. The roads are uneven.
    4. Apt complex yards are poorly kempt – one morning I saw a crew cutting grass with scythes
    5. The electric-trams in the city are old, the tracks uneven.
    6. It's like they gave up in 1960, and only half-heartedly fix anything since
    7. After you acclimate - you see the beauty. There is tremendous variety of achitecture.
    8. Cobblestone roads here and there
    9. There is a since of history, as you stumble across Pavlov's former laboratory walking down the street.
    10. I get home about midnight, but the sun is only low in sky.
    11. Tonight I am not staying up for the sunset.