"Saint Petersburg" Saint Petersburg by bobs12

St. Petersburg is not a place to do things by halves. Here, you generally tend to find yourself at one extreme or another- elated or crestfallen, bored or overwhelmed, terrified or over-confident, and so on. ‘Normal’ is an all but alien concept to us. It is the elusive state of equilibrium that lies between the far ends of the scale; a fine knife-edged ridge that we walk blindfolded, with an abyss of introspective despair on one side and a dizzying plunge into mindless jubilation on the other. Staying sane in this town is an art in itself, and keeping your footing on the ridge is but a part of the picture.

Even supposing you can cope with having your own emotions bounced around like an India-rubber ball, try to imagine dealing at the same time with dozens of people who can’t cope. People who are touched by the madness generally fall into two broad categories- those who deny and those who succumb. Those who deny the turbulence withdraw into themselves, rarely admitting that anything out of the ordinary is happening. They react slowly and deliberately to every interaction, as if they are afraid to betray some of the insanity swirling inside. They regard everything with suspicion, assessing every situation with guarded trepidation before committing to action.

Those who succumb simply lose all ability to shield their inner turmoil. When they are happy, they jabber incessantly and often quite incoherently. They are whirlwinds of excitement, divulging the day’s most banal events with absurd exuberance. When they are sad, they turn the rain a darker shade of grey. They can suck the life out of a room full of people in a matter of seconds without pausing for so much as a heavy sigh. In time, though, it seems that the severity of this affliction does subside, like a swinging pendulum gradually losing momentum. Perhaps it draws unsustainably on its victims’ resources, eventually leaving them too exhausted to make the sudden changes of mood that it demands.

I like to think that I have a fair degree of control over the madness- I believe my own inherent insanity is a match for anything St. Petersburg can throw at me. That said, it is definitely impeding my efforts to write about my experiences here. The random, unfinished thoughts that flit from mind to page in no particular order reflect something in the nature of everyday events here. They are transient, formless things that make perfect sense until you try to pin them down with words. They evade capture like cats in the shadows, twisting and turning as you write, so that you are left with pages full of words quite devoid of meaning.

I have started to write about my experiences of this country more times now than I care to remember. Each time the train of thought derails and I think: “I can’t possibly let anyone read this- they’ll think I’m nuts.” Each time I start once more from a different angle, only to give up again. The recurring problem is that I find myself relating banal events with absurd exuberance.

---

---

Saint Petersburg got a big lick of paint recently. For the 300th anniversary the authorities organised a massive cosmetic restoration (remont) where lots of money was thrown into the cracks in the walls.

They didn't quite finish everything in time, so they hung big painted cardboard facades over the buildings that had had the plaster chiopped off their walls. Picture coming soon!

I'm no expert in anything, but even a fool can tell that the buildings in this city are beautiful. A million times prettier than Moscow, St. P has a very European feel to it. A planned city, rather than one like Moscow which developed from a village into a town into a city, St P is a very harmonious place in terms of building styles.

It is also very navigable- the streets mainly run parallel and perpendicular, and the meandering canals make ideal routes for a meandering tourist.

---

---

Teaching English in Saint Petersburg - useful links (to my site, of course :)

Saint Petersburg is an interesting place to live, study and work. If you can survive the madness, you can have a very fulfilling time living and working here.

If you're interested in Teaching English in Saint Petersburg, why not take a look at the list of EFL schools or at the EFL job vacancies in Russia page.

Don't be scared off by horror stories - there are actually some very good schools that take good care of their staff. And don't let the weather put you off either. Trust me, it's better than the Atlantic coast any day!

If you want to send flowers to St. Petersburg , visit my friend Edward's Site! He lives just down the road from me, near the Pribaltiiskaya hotel. I'm trying to persuade him to join VT so I can change that link to his VT page :)

If you take a look at anyone else's St Peterburg pages, you'll find a lot more information. However, as this has already been my home for the last year-and-a-bit, I've lost a bit of the feel for it as a 'foreign' place. I promise, though, that shortly I will have plenty more information- hopefully of the sort that you won't find in the guidebooks.

• Pros:Big city, lots of people, lots of excitement
• Cons:Big city, lots of people, lots of excitement
• In a nutshell:Insanity reigns supreme