Petrovskii Posturing

Well, I returned from my adventure watching Zenit v. Amkar Perm unscathed (unfortunately).I guess the 50-75 Amkar supporters figured out they wouldn't get out of the stadium alive if they tried to start anything. The stadium, the Petrovskii, is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment. They are currently building a new stadium in a different part of the city. After being in the Petrovskii, I can see why; the place is quite literally crumbling. I grabbed a few pieces of the stadium before Zenit moves: cheap souvenirs. The game was pretty dull Amkar came for a 0-0 draw and they got it. Coulda used Arshavin, but, oh well. The stadium is about a 20,000 capacity ground and it's a very partisan crowd. During the game the different ends of the stadium shout to each other: "Vperyod Zenit!"("Onward Zenit!") is met with "Vperyod za Piter!" ("Onward for St. Pete!") Flares are still alive and well in the fan culture here, but, fortunately, there was an icy polar wind to disperse the smoke before it settled on the field and make the Americans watching shiver throughout the second half.

Because the Orthodox celebrate Easter next Sunday, yesterday was Palm Sunday, or as they call it here, "Pussywillow Sunday." Because of the notable lack of palm trees here, they've had to improvise.

It's about 9:30 PM here right now and I'm still able to read by the window with the daylight still remaining. In a few weeks I'm gonna be going to bed with it still light outside