I promise, I'll get some pictures up soon!

For now, just words. Sorry.

The last week has been exhilarating, hilarious, depressing and exhausting by turns. More good than bad, certainly. I feel like I'm starting to get settled into life in Moscow, which is nice because there are occasional moments when I feel like this is normal. At the same time, it means that I've settled into a sort of routine and there are moments where I feel like this is normal. It's... confusing.

ANYWAY the point is that overall, I like being in Moscow. Last Friday all of us went to see the Russian National Dance Show, which sounds like it'd be very serious and ballet-filled when in fact it was a complete farce of a show that grew increasingly bizarre as it went on. I mean it was great--the dancers were excellent and it was a lot of fun. The first half of the show was an approximate history of Moscow, starting with some Vikings landing on the shore and drinking and strutting about with swords. They skipped through the whole centuries-of-serfdom part rather quickly, though there were some charming peasant-ish dancers who seemed to be pretty happy about their lot in life. Lots of vaguely Russian Orthodox costumes as well as plenty of royalty. PLUS there was this one dance in a tea house where this random dancer in a horse costume came in and joined the fun. The history lesson ended with a group of dancers marching in red overalls with various agricultural and industrial tools in their hands with a huge Soviet flag waving in the background, interrupted by a group of ladies in white dresses with umbrellas, interrupted by Yuri Gagarin and a ballerina en pointe, interrupted by all of the above for a rousing finale. The second half, to be honest, was a little long--it was just a bunch of random dances, some old, some new, some downright weird. I'm fairly certain the music was all composed on a computer--none of the instruments sounded real. Plus this random guy would come out in a magician's outfit every once in a while and sing us a song and kind of jiggle around the stage for a bit. Highlights of the half included some dancers in big sparkly fur coats and a pair of dancers in HUGE duck costumes who were chased through a company of other dancers by a guy with a gun that spewed fireworks. It was an experience.

Saturday we went to a market where you had to bargain--scary, considering that I don't really know any Russian yet, particularly numbers. As a result, I only ended up getting a wallet, but I did really need it and it was cheap, so I knew the numbers he was using. After that we went to Red Square and Liz tried to catch a pigeon, but due to various uncooperative Russians, she was unsuccessful. Next time. Lots of pictures of St. Basil's and the outside of Lenin's tomb, wherein lies his mummified corpse (it was closed, but I'm definitely going back). The rest of the weekend I spent sleeping and hanging out and doing a little work.

A note: I promise not to get too political on this blog, but I just want to say that Sarah Palin is truly a national embarrassment. It's come up more than once. Anyway. I'm really enjoying being with all of these International Relations majors, because they're very informed and interesting people. I'm reading a book I borrowed from Elena called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which is an autobiography of a man who was involved in very high-level deception in negotiations between US engineering and construction firms and countries whose natural resources were potentially useful to the US (particularly oil in Latin America and the Middle East, but others too). I realized as I was reading this book that I know pretty much nothing about what's happened in the world between WWII and about two years ago; I would say I'm fairly well informed about the current state of things, at least in US politics, but I was frankly shocked at how much of the information in this book was new to me. I'm really looking forward to taking history and PoliSci classes while I'm here and learning more about all of this.

As for Russian, this week has been kind of rough so far. Yesterday was the first time I felt like I really should have just gone to France. It's becoming more and more difficult to keep up in my Russian class; it's supposed to be intensive, but we're moving so fast I can barely keep up. I'm not the only one who's struggling and we only have three more days of intensive (so we'll be going from 5 hours a day to 8 hours a week), so I'll survive, but I'm beginning to realize why Russian is considered a difficult language to learn; all these cases and genders and numbers and groups and other little differentiations that make all the difference. Today was definitely better, though, and the more I study the better I do, so it's only a matter of time.

Also today we went to a bookstore with a big English-language section, which was fun fun fun. Not only did the three of us geek out and peruse books and talk about books and just hold books for a while, but I got to buy school supplies and they are freaking awesome. I still get a little excited about school supplies, guys, not gonna lie. I'm making myself a dictionary of all the words I know in Russian as we go along (basically an organized vocabulary list), an idea I stole from Liz, so I got a notebook just for that and tabs with all the Russian letters on them. This notebook was intended for Russian students taking English, because it says аиглийский язык (English language) on one side and словарь (dictionary) on the other, and it has a little English grammar summary on the inside cover (irregular plurals like "feet", irregular verbs like "to be"), and I like it. It appeals to me that I'm an English(-speaking) student taking Russian and using this book for its purpose, except backwards. I also have those little tabs with sticky backs so I can flag things in my texts. HOORAY I love having the potential to be organized. ALSO I bought a portable tea mug that looks like a Matroyshka doll because Russians drink practically nothing but tea and it'll be awesome to have tea on the Metro when it gets really cold. Plus, it looks like a Matryoshka doll. As if it weren't already obvious that I'm not Russian...

Anyway, I'm heading to Kiev this weekend, which should be great! We're taking an overnight train on Friday, so we'll be in Ukraine from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon, at which point we get on another overnight train that will get us into Moscow at 6:30 AM on Monday, at which point we'll basically go directly to school. It should be interesting.

пака!

Surprise surprise--another crazy week.

On Saturday we went on a bus tour and learned all about all this fantastic city. I've got a bunch of pictures which I will post soon along with probably a very long but very interesting history lesson of sorts. The rest of this week has basically been sleeping, eating, and studying, but I'm still really liking it here.

Yesterday Roxy, Liz and I went to Shokolodnitsa, which is basically the Russian version of Starbucks. I ordered what I thought was hot chocolate but turned out to be a lump of ice cream in a cup of chocolate syrup, which all things considered was a pretty excellent mistake to make. It's nice just to get out of the apartment and do something once in a while, and it's actually more productive to study with a few people because then I don't get so antsy and start to procrastinate.

I'm trying to find an English-language library here because I'm going crazy not having anything to read. I'm told they have one at the British Consulate, so I'll have to check that out, but otherwise the pickings are slim. The English-language bookstore carries Sense and Sensibility and trashy romance novels for wives of diplomats--not exactly what I had in mind. Most of the other students brought at least one book with them, so there are a few options, but I'm feeling a craving for War and Peace or Anna Karenina or something. It's kind of silly, I know, but I'm hankering for a long, depressing Russian novel that I can read at my window when it's snowing and dark at 4:00 in the afternoon in a few months. The weather was absolutely gorgeous through Monday, but now it's started to rain and the forecast is gloomy (that's for the next six months). It's not super cold yet, but definitely sweater weather, which I actually love--right now I'm wearing the ridiculously cozy sweater that my grandma knitted for my dad when he was a kid. The Russian girls, as I think I've mentioned before, dress like they stepped out of Vogue, but I've decided that since there's no chance I'm passing for a Russian anyway, I'm just going to wear what I want.

On Friday we're going to see the Russian National Dance Company do this show that I think is about the history of Moscow, but I can't read the posters so I guess it'll just be a surprise. I really like the other students who are here so far, and we've been doing a lot of things together, so my fears that I'd just spend three months alone in my room can be safely put to rest. Also! We're probably going to take the train to Kiev next weekend before the other students arrive, which is so exciting I can't stand it. A lot of people have big travel plans for the rest of the quarter--Serbia, Istanbul, and Oktoberfest in Munich among them--so I think I'm just going to hop on to whatever plans seem reasonable. Aeroflot has a monopoly on flights out of Russia, so they're super expensive, so I'm thinking I'll mostly just travel within Russia, which is probably the better thing to do anyway. There's so much to do here!

Okay, off to the honey festival. Today our conversation teacher told us that if we have a cold, we're supposed to drink a cup of warm milk with a spoonful of honey and a spoonful of butter in it, which doesn't sound half bad. We're also supposed to mix equal parts cheap vodka ("because it doesn't matter if you aren't drinking it"), vinegar and water and rub it on our calves and feet if we have a fever. She told us it works. I can't say I'm a believer but I guess I'll give it a shot if that happens! Anyway, the honey festival is to encourage independent beekeepers to produce more honey--they account for 95% of Russia's honey production, which is good news considering what's happening to the honey industry in the States. It's supposed to be in some cool old building/museum, so free honey samples + history = good in my book.

Paka!

очии хорошо!

I survived my first week of Russian!

Seriously. I survived!

It was a tough tough week--they've crammed a TON of information into our heads this week. I've been studying my little brains out. The upside is that I can actually have something resembling a real conversation now without too much trouble. The downside is that I'm EXHAUSTED, which I can live with.

We also got our passports back with papers all finished, so now we don't have to be so afraid of the police. Consequently, I've been going around Moscow with a few other students seeing some awesome things. Roxanne and I can see a ferris wheel out our window, so we decided to check it out--turns out it's this exhibition center from the thirties that was a pretty big deal in Soviet times. So a few of us wandered through that on Wednesday. It's this weird juxtaposition of these grand buildings and ornate fountains and statues of triumphant peasants and factory workers against sketchy carnival rides; these days the space is available to whoever wants to rent it, so there are all sorts of trade expos as well as rides like the Condor, which I went on with Roxanne and Carolyn. A little scary--safety regulations here aren't, shall we say, strictly enforced--but it was cool to see that area of Moscow stretched out in front of me. There are just lots of bizarre little things, like the kiddy ride that had a teepee and a little plastic log for the kid to sit in and paddle underneath and the game where you shoot a fake rifle at a target that was themed with cowboys and Indians. They were pumping American music through the speakers throughout the grounds, so we had some Rihanna and Elton John to keep us company. There were also old Soviet planes and rockets and stuff in another area of the grounds, plus we had some мароженое--ice cream--which was weird but tasty.

Yesterday Nastya took us on a little walk up a hill so we could really see all of Moscow before us, which was great. She pointed out the Kremlin and a few other landmarks, and there were all these great little tourist-trap stands selling Matryoshka dolls and fur hats and old military gear. Haven't succumbed yet, but I'm sure I will eventually. I want a fur hat, yo. Anyway, we turned around and right there was Moscow State University! It's an unnecessarily large and imposing building, but very beautiful. Apparently it has the largest campus in the world, but only because it owns a bunch of land in Siberia. (Stanford's second, whoohoo!) It was neat to see, but the best part was just being out in Moscow, somewhere other than my apartment, and talking to Nastya. She's really cool, and apparently her job is to take us where we want to go and hang out with us, including on weekends, which will be awesome because she'll know what's worth seeing. This weekend we're going on a bus tour of Moscow, and while I'm not usually a huge fan of bus tours I'm looking forward to this because we'll finally get to see the Kremlin, and Nastya says the guide is "fun, not boring at all." Plus, this weekend is the celebration of "the birth of Moscow" so there's all sorts of stuff going on, and Nastya's going to wander around with us in the afternoon. Plus it's warm right now--probably 75-80 degrees. We're told that won't last long, so we're going to take advantage of it while we can.

Other random things:

This random Russian student at the Academy came up to us the other day at lunch and wants to be friends, so we're going to meet up this weekend sometime with her and her sister. She loves Americans, which is a rarity these days. We stick out like sore thumbs at the Acadamy though, so I guess there's not much we can do about it--all the girls there are impeccably coiffed and dress like they walked straight out of a magazine, so we look pretty grungy by comparison.

Roxanne and I have decided to make our own бутерброд, or Russian sandwiches (the only difference is that they're open-faced and smaller), for lunch so we don't have to buy them at 40R a pop, so we went to the supermarket this afternoon and got some stuff, managing to complete the transaction without anyone getting severely confused. We're going to save up and have extravagant meals on the weekends. The food we've had so far has been surprisingly tasty; everything I'd heard said that Russian food was terrible as a rule, but Svetlana and the school cafeteria seem to have it down pretty well. However...

On Wednesday, we waited for Svetlana to come home and feed us until 8:30, but then we gave up and went to макдоналдс--McDonald's. It's right up the block and I have to say, it's pretty swanky. They have free wifi and something translated roughly as a McCafe, which has coffee and pastries and stuff--very weird. My cheeseburger had sour cream on it. I love Russians. We also passed a fancy little Sbarro on the way back, looking quite a bit more cleaned up than it does in your average American mall food court.

I'm able to steal wireless from someone in our apartment building on a fairly consistent basis, and it seems to be more reliable than the internet I'd have to pay for, so I'm going to work off that unless it becomes ridiculous. I have to sit right at my window, which is kind of a pain but it's a nice view. Most Russians turn off their routers when they're not using them (if they have them at all, which most don't) to save electricity, but we seem to have found one who doesn't. It's a lucky break. Also, my phone unlock code arrived today so I finally have a Russian number and less outrageous international rates! It's free for me to receive calls and 30 cents/minute to call the US, so I won't be spending hours on the phone but it is an option.

Off to take a nap before dinner--borscht again, hooray!

Another crazy two days!

On Sunday I met Roxanne, who is staying with me and my host mom--we are the only two who requested a "double" in Moscow, so we were put together, which is great--she and I are different in some ways, but she's a huge sweetheart and we get along great. It's also really nice to have someone from home around so I feel less confused around all the time. For example, with Roxanne around I felt okay about venturing out into Moscow to go to the Internet cafe. Our host mom took us there and negotiated computers for us, but we got home all by ourselves. Luckily, I go pretty good at reading Cyrillic this summer even if I know absolutely no Russian, so I could follow the signs to the Metro and figure out which way to get on. Mostly we were nervous just because our papers aren't registered yet and so we'd be in trouble if the police stopped as to check our documents, which they frequently do, especially to obvious foreigners like us. But it went fine and we felt we'd accomplished something. We spent the rest of the day playing Canasta and cobbled together a version of Rummy from two totally different sets of rules. With no books, no computers, no TV and no way were leaving the apartment again, there wasn't a whole lot to do; all in all a fairly boring day, but it was neat to have a chance to hang out and get to know Roxanne. It's going to be great, actually--makes coming home at night a lot safter, for one thing, plus she and a friend are planning on traveling a lot and she's invited me to tag along whenever.

We boht had pretty restless nights, me from a combination of exhaustion, congestion, jetlag and nervous excitement. Luckily, my cold was mostly gone by the time Svetlana knocked on my door at 7AM--"Katye, stand up." The three of us met another student and her host mom at the Metro (which is less than a 5 minute walk from our apartment--awesome), and they set us free to get to teh Yugo-Zapadnaya stop, which is where the Academy of National Economy is. Waiting for us on the platform was Anastasia, or Nastya, as she likes to be called. Shes' the student coordinator, not too much older than us, and she takes care of all the things that we might need--after school she took us to get roubles from the ATM, notebooks, cell phones and 3-month Metro passes, plus she hangs around in the office all day just in case we need anything. Back to the morning, though--there are eight of us in the Intensive Russian class, with nine more students coming in a few weeks--only 17 total! It seems like a great group so far, though--we all get along and everyone is very excited to be here and to learn all the can from the crazy country.

At the Academy--where I guess I'll describe later when I can post pictures--we met Aleksandr Abashkin, or Sasha, the program director. He's fantastic; he's been in charge of the program for 15 years, and he's ridiculously warm and and friendly and funny and helpful. He gave us orientation, which was basically designed to scare the pants off us, which it did. We learned how to bribe the police. No, for real, if they catch you without your papers you can give them the equivalent of $20 to leave you alone. We don't have our papers this week because they're being registered, so if I get stopped we'll see if I can bribe the police knowing about 100 words in Russian. We learned how to say "I'm Canadian" in case anyone asks where we're from. We learned how not to get mugged or kidnapped. All good.

And then we began our first session of intensive Russian. We have two teachers for this class--Leeza, who teaches grammar, and Tatiana, who teaches conversation. Today we had a "special break"--we only had two hours of grammar, by which point we were fried, so they fed us pizza and let us use the internet. Today we began in earnest with five hours a day beginning at 9:45 AM. Since our host mom feeds us a real breakfast every morning and it takes an hour to get there on the Metro, that means I"ll be waking up at 7:30 AM, 5 days a week, for the next three and a half months. God help me.

After all the shopping and email-checking was finished, we headed back to the apartment. It turns out that five of us live on the same Metro line, all within two or three stops of another student, so we can come and go as a group. Svetlana fed us another tasty meal and we hit the books--I made crazy flashcards and wrote out all the words about a million times each. Cyrillic is one thing, but Cyrillic handwriting is ridiculous. It's like cursvie, and all these letters have nothing to do with their printed counterparts and have to connect in weird and unpredictable ways. Today, about the same--but I've got to run, so more tomorrow!