Firstly, I apologize for not posting sooner. I was going to yesterday but I'm pretty sure I crashed my internet trying to post all the pictures I have. So how bout I write a book today in order to make everything up to you guys?
Friday, 08 June We went on a really cold and wet ferry ride along the Moscow River and ate Soviet ice cream. As almost entire experience here has been, the weather might not have been ideal, but it was still super awesome and fun. Then, I saw my friend Rano! Oh, man, have I missed her!
We walked around Gorky park for a bit, and then after we got off the
metro she took me to Kroshka Kartoshka, which is pretty much a Subway
for baked potatoes. The lady in there was super talkative and wouldn't
leave us alone, but the potatoes were rockin. I can't wait to go back.
And I also went on my first Marshutka ride, which Professor DeBlasio
had told us about in class, so it was pretty cool to see all of it first
hand. We went back to Rano's apartment, which was in a neighborhood
that belonged just to people who worked or studied in the government.
We had tea and talked forever, and her parents came home. She has the
sweetest parents on earth! I love her mom, and her dad is super funny.
He also drove me all they way back to my apartment (which was really far
away, especially in Moscow traffic). Then when I got home, I made a
vkontakte account. It's the Russian facebook, and it's better than
facebook. You can listen to whatever music you want, and watch whatever
movie or TV show you want. It can be found on here, even in English.
In fact, the list of music I'm listening to - it's all music that
vkontakte has put on a suggestion list for me. Jeez, facebook needs to
get on vkontakte's level.
I also took some pics of the Komsomolskaya station:
Market right outside the Starbucks where I study in the mornings.
Saturday, 09 June The most notable thing that happened
that day was that I went to a mall. Oh, how I love the mall! On my way
over, I stopped and asked someone for directions all by myself. I feel
really proud about that. It's not easy asking Muscovites for
directions, not only because you have to ask them in Russian, but also
because they're Muscovites. I spent forever in H&M, and came out
with a few much needed, new shirts. Then Danielle looked for a bag,
then decided to get one back at H&M, and then she and Mackenzie were
done with the mall. Those wusses. I stayed and hung out. And besides, I
needed a new bag, too. My backpack is just way too bulky for Moscow. I
got hungry, so I went/found the food court. Dunkin Donuts over here is
super weird. I thought I ordered a jelly-filled doughnut with
strawberry frosting. I bit in, and discovered it was a cream instead.
Upon further inspection, the cream was alcoholic. It was disgusting.
Lesson learned there: Dunkin is only good in the US. Other countries
may run on Dunkin, but Americans only run on the American Duncan. ew.
Then I found a Roxy/Quicksilver store! It was fantastic! After growing
up for a little bit in Hawaii, I was so happy. I stepped into the
store, and it felt like I was home for a little bit. And I also found a
pretty awesome messenger bag. Then I went to a toy store. It was
awesome. They sold everything from baby clothes and strollers to giant
Vinny-Pukhs to school supplies. So what did I buy? A ton of flash cards
(like an origami paper set. They're cheaper.) and Russian Batman
colored pencils. Duh. I loved that mall.
Sunday, 10 June Off to Suzdal. I didn't have any caffeine that
morning, and I woke up super early to pack. Marina went to the grocery
store at like, five in the morning and bought me bread, sausage, and
cheese for buterbrod, and also some tea for the train. I felt bad that
she went and got it for me so early in the morning, but later on I was
so happy I had that. We all got really hungry.
Then we got to
Vladimir. I slept almost the whole way. Then we took the bus to Suzdal,
and kept falling asleep on the bus. We checked into our room, and
apparently, it was "Super-Soviet" as coined by all of us, Irina
included. We went and walked around, and checked out a couple of
churches and a market. We bought pirozhki, and it was super yummy. We
went back to the hotel to rest before dinner, so we all got changed
because we were all wet and felt crappy, and the sun was just starting
to come out. So when we left for dinner, it was absolutely beautiful
outside. I wanted to swim in the river. It was the best weather we've
had in Russia so far. We walked around the whole town, checked out an
antique store, and a museum that had a lot of old peasant houses. It
was pretty neat. We were also little kids and played on the swing.
Right before we got to the museum, Mackenzie found a goat over by the
side of the river. She ran over to it, and it the ground was so slick,
she fell flat out. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my
life. And after all that, the goat wouldn't eat anything that Mackenzie
gave it. She was so muddy, Irina said she looked like a bum - also
funny. I'm still laughing about the whole thing now. I wish I had
caught that on video. It was great. After a while, we stopped by a
grocery store and got some more food for Danielle, because there wasn't
really a lot of stuff she could eat at the place we had dinner. Irina
ended up getting us lots of yummy things, like Soviet ice cream, Russian
cheesecake, and chocolate. We headed back to our hotel and Irina
taught us how to play Durak, the infamous Russian card game. After that
and a round of BS, it was time for bed. After such a long day, we
passed out pretty quick.
Haha there was this huge, nasty bug right by Kenzie's head, and it took her a while to notice.
Like I said, that thing was big and nasty
Danielle, not pleased by the fact that after said bug was killed it landed in her seat.
Our Super Soviet hotel room.
Over at the monastery where our hotel was
The inside of a church that didn't survive the Soviets
My attempt at saving the matrioshka
Honey Beer in a chicken bottle
Ded Moroz! (Santa!!)
A banya off in the distance
Mackenzie and her goat!!
That poor thing was so confused!
At the museum
"I wonder if I stare into this oven long enough, maybe I can start it with my mind, like Drew Barrymore in '
Firestarter'"
I really liked the troika for some reason.
"Oh, what to wear today?"
Icons in the corner
A lady showed us how peasants used to weave clothes.
Mating goose attack!
Monday, 11 June We woke up and had a wonderful Russian
breakfast in our "Super-Soviet" hotel in Suzdal: Kasha made with rice and
butter, buterbrod, blini, and coffee. It was wonderful. I can't get
over how awesome kasha is. I love the stuff. I don't know how my friend
Sasha could hate it so much. Hell, I wish I had a Russian nanny that
made me kasha all the time when I was growing up. Then we walked around
a couple monasteries and it was just beautiful outside. At one of the
monasteries they had a prison museum, because it had been also used a
prison from before Tolstoy's time up into the Soviet period. Then after
we got on the bus and headed over to Vladimir. Vladimir is not nearly
as pretty, but it had a really awesome Cathedral. It was by far my most
favorite. Then we walked over to the famous golden gate. The museum at
the top was awesome; it had a lot of military history artifacts, so of
course I loved it. I was the only one who saw it because Mackenzie and
Danielle did not feel adventurous and want to climb to the top of the
tower with me. Then on the way back to the train station we stopped in a
Soviet snack bar for blini. We met an American there. He didn't know
any Russian at all, and has been teaching English in Moscow. I was
dumbfounded by the fact he didn't put any real effort into learning
Russian. The whole way back I made flashcards because I'm just that
cool. And when we got back, it was really late. I was just getting
back home as the sun was setting. I was so tired, so I was really happy
that Irina was giving us the day off the next day and I could sleep in.
Tuesday, 12 June It was Russia Day, and Irina
gave us the day off. We were going to find something to do with our
Russian friends, but Sasha and Rano were spending the day with their
parents, and Vadim was studying for his exams. I met with Mackenzie and
Danielle, and we went to Arbat. Well, we went to Arbat after we finally
found Danielle. She got pretty lost on the metro. We at at some
hippie-all organic-blah blah restaurant (it was alright. Danielle and
Mackenzie really liked it- Danielle especially because she's vegetarian
so she has quite the limited menu over here- but for me, it was just
okay), and it started raining really hard, so we thought we'd go to a
movie. There's a movie theater right on the corner of Arbat. We went,
and were going to watch Prometheus (Прометей, really) but they sold out
of tickets and there wasn't much going on after that. So we walked
around Arbat more (it momentarily dried) and called Vadim to see if
there was another movie theater we could go to. An eternity later, he
figured we could go to the October theater on Novyi (New) Arbat. But
when we started heading over there, I got a text message from my host
sister saying my host mom was making borsch soon and they were waiting
on me. So I had to miss the movie. Because Danielle and Mackenzie
didn't know how to get to the October theater I walked them there, then
it took me forever to find a metro station, as I thought there would be
one close by. I thought wrong. I had to walk all the way back to the
start of Arbat. So I was home within an hour. The borsch was
absolutely delicious. Marina put potatoes in it just for me, and she
used beef instead of pork, which made my life. I get to have some more
for dinner tonight, thank God. Then I skyped with Professor DeBlasio,
which was really nice. It was good to talk to someone from home
(especially because either my dad hasn't figured out skype or he keeps
putting it off, and my best friend Sophie is horrible with picking up
the phone, which makes a skype date virtually impossible, and those are
really the only people I have missed from home). And I've talked to a
couple people so far, but it was also especially good to talk to her
because she was able to relate to what I was going through, and had some
good advice for class and hanging out in Moscow. I didn't realize how
much I miss her too, and I really appreciated the call. I felt really
relieved today, and I guess it's because I talked to someone from home.
So, once again Alyssa, thank you.
Yesterday (Wednesday, 13 June) We went to a convent in Moscow (Novodevichy). It had one of the prettiest churches I've seen yet. We walked in, and it had the strongest smell on incense. The art on the ceiling was done in a newer style. I loved it. I've been looking for a couple icons to take back with me (one of Jesus Christ for my grandfather, then also Saint Catherine, since my Russian name is Экатеринa, or Catherine. Irina wouldn't hear the end of it until I bought a Saint Catherine icon. I'm glad I did it), and so I bought them there. Then we went to the graveyard next to the convent, and saw lots of graves. Like, Gogol's, Chekhov's, Stalin's family, etc. It was more like a park than a cemetery. It was interesting, to say the least. We were also going to go over to a pond nearby but it started to rain and it was just really nasty, so we just went home. I'm really starting to get sick of the rain over here. Like, really. Also, discovered McDonalds coffee is about the cheapest I'm going to be able to find in Moscow.
Hopefully, my readers, this quenched your Roaming Russian thirst, as I have been a horrible blogger for an entire week. My apologies. I have more pictures for you, which I will gradually upload, but at least I have most of Suzdal ready to go. I'll be back later!
Currently listening to:
- Quest Pistols - "Rock'n'roll и Кружева"
- Jose Gonzales - "Heartbeats"
- Джиган - "История нашей любви"
- Roman Lob - "Alone"
- Florence + The Machine - "Girl with One Eye"
- Incubus - "Wish You Were Here"
- Regina Spektor - "Samson"
- Quest Pistols - "Жаркие танцы"
- Lana Del Rey - "Video Games"
- Slash - "Baby Can't Drive (feat. Alice Cooper and Nicole Scherzinger)"
- Joe Brooks - "Superman"
- We Are Scientists - "I Don't Bite"
- Regina Spektor - "No Surprises (Radiohead cover)"
- Gotye - "Heart's A Mess"
- Arctic Monkeys - "505"
- On The Go - "Better Act Now"
- Synthetic Epiphany & CoMa - "Perpetuate"
- Natalie Imbruglia - "Torn"
- Amy Winehouse - "Back to Black"
- Litesound - "The Life"
- Павел Чехов - "Потерянные"
- Dappy - "Rockstar (feat. Brian May)
- Yoav - "Where Is My Mind? (The Pixies cover)"
- Gotye - "Save Me"
- Eric Saade - "Hotter Than Fire (feat. Dev)"
- 30 Seconds to Mars - "Night of the Hunter (unplugged)"
- Panic! At the Disco - "C'mon (feat. fun.)"
- The Verve - "Bittersweet Symphony"
- Карибасы - "Все связано"
- Mexicolas - "Times Infinity"
