First time .... 初めての。。。

Yesterday I saw people practicing parade at the square in front of Hermitage and then I got robbed by a group of pickpockets out of six at the entrance gate of subway when I was about to go to the subway station. My God. I looked for an Internet cafe and then made a phone call to stop card transaction, then I called Japanese embassy to ask them what I shall do now. They advised me to report a burglary to the police. Well, it was pity that my stay permit has been stolen too. I talked about it at the apartment, then they advised me to go to the tourist infomation near the Hermitage. There they help tourists to fill out form for the police for free. It seems that it happenes often.

昨日はエルミタージュ広場の前でパレードの予行らしきものを見た後、地下鉄の駅に向かおうとしたところで、その入り口で６人組みのすりの集団に遭遇。やられたね。インターネットで電話番号を探し、日本と電話してカードを止めた後、大使館に電話をして指示をうかがう。盗難届けを出した方がいいと。なるほど。滞在許可証を盗まれたのが痛い。アパートへ帰ってその話をすると、エルミタージュのところにある観光案内で盗難届けを出すための申請書類の翻訳を無料でしていると聞く。どうもここではそういうニーズが多分にあるらしい。

And today, I went to the tourist infomation by the Hermitage museum and let them translate my report. There I encountered a group from Switzerland. It seemed to me that they had a similar case and got robbed. We decided that we liked each other very much and I helped them to visit the police. The address we got at the tourist infomation turned out to be the wrong one; we got robbed in the territory of subway and went to the other place. It was around noon time and the Swiss group offered me a tea break. After that we went to the railway police. The man in charge was unexpectedly kind and gentle; when he knew that I am Japanese from my report, he started to mention that he loves Japanese products. And I mentioned with my poor Russian that there are many Japanese cars in St.Petersburg. He wrote the report very quickly and gave it to us. I said goodbye to the Swiss group and headed to a translation company near the apartment for the German translation of the police document. I found out that my family name was written incorrectly, but there is no way back any more. Maybe it will go without any problem.

そして今日、早速エルミタージュの横にある観光案内へ行って警察への提出書類を翻訳してもらった。たまたたスイスから来ていた観光客と一緒になる。同じような状況で盗難にあったらしい。すっかり意気投合！し、その後は一緒に教えてもらった警察に行って、そこで鉄道警察は別の場所だと教わり、お昼も近かったのでカフェでお茶を御馳走になったあとに、さらに別のところにある警察に行く。所長さん？は意外に優しい人で、日本人だと分かると日本の製品はいいと言い出した。片言のロシア語で、ここでは沢山日本車が走ってますねと。すぐに書類を書いてくれて助かった。スイス人ともお別れしてそのまま翻訳事務所へ。そこでロシア語で書かれた苗字のつづりがおかしいことに気づくが、まぁしょうがない。ナントカなるだろう。

From today, we had another traveler in the apartment. Australian student Scott who is now majoring music and also studying Russian and his friend David who came all the way to St.Petersburg to see his friend. They are very easy-going. Scott told me that he also was robbed when he came to Russian five years ago. Subway is very dangerous and people should be very careful there. Any way, to stay in this type of accomodation would give me a chance to get to know people from other countries and it is fun.

今日からアパートに別の客がやってきた。オーストリア人でロシアで言葉を勉強している音楽専攻の学生スコットと、その彼に会いにオーストラリアから遊びにきたデビット。気さくな連中だ。スコットも５年前に来たときに同じようにメトロですりに遭ったらしい。地下鉄は要注意だとか。いずれにせよ、こういう宿は別の国の知らない人と出会う楽しみがあっていい。