First Snow!!

I am happy to report that Moscow has seen its first snowfall! Alissa burst into my room a little after 9pm tonight in a panic. Finally, I determined it was SNOW and we bundled up to go outside. Then we came back in to gather a group to go to Red Square and relish our first Moscow snow. It was GORGEOUS.
This picture was taken by some guy who wanted to take a picture of us to capture the joy on our faces. Just another person who made the night feel magical.

Laptop-less

Indeed, it's true. My laptop is very very ill. He might even die. Right now I am still not sure what I am going to do about this... I might try to get it fixed here in Moscow, or wait until I get back to Cincinnati. I didn't realize how essential my laptop was- internet, music, movies, MS Word to write out e-mails....

I have another picture for everybody. This is my favorite guard Dzhura. When he saw the picture, he said, "Don't spread it around America!"

Comforts of Home

My mom asked me a very good question the other day. Granted, I had already though about this before she asked, so I was pretty quick with an answer.

The question: "What is the first thing you will do/eat when you get back?"

My answer: Go to the Starbucks at the airport (purchase a American chai), grab some Chipotle (with the HOT salsa!). Then I will go to Target just to marvel at having everything in one store.

That sounds very typically American, but those are the things I miss about America. Spicy food, take-away coffee, and convenience.

Feeding my Soul

Once again, the weekend never fails to disappoint. Friday night was pretty laid-back. Alissa, Henrike, and I stayed in and played Monopoly. What was really neat was that it was Monopoly in German!

Saturday was looking to be ridiculously, mind-numbingly boring. By the afternoon this misty rainy cloud was just sitting over Moscow. It looked disgusting, but despite the weather, I took a walk to the promenade at Vorobyovy Gory, which overlooks the entire city. I love walking around the city, looking at different people and thinking about things. In the evening, we decided to go out with some of Meghan's internship friends for dinner. Since one of her friends is Indian and yesterday was Diwali, we celebrated by going out for some Indian food. It was great to eat Indian food again and meet some new people. Then we went to Vorobyovy Gory station with some fireworks. We weren't sure where we could set them off, so we asked the two militsa officers standing outside smoking, and they replied "Oh, off that way a little bit is fine." So we set off some huge fireworks (the kind you can't buy in America) and another militsa officer came by and said "I understand that you're young and like to set off fireworks, but that's very bad." The funny part was that he wasn't any older than us. But we left and went home anyway.

Sunday morning/afternoon I was planning on sleeping in more than I usually do, but Meghan barged in and announced that she was going to the Pushkin Gallery. I had really wanted to see this museum, so I was up for the adventure. First, though, Henrike wanted to buy some football tickets. We met a German friend of hers and bought some tickets for Bayern Muenchen vs. Moscow Spartak- apparently this is a Champions League match on November 22. After a little walk in the area of the stadium, we headed over to the Pushkin Gallery for some art. Despite my best efforts, I was charged the international student price instead of the Russian student price (free). The museum was worth the price though. It focuses on European and American art of the past 150 years, so everything is quite modern. I saw a lot of Picasso, Renoir, Pissaro, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh... all the famous ones. It was impressive, and in some ways, more intellectually satisfying than the Hermitage.

Then I came home and made a yummy meal of pelmeni with butter and plov spices. (Plov is a central Asian rice/meat dish, so it was pretty weird to sprinkle that on top of Russian ravioli dumplings, but it tasted good.) Also, everybody in Cincinnati, take note: It'll be warmer here in the next few days than it will be over there. I'm just hoping it snows here by my birthday.

Pictures

My brother asked me for some more pictures of my neighborhood, my room, and everyday places that I see, so here are some pictures for everybody to see:

My bedroom














The walk to the bus stop.
















Some apartments on the walk to class.






















The big building is the main building of MGU, where I live. You can't really tell, but the clouds were so low that the top of the building kind of disappeared. I took this from Indira Ghandi Square.










Another view from Indira Ghandi Square. The tall buildings in the background are apartments- I'll try to get a picture of them at night because they are lit up.

Frustration

My dezhurnaya (floor mother) has been asking me for this little "napravleniye" document for a week now. I mentioned something to Irina about it the first time, and she said it would be taken care of. Then yesterday another dezhurnaya came by and asked me for it again. I was really confused and annoyed because 1. I couldn't understand her and 2. Irina wasn't helping me out. She instructed me to tell the woman that someone from the administration should have called her, and then have her call Irina if she needed anything else. Well, I obviously couldn't say anything that complicated to the dezhurnaya, so she told me to give it to her tomorrow (aka, today). The guys brought down mine about an hour ago and I went to take it to the dezhurnaya. I gave it to her, and she started flipping out on me. "Do you have your check?" she kept asking me. I told her, "No, Irina has it," about ten times. Then she kept saying something else to me, and I didn't understand. Slow, fast, angrily, patiently, no matter how many times and ways she repeated herself, I wasn't going to understand. So I said something like, "Irina, telephone, speak," and gave her my cell phone. I started crying while she was on the phone, because I just cannot communicate with anyone. I am so angry with myself and my classes- how can I learn Russian when I have only had 3 language classes?!?! I think it got straightened out, but that woman definitely hates me now.

This kinda ruined my nice little day. I rode the metro, bought some conditioner, and took a nice long walk in the cold. Last night the forecast said 1-3 inches of snow today, but today it just says rain. My ramble took me through some quiet neighborhoods, where normal people go about their daily life. I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in one of those neighborhoods, in a high-rise apartment... shopping at the corner store... riding the trams and buses. These are things I already do in my everyday life, but it still feels like I'm an outsider looking in.

Here are two pictures of the intersection where my metro stop, the rinok, and the bus stops to the university are located. The building in the center of the first picture is the entrance to the metro. The second really just shows the billboard, but the rinok is right beyond that.

Boredom...

Today is October 16. Since October 4 I have only had 2 classes. Can you understand why I am so bored? And why I am so ready to come home and have classes, papers, and exams?

Bleghhh.... at least my room is warmer now, and I have internet again.

BRRRRR!

Yay! It's finally COLD here in Moscow! Winter has arrived.

Saturday was looking pretty dreary and rainy, but I couldn't come to terms with sitting inside all day, so I went for a walk. If you look out my window, you can see the tops of a few really tall buildings to the north. The building lies on top of the only hill in the city (Vorobyovy Gory), and if you walk a bit north, there's an overlook with a view of the entire city to the north. I knew this, but I had never walked that way. I set off in sneakers, my heavy brown jacket, and an umbrella. I was really glad I brought the umbrella because this weird half-rain, half-snow mixture began to fall and I would have been even colder if I was wet. But then my feet got wet from all the rain as the sneakers have basically a mesh top (I'm thinking I am going to have to buy a pair of comfortable casual shoes that don't get wet as quickly) so I ended up cold anyway. Apparently the Vorobyovy Gory overlook is only a 10 minute walk from the main building! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures of it just yet. It wasn't very pretty with the rain anyway.

Sunday was even colder than Saturday. I ventured out around 6pm to go to the rinok with Alissa. When we got there, the little time and temp billboard said it was 0 degrees. That's FREEZING, folks! I bought (and made) fixins for American salad with a delicious Italian-ish dressing. But only in Russia does the Italian salad dressing have dill in it. Hey I also finally bought some forks and two plate type things. After nearly six weeks! Anyway, I was really cold because I was still wearing my heavy jacket and I didn't bring my mittens.

But I have been having bad luck with my room lately. First, the sink drain seems to have clogged again, even though I poured drain cleaner down it a week ago. Second, I still don't have internet. I am trying to sign up for a cheaper plan, but Alyosha the internet boy somehow disabled my login, so I can't even add money to my account. Finally, my room is so cold. Every other one of my friends' rooms is, at the very least, cosy, or downright broiling. Earlier this week my room was pretty warm too, but the past 2 mornings I have been freezing. My only guess is that my window is really drafty... I need to ask the floor mother about this, because it's already annoying me after 2 days. Alissa and Henrike sleep with their windows open because their rooms are so hot, while I have to sleep in sweatpants and socks.

Adventures in St. Petersburg

Our train from Moscow left shortly before 1am and was supposed to arrive in St. Petersburg about 8 hours later. I, along with the other Americans, was very impressed with our compartment. We had 4 bunks for sleeping, along with linens, and each passenger received a box of snacks. Some compartments were dedicated to partying and drinking, but ours was definitely the sleeping compartment. I fell asleep around 3 and woke up 5 hours later- what a difference from flying!

Terri and Henrike on the train.

When we arrived in SPb, we hit the ground running. We stored our bags at the hotel and took advantage of their breakfast. Then, we took a short walk to the St. Issac’s Cathedral. Irina told us it’s the third largest cathedral in the world, so it was pretty big. I was actually really fascinated by the architecture and the art. The architecture was Italian, but inside the icons and decorations were definitely Russian. We got to go up to the top of the cathedral and look down on the city.

St. Issac's Cathedral

The Winter Palace is right above the trees on the left.

From the cathedral we started walking along the river. We saw the famous statue of Peter the Great, the founder of SPb. Eventually we ended up in front of the Winter Palace, which houses the State Hermitage Museum. After standing outside in line for almost an hour, we finally got in. Irina bought audio guides for us, and we split up to explore the famous Hermitage.

I was doubly impressed with the Hermitage. First, there was all the amazing artwork. I saw a sculpture by Michelangelo, a few paintings by El Greco, and a whole room devoted to Rembrandt. There was also a lot of Impressionist works, but somehow I missed those. Second, the rooms blew me away. I have a movie called “Russian Ark,” which tries to overview 300 years of Russian history while moving through the Hermitage. So I was really interested in seeing the rooms where parts of the movie take place.

Two rooms in the Winter Palace/ Hermitage. I forget the name of the first, the second is the main staircase.

After the Hermitage is where the trip really got miserable for me. We walked over to the Church on Spilled Blood, realized it was closed for the day, and tried to make a plan. Most of us wanted to go back to our hotel, take a shower, and go out to eat. But for some reason, we were marched across the river Neva to the Peter and Paul Fortress. At this point, I felt so sick and tired that I wasn’t even the least bit interested in this. Luckily, Irina hailed a car to take us back to our hotel soon after we got there.

I have to talk about our hotel- it was wonderful. It was called the Comfort Hotel, and it had this friendly European atmosphere. Our rooms were so comfortable- pillowtop twin beds, television, and a bathroom with a huge tub and a bidet! After we went out for dinner (at the cheapest restaurant with the tastiest food I’ve had since arriving), I came back to the hotel and took a long, relaxing bath.

I was pretty excited about the bidet.

Sunday was also a really bad day for me. We took a water taxi to Peterhof, which is a palace famous for its fountains. The weather was cold and rainy, and there was a nasty breeze coming off the sea. Even though I had my umbrella, my feet were soaked and my whole body was freezing. So I took some pictures, walked around for about 15 minutes, and then retreated to a little café until it was time to leave. Apparently they shut the fountains off for winter, so that Sunday was the day they closed. It was such a contrast to walk into the park and hear the water gushing and splashing and walk out of it in near-silence.

I didn't do a very good job of keeping either of us dry.

After we got back into SPb, we went back to the Church on Spilled Blood. This church was built on the exact spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. Inside, there is a shrine over the cobblestones where he was shot. This church and the Hermitage were the only 2 places I had really wanted to visit, because I remembered my Russian history professor at UC telling us the tale of Alexander II’s assassination (believe me, he was a good storyteller). It was really one of the last big churches built in Russia before the revolution.

The best part of the day came after all the touristy things. Four of us retreated to a little café on Nevsky Prospekt to warm up and dry off. Henrike called a friend of hers who was studying in the city and she joined us for dinner. It was so nice to be able to listen to people speaking in fluent German and actually understand them- unlike with my Russian. After a looong dinner, Lara offered to show us her dorm and give us a place to stay until we had to go to the train station. When we got to our compartment on the train, there was a Russian woman in our compartment who spoke English, but we realized that she was on the wrong carriage. She seemed really disappointed as she left, saying, “I was really looking forward to practicing my English.” The train home was not as new and comfortable as the first train, but I slept so soundly that I didn’t even care.

Messing with the time-space continuum

I have been having crazy dreams lately that have been seriously screwing with my head.

The first, I dreamt I saw Hayden and Emma for the first time in months and I gave them enormous hugs. It felt so real, and then I woke up and realized how long it would be before I saw them. That was depressing.

The second, I dreamt that I went back to Cincinnati for a weekend or a week or something. It had snowed, and people were driving on ice. I was talking to dad and telling him I couldn't wait to go back to Russia because things made sense there, like people didn't drive on the ice. (Which is hilarious, because actually very few things make sense here, like people driving on the sidewalk or the floor mother telling me to lock the door so the police don't come and search my room). Oh and a NASA helicopter came by and also landed on the ice. Then I curled up in a ball on the ice and started flipping out because I couldn't decide if Moscow or Cincinnati was better and if I wanted to stay or go. Any clues on that?

Speaking of snow- I am getting really anxious waiting for some snow. I know it doesn't usually come until the end of October, but it's getting colder outside. Monday they finally turned on the heat in the city, so now my room is nice and toasty. I just want some snow, pleasssseee.

I also burned through about $15 of internet in less than a week, which is really bad. Today the internet guy Alyosha is coming back and I am going to try to get a monthly plan for $30 so I have more bandwidth, and it's cheaper if I do go over. :-( I can't stop spending money.

Back at home!

I've arrived safely back in Moscow. I am very glad to be back. I just returned from a trip to the rinok with Alissa, and I realized how much I actually missed Moscow. We got some yummy blini from a stand by the bus stop. I didn't see a single blini stand in Saint Petersburg. And for some reason the huge traffic jams on Prospekt Vernadskovo were comforting in their familiarity. Cars running red lights, honking at pedestrians who actually have the right-of-way... yup, that's Moscow. I was really happy to see my favorite guard Georgie on the way into my building and climb into my bed.

St. Petersburg was a beautiful, gorgeous city and I feel like we didn't have enough time to properly explore everything. But I also felt downright miserable because I was so sick. The weather was so cold and rainy that it probably added a few days to my cold. I saw a lot of interesting places and things, but now I am going upstairs to eat the raspberries I paid $3 for. I'll post stories and pictures later.

I am sick

My "festering cold" turned out to be a full-blown cold this morning. It sucks to be sick. I didn't go to class at all, but I did do my laundry in preparation for St. Petersburg. Also I have been using the internet tons and drinking tea and cuppa soup. FUNNN

I'll be back from St. Petersburg on Monday...

If you are an American college student, you will love this

I forgot to mention that along with the Russian national pastime of drinking vodka, there was another important pasttime of another country occurring at the party tonight: smoking the hookah. One of our friends, Ulmas, is from Uzbekistan, and smoking hookah is very important there. It's like the pub in Britain and Ireland: men just go hang out and smoke hookah in the evening. In Uzbekistan it would be weird to have company over and not light up a hookah or two (is that how you'd say it? I don't know these things). So Ulmas has his own hookah, and he fired it up tonight.

I don't really understand this fascination with hookah-smoking. Apparently American college students love it, judging from the number of people I know back home with their own hookah (it's gotta be expensive) and the all the people I've seen at Andy's smoking it. Tonight was no different- those American boys went crazy over smoking hookah. They even tried to get me to do it, but in my almost 21 years on this earth, the only smoking I've ever done is secondhand, so now is not the time to start. Also I have a cold festering, so inhaling more smoke and crap than I do on a daily basis here in Russia is just a really, really bad idea. In general, inhaling anything other than pure, clean air hasn't sat too well with me lately.

To International Friendship...

I don't know how much you guys in America have been hearing about the Russia-Georgia conflict that just re-erupted last week... Basically Georgia arrested 4 Russian soldiers and accused them of spying. Then Russia, in typically Russian fashion, decided to retaliate by cutting off all air, sea, road, rail, and postal contacts to Georgia. And to top it off, they have been going on a huge rampage against Georgians living in Russia. Georgian-owned businesses are being shut down and raided, visas from Georgia to Russia obviously have stopped, and current Georgians in Russia are having their visas shortened. They are even considering outlawing bank transfers of money to Georgia. In short, Georgia and Georgians have been cut off from the country it depends on (but dislikes) the most.

The whole conflict hadn't really hit home until tonight. An American friend (we tend to run in packs) was holding a little party in his room, so he invited a bunch of Americans and the other foreigners we know over for some beers and vodka. A Georgian guy (whose name nobody ever remembers because it's so long and Georgian) was with us too, and we started talking in whispers about the poor guy. It's not enough that the Russian government has completely cut him off from his family- he can't leave Russia and go home because they won't let him go home. But yesterday, the militsa (police) searched his room. Because he was Georgian. I saw the militsa in the building yesterday, and I definitely thought it was weird at the time, but I figured it was for marijuana or something silly. I feel so awful and embarassed that I was in Russia. I'm not Russian but I wanted to apologize to him for the way people have been acting towards him. He seemed really downtrodden and silent tonight. Even during the toasts (which are a big deal for Russians, and taken even more seriously by Georgians) he didn't give one.

We did have an ethnic Russian there, and sadly he gave a nationalistic toast to Russia and Putin. We finished the first bottle of vodka (okay, there were like 10 of us there and the bottles were small, so we only had 2 rounds. Luckily they give the ladies "chut-chut" shots. Also, this vodka was high quality.) and then he got up and left. Everybody felt bad because he was so quiet and didn't toast. Then he showed up 15 minutes later with another bottle. This is the joke: he brought a bottle of "Putinka" vodka. As in, Little Putin's Vodka. We toasted to international friendship and drank Putinka.

(I guess it doesn't really translate very well, but it was a huge joke at the time)

Internet!!!

I finally, finally have the internet in my room!!!!!! Hooray!

I spent a lot of money today. First, I put 500 rubles on my cell phone, which should last me about 3-4 weeks, as long as I don't make any international calls. Then, because I still hadn't bought them, I went out and bought my new boots from Ecco. They are gorgeous and cost me almost 5000 rubles. The other day I saw a raspberry-colored scarf at Benetton that went with both my brown coat that I have here and the gray coat I left in the trunk of my car. It wasn't cheap, coming in at about 600 rubles, but it's wool and angora. On the way home, I stopped at the produkty and bought some food, so that was another 200 rubles. Then, before I had the chance to sit down and rest, Alissa asked me to come up to her room and hang out with her while the internet guy fixed her internet (for some reason her internet hasn't been working, and they can't figure out why). Being the smart woman I am, I told her/ the internet boy to come down and hook mine up. There went another 500 rubles. But I have the internet, money on my cell phone, a scarf, and boots. That is a productive day by Russian standards, and it's not even 11pm yet.

Like Home

Something really awesome has been happening over the past few days... I'm finally feeling at home now.

I don’t know how it began. Maybe it was the plastic Metro card for unlimited use during the next 90 days that I bought on Saturday night, or that I used my new October bus pass Sunday afternoon. Maybe it’s that Alissa and I can talk about what we miss about home (mostly Chipotle and Target) and laugh about it instead of sighing. Or maybe it’s that the woman at the rinok remembers that Meghan and I buy pita bread from her, and yells to me, “Dyevushka, Dyevushka! Pita!” as I walk by. It could be the weather too, which has been crisp and cloudy with the smell of falling leaves and makes you want to bundle up. I’ve been missing my family and friends less and less over the past few days too- home is a fond, distant memory now that I have been here for almost a month. Now, among my friends, going “home” means going back to our dorm.

On Sunday I told Alissa that I found that riding the Metro was very comforting. Sticking my card into the gate doesn’t require any thought (but now that I have my plastic 90-day card, all I have to do is wave it near the reader), and I love hearing the alarm that goes off when someone tries to sneak through. I’m not as fascinated by the advertisements that hang on the ceiling as I ride the escalator down to the platform. If I see an empty seat on the wagon, I dash for it before some guy sits down in it. The voice announcing the stops has become unobtrusive, although I wish she wouldn’t say that the seats are for invalids and passengers with children every time the door closes. Riding the Metro has become effortless and relaxing for me. It’s funny to think that by the time my Metro card expires, I’ll be back in Cincinnati. Actually, that thought just made me a little sad.