Yesterday - Sunday - was terrific!
To start, I slept in, which is always a good beginning to a day. I didn't do much until around 2:30pm, when I changed into my black orchestra dress, grabbed my viola, and headed to the metro to get to my orchestra concert. I was luckily successful in finding the venue (a random library in a part of town I'd never been to before). I got there a bit before 4 and soon we began doing a last run-through before the 5pm performance.
Around 4:30, I called Irina to tell her how to get to the library from the nearby metro stop, and she along with four others (Jack, Jeff, Celina, and Jessica) made it in plenty of time to watch! It turned out we were all playing standing up, and we were in a smallish room with audience chairs on three sides of us. I also made the proper choice in wearing black, because everyone had SOMETHING black on, and many if not most were in all black.
The concert went well but boy was it long. To my surprise, I only played in about half the pieces! There were two random sopranos who did a handful of pieces with just piano, violin, and cello, or with only one of each instrument, or (this was the best and most random and least expected) with viola-de-gamba and piano!! I seriously had no idea any of this was going to happen. And in true Russian form, the program listed all the pieces by first and second half of the program, but the order within those halfs was arbitrary. Oi.
The parts I did play in were great, though, and at the beginning (after the obligatory 15 minute lecture beginning around 5:10) they gave me a flower because I was their guest performer from the US! The whole gig didn't end until 7:30. At this point I learned that Irina had taken the others to a park in the morning, and they had proceeded to eat lunch at му-му and come straight to the concert. Sadly they weren't hungry for dinner (I was starving) and I missed a chance to eat at му-му!! But oh well.
On the way back, Irina decided it was better to take a yellow "clown car" from Kievskaya metro station instead of just taking the metro back to Universitytet. So that's what we did, though I'm still not completely sure why. Once back at the main building, I went over to Jeff's room since other people were over there and wound up eating two sandwiches since he had sandwich makings (hoagies, salami, mayo, spicy brown mustard from the embassy).
After a little bit, Dorothy (who we met through Irina and also lives in sector ж) came by saying she wanted to play football. For some reason, she owns an American football, and apparently she and some of the group have played football this semester. I think this is mostly due to Jack, who is a huge sports fan and knows way too much about football. Regardless, I was willingly dragged along, and we played for a good hour or two in the dark on the asphault outside the entrance to our sector. First it was guys vs. girls but that was a terrible idea (guess which team kept scoring), so we mixed it up and I wound up on a team with Jack, Jessica, and a Japanese girl whose name sounded like Yassica.
Now I really don't care anything about football, but this was actually really fun. Nobody cared that I sucked. (That was key.) Jack planned out relatively simple plays and we more or less executed them. The defining moment, though, which probably made Jack's week, was when we were about 1/3 of the way down the "field" and on 3rd or 4th down or something (that is, we needed to score).
Here's what happened. Jack said "okay, this is the second best play in football." (The first is something called fumblerooskie I think, I forget.) "It's called the hook and ladder. I'm quarterback. Yassica, you're on the right, you just run straight out. Jessica, you're on the left on the inside, you run like a fishhook and I'll throw to you. Meredith, you're on the left on the outside, you run at an angle, kind of slow at first, and then once Jessica gets the ball she'll pass it backwards to you and you'll run to score a touchdown." Uhhhh yeah right, we thought, but gave it a shot because that was the whole point.
And we totally pulled it off! It was beautiful, somehow Jessica successfully caught AND threw the ball, and I was in the right place at the right time to catch the ball, and then I just ran to the "endzone"! Pretty sweet. And Jack had this goofy grin on his face for the rest of the time we were playing.
So, that was Sunday. Today has been remarkably lazy, as it is the "pre-holiday," but I finished listening to the Harry Potter 2 audiobook and got a bunch of astronomy work done. I also got an email saying I might be able to go to Chile in August with my summer research advisor!! And tomorrow I'm meeting Snezhana somewhere for lunch and finishing any work I still have to do.
The only bad thing about all this holiday business is that the cafe is closed, so my food options are a bit more limited than usual. Oh well, grapes and instant noodles and granola bars are the solution! Back to it. (And I'll post pictures sometime soon, too.)
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
an accidental five day weekend
See, my class yesterday (Friday) was cancelled, and today and tomorrow is actually the weekend, and then Tuesday is a holiday (May 1) so clearly Monday is a pre-holiday. Add it all up and you've got...an accidental five day weekend!
I don't have too much planned, but that's okay because it means I can get some more astronomy work done. One thing that's definitely going to happen is an orchestra concert Sunday afternoon at 5pm!! I just hope I can find the library we're performing at...I have a small piece of paper with a scribbled map of where to walk from a metro stop, but there was much debate as to which was the best way to get there. Oh boy.
I'm hoping to meet up with Snezhana on Tuesday. She was the Russian Language Resident at Oldenborg at Pomona College my sophomore year. It would be neat to see her again.
Yesterday my big adventure was Ramstore. Honestly it wasn't too much of an adventure, but it is interesting how I've seen the Ramstore mall change since I've been here. A very odd way to mark the passage of time, but there it is. A bunch more places to eat have opened up in the food court. I can't quite figure out why McDonald's is so popular here, either. There were a bunch of other fast food-ish type places when I was there yesterday, yet everyone was lined up at McDonald's! It's nuts. Admittedly I've had McDonald's a few times here (whereas I basically never eat there at home). One nice thing in general about food here is reasonable portion size, I've noticed. Even at fast food places, a regular fries and coke is...well, reasonably sized. When I eat at the cafe in the main building, the portions are just right and I am usually full when I have cleaned my plate. There's an idea.
I've gotten most of my summer and fall sorted out, which is good. It's a pain trying to coordinate with people back in the States when I'm 11 hours ahead and they sometimes expect things in person or on paper. Then again, now I see why it was impossible to know anything about the schedule or plan in Russia before arriving. Everything here MUST be done in person and on paper!! I finally received HMC's fall registration packet in the mail on Thursday (my registration had been two days prior). Thankfully I did everything via the internet. It made me quite happy to have a colorful piece of paper in my hand detailing the next academic year's schedule, though. What a concept - a schedule! :)
I think in May, (maybe?) we'll be going to Kiev one weekend and St. Petersburg another. After all, there are really only two weekends left (I'm not counting the last one since that's the "pack up and tweak out" weekend). But it's all a bit uncertain because some of the people who travelled independently outside of Russia had the wrong papers taken when they reentered or had a stamp put in the wrong place or heaven knows what.
That's all for now. I haven't taken hardly any pictures since the Vladimir and Suzdal trip, but hopefully I'll get a chance to take some this weekend.
I don't have too much planned, but that's okay because it means I can get some more astronomy work done. One thing that's definitely going to happen is an orchestra concert Sunday afternoon at 5pm!! I just hope I can find the library we're performing at...I have a small piece of paper with a scribbled map of where to walk from a metro stop, but there was much debate as to which was the best way to get there. Oh boy.
I'm hoping to meet up with Snezhana on Tuesday. She was the Russian Language Resident at Oldenborg at Pomona College my sophomore year. It would be neat to see her again.
Yesterday my big adventure was Ramstore. Honestly it wasn't too much of an adventure, but it is interesting how I've seen the Ramstore mall change since I've been here. A very odd way to mark the passage of time, but there it is. A bunch more places to eat have opened up in the food court. I can't quite figure out why McDonald's is so popular here, either. There were a bunch of other fast food-ish type places when I was there yesterday, yet everyone was lined up at McDonald's! It's nuts. Admittedly I've had McDonald's a few times here (whereas I basically never eat there at home). One nice thing in general about food here is reasonable portion size, I've noticed. Even at fast food places, a regular fries and coke is...well, reasonably sized. When I eat at the cafe in the main building, the portions are just right and I am usually full when I have cleaned my plate. There's an idea.
I've gotten most of my summer and fall sorted out, which is good. It's a pain trying to coordinate with people back in the States when I'm 11 hours ahead and they sometimes expect things in person or on paper. Then again, now I see why it was impossible to know anything about the schedule or plan in Russia before arriving. Everything here MUST be done in person and on paper!! I finally received HMC's fall registration packet in the mail on Thursday (my registration had been two days prior). Thankfully I did everything via the internet. It made me quite happy to have a colorful piece of paper in my hand detailing the next academic year's schedule, though. What a concept - a schedule! :)
I think in May, (maybe?) we'll be going to Kiev one weekend and St. Petersburg another. After all, there are really only two weekends left (I'm not counting the last one since that's the "pack up and tweak out" weekend). But it's all a bit uncertain because some of the people who travelled independently outside of Russia had the wrong papers taken when they reentered or had a stamp put in the wrong place or heaven knows what.
That's all for now. I haven't taken hardly any pictures since the Vladimir and Suzdal trip, but hopefully I'll get a chance to take some this weekend.
Monday, April 23, 2007
vladimir & suzdal
What a fantastic weekend!!
A total of 11 of us headed out a bit after 7am on Saturday on the metro. We boarded a bus around 9am bound for the Golden Ring city of Vladimir. It took four hours. The bus was like a charter bus, only pretty old with uncomfortable and sometimes broken seats, and every seat was occupied before it left. We all slept most of the way, but when I wasn't asleep, I saw bunches of run-down cottages on the road out of Moscow. The road itself wasn't in particularly good condition - potholes, random sidestreets, occasionally divided 4-lane and occasionally 2-ish lanes with no real dividing line.
When we arrived, it was, as Jeff put it, a "wintry mix." (Rain, hail, sleet, snow combination.) We gathered our things and found a pizza place where we had lunch. Very Russian - they told some of us that they only had coke light and others that they only had regular coke. Irina told us to pack light because we'd be carrying our stuff with us all day in Vladimir. I must say, it was quite a relief to get out of the huge city that is Moscow! Vladimir is around 300,000 people, but it felt downright tiny in comparison to Moscow. We saw a "golden gate" (conveniently placed in the middle of a roadway), about five newlywed couples, a snazzy cathedral, a random tall brick museum building, and a nice park area with a beautiful view. Apparently it's good luck for newlyweds to drive around the golden gate three times, and one of the wedding parties we encountered seemed to think that if three times was good luck, fifty was even better.
Thankfully the weather improved as soon as we'd eaten and aside from a chilly breeze it was beautiful out. Partly cloudy but simply splendid. By around 6pm we were thoroughly exhausted, so Irina decided it was time to head on to Suzdal. She called three taxis which arrived surprisingly quickly, and in we piled. I was in a taxi with Nick and Jack, and the driver spoke no English but was determined to converse with us in Russian. Didn't get much out of the conversation beyond the fact that Soviet times were great, that the roads were like glass back then and you could get free medicine. (As we drove along the most potholed road ever - the main road between Vladimir and Suzdal that lacks painted lanes.)
We were bracing ourselves for a terrible hostel-like hotel in Suzdal, but were pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to the "Sokol Hotel," a recently renovated 3-story yellow building. We checked in with minimal hassle (by Russian standards anyway), three to a room, and each room had two rooms in it - one with two single beds and one with a sofabed, chair, and TV. Plus a small entryway and nice bathroom! Definitely a notch above the dorms we're all living in. I was with Irina and Celina, and Celina volunteered to take the sofabed since she was sick and was probably going to snore.
Once we were settled, we all met in the lobby to go to dinner. Suzdal is a town of about 12,000 people and easily makes the top 10 list for "coolest places I've ever been." It was simply wonderful! Fresh air, a bit too tourist-centric but just a splendid small Russian town. Horses and buggies as prevalent as cars (but neither in abundance), an open market area, tons and tons of churches, a friendly atmosphere, and public restrooms that actually have toilet seats. What more could you want?
We headed first for Suzdal's Kremlin, which is my new favorite Russian building, because its onion domes are dark blue with gold stars. :) We were going to have dinner at the restaurant there, but some kind of large group was taking up the entire restaurant complete with musicians and dancers! So Irina led us to another restaurant. It was quite good, they even had a few menus in English, and we had a great evening. Traditional Russian food but actually *tasty* unlike so often at the University Stolovayas (cafeterias).
After dinner we pretty much crashed at the hotel, though I think some folks stayed up all night playing cards. Not me - I was asleep by midnight and didn't get up till well after 9am. Plus I was in a real bed and not a wannabe saggy sofa with random metal bars... :)
It turned our our hotel was even MORE awesome than we thought, because breakfast was included!! All you had to do was show up in the restaurant on the 2nd floor by 11am, and you had yourself an authentic yummy Russian breakfast. (I got there around 10:30.) Pancakes (blini) and "fried cheese biscuits" (which apparently can be really tasty if prepared right) with sour cream (smetana - runnier than in the US), sliced ham and cheese and a slab of butter, sliced white bread and a roll with poppyseeds on top, a glass of orange-mangoish juice, blueberry yogurt, and coffee or tea if you asked. WOW. I win. I'd been wanting a Russian breakfast ever since coming here but (a) didn't know where to go to get one and (b) am never awake early enough.
After that amazing start to my day, Celina and I packed our things and knocked on the guys' room next door to see if they were about ready to check out. Jeff was about to take a bath while Jack and Nick were watching a movie about baseball dubbed in Russian on TV. We informed them of the noon checkout time, and after not too long we were all poking around the nearby market buying random souvenirs.
Soon, Irina rounded us up and we walked a little way to a monastery. After once again gathering our student IDs and paying 10 rubles for everyone and issuing thin paper "bileti" (tickets) to us, Irina led us in. It was quite pretty, the weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed walking around the grounds and looking in a few buildings/churches and gift shops. Then randomly there was a bell concert - for about 10 minutes, some guy(s?) in a bell tower started playing all these huge church bells. No real melody per se, but really neat to watch and listen to.
After a little while we headed back to the other end of town to visit a collection of wooden houses and things that were all brought to Suzdal to be salvaged and made into a museum. We were getting a little "museumed out" at this point, but it was still fun. It was getting on towards 3pm though, and realistically it was going to take 6 hours to get back to our dorms in Moscow, so we headed to get some lunch at the restaurant in the Kremlin (this time there wasn't a huge party).
The food was overpriced but not bad and the service was terrible. For instance, I ordered a coke and the waiter told Irina (at the other end of the table) that they were out of coke so I sat there thirsty for a good 20 minutes before managing to inquire, and he tried to walk away before I could ask for a sprite instead. Still, we had a good meal, but we didn't get out of the restaurant for over an hour and we didn't get back to the dorms in Moscow until 10:30pm. One of the taxis from Suzdal back to Vladimir got pulled over and fined for speeding, and the bus ride back was long and uneventful.
Overall I had a fantastic time - just getting out of Moscow was (literally) a breath of fresh air. If I ever come back to Russia, I don't think I want to be based in Moscow, because it's just too big. The more places I go and the more things I see, the more I realize that I am *not* a city person.
Today's been pretty much "back to boring" with Thermal Physics and catching up on emails and such. I'll make another post soon with pictures from the weekend trip (I took nearly 200 in 2 days!), but for now I'm off to grab some dinner.
A total of 11 of us headed out a bit after 7am on Saturday on the metro. We boarded a bus around 9am bound for the Golden Ring city of Vladimir. It took four hours. The bus was like a charter bus, only pretty old with uncomfortable and sometimes broken seats, and every seat was occupied before it left. We all slept most of the way, but when I wasn't asleep, I saw bunches of run-down cottages on the road out of Moscow. The road itself wasn't in particularly good condition - potholes, random sidestreets, occasionally divided 4-lane and occasionally 2-ish lanes with no real dividing line.
When we arrived, it was, as Jeff put it, a "wintry mix." (Rain, hail, sleet, snow combination.) We gathered our things and found a pizza place where we had lunch. Very Russian - they told some of us that they only had coke light and others that they only had regular coke. Irina told us to pack light because we'd be carrying our stuff with us all day in Vladimir. I must say, it was quite a relief to get out of the huge city that is Moscow! Vladimir is around 300,000 people, but it felt downright tiny in comparison to Moscow. We saw a "golden gate" (conveniently placed in the middle of a roadway), about five newlywed couples, a snazzy cathedral, a random tall brick museum building, and a nice park area with a beautiful view. Apparently it's good luck for newlyweds to drive around the golden gate three times, and one of the wedding parties we encountered seemed to think that if three times was good luck, fifty was even better.
Thankfully the weather improved as soon as we'd eaten and aside from a chilly breeze it was beautiful out. Partly cloudy but simply splendid. By around 6pm we were thoroughly exhausted, so Irina decided it was time to head on to Suzdal. She called three taxis which arrived surprisingly quickly, and in we piled. I was in a taxi with Nick and Jack, and the driver spoke no English but was determined to converse with us in Russian. Didn't get much out of the conversation beyond the fact that Soviet times were great, that the roads were like glass back then and you could get free medicine. (As we drove along the most potholed road ever - the main road between Vladimir and Suzdal that lacks painted lanes.)
We were bracing ourselves for a terrible hostel-like hotel in Suzdal, but were pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to the "Sokol Hotel," a recently renovated 3-story yellow building. We checked in with minimal hassle (by Russian standards anyway), three to a room, and each room had two rooms in it - one with two single beds and one with a sofabed, chair, and TV. Plus a small entryway and nice bathroom! Definitely a notch above the dorms we're all living in. I was with Irina and Celina, and Celina volunteered to take the sofabed since she was sick and was probably going to snore.
Once we were settled, we all met in the lobby to go to dinner. Suzdal is a town of about 12,000 people and easily makes the top 10 list for "coolest places I've ever been." It was simply wonderful! Fresh air, a bit too tourist-centric but just a splendid small Russian town. Horses and buggies as prevalent as cars (but neither in abundance), an open market area, tons and tons of churches, a friendly atmosphere, and public restrooms that actually have toilet seats. What more could you want?
We headed first for Suzdal's Kremlin, which is my new favorite Russian building, because its onion domes are dark blue with gold stars. :) We were going to have dinner at the restaurant there, but some kind of large group was taking up the entire restaurant complete with musicians and dancers! So Irina led us to another restaurant. It was quite good, they even had a few menus in English, and we had a great evening. Traditional Russian food but actually *tasty* unlike so often at the University Stolovayas (cafeterias).
After dinner we pretty much crashed at the hotel, though I think some folks stayed up all night playing cards. Not me - I was asleep by midnight and didn't get up till well after 9am. Plus I was in a real bed and not a wannabe saggy sofa with random metal bars... :)
It turned our our hotel was even MORE awesome than we thought, because breakfast was included!! All you had to do was show up in the restaurant on the 2nd floor by 11am, and you had yourself an authentic yummy Russian breakfast. (I got there around 10:30.) Pancakes (blini) and "fried cheese biscuits" (which apparently can be really tasty if prepared right) with sour cream (smetana - runnier than in the US), sliced ham and cheese and a slab of butter, sliced white bread and a roll with poppyseeds on top, a glass of orange-mangoish juice, blueberry yogurt, and coffee or tea if you asked. WOW. I win. I'd been wanting a Russian breakfast ever since coming here but (a) didn't know where to go to get one and (b) am never awake early enough.
After that amazing start to my day, Celina and I packed our things and knocked on the guys' room next door to see if they were about ready to check out. Jeff was about to take a bath while Jack and Nick were watching a movie about baseball dubbed in Russian on TV. We informed them of the noon checkout time, and after not too long we were all poking around the nearby market buying random souvenirs.
Soon, Irina rounded us up and we walked a little way to a monastery. After once again gathering our student IDs and paying 10 rubles for everyone and issuing thin paper "bileti" (tickets) to us, Irina led us in. It was quite pretty, the weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed walking around the grounds and looking in a few buildings/churches and gift shops. Then randomly there was a bell concert - for about 10 minutes, some guy(s?) in a bell tower started playing all these huge church bells. No real melody per se, but really neat to watch and listen to.
After a little while we headed back to the other end of town to visit a collection of wooden houses and things that were all brought to Suzdal to be salvaged and made into a museum. We were getting a little "museumed out" at this point, but it was still fun. It was getting on towards 3pm though, and realistically it was going to take 6 hours to get back to our dorms in Moscow, so we headed to get some lunch at the restaurant in the Kremlin (this time there wasn't a huge party).
The food was overpriced but not bad and the service was terrible. For instance, I ordered a coke and the waiter told Irina (at the other end of the table) that they were out of coke so I sat there thirsty for a good 20 minutes before managing to inquire, and he tried to walk away before I could ask for a sprite instead. Still, we had a good meal, but we didn't get out of the restaurant for over an hour and we didn't get back to the dorms in Moscow until 10:30pm. One of the taxis from Suzdal back to Vladimir got pulled over and fined for speeding, and the bus ride back was long and uneventful.
Overall I had a fantastic time - just getting out of Moscow was (literally) a breath of fresh air. If I ever come back to Russia, I don't think I want to be based in Moscow, because it's just too big. The more places I go and the more things I see, the more I realize that I am *not* a city person.
Today's been pretty much "back to boring" with Thermal Physics and catching up on emails and such. I'll make another post soon with pictures from the weekend trip (I took nearly 200 in 2 days!), but for now I'm off to grab some dinner.
Friday, April 20, 2007
catching up
Funny thing - somehow a week passed! It's been back to same-old same-old, if you can call Moscow that. I've had a pretty typical week, and (I think) we're going on an overnight trip to Vladimir and Suzdal on Saturday and Sunday! That should be fun - my first time out of Moscow since arriving here in February.
Some of the other people in my group have travelled on their own in the past couple of weeks...two took a train to Tallin, Estonia and also took a boat to Helsinki, Finland, and another two went to Riga, Latvia. Another went to Poland, and yet another to Germany. I suppose instead of traveling around Europe I've actually been *gasp* going to class. :) And Mike's visit was essentially a spring break. If I'd known ahead of time I'd have my passport, and if he hadn't already been traveling around a lot, we would have likely gone somewhere in addition to Moscow. Still, all this talk of traveling has made me realize that there's a lot to see in the world, and there's no way I can begin to see it all on this trip!
Anyway, a few tidbits from my week.
Monday evening I was having dinner in the cafe, reading my book and mindlessly eavesdropping on a conversation across the room...wait a second...they're speaking ENGLISH!! A minute later I introduced myself to two girls also from the US and living in the main building, Brainne and Whitney. We ate together and chatted. They're both doing a Russian Language program. We exchanged phone numbers, so hopefully I'll get to see them again sometime.
Tuesday I learned all about gross little things called participles. (The difference between "the operation done by the doctor was successful" and "the operation, which the doctor did, was successful" - sentence 1 uses the participle сделанный with "doctor" in dative case and sentence 2 uses a который clause with "doctor" in nominative case.)
Wednesday was a pretty typical day complete with Thermal Physics, lunch at a Столовая, and the afternoon spent on the computer sending emails, doing homework, trying to sort out the summer, etc. (By the way, this summer it is looking like I will be living at Mudd and commuting to Pasadena for an astronomy research position at the Carnegie Observatories. But I have yet to receive an official confirmation, so please don't hold me to that just yet!)
Thursday early afternoon I got a text message from my Russian Language and Russian Studies Seminar professor cancelling both classes...so I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening listening to the Harry Potter audiobook while doing some serious astronomy numbercrunching.
Thursday was also Jenna's 21st birthday, so a bunch of us headed out to a bar called Tema that night. I decided on a whim to text Katie since I hadn't seen her in a while and see if she wanted to join us. She had just woken up from a nap but said she would call if she and some friends decided to come. I met Jenna and some others at the metro stop around 9pm and we headed out! Luckily the bar was close to the Proekt OGI bar I'd been to with Katie and co., so I was actually able to help find our way there. We also ran into a surprisingly non-sketchy young Russian couple who saw us standing at a street corner speaking English and debating which way to walk, and they helped us, it was great. :) We got to the bar a bit before 10pm. It wasn't exactly empty, but it WAS easy to get a table! They had a HUGE cocktail selection as well as plenty of delicious food. And after we'd been there maybe 10 minutes, Katie called! She was with three friends at the nearby metro stop, so I gave them directions to find us, and soon our group became 12 or 15. We managed to get two neighboring tables and everyone started chatting - I felt very happy for bringing two groups of people together!
This morning (Friday) I opened my curtains to find another ethernet cable outside my window. This one runs straight from top to bottom and must be pretty slack, because it tends to oscillate back and forth like a confused pendulum in my peripheral vision, which can be a bit distracting.
...and I just got word that we're meeting at the metro stop at 7am tomorrow to go to Vladimir and Suzdal. EARLY, gross. But, I suppose we can sleep on the train.
Some of the other people in my group have travelled on their own in the past couple of weeks...two took a train to Tallin, Estonia and also took a boat to Helsinki, Finland, and another two went to Riga, Latvia. Another went to Poland, and yet another to Germany. I suppose instead of traveling around Europe I've actually been *gasp* going to class. :) And Mike's visit was essentially a spring break. If I'd known ahead of time I'd have my passport, and if he hadn't already been traveling around a lot, we would have likely gone somewhere in addition to Moscow. Still, all this talk of traveling has made me realize that there's a lot to see in the world, and there's no way I can begin to see it all on this trip!
Anyway, a few tidbits from my week.
Monday evening I was having dinner in the cafe, reading my book and mindlessly eavesdropping on a conversation across the room...wait a second...they're speaking ENGLISH!! A minute later I introduced myself to two girls also from the US and living in the main building, Brainne and Whitney. We ate together and chatted. They're both doing a Russian Language program. We exchanged phone numbers, so hopefully I'll get to see them again sometime.
Tuesday I learned all about gross little things called participles. (The difference between "the operation done by the doctor was successful" and "the operation, which the doctor did, was successful" - sentence 1 uses the participle сделанный with "doctor" in dative case and sentence 2 uses a который clause with "doctor" in nominative case.)
Wednesday was a pretty typical day complete with Thermal Physics, lunch at a Столовая, and the afternoon spent on the computer sending emails, doing homework, trying to sort out the summer, etc. (By the way, this summer it is looking like I will be living at Mudd and commuting to Pasadena for an astronomy research position at the Carnegie Observatories. But I have yet to receive an official confirmation, so please don't hold me to that just yet!)
Thursday early afternoon I got a text message from my Russian Language and Russian Studies Seminar professor cancelling both classes...so I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening listening to the Harry Potter audiobook while doing some serious astronomy numbercrunching.
Thursday was also Jenna's 21st birthday, so a bunch of us headed out to a bar called Tema that night. I decided on a whim to text Katie since I hadn't seen her in a while and see if she wanted to join us. She had just woken up from a nap but said she would call if she and some friends decided to come. I met Jenna and some others at the metro stop around 9pm and we headed out! Luckily the bar was close to the Proekt OGI bar I'd been to with Katie and co., so I was actually able to help find our way there. We also ran into a surprisingly non-sketchy young Russian couple who saw us standing at a street corner speaking English and debating which way to walk, and they helped us, it was great. :) We got to the bar a bit before 10pm. It wasn't exactly empty, but it WAS easy to get a table! They had a HUGE cocktail selection as well as plenty of delicious food. And after we'd been there maybe 10 minutes, Katie called! She was with three friends at the nearby metro stop, so I gave them directions to find us, and soon our group became 12 or 15. We managed to get two neighboring tables and everyone started chatting - I felt very happy for bringing two groups of people together!
This morning (Friday) I opened my curtains to find another ethernet cable outside my window. This one runs straight from top to bottom and must be pretty slack, because it tends to oscillate back and forth like a confused pendulum in my peripheral vision, which can be a bit distracting.
...and I just got word that we're meeting at the metro stop at 7am tomorrow to go to Vladimir and Suzdal. EARLY, gross. But, I suppose we can sleep on the train.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
meredith + mike + moscow
...equals a seriously good time.
Wednesday, April 4
Michael Bigelow lands in Moscow's Sheremetyevo 2 airport around 3pm. I am headed there to pick him up, but I severely underestimate the time required to get to the airport (2 hours!), so I am an hour late, but it is all good.
The Bad News: no hotel. Irina wasn't able to find a nearby hotel with rooms for all eight nights, plus I couldn't check into a hotel with him without my passport. Plan B? Sneak him into the dorm overnight and let him sleep on the floor, hope that I get my passport back Friday, and make a hotel reservation beginning Friday night.
After presenting all this and getting him and his stuff safely to the dorm, we ate at the cafe in sector в and crashed.
Thursday, April 5
Mike was still jet lagged even though he came here from Amsterdam (two hours behind), so we slept in and didn't do much. Besides, he couldn't leave the dorm because we might have trouble sneaking him back in for the night. I went to class in the afternoon/early evening and returned with шаурмы for dinner.
Friday, April 6
I had a 10am class (Politology). Mike was going to join me, but he was very much asleep so opted instead to appropriate the bed when I left. He got up around 1pm. We ate lunch and spent the afternoon getting my passport back (yay!) and checking into a hotel (Гостиница университетская). That evening, we went on an adventure to the restaurant/bar "Sixteen Tons" I'd been to several weeks ago. We had a nice more or less Russian meal and Mike finally got to see something other than the main university building!
Mike and me walking from my dorm in the main building to the bus stop
The lighting was beautiful so I took a picture of a new view of the main building
Here's Mike during our evening at Sixteen Tons...
...and then he took a picture of me!
Saturday, April 7
We stayed out kind of late Friday, so Saturday we slept in ridiculously late. Discovered that the hot water only works for the second person to take a shower, which happened to be me... :) Mike had a few "what is wrong with this country" moments, I was amused and understanding, and eventually we headed out in search of some food and an ATM. We headed to the center of Moscow and ate in the food court of the Ohotniy Ryad mall. Mike had a few upset-stomach-run-to-the-bathroom incidents but thankfully that didn't last too long. Next up was a concert in the Большой зал of the Moscow Conservatory! We got there in plenty of time to take our seats and enjoyed a fantastic concert. It was four piano soloists playing with an orchestra (one at a time of course), and all the players were superb. One of the pianists even played an encore! After the concert, we headed to Red Square so Mike could see it at night and took a few pictures. Superb evening.
Mike in front of St. Basil's Cathedral at night (red square)
Mike being silly in front of a window at the department store ГУМ
Mike and me inside ГУМ
Sunday, April 8
Happy Easter! This morning we headed to St. Andrew's Anglican Church. We got there on time and managed to find seats no problem, though it was pretty full. It was a good service complete with string quartet and the Bishop of the Diocese in Europe presiding! Pretty cool stuff. After church, everyone was encouraged to head across the street to an Easter brunch in a hotel reception room. We were a little hesitent but figured we'd check it out because, well, it *was* time to eat! It turned out to be fantastic - they'd pulled out all the stops for the bishop. Random shishkebabs, buffalo wings, skewered fruit, sketchy fish on bread (hey it IS russia), grilled cheese, cakes, muffins, eclairs, and wine and juice. Delicious.
We didn't do much that afternoon, because a snowstorm rolled through. Yes, you read that right - a snowstorm on Easter. I got a bit of homework done and Mike read a book. That night for dinner, we took the metro a few stops to go to му-му (the cow-themed buffet style restaurant), and it was super! That place is probably my favorite place to eat here - cheap but super yummy. Mike said something about how the restaurant gave him a glimmer of hope for Russia, which amused me.
After church - the bishop is blessing some cakes and desserts they collected to give away
View of the main entrance to the church as people file out on their way to brunch
Mike and me heading back after brunch - yep, it's beginning to snow...
My favorite picture from the week!! Mike's wearing my fuzzy Russian hat, and standing in an Easter snowstorm.
Monday, April 9
This morning I had Thermal Physics, and Mike came with me because he wasnted to meet "a real Russian" (my professor). The result? When someone came to claim the empty classroom we'd found, he decided to end class early, and spent several minutes telling us about a Panorama Museum and place called Victory Park we should go see if we got the chance.
We had a late, slow lunch (but in a good way, not in a "why are the Russian waitresses ignoring me" way) at the cafe in sector в. I tried to figure out what was going on with my summer programs while Mike read and took a nap. That evening we were thinking of going to the only Mexican restaurant in Moscow, Pancho Villa, but while on the trolleybus Laura called and invited us to join the majority of the group at Boarhouse! So off we went, arriving a bit before 8, just in time to take advantage of the 4-for-1 drink deal and half off food deal. (At 8pm it became 3-for-1, so it wasn't exactly a bad deal.) Mike got to meet most of my friends here, everyone bought everyone else drinks, and it was a fun night.
Mike and me at Boarhouse
Tuesday, April 10
Another lazy, slow morning, because we had the whole day until my orchestra rehearsal that evening to do whatever we wanted! We pulled out the Moscow guidebook and found the park that my physics professor had suggested. We decided to experience Arbat Street first. Mike bought a military-style Russian hat (though he continued to borrow my fuzzy Russian hat through his visit since it's not exactly cool to wear a fake police hat around Moscow). He also got a small oil painting of St. Basil's Cathedral. We ate a bit of lunch at Teremok and some more at Yolki Palki.
Next, we took the metro a few more stops to what the guidebook said was Victory Park. Unfortunately the guidebook lies, but we had a nice walk and found a random arch and eventually found the park! It was a beautiful day, the only really nice day during his visit, so we enjoyed walking around outside and poked into the WW2 museum for a little bit. Then we headed back so I could go to orchestra, grabbing "toast" from Kroshka Kartoshka on the way.
Mike poses with Pushkin on Arbat Street
My favorite metro station - in the shape of a Soviet star, the station Arbatskaya on the light blue line.
Mike in front of the random arch we stumbled upon, near Victory Park
Random picture of me
Mike and me upon finding Victory Park
View from a random grassy hill - you can see the main university building on the left and three towers on the right that are near the medical faculty.
There were people flying kites on the grassy hill!! So Mike and I decided we need to go fly kites sometime.
In front of a random church proclaiming "Christ is Risen" (in Russian) (in gold letters, because everything is better in gold)
Pillar memorial in front of the WW2 museum (it's super tall, you just can't see that in this picture)
Inside the museum - a memorial to all the fallen Soviet soldiers
At orchestra that evening
The chamber orchestra rehearsing a movement without violas
Wednesday, April 11
Mike's last full day, and I had nothing scheduled - huzzah! We slept in and lounged around once again. We talked about several options , and eventually decided to go to the Space Museum in the afternoon and Pancho Villa (Mexican restaurant) for dinner. Well, we went to the proper metro stop, but then we couldn't find the space museum so we walked around a random area called ВВЦ that has a bunch of museums and fountains and arches etc. We rode a huge ferris wheel!! It was part of a very sad-looking, empty fairgrounds area, but it was still fun. (We had a closed compartment because the open ones cost more and it was pretty cold.) We walked around some more, found what is probably the space museum but we still weren't sure and by now it was closed anyway, and decided it was time to take the metro to get dinner.
Dinner was Mexican Food!! They almost didn't let us into the restaurant because we didn't have reservations, but I told the guy we'd be happy sitting at the bar so he let us in. Downstairs, I asked a waitress if we could wait for a free table, and about 20 minutes later we had a table (I win!). So delicious...a random band showed up around 9pm. It was funny because they were all very much Russian but dressed as Mexican. They were too loud but not bad. After a delicious meal we headed back to the hotel, packed some things up, and crashed.
Mike in front of another random arch
Mike and me in the park area in front of the arch
Ferris wheel!!
View of a Stalinist building from the ferris wheel
View of the sad, mostly-empty fairgrounds
Mike took a picture of me while I was on the phone...
Then he came up to me, put my hand like you see it, and took a picture before I could turn around and see what was going on!
Best Mexican restaurant menu commentary EVER
Mike at Pancho Villa - I had an avocado margarita (yum!) and he had something called a "gin fizzz" I think it was (because 3 z's are better than 2...?)
Thursday, April 12
Mike's plane left at 12:15, and he wanted to be there by about 9:30, which meant we had to leave by 8am, so naturally we left at 9am. Oops. Checking out took longer than it should have, and I'm still not sure if Mike got the proper registration stamp or not, but he made it back to States without being fined or anything. We got to the end of the green metro line a bit before 10am and sat in a yellow "clown car" as Mike dubbed them for a good 20 minutes before it was full enough for the driver to be willing to leave for the airport. Got him there at 10:45. Somehow he managed to make it on his 12:15 flight, and his bag made it too, and his connection in NYC was no problem. I swear I need some of his airplane karma!!
***
So, that was the best week I have had...well, since I began this blog! Pictures and all. Since Thursday I've been trying to get back into my "normal" routine, going to class and catching up on homework and reading loads of HMC emails. I'm definitely sad that Mike isn't here anymore, but it was WONDERFUL to share Moscow with him!
That's plenty for now. Congratulations for making it this far. :)
Wednesday, April 4
Michael Bigelow lands in Moscow's Sheremetyevo 2 airport around 3pm. I am headed there to pick him up, but I severely underestimate the time required to get to the airport (2 hours!), so I am an hour late, but it is all good.
The Bad News: no hotel. Irina wasn't able to find a nearby hotel with rooms for all eight nights, plus I couldn't check into a hotel with him without my passport. Plan B? Sneak him into the dorm overnight and let him sleep on the floor, hope that I get my passport back Friday, and make a hotel reservation beginning Friday night.
After presenting all this and getting him and his stuff safely to the dorm, we ate at the cafe in sector в and crashed.
Thursday, April 5
Mike was still jet lagged even though he came here from Amsterdam (two hours behind), so we slept in and didn't do much. Besides, he couldn't leave the dorm because we might have trouble sneaking him back in for the night. I went to class in the afternoon/early evening and returned with шаурмы for dinner.
Friday, April 6
I had a 10am class (Politology). Mike was going to join me, but he was very much asleep so opted instead to appropriate the bed when I left. He got up around 1pm. We ate lunch and spent the afternoon getting my passport back (yay!) and checking into a hotel (Гостиница университетская). That evening, we went on an adventure to the restaurant/bar "Sixteen Tons" I'd been to several weeks ago. We had a nice more or less Russian meal and Mike finally got to see something other than the main university building!
Mike and me walking from my dorm in the main building to the bus stop
The lighting was beautiful so I took a picture of a new view of the main building
Here's Mike during our evening at Sixteen Tons...
...and then he took a picture of me!
Saturday, April 7
We stayed out kind of late Friday, so Saturday we slept in ridiculously late. Discovered that the hot water only works for the second person to take a shower, which happened to be me... :) Mike had a few "what is wrong with this country" moments, I was amused and understanding, and eventually we headed out in search of some food and an ATM. We headed to the center of Moscow and ate in the food court of the Ohotniy Ryad mall. Mike had a few upset-stomach-run-to-the-bathroom incidents but thankfully that didn't last too long. Next up was a concert in the Большой зал of the Moscow Conservatory! We got there in plenty of time to take our seats and enjoyed a fantastic concert. It was four piano soloists playing with an orchestra (one at a time of course), and all the players were superb. One of the pianists even played an encore! After the concert, we headed to Red Square so Mike could see it at night and took a few pictures. Superb evening.
Mike in front of St. Basil's Cathedral at night (red square)
Mike being silly in front of a window at the department store ГУМ
Mike and me inside ГУМ
Sunday, April 8
Happy Easter! This morning we headed to St. Andrew's Anglican Church. We got there on time and managed to find seats no problem, though it was pretty full. It was a good service complete with string quartet and the Bishop of the Diocese in Europe presiding! Pretty cool stuff. After church, everyone was encouraged to head across the street to an Easter brunch in a hotel reception room. We were a little hesitent but figured we'd check it out because, well, it *was* time to eat! It turned out to be fantastic - they'd pulled out all the stops for the bishop. Random shishkebabs, buffalo wings, skewered fruit, sketchy fish on bread (hey it IS russia), grilled cheese, cakes, muffins, eclairs, and wine and juice. Delicious.
We didn't do much that afternoon, because a snowstorm rolled through. Yes, you read that right - a snowstorm on Easter. I got a bit of homework done and Mike read a book. That night for dinner, we took the metro a few stops to go to му-му (the cow-themed buffet style restaurant), and it was super! That place is probably my favorite place to eat here - cheap but super yummy. Mike said something about how the restaurant gave him a glimmer of hope for Russia, which amused me.
After church - the bishop is blessing some cakes and desserts they collected to give away
View of the main entrance to the church as people file out on their way to brunch
Mike and me heading back after brunch - yep, it's beginning to snow...
My favorite picture from the week!! Mike's wearing my fuzzy Russian hat, and standing in an Easter snowstorm.
Monday, April 9
This morning I had Thermal Physics, and Mike came with me because he wasnted to meet "a real Russian" (my professor). The result? When someone came to claim the empty classroom we'd found, he decided to end class early, and spent several minutes telling us about a Panorama Museum and place called Victory Park we should go see if we got the chance.
We had a late, slow lunch (but in a good way, not in a "why are the Russian waitresses ignoring me" way) at the cafe in sector в. I tried to figure out what was going on with my summer programs while Mike read and took a nap. That evening we were thinking of going to the only Mexican restaurant in Moscow, Pancho Villa, but while on the trolleybus Laura called and invited us to join the majority of the group at Boarhouse! So off we went, arriving a bit before 8, just in time to take advantage of the 4-for-1 drink deal and half off food deal. (At 8pm it became 3-for-1, so it wasn't exactly a bad deal.) Mike got to meet most of my friends here, everyone bought everyone else drinks, and it was a fun night.
Mike and me at Boarhouse
Tuesday, April 10
Another lazy, slow morning, because we had the whole day until my orchestra rehearsal that evening to do whatever we wanted! We pulled out the Moscow guidebook and found the park that my physics professor had suggested. We decided to experience Arbat Street first. Mike bought a military-style Russian hat (though he continued to borrow my fuzzy Russian hat through his visit since it's not exactly cool to wear a fake police hat around Moscow). He also got a small oil painting of St. Basil's Cathedral. We ate a bit of lunch at Teremok and some more at Yolki Palki.
Next, we took the metro a few more stops to what the guidebook said was Victory Park. Unfortunately the guidebook lies, but we had a nice walk and found a random arch and eventually found the park! It was a beautiful day, the only really nice day during his visit, so we enjoyed walking around outside and poked into the WW2 museum for a little bit. Then we headed back so I could go to orchestra, grabbing "toast" from Kroshka Kartoshka on the way.
Mike poses with Pushkin on Arbat Street
My favorite metro station - in the shape of a Soviet star, the station Arbatskaya on the light blue line.
Mike in front of the random arch we stumbled upon, near Victory Park
Random picture of me
Mike and me upon finding Victory Park
View from a random grassy hill - you can see the main university building on the left and three towers on the right that are near the medical faculty.
There were people flying kites on the grassy hill!! So Mike and I decided we need to go fly kites sometime.
In front of a random church proclaiming "Christ is Risen" (in Russian) (in gold letters, because everything is better in gold)
Pillar memorial in front of the WW2 museum (it's super tall, you just can't see that in this picture)
Inside the museum - a memorial to all the fallen Soviet soldiers
At orchestra that evening
The chamber orchestra rehearsing a movement without violas
Wednesday, April 11
Mike's last full day, and I had nothing scheduled - huzzah! We slept in and lounged around once again. We talked about several options , and eventually decided to go to the Space Museum in the afternoon and Pancho Villa (Mexican restaurant) for dinner. Well, we went to the proper metro stop, but then we couldn't find the space museum so we walked around a random area called ВВЦ that has a bunch of museums and fountains and arches etc. We rode a huge ferris wheel!! It was part of a very sad-looking, empty fairgrounds area, but it was still fun. (We had a closed compartment because the open ones cost more and it was pretty cold.) We walked around some more, found what is probably the space museum but we still weren't sure and by now it was closed anyway, and decided it was time to take the metro to get dinner.
Dinner was Mexican Food!! They almost didn't let us into the restaurant because we didn't have reservations, but I told the guy we'd be happy sitting at the bar so he let us in. Downstairs, I asked a waitress if we could wait for a free table, and about 20 minutes later we had a table (I win!). So delicious...a random band showed up around 9pm. It was funny because they were all very much Russian but dressed as Mexican. They were too loud but not bad. After a delicious meal we headed back to the hotel, packed some things up, and crashed.
Mike in front of another random arch
Mike and me in the park area in front of the arch
Ferris wheel!!
View of a Stalinist building from the ferris wheel
View of the sad, mostly-empty fairgrounds
Mike took a picture of me while I was on the phone...
Then he came up to me, put my hand like you see it, and took a picture before I could turn around and see what was going on!
Best Mexican restaurant menu commentary EVER
Mike at Pancho Villa - I had an avocado margarita (yum!) and he had something called a "gin fizzz" I think it was (because 3 z's are better than 2...?)
Thursday, April 12
Mike's plane left at 12:15, and he wanted to be there by about 9:30, which meant we had to leave by 8am, so naturally we left at 9am. Oops. Checking out took longer than it should have, and I'm still not sure if Mike got the proper registration stamp or not, but he made it back to States without being fined or anything. We got to the end of the green metro line a bit before 10am and sat in a yellow "clown car" as Mike dubbed them for a good 20 minutes before it was full enough for the driver to be willing to leave for the airport. Got him there at 10:45. Somehow he managed to make it on his 12:15 flight, and his bag made it too, and his connection in NYC was no problem. I swear I need some of his airplane karma!!
***
So, that was the best week I have had...well, since I began this blog! Pictures and all. Since Thursday I've been trying to get back into my "normal" routine, going to class and catching up on homework and reading loads of HMC emails. I'm definitely sad that Mike isn't here anymore, but it was WONDERFUL to share Moscow with him!
That's plenty for now. Congratulations for making it this far. :)
Friday, April 6, 2007
dear spring, come back!
Unfortunately, Moscow decided to switch from highs of 60F and sunny to highs of 40F and rainy a couple of days ago.
But it's really okay, because Mike is here visiting!!! :) Talk about technical difficulties with getting him from the airport and finding him a place to sleep...oy. But, all is well, and life is good, and there will be pictures sometime, and I just wish I didn't have classes and homework this week...
Ah well. Anyway, I need to dash off to Politology. More later.
But it's really okay, because Mike is here visiting!!! :) Talk about technical difficulties with getting him from the airport and finding him a place to sleep...oy. But, all is well, and life is good, and there will be pictures sometime, and I just wish I didn't have classes and homework this week...
Ah well. Anyway, I need to dash off to Politology. More later.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
photo time
Marsha (Aunt Rebecca's friend) and me at the food court near metro station Kurskaya.
Шаурма!! (That's Shaurma for you non-cyrillic readers, the 60 ruble Russian wrap/burrito things you can get at any metro station that are somewhat sketchy and amazingly delicious.)
Nick demonstrates the devised method of transporting the "pinata."
CHIPS AND SALSA AND GUACAMOLE!!! In Russia!! I ate a lot... :)
Jeff in the kitchen, attacking the turkey-that-was-supposed-to-be-chicken.
More samplings of delicious foodstuffs...yum!
Milling about in the main room of the apartment a few minutes before all the food came out.
Group shot! (Sorry it's blurry...on "party mode" if you don't have an extremely steady hand, it comes out blurry, and since I'm actually in this photo, I had little control over how steady the photographer's hand was.)
Gathered outside to witness the pinata.
Jack takes a swing!
Alex succeeds in knocking the cardboard/newspaper/shiny paper contraption off of the main part of the pinata (a 5L water jug filled with candy).
David takes a turn whacking the remains with a stick, because come on, what else do you do with a candy-filled plastic jug hanging from a tree by an ethernet cable?
Back inside - the aftermath.
Fast forward to today: Novodeivichy Convent (Cloister). A view from inside the walls. There are a ton of graves there, and apparently there's also a cemetary outside the walls but we didn't even get to it.
Another sight inside the cloister walls, slightly less attractive and complete with a...cannon.
This girl was so quintessentially Russian I just had to take a picture. I think she was trying to play with a squirrel that had gone up a hole in the tree...reminiscent of "To Kill A Mockingbird" for some reason.
Inside a museum looking at various icons and other church-y things (most of which contained a lot of gold).
View from a window of the museum.
Another museum - this room had cannons and guns and various pointy metal objects. It struck me as odd that a convent (theoretically a place of God?) had so many weapons and combat-related things.
Quite possibly my favorite picture yet. :) (This is Irina, our on-site coordinator, and I basically handed her this sign and took her picture, then the others with us thought it was hilarious and had her pose so they could all get pictures too.)
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