I apologize for this almost “double” post, so soon since my last one, but I need to catch up to the present. The weekend began shortly after my Friday lunch when I headed off to the Higher School of Economics to practice piano on the only grand piano I’m allowed to play:
It’s quite a nice piano. The action is really nice but in the middle of the higher registers the volume drops a bit. Russia doesn’t seem to have piano benches—only in piano stores, and recitals at the conservatory. So I had to put my Russian books on my chair to raise the seat a little bit. They also call grand pianos “Piano Royal.”It’s made by August Foerster, a German Company. I think I like the sound and feel better than Steinway’s but that could be because I have no other piano to compare.
Then Tanya, a friend I met at the dorm when she stopped to listen to me practice on the upright there, called me and said we were going to the Pushkin museum. They had a visiting gallery of the Lichtenstein family. Some of my favorite painters and their pieces were:
Freidrich Gauermann: The Well at Zeelam Lake. Watering Horses at Lake Zell. The Harvest Wagon.
Ferdinand Goerg Waldmuller: View of Moedling.
Thomas Ender: The Gulf of Sorrento.
Jakob Alt: Church at Kaschau.
Jens Lekman: Black Cat.
Then we visited the sculptor part of the museum.
The first room. Actually, one of like three rooms. It was a pretty small exhibit.Tanya got me taking a picture.David. Just a copy though. But I bet you can’t just put this guy into your normal copy machine to make a double.
Then we headed over to Pushkin Cafe after the museum closed and we were forced to leave.
A photo for the tourist picture book of me at Pushkin Cafe. Everything here is outrageously expensive, but we have no intention of eating there anyway.
Next Tanya showed me this grocery store that had taken occupancy in an old Soviet building that looked like an incredible museum.
The groceries look really out of place here with these exquisite decorations. I was finally able to find soymilk here! I bought one Liter and drank almost the whole thing that night when I got back. Unfortunately it was $6 so I haven’t been back to get more.Of course I snapped a shot of the clock. But actually, this specific photo is Tanya’s as it came out better.Tanya! Taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.Disneyland! Or maybe if Disneyland had gotten bombed or something. We call it the “Flea Market.” It has a whole bunch of souvenirs and old postcards, broken cameras, US Military Surplus (no idea how), and all kinds of paraphernalia. We struck gold by finding this place. I bought a couple of Soviet propaganda posters and postcards as well as some gifts.A shot of the left side of the market. It was built to resemble one of the Russian city’s Kremlins.An old mill inside the market area. I don’t know if it ever worked though.
Later that day, Tanya and I decided to go to a honey festival where representatives from 81 provinces in Russia brought honey from their respective areas. The festival had been going on for almost a week now and was almost over so I wanted to get some honey before it closed.
Honey! Everywhere I looked there was honey. And behind each tasting table, there were buckets and buckets of honey. I must have consumed a cup of honey during our time there. Which was alright, because my body was producing a lot of energy to keep me warm. My hands turned purple.An example of me tasting honey. They had all kinds of honey. From clear and spiderwebby, to opaque and cakey or like salty in texture. The different tastes were spread out all over the taste bud map too. They had honey made with strawberries in them, apple honey, eucalyptus honey, mint honey, etc.Tanya tasting honey.I got out my honey to show it off, and then got some on my gloves. So then I proceeded to clean the honey off of them. It worked.My loot. But its not all for me. I bought/sold it for/to people when I came back to the dorm. I kept one of the bears on the right. The best honey I tasted there. It’s super tasty and smooth and beautiful. I eat it with my Kasha (Russian oatmeal) in the morning.
I started a new book the past week and am now into the a good amount of plot. Although, it’s pretty short so it wasn’t too difficult to get there. It’s called Fahrenheit 451. I really like it though. One of my favorite quotes so far is: “How rarely did other people’s faces take of you and throw back to you your own expression, your own innermost trembling thought?” (p11) and I really like “It fed in silence with an occasional sound of inner suffocation and blind searching.” (p14) (in reference to a hose going down a woman’s throat to basically pump her stomach of sleeping pills) Time to read more of it!
Comments
4 responses to “Pushkin, Disneyland, & Honey 2nd October Weekend 9th – 11th”
I see what you did there…maybe…brother (comrade) + joseph (stalin), haha I dunno. Seems appropriate. Yea I’m definitely enjoying my time over here. The math is great, I’m loving Russian composers, and I never run out of sights to see. Just wish I had my bike over here. But hey, you inspired me to make the website. How does it look so far eh? Hope you’re treating UCLA well and that you’re learning some mad cs tricks to pull out of your sleeve. Say hi to everyone for me.
Jennifer
Caleb!
Love that classical grocery store and the flea market. Gawd, Russia is dichotomous!
Yes Russia is indeed dichotomous. And it’s people. We talk about how we can’t understand the inconsistencies of many individuals here. Many of their opinions contradict each other and so it seems like there are at least two people living inside each body.
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