So I had a pretty great night tonight. After class, I came home, studied, did some reading, and then I went out to meet this girl that I became acquainted with a few nights ago. Nearly every aspect of my evening was an experience that could only occur in Moscow.
First, on the way to the Metro, I have to walk through a passageway that goes under the street, and there was a woman with a keyboard singing "Ave Maria." And honestly, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard, I actually got a little choked up while I was leaving the passage.
The cafe we went to was a cozy little Italian restaurant, we had some pizza and tea and good conversation. However, the cafe closed at 11, so we had to figure out what to do next. We decided on Red Square, because I hadn't been there at night before.
So we set out for Red Square and arrived, walked out of the Metro, and to our surprise Red Square was closed off and guarded by cruise missile launchers. So I wondered if something terrible had happened on Red Square, until I realized that they were rehearsing for the May 9 Victory Day parade. At first I could hear a dull roaring, and thought it was airplanes, until I realized it was formations of soldiers shouting. We talked to a few of the soldiers guarding the proceedings (although they had tanks and cruise missiles and god knows what else), and they said that they would do this every night until May 9, so next time I won't forget my camera.
Needless to say we were unable to get into Red Square, so we walked to the Garden Ring, and saw all of the tanks and vehicles waiting to drive into Red Square. After walking for a few minutes they all turned on at the same time, and started driving. It was amazing. I can't believe I got to see that, an American at the Russian display of military strength? I could have gotten killed if I were there 25 years ago.
So we finished our walk, got on the Metro, and had our last Moscow experience of the night when we walked past a woman sprawled on the ground, looking like she was in deep trouble, possibly dead. She was being taken care of, so we kept walking. And then I got home.
I can't believe I saw Victory Day rehearsals. My parents will believe it less. Our world is so much different, it defies comprehension.
Showing posts with label Moscow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moscow. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
International Year of Stadium 110 - Day 11: The Clock Wall
This post is a little bit overdue, but last week Stadium 110 installed the first two clocks of our official clock wall.
The story of the inspiration for this said clock wall goes something like this:
On the eve of the second day of the international year of Stadium 110 the men of stadium 110 enjoyed a night on the island known as Mai Fete. There was much merriment all around. With a hunger rumbling in their stomachs they returned to their spacious abode and consumed gyro pizzas delivered to their very door by a local establishment specializing in the preparation of pizza pies. Having filled their stomachs, the men of stadium 110 proceeded to conversing on the important items of the day. In the discourse of their conversation a question arose. The question was not unique to the eve, and in fact it had been posited in several different forms during previous conversations. The question was: "I wonder what BK is doing right now." This question led, as it is prone to do, to the question: "What time is it in Moscow." The men of Stadium 110 pondered this question for a significant amount of time before discovering the answer. A short time after this exchange I, your humble narrator, was struck with an idea that could forever vanquish the aforementioned situation. This idea was the world clock wall. It was proposed that on the wall of the Stadium 110 clock room there could be placed two similar looking clocks. However, the time that could be read from the two clocks would not be identical. In fact, the time on one of the clocks would read the local time in Northfield, Minnesota. But the time on the other clock would read the local time in Moscow, Russia. With the local time in Moscow forever displayed on the wall of the common room of Stadium 110, the men of stadium 110 would no longer have to ponder in exasperation the answer to the question: "What time is it in Moscow right now?"
And so, approximately one week ago we procured two clocks and hung them above the likeness of Bob Dylan that is displayed in our room. An image of these said clocks follows as proof of our endeavor.
We hope that our clock wall will bring us closer to our absent roommate.
The story of the inspiration for this said clock wall goes something like this:
On the eve of the second day of the international year of Stadium 110 the men of stadium 110 enjoyed a night on the island known as Mai Fete. There was much merriment all around. With a hunger rumbling in their stomachs they returned to their spacious abode and consumed gyro pizzas delivered to their very door by a local establishment specializing in the preparation of pizza pies. Having filled their stomachs, the men of stadium 110 proceeded to conversing on the important items of the day. In the discourse of their conversation a question arose. The question was not unique to the eve, and in fact it had been posited in several different forms during previous conversations. The question was: "I wonder what BK is doing right now." This question led, as it is prone to do, to the question: "What time is it in Moscow." The men of Stadium 110 pondered this question for a significant amount of time before discovering the answer. A short time after this exchange I, your humble narrator, was struck with an idea that could forever vanquish the aforementioned situation. This idea was the world clock wall. It was proposed that on the wall of the Stadium 110 clock room there could be placed two similar looking clocks. However, the time that could be read from the two clocks would not be identical. In fact, the time on one of the clocks would read the local time in Northfield, Minnesota. But the time on the other clock would read the local time in Moscow, Russia. With the local time in Moscow forever displayed on the wall of the common room of Stadium 110, the men of stadium 110 would no longer have to ponder in exasperation the answer to the question: "What time is it in Moscow right now?"
And so, approximately one week ago we procured two clocks and hung them above the likeness of Bob Dylan that is displayed in our room. An image of these said clocks follows as proof of our endeavor.
We hope that our clock wall will bring us closer to our absent roommate.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Weekend in Moscow
The last two days have been ridiculous. Yesterday, the first thing we did was meet at Novii Cheremushkii towers to buy phones that work in Russia. It was a longer train ride than usual, saw some cool stations, and got to the Cheremushii station. Found the group, went inside, and saw pure capitalism at play. The bottom floor is filled with electronics stores, but they were all kiosks. It was a mall made up entirely of the small kiosks that are usually in the middle of the mall and are entirely annoying. But these kiosks sold HD TVs. In the end I bought a cheap cell phone, it was about 1500 rubles (45 dollars), and while I was obviously a foreigner I wasn’t a stupid foreigner, in my opinion.
After getting phones, we went to a mall across the street, which had a grocery store in the basement, because some people wanted to buy food for lunch. After that, we made our way to the center of the city. We took the Metro to Revolution Square, which is filled with people selling big fur hats, old Soviet propaganda, and several very funny shirts. We walked past the vendors to the Alexander Gardens, which are outside the walls of the Kremlin. We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, who died in the October Revolution, and we also saw the changing of the guard. We walked down to the corner of the Kremlin and turned around to go to Red Square. It's also very funny to see people dressed as Lenin, Stalin, and Napoleon walking around taking pictures with everyone. Red Square is the most magnificent place on the planet, hands down. St. Basil’s Cathedral is unbelievable; it’s huge and beautiful.
The Kremlin gates are impressive, and Lenin’s Mausoleum is also pretty sweet. We went into GUM, the old Soviet department store that is now the classiest mall I’ve ever seen. The annoying kiosks were for Chanel. Yeah.
I left the group early because I wanted to get back to take a nap before staying out all night, and went to get back on the Metro. Unfortunately, I got on the Metro at the same time that everyone going to the Moscow-Azerbaijan football game did. I thought I was going to die. In my train car, there was no room to move and everyone was wearing red and blue, shouting “Moskva! Moskva!” I was unable to get off at my station and I had to wait for 2 more stops until everyone got off. Then I switched trains and went back.
That night, I met up with Christian at his friend’s house near the Arbat. His friend lives about 3 houses down from Gogol’s old house. I bought my first alcoholic beverage that night, a bottle of wine to bring as a gift. I get to the house, meet Christian’s friends, all of whom are awesome, and hung out there until about midnight. The purpose of the gathering was to view pictures taken during a trip to America that Christian made with his housemates. After that pictures, we watched the Netherlands-Scotland football game. Christians good friends are all Dutch so they have Dutch satellite TV. There were 3 other American girls there, 2 of them were Fulbrights. Two went to Occidental, one to Swarthmore. It’s weird being 19, because the next youngest person in the group was 24.
At one we went clubbing, or at least tried to. We got turned away from Forbes Club, the newest in Moscow, and also from Sorry Babushka. Thanks to the impressive language skills of my new Fulbright friend, we made it to a bar where we talked and drank until a little after 5. I got home a little before 6, woke up at 10, which was 11 because of daylight savings, and realized that I was late to meet with Laura before our group excursion.
After running the Metro, we went back to Revolution Square station and met the whole group, including Anna Mikhailovna! We went to Red Square again, and then took a bus around the city. Red Square had a group of communists congregating in front of the Lenin Mausoleum, which was pretty cool.
Moscow is amazing. I’ve seen most major monuments, but there’s something historical on every street corner of this city. For example, the building in which Schmirnoff Vodka started.
Most of the buildings are just fucking impressive.
From a bridge in front of this cathedral, I was able to get an amazing few of the Kremlin.
Tonight I went to a coffee place called Shokalodnitsa, which is basically a sit-down Starbucks on steroids. It’s a chain in Moscow, but it’s got a great atmosphere, and good coffee, tea, and other beverages. Interacting with Russians in a commercial setting is very weird, I know the language but not the etiquette. I definitely seem like a foreigner when I try to speak Russian, but I’ve been able to communicate quite easily and haven’t had too much difficulty anywhere. I enjoy speaking Russian with my host mom; she’s very good at communicating and making her sentences easier to understand. She also knows a little English, which helps a lot. It’s also interesting to hear the different types of mistakes she makes when speaking: it shows the stranger structures in English grammar and also gives me a good example of how I sound to a Russian. I went to a grocery store tonight, which was pretty unsuccessful. My cashier was a fat bitch and the store had very cheap, small plastic bags. One of mine broke and smashed my jar of peanut butter, which was actually very expensive. Cutting back costs by using shitty plastic bags, thank you Perekryostok.
I love a lot about Moscow and the people here. I definitely want to become an expat in Moscow for a few years before I start grad school; I think living in Moscow would be absolutely incredible. Most of the other expats I’ve met have been really smart and relaxed, and I’ve already had many deep conversations with people I’ve just met. It takes a certain kind of personality to want to live in Russia, and I think people with that same quirk tend to get along quite well. I know that at Carleton if I meet a room of people I’ve never met before, I probably wouldn’t talk to hardly any of them, but I became well acquainted with several new people while hanging out with the expats.
So I’m beginning to feel pretty settled down in the city I’m not really going through culture shock too bad, which is surprising me because I’ve never left the US. But studying Russian so intensely for the last 2 years has prepared me well to survive, and I know the history behind every monument we see. I’m nervous about class on Tuesday, but tomorrow I have another day to adventure around Moscow! I’m planning on buying my Mom a card from the Hallmark store in the mall near my house. She always shops at Hallmark in Wichita so I think a Russian hallmark card would amuse her.
Speaking of where I live, I might be in the best location of anyone on the trip. I live a half hour walk from the Arbat, a few blocks from Moscow city, and very close to several war commemoration museums. My street is called Kutuzovskii Prospekt after the Russian general who forced Napoleon and the French back to Paris. It’s named after Kutuzovskii because this is the street he marched back to the Kremlin on after victory. Brezhnev lived a few houses down from me, and Putin lives pretty close to me too. So yeah, I’m very happy with the way this trip has turned out so far and I’m very excited for the next few months in this crazy city!
After getting phones, we went to a mall across the street, which had a grocery store in the basement, because some people wanted to buy food for lunch. After that, we made our way to the center of the city. We took the Metro to Revolution Square, which is filled with people selling big fur hats, old Soviet propaganda, and several very funny shirts. We walked past the vendors to the Alexander Gardens, which are outside the walls of the Kremlin. We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, who died in the October Revolution, and we also saw the changing of the guard. We walked down to the corner of the Kremlin and turned around to go to Red Square. It's also very funny to see people dressed as Lenin, Stalin, and Napoleon walking around taking pictures with everyone. Red Square is the most magnificent place on the planet, hands down. St. Basil’s Cathedral is unbelievable; it’s huge and beautiful.
The Kremlin gates are impressive, and Lenin’s Mausoleum is also pretty sweet. We went into GUM, the old Soviet department store that is now the classiest mall I’ve ever seen. The annoying kiosks were for Chanel. Yeah.
I left the group early because I wanted to get back to take a nap before staying out all night, and went to get back on the Metro. Unfortunately, I got on the Metro at the same time that everyone going to the Moscow-Azerbaijan football game did. I thought I was going to die. In my train car, there was no room to move and everyone was wearing red and blue, shouting “Moskva! Moskva!” I was unable to get off at my station and I had to wait for 2 more stops until everyone got off. Then I switched trains and went back.
That night, I met up with Christian at his friend’s house near the Arbat. His friend lives about 3 houses down from Gogol’s old house. I bought my first alcoholic beverage that night, a bottle of wine to bring as a gift. I get to the house, meet Christian’s friends, all of whom are awesome, and hung out there until about midnight. The purpose of the gathering was to view pictures taken during a trip to America that Christian made with his housemates. After that pictures, we watched the Netherlands-Scotland football game. Christians good friends are all Dutch so they have Dutch satellite TV. There were 3 other American girls there, 2 of them were Fulbrights. Two went to Occidental, one to Swarthmore. It’s weird being 19, because the next youngest person in the group was 24.
At one we went clubbing, or at least tried to. We got turned away from Forbes Club, the newest in Moscow, and also from Sorry Babushka. Thanks to the impressive language skills of my new Fulbright friend, we made it to a bar where we talked and drank until a little after 5. I got home a little before 6, woke up at 10, which was 11 because of daylight savings, and realized that I was late to meet with Laura before our group excursion.
After running the Metro, we went back to Revolution Square station and met the whole group, including Anna Mikhailovna! We went to Red Square again, and then took a bus around the city. Red Square had a group of communists congregating in front of the Lenin Mausoleum, which was pretty cool.
Moscow is amazing. I’ve seen most major monuments, but there’s something historical on every street corner of this city. For example, the building in which Schmirnoff Vodka started.
Most of the buildings are just fucking impressive.
From a bridge in front of this cathedral, I was able to get an amazing few of the Kremlin.
Tonight I went to a coffee place called Shokalodnitsa, which is basically a sit-down Starbucks on steroids. It’s a chain in Moscow, but it’s got a great atmosphere, and good coffee, tea, and other beverages. Interacting with Russians in a commercial setting is very weird, I know the language but not the etiquette. I definitely seem like a foreigner when I try to speak Russian, but I’ve been able to communicate quite easily and haven’t had too much difficulty anywhere. I enjoy speaking Russian with my host mom; she’s very good at communicating and making her sentences easier to understand. She also knows a little English, which helps a lot. It’s also interesting to hear the different types of mistakes she makes when speaking: it shows the stranger structures in English grammar and also gives me a good example of how I sound to a Russian. I went to a grocery store tonight, which was pretty unsuccessful. My cashier was a fat bitch and the store had very cheap, small plastic bags. One of mine broke and smashed my jar of peanut butter, which was actually very expensive. Cutting back costs by using shitty plastic bags, thank you Perekryostok.
I love a lot about Moscow and the people here. I definitely want to become an expat in Moscow for a few years before I start grad school; I think living in Moscow would be absolutely incredible. Most of the other expats I’ve met have been really smart and relaxed, and I’ve already had many deep conversations with people I’ve just met. It takes a certain kind of personality to want to live in Russia, and I think people with that same quirk tend to get along quite well. I know that at Carleton if I meet a room of people I’ve never met before, I probably wouldn’t talk to hardly any of them, but I became well acquainted with several new people while hanging out with the expats.
So I’m beginning to feel pretty settled down in the city I’m not really going through culture shock too bad, which is surprising me because I’ve never left the US. But studying Russian so intensely for the last 2 years has prepared me well to survive, and I know the history behind every monument we see. I’m nervous about class on Tuesday, but tomorrow I have another day to adventure around Moscow! I’m planning on buying my Mom a card from the Hallmark store in the mall near my house. She always shops at Hallmark in Wichita so I think a Russian hallmark card would amuse her.
Speaking of where I live, I might be in the best location of anyone on the trip. I live a half hour walk from the Arbat, a few blocks from Moscow city, and very close to several war commemoration museums. My street is called Kutuzovskii Prospekt after the Russian general who forced Napoleon and the French back to Paris. It’s named after Kutuzovskii because this is the street he marched back to the Kremlin on after victory. Brezhnev lived a few houses down from me, and Putin lives pretty close to me too. So yeah, I’m very happy with the way this trip has turned out so far and I’m very excited for the next few months in this crazy city!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Day One
I'm going to post my first two entries in my Russia journal here. I'm stealing internet, and I'm kind of nervous because in Soviet Russia, internet steals you! Anyway, pics will be coming shortly, but you can read about my many adventures in the Motherland!
Wow. What an adventure, and I’m not even in Moscow yet! I’m currently sitting on the plane, it’s 10:00 PM my time but 6:00 AM Moscow time. I haven’t really slept at all, so I’m gonna have horrible jet lag tomorrow. Oh well. We’re flying by Iceland now, according to the screens on the plane, and we just flew over Greenland.
I woke up this morning, got on my plane, and flew to Atlanta, no big deal. Got to Atlanta, sat around the International Terminal, watched some Breaking Bad, laughed at CNN, and tried to read my book about St. Petersburg. While attempting to read, I was sitting by myself at the Moscow gate, about 5 hours before the plane was to leave, when an older man walked right up to me, smiled at me, and said nothing. I looked up, smiled, and looked back at my book, thinking, “Oh no, why me?” Then the man started mumbling in broken English, asking me about customs, when I realized that this man didn’t speak any English and had no real idea what he was supposed to do. At which I said, in Russia, “I speak Russian, can I help you?” The man’s face lit up with a smile, and I knew that I had made my first Russian friend. Turns out that this man’s name is Victor, he’s from Irkutsk, and he was in the US to visit his daughter who lives in Daytona Beach. He wasn’t sure whether he needed to go through Customs in the US or in Russia, so I took him to the information desk and translated for him. After that, we walked back to the gate and talked at length about Russian literature (he likes Pushkin), American literature (Hemingway), Siberia, Pushkin’s family history, and all sorts of other stuff that I know because I sold my soul to the Russian major. I also let him borrow my phone, at which he pulled out a wad of dollar bills and asked how much. I, being a good person, said, “Nothing.” I also helped him to order food at Panda Express. His wife is Chinese, so he claimed to be an expert. I think Victor might have been disappointed in the quality of our airport American Chinese fast food. He asked what Gatorade was, which I couldn’t really explain, but he bought it and claimed that they have some beverage similar to it in Siberia. Then, about an hour before take off, a man with bloodshot eyes, wearing a shirt that said, “My Indian name is Crawling Drunk,” walked/stumbled up to Victor and said hello in Russian. Then he asked about passports and visas. At this point the rest of the Carleton Moscow group showed up, so my attention was briefly diverted. When I started paying attention again, the two were embroiled in a conversation about Pushkin and World War 2. I think the drunk was arguing that the US entered the war late to hurt the Soviet Union. I thought it was funny that 2 Russians that didn’t know each other would end up discussing Pushkin and World War 2. In the end, Victor gave me his phone number in Irkutsk so when we fly to Siberia in May I can go visit him!
So now I’m on the plane, sitting next to a Physics major from Novosibirsk. His father lives in California so he makes the trip back and forth fairly often. He spent the last few days skiing at Lake Tahoe. He seems to be extremely intelligent, he would like to get his PhD in Physics in the United States, but has done all of his undergraduate studies in Novosibirsk. We discussed politics at length, such as the drinking age, legalization of marijuana, Putin, capitalism in Russia, and much more. He was very familiar with the in-flight movies. One thing that both he and Victor have in common is a love of Jack London novels, which isn’t surprising, but I hadn’t thought of it before. Jack London would be the most Russian novelist that America has produced.
I’ve already spoken a lot of Russian, discussed Russian culture in depth, and met 2 Siberians, and I haven’t even reached Europe yet! This trip is going to be amazing.
First day in Russia: very tiring. The plane arrived at 10:00 AM Moscow time, but 2:00 AM Wichita time. I didn’t really sleep on the plane, but once I got off the plane I was fueled by the adrenaline rush that took over my system. Going through Customs and Passport Control was very intimidating, Russian women in military uniform can be very scary. Also, the fact that I have long, blond hair in my passport photo didn’t help at all. Once I got out of the airport, we met Diane, who gave us train and bus cards, 500 Rubles, a plug converter, and documents. Then, Nikolai Nikolayevich drove Megan and I to our homestays.
Russia is not at all like I expected to be. I have never seen so many advertisements anywhere in the world. The shopping centers here make the Mall of America look like a small, scummy mall. There’s a huge Ikea about a mile away from the airport, and I also saw several МакДоналдс during our drive through the city. And what a drive it was. Russian drivers are INSANE. Especially Nikolai, I thought we were going to die about 10 times in the hour and a half it took to get from the airport to my homestay. Moscow is a huge, sprawling city, filled with high-rise apartment buildings that appear to have been built during the Krushchev era. It's very interesting to look at all the cars on the road, the range from old Soviet junk pile to Mercedes and Range Rover is astounding. And the advertisements... Driving through Moscow is an experience every American should have. Moscow streets are eerily similar to the set of Blade Runner.
But the most important part of my day was meeting Galina, my host mom. I think I might have gotten the best deal of anyone (except Nikki cuz she lives with 3 kids and an American). Galina tries very hard to speak English as much as she can, she's very friendly, and her apartment is very nice. I'd guess she's between 65 and 70, she's about 4 feet tall, and she says that her 4 year old grandson will come visit us. I took a nap right after I arrived and slept for 4 hours before I woke up. I gave her the gifts I brought after I woke up. She loved the dreamcatcher I brought her, and wants to put it up in her hallway. She also liked my photo album, especially the picture of the red tree in the yard of my house. After I gave her her gifts, we drank tea and she heated up my dinner. I had a vegetable soup with broccoli, potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes, which was delicious. I got to try Russian bread for the first time, which comes in round loafs and is more similar to sourdough bread than American bread. And the main course she made for me was spaghetti with chicken, which was very delicious.
After dinner I unpacked all of my clothes, and then she asked if I'd like to go out for a walk. Which leads me to my current location. I'm currently at a Coffee House (Кофе Хоус) that's a few blocks down the street from Galina's apartment. I made it very obvious that I'm an American when I walked in because I tried to order at the counter instead of realizing that it's a sit-down coffee house. Oops. But I successfully ordered a green tea, and here I am!
Moscow is becoming very Americanized, but on steroids. Coffee House is a chain, like Starbucks, but you can order beer, wine, or hard liquor. Again, I'm astounded by the amount of advertising I've seen today, it permeates life even more than in the US. Or maybe it's just less subtle.
I only saw a few churches during my drive to the apartment, and 2 building that look like the University. I live very close to Moscow State, as well as downtown Moscow.
Well, that's all I have for now. I'll post pictures at some point, I'm planning on taking about 400 over the next 4 days.
Wow. What an adventure, and I’m not even in Moscow yet! I’m currently sitting on the plane, it’s 10:00 PM my time but 6:00 AM Moscow time. I haven’t really slept at all, so I’m gonna have horrible jet lag tomorrow. Oh well. We’re flying by Iceland now, according to the screens on the plane, and we just flew over Greenland.
I woke up this morning, got on my plane, and flew to Atlanta, no big deal. Got to Atlanta, sat around the International Terminal, watched some Breaking Bad, laughed at CNN, and tried to read my book about St. Petersburg. While attempting to read, I was sitting by myself at the Moscow gate, about 5 hours before the plane was to leave, when an older man walked right up to me, smiled at me, and said nothing. I looked up, smiled, and looked back at my book, thinking, “Oh no, why me?” Then the man started mumbling in broken English, asking me about customs, when I realized that this man didn’t speak any English and had no real idea what he was supposed to do. At which I said, in Russia, “I speak Russian, can I help you?” The man’s face lit up with a smile, and I knew that I had made my first Russian friend. Turns out that this man’s name is Victor, he’s from Irkutsk, and he was in the US to visit his daughter who lives in Daytona Beach. He wasn’t sure whether he needed to go through Customs in the US or in Russia, so I took him to the information desk and translated for him. After that, we walked back to the gate and talked at length about Russian literature (he likes Pushkin), American literature (Hemingway), Siberia, Pushkin’s family history, and all sorts of other stuff that I know because I sold my soul to the Russian major. I also let him borrow my phone, at which he pulled out a wad of dollar bills and asked how much. I, being a good person, said, “Nothing.” I also helped him to order food at Panda Express. His wife is Chinese, so he claimed to be an expert. I think Victor might have been disappointed in the quality of our airport American Chinese fast food. He asked what Gatorade was, which I couldn’t really explain, but he bought it and claimed that they have some beverage similar to it in Siberia. Then, about an hour before take off, a man with bloodshot eyes, wearing a shirt that said, “My Indian name is Crawling Drunk,” walked/stumbled up to Victor and said hello in Russian. Then he asked about passports and visas. At this point the rest of the Carleton Moscow group showed up, so my attention was briefly diverted. When I started paying attention again, the two were embroiled in a conversation about Pushkin and World War 2. I think the drunk was arguing that the US entered the war late to hurt the Soviet Union. I thought it was funny that 2 Russians that didn’t know each other would end up discussing Pushkin and World War 2. In the end, Victor gave me his phone number in Irkutsk so when we fly to Siberia in May I can go visit him!
So now I’m on the plane, sitting next to a Physics major from Novosibirsk. His father lives in California so he makes the trip back and forth fairly often. He spent the last few days skiing at Lake Tahoe. He seems to be extremely intelligent, he would like to get his PhD in Physics in the United States, but has done all of his undergraduate studies in Novosibirsk. We discussed politics at length, such as the drinking age, legalization of marijuana, Putin, capitalism in Russia, and much more. He was very familiar with the in-flight movies. One thing that both he and Victor have in common is a love of Jack London novels, which isn’t surprising, but I hadn’t thought of it before. Jack London would be the most Russian novelist that America has produced.
I’ve already spoken a lot of Russian, discussed Russian culture in depth, and met 2 Siberians, and I haven’t even reached Europe yet! This trip is going to be amazing.
First day in Russia: very tiring. The plane arrived at 10:00 AM Moscow time, but 2:00 AM Wichita time. I didn’t really sleep on the plane, but once I got off the plane I was fueled by the adrenaline rush that took over my system. Going through Customs and Passport Control was very intimidating, Russian women in military uniform can be very scary. Also, the fact that I have long, blond hair in my passport photo didn’t help at all. Once I got out of the airport, we met Diane, who gave us train and bus cards, 500 Rubles, a plug converter, and documents. Then, Nikolai Nikolayevich drove Megan and I to our homestays.
Russia is not at all like I expected to be. I have never seen so many advertisements anywhere in the world. The shopping centers here make the Mall of America look like a small, scummy mall. There’s a huge Ikea about a mile away from the airport, and I also saw several МакДоналдс during our drive through the city. And what a drive it was. Russian drivers are INSANE. Especially Nikolai, I thought we were going to die about 10 times in the hour and a half it took to get from the airport to my homestay. Moscow is a huge, sprawling city, filled with high-rise apartment buildings that appear to have been built during the Krushchev era. It's very interesting to look at all the cars on the road, the range from old Soviet junk pile to Mercedes and Range Rover is astounding. And the advertisements... Driving through Moscow is an experience every American should have. Moscow streets are eerily similar to the set of Blade Runner.
But the most important part of my day was meeting Galina, my host mom. I think I might have gotten the best deal of anyone (except Nikki cuz she lives with 3 kids and an American). Galina tries very hard to speak English as much as she can, she's very friendly, and her apartment is very nice. I'd guess she's between 65 and 70, she's about 4 feet tall, and she says that her 4 year old grandson will come visit us. I took a nap right after I arrived and slept for 4 hours before I woke up. I gave her the gifts I brought after I woke up. She loved the dreamcatcher I brought her, and wants to put it up in her hallway. She also liked my photo album, especially the picture of the red tree in the yard of my house. After I gave her her gifts, we drank tea and she heated up my dinner. I had a vegetable soup with broccoli, potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes, which was delicious. I got to try Russian bread for the first time, which comes in round loafs and is more similar to sourdough bread than American bread. And the main course she made for me was spaghetti with chicken, which was very delicious.
After dinner I unpacked all of my clothes, and then she asked if I'd like to go out for a walk. Which leads me to my current location. I'm currently at a Coffee House (Кофе Хоус) that's a few blocks down the street from Galina's apartment. I made it very obvious that I'm an American when I walked in because I tried to order at the counter instead of realizing that it's a sit-down coffee house. Oops. But I successfully ordered a green tea, and here I am!
Moscow is becoming very Americanized, but on steroids. Coffee House is a chain, like Starbucks, but you can order beer, wine, or hard liquor. Again, I'm astounded by the amount of advertising I've seen today, it permeates life even more than in the US. Or maybe it's just less subtle.
I only saw a few churches during my drive to the apartment, and 2 building that look like the University. I live very close to Moscow State, as well as downtown Moscow.
Well, that's all I have for now. I'll post pictures at some point, I'm planning on taking about 400 over the next 4 days.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Holy Shit
So I don't know if you've seen this yet, but I think this is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Reagan is visiting Moscow and standing on Red Square. The man standing behind the little boy is none other than Vladimir Putin, KGB, posing as a tourist. A KGB agent was standing 4 feet away from the President. And he then became the most powerful man in Russia.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Era Has Begun
Yes. Stadium 110 has entered the blogosphere. Our opinions on life, politics, parties, music, and poop will now be emanated across the world. And this will truly be an international blog, covering happenings in both Northfield and Moscow. Prepare your minds and your souls for the ultimate deflowering that is Stadium 110.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)