A day that would bore others; I loved it.

The past few days have been what most people would call boring, but for me being an aspiring writer, I tucked myself into some good books and worked on inspiration. Although I have met with a few students, the past few days have been dedicated more to myself. Most of my students are either finishing up work for the end of the year as the summer draws near, or have been occupied with similar works, so I've had much of the days to myself. I have of course been working on writing my CV (European equivalent to a resume) and have decided that I'm much more exciting in person than in writing. I win people over with my personality, not my stats, so this has been a bit difficult for me.

That being said, I've gotten several ideas for both my own book I've been working on, as well as some ideas for a project I'm working on for a movie company in the US, so I've been doing lots of brainstorming and editing of thoughts. Although not terribly amusing for most people, I've had a good couple of days.

I've been advised that most of my students are leaving with Petr on Sunday for a chemistry conference and will be gone for a week. That pretty much leaves me alone in Moscow for a week with 3 students, 2 of which I see on an "as available" basis. I'm expecting it to be a slow week.

It has been growing in my mind recently to start writing a separate blog besides this one where I can talk about things that are more personal to me, and I've decided to take the leap. Since I had been thinking about doing a vlog as well, I think I may as well combine the two ideas, and so in the morning I'll begin filming to post on YouTube. It will be a project I suppose largely for myself, a diary of sorts, for all my scattered thoughts that owing to this blog's defined parameters it would be inappropriate to express here since my thoughts are for the most part ... well, not Russia-y.

If anyone cares to check it out, here's a link to the channel: McShiney. If you don't, it won't hurt my feelings though... like I said, mostly personal. =P I'm going to head to bed now though, because I have a fun day ahead trying to get a hold of Marina again .. today's attempt went better than yeseterday, but still not what I'm looking for. Wish me luck, and hope everyone had an awesome day today!

Picture Uploads!

For those that haven't seen them yet, I have several hundred pictures uploaded to my Facebook page from the past few weeks. My day today was uneventful aside from a slight miscommunication in lesson planning, but at least there are lots of pretty pictures to look at!

Hosted another live show this evening on BlogTV. It went better than last week, but still only got up to about 7 viewers and only 2 or 3 actually opted to chat.. and never more than one at a time.. and they all spoke Russian and not much English.. so that was fun. In light of this, and considering that not a single English speaker has asked me about ... anything, really, I have opted to move the show next week back to 22.00 Moscow time (11.00 PST/14.00 EST). So, I'm assuming most Americans will either be still asleep or maybe at church, but since you never let me know and never showed up, I am catering to the people that did... tough cookies.

Regardless of audience, I still haven't gotten the chance to actually hook up on YouTube since I'm typically not available until at least midnight or 1am. So maybe I can try recording in the morning? We'll see what happens =P Apologies for the uneventful day, but like I said, YAY! PRETTY PICTURES! Check 'em out! Take care all, hope you had a great day!

Russian Day of Chemists!

I started off the morning meeting with a new student, which went very well. Although because of the closes metros for maintenance I miscalculated the amount of time necessary to get there and when I tried to text her to let her know, since I was in the metro, there was of course no signal. So I texted as soon as I could and arrived about 15 minutes late. That aside, it actually went very well, and it turns out she actually is required at her job to type up files and paperwork in English and do conference calls to other companies in Brazil and India.

Although they speak English, she doesn't have much experience speaking, only reading and writing, as usual... and because of their accents and her lack of hearing English on a regular basis, she frequently is unable to understand what they're saying. Same story, different person. Everyone can read and write, but has trouble speaking. The meeting went well, and I got to meet her family, which was interesting because they mostly live in Los Angeles and are actually only visiting. So we spoke in English for a while which was very cool, and as per usual they looked at me like I was kind of crazy for wanting to stay here, but that's certainly nothing new.

The last Saturday of May each year in Russia is called Chemists' Day and chemists across the country celebrate by ... well they're Russian, I think you can guess. I got to experience something particularly awesome as soon as I got into Moscow though. When I got to the metro station at Kon'kovo to meet with Sasha and Лёша, there was apparently some kind of Police academy nearby or something and there were like 50 cops in the metro. About this time when I'm standing there waiting for them to arrive, about 4 or 5 guys made the mistake of trying to jump the turn-styles and because there were so many Police, the metro guard had to do his job, and blew his whistle, taking off after them.

First off, the kids were surprised when he took after them and after an initial OH CRAP RUN moment they jetted away, and this cop took off faster than I've ever seen anyone besides Usain Bolt run. About 10 of the Officers in the subway saw and dropped their bags and took off after them as well. These kids were booking it, but this guy managed to keep up, running down one side of the metro as they ran down the other, and I don't know what happened to some of the guys, but at least one of them got side-tackled at the steps on the far side of the metro as he tried to scale them. Thoroughly amusing, and I really wish they had been there to see it. Unfortunately right as this was going on, they texted me to meet them by the bar outside the metro.

So I headed out of the metro laughing about what had happened and met with Sasha and Лёша to go to the grocery to pick up some food for a picnic. We headed a few stations over and met with Anya before heading to a park at.... Kolomenskaya station maybe? I don't really remember honestly. Only that it's on the green line and the park was absolutely awesome.

We brought the frisbee of course and had fun teaching Anya to play. It was particularly amusing since we showed up dressed to play obviously, and in traditional Russian woman fashion, she dressed to look beautiful and was in no way dressed to play frisbee. So she played in a dress and stalkings ... awesome. We played for several hours and had an awesome time, despite an art class walking up about 20 feet away to draw flowers and the fact that we kept hitting them with the frisbee. They kept glaring at us, but I mean ... you chose to sit next to the people playing sports. I am sorry, really I am, but you aren't allowed to be mad at us.

Then a group of women walked up with a blanket and set up for a picnic right in the middle of the space we were playing in forcing us to throw it over them and again, they got hit a few times.... again, sorry... but you shouldn't have sat there. We got more than an eyeful when a couple walked up and stripped naked to sun-bathe right in the middle of the park surrounded by guys playing frisbee, futbol, and families with small children having picnics. I ... don't even know how to respond to that. I'm sure you got a nice tan, but I'm sitting here expecting people to like... move away from them or something. But nothing. Everyone just went about their business like this is common and nothing to think twice about. Just strange, I don't know how to respond to that.

There was some more exciting events surrounding bathrooms when I went to find one and ended up getting lost in the park because the signs were rather unclear, and I got lost for about 2 hours. At least I know my way around from now on and that won't happen again. Then, when I finally found it (turns out it was right next to where we were eating and I just headed the wrong way to begin with ... oi oi oi), several women dressed like they were headed to the opera just walked in while men were standing at the urinal. All the men looked to the side at the women, one said, "This is for men." The women explained that the lines in the women's room were too long, and besides, they didn't care, and no one said anything else, just turning their attention back to the urinal to finish their business as if nothing unusual had happened... as usual.

Not sure I'll get used to the "Whatever, who cares? This is Russia?" attitude, but I'll try my best. Headed home in the late evening completely exhausted, and only managed to get to bed before falling over. Still, I definitely had an awesome day, and certainly eventful. I hope everyone had as awesome of a day as I did. Not a cloud in the sky, and couldn't have hoped for a better day to spend in the park))) Take care all, talk to you tomorrow!

Job Hunting! Also, other assorted adventures...

So my absence the past several days has been largely due to my having spent most of my days hunting for jobs in Moscow and none of it was terribly noteworthy. I kind of warp Thumper's advice about not saying anything unless you have something nice to say and I tend to prefer the concept of, "Would I want to read about my day today? No... I would pass out from boredom. Okay, so I won't write today."

So the past few days have mostly consisted of job hunting in the mornings and visiting with maybe one student each afternoon. That being said, I actually noticed something interesting about cars... on cars driven by beginning drivers, they are required to have a giant yellow sign with a huge "!" on it so people know they're bad and can avoid them. Nothing particularly exciting about this discovery, but I do think it's an awesome idea that America (and the rest of the world for that matter) should totally adopt.

Today was pretty interesting and I had an errand to run on a side of town I'm unfamiliar with. Sasha went with me, so it ended up being ... well, not as horrible as it could have been if I hadn't had him with me. I was sent to meet with a famous director to discuss the possibility of him directing a movie for a company in the US. He's a big name in the movie industry and I expected it would be terribly difficult to get to see him, but it ended up being mostly painless. The hardest part was actually getting to his office.

His office is situated on a side of town where the metro is ... well, isn't. So you have to either walk about 5km or take the trolley. We managed to find a McDonald's with free wi-fi and found the trolley schedule. Lucky us, we needed to wait for the #7 trolley... which only comes around every 25 minutes... and so for 25 minutes, we saw the #17, the #34, and the #198 come by 50 times (more than just a little bit annoying). We finally made it to our destination without too much trouble and when we managed to locate the office I lucked out and they spoke English.

After leaving, we made our way back to the trolley and got there as it was leaving ... so we waited another 25 minutes. When it finally arrived, we discovered that we actually didn't need to use the metro because the trolley we were on actually went by the institute where we started out... at least we know now for future reference I guess. The traffic was terrible though, and about 15 minutes later we finally got to the end of the street where the trolley just stopped. The driver got out, came back, and announced that the electricity had gone out ... so we filed off the trolley on a side of town we were completely unfamiliar with.

After wandering aimlessly for a few minutes trying to get our bearings, Sasha noticed the top of a building in the distance that was a chemistry institute that he recognized, so we started making our way in that direction. We eventually made it to a trolley stop and figured out where we were and what trolley we needed to catch to get where we were going. We got to a station 2 away from the institute and took the metro the rest of the way. Grabbed lunch on the way in and got some emails taken care of while I waited for them to get their work done.

We headed out about 18.30 and headed to the mall. Tomorrow is the day of chemists and many chemists in Russia celebrate by ... well, you can guess. So we picked up a frisbee for our outing to the park tomorrow. We stopped by some other shops to pick up some various and sundry necessities and despite the terribly windy conditions we practiced with the frisbee for a while.

The frisbee was much thinner than I've ever seen before, and it took some getting used to, but we were mostly familiar with it by the time Anya showed up. We headed back to the mall and grabbed dinner before heading home. Today also marks the end of the school year for some University students, and the final exams for lots of others, so we probably won't be alone in the park tomorrow, but I'm sure we should have a great time at our picnic none the less.

I have plans to meet with a new student in the morning before the picnic, so tomorrow promises to be a very long, but hopefully fun-packed day! My job prospects are going ... interestingly, and I don't really know what to say to update you on my progress. In Russia (and most of Europe apparently), most businesses don't ask for a resumé, but for a CV, which mean Curriculum Vitae ... it's basically a resumé on crack ... and speed. It's much more comprehensive, and actually requires you to talk about yourself as a person, strengths, weaknesses, ambitions, some personal information ... so they know who you are not just as an applicant, but as a person.

Basically my first step before anything else happens is to type that up. I can't imagine there's going to be much calling contacts in America for references, but we'll see what happens there when the time comes. That being said, I have to be up early, so I'd like to apologize for my lack of posting recently (though I did it for your own good =P), and hope you're all doing fantastically. The posting should resume and should be back to its normal frequency though! Take care, and have a great day tomorrow!

Visa details... exciting!

Not a terribly exciting day today I'm afraid. I spent the morning fighting with my computer trying to upload pictures from my phone, and met with Irina and Sasha in the evening. Nothing terribly exciting happened, but Sasha was really excited because he was in a bookstore several days ago and was asked if he spoke English, and he was so happy to have been given the chance to speak English and help someone. He thanked me for the lessons and said they'd helped a lot. It's awesome for me because it's the first time someone has thanked me for helping them with English, and I was grateful to hear it because you constantly wonder if what you're doing is actually helping people, especially with older, more intelligent students that catch on quickly.

That being said, I have chosen to do what I can to stay in Russia. The reasons are my own, but suffice it to say I love it here. I decided some months back that I was interested in pursuing a CELTA certification (Cambridge certification for teaching English as a foreign language) and there is a school in Moscow that offers the courses. Unfortunately, the courses are booked through the remainder of the year. So, I have limited options if I want to stay here right now. I can either try to find a job that will hire me despite my limited knowledge of Russian by merit of my speaking native English, or I can get a try to get a business visa.

The details surrounding business visas are a bit fuzzy, and I know already that working in Russia on a business visa would be illegal.... who exactly decided that making conducting business on a business visa illegal is beyond my ability to comprehend, and I'm slightly baffled at what exactly the purpose of the visa is if it's not for business, but whatever. It does seem like it's the easiest to get by far, but they typically last for only 90 days. The problem here is of course that every 3 months you have to leave Russia, and then return, and you're not technically supposed to do them back to back.

Although many do, and no one seems to really care as long as you don't overstay the duration of your visa, it's still incredibly complicated, not to mention expensive. It cost me nearly $1,300 for my trip here form the US last time (round trip) and trying to pay that every 3 months is ... well, quite honestly, impossible. Here's the part where knowing expats has been incredibly useful (for those unfamiliar with the term, it's expatriate, which is someone who has chosen to live outside of their country of origin), because they've all encountered the same issues, and they've discovered some tricks. First, for a US citizen to travel to Europe requires no visa if you're staying less than 3 months. Awesomely convenient.

So the process involved is pretty simple really. To file for a visa in a country that is not your country of origin, filing takes an additional 10 days, but it is possible. So many expats file several weeks in advance to allow time for visa processing and then just make a weekend trip to Vilnius (Lithuania), Prague (Czech Republic), or Berlin. As long as you leave the country every 3 months, they apparently don't care where you go. Luckily, since travel to countries in Europe is of course considerably cheaper than to the US. Still, it doesn't solve the problem of work though, because I need a visa that allows me to make income, meaning that all of this is kind of a moot point until I find work... which is difficult without the CELTA certification... which I can't get until next year.

I have been talking with other expats about these difficulties and their suggestions have included filing for temporary residence, but that can take up to a year since there are a limited number of these available and you have to wait in line for them, and getting married to a Russian citizen, which makes you immune to the waiting list, but you still have to have a proof of income, so again, I have to have a job first. So I suppose my best option is to try to find work ... not necessarily a good job, but any job that will hire me that can give me a work visa, and do that until the spring when I can apply for the CELTA courses again.

Exciting stuff, eh? But really of course, I have debts, bills to pay. So all that being said, my top priority has to be making money. Nothing has really changed there. As is true everywhere else in the world, it's all about the Benjamins... or I guess in Russia it's the Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky ... s (the man depicted on the 5 000 RUB banknote, from what I've seen the largest commonly seen bill in normal circulation, roughly equivalent to about $166).

All that being said, looks like it's back to job hunting for me! Hope everyone had an awesome day! Take care!

Calligraphy Museum!

Darn it... now I need to go buy some new calligraphy pens. Around noon I met Ksana at Sokolniki station and we traveled through the park to the museum of calligraphy where she works. The exhibit was amazing, and there were so many pieces of artwork that were beyond the power of words to give appropriate credit to. It amazes me the things that can be done with letters, and there were entire murals and huge pieces of parchment covering walls of pictures drawn entirely of poems and some simply of alphabets in different languages. I have never seen anything done like this before, and I was honestly completely speechless (something that you all happens rarely with me).

She had to leave briefly since she was in fact still working, and I got a chance to look around by myself. When she returned she took me around the museum and told me some really amazing stories about the pieces of art on exhibition and who made them and where they came from that wasn't included in the signs describing their histories (they were translated to English). It was fascinating to hear so many of the stories about the art, and some of the art from certain religions that weren't allowed to depict living things, so they paint pictures in poems and letter... it's not really a flower, it's a flower-shaped poem... very clever, and very beautiful.

Another of her friends joined us and we watched a calligrapher do a brief class for the patrons in the museum. Children took seats in the front and were given calligraphy pens and brushes, and he explained (to the best of my understanding... my Russian is still pretty lousy) how as we are raised, we are taught our native language, and we are taught how it is supposed to look. We form a mental image in our mind that doesn't allow us to see that letter any other way, but there are no laws saying those letters can't look different than they are, and there are an infinite number of ways you can draw a letter to make it look any way you wish.

He talked about trying to free your mind of those boundaries and learning to turn each letter into an individual piece of art; combining letters to make pictures of whole words. I think mostly the kids were lost by the concepts he was trying to explain, but all the parents and other adults in the audience got out their pens and pads and were trying to create their own masterpieces on receipts and spare scraps of paper in their pockets and purses. It was a really amazing display, and although much of what was said was lost on my because of the language barrier, my old attraction to calligraphy was reawakened and I still gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from the experience about art and perception.

Now I just have the task of trying to find a calligraphy pen somewhere in Moscow. Ksana, seeing my fascination, has already recommended a small Chinese store that sells everything Chinese from dumplings to Buddha statues, and she was sure they sold calligraphy pens... so I'll have to get around to that soon ;) After we left the museum Ksana changed clothes for the impending MUSE concert at 7, and the 3 of us went to the Coffee House for a quick dinner. We had beers and I had pasta, and we discussed how strange it was that you can buy beer and cigarettes everywhere.

In Russia, when you go to a restaurant there pages in the back dedicated just to cigarettes. When you walk down the street, there are tobacco and liquor stands everywhere. I explained how different the situation is in America and how carrying liquor in public can get you arrested and only a small percentage of stores certified to sell liquor are allowed to stock it. Cigarettes can only really be purchased in gas stations and groceries (they're sold in groceries and gas stations here too of course, but not nearly so many are sold there as in the street stands). Some kids about 13 years old walked by smoking cigarettes as we discussed this, and I just kind of stared... I don't know how to respond.

Then, a small child... I mean really small... no older than 6 or 7 I'd guess, walked by with his cartoon backpack on his way home .. by himself. It amazes me the differences here.. I don't even seen 10 year olds by themselves in America, let along 6. I made a joke about waiting to see a 6 year old walk by with a Power Ranger backpack smoking a cigarette, and Ksana and her friend just kind of looked away silently. Her friend (sorry, I forgot his name) told me about how he had visited an orphanage once and lots of the kids there, of 6 or 7 years old were sitting around playing cards and smoking cigarettes... cheap cigarettes he advised, and he didn't know where they got them... but it doesn't change the fact that, well... I don't really even know what to say about that.

He also told me about how on his 16th birthday he was out drinking with his friends and they got stopped by the Police on the Metro. They officer said, "Hey, boys! Having a good time? Let's go drinking!" When they said that it was late and they needed to get home, he told them that was a pity because now they'd have to go to jail instead. When you're with the cops, they don't care really if you break the law, but you better do what they say, or go to jail... and the prospect of experiencing a jail in Russia is most definitely not on my list of things I want to experience before I die ... if a cop asks me to go drinking, you know what I'm doing tonight..... getting hammered with the Police.

After we left the coffee house, we headed back to the Metro to head to Prospekt Mira where the MUSE concert was happening in about an hour or so. We left Ksana's friend on the Metro to head home since he was exhausted, and I have never seen a bigger crowd anywhere but at a futbol game than I did around that stadium. I know MUSE isn't particularly popular in America, but there isn't a single woman in this country that would murder someone in front of their own mother for MUSE tickets in Europe.... honestly, I wouldn't really be surprised if the person's own mother helped to kill them to get the tickets.

Everyone was wearing shirts with British flags, and the women were all toting purses with the same. We went to McDonald's for a Coke because she was thirsty, and it took nearly 20 minutes because everyone was getting something to eat before the concert. It was a tad unusual though to get so much attention. Although sometimes acknowledge that you're speaking English, in a city as big as Moscow, it's not totally unheard of. But because MUSE was there, being a British group, people heard Ksana and I speaking English and there were at least 20 people just staring at us as we were drinking... not even trying to hide it. I don't know if they thought we were with the band or what... but it was really disconcerting.

Her mother showed up shortly after to join her so they could go to the concert together, and they agreed that it was a travesty that I wouldn't be attending the show. Apparently I'm the only person in Moscow not going. We parted ways and I headed back home, and nothing particularly exciting happened, although my game that I play with myself almost paid off today finally. I hadn't told anyone about this yet, but when I'm on transports, I like to get out an English book, and sit so that as many people can see the cover as possible. Sometimes, I make phone calls and I of course speak in English... anything so that people notice that I speak English.

It's a fun game because lots of younger people (my age-ish down to early teens) study English these days and have a basic competency wherein they can read and write, but have no experience speaking. So even though they really could probably speak it alright, they're too shy from never having had the opportunity to practice. Every morning/evening, there's always at least a few people (usually younger girls... the guys are typically staring at the girls, not at what books I'm reading) that I can tell want to say something but can't quite muster the courage to do it.

Tonight a girl actually took off her headphones after staring at my book titled "Russian" and I thought she was going to ask me if I spoke English... I took off my headphones as well so she wouldn't think she was interrupting me, and she started to point at the book and look up at me, then quickly turned away and didn't look back at me the rest of the ride home. I was soooo disappointed. It was the first time anyone has actually gotten so close to saying something, but my starting the conversation would ruin the game ;) The point is that I don't have a problem talking to strangers, but Russians are much more reserved, and the point is to see if anyone is willing to break the unspoken rule of not talking to people on transports. Awwww, shucks.... maybe tomorrow.

Also, with the help of Лёша and Ksana, I've also discovered several theaters in Moscow that actually play movies in English, so I'm going to have to get around to doing that sometime soon as well. I got my iPhone synchronized today, but since it's a generation 1 and it's basically dead already I haven't really been able to get it to let me transfer my photos over yet. I spent about 30 minutes fighting with my computer trying to accomplish this, and my struggle ended with my computer refusing to acknowledge that the USB ports even existed anymore, and I gave up for the day. Why my computer randomly decided not to know what a USB is and what the had to do with my iPhone I'll never know... I just know I wasn't in the mood to deal with it today.

So, my USB drives are back up now, even if my extensions aren't, and I'll have to reinstall the device drivers tomorrow. But after that's all said and done, hopefully I can get these pictures uploaded. This process has been a huge pain in the patoot, and I've added "digital camera" to my list of things I desperately need. That aside, no one showed up for the show this evening, and I'm choosing to attribute this to my having given such short notice about the show and maybe the time. I'll try again next week at the same time, and if no one shows I'll try at a different time the following week. I WILL NOT BE DISCOURAGED! I WILL PERSIST!

I hope everyone had as awesome of a day as I did, and I hope you have an excellent day tomorrow as well! Take care, and good night!

Gathering my energy for ...

VLOGGITIES! I don't expect them to be awesome for a while as I adjust to the amount of energy required to vlog, but seeing as I do a pretty solid job on a regular basis of riding the very fine line between amusingly crazy and full-blown insane, I think it will be alright. Just be patient with me ;)

I'm afraid today was pretty uneventful... nothing to write home about I'm afraid. Hopefully I can make it up to you be letting you know that I'll be on BlogTV doing a live show tonight (22 May) at 6pm EST/3pm PST (23/5 @ 2am Moscow time). Just type McShiney in the search bar to the right and I should be listed under live shows. I can't guarantee anything exciting will happen because I'm doing this on such short notice, but I'll be available to answer any questions anyone has about Russia or life in Moscow, or just for those who haven't seen me in a while to get the chance to do so again.

I'm planning to start vlogging on a regular basis this coming week and I plan to do at least 1 live show each week. Hopefully participation will increase in the coming weeks as more people get used to the schedule, and if there are enough requests to do the show at a different time, I'm open to suggestions. Hoping everyone had an awesome day, and looking forward to see you all this evening! Take care, All!

Practice makes perfect... I hope.

Well, it looks like whether due to living with me, or by some other means, Petr thinks he's got whatever virus I had. He doesn't seem as bad off as I was, but he definitely looks ill and had to stay in today. May be that it's only just setting in, but I hope he's wrong and that he's not sick, because that virus was a huuuuuuge pain in the butt. I had a bad morning as well though, and I spent the day at home mostly, helping friends with English through Skype. I can't say it was an entirely unproductive day, but I'll be glad when I get over this thing entirely and can move on with my life.

About 17.00 I gathered my strength and by about 18.00 I got out and headed to Moscow to meet with Sasha about 19.00. Being that it was Friday, however, the traffic was absolutely horrendous, and I didn't get to Sasha's flat until about 19.30. We chatted until about 20.30 when Лёша got home from the University and he started playing Black Ops while we kicked the futbol back and forth... well, I kicked it to Sasha, and he aimed for Лёша's head really. Either way, we waited until Sasha's girlfriend Anya showed up about 21.30 or so, so that they could let her in (have to sign in guests with the administrator), and then we headed out to a small practice area really close by to play some futbol.

By the time we got down we only had about 30 minutes before I had to run so that I could catch the metro back to Prince Plaza to catch the shuttle, but it seemed like we were there at least an hour, and I had an awesome time. My futbol playing skills are a bit rusty as I haven't played since I was a kid, but I remembered basically how to dribble and pass... however my aim is pretty ruddy awful. By the end of our time at the practice area, I was managing to kick it towards the goal and not over the fence or towards the wall next to it more often than not, and I can only hope that that old adage about practice proves true.

I certainly plan to get in as much practice as I can, because it's definitely a ton of fun. Why it's not popular in America I can't begin to understand, and anyone that thinks this sport is girly... well, you need to go to Europe and see if you're half as fit as the guys that play for these clubs. Working out seems to be a hobby here, and I haven't met a single guy that isn't in great shape (excellent physical condition compared to 98% of Americans I know).

In other news that I found amusing today, it has been revealed that food destined for consumption by Russian troops, food labeled, "Premium Quality Meat", in fact had labels under these that read, "Premium Quality Dog Food". Apparently, in order to save money, the government has been feeding its troops dog food and made the slight oversight of forgetting to take off the original labels... I guess they were really serious about saving money, and it must have cost less to just put a new label over the old one as opposed to taking the old label off. I don't know if they honestly thought no one would notice, or if they just knew that Russia is Russia, and no one cares what happens here.

Pretty much all that's happened at this point is that the Russian Major that revealed this was relieved of duty, and the military made an announcement that this problem was an old one that had been addressed long ago. Whether their idea of a long time is 24 hours or if the footage was in fact old footage hasn't been revealed, but the ex-Major has chosen to stand his ground, citing Russian military law stating that when an act is committed within the military that could hinder it's ability to function properly, especially in the name of saving money, it is the right and the duty of anyone who discovers it to make he military aware of it, and he is not wrong to have done so. Whether Russia will choose to actually do anything has yet to be seen.

From what I've seen so far however, seems to be that Europeans are like "WHAT THE F---!?!?!?" and Russians are like... "*sigh* Not surprised... just another day in Russia." which is kind of what the government probably assumed would happen. Although I'm sure most people are upset, and reasonably so, what are you going to do? The government does what it wants to make money, and as long as you're still alive, it could always be worse. I do hope something is done about it of course, and Russia has "launched an investigation", but I don't think anyone is holding their breath here.

With that, I think I'll retire for the night though. I have no idea what my plans are for tomorrow other than meeting with Лёша in the morning, so maybe I'll be able to get some time in looking for a full time job. I had some plans to attend school to earn my CELTA certification to formally teach English as a second language, but it's looking like money is a more important factor than anything else right now, and so I really need to start making more money than I do now. Hopefully I can get back around to school in the near future. At least I can hope =P

I hope everyone had an awesome day today, and I look forward to getting to show you all the pictures I've taken so far by tomorrow or Sunday. Take care, All! See you tomorrow!

Longest day ever!

Got up at 5.00 today and headed into Moscow to meet Katya and her friend. We headed about 2.5 hours outside of Moscow to a small city called Сергиево-Посад (Sergiev-Posad) directly to the north west. There is a church here that is one of the oldest (maybe the oldest, not positive) in the Moscow area and was constructed by Saint Sergius, as you may have guessed from the name of the city. The formal name is The Holy Trinity - St. Sergius Lavra. The addition of the word "Lavra" is incredibly important in the Eastern Orthodox church and denotes those churches which are the largest and most important, as judged my the patriarch of the church. In Russia, only 5 churches have been given this esteemed distinction, so it was a great honor to get to visit this monastery.


The entire church is surrounded by a compound wall and there are a total of 10 churches inside the walls (I think that's right, I might be off by 1 or 2). The church as originally constructed by St. Sergius was built of wood and after witnessing some miracles became famous and many people made pilgrimages on foot for incredibly extensive distances to seek healing there. The church was burned by Tartars, but was rebuilt in stone and fortified against further attack, and hundreds moved and settled near the monastery, taking refuge inside during sieges.


The cloister also includes a seminary academy and a home for visiting Tsars and a residence for the Patriarch. All that aside, the entire experience was beautiful, and monks were praying in each of the different churches. They take shifts of two hours, and prayer is a constant in each of the chapels. I got a good number of pictures, although only of the outsides of the buildings. Again, I'll try to get them uploaded as soon as possible. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to find time, but it may have to wait until Saturday.


We stayed at the church from 9.30 until about 13.00 or so, and then headed to a toy museum nearby to se different toys from around the world from the past several centuries. There were an incredibly number of hand-made dolls and there were a fair number of them that had been painstakingly detailed and were incredibly impressive... I can't imagine giving some of these to kids to play with. By about 14.30 or so we left and had a quick lunch before heading to a small village-turned-museum from the 1700's that was home to many famous painters, writers, and other various artists.


There was an incredibly number of beautiful pieces of art that they had made just for they homes, and I would have loved to have seen these peoples' real masterpieces. We stayed there until 18.00 wandering around the expansive grounds, down to the lake, up to the church, and around to the kitchen and hospital; all residential buildings modified to suit whatever need was required, excepting the church which was built by the people living in the village, and the icons on the iconostasis were painted by the artists there in the village. It was incredibly impressive to imagine that every detail of this church had been crafted solely by the residents of this small settlement and I found myself wondering what it must have been like to have lived among so many amazingly talented artists of so many different types.


On the car ride home I passed out and got about 2.5 hours of sleep, and awoke as Katya pulled up to Prince Plaza. I thanks them for the amazing day and made my way inside to buy a quick dinner and then headed home for the evening, making it back about 22.00. That has to have been the longest day I've had in a good long while, but it was worth every minute, and I had an excellent time. Now, I'm exhausted to the point that I may not be able to get up tomorrow, and I'm going to lay down before I pass out. I hope everyone had an awesome day, and I'll make sure to get these pictures up by the weekend! Take care, All!

Museum Day!

I'm still not sure about the particulars of how and why, but apparently once a month or so admission to museums in Moscow is free. I met with Sasha and Лёша at about 13.30 and we headed to the Kremlin. When we arrived, I was instructed not to speak English when we purchased the tickets, so I'm inclined to think that maybe it's only free for Russians or some such. In any case, we got in for free and went around to each of the museums and cathedrals in Red Square. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed inside any of the buildings, but I did get a fair number of pictures around the Kremlin and throughout the gardens. There were thousands of people, and I didn't manage to get in to see the fabergé eggs owing to the tremendously long wait.

It rained on and off through the day, but we managed to avoid getting too wet as it tended to rain only when we were inside, so that was pretty awesome. We were at the Kremlin from about 14.00 until about 18.00 and then  headed to МУ-МУ for dinner. As always, although I'm not positive the cook knew what he was serving and I'm not really positive what I ate, but he sure as hell knew how to cook it, and lunch was absolutely delicious.

After dinner, we headed back to Kon'kovo, hoping to play some futbol. As we suspected would be the case though, the field was ruined from the rain. I suppose it's just as well, because it's hard to play futbol with 3 people. Sasha was okay putting me up as goalie, but after doing some passing back and forth yesterday, Лёша was apparently comfortable assuring him that I could play. I think he has more confidence in me than I do, but we're going to try again tomorrow, and we'll see what happens =P

Unfortunately, since I don't actually have a camera, all my photos were taken with my phone or my video camera. In order to post pictures from my phone I have to email them individually to myself... and there's like 50 or 60 of them, and formatting videos takes forever. So .. again, I say with many apologies that you're going to have to wait. I have to get up at 5.00 tomorrow to meet with Katya to go see a church that's apparently the oldest in Moscow, and it's already 3.00 now, so I'm afraid I just don't have time. I'm already not going to get any sleep, and I'm praying I manage to stay awake through the day tomorrow and manage not to fall over. At least if I die from exhaustion I'll already be at the church and burying me shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

That being said, I'm still awake because on top of my lungs still having not recovered, I'm actually sick to my stomach now, and I've already consigned myself to the fact that there's no chance I'm going to even get 2 hours of sleep, so I'm not even going to bother trying. All I can do it promise to get up my pictures and videos as soon as I get some time. I hope everyone had an awesome day, and an excellent day tomorrow as well! Take care, All!

First Police Encounter!

It was actually last night and I somehow totally managed to forget about it when I was typing my blog... likely owing to my being tired and shagged out after a prolonged squawk (hardy har). In brief, I was headed off the metro at my home station under Prince Plaza on the outskirts of Moscow and it was about 3 minutes until 23.00, so pretty darn late. I was messing with something inside my bag and had headphones on and didn't even notice the officers standing next to the gates exiting the metro. They apparently called to me and I didn't hear them, and one of them stuck out his stick in front of me, realizing I had headphones on and hadn't heard him. He said something I didn't understand and I explained that I didn't speak Russian well.

He said "Passport" and I pulled it out and handed it to him. He said, "Ahhh, American! You are tourist?" I was rather surprised that he was speaking English and inquired in Russian if he actually knew English, he seemed embarrassed and said, "only little" and laughed. I told him I was just a tourist because I didn't feel the need to try to explain my trip and I'm technically on a visiting visa, so whatever, good enough. He just nodded at the visa, handed it back, and said good luck, and I told the two of them good night in Russian. They seemed friendly enough to me, but I also am not from here, so I'll continue to take my friends' advice and be cautious around them. I'll just assume I got lucky and happened to run into some decent guys this time.

Today I got up early (early for me being 9.00 =P) and headed into Moscow to meet with Veronica. It was to be our first meeting, and I felt a slight tinge of anticipation because I had had to cancel our first meeting due to my being sick. I know she understood, but I just hate having to cancel, and so I was a little ... not nervous, but definitely anxious, like I owed her an apology. Turned out she lives on the far northern end of the city, and what I was expecting to be an hour trip became a 2 hour trip and I was running more than a little late, which certainly didn't help. Then, because I was taking a train line I wasn't familiar with, I miscalculated the station distance and told her I was almost there when in fact I was still like 5 stations away... way to make a good first impression, Cooper; very impressive.

Texted her to let her know what I was wearing since I had no earthly idea what she looked like, and said I was pulling up as the train entered the station. She spotted me on the train before it stopped and I noticed that she recognized me as my car passed her. I stepped out and she was already approaching and we made our way to a nearby mall to get coffee while we talked. She said the same thing I've heard a dozen times; she had many years of reading and writing, and no practical usage. She said she had never gotten to speak English really, and as I seem to find continually in Russians, she was very quick and I was impressed with her working knowledge of English considering she had had no practice.

We had a great time, and I had roughly an extra 2 hours until me meeting with Irina, so we stood outside and chatted for a while. The weather was probably not conducive to my continued recovery as it was raining and I thought a few times that I actually saw snow, but it was just a light mist. Still, it was pretty cold, and I should have probably stayed in, but the air was fresh and clean with the rain and was so incredibly refreshing I just couldn't resist. I headed back to meet with Irina and had to wait about 20 minutes or so at Mayakovskaya, at which time I got to witness all sorts of crazies in the underground.

Mayakovskaya is a lovely station, and one that I certainly don't mind spending time at. There is artwork made in tiles along the ceiling depicting images from the Great Patriotic War that lots of people wander around photographing every day. Today I got to see among other things a woman wearing fingerless gloves, a US-military style camo hat, and a raccoon tail attached to the center belt loop on the back of her pants. She was pacing back and forth and staring at me for the better part of the full 20 minutes and making me terribly uncomfortable. There was also an old guy (approximately 60ish) wearing daisy dukes and a shirt that didn't quite come down to his belly button and had the sleeves torn off that read "Jealous?", complete with pink converse sneakers. Yeah... I just don't even known how to respond to any of that (keep in mind it was freezing outside).

After I left Irina, I headed back to Kon'kovo station and met with Лёша and played some futbol for a bit. We discussed our plans for tomorrow, which is a "free museum day," where museums don't charge an entrance fee, so we're planning to meet around noon and spend the day visiting galleries. I got home about 22.15 this evening and turned on the TV to the only channel we get, EuroNews. While it is a rather repetitive channel, it definitely keeps me up to date on everything I could possibly need to know about what's going on in the world (nothing exciting ever happens in America, and no one cares about Africa... I wish that were just a joke, but it really is true, sadly).

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, and I hope I can take pictures... but since I only have a video camera, I'm a little nervous that it's not going to be kosher. We'll see what happens though. Since apparently only 1 in every 100 readers actually feels inclined to tell me their opinion I've decided to do what the 3 people that actually responded have voted for and work towards getting an active daily blog going in the nearest future. No promises for at least a few days, but I'll do my best to get it going soon. Hope everyone had an awesome day, and looking forward to seeing you at the museum tomorrow!

I need your opinons!

So as much fun as typing this all out is, I had a thought today in line with yesterday's post about posting videos on YouTube. I have had a number of people tell me (particularly Russians) that my blogs are just too long. Because they have to translate all of it, scrolling down to see how long the post is and finding it goes down a  way can be off-putting and some don't even read the whole thing. I was thinking about starting to just record and post blogs each day instead, or perhaps do a joint venture, wherein you can choose to read, or choose to watch, or maybe I can find some way to collaborate the two. Opinions? Questions? Comments? Rude Remarks?

I want to make you all happy, because that's really what's most important. I'm averaging a fair number of readers each day, and I know my posts can sometimes be lengthy, so I want to find a way to make your lives easier. Let me know what you think! If you don't know where to contact me (since I had limited responses given yesterday despite lots of people reading the post), my Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/cooper.cunningham/ and my В Контакте is http://vkontakte.ru/id92961923. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter as well @McShiney

On to my day! I got up about 11.30 or so and today for the first time I really felt like my energy has finally recovered. I'm still not 100%, and still have some problems breathing and some hacking and coughing, but it's pretty minimal now. Got a text from Sasha to meet at 14.30 and so I headed out about 12.30 or so and arrived a bit early around 14.00. Today, after our lesson he offered tea as usual, but with the bread he offered a spread that Лёша had made from cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and garlic that was ... well, it was magical. It was absolutely fantastic, and I didn't mind smelling like garlic because it was just so darn tasty.

Headed back to the train and made my way to Mayakovskaya station to meet with Irina, who had told me she was running a bit late because work had gone over. I hooked up my headphones and enjoyed to Them Crooked Vultures while I waited... for those that haven't heard them yet, listening to them is like putting ice cream in your ears (an analogy that made Irina laugh when she arrived), and so although I waited about 10 minutes or so, I didn't mind in the least. We headed to Starbuck's as usual, and afterwards she asked what my plans were for the evening. She told me she had been invited to an orchestral performance and had an extra ticket. Of course I accepted the offer, not having plans, and not having been to a performance in some time.

The orchestra was phenomenal and I was highly impressed. The performance was divided into 3 parts. The first and second parts consisted of one musical piece each, and the third part consisted of 4 shorter compositions. The first part was magical, and I closed my eyes, leaned back and let the story unfold. At the beginning of the second part, they brought out a special performer and I was intrigued when they moved chairs to allow him to stand to the side of the conductor. I was in no way impressed by his playing at first, and I couldn't decide if it was because the song was horrible or if he was. It sounded a little like someone was butchering hundreds of baby pigs with machetes with one hand while slamming violins into running chainsaws with the other and I had to resist the strong urge to run screaming from the room with my hands over my ears to protect my future children from being exposed to the horror.

About halfway through the second part, the orchestra crescendo'd (not positive that that's a real word, just go with me on this one) and crashed together, and the music took on a quick, almost frantic pace and I was instantly re-captivated. The solo violinist was magnificent, and although I have no idea what was going on in the first half of the second part, the second half totally made up for it; it was absolutely magnificent. I discussed briefly with the ladies that had invited us during the intermission what they thought, and although they seemed less terror-stricken than I did by the beginning of the second part, the agreed that they enjoyed the other parts much more.

The performance resumed and each composition was more fantastic than the previous one. My only observation is one that takes into account my history as a musician. I would sooner throw my babies into a den of starving lions than perform with that conductor. The man was either insane or retarded. I have never seen any conductor that was so .... well, bad. He didn't conduct at all. He just flailed his arms around like a windmill, and I'm surprised no one misjudged his "performance" and called the ambulance thinking he was having a seizure. The orchestra didn't bother watching him because what he was telling them to do didn't make any sense. You could tell they were used to it by now, but it didn't help things really.

For the percussion in the back, it was pretty awful. The man kind of remotely indicated the tempo he wanted to go, but I tried to follow him and the tempo he was trying to set was so erratic that a baby beating a kitchen pot with a spoon would have been more consistent. He didn't set any tempo at all, and was was worse, he wasn't even trying to indicate the measures on the down stroke. He was indicating the beginning of measures on the upstroke of his baton, which besides being terribly difficult to predict, he was constantly changing tempo, so his hand would sometimes bottom out near the floor, and he would just hold it there... and the orchestra would play the note not realizing he was just going to randomly stop half way through the line.

The percussion in the back were trying desperately to anticipate what he was going to do, but with his crouching to touch the floor with his baton and then jumping as high as he could as if he were trying to touch the ceiling with it, no one had any clue what he wanted them to do. Every crash that the percussion or band were supposed to play with the strings missed entirely because they were all just guessing because for all intensive purposes, they had no conductor. Still, I was incredibly impressed. More so, in fact, because they managed to do so magnificently without any real direction. I still think at the end when the conductor received so many flowers that he must have sent them to himself or they were maybe a formality that is given to all conductors, because I was terribly unimpressed.

That being said, Irina and I left after the performance and ate dinner at McDonald's because it was the only restaurant in the pavilion next to the metro we recognized the name of (best to avoid the little once you don't know about, never know what you'll get). I thought it was a little funny that I went 5 years without eating McDonald's and then started eating it in Russia, but whatever. Despite the fact that it was getting late, we chose to stay and eat rather than run and carry a McD's bag with us on the train, and I got to Prince Plaza at 22.57 expecting to have to catch a city buses since the shuttles stop at 22.30. Turns out I was wrong, and the shuttles run until at least 23.00 because I hopped on one just as it was leaving.

Made it back home about 23.45 and I'm entirely exhausted. I am meeting with a new student in the morning at.. some station I've never been to. I have no idea where I'm going, and I'm too tired to try to figure it out tonight. I have a busy schedule tomorrow, meeting with 3 students, so I need to get some shut-eye or I'll pass out again on the train tomorrow. I hope everyone had an awesome day, and make sure to let me know what you all think about my idea for vlogging! Take care, and see you tomorrow!

Busy, but only kinda... ish... not really.

Today, being Sunday, was rather uneventful. Most people seem to stay at home, and I kept to the tradition and didn't get out today. I did some work getting some video footage together that I've taken, and I'm finally making efforts to get those videos and pictures I've been talking about onto YouTube so I can clean up my computer. The problem with procrastination with videos is that it quickly congests your hard drive and you run out of room to do anything ~.^

So, that being said, I hope to have some photos and videos posted within the next day or so, for you viewing pleasure. I'll also say that I plan to host a show on BlogTV where everyone is welcome to join and chat with me online. I'll talk via webcam, and answer anyone's questions that has any, or just hang out if people just want to chat. I'm thinking about doing it once a week, maybe on Sunday afternoon or so... depending what I hear from you all. So let me know what you think, and when you all think would be best! You can comment here, message me via Facebook or В Контакте, or if you're connected, on Twitter.

Make sure to let me know! Don't not vote and then get upset at the time later! Going to get a bit more done with these videos, and I'm headed to bed now! Hope everyone had an awesome day, and look forward to a more interesting blog tomorrow! Headed back into the city and have meetings scheduled, but no clue what activities will be involved! Good night, World. :)

I must be invisible...

I woke up about 9.00 this morning and got online to talk to some friends who stay up late sometimes (Moscow is 9 hours ahead of CST where I lived, so it was midnight), but didn't have much in the way of affairs to deal with today and had nothing really scheduled except a vague desire to get out of the house at some point. I went back to sleep about 10.00 or so and woke up again about 14.00 or so to a text from Natasha, and realized how late in the day it was. Even when you spend a day relaxing, there's no good reason to spend the whole day asleep. Still, I'm still finishing the last stages of my recovery and so I permitted myself the luxury of not worrying about it since it was the first good night of sleep I'd gotten in about 2 weeks; the hotel bed in Saratov last week afforded me little opportunity to get any real sleep as well, and the only sleep I did get was because Natasha walked me all over God's creation until I was so exhausted I just fell over (don't feel bad, Dear... I enjoyed every minute of it).

That being said, I took into account that I wanted to meet some friends and since it was raining, travel to Moscow would be slower than usual on account of slower traffic. I estimated leaving at 15.00 and wanted to get to Novy Arbat, which requires switching trains twice, so I estimated arriving at the station around 16.30. The trip wasn't terribly eventful except that there was a group of girls in their late teens on the shuttle and they noticed me reading a book in English and stared at me the entire trip, which made reading a bit ... awkward.

This was the first time I'd gotten a chance to really wear my jacket Natasha and Lena had helped me pick out in appropriate conditions that actually required me to fully zip and fasten the snaps, and it worked wonders. Despite being a thin jacket I didn't have any problem with the cold, and of course I didn't feel smothered the way you sometimes do with heavier jackets, so it was absolutely perfect. Thanks a ton, girls. Dear guys everywhere: I don't care if you think you're good at shopping, you'll never be as good as women; they just have more experience. If you have the opportunity to let them help you, take it.

When I arrived in Moscow, I had an interesting experience. For some reason I couldn't explain, people were being incredibly pushy today. When you're waiting for a train in the metro, you stand back from the platform. There are two lines on the ground, and you stay behind the second one. One the train has passed you, even if it hasn't stopped yet, you step up to the first line which is maybe 10cm (~4 in.) from the edge of the platform. Usually even on the busy platforms where there are hundreds of people waiting for each train, people more or less give you some room. It is understood that older women, then younger women, then older men, then younger men get seats. Everyone knows this, and most abide by it; most people don't get too pushy because of it (with the occasional exclusion of old women pushing ahead of each other, young girls pushing ahead of each other, etc..).

But today, I flat out got shoved out of the way a few times by young girls for no reason whatsoever and actually had to push back for breathing room because they were crushing me. One young girl almost knocked this old woman out of the way to get a seat, and I was waiting for the older woman to slap her for being an insolent brat (she didn't ... sad face). Then, there's a standing order in the trains. There's a pattern to which side of the train the doors open and after riding the same train a couple of times you learn which platforms open on which side of the train. As a general role, most platforms are all on the same side of the train, and so when you get into the train, if you're getting off soon, you stay near the door, and if you're going to be on for a while, you either stand in front of the opposing door, or go down the isles between the doors.

I guess I stood in this woman's spot and I just didn't ride this particular train often enough to know it though. There were only maybe a hundred people on our car, and there was easily 40 places she could have stood. But no, she wanted to stand where I was in front of the opposing door... on the left... not on the right. So I get on the train, I back against the wall to allow others to board, and she walks up and shoves me against the wall and then leans against me like I'm the damn wall. She didn't seem to do it out of anger, and as is common in Russia, didn't even acknowledge my existence. She just walked up and crushed me as if she was literally completely oblivious to my existence. I had no idea what to do and so I just stood there until she got off at the next station. Why she didn't just stand in front of the door like everyone else that was getting off at the next stop, I'll never know. Maybe I just look comfy? Anyways. I haven't the slightest idea what all that was about, but I hope this isn't going to become common.

Speaking of transport, I thought of something today from last week that I forgot to mention in Saratov. I had mentioned that people in Moscow are more or less used to hearing English speakers occasionally and don't typically give you a second glance, but that Saratov is a bit more removed from tourist areas, and the people tend to stare a bit more. I forgot to mention an incident on the bus when Natasha and I were speaking, and a guy that was sitting behind us gave up his seat so he could walk around and stare directly at my face. He was literally no more than 45cm (roughly a foot and a half) from my face, making 0 effort to hide the fact that he was staring at me. It was super creepy and he just stood there staring and texting someone with one hand for a good 5 minutes. When he got off he stared back at the bus as it drove off. If I hadn't known better I'd have thought he was texting the government to tell them he'd spotted an alien. It was a super strange experience.

So I get to Novy Arbatskaya and I head left towards the underground. I've been here before with Ksana and so I know the street. She isn't fond of it for the same reasons I AM fond of it. It's busy. I typically am not a big fan of busy in America, but this I like. I'm a people watcher, and in Russia, where I still don't have a firm grasp on their thought process, crowds like this are fun. Most streets in Moscow are pretty wide, and the traffic is typically pretty heavy, and so most streets over 2 lanes have an underground entrance on either side so you can cross under traffic to cut down on the amazing number of traffic related fatalities in Russia that occur each year (is anyone surprised with traffic and roads like this? I'm not).

Sometimes when you go into the underground it'll branch off and head in different directions to get you to different sides of multiple streets and there are usually lots of shops down here, so you have to keep a sense of which direction you're headed while trying to not be distracted by shiny things people are selling. Made it through the first underground without incident and got down the bookstore. Crossed under a second underground and heard a woman singing just before I was nearly assaulted. Everyone has seen performers on the sides of the street in big cities with their instrument case open for tips. No no, that's not aggressive enough for Russia. Apparently each artist has a personal body guard to take peoples' money here. This guy walks up to me with his hat turned upside down and stands directly in my path. I try to walk around him, he moves to intercept me. I move the other way, he moves to intercept me again. Eventually I have to look him straight in the eye and stare him down to get him to move. I have never seen anyone so aggressive about their music before... I guess child support was due soon (by the way, child support works very differently here, and how any woman manages to raise a child on the inconsequentially insignificant amount of money men are supposed to pay here I have no clue, but that's a story for a different time).

I also saw a woman driving faster than a car that old should have been capable of and she was swerving around all over the place because the roads were obviously wet. I doubt she survived to the end of the day, but it reminded me of something I was told. Although you don't see them anymore, women drivers used to put a little red shoe on their bumper to signify to other drivers that there was a woman behind the wheel... caution. Please take careful account of the words I used there. I didn't say they were required to .. I said women put the stickers on. Why, I don't pretend to understand. Maybe so they could get away with more? Oh, my bad... but look at the sticker! I warned you I'm a woman! What do you expect? I just really don't know how to react to that. That women would choose to do that seems incredibly foreign to me... but then I guess I am in a foreign country, so that makes sense I suppose.

The reason Arbatskaya is so crowded is because it's the place to be. They have T.G.I. Friday's, Chili's, The Hard Rock Café: Moscow, Dunkin Doughnuts, all the cool American stuff. There are 2 Arbat's actually, that run next to eachother; Old Arbat, and New Arbat (Arbat vs Novy Arbat, respectively). The new one is where I went today, and the old one has lots of street performers around, lots of spectacles and fun things to do. Both are crazy tourist traps where stuff is exorbitantly expensive, and really, although a fun place to visit, leave your wallet at home so you're not tempted.

I also noticed a huge different in entertainment. In the US, we have... well, television. With 18 trillion channels, why leave the house? Order a pizza, take your pants off and download some Netflix. Here, real traditional entertainment is still very much appreciated and theaters are common. I'm not talking about a Movie theater, but real performance halls with stages for live performances by theater companies. Whereas in the US, when I used to go to the Opera House maybe once or twice a year for a performance, and the groups would perform for a week and move on to a new city, here, you have a schedule on the wall of what is being performed each night. Each night of the week is different performance, and you can go every night and see a different play. The tickets are cheap, and the seats are nearly all full from what I've seen the few times I've been so far.

Orchestras and ballets are also still widely popular, performing in special conservatories that seems to be fairly common as well. As a general rule, I'd say most people like to stay out of the house when possible, and people here live a much more active lifestyle in all aspects. There are of course real movie theaters, and they are fairly common as well. I couldn't say if they're more or less popular than the real theaters as I haven't looked into the matter and have seen no figures of any sort, so I won't try to speculate.

Biking and roller skating are also tremendously popular I've noticed, and you're always seeing kids shoot past you on those little scooters with the handle bars. There are lots of bicycling and roller skating paths in parks and they're heavily used, and I don't think I know anyone that doesn't own one or the other. I grow more and more aware of why people think Americans are unhealthy every day.

Speaking of unhealthy, after I picked up my books and a new pair of headphones (mine started misbehaving yesterday, and I'm a total audiophile... this is not to be tolerated), I made my way back through the city in hunt for a McDonald's. I haven't eaten McDonald's in at least 4 or 5 years I'd wager, but I had a mad craving for a burger, fries, and some chicken nuggets. I still have no clue what so ever what french fries are called hear, but I told her I didn't speak Russian well, and went through the menu pointing at things saying, "that, large" and "that, small" and I was so hungry that the fact that I should be embarrassed never crossed my famished little mind.

I got back to the shuttle, and a woman sat on me. My first reaction was of course, "Dear God, please, if I'm invisible today, please make it stop.. please..." but she moved and apologized. She had her 2 small children with her and was carrying enough childrens' toys and supplies to fill the flatbed of an extended-cab pickup truck. She simply hadn't seen me over the monstrosity she was attempting to carry. Got home without further incident, enjoying the symphony that my new headphones provided, and smiling to myself that for all the little hiccups in life, it's still a pretty darn good life, and I've got no complaints.

I don't have any definite plans for tomorrow yet, so no promises on any big exciting adventures, but I promise I'll be back! I hope everyone had an awesome day! Take care, and see you tomorrow!

Boring days are boring.

Friday the 13th! Today I spent the day coughing a lot, and my lungs have some recovery to do. Between the horrible sickness and my laying around so much I'm half worried I may have developed a slight case of pneumonia, but I'll survive... I always do. There's no other option in Russia ;)

I woke up to a text from Sasha saying he'd be in Troitsk in an hour and so I got up and we had a lesson around 13.00. Petr prepared lunch for us all and we ate in time for them to take off by 15.00 to head to Moscow. I spent the day resting and trying to rehydrate, and I'm afraid my day wasn't terrible eventful today. I got a lot of reading done, and so I have to make sure to visit the bookstore tomorrow to pick up the next book in the series I'm reading since I'm nearing the end of 2nd book in the series, and no one wants to miss out on the finale.

Also, apparently Chili's opened up a location in Moscow back in February at Novy Arbat, which is where I'm headed to get to the bookstore, and although I've heard it's not as good as the original in America, it's still pretty solid apparently, so I'm going to give them a visit. Speaking of American stuff, I also discovered a means by which I can watch American TV on my computer, and it's nice to be able to hear and see something familiar when I choose to.

My day as I said, was frightfully uneventful, and I'm sorry for that... but that's what days of rest are for. So if you expected much different .. well, I don't know what to tell you. Since I'm getting back in to Moscow tomorrow though, expect more fun time adventure stories to follow tomorrow =D Hope everyone had an awesome day today, and if anyone wants to join me tomorrow afternoon, give me a call! You know my number, and I'll be glad to have anyone along that would like to join me))) Hope to see you at Chili's!

I'M ALIVE!

So this morning (afternoon, teehee) when I woke up finally, I felt .. well, not like a million dollars, but at least I could breathe. The swelling in my throat has gone down and breathing and swallowing are no longer excessively painful. So hooray for that! I'm planning to spend tomorrow resting up, and I'll get back into Moscow by Saturday)))

Today I want to talk about ethnic groups, because the diversity here is nothing like I expected at all. Honestly, for all that I knew about life in Russia before arriving, I never took into account ethnic groups at all. It's not necessarily that I expected everyone to be the same, but just that... well, I guess I just never thought about it. There are actually a lot of different ethnic groups here. An approximate breakdown of the Russian population is as follows: Russian ~80%, Tatar ~4%, Ukranian ~2%, Bashkir ~1%, Chuvash ~1%, Chechen ~1%, Armenian ~1%, and the remaining 10% is an assortment of other assorted nationalities, totaling 160 different ethnic groups living inside of Russia.

While it may seem insignificant when the leading ethnic group totals nearly 80% of the population, you still see these other ethnic groups everywhere, and although I won't point any out now, I have learned to distinguish a few of them and have been taught to avoid them for various and sundry reasons. I also find it interesting after having lived in America to be living in a country where everyone is white (or some approximate shade of it). There are of course some occasional citizens of African descent... but they are incredibly rare, and every time I see one, I am reminded of Borat, and want to run up with my video camera and say, "LOOK! I FIND HERE GENUINE CHOCOLATE FACE! YOU CAN TAKE HAVE PICTURE WITH ME, YES!?" and I have to resist the urge to giggle. Luckily no one has seen me do this yet except my close friends, at which point I had to tell them why I was giggling about black people of course, and they all do the same thing now "COOPER! LOOK! IT IS GENUINE CHOCOLATE FACE!" (by the way, that is a hell of a lot funnier to hear with a Russian accent) You can't make this stuff up! hahahahaha =D

It is an interesting thing to talk about African-Americans though. Most people in the world have heard about the tensions between black people and white people in America and I have had a good number of people ask me about racism in America. I find it harder to explain that I would have expected, and I typically just retell what I have heard from Russians who have gone to America. I think a lot of people have the notion that white people are just hateful towards black people ... until they visit America. I have heard so many horror stories from Russians who have gone to America about they way they were treated by black people, and disregarding all personal experience, I can say without hesitation that at least of the Russians who have been to America that I know, they all ask me why black people think they can do whatever they want, and I have to try to explain that there are plenty of decent black people and they just got unlucky. But so many of them have had such awful experiences that it's hard for me sometimes to convince them, and many of them go away still convinced that black people in America act like animals. I hate to say it, but I think maybe a lot of people bring on themselves the stereotypes that exist in America today, and if you don't want to be perceived the way you are, go out and make an effort to show people you're different.

Enough of that for one day though. Speaking of common misconceptions, let's move on to religion. One of the first questions I was asked a good number of times when I told people I was going to Russia (after of course the mandatory "ARE YOU INSANE?!? YOU'RE GOING TO DIE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE SOLD INTO SLAVERY/FREEZE TO DEATH/BE EATEN BY UNICYCLE-RIDING BEARS!!!!!!!) was why, and many people inquired if it was for missionary work. Seriously? This question always made me giggle. For some inexplicable reason, apparently there is some incredible misconception that all Russians are heathens and pagans of some awful sort. You really couldn't be more wrong.

If you actually look at the most recent polls/statistics/census (and before anyone emails me that I spelled censi wrong check again, the plural of census is in fact census, so save your time... why people insist on trying to catch my typos as if I make them constantly I'll never know), you'll find that in fact the percent of the population claiming no religion in Russia is less than 10%... in America, it's nearly 17% (I'm willing to bet it's higher than that honestly, but that's what the figures I've seen say). If you want to do missionary work in Russia... just stay in the US where you know the language. It's a huge joke among people here all the people that come here to do missionary work. They laugh about these people who don't know Russian handing them rough Russian translations of bibles, they speak little to no Russian, and people like to tell them which churches they should visit while they're here. There's one about 100m that way, another 100m this way, another 100m that way, and 3 on that block, about 70m that way. Most tend to figure out that they've wasted their trip pretty quickly I imagine.

I have to admit that living here only for a few weeks, I can see why religion is so popular here... so necessary. If you've ever heard of the quote, "There's no such thing as an atheist in a fox-hole", you'll understand. Living in Russia is like living in a war zone. The average life expectancy in America is just under 80. The average life expectancy among men in Russia is about 60 (women tend to fare better, averaging about 74). Life here is rough, and there's no getting around that. All you can do is prey. On a side note, for those wondering why men have an average life span 14 years less than women, it's due to largely preventable causes like excessive smoking, alcohol poisoning, violent crimes, and traffic accidents. Women are just more careful I guess.

Speaking of war zones,  another bomb went off in Russia, in the Dagestan region of Russia (south-southwest of Moscow roughly (very roughly, totally off-the-top-of-my-head guess) 1500 miles, near the border with Georgia. Apparently this guy was just driving down the road with a bomb strapped to his chest, and when a cop made the mistake of pulling him over to check his papers the guy blew himself and the officer up (they were both killed, the other officer was injured but not killed). There doesn't seem to have been any rhyme or reason, just some crazy guy with a bomb... whatever, this is Russia. What can you do?

Apparently the feeling is relief. This was the first explosion I've heard of since the explosion in January, and the people I've talked to are just glad it wasn't them. Now they know they're safe for at least another few months (hopefully months) until the next bomb goes off somewhere. Again, as usual, apparently that's just life in Russia. But the longer I stay here, the more it seems to be that that's more of a Europe/Asia/Africa thing. Every day I watch and read the news, about all the wars going on on this side of the planet, of all the death and the explosions and the needless killing. Whether it's for political or religious reasons doesn't matter. Everyone has a gun, and too many people want to use them.

I'm not really giving these conflicts enough credit though really. I've learned that a lot of the wars that are going on are for good reason. There's a lot of injustice, and as much as I despise violence, I also understand that sometimes it is a necessary evil when diplomatic measures have failed. In this part of the world, democracy doesn't rule... whoever has the most power does. If you want something done, you have to get the power. If you want to get the power, you have to take it from the people that have it. To do that, you need to .. well, remove them from the picture .. is the most politically correct way I can think to say that. In more ... hmm, I'll use the western term "civilized" here, countries, you can just shame them into quitting by exposing a scandal. In the countries that are a bit worse, if revolts get bad enough, they may resign and go into exile... but there are some that .. well, are like Libya. They don't care how many thousands of people die.. they don't care if the entire country revolts... as long as they still have soldiers to fight the country with, they're going to keep fighting.

It's just too profitable to be in charge to give up if you don't absolutely have to. In this part of the world there aren't laws about where you're allowed to take money from .. or who. There are, but the people enforcing the laws are breaking them too... so everyone does it anyways. But enough politics for one day, yes? I think I've been thoroughly controversial enough for at least a few weeks. If I haven't upset all of you and some of you actually come back to read again tomorrow, I'll see you then! =P Hope everyone had an awesome day!

*Side note: The following was (and always is) entirely my own personal thoughts and opinions, all figures are approximate, and even the information which I suppose or assume to be true may be entirely incorrect... this is just written from my own personal view as I see the world around me. If I've gotten any information incorrect, feel free to correct me, but don't be too angry at me for it, I try my best =P

I can see the finish line!

Although still house-bound I am at least no longer primarily bed-bound. The swelling in the left side of my throat has gone down and although swallowing is still pretty uncomfortable, it only feels like I'm being stabbed in the throat about 1 in every 10 breaths now as opposed to all of them. I spent a lot of today preparing for my journey to revisit the land of the living, and hope to be back out of the house by the weekend, assuming I'm recovered tomorrow. Because this has been such a long-winded illness, whatever day I feel fine on, I'm going to stay at home an additional day after just to rest and make sure my stamina is full recovered. Assuming I feel fine today, I should be ready to roll on Saturday)))

At least sitting up and typing aren't as exhausting as they were, so I think I'll be able to make at least a few observations before I lose wind and pass out =P First, is height. By American standards, I'd say that at 179cm (just over 5'10"), I'm of pretty average height for ... well, everyone. Now, maybe my powers of observation in America were a bit remiss, and maybe I am inaccurate at saying this, but it seems to me like most people, both men and women alike, range from about 167cm (5'6") to about 182cm (6'). Here, it seems very much different. Most men are my height, which isn't strange. But most women are closer to 152cm (5') to 160cm (5'3"). This of course isn't always the case, and of the small group of people I actually hang out with, one of the girls is about 10cm (~4in) taller than me, but this seems to be a very rare exception. It's just so interesting to see such a drastic difference in height, and why I didn't make this observation on day 1 I have no clue.

Next is clothing. The climate in Russia is really unique. Most people seem to be under the impression that there is nothing but snow here year round and that's just plain ludicrous. While I admit I didn't arrive until the end of April and it was snowing the day I arrive, even then it was a very interesting sensation that I will do my best to describe. It's not really hot or cold or comfortable... it's kind of a humid cold everywhere all the time. It's not cold enough to wear a jacket, and it's too cold not to. Typically it's so muggy that it's better to just be a bit chilly and not wear a jacket because otherwise you'll find yourself sweating like a puppy outside Michael Vick's house... too soon? How about sweating like a cat outside a China Buffet? ... that was terrible. We'll settle on sweating like Teen Miss South Carolina trying to form a coherent sentence... fair enough?

Take in mind that this is my American clothing standards, which I am still wearing. I've started really looking around and have noticed that Russian clothing is much thinner and tighter. While I had noticed this about women's attire... I of course don't really spend lots of time staring at guys pants. Guys do the same thing though it seems. Thinner, tighter clothing, and for the large part I think it's ridiculous to think that Russians would want to imitate American style, because the clothing here is unbelievably more fashionable. So I began my conversion to Russian clothing.

I went with Natasha and Lena to the mall while I was in Saratov, and they helped me pick out a new coat and shoes (mine were stupidly old, and should have been thrown away years ago.. my jacket too really). The coat is thin (you can darn near see through it when you hold it up to the light) but is just right, and keeps me warm without roasting me alive. The shoes (and socks) I purchased here are much thinner, and although I had never really had a problem with the thickness of American socks, I feel like I'm walking on clouds now with unicorns and rainbows and cherubim flying by playing me lullabies as I drift off to sleep... maybe a slight exaggeration, but I definitely like Russian style more is my point. Of course my heavy American shirts and jeans will have to go soon too, pretty much only being useful during the coldest of the winter months, but that'll have to wait for next month.

Also... and I know this is incredibly random, and I wouldn't have ever expected for this to be different ... but the toilets are dramatically different. I think most people are aware that in the better part of Europe, what is known in American as a bathroom is divided into 2 rooms: the toilet, and the bathroom. The only thing in the room with the toilet is the toilet... tiny little room. To wash your hands, you leave, go to the other room, wash your hands. The room with the sink also houses the shower/bath and typically houses the washing machine as well as far as I've seen. That's all fine and dandy, and I already knew about the differences with the wash closets (when looking for a toilet, you usually look for a blue sign that says "W.C." although some places do just say туалет (toilet)), which is awesome; the toilets I wasn't expecting to be different.

First, most toilets here don't just have a flusher. The toilets in homes have buttons on top. The button is circular, and has a 2nd button that is cut out of the circle in a crescent shape. You press the larger portion for a quick flush, or depress the entire circle to keep flushing until you let go. These seem to only be the newer toilets though. In some restaurants I've been to there has actually been a giant pad on the wall that had a start button and a stop button, and although I suspect there's an automatic cutoff after probably a few seconds, I think it's handy to just be able to hold it for a minute so you don't have to keep flushing if the water pressure isn't great enough. In the older toilets I've seen sometimes there is a knob on top that you have to pull up and then release to stop flushing as well.

Also, there's not a full bowl of water like in America... there's a small hold in the front (opposite side from the tank) that appears to hold no more than a liter of water at most, and the rest is a sort of dish almost and when you flush the water sweeps anything in the dish across into the hole... really strange to see. Great for nervous pee-ers that don't like people to hear them go though I guess =P Additionally, I think I had pointed out already that most public restrooms you have to pay 20-30 rubles to use ($.60-$1.00), but what I failed to mention is that if you go to any kind of park or outdoor establishment, although the bathrooms are situated in large buildings that you wouldn't suspect of housing toilets... there aren't really toilets, so much as holes in the ground... no more than the average height of a girl's heels off of the ground. I would ask if I'm really supposed to sit on a hole in the ground after paying to use the bathroom, but I think I'll just refrain and make sure to go before I leave the house in the morning... no thanks.

I've also become keenly aware during my time being bed-ridden that Americans have no idea what's going on in the world. We are woefully uneducated about the way the world works, and it seems to me that well more than 90% of the population is only vaguely aware of anyone's existence but their own. The fact there are countries other than America is of little or no consequence, and it amazes me how detached we are from the affairs of the world. It's no wonder we're always getting into trouble and pissing people off, because someone tells Obama there's some stuff going down in Libya and he sends an army... completely unaware that this has been going on for hundreds of years (thousands if you want to get really technical). It's no wonder to me, even after 3 weeks why so many people hate America. We think we're the international super-cops and it's our job to enforce peace and democracy around the world before we've even got our own affairs in order.

I really don't want to turn this into something political, so I'll digress. But my point is that I'd put money on the fact that less than 5-10% of Americans have any idea how many wars are going on in the world right now, where they're going on, how many people are buried in unmarked mass graves each day, and if you told them, they sure as hell couldn't point the countries out on a map. I just think it's a real pity how detached we've gotten and how despite that we think somehow we have the right to tell other people how to live. It's childish, and I totally understand the frustration people feel towards us as a country.

Getting away from that .... I hope that I get back into Moscow soon, because I've read all the books I bought the other day. I'm to my last book, and I'm 1/3 of the way through now! If I finish this before I'm better and have to wait to find out what happens now I will seriously cry bitter black emo tears of acid. Again, being a bit melodramatic... sorry. Hoping my day today is my last I will have to suffer through breathing during! Wish me luck so that maybe tonight my body can finally kick this abomination's behind and get me healthy again! Take care all, hope you had an awesome day!

Hoping to be mobile by tomorrow!

I'm starting to gain some strength again, and the inflammation on the right side of my throat has subsided, making it much less painful to breath. The left side is still swollen unfortunately, and so swallowing still causes an incredible amount of pain, but my hope is that eating and drinking won't cause such discomfort tomorrow so I can spend a few days resting to recover my strength, which has faded notably during my recovery. Sitting up or texting have been incredibly taxing endeavors, but I was finally able to stand for about 5 minutes today unassisted. I will say that I got to witness a fire today for the first time.

It was a small deal, and I think what happened is that someone accidentally threw a cigarette that was still lit into the garbage bin. Soon the whole thing was in flames. I had heard jokes about how slow emergency services respond here, but witnessing first hand a fire of this size burning in the middle of so many flats and in such a small city, I was still astounded when it took nearly an hour for the engine to arrive and by the time they did, the fire had already burnt out. They sprinkled some water on the smoking embers and left in under 10 minutes.

I was told a joke by a friend recently that I suspect wasn't actually a joke at all. Some guys called and ordered pizza, then called and told the emergency service someone was dying. The pizza arrived almost an hour before the ambulance did. At least if you want pizza for your last meal, that can be arranged! When the firefighters finally arrived, one of them climbed into the garbage been with a shovel and tried to find anything that might still be smoldering, and when he climbed out the other guys took turns hosing him down and laughing.

I'll make a quick observation before I leave you today; first regarding the fire engine. I haven't seen any fire hydrants anywhere in Russia yet, and so I assume it operates on an internal water supply of some sort. The fire engine was I suspect at least 40 years old or so ... I will post pictures later. It has come to my attention that a lot of the vehicles in Russia are like that. Although in Moscow many vehicles have been upgraded to make the capital look nice, it became immediately apparent to me in Saratov that most of Russia isn't like that.

The city buses had German and French writing, and even had German and French advertisements on the sides still. It was explained to me that the safety standards are much lower in Russia than anywhere else in the world (ie there aren't any safety standards in Russia) and so when other countries decommission old vehicles and public transports because they no longer meet safety regulations, they apparently sell them to Russia usually to recoup some of their investment.

I'm afraid that's all I have the strength for today, but I trust I'll be able to write more tomorrow, although I'll still be home-bound! I certainly have plenty to write about without having to leave for new material =P So, now I'm going to open the windows to let in some fresh air and listen to the chorus of frogs singing along the river outside my window before bundling up and turning up the heat again. I hope everyone had an awesome day today, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with you again tomorrow! Take care!

Sickness in Moscow....

I'm still basically incapacitated... and again it took a lot longer for me to type this than I care to admit. Watched bits of the Victory Day parade a few hours after it ended.... and talked to a doctor that said tons of people in Moscow have the same virus that I do. She told me what to do about it and basically forbade me from leaving the house for several days. So right now I'm basically just trying my best to sleep as much as possible and laying in bed watching the news when I can't sleep. I have lots to say about news here as compared to the US... but again it will have to wait.

I hope you can forgive my absence, and the best I can hope for is that I'm in your prayers... because this sickness is really frustrating me. It's hard to even sit up or roll over and walking is an endeavor best kept to trips under 2 minutes. That being said, I'm going to pass out now, and pray that when I wake up breathing will be less painful. Hope everyone had a fantastic day, and that mine will be tomorrow ;)

Sincerest Apologies...

I managed to get out of the house for a period of several hours today and despite a really rough morning had a pretty solid evening, and was quite certain I would be fine. Alas, as soon as I sat on the metro it was all down hill. As soon as I was off my feet my day went all to hell, and I'm struggling to sit up even long enough to type this short apology. I hope you can forgive me for not posting today, but this crap has really brought me to my knees. I'm almost of the impression that I should be in a hospital right now.

Tomorrow is Victory Day of course, and I am really afraid I'm going to miss the festivities and end up watching it on TV. Wish me luck, and look forward to a long post again tomorrow to compensate for today (assuming I'm feeling up to it tomorrow of course). Hope everyone had an awesome day!