About three weeks ago we decided to go to Kyiv, one week later. But then Chris accidently bought the tickets for the following week and so we had to wait. But on the night of Wednesday 18th of November 2009, we boarded a Russian train and tried to sleep our way to Kyiv.
The Moscow Kievskaya train station. Moscow has individual train stations for each major city to which it sends trains.The inside of the Kievskaya station (Kievskaya is adjective form of Kiev). Yes, that is a hammer & sickle on the center of the back wall.
It was difficult to sleep as we passed through 2 border controls which took about 30 minutes each and occurred around 2 am and 5 am. So I didn’t get much sleep.
I’m awake in the middle of the night on a train in the middle of nowhere. But at least there’s snow!Kyiv! We made it! By the way, the word starting with a “Y” on the right of that billboard spells “Ukraine.” The ї = и (Russian) = i (Roman)
My built-up excitement fueled my adrenaline which powered me through the day.
Let me just say before any further that Kyiv is most definitely, most certainly, without a doubt, 100%, hands down, my favorite of favorite places that we have visited here. It is beautiful. But more than that, it’s comfortable to walk around and explore. Moscow is too big to do this, and so while I am oriented in Moscow by the metro system, I have no idea how to get from one place to another by walking. In Kyiv, one can walk all over the central part of the city and walk down Kreshatik (great street) and not feel overwhelmed like in Moscow. The streets are a more manageable size and so seem more comfortable to walk alongside (you can see what’s on the other side).
On a side note, (that had nothing to do with how much I liked the city whatsoever–maybe a little), the women are gorgeous. We were all stunned. The entire time. Everywhere we looked. I’m not saying Russian women aren’t pretty, just that, wow. And guess what, one can buy one and bring her home, as was advertised all over our tourist guide map. This is actually quite sad and while I read that the government in Belarus is trying to shut this industry down, I haven’t researched yet if Ukraine is doing the same. It’s possible they have, because all of the internet sites attached to the ads didn’t work (it was a little outdated), which is a good thing (of course we tried the websites, we were laughing about how absurd the whole thing was and didn’t believe that the ads were actually real).
On a more serious note, there’s one major difference between the women in Moscow and those in Kyiv: use of high heels. In Moscow, every girl, woman, female toddler (not really), wears high heels all the time. It has gotten to the point where it seems absurd. And most of the population look quite fake, ungenuine, and uncomfortable. In Kyiv, it did not seem as mandatory of a cultural rule. And so their women seemed more natural and comfortable, because they dressed more by choice.
Alright, moving on…some of our travel buddies were hungry so after dropping our stuff off at the hostel, some of us dropped into a Coffee House to fuel-up. I came prepared with breakfast on the train: yogurt, cereal, poppyseed bun. But I got a sandwich and a strawberry shake so I wouldn’t be hungry later.
My sister would be ashamed of me leaving this unfinished strawberry smoothie and whipped cream. But the milk here is weird. They put odd preservatives in it that make it taste funny (terrible) to me.
Then we went to see the city.
The National Music Hall, for performances.A treble clef on the patio out front.
And turning around…
Independence square. Our hostel was about 400 ft down the road in the top right of this photo.Now I’m standing on top of the bridge area looking back at the Music Hall. Cool Clock eh?Roof of the main mall in Kyiv. All of their malls are underground. Usually, they are underneath main intersections and continue underneath the adjoining streets.Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)Ukraine Hotel. It was on the left of the panorama.
Then we headed out the other side of the square and up the hill. Esther in Moscow told us that we miss half the city by not going into the courtyards of apartment complexes alongside the road so we decided to start venturing into them and chose our first.
Inside of a courtyard, apartment area.
It wasn’t that exciting, but in a simple way it was pleasing.
The top of the street opened up to Mykhailivs’ka square. It’s kinda fun imitating statues.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the other side of the square.
And those who oppose the current government:
Communists! We dared not get any closer as we didn’t want to get hurt.
We then headed towards the river to look out over the hill.
This is a cable train that we could take to get down and up the hill. We didn’t take it but it looked fun.I think here it was sealed that this was my favorite city thus far.Overlooking the Dnieper RiverAnd the panorama of the entire view.We turned around and walked back toward Mykhail’s Cathedral. It looked very pretty amidst the trees.We then walked through the park back toward our hostel and found this giant arch which lights up in rainbow colors at night.The entrance to our hostel.The hostel is 4 windows up. The room where I slept is the window with the satellite next to it. I slept on the top bunk just to the right of the window.After visiting the hostel and picking up the rest of our group who had decided to nap we went out again to see the city. This is the southern side of the park from earlier with another bridge over the Dnieper.Kyiv has beaches!A cool entrance to what above reads “Antiquary.”The most racist thing we’ve seen. A Jewish restaurant with a Jewish statue counting his money. And something about a bear.After getting sort of lost in the part of Kyiv that was visible in the panorama overlooking the Dnieper (the part close to the river), we headed toward the hill-range and found this church on the way.This is Andreevsky Street. It has been preserved in an 18th century time period and was wonderful to walk up. It totally transported us back in time.It had this cool statue too that made for fun photos. It reads the dudes name below.Farther up the road an incredible old bus sat.Someone over here has good taste in brands.Almost to the top. Along the sides of this road paintings and other souvenirs were for sale.
Finally, at the top:
Andreevsky Spusk. Unfortunately, the government had let it dilapidate too much before they decided to restore it so we were unable to go inside as it is being renovated.
Plus, blue skies. This day was the first time many of us had seen the sun in about a month. To tell the truth I hadn’t really noticed until this day. I guess I just forgot about it and so it didn’t bother me. Then we headed over to this big cathedral that stuck out over the top of the city. Actually, it was a bell tower for the cathedral.
Days are short now. This is about 4:30 pm and is a preview of Sophie’s Cathedral. We visit it tomorrow.I realized I hadn’t taken any photos of police yet in Moscow. Some drive cars like this with a little different color scheme. The car is a Lada, Russian made.
Finally, we decided to head home. But on the way:
The other side of St. Mykhail’s at night.This globe stood in Independence Square and while we missed it during daytime, we couldn’t miss it at night once illuminated. Some teenagers were hanging out to the left of it. Most of the young folk seemed to loiter around the squares and sidewalks of Kreshatik Street. It made for a very friendly atmosphere.
After getting rather filling pizzas for $3 a piece we walked 20 more ft to the turn in for our hostel for an early night as all of us were wiped.
This week began with a boom. Literally. Apparently on Monday, Dian was sitting in class and heard ‘gunshots.’ At the end of the day, he and the rest of the students who had class were walking home and noticed this car on fire, or what was left of it, sitting on the side of the road:
Aren’t CRV’s supposed to be safe?Check out that paint job. Paint styling like this is not uncommon in Moscow.
So as of today (Nov 21) this car is still there, but with a cover over it. We have no idea what happened but it’s somewhat interesting.
On Saturday, Tanya & I decided to go see the Diamond Fund and so after my morning run we headed out. As we were exiting the student hostel area, we got caught in the middle of a camera crew setting up there equipment to film a scene:
And they even put fake snow down, and all over the tree. They had a cart system for the camera to go through the tunnel on the right.
But we eventually made it to the center, and inside the Kremlin walls.
A little preview of the Kremlin.
This is all we got to see of the Kremlin. And since our tickets were for 2pm we decided to walk around Red Square and the outside walls to kill the time before our Diamond Fund time.
So much brick for the Kremlin walls.Thankfully, the Red Square was open. It has been closed every time we try to come here. (Lenin’s tomb is in the center)St. Basil’s on the left, and one of the Kremlin Wall Towers on the right.Lenin’s tomb. We didn’t go in to see the body this time, but next weekend I hope to go in and see his pink face. (Apparently he has a pink hue to him)St. Basil’s up close.
Since we had more time, we dropped into St. Basil’s to check it out. There are about 9 separate towers/rooms of worship.
The first room of worship inside Basil’s.One of the walls in another room.Looking upward in the same hall.Looking to the right while sitting in the same hall.And finally, to the left showing the door we came in. This was the biggest and tallest hall.
So two Friday’s ago, while we were chillin’ at the IUM, and Lenny was thinking about selling his Oakley gloves to me because they were too big for him, Adeel leaned over and said, “Yeah, Caleb that would be a good idea. Oakley is like Oakland & Berkeley put together so it would be perfect for you.” I had never thought of that before. But it turns out Oakley isn’t from the Bay Area so it would have been a bad idea. Plus, I wear Smith, because…
…even when life moves too fast to capture, you can count on Smith to stay fresh, in focus.
It was now time for our Diamond Fund appointment so we headed back over to the inner Kremlin area. The inside was particularly dark and unfortunately the tour was in Russian. But I was with Tanya so she translated for me; plus, they gave me an information sheet for each exhibit. My favorites were the Platinum with diamonds brooch and a gold and emerald corsage. But everything was pretty amazing. Catherine the Great’s Scepter was pretty incredible. She took the old Russian Scepter and stuck a fat diamond on it that some dude got her from western Europe as a gift. Most of these treasures were declared property of the state by Peter the Great and so have been passed down to each generation. Now they sit in the museum for us to gawk at. But they were impressive. Especially the large pieces of gold (36.2 kg) and platinum (7kg). Check out the wiki page for more information as I was not allowed to take any photos and I forgot to bring the information sheet with me: Diamond Fund. Then we headed back to the outer walls of the Kremlin and decided to walk around before heading home.
The trees outside the Kremlin walls are rather pretty.I called Lenny to help us decide if we were going straight back to the dorm or if we were going to stop at Kievskaya to shop for food supplies.
Later that night Bill came into my room and reminded me of a Rachmaninoff concert that we had been invited to. I completely forgot and sped to get ready. Rachmaninoff’s third concerto was going to be performed by one of the best orchestras in Russia. So we took the metro to the outer parts of Moscow, near the State University actually, and got out to walk to the hall.
This is how we cross the street in Moscow and other cities in the former Soviet Union countries. Underground passage ways.The program for the evening.
This was a huge surprise. Not only were we going to get to see the Rach 3, but Brahms’s 4th Symphony was being performed as well. Stoked!
The orchestra appeared.
And then the pianist came out. She was very good but unfortunately very quiet, and so didn’t quite capture the fervor of the piece. I’m not sure if she wasn’t using enough energy or if the acoustics were just horrible. But the orchestra sounded superb so I’m unsure. I fell asleep during the 2nd movement of the Rach Concerto which meant that it was very good (Plus I was really tired). But I do have a tendency to fall asleep at classical concerts for some reason. I think it just soothes me into a peaceful state and I just relax to the point where I sleep. Anyway, the Brahms Symphony 4 was great and I lasted 3 movements before I drifted again. I was wide awake toward the end and enjoyed it all, including the encore.
And the concert ends after a Liszt Hungarian Dance encore.Perhaps the coolest looking building in the fog in Moscow, the gold up top supposedly solar panels, according to one of the Russians with us.
Naturally, I couldn’t resist taking more photos of this place.
The top of the other side of the building, shorter but still capped with this gold solar panel configuration.These neon lights were ridiculously cool. I wonder if because they are green, then they don’t ruin one’s night vision, or bat’s vision.This is one of the funnest things I’ve seen in Moscow so far. I can’t stop taking photos.Finally, as we were walking away, I got a full photo of the whole building complex.This sign was right above the metro. 4°C is actually warmer than average lately. But it’s still feels super cold.
We rushed home and hung out before I tried to go to sleep only noticing that insomia is beginning to creep up on me. Seems to be happening more and more every semester now. To counter, I read almost a hundred pages in my new book, Hyperion. It’s incredibly complex in terms of how many aspects of life & society Simmons chooses to write about. I’m stunned by how much I’ve learned about this fictional society. It’s like Battlestar Galactica merged with Dune, merged with Serenity, merged with a story where 7 specifically chosen people make a pilgrimage to a planet because the religion there needs them to meet with their ‘god,’ a metal? monster with 4 arms that can freeze time, and has been killing a lot of people, because of some time tombs that are being opened up for the first time in 300 years while at the same time these ousters, a society like the mutants from Serenity, are coming to invade the planet (I don’t know another book with a plot like this so I just listed the plot). Nevertheless, I finally fell asleep.
The week started out normally, with us trying to finish our homework the day before each class. The Russians got a holiday on the 4th; unfortunately, we didn’t. But it made for an interesting morning commute to school. The entire city was silent. At first I didn’t notice a difference (maybe that’s how much I zone out every day to and from class), but then when I could see all the way down a street without cars blocking my way, I finally saw.
Empty StreetsNice color on that Audi.
I just realized I haven’t shown you our university yet. Here it is, all in one building. All of its glamor. To be exact, our classrooms are on the third floor toward the right. Only one window can be seen: on the right of the three birch trees. We use three classrooms. Two on this side of the building, one on the rear.
Independent University of Moscow
The workload steadily increases and we try to deal with it:
Dian takes a powernap. One might assume with all these sleeping students that I might be some kind of sleep stalker. On the contrary, I just coincidentally walk in on people when they’re passed out, and then go back to grab my camera.
On Friday, right after lunch, I headed over to the Higher School of Econ to practice piano like I usually do. Then I was to head back to the IUM to have consultation with my algebra professor (office hours). I stepped outside and Moscow was covered in 4 inches of snow. And it was dumping more. Amazing. I put my earphones in and walked to IUM. Here are some photos of us walking home after our consultation through Little Arbat and to the Metro.
The corner that takes us to the IUM.This girl kept jumping to the fresh snow to make snow angels.
Luckily, the snow stayed until after Saturday morning so I was able to go on a real snow run. I brought my camera this time and took some shots of my run to share. Great scenery on my long Saturday runs.
The train tracks near the park. About 1/3 into my run.Turning around back towards the way I came down. I came from the right in this photo and wanted to go left.One of my interval sections. I go hard for about a minute along this section, which gets me about to the end.After looping around an apartment complex, I get to run through a short forest area along this path.I stopped to look around and saw this firepit off the path a bit. I wonder if it has been used recently.Gotta cross the street again on my way back. It’s just a 2 lane road though so it’s not bad.I’m back at the monument dedicated to memorialize the Napoleonic War in Russia. I took photos of this my first week here. Looks a bit different now—the grass at least.Toward my right there was a cool looking building under construction.My last corner (a left) before a short straightaway and I’m home. But check out the fiberglass walls on the right. They silence the freeway on the other side pretty well. To the left of the circular kiosk-like building the downward stairs lead to crossing the freeway, underneath.
The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful as we stayed indoors and did homework. So no more for now.
Since the song just came on in my headphones while I finished writing this, you should listen to it while you read. It’s probably my favorite song for the semester, and the other students laugh at me when I play it because I get up and dance, not really, well maybe, but no not really, just kidding, maybe, not really. Anyway, it’s called [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FlE5eMN–4[/youtube] and it sounds amazing on my headphones after getting them back from China where I got them repaired. You might not like it if you don’t like electronic dance music, but I do.
Yesterday, October 30 was our first day of snow. There was less than an inch and it didn’t cover everything, but it stuck for the night and I was able to run through white covered trails in the park nearby during my run Halloween morning. Here I am, successfully returned from my first ‘snow’ run:
I had to add the beanie to my attire as it is getting pretty cold. Even though I cannot ride a bike here, I can pretend by wearing some cycling gear every time I run.
After a quick shower and a double-decker egg sandwich we headed out for the Kremlin area. The idea was to see the Diamond Fund, but when we arrived we noticed it was harder to get into the Kremlin than we had thought, and even with 3 students in the beginning Russian class we were not confident with our communication abilities. It also didn’t help that some of us haven’t been to Disneyland that much and so have not had practice in, and thus no patience for, standing in a line longer than 5 minutes—much to my dissatisfaction. So we ended up walking around the outside of the Kremlin and going on a short walking tour through inner Moscow.
I think a WWII memorial but there were no signs describing what it was.Just to the leff of the pillar. In the background we see the Kremlin walls.Stalingrad Memorial. There were about 12 blocks with different Soviet city names on them to the left and right of this one.Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Too bad we can’t walk up to it like the one in St. Petersburg. (Kind of a depressing photo for that lady to put her kids into no? )
We then branched off the Kremlin area and began our short walking tour.
The old Russian Stock Exchange building. To my understanding it’s not in use anymore. But back in the early 20th century the square that I’m standing on, and this building were the center of the Russian stock market.Cool cathedral next to the Romanov’s Moscow house.
We then ventured into the Romanov’s Moscow house which is now a museum. Even though it was four stories tall, the building was very tiny and the doorways were less than 6 ft tall. The stairs were extremely narrow and it was difficult, but fun, to maneuver between rooms. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed of the inside. It kind of reminded me of an east coast colonial home where all the rooms are like the attic room: the ceiling shaped by the roof boards, the room and windows small, very cozy. Behind it stood, or once stood, a great Soviet hotel that is now under demolition.
Honestly, this is what I thought Russia was going to look like. It would have been fun to run around inside a place like that.Here is an example of beauty jutted up against ugly. This setting is all over Moscow: a really exquisite church right next to ugly business buildings. It makes the church, or buildings, look extremely out of place. But I imagine it makes those employees’ lives happier each day they get to see this amazing architecture.
We then went to the Moscow History Museum which was quite fun, and free since we were students. We learned about the growth of Moscow from the 16th century onwards. After walking around for a little more and getting colder and colder, it was below freezing today, we decided to head home…and get ready to go see Swan Lake. The theatre gives away a limited number of student tickets for 20 rubles ($.70) if you get there early and sign up. Unfortunately, we were a bit late for that but still tried to get them anyway. It failed. So we bought $30 tickets from a scalper organization outside the building. After all, it was Halloween, and we wanted to see Swan Lake, and that still was a better price than the actual price.
The Большой (Big) Lobby where we were to see Swan Lake.
I am lying to you a bit. This isn’t really the Большой театр (big theatre). It’s the one across the street. In Russia, when they are doing construction on a theatre, they first build another one nearby so that audiences may still see shows while the original theatre is under construction. No, probably not. They probably just had an extra theatre they moved in by truck or something. Anyway, this is called the New Bolshoi Theatre, or New Stage. Okay, so after checking the name online, it seems that the Russians did exactly just what I was joking about above. They built this theatre in under six months so that performances could still continue while construction was going on. This country does not cease to amaze.
Tanya, me, Natalie, and Lenny (left to right), inside the lobby about to see Swan Lake.Up the first set of stairs to the inner lobby.Up one more flight.Looking down the finite spiral of stairs.The inside of the theatre. I was very awestruck. Even though there are less balconies than the real Большой театр it still had that impressive aura to it.The Stage, from another vantage point.At intermission we went down and looked into the orchestra pit. Check out that timpani set. It would feel good to play the timpani right now.The timpanist’s sheet music, full of rests that makes the percussionist so good at counting them.The final bows and giving of flowers and celebration and hand waving and telling your dance partner they did a magnificent job.
I’m not much of a fan of ballet but since the music was superb, it kept my interest. And I was even amazed by a dance move sequence the jester/joker performed in the middle of the ballet. He did super fast pirouettes across the entire stage and they were all in control. Everyone cheered, including me. I think it’s the first time I’ve actually been really impressed by ballet. It was crazy good. He was the best dancer out of all of them.
But hey, the next time someone complains about women’s beach volleyball uniforms and how it’s just for men to check the women out, pull ballet argument: clearly, the mens’ uniforms are so the women can check some dudes out with virtually no clothing. The main character was wearing his tights so far up his buttox I’m not sure how he was even comfortable. I mean come one, the girls where those tutus, the men could wear them too. But then I would probably be laughing the whole time. I was impressed by how high the main character could jump, a testament to his huge quad muscles, which with my glasses, were clearly defined. Also, the dancers’ heart rates must have been sky rocketing. I had no idea how athletic this event was. One other move that I liked was when the women ‘fluttered’ their legs like swans I guess. Their feet were together with toes on the ground and they would make their legs look like rubber, sort of like the pencil trick where you hold the end and move your hand vertically. It was really graceful and very pretty. I tried it at home but apparently there is some finesse in it that takes training and practice, because I couldn’t do it—it doesn’t help that I’m terrible at ballet. Anyway, it was a very cool move.
I must confess, I was mildly disappointed at the conclusion of the ballet as my limited knowledge of ballet music caused me to think Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite was actually part of the Swan Lake Ballet. Yes, shame on me. But I was looking forward to it the whole time. It was only afterward when I realized my mistake that my disappointment subsided. But I did recognize the Swan Lake Theme as it is one of my favorite themes, especially when the horns play the melody and it darkens. But it’s alright, we’re going to see Nutcracker in December so I will get to here the waltz.
The enormous chandelier and murals on the ceiling.
After the ballet we went back to the dorm, but not before buying a Snickers at Mongolia (really Magnolia, the 24 store near our house. we call it Mongolia though, I’ll take a picture one of these days.) Then we watched “Silence of the Lambs” with Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. It was quite good. The next morning the sky gave us a new surprise with more snow!
Check out that snow. Too bad it rained the next night and then warmed up some more so that it all disappeared until the following Friday.
Time to do Complex Analysis homework that I’ve put off since Tuesday.
The second week of October went by pretty uneventful, except our preparation for the midterms the following week. There was one thing that was a surprise. After we got home one day this week, there was a loud announcement over the PA system. Suddenly, those of us who were home, and understood Russian pretty well, came out of their rooms and said, “We’re quarantined? Because of swine flu?” Then others asked, “wait does that mean we can’t leave now?” “No, we just can’t have visitors.” So basically, since none of us have had any visitors except those already living in the dorm, nothing changed. But now many Russians wear those ridiculous masks all over the place–metro, city sidewalks, malls. Friends even compare the differences between one’s mask to another’s.
Another thing that is kind of odd is how people sell items on the metro. We’ll get on in the morning on the way to school and as soon as the doors close, a person will begin talking in Russian holding the item for sale and waving it around, pointing out all the ‘good’ things about it. Today, the day I’m writing this, a lady got on and tried to sell a battery powered desk/reading lamp for 100p, about $3. One time, a man got on and successfully sold a knife sharpener to a passenger. Weird, but I guess effective.
Also, the Kindle and other electronic reading devices have become very popular over here, probably because of the convenience. I see people using them on the Metro all the time, I even try to read over their shoulders occasionally. Although, it saddens me, for some reason, that people are reading an electronic device and not a real bound book. But I still see some people with real books, magazines, and newspapers so all is not lost.
Anyway, Saturday the 24th I was invited by my friend Mason, who has been over here on his mission, to his 2-year mark dinner. We ate with his fellow elder at some French restaurant on the edge of the city, called Le Noir… The idea of the place is guests eat in a completely pitch black room. Blind people provide the music entertainment as well as wait the tables. Guests order either a meat dish, vegetable dish, seafood dish, or a mix of the three. Then they trust that the waiters bring what they ordered. Unfortunately it was a bit more expensive than we had prepared for so we just ate upstairs. The food was still great and we had a good time. This was the metro station I stopped at to meet them. It had some pretty cool decorations:
A pianist decorating the wall with his performance.A hero with the world in his hands (Mir). Or it could be peace. The words are the same in Russian.
The next morning a few of us went back to the Disneyland Market.
It’s weird, the buildings are jutted right up against really trashy dumps. This is kind of how all of Moscow is. There will be a beautiful old cathedral and right next to it will stand a really ugly business building. There seems to be little separation between art and function here. After all, Russia had no idea what a monument was other than a church until recently.
Our university here offers many different kinds of classes. Every Wednesday night a bunch of adult women come in for some class and over fill the largest room:
I don’t know what’s taught but they continually pass the lecture notes through the doorway. It must be an interesting class, or really necessary.
On the 29th, we were invited to some classical concerts by some of the other Russians in our dorm. We went first to see a Haydn concert performed by students at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and then a piano recital by students there.
A quaint hall for a small orchestra.Look, they even have a harpsichord!Then a pianist came out and played a huge grand piano for her piano concerto. It was very out of place. Not only was it one of the largest grands I’d seen, but it was entirely out of place. If they have a harpsichord why don’t they have a fortepiano as well?The recital was exceptionally long and the first pianist was absurd. She was amazingly full of herself, and I couldn’t help laughing as she repeatedly kept staring at the ceiling during the performance puckering her lips or something. To top it off her playing wasn’t that great either.
The next pianist was a bit better and she was more modest. For the most part the rest of the pianists were pretty good, especially the girl who played Brahms’s 4 Ballads. Unfortunately, for Bach and Liszt, this dude butchered one of Liszt’s “Bach Preludes.” He just played the whole thing loud, and louder, and louder, until eventually I had to plug my ears because they were hurting. Then he played the next piece very quiet and beautifully. I don’t know what his deal was.
On October 30th, it snowed! It wasn’t much, but it stuck overnight. To celebrate the end of our midterms, we decided to lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, as we walk past it everyday to and from school:
Hard Rock Cafe MoscowProof that we were thereI didn’t remember that Hard Rock had all this cool paraphernalia.
It was amazing how much I felt like I was back in the states while we ate there. The music, the English menus, the American Rock souvenirs, the whole atmosphere made me feel quite at home. It was a wonderful feeling. I’m definitely going back again sometime.
The math is becoming more involved and I am required to spend more and more time with it. Perhaps if I had spent more time in the beginning, I wouldn’t have to now. Nah, that never works. Anyway, Dan shows how our exhaustion is setting in.
Dan works hard. And then he drops.
On Saturday after my morning run we took off to the center of Moscow to begin our walking tour. We were going to get a snack at Volkonsky Keyser first, then head to the Museum of Modern Art, and finish with the Gulag (and eat a pastry afterward to cheer us up). Into the metro!
The metro station we stopped at to surface and begin our walking tour with Volkonsky Keyser bakery.Another shot of the station.We surfaced to the presence of this grand building, some nice soviet architecture.All deliciousness within arm’s reach almost—except, none of us spoke good Russian to order; luckily, the understood pointing. There were too many choices so we ended up each getting a few items and splitting them. All the pastries were scrumptious! And the olive bread was great. We saved some of that for after the Gulag.John, Mark, and Lenny all ready for sweets.There were a bunch of statues out front of the MoMA, and unfortunately they were probably the best part.I even got to ride on a ram!This was the best exhibit. “Say I love You” by Andrey Bartenev. Those little things are speakers along curved metal poles. Ambient music would play and the sound would travel up and down the metal poles. There was a microphone and a computer handling everything. We were supposed to say “I love you” into the microphone. When we said it the computer inputted the quote into the mix and would repeat it every now and then. It was a lot of fun saying random things into the microphone and listening to how they would return, sometimes in different sequences than how they were inputted.Monkey Bars! Lenny and I got to climb on them. There was a repeating song that quickly became annoying coming through speakers. A video of dudes climbing on the bars accompanied the speakers. So we figured it was alright if we climbed on them as well.
Then we headed down the street to find the Gulag, a museum memorializing those sent to Siberia among other places during Stalin’s reign.
The entrance to the Gulag. We were kinda skeptical of its legitimacy at this point. But we went ahead and entered.Up the stair case we saw this artwork. Pretty grim.Another piece of artwork, illustrating the trains used to transport people away from Moscow.At the camps, punishment was rather gruesome. There were millions of mosquitoes. One of the punishments was to strip a man, lash him to a tree and let the mosquitoes have their way. Soon his body would be completely black. In the morning, if the man lived (unusual), he would be unconscious and taken to his bed to recover.Another piece of artwork depicting the horrors of the Gulag camps.A map of all the Gulag camps in CCCR (USSR).
There was an hour long film about the Gulag. So of course we watched it. The documentary featured interviews of survivors and was pretty depressing itself. But sometime during it the narrator mentioned that Stalin’s motivation for building a railway across the northern border of Russia, ie across Siberia, was to defend the northern border. Immediately Lenny busts up laughing and says, “What?! to protect against who…the polar bears?” We basically couldn’t take the rest of the documentary seriously.
Once we finished with the Gulag we headed back to the metro to go home. Along the way we saw a few interesting things.
A Federal building of somesort in between the Gulag and our metro station.A didgeridoo! in the middle of Moscow! I want one of these, and to learn how to play it.
Once home, we had a mouthwatering poppyseed bun, one of my favorite things about Russia.
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!
We woke early again, which was fine because we got great sleep in a super comfortable bed (except for the hot temperature so we took out the woolen filling in our sheets). Breakfast was great but we ate all the poppyseed sweets the night before so they didn’t have any more. We were late to the bus because some of us couldn’t get up…Adeel, and were taking a shower when we were leaving the hotel.
We drove to where we were sightseeing in Suzdal and stopped to take a group photo in the morning light:
It was somewhat misty in the morning, and a bit colder than the day before, quite a bit it seemed.
Then we stopped in front of an ancient village, er rather about 17th and 18th century Russia.
The EntranceThe layout of the village. All these buildings were actually standing in the 18th century, and were transported here from areas around Suzdal.Here’s what the village looks like. I don’t remember much from here because I was too occupied noticing how cold it was. The pain in my hands was pretty distracting.A Loom. This is how people made money back in the day. They definitely had a market for warm clothes. They did it by hand though, no machines. Tough work. After knitting the hat I’m wearing, I can appreciate the frustration, patience, and feeling of accomplishment these women must have had.This was apparently the “safe” room in the house where the inhabitants stored their valuables. The really creepy mannequin is supposed to show us how short the people were, and what clothes they wore. But it just creeped us out as we were reminded of all the scary little girls in pop culture recently: The Ring, FEAR (videogame), Grudge.Windmills! It gets pretty windy here. But the windmills grind the grain up into really fine sandlike particles. The workers keep them in wood barrels until the grain cools before pouring them into sacks.A sweet pic of me and the windmill. I guess I’m not wearing my hat today.The inside of the mill. The triangular shaped object spins when the mill spins and grinds the grain in the barrel beneath.I’m not sure if these were 18th century seesaws or just for the little kids who were bored, or for American tourists like us, who want to try everything out. Anyway, we had a lot of fun.This swing definitely looked like it was from the 18th century, as it was breaking when we swung on it. So we only used it for photos.Go Bears! I guess Berkeley has really left its mark everywhere around the world.Cute couple on a bridge over the water.So this picture pretty much sums up our entire trip. If you don’t know him already, Chris Horvat is a man of many talents, including (obviously) modeling. The moment captured here is locally referred to as “The Precious” here in Russia.But those two words always bring another reference to mind (LoTR), and I was forced to reveal what lies beneath. By the way, that’s a flower made out of wood.
This bridge took us to the Suzdal Kremlin:
The Suzdal KremlinA shot of the Kremlin as we were leaving.Original bronze doors with bible scenes once stood in the doorway of the church in the Kremlin.The Tsar’s Lantern. Apparently this means the largest lantern in Russia.Beautiful murals decorated some of the church’s walls. A male choir sang for us and were quite good. They are famous in Russia and often give concerts here as the acoustics are really good.Inside the main room of the Kremlin. The architecture used new design/technology that eliminated the necessity of a central supportive beam.A Good Thanksgiving Table. I can’t believe I’m missing the best holiday ever. Oh well, better get over it.Old map of America. There’s California to the left, separated from the rest of America by a large body of water, i.e. California is really an island. I’m not sure what information they used to create this map. Obviously, a not too reliable source; they probably didn’t have wikipedia back then.Spanish Jesus! This is the only non-white Jesus we have seen the whole time in Russia.The original clock on the Kremlin building. Instead of numerals, it has Russian letters to designate the time.Tres amigos, err in Russian: Три друзья.A shot of the Kremlin as we were leaving.We then visited an old Abbey that turned into a prison during Soviet time. Even though these walls date back to when Suzdal was still being attacked by other provinces, they were built after the last attack and so never got to test their strength.These were the prison cells. How cold it must have been with windows like these. After WWII this prison was transformed into a juvenile hall type building for delinquents.The bell tower in the Abbey. We listened to a 10 minute concert of one man playing all the bells. It was pretty cool watching him, but the music wasn’t too great.
We then drove back to Vladimir where we were given a treat: Traditional Russian Dancers.
Group Photo, again! Outside the restaurant where we were going to eat a traditional Russian lunch. Yes, Chris is about to consume Dian’s head.We sat down at our tables and had no idea why they were set up this way. Until these people walked in…The Russians started their show after we had finished 2 courses and were waiting for the main course. It went on for longer than we expected, about an hour; but it got more and more fun as it progressed.More than just dancing, there were little guitars, percussion instruments and two accordians. The two accordians played the background music the whole time.And then they involved us into the show! We think Adeel was some sort of prince and all the girls were trying to grab him but that his character didn’t want them or something.This dance involved lassoing a member of the audience, bringing them out to the circle, and then dancing for a little. Then the new person would lasso another and bring them out.They even got to play instruments for part of the show. At this point, we were all either laughing in amusement, in shock, or laughing at each other. It was great.I even got to show off some of my dance moves; or rather, be lead around by my partner and try to imitate as best I could.We would all run to the center, shout something in Russian, then back out and do it again. Then run around the circle to the beat while the people in yellow & black or blue & white would sing.
Then they pulled us all out into the main room for the final dance. Normally they move the guests out doors at that point and we dance outside, but it was too cold so we got stuck performing for all the other guests in the restaurant. When we got out onto the dance floor we were shocked by the BEAR that was standing in the center. It may have just been a man in a bear suit but probably it was a real bear. We had no idea what the point of the bear was, but it made everything more ridiculous and hilarious so we just went with it. We ran around holding hands in a circle and then ran to the center, hugged the bear, and ran back out. Then we played some games. The first was a blindfold game where the person in the center would get blindfolded and then another would spin him/her around and push him/her towards the circle and the blindfoldee would try to grab someone. Then they (yea bad grammar but I hate typing him/her) would blindfold the next person and the game would continue. Chris rigged it so he grabbed me, then blindfolded me and pushed me into the bear AHHH! But I didn’t get bitten, and one of the female dancers saved me. Next, duels took place. Chris and David put pillow cases on their heads, looking like KKK members and would swing stuffed pillow case at each other until someone’s hat fell off. This went on for a couple of rounds. Next, there was a woven wooden shoe attached to a string and the person in the center would swing it around trying to rope the feet of a member from the circle. We roped Dian, and just about fell over laughing when he began to swing the shoe. His intensity and focus were so absurd, and he got the shoe spinning too fast to see, at which point he let loose and it flew into someone. After all this, we were led back to our tables and got to feast on the rest of the food, which we had almost forgotten as we were having so much fun.
What was really admirable though was that these performers are actually factory workers or other local workers who do this in their spare time. They get paid for it, but mostly they do it for the fun of it, and to share the culture with us foreigners.
Outside the restaurant. This is some sort of small resort because there is this pond area as well as other buildings like a bar, bed & breakfast, and others.
After a long day we all piled into the bus to travel back to Moscow. In about 30 minutes the inevitable happened:
Our bus driver got pulled over and had to bribe the cop. Fortunately he got off only paying 100 rubles, approximately $3.30. So now with bus drivers we are 2 for 3 getting pulled over. The one that didn’t get pulled over, to his credit, was the “best bus driver in Russia.”
On the way home I relaxed and read about Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, Father Callahan, and Mia. As I was pretty close to the end of their tale, at least while I’m in Russia, I decided to finish the book. Just as the light faded, I closed the pages to the biggest cliff hanger in the whole series. Just one more part left. It will be a good gift for when I return home. I hope my mom will have finished it so I can snag it before Spring semester begins. Because, I’m getting close to the “clearing at the end of the path,” (Stephen King) and even though I kind of don’t ever want to get there, I’m super curious about what Roland and his katet will find.
It has been too long since I’ve last posted, my apologies. My classes have sped up, and along with spending more time on them I’ve been sightseeing more in Moscow instead of sitting at my computer. Shame on me. On another note, if anyone would like a picture from my blog, send me an email describing the photo, and from which post, and I can send you the full size version. It may take a few days but I’ll get to it eventually.
Anyway, October 3rd came early. We had to be on the bus by 7am or something like that. A 4 hour drive followed. But no matter, I sat in the last row and stretched out until Natalie figured out that I had too much space compared to everyone else and stole the right 2.5 seats. But there was still enough room and I was able to get a decent 2 hours of sleep. Prior to us sleeping though, our tour guide, a friend of Elena Pischik, gets onto the bus and tells us he brought wine and bread & cheese for our morning meal to start the adventure. Naturally, I passed on the wine, but took the bread and cheese for when I woke. And when I did, I found the wine (and little sleep the night before) had quite an effect on our students:
Austin passed out (not unusual)Chris serenaded in his sleep by the music from his headphones.Will quite obviously out cold. Reminds me of Chip & Dale, the chipmunks.Dian, not looking very comfortable.Lenny, the sleeping king. Wherever we go, he always falls asleep at some point, in some of the most ridiculous positions.David and Nikolai looking comfy.Natalie soundly asleep.
We finally arrived at Vladimir and faced the golden gate:
This gate was originially built into a wall that surrounded Vladimir. It has been standing since the 12th Century.A view from the top of the Golden GateThe protective wall, and what’s left of the ditch for the moat on the right.Apparently the wall didn’t work too well as this diorama shows of the Mongolian Invasion. This happened multiple times as exlpained by our tour guide. The diorama needs some technology updating; we were laughing more than taking it seriously. The language they used to describe the warriors was absurd as well: the “valiant” Russians and the Mongolian “horde,” “ruthless.”A Soviet Cosmonaut suit. Note the American/Soviet arm patch.A red church outside the walls of Vladimir.Looking down from the Church’s balcony. It is now a museum for blown glass. USSR made it mandatory for all glass making factories to be at least 150km away from Moscow because they kept blowing up. Vladimir is the closest city that fits this rule and so the glass making factories were moved here.Close-up of the Glass centerpiece.Old Style Matroshka DollsThe red vase with the gold lining was made by cracking the glass in cold water and then filled the cracks with gold (big & small).The Blue Glass Light is beautiful but note the green glassware. It has uranium in it to make it that green color. Way cool. Then they outlawed working with uranium because of some health reasons.A glass flower on that centerpiece a few photos back.This monument represents the unity of the three types of soviet people: worker, warrior, and baker/farmer or something.Group Photo! as we headed over to St. Demetrius CathedralSt. Demetrius Cathedral has a lot of lions on it. No one knows when it was built but at the end of the 12th century there are repors of the St. Demetrius icon being brought to the cathedral. There is no explanation yet of why there are so many non-christian carvings on the church.Looking out over the countryside from St. Demetrius Cathedral we see Russia’s rural beauty, as well as a Nuclear Power plant to the left.As the sole physicist of the group, Chris ponders nuclear power for us.Another view from St. Demetrius, a horse and his rider over the countryside.
We then took a bus ride to one of the active monasteries in Vladimir
Visiting one of the active monasteries in Vladimir, containing the Bogolyubovsky Cathedral behind me. Nice hat eh?Group Photo! Our tour guide was super cool and offered to take group photos of us most places we went. He also said we should contact him about coming back to Russia because he can get us visas.The lower stones here are part of the original cathedral built in the 12th century.Andrei Bogolyubsky, the ruler of Vladimir during the 12th century, had problems humbling himself to others. Some think after examining his body that his neck bones were fused and so he didn’t have a choice. Naturally, he was assassinated because of this issue as well as some other diplomatic ones. He was super short though like 4ft (they have his body inside, he was entombed and his body was preserved somehow, so I saw what was left of his hands and feet, that’s what stuck out from the clothing under the glass cover) and his exotic look comes from his mom being part of the nomadic group called the Kipchaks who lived in felt tents and roamed Russia.The entrance to the staircase that spirals upwards into Bogolyubsky’s chamber where he was assassinated.In order to enter this active church women must wear skirts. So Natalie, Natalie, and Christina got to play dress-up.As we walked out into the grassland to see the Church of Pokrov-on-Nerl I stopped to take this photo. I think it’s one of my favorite photos of Russia so far.The sun/sky combination was good for photos today. The Church of Pokrov-on-Nerl stands at the end of this path.Church of Pokrov-on-Nerl. When the water rises in the early Spring, it looks like this church floats on water, or is submerged depending on your taste.Up-close. The decorations are asymmetrical. Most of the churches here had asymmetrical aspects about them; maybe it was a style of the time. Our tour guide said it was unknown why this was the case.They were selling photos of the church. Here is one where the Spring melt has flooded the grass. From afar, it would look like the Church of Pokrov-on-Nerl was underwater, or floating, especially if there was fog, which apparently is common.These four had cold hands and bought gloves made out of sheeps wool from a street vendor. Unfortunately, the wool would rub off onto everything they touched. Eventually, they were spitting it out of their mouth, and everyone had it on them (we played an unofficial game of making sure everyone had some sheep on them).Me standing at the edge of the water. A good day to wear my boots I’d say. Oh, and it was pretty cold.
Then we drove to our hotel which was fantastic. All you can eat dinner buffet style, comfortable beds, and all you can eat breakfast, as well as ping pong tables, a disco, gym (I was able to ride a bike for 20 min!). They had these poppyseed mini-cinnamon-like pastries with lemon. They were to die for. I think I ate 10 of them. We kept hoarding them. If there’s one thing Russians do well, it’s poppyseed. I’ve never had better poppyseed bread/pastries/sweet buns anywhere else, and I’m loving it. It’s a pretty good motivation for running in the cold mornings.
I hope tomorrow I will have time to post the Suzdal day as well as the lunch back in Vladimir with Russian dancing and us dancing with them.
So as the title might imply, these two weeks were somewhat slow. But I needed that. As a group we got some good relaxation in but even with the extra time I didn’t get any more work done, and continued to stay up late the night before assignments were due. That’s changed now, I’m getting better and only have 2 more problems on my Topology assignment that’s due Wednesday.
Anyway, the week began with my first session of tutoring an 8th grader in English, specifically translating vocabulary from maths, biology, chemistry, and other school subjects from Russian to English, so when he moves in November he won’t be super shocked/confused. I went out to where his school was on the very bottom of the red Metro line:
Yugo-Zapadnaya Station. A huge apartment building at the edge of the city. Behind me lies a path along the road that opens up into a park. I headed there to meet Sasha and then we went to his school.
On a different note, here’s how Russian’s park:
All over the sidewalk, in any way, direction, and angle they please. I'm not sure why I didn't think this as weird earlier. I will try to include more photos of stuff like this. Apparently back in the early 90's they didn't even have lanes on the roads and people would drive wherever they wanted.
Natasha scored an apartment when her ‘new’ family friends left town for 3 weeks. They have an oven and we lack one. So some of us went over one weeknight and had lasagna. All cooking supervised by Austin. For dessert we had a chocolate cake, with the thickest cream (homemade) I’ve had in a long time (to fix that I went for a run the next morning).
Doesn't that look delicious! It was. We made 2 pots and only ate one. So there were lots of leftovers.
On Friday night the 25th of September we went to Natalie’s (we began calling the apartment ‘Natalie’s), and had a low key night watching ‘I love you man.’ Here is a special photo of us chillaxing after the film:
This is what a mathematician's party looks like. Not really, but we all made fun of each other for being on our laptops and not socializing.
There are a few subtleties in this photo that make it special. First and foremost is the background on Chris’s laptop (the one in lower LH corner). It is a photo of the saddest dog in the world (taken from reddit.com). In addition, Chris’s expression matches that of the dog. Next, is the background of the laptop on the right of the screen: Mark Thom. Mark Thom is one of the students in our program and Adeel took the most amazing photo of him and is now using it as his background…the creepiness of that makes it funnier. Mark Thom:
In the words of Adeel Khan, paraphrasing Kanye West, "This photo is one of the best photos of all time."
Can't forget about Natalie in the corner making the party space bigger than just the couches.
Right before we decide to sleep which is around 4am Natalie informs us she, Christina, and Daniel are going to the ballet the next morning. Since, I didn’t come to the apartment with anything appropriate to wear to the show, along with about everyone else, we decided to pass. Also, we wanted to sleep more than 5 hours. So when Natalie woke up to leave, she captured us sprawled out around the living room:
The 'Cute Boys' photo. Probably the most comfortable sleep I've had in Russia yet. Yes that is three people on the pull-out bed. Apparently all of us were very comfortable. The switch of direction by the middle-person, Lenny, was the key to maximum comfort here.
Chris constructed a bed out of two armchairs and their cushions. He claims it was super comfortable. I dunno why he sleeps with his knee up like that.
The next night we went out to 35mm KINO, a movie theater that shows films in English, and watched ‘Moon’, a very entertaining and thought provoking low-budget science fiction film that was released this summer and is quite on par with District 9. Since the movie theater was down the block from Natalie’s we all ended up sleeping over there again. Sunday morning we back over to the dorm and I took some photos of my room as promised:
My bed to the left. Austin in his bed, the table/desk/group_study_area fridge, closet, towel. Don't forget the linoleum floor.From my desk spot, where I'm sitting now actually typing this. Our shelving space to the left. I borrowed Planet Earth from Natalie's; it's at the end of the table. Our water boiler sits on top of the fridge. We have to boil all the water that we drink, which is a lot since soymilk is so hard to find as well as expensive. $12 for a Liter.
The bedding is a little odd. No fitted sheet. Just a flat sheet below and then a flat sheet above with some wool matting that fits into it. The sheet is more like a thin duvet cover. On top lies the thin blue blanket. But the heaters crank here and I haven’t been cold once yet. Quite comfortable actually. I’ve gotten used to the difference and sleep pretty well now.
