After my rather emotional Christmas walk from the the Church on Spill Blood, I headed towards Nevsky Prospekt, passed the brightly-lighted Lutheran church and headed to the Christmas market at Ploschad Ostrovskovo (Ostrovskovo Square), a five-minute walk from the right side of Gostiny Dvor metro station.

Ploschad Ostrovskovo is a small square dominated by the huge, bronze monument of Catherine the Great and behind it is the Alexandrinsky (Pushkin) Drama Theatre. This is where the annual Christmas market in St Petersburg is held since it opened in 2006. The market opened on December 21, 2012 and will close on January 14, 2013

The market cannot be missed. It’s sparkling blue lights and a big arc attract attention of passerby’s and commuters alike, even from a snow-shaded window of a crowded bus passing Nevsky Prospect and loud sound of the performances can be heard once you get out of the metro station.

Although smaller compared to European Christmas markets, the one is St Petersburg is not any less festive. A temporary stage was set up beside Alexandrinsky  for nightly entertainment, including a performance of Russian folk songs.

Stalls of different products encircle Ostrovskovo Square, mostly typical Russian products like wooden kitchen utensils, woolen clothes, socks and scarfs, crystal decorations, dolls etc – items that you can also buy from souvenir shops or at the nearby Gostiny Dvor metro station. There were also a lot food stalls selling Christmas market staples like sausages and gluhwein and Russian meat breads and pastries.

Here’s my background in languages – my mother tongue is Filipino, I have learned English since pre-school and I took Dutch classes for 15 months. I speak these languages everyday but none of them really ever bothered me so much with grammatical cases.

So what are grammatical cases? I leave you to Mr. Wikepedia to answer that. This much I know, Spanish language uses genders (like the Dutch het/de), German uses gender and four cases. The Russian language uses Cyrillic, has gender and uses six cases!!! And I have only learned (barely) three cases – the easiest is nominative and the two other, which have almost sent me to a nut house, are prepositional and accusative.

The last two weeks passed by so quickly. I am almost at the end of my two-week adventure here in St Petersburg. It feels like I have barely scratch the surface of this huge city. The number of places I have visited seemed too little compared to the list of must-see. Where did all my time go?

Ah yes, lessons of course!

My schedule of lessons is at 9:00 in the morning and at 12:45 in the afternoon the next day, four hours each day. This gives me just enough time to do my homework, do the groceries and cook my food. It’s not wise to eat in restaurants all the time because St Petersburg is not exactly a cheap city.

I also have to spend time communicating at home, both the Philippines and the Netherlands, which has difference time zones as well. I usually do this before or after class and always in the apartment because telephone cost to Europe is insane, almost €2/minute to call and €1/sms. That’s why I bought a Russian simcard. But of course, unlike at home, you can’t just take your phone out and start texting while on the street or while on the metro station. It’s very cold outside and the metro is very busy. Forget about texting while walking, it takes tremendous concentration to walk the streets of St Petersburg in winter, especially when it just snowed.

The rest of the little time I have left, I use for sight seeing.

It started snowing heavier when I left the Church on Spilled Blood, a feeling of being incredibly amazed by something so beautiful still throbs in my heart. The lamp posts along Griboedova Kanal burned bright, making the snow-covered canal and its entire surrounding shimmer under the yellow light.

I started taking photo, wishing to capture this breath-taking scenery with my humble digital camera but the snow falling into its lens quickly melted, creating spots on my photos. I gave up after a while  and put the camera away.

I thought the best and only way to remember this scenery is to feel it.

There was a young couple before me walking hand in hand in snow-covered pathway.

I heard him telling her, “You finally got your white Christmas,” and planted a quick kiss on her forehead.

My heart started to get warm as I watch the couple walking away, the shimmering lamp posts, the colorful lights on the towering buildings around Kanala Griboedova and the falling snow – making this moment all the more dreamy and magical.

I slowly walked towards Nevsky Prospect, taking my time to enjoy this rare moment of happiness. I started thinking about my life back home where I never dreamed of a white Christmas but got it anyway. I uttered a prayer of gratitude to my parents who raised me with so much love and inspired me to be proud and ambitious. If not for them, I would never have the chance to enjoy this beautiful life. I also thought of Robin, who never restricted me, even if my travels usually mean that we will be separated during special occasions like Christmas and anniversaries. And my co-workers who allowed me to leave my Herculean responsibilities on their shoulders for two weeks. Their love brought me to this place, a place that feels so much like home. Their hearts be blessed.

I felt my throat tightening and warm tears started rolling down my checks. Have you ever felt happiness so intense that the only way you can express it is by crying?

That was exactly how I felt while walking along Kanala Griboedova, my face buried in my snow-covered coat, my body so warm and my heart throbbing with happiness. It was almost perfect, if only my loves ones were with me.

I was walking aimlessly around Palace Square, admiring the huge sculptures on top of the General Staff and passing the equally impressive arc towards Nevsky Prospect. I noticed a couple, the man trying to take a photo of his wife. I did not pay so much attention to them, continuing my wanderings, looking at the ceilings, the sculptures, the columns of the arc and the old clock. It was about 2:50 and I was thinking that I must hurry because the museum is closing in about 2.5 hours.

When suddenly this Russian man shouted, “деBушка идет!” and waved his hand.

It’s probably the first Russian sentences that I completely understood, without my mind having to decipher it for half an hour. It means, Girl, go away!

But when you are confused and mixing up languages, it sounds like, “Girl, you are stupid.”

идтй – to go/ to walk / gaan

This has got to be my favorite Russian verb.

The pronunciation and transformation of this word, depending on the pronoun used, sounds approximately like two English words, “idiot” and “idiom”. If you are like me who learns new words by associating them with certain sounds or things, then this Russian verb is very easy to learn.

Only that sometimes, I am hesitating to say it because I might sound like I am calling somebody an idiot.