From Russia

Winters in St Petersburg are long and cold. I’m used to them by now; it’s my fourth year here. I know all the signs of oncoming winter but it still takes me by surprise. Almost as if I didn’t notice nights getting colder, mornings being darker and evenings shutting their windows to the night earlier and earlier each day.

The sun is high and strong and the walk proves to be very enjoyable despite the cold. Snow is almost gone from the pavements and streets but still sits on the roofs and grass. I walk past the families with over energetic kids who don’t seem to feel the cold. Even pigeons are going about their daily business as if they weren’t too bothered by it. I’ve been walking for a good twenty minutes and I need to warm up. I head to my usual place. It’s a cafe opposite to Kunstkamera museum. It’s not very adventurous but I really like its cosiness. I often come here during my breaks between lectures. It reminds me of Paris. When I come here alone I sit by the window and watch the people walking by. I like watching people when they are at their most natural. After all, people are my ‘speciality’. I’m an anthropologist. Yet, I’m a loner; I don’t like human contact in everyday life.

I’m walking into ‘my’ cafe. The waiter knows me and asks if I’ll be sitting alone today. When I nod to confirm, he takes me straight to my window table; the best spot for “people watching” on this side of Kunstkamera. I move my chair from its original place and situate it in the position in which I have my back on the cafe and am facing the window. I take out notepad and writing paper from my waistcoat pocket and put them on the table. Then I search through my pockets for the pen. After a short moment of panic I finally find it and place it next to the paper. When I’m all settled, I sit and stare at the street. Sometimes passersby notice me, some turn their eyes immediately and walk off, others get shy or embarrassed; there are also people who stare back as if they want to challenge me in some staring game. In those cases I play the game for a moment or two and if they don’t give up first, turn away slowly as if it was boring me. Last summer a couple of young kids, maybe five or six years old, managed to get me involved in a face pulling competition. Till this day I don’t know who won because their parents called them away. I watched the family together and became very jealous. I wanted to be six years old again and hold my mum by the hand. Seeing the kids with their parents reminded me of myself at that age. Suddenly, I remembered that sunny Saturday afternoon when my mum was dusting the shelves; and the black box with the coins inside.  It looked pretty, very interesting. I went over to the table and tried to open it. The lid came off easily. I looked inside and found something I hadn’t seen before. The box was full of round metal things that looked like money but were different.

‘Mummy, what’s this?’ I asked.

Mum put the cloth down and came over to the table. She took one round thing and looked at it for a moment.

‘What is it?’ I asked again impatiently.

‘They are coins.’

‘But they look different’, I was puzzled. She stroked my hair and smiled.

‘Yes, they are different because they are old coins and they come from many different countries’.

She took a handful out and spread them on the table. They had different shapes, colours and sizes. The sun shone on the table and all the coins, some of them really sparkled and I had to squint. I chose a big silver coin with a head of a man with some leaves on his head.

‘Which country is this one from?’

‘This one is from Rome.’

‘And this one?’ I picked another silver coin but slightly smaller, ‘Where is this one from?’ Mum took it in her hand and turned it over couple of times.

‘This one is from Russia.’

‘Ooo’, I stretched out my hand to take it from her, ‘from Russia’

Mum gave the coin back to me. I held it with adoration.

‘From Russia!’ I repeated. Mum laughed and stroked my hair.

It was then that I decided that I wanted to know more about people from different countries and that I wanted to visit Russia.