Today's our last day in Russia! We leave tomorrow at 3 am and will be in transit for a day and a half? two days? dunno. And with time zone changes...
Anyway, last night we went to the opera, which was really good. Today we're free (for the first time in Petersburg)! I'm not gonna do much, maybe get some delicious bliny at a kiosk for lunch, maybe run and buy a backpack to carry home all the stuff I bought here. It's snowing! Second time since we've been here, and it might stick! It's almost pretty outside our window, except that it's mainly just slummy.
I'm really excited to go home, but Russia actually has been a blast. It's been quite the experience. Luckily I knew mainly what to expect. I have some more great pics, but I don't have time to post them. Plus I've grown to hate Ideal Cup (Идеалная Чашка), the place in Petersburg from where I've been uploading pics. It pretty much sucks. Also my plug-in for my computer is not working well, so I think I'll just run out of batteries until I'm home.
Hermitage was great again yesterday. There were some really nice babushkas working the coat-check at the opera - which was shocking. We ate at an Irish pub for dinner; I felt like such an ex-pat. It was really sweet. Some of us took the bus home, or at least tried, but we ended up going the wrong direction! When we got to the outskirts, the driver told us "Last stop!" and we had to get off. We ended up getting on the right bus then, but it was kind of an adventure.
That's about all I have to say about the rest of the trip for now. Unless I get on the internet during our 6 hour layover in Frankfurt, this will be it!
As they say in this country, do svidaniya (до свидания), and see you in America!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
the pretty part of town
pictures and stories from the last couple days
St. Isaac's
sun dog over St. Isaac's square (I'm not positive that's it's real name, but it is the square St. Isaac's is on)
St. Isaac's almost glows at night. It's very pretty.
Ella (Marc's daughter - Marc's our prof, btw) in the subway
The Petersburg subway is nowhere near as nice as the Moscow one. It's really small, and you basically can't get anywhere on it. It's also not pretty.
me in the Hermitage
The Hermitage is the second largest museum after the Louvre; it's collection, however, is nonetheless too large to be all displayed at any one time. If you spent one minute in each of the pieces, you would be there for 12 years. It was built as a palace by Catherine; part of it is preserved as the Winter Palace. I like this place much better than the Russian Museum (tho the Russian Museum had some very nice art). The Hermitage has (I think) 3 da Vinci's. Very nice collection. And it had some ancient art from Iran (Babylon, etc), which you almost never see, so that was nice.
Winter Palace inside the Hermitage
me with a statue in the Hermitage
Hermitage ceiling
The floor in the Hermitage was also really interesting. Most of it was wooden mosaic.
Susan (the art major) with a statue
She knows how to appreciate art.
Before I move on from the Hermitage, I want to mention that I had there the worst pizza that I've ever had in my life. And it cost 100 rubles! Not a good deal at all!
the Neva
Marc told me that you can't call all the little rivers that run thru Petersburg "the Neva", because they're actually just canals. So our trip to the Hermitage was the first time we saw the real Neva. It was very pretty and the surface was pretty much all frozen.
sunset on a bridge over the Neva
dunno, but it's pretty
the Neva again
now a quick recap of the days:
The Hermitage was beautiful, but we only spent 2-3 hours there, so Susan and I are going back today. It has an enormous and very nice collection.
We went to Playing the Victim in the evening. I liked it, but it strayed a lot from the script, which I liked better. And the theater was freezing the entire time. But it was still a good play.
Yesterday we went to a theater school (did I mention this was a Russian Theater trip?) and talked with a bunch of students from Arkhangelsk (Archangel) who had come to Petersburg to do some special training. That was really interesting. It was almost all one on one, and I got to practice a lot of my Russian, because Helen (the girl whom I spoke the most with) had only been studying English 1/2 a year. That was a blast. Then after that we saw a play put on my Petersburg acting students. It was well-done (I thought) for a student play, but it certainly wasn't of the same quality as the other plays we've seen (obviously).
Today, as I mentioned, I'm going to the Hermitage, and tonight we're going to the opera Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar). Tomorrow is our last day here!
Anyway, to recap, the area of Petersburg around the Neva is way prettier than the rest of it. St. Isaac's is gorgeous.
I got yelled at twice in the last two days by babushkas in Russian (babushkas by default never speak English) for things that I had nothing to do with. One babushka yelled at me because Sean left his dirty clothes in a pile on the floor in the bathroom. I told her the clothes weren't mine and she said "I didn't say they were". Brilliant.
Then today there was a new group of Australians in the room next to us. They went to breakfast room (which closes at 11) and were trying to get it open, when a babushka appears and starts screaming at them for trying to open the door. None of them speak Russian. Then she called in a back-up babushka to help her yell at them in a language they don't understand. I tried to intervene and tell them that the Australians thought it was 10:30, not 11:30, but then both babushkas start yelling at me! I've only met 2 or 3 nice babushkas in this country. And they're all about 4 feet tall. In America (as Susan put it), grandma's get nicer as they get older; in Russia, however, they get meaner. We joked that because the Hermitage is so big, they make sure everyone's out by closing time by unleashing a roomful of babushkas who'd been couped up all day and unable to yell at anyone (so they're ravenous). Everyone would run for their lives out of that building.
St. Isaac's
sun dog over St. Isaac's square (I'm not positive that's it's real name, but it is the square St. Isaac's is on)
St. Isaac's almost glows at night. It's very pretty.
Ella (Marc's daughter - Marc's our prof, btw) in the subway
The Petersburg subway is nowhere near as nice as the Moscow one. It's really small, and you basically can't get anywhere on it. It's also not pretty.
me in the Hermitage
The Hermitage is the second largest museum after the Louvre; it's collection, however, is nonetheless too large to be all displayed at any one time. If you spent one minute in each of the pieces, you would be there for 12 years. It was built as a palace by Catherine; part of it is preserved as the Winter Palace. I like this place much better than the Russian Museum (tho the Russian Museum had some very nice art). The Hermitage has (I think) 3 da Vinci's. Very nice collection. And it had some ancient art from Iran (Babylon, etc), which you almost never see, so that was nice.
Winter Palace inside the Hermitage
me with a statue in the Hermitage
Hermitage ceiling
The floor in the Hermitage was also really interesting. Most of it was wooden mosaic.
Susan (the art major) with a statue
She knows how to appreciate art.
Before I move on from the Hermitage, I want to mention that I had there the worst pizza that I've ever had in my life. And it cost 100 rubles! Not a good deal at all!
the Neva
Marc told me that you can't call all the little rivers that run thru Petersburg "the Neva", because they're actually just canals. So our trip to the Hermitage was the first time we saw the real Neva. It was very pretty and the surface was pretty much all frozen.
sunset on a bridge over the Neva
dunno, but it's pretty
the Neva again
now a quick recap of the days:
The Hermitage was beautiful, but we only spent 2-3 hours there, so Susan and I are going back today. It has an enormous and very nice collection.
We went to Playing the Victim in the evening. I liked it, but it strayed a lot from the script, which I liked better. And the theater was freezing the entire time. But it was still a good play.
Yesterday we went to a theater school (did I mention this was a Russian Theater trip?) and talked with a bunch of students from Arkhangelsk (Archangel) who had come to Petersburg to do some special training. That was really interesting. It was almost all one on one, and I got to practice a lot of my Russian, because Helen (the girl whom I spoke the most with) had only been studying English 1/2 a year. That was a blast. Then after that we saw a play put on my Petersburg acting students. It was well-done (I thought) for a student play, but it certainly wasn't of the same quality as the other plays we've seen (obviously).
Today, as I mentioned, I'm going to the Hermitage, and tonight we're going to the opera Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar). Tomorrow is our last day here!
Anyway, to recap, the area of Petersburg around the Neva is way prettier than the rest of it. St. Isaac's is gorgeous.
I got yelled at twice in the last two days by babushkas in Russian (babushkas by default never speak English) for things that I had nothing to do with. One babushka yelled at me because Sean left his dirty clothes in a pile on the floor in the bathroom. I told her the clothes weren't mine and she said "I didn't say they were". Brilliant.
Then today there was a new group of Australians in the room next to us. They went to breakfast room (which closes at 11) and were trying to get it open, when a babushka appears and starts screaming at them for trying to open the door. None of them speak Russian. Then she called in a back-up babushka to help her yell at them in a language they don't understand. I tried to intervene and tell them that the Australians thought it was 10:30, not 11:30, but then both babushkas start yelling at me! I've only met 2 or 3 nice babushkas in this country. And they're all about 4 feet tall. In America (as Susan put it), grandma's get nicer as they get older; in Russia, however, they get meaner. We joked that because the Hermitage is so big, they make sure everyone's out by closing time by unleashing a roomful of babushkas who'd been couped up all day and unable to yell at anyone (so they're ravenous). Everyone would run for their lives out of that building.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
short post
So I haven't written for a while. I don't have much time. I will load pictures tomorrow - and write more.
Hermitage was great, going back tomorrow for more.
Hope you're doing better, Anna.
Two good plays in a row and then a student-run play today which was okay.
Like I said, not much time to write, but I wanted to let you all know I'm not dead.
Check again soon!
Hermitage was great, going back tomorrow for more.
Hope you're doing better, Anna.
Two good plays in a row and then a student-run play today which was okay.
Like I said, not much time to write, but I wanted to let you all know I'm not dead.
Check again soon!
Monday, January 22, 2007
from the camera of a young adult
Pictures of Petersburg
Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood
The outside was definitely (in my opinion) prettier than the inside, but it was all beautiful.
Apparently this building was hated by Petersburgers (??? I have no idea what you call them) and decried as a "scar on the face of Petersburg". I thought it was gorgeous, but it certainly does stick out in a fairly Western-looking city.
inside
You can't really tell, but the colors were all really bright, mainly light blues. And everything was mosaic tiles.
outside
nothing to say except that it's really freaking beautiful
above the entrance (вход)
I don't know what she was supposed to be, but she was standing outside of the church all dressed up. Then she got a phone call. You can see her talking on her cell in this pic.
another picture of the whole church
It snowed… sort of. Then the snow stopped. Nothing stayed once it hit the ground. It's still pretty warm here - especially during the day. There are four horses overlooking the Neva.
The children's park next to our hostel. Russia definitely should win a prize for most depressing parks.
Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood
The outside was definitely (in my opinion) prettier than the inside, but it was all beautiful.
Apparently this building was hated by Petersburgers (??? I have no idea what you call them) and decried as a "scar on the face of Petersburg". I thought it was gorgeous, but it certainly does stick out in a fairly Western-looking city.
inside
You can't really tell, but the colors were all really bright, mainly light blues. And everything was mosaic tiles.
outside
nothing to say except that it's really freaking beautiful
above the entrance (вход)
I don't know what she was supposed to be, but she was standing outside of the church all dressed up. Then she got a phone call. You can see her talking on her cell in this pic.
another picture of the whole church
It snowed… sort of. Then the snow stopped. Nothing stayed once it hit the ground. It's still pretty warm here - especially during the day. There are four horses overlooking the Neva.
The children's park next to our hostel. Russia definitely should win a prize for most depressing parks.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
quick birthday post
It's my bday!
Thanks everyone for the bday wishes.
We went to the worst play ever today. All but four of us walked out of it.
Today a group of us went to the Russian Museum. It was overall disappointing, but had some nice paintings by Repin. My favorite (one of my favorites ever) is Sadko by him. Anyway it seems all Russian art museums are terribly lit. Sunlight and electric light manage to always glare every picture no matter where in the building.
Yesterday a group of us went to the Church on Spilt Blood, which is really beautiful. I'll put up pics tomorrow. We also ate at the Literary Cafe or something like that. It's the last place Pushkin was before going out to his "fateful duel". It was really good food, and there was live music (violin and piano) and it overlooked the Neva.
Oh and I almost forgot: Today Marie, Kira and I met a young man named Viktor. He was really nice and talked to me a lot in Russian, and I understood all of it. But best of all he handed us some pamphlets. Turns out he's a scientologist! In Russia! It made my birthday.
That should do it for now. More tomorrow (hopefully with pics).
I'm no longer a teenager. And I'm in Petersburg.
Thanks everyone for the bday wishes.
We went to the worst play ever today. All but four of us walked out of it.
Today a group of us went to the Russian Museum. It was overall disappointing, but had some nice paintings by Repin. My favorite (one of my favorites ever) is Sadko by him. Anyway it seems all Russian art museums are terribly lit. Sunlight and electric light manage to always glare every picture no matter where in the building.
Yesterday a group of us went to the Church on Spilt Blood, which is really beautiful. I'll put up pics tomorrow. We also ate at the Literary Cafe or something like that. It's the last place Pushkin was before going out to his "fateful duel". It was really good food, and there was live music (violin and piano) and it overlooked the Neva.
Oh and I almost forgot: Today Marie, Kira and I met a young man named Viktor. He was really nice and talked to me a lot in Russian, and I understood all of it. But best of all he handed us some pamphlets. Turns out he's a scientologist! In Russia! It made my birthday.
That should do it for now. More tomorrow (hopefully with pics).
I'm no longer a teenager. And I'm in Petersburg.
Friday, January 19, 2007
photos
most recent pictures, as promised…
church in Novgorod. It was really beautiful; this picture doesn't really do it justice, but after I took it, our tour guide told us we weren't supposed to take photos in there.
two churches in Novgorod
Novgorod has zillions of old churches. The Church in the foreground is supposed to magically be able to make you have a good marriage if you run around it three times, so all the girls booked around it. Except as soon as they started running, some random stray Doberman started chasing them. It just wanted to play, but it was pretty funny.
Novgorod beach
There's a pretty sweet statue of a guy on a horse if you look closely enough.
Church of Saint Sophia, Novgorod
Moscow subway - we FINALLY did do the circle line. In fact, I got separated from the group and had to finish the line and walk back to the hostel myself.
Red Square at night - You can see Saint Basil's in the background.
another Moscow subway shot
Church of the Archangel, view from the theater within the Kremlin Wall, Moscow
Oh and PS, there apparently weren't any Roma in Moscow - they've all been kicked out. Everyone I saw whom I thought were Roma were actually just dirty old people (бомж).
church in Novgorod. It was really beautiful; this picture doesn't really do it justice, but after I took it, our tour guide told us we weren't supposed to take photos in there.
two churches in Novgorod
Novgorod has zillions of old churches. The Church in the foreground is supposed to magically be able to make you have a good marriage if you run around it three times, so all the girls booked around it. Except as soon as they started running, some random stray Doberman started chasing them. It just wanted to play, but it was pretty funny.
Novgorod beach
There's a pretty sweet statue of a guy on a horse if you look closely enough.
Church of Saint Sophia, Novgorod
Moscow subway - we FINALLY did do the circle line. In fact, I got separated from the group and had to finish the line and walk back to the hostel myself.
Red Square at night - You can see Saint Basil's in the background.
another Moscow subway shot
Church of the Archangel, view from the theater within the Kremlin Wall, Moscow
Oh and PS, there apparently weren't any Roma in Moscow - they've all been kicked out. Everyone I saw whom I thought were Roma were actually just dirty old people (бомж).
Petersburg
Alright, so are little deeper recap of what's happened:
We took a bus to the train station in Moscow, but the bus was SO small! We had so much luggage and so many people. The aisles were completely full, and we were all carrying stuff on our laps! It was actually pretty funny.
The sleeper-train to Novgorod was nicer by far than the couchette to Prague! Keith and I volunteered to room with some random Russian. We also ended up rooming with Bob, an ex-prof on the trip. Our Russian roommate was named Sergei, and he spoke perfect English. He talked about going on digs around Novgorod to find planes and tanks from WWII that have been stuck in the mud (Novgorod is surrounded by swamp). He showed us pictures. He was really apathetic about the catastrophe and loss of human life; he showed us a picture of a plane cockpit with the pilot's hand still holding on to wheel, but he was nonchalant about that and was mainly interesting in the fact that the plane's clock had frozen so you could tell the exact time of the crash. After talking about the digs, conversation got really freaking dull, and I fell asleep with my head on the little table in the room. I was out hardcore, and I didn't even realize it.
Bob and Sergei talked for hours and after I woke up from my short (about 1/2 hour) nap, I couldn't go to sleep again till we were only 2 hours away from Novgorod.
Our hotel in Novgorod was quite nice. We got breakfast once we got in. It was really gross, but it was free, so that was nice. We had canned peas and hot dogs. That was literally breakfast. Odd. That day we toured Novgorod. It was beautiful. Our tour guide was insane. She was this Russian lady Marc (our prof) knows from doing orphanage work in some little town outside Novgorod. She was… long-winded. Very long-winded. Very. She just kept rambling on about everything.
Actually before we met up with her, we went around the city museum, which was interesting - all kinds of artifacts from ancient times (Novgorod is the oldest city in Russia).
We did spend the night in Novgorod. I slept really well, cuz Keith and I roomed together, and neither of us snore. Plus I was exhausted, cuz I'd slept about 8 hours total the last three days.
The next day we basically did nothing till we left by bus for Petersburg.
Yesterday we went to this really strange play, which started out with some fat guy in a kilt getting naked. Strange. Then the rest of the play was the actors just yelling at each other. The acting was actually pretty good, tho.
After the play Keith, Marie and I wandered around looking for a Kofe Hauz with WiFi, but we couldn't find one ever; the ones in this city don't have WiFi. Right now I'm in "The Ideal Cup" (Идеалная Чашка), which isn't that far from the hostel and does have WiFi (100 rubles/hr - yes, I broke. I'm spelling it correctly now).
Anyway, so we did end up at a Kofe Hauz, and I had the best bliny in the world. (Bliny, by the way, is like a crepe, except Russian). Mine was covered with chocolate and had ice cream and pirouettes. Delicious and only 120 rubles.
Today we went down Nevsky Prospect, "the main drag of Petersburg," to quote Marc. I bought Anna a sweet gift. Really sweet. You'll love it! … Or else.
Anyway, it was kind of interesting, kind of boring, until Sean (the guy who was stuck in Germany), got mugged and had his wallet stolen. He's having a bad time.
That basically takes me up to where I am now. No pictures from Petersburg yet, but I'm gonna upload my pics from Novgorod in a second.
We took a bus to the train station in Moscow, but the bus was SO small! We had so much luggage and so many people. The aisles were completely full, and we were all carrying stuff on our laps! It was actually pretty funny.
The sleeper-train to Novgorod was nicer by far than the couchette to Prague! Keith and I volunteered to room with some random Russian. We also ended up rooming with Bob, an ex-prof on the trip. Our Russian roommate was named Sergei, and he spoke perfect English. He talked about going on digs around Novgorod to find planes and tanks from WWII that have been stuck in the mud (Novgorod is surrounded by swamp). He showed us pictures. He was really apathetic about the catastrophe and loss of human life; he showed us a picture of a plane cockpit with the pilot's hand still holding on to wheel, but he was nonchalant about that and was mainly interesting in the fact that the plane's clock had frozen so you could tell the exact time of the crash. After talking about the digs, conversation got really freaking dull, and I fell asleep with my head on the little table in the room. I was out hardcore, and I didn't even realize it.
Bob and Sergei talked for hours and after I woke up from my short (about 1/2 hour) nap, I couldn't go to sleep again till we were only 2 hours away from Novgorod.
Our hotel in Novgorod was quite nice. We got breakfast once we got in. It was really gross, but it was free, so that was nice. We had canned peas and hot dogs. That was literally breakfast. Odd. That day we toured Novgorod. It was beautiful. Our tour guide was insane. She was this Russian lady Marc (our prof) knows from doing orphanage work in some little town outside Novgorod. She was… long-winded. Very long-winded. Very. She just kept rambling on about everything.
Actually before we met up with her, we went around the city museum, which was interesting - all kinds of artifacts from ancient times (Novgorod is the oldest city in Russia).
We did spend the night in Novgorod. I slept really well, cuz Keith and I roomed together, and neither of us snore. Plus I was exhausted, cuz I'd slept about 8 hours total the last three days.
The next day we basically did nothing till we left by bus for Petersburg.
Yesterday we went to this really strange play, which started out with some fat guy in a kilt getting naked. Strange. Then the rest of the play was the actors just yelling at each other. The acting was actually pretty good, tho.
After the play Keith, Marie and I wandered around looking for a Kofe Hauz with WiFi, but we couldn't find one ever; the ones in this city don't have WiFi. Right now I'm in "The Ideal Cup" (Идеалная Чашка), which isn't that far from the hostel and does have WiFi (100 rubles/hr - yes, I broke. I'm spelling it correctly now).
Anyway, so we did end up at a Kofe Hauz, and I had the best bliny in the world. (Bliny, by the way, is like a crepe, except Russian). Mine was covered with chocolate and had ice cream and pirouettes. Delicious and only 120 rubles.
Today we went down Nevsky Prospect, "the main drag of Petersburg," to quote Marc. I bought Anna a sweet gift. Really sweet. You'll love it! … Or else.
Anyway, it was kind of interesting, kind of boring, until Sean (the guy who was stuck in Germany), got mugged and had his wallet stolen. He's having a bad time.
That basically takes me up to where I am now. No pictures from Petersburg yet, but I'm gonna upload my pics from Novgorod in a second.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
a very quick post
Alright, so I'm in Petersburg now. In case you were wondering, it is definitely much cooler to call it Petersburg and drop the "Saint". I'm typing downstairs in the hostel. It's 12:50 in the evening here, and the reception closes at 1:00, so I'll give a very brief synopsis of the last few days.
The night before we left, I had a great and long conversation with the people who worked at Godzillas. They were all really nice, and it was so interesting to here their opinions on everything. We talked about stereotypes about America and Russia, politics, oil, their opinions on Putin (all but one of them loved him - said he did amazing things in the couple years he's been in office, and it's true; Moscow has changed a lot).
Anyway, the lady at the desk just told me their closing in five minutes, so this synopsis is gonna get a lot shorter.
We took a sleeper-train to Novgorod, toured the city, saw one play, took a bus to Petersburg. I tried to get on WiFi in one of the four Kofe Hauzes we passed on ONE STREET (Kofe Hauz is the Starbucks of Russia), but the Petersburg Kofe Hauzes don't have WiFi. In fact I couldn't find any.
Gotta go!
The night before we left, I had a great and long conversation with the people who worked at Godzillas. They were all really nice, and it was so interesting to here their opinions on everything. We talked about stereotypes about America and Russia, politics, oil, their opinions on Putin (all but one of them loved him - said he did amazing things in the couple years he's been in office, and it's true; Moscow has changed a lot).
Anyway, the lady at the desk just told me their closing in five minutes, so this synopsis is gonna get a lot shorter.
We took a sleeper-train to Novgorod, toured the city, saw one play, took a bus to Petersburg. I tried to get on WiFi in one of the four Kofe Hauzes we passed on ONE STREET (Kofe Hauz is the Starbucks of Russia), but the Petersburg Kofe Hauzes don't have WiFi. In fact I couldn't find any.
Gotta go!
Monday, January 15, 2007
another fairly tame episode...
Hamlet last night was ... interesting. Marc really liked it. Actually I think a bunch of people really liked it. I was torn. I really liked some stuff: the scenes, transitions, lighting all seemed brilliant to me. However, the play was made into a comedy, which I felt made light of the whole "to be or not to be" concept. I had a lengthy discussion with Marc last night about how it is Russian tradition to make a joke out of difficult subjects. So I understand where the director was going with this, but I still didn't like that general idea. For instance, the second scene is Hamlet and Claudius apparently "mocking" each other at the dinner table. It includes a good deal of squawking and cawing between the two. I thought this instance, along with many others, was ridiculous and destroyed the potential for a moving performance. Most of the nuance was destroyed, as if the director thought the audience would be too dumb to understand quieter acting or inuendo. One thing I really liked about it, though, was they showed NONE of the deaths. This was the only time when nuance survived. Ophelia came out sopping wet, symbolising having drowned herself; Polonius stood behind a curtain and without being physically stabbed was taken away by the ghost of Hamlet's father; etc. etc. etc. It was very visual, interestingly done, but I felt nonetheless that the director shouldn't have made it so ridiculously comic.
That's it. Today I'm off on the train to Novgorod. It leaves at 9 tonight, and we have no play, so basically the day is free. Who knows what we'll do! (sarcasm intended)
That's it. Today I'm off on the train to Novgorod. It leaves at 9 tonight, and we have no play, so basically the day is free. Who knows what we'll do! (sarcasm intended)
...
not much for news
Today a group of us is just wandering around Moscow.
I had really expensive bliny and grapefruit juice for lunch.
Tonight we're seeing Hamlet at the Moscow Art Theater (МХТ, pronounced mmm-hot).
I've also come to decide that I don't think ANYbody spells it "roubles" or "copecks", but I think I'm going to stick with them anyway. More fun, but I certainly wouldn't recommend using those spellings. People probably would think you were confused and didn't know what the heck you were writing.
That's really about it.
Today a group of us is just wandering around Moscow.
I had really expensive bliny and grapefruit juice for lunch.
Tonight we're seeing Hamlet at the Moscow Art Theater (МХТ, pronounced mmm-hot).
I've also come to decide that I don't think ANYbody spells it "roubles" or "copecks", but I think I'm going to stick with them anyway. More fun, but I certainly wouldn't recommend using those spellings. People probably would think you were confused and didn't know what the heck you were writing.
That's really about it.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Yes, there are Roma...
Right now I'm sitting next to a German guy. He's talking on some video internet thing to a friend. He just for some reason video-taped me. ???
Yesterday a bunch of us went to the Pushkin Gallery. It was surprisingly small. It was good but not impressively so. My favorite piece there was called "Burned-Out Violin" by Fernandez Arnand or something lie that. It was really interesting. 3D, actually burned out violin in some kind of plastic-like clear casing. Lots of good paintings, not many great.
Then we went to two one-act operas. They were pretty good, the second better than the first.
Today I was feeling basically all better, but now I feel sick again.
We went to a 3-hour ballet this afternoon. I wasn't a big fan (I'm sure you're all shocked). But it was inside the Kremlin wall, so that was interesting. Right next to a beautiful church. I'll try and upload pictures tomorrow.
Then we went to a sort of new-aged play called the Apple Thief. It was really interesting, but almost nothing like the script we read for it, which made it confusing. I understood quite a bit of the Russian, tho. That was fun. Before the play a few of us grabbed dinner at a Coca-Cola kiosk (it was the only one we could find open). We got pirozhki (only 20 roubles), but they tasted like greasy un-baked dough boiled in grease and "filled" (only about a third of mine was "filled") with greasy hamburger meat. Mmm! I know you're jealous.
Oh, and yes, there are Roma here. Actually I don't know if they count as Roma, maybe just sad old babushkas with no teeth. It's certainly not as bad as many places in Europe. Probably just too cold here.
I think that's about all I have for now. We leave Moscow at 9 pm on Tuesday. I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep!
PS - no news on getting my Skype working...
Address in Petersburg (tho Marc says probably nothing will get there, it takes too long): St. Petersburg International Hostel/3 Sovetskaya ul., 28/St. Petersburg
Yesterday a bunch of us went to the Pushkin Gallery. It was surprisingly small. It was good but not impressively so. My favorite piece there was called "Burned-Out Violin" by Fernandez Arnand or something lie that. It was really interesting. 3D, actually burned out violin in some kind of plastic-like clear casing. Lots of good paintings, not many great.
Then we went to two one-act operas. They were pretty good, the second better than the first.
Today I was feeling basically all better, but now I feel sick again.
We went to a 3-hour ballet this afternoon. I wasn't a big fan (I'm sure you're all shocked). But it was inside the Kremlin wall, so that was interesting. Right next to a beautiful church. I'll try and upload pictures tomorrow.
Then we went to a sort of new-aged play called the Apple Thief. It was really interesting, but almost nothing like the script we read for it, which made it confusing. I understood quite a bit of the Russian, tho. That was fun. Before the play a few of us grabbed dinner at a Coca-Cola kiosk (it was the only one we could find open). We got pirozhki (only 20 roubles), but they tasted like greasy un-baked dough boiled in grease and "filled" (only about a third of mine was "filled") with greasy hamburger meat. Mmm! I know you're jealous.
Oh, and yes, there are Roma here. Actually I don't know if they count as Roma, maybe just sad old babushkas with no teeth. It's certainly not as bad as many places in Europe. Probably just too cold here.
I think that's about all I have for now. We leave Moscow at 9 pm on Tuesday. I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep!
PS - no news on getting my Skype working...
Address in Petersburg (tho Marc says probably nothing will get there, it takes too long): St. Petersburg International Hostel/3 Sovetskaya ul., 28/St. Petersburg
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Adventures in Moscow
So last night after uploading pictures to the blog at Kofe Hauz, Susan and I were approached by a man named George. George is originally from Armenia, but he has disowned that country. Now Moscow is his home. He has many famous relatives who live in Moscow. He speaks English. He began his conversation with us by showing us a two-pence coin and asking where it came from and how much it was worth. When we answered, he began telling us all about how he runs a "Com-Club" (pronounced like "come" - at this point I didn't want the conversation to continue... "come-club"... think about it). And he told us he had a website at www.comclub.ru I thought it was going to be porn, but he made us look at it. Apparently he runs an "English Communications Club" (hence the abbreviation com). He was very odd, but nice. Mainly quirky, tho. He said English was his "second life" and that he has nothing to do with Armenia. He has "strong roots in Moscow". Anyway, odd.
But the night was just beginning!
So I should have mentioned this before, but here it is: We couldn't go to the regular Kofe Hauz, because that closes at 11, and we just got there at 11, so we went farther away down a couple creepy streets ("death alleys" as we've come to affectionately call them). So we were quite a ways from the hostel and walking down poorly light streets at about 1:30 on a Friday night (Saturday morning, actually) in Moscow.
Back to the story. As we were walking past the expensive Produkti (Азбука Вкуса) we came across a woman riding a horse down the sidewalk. ! And she wasn't a cop or anything. Just some random woman with a horse in the middle of Moscow.
Then we came up to a major intersection between streets and there was a row of cars parked in front of a chic restaurant called Green (Грин, transliterally "Grin"). Behind that row of cars was another row of cars also facing the restaurant, but all with the motors running and the left blinker going. ???
Then while we were waiting to cross the street, two young men speaking highly accented English came up behind us. Then they started speaking Italian to each other. Then they started talking to me in rapid-fire Russian. I got them to switch to English; they were looking for the metro, but they were really sketchy.
Then after we'd crossed the street, we saw a car start driving down the sidewalk. Just driving down the sidewalk. Then another car started driving in reverse toward us down an alley with cars parked on both sides.
Finally when we got in sight of the hostel we just ran the rest of the way.
VERY strange night.
PS - My Skype isn't working, so scratch what I said about my being on Skype tonight.
But the night was just beginning!
So I should have mentioned this before, but here it is: We couldn't go to the regular Kofe Hauz, because that closes at 11, and we just got there at 11, so we went farther away down a couple creepy streets ("death alleys" as we've come to affectionately call them). So we were quite a ways from the hostel and walking down poorly light streets at about 1:30 on a Friday night (Saturday morning, actually) in Moscow.
Back to the story. As we were walking past the expensive Produkti (Азбука Вкуса) we came across a woman riding a horse down the sidewalk. ! And she wasn't a cop or anything. Just some random woman with a horse in the middle of Moscow.
Then we came up to a major intersection between streets and there was a row of cars parked in front of a chic restaurant called Green (Грин, transliterally "Grin"). Behind that row of cars was another row of cars also facing the restaurant, but all with the motors running and the left blinker going. ???
Then while we were waiting to cross the street, two young men speaking highly accented English came up behind us. Then they started speaking Italian to each other. Then they started talking to me in rapid-fire Russian. I got them to switch to English; they were looking for the metro, but they were really sketchy.
Then after we'd crossed the street, we saw a car start driving down the sidewalk. Just driving down the sidewalk. Then another car started driving in reverse toward us down an alley with cars parked on both sides.
Finally when we got in sight of the hostel we just ran the rest of the way.
VERY strange night.
PS - My Skype isn't working, so scratch what I said about my being on Skype tonight.
Friday, January 12, 2007
pictures as promised
Here we go…
This is a picture from the theater we went to tonight (it was really good! I'll write more about it later). The woman here played Lena in the learning Russian program we watch for Russian language class. I thought it was hilarious. I didn't realize she was a real actress; the skits she was in that I've seen were… um… low quality.
Susan and I have improved in our ability to make breakfast!
Stained glass in the Moscow subway. I still haven't been on the circle line. I'm gonna stop writing about what I will do and just write what I have done, because plans always seem to change. The metro is absolutely beautiful, tho. I would never have thought statuary and stained glass in a subway.
Anna, this reminded me of Prague, so I had to get a picture.
Pirated DVDs are sold on the street. Here you can buy Apocalypto, Happy Feet, The Pursuit of Happiness… and all dubbed into Russian!
a great picture of a dingy area of Moscow. In the corner Becca's face basically says it all.
some random really pretty building along the road; I think this was on the way to the Tretyakov.
All the churches in Moscow look like this. I love the cupolas.
That's about it. I've decided I will get on Skype before I leave Moscow, so if you want to talk to me, I'll probably be on again tomorrow around 11-12 pm my time. Either send me your Skype name and just leave your Skype up, or contact me. My name is halverso.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
This is a picture from the theater we went to tonight (it was really good! I'll write more about it later). The woman here played Lena in the learning Russian program we watch for Russian language class. I thought it was hilarious. I didn't realize she was a real actress; the skits she was in that I've seen were… um… low quality.
Susan and I have improved in our ability to make breakfast!
Stained glass in the Moscow subway. I still haven't been on the circle line. I'm gonna stop writing about what I will do and just write what I have done, because plans always seem to change. The metro is absolutely beautiful, tho. I would never have thought statuary and stained glass in a subway.
Anna, this reminded me of Prague, so I had to get a picture.
Pirated DVDs are sold on the street. Here you can buy Apocalypto, Happy Feet, The Pursuit of Happiness… and all dubbed into Russian!
a great picture of a dingy area of Moscow. In the corner Becca's face basically says it all.
some random really pretty building along the road; I think this was on the way to the Tretyakov.
All the churches in Moscow look like this. I love the cupolas.
That's about it. I've decided I will get on Skype before I leave Moscow, so if you want to talk to me, I'll probably be on again tomorrow around 11-12 pm my time. Either send me your Skype name and just leave your Skype up, or contact me. My name is halverso.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Snow! (sort of)
Yesterday we went to Mosfilm (as I mentioned before). It was amazing! We toured a city set ("Old Moscow"); that was especially cool. They even had fake churches with cupolas. Everything was lifesize. It was really interesting. We also got to see their sound studio (third biggest in the world). Then to end the tour we met with the PRESIDENT of Mosfilm - think if there were a president of Hollywood, one of the most important people in Russia. And he talked with us, answered our questions, for an hour or so! His name is Karen Shakhnazarov (Карен Шахназаров KAAH-ryen is a boy's name in Russia); he's made a ton of really important films in Russia. He spoke English quite well, so that was nice, too. But it was unbelievable. We sat in a room with two oscars and an uncountable number of other foreign trophies, etc. This is probably my favorite thing we've done so far on the trip!
Today we went to the Mayakovsky museum. It was really interesting. Strange architecture, futurist art, sketches, an upside-down portrait of Nicholas II. It's supposedly one of the "1000 places to visit before you die". Then we wandered around a bit. I rock at navigating the subway now! I also got dad a present. Not gonna tell you what, but it's hard to find in the States.
That's about it for now. I promise to put up more pictures tonight. We're going to some ultra-modern theater tonight and then taking the circle line (finally!). Then I'll go to Kofe Hauz and upload to the blog. One last thing: We have 5 people now in our room. It's not terribly tight, but everybody but Rusty and I snore.
Oh! And it snowed/sleeted/mainly rained today. Nothing's white, but it washes away some of the mud.
Today we went to the Mayakovsky museum. It was really interesting. Strange architecture, futurist art, sketches, an upside-down portrait of Nicholas II. It's supposedly one of the "1000 places to visit before you die". Then we wandered around a bit. I rock at navigating the subway now! I also got dad a present. Not gonna tell you what, but it's hard to find in the States.
That's about it for now. I promise to put up more pictures tonight. We're going to some ultra-modern theater tonight and then taking the circle line (finally!). Then I'll go to Kofe Hauz and upload to the blog. One last thing: We have 5 people now in our room. It's not terribly tight, but everybody but Rusty and I snore.
Oh! And it snowed/sleeted/mainly rained today. Nothing's white, but it washes away some of the mud.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
a quick note before I'm off...
Yesterday we (Divi and I) ended up doing nothing. Both of us felt kind of sick (me more so). The guy who was stuck in Germany finally got here last night. I really enjoyed The Inspector General, it seems like children's theater to me, although it apparently wasn't. Teresa and I had some kind of stuffed pasta for dinner last night (at midnight). That was a nice break from the usual. Marc (our prof) informed us yesterday also that the Azbuka Vkusa grocery store to which we're been going basically since we got here is one of the most expensive in Moscow - so THAT'S why I haven't been eating very much for the last week. Anyway, last night we stopped by at a fairly slummy - but cheap! - Produkty (again, grocery store for those of you not up on their Russian) and bought the little noodly things. That reminds me, not at all to do with Russia, but if you haven't heard of the Pastafarians, wikipedia them immediately - hilarious!
So today we're getting a tour of MosFilm. It's the Hollywood of Europe. The produce more movies than anywhere outside of Hollywood (and I think Balliwood). For sure they produce the most in all of Europe (if you can call Moscow "Europe" - which I really don't think you can). So that's my schedule for today. I think I might be pretty busy until I fall asleep tonight, but if I get a chance to sneak away to Kofe Hauz, I'll upload some pics.
So today we're getting a tour of MosFilm. It's the Hollywood of Europe. The produce more movies than anywhere outside of Hollywood (and I think Balliwood). For sure they produce the most in all of Europe (if you can call Moscow "Europe" - which I really don't think you can). So that's my schedule for today. I think I might be pretty busy until I fall asleep tonight, but if I get a chance to sneak away to Kofe Hauz, I'll upload some pics.
morning in Moscow
Divi: Everything that can go wrong, does.
me: What's that called?
Divi: In Russia ... "life".
This exchange took place after, on our way to Azbuka Vkusa (aka Produkty, our friendly neighborhood grocery store), we got sprayed by a car wheeling through one of the many mud puddles that fill the giant pot-holes along the sidewalk.
another priceless Divi quote: When I first read The Crucible, I thought the title meant "someone who is able to be crucified."
So yeah, not really much for news. I got up at 9 this morning, and we had a very long class period, during which we read from The Inspector General by Gogol, which we'll be seeing tonight. Then Divi and I went to the grocery store to get lunch. I got two bliny, one with apples (блин с яблоками) and one with some kind of meat - I'm guessing it was pork (блин с мясом). That was good. Then I ALSO had a yogurt and water. I can't wait to be able to eat until I'm full!
I'm thinking today I'm gonna take it easy (I'm tired and sort of sick); I'll probably ride the circle line of the metro (that's supposed to be the prettiest, with the most statuary and mosaics). Maybe tonight I'll upload some more pictures.
me: What's that called?
Divi: In Russia ... "life".
This exchange took place after, on our way to Azbuka Vkusa (aka Produkty, our friendly neighborhood grocery store), we got sprayed by a car wheeling through one of the many mud puddles that fill the giant pot-holes along the sidewalk.
another priceless Divi quote: When I first read The Crucible, I thought the title meant "someone who is able to be crucified."
So yeah, not really much for news. I got up at 9 this morning, and we had a very long class period, during which we read from The Inspector General by Gogol, which we'll be seeing tonight. Then Divi and I went to the grocery store to get lunch. I got two bliny, one with apples (блин с яблоками) and one with some kind of meat - I'm guessing it was pork (блин с мясом). That was good. Then I ALSO had a yogurt and water. I can't wait to be able to eat until I'm full!
I'm thinking today I'm gonna take it easy (I'm tired and sort of sick); I'll probably ride the circle line of the metro (that's supposed to be the prettiest, with the most statuary and mosaics). Maybe tonight I'll upload some more pictures.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
a day at the museum
Yesterday we went to a play called Radio Day (День Радио). It was a comedy and apparently was hilarious, however as it was entirely in Russian, the jokes were all lost on me and I found it tedious. I fell asleep quite a bit.
Anyway, today we didn't have a play to see, so we had the entire day free.
After a delicious breakfeast of sausage-in-lavash AND A BANANA, we had class for an hour and then headed out into Moscow. A couple of us went to the Tretyakov museum (one of the best museums I've ever been to). Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside the museum, so you'll all just have to imagine. They have an enormous icon collection - mom you would have loved it. A very interesting one we saw was "Christ, The King of Glory" (cf. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/03/26/arts/26kimm_slide2.184.jpg).
We also saw a lot of icons of the Dormition. I wasn't familiar with these, and I was surprised to see the Virgin lying dead with Jesus standing over her holding some little baby wrapped up like a mummy. Strange, but these Dormition icons were all over.
We also saw Silver Age, Russian impressionism, tsarist portraiture, etc etc etc. I thought it was very interesting, because all of the art was Russian, and I had heard of none of the artists except Repin and Vereshchagin. All of the art was just as good as anything one would expect to find in an American or European museum, and yet none of us (including art and art history majors) had ever heard of these painters or seen their works in books, etc. My personal favorite was Grabar's "Chrysanthemums" (http://www.agniart.ru/imgoods/D/012145/Grabar_17044.jpg - this picture isn't great, but it's the best I could find). Other great artists I enjoyed enough to write their names down were Shcherin, Chrutsky, Dubovekov, Vereshchagin (he had a very nice room all to himself with a nearly full-wall painting at one end, and most of one of the adjacent walls was covered with studies he did for the large painting), and last but not least Surikov.
Susan wanted to buy a poster from the shop, so I talked to the cashier. She was impressed with my Russian and asked me, "Are you studying Russian?" I said, "What?" She said, "Are you studying Russian?" "Yes." "You speak very well in Russian!" "Thank you," I said, flattered, "thank you very much!" Then she repeated that I speak well and immediately followed that with a long sentence of which I understood absolutely nothing. Ironic.
After navigating the metro at rush-hour, we finally got back to lovely Godzillas. The rest of the group met there, and seven of us went out to dinner at this Ukrainian restaurant a block away from Kofe Hauz. We actually learned about the restaurant yesterday when some guy working there dressed up in what apparently is traditional Ukrainian drab came up to us and (in Russian of course - no one in this entire country seems to speak God's language, English) he asked us to come to his restaurant. We told him we would tomorrow (today), and he gave each of us business cards.
Anyway the restaurant was very good and pretty cheap. I got some really good chicken noodle soup with croutons, bread and kvas and it only cost 150 roubles with tip (10% in Russia). If you're wondering what kvas is, I'll tell ya: Rye bread sits in water with raisins and/or apples and is allowed to ferment; it may or may not be alcoholic at this point. So that's kvas, and it's (I've heard) very popular here in the Motherland. It actually tasted good (and it was really cheap). Our menus were in Russian, Ukrainian and English. The English translations, however, were often really bad. For example, one of the first items on the list was "smoked lard". We dared one of the guys to order it. He did. I guess you eat lard with spicy lard sauce in Ukraine, so that's what he did. It looked awful, and it wasn't cheap, but when in Rome (or Russia, as the case may be).
So that brings me to where I am now, typing on this blog and thinking about how much it would suck to be stuck on campus over J-Term, and how muddy and expensive my life has become.
Anyway, today we didn't have a play to see, so we had the entire day free.
After a delicious breakfeast of sausage-in-lavash AND A BANANA, we had class for an hour and then headed out into Moscow. A couple of us went to the Tretyakov museum (one of the best museums I've ever been to). Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside the museum, so you'll all just have to imagine. They have an enormous icon collection - mom you would have loved it. A very interesting one we saw was "Christ, The King of Glory" (cf. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/03/26/arts/26kimm_slide2.184.jpg).
We also saw a lot of icons of the Dormition. I wasn't familiar with these, and I was surprised to see the Virgin lying dead with Jesus standing over her holding some little baby wrapped up like a mummy. Strange, but these Dormition icons were all over.
We also saw Silver Age, Russian impressionism, tsarist portraiture, etc etc etc. I thought it was very interesting, because all of the art was Russian, and I had heard of none of the artists except Repin and Vereshchagin. All of the art was just as good as anything one would expect to find in an American or European museum, and yet none of us (including art and art history majors) had ever heard of these painters or seen their works in books, etc. My personal favorite was Grabar's "Chrysanthemums" (http://www.agniart.ru/imgoods/D/012145/Grabar_17044.jpg - this picture isn't great, but it's the best I could find). Other great artists I enjoyed enough to write their names down were Shcherin, Chrutsky, Dubovekov, Vereshchagin (he had a very nice room all to himself with a nearly full-wall painting at one end, and most of one of the adjacent walls was covered with studies he did for the large painting), and last but not least Surikov.
Susan wanted to buy a poster from the shop, so I talked to the cashier. She was impressed with my Russian and asked me, "Are you studying Russian?" I said, "What?" She said, "Are you studying Russian?" "Yes." "You speak very well in Russian!" "Thank you," I said, flattered, "thank you very much!" Then she repeated that I speak well and immediately followed that with a long sentence of which I understood absolutely nothing. Ironic.
After navigating the metro at rush-hour, we finally got back to lovely Godzillas. The rest of the group met there, and seven of us went out to dinner at this Ukrainian restaurant a block away from Kofe Hauz. We actually learned about the restaurant yesterday when some guy working there dressed up in what apparently is traditional Ukrainian drab came up to us and (in Russian of course - no one in this entire country seems to speak God's language, English) he asked us to come to his restaurant. We told him we would tomorrow (today), and he gave each of us business cards.
Anyway the restaurant was very good and pretty cheap. I got some really good chicken noodle soup with croutons, bread and kvas and it only cost 150 roubles with tip (10% in Russia). If you're wondering what kvas is, I'll tell ya: Rye bread sits in water with raisins and/or apples and is allowed to ferment; it may or may not be alcoholic at this point. So that's kvas, and it's (I've heard) very popular here in the Motherland. It actually tasted good (and it was really cheap). Our menus were in Russian, Ukrainian and English. The English translations, however, were often really bad. For example, one of the first items on the list was "smoked lard". We dared one of the guys to order it. He did. I guess you eat lard with spicy lard sauce in Ukraine, so that's what he did. It looked awful, and it wasn't cheap, but when in Rome (or Russia, as the case may be).
So that brings me to where I am now, typing on this blog and thinking about how much it would suck to be stuck on campus over J-Term, and how muddy and expensive my life has become.
Monday, January 8, 2007
back at Кофе Хауз
Alright, so I'm back at Kofe Hauz, and as promised, here are my pictures from the last couple days:
Susan jay walking. Jay walking is a 20 rouble fine (that's about 75 cents).
Here's an add for Charlotte's Web. This made me think of you, Grandma!
entrance to the flea market
raw meat in China Town
The Moscow Subway is beautiful. It has these statues all over.
another statue in the subway...
a dismal park with bears
another dismal park; This one is right down the road from our hostel
some sign; I don't know what it says, but it looks funny.
group photo in front of Saint Basil's on Red Square; This was supposed to be our "stoic Russian" photo, but Becca couldn't contain herself.
some golden cupolas in the distance
dessert/lunch at the Kofe Hauz stand in the GUM shopping center; Mine's the purple one. It was called "forest berry cheesecake". (Forest berries are either the same thing as blackberries, or something was lost in translation...) 150 roubles and delicious.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the distance (that's the one whose name I didn't know before)
another of the same cathedral; interesting side comment: Often in his widely acclaimed movie, Borat talks about his "khram" and grabs his crotch. Khram (Храм) in Russian actually means "church".
My last picture for the day is the sun making a brief appearance over a pirozhki stand.
Susan jay walking. Jay walking is a 20 rouble fine (that's about 75 cents).
Here's an add for Charlotte's Web. This made me think of you, Grandma!
entrance to the flea market
raw meat in China Town
The Moscow Subway is beautiful. It has these statues all over.
another statue in the subway...
a dismal park with bears
another dismal park; This one is right down the road from our hostel
some sign; I don't know what it says, but it looks funny.
group photo in front of Saint Basil's on Red Square; This was supposed to be our "stoic Russian" photo, but Becca couldn't contain herself.
some golden cupolas in the distance
dessert/lunch at the Kofe Hauz stand in the GUM shopping center; Mine's the purple one. It was called "forest berry cheesecake". (Forest berries are either the same thing as blackberries, or something was lost in translation...) 150 roubles and delicious.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the distance (that's the one whose name I didn't know before)
another of the same cathedral; interesting side comment: Often in his widely acclaimed movie, Borat talks about his "khram" and grabs his crotch. Khram (Храм) in Russian actually means "church".
My last picture for the day is the sun making a brief appearance over a pirozhki stand.
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