Theatrics ... and some running.

Spent the morning waiting for Irina to text me with the time and place we were meeting... it was supposed to be after 2... but I didn't really know when exactly... or where. Got a text saying she'd be late and had to figure out when that was exactly. After our slight miscommunication or two, we met up and headed back to Starbuck's to study for a bit. She had invited me to join her and Amy for a trip to the theater in the evening and it started about 19.00 and was supposed to last about 3-4 hours. We wrapped up around 16.45 or so and headed to a new bar for expats that was supposed to be doing a soft open today. Turns out there was a flood next door followed by an electrician not showing up, so the open was pushed to tomorrow. We took the train back a few stops and looked at an outdoor art gallery with photographs taken from around the world and had a really awesome time.

Amy showed up about 18.40 or so and we headed to the theater. It should probably go without saying that the play was in Russian ... and I understood pretty much nothing that was said. That being said, I enjoyed the performance tremendously. I want to say the name of the play was 'Cherry Blossom' and was about a group living in a house that had many beautiful trees surrounding it (among them a cherry blossom of course) for many years, not being able to afford it anymore, and selling it to a man who cut the trees down. From what I was able to discern, it had a rather subtle Russian humor to it. Russia's sense of humor pretty much encompasses anything that makes Russians smile for about .0000000001 of a second and then quickly masking all emotion again.

Subtle stuff like the grandfather who was pretty much senile and one of the men simply says, "Please die soon." in a muffled voice into a newspaper. The entire audience smiled just a little bit, and 1 girl laughed .. but only for about half a second before realizing she was in Russia and shutting up. Irina gave me a more accurate description of what all had transpired at the end.

She also presented me with a t-shirt she bought for me at the mall this morning with a really goofy picture of a rabbit and a caption I won't post here .. once I get to posting these videos on YouTube, those of you that speak Russian will see it and understand why =P Regardless, I love it! When we were at the theater, Irina's hair kept getting caught in the seat number tag on the back of the seat and I draped the shirt over the back of her chair to help. Then when the play was over we left and I forgot it. By the time we got to the end of the block, Irina realized we had had forgotten it and ordered Amy to pull over. She parked and together we ran back through traffic to the theater where we couldn't find it in the auditorium, but managed to recover it from the administrator's office, much to the relief of both of us.

Amy drove me to the right entrance to the underground and I met with Petr who got me my train ticket for the morning. Лёша and Petr and I sat down to a quick bite to eat near the metro at Konkova and as seems to be the case here, they said let's get something and I ordered ... and then they don't. Then I sit there awkwardly, eating by myself while they drink. They explained they had just eaten, and they understood I had spent the day with 2 girls, so they understood, and it was okay. I ordered a hamburger which looked fantastic and was ... not bad. Considering how fantastic it looked, I was a bit disappointed honestly.

The wall of the restaurant depicted pictures of a slaughter house, complete with a giant cow head staring dead at me with it's skin flayed off, and I was really interested that anyone would choose to put this anywhere near where people eat ... for that matter, who makes wallpaper of a slaughterhouse? What the hell? Anywaysssss.... they took the train with me to Prince Plaza since it's incredibly close but costs about $10  less to get to Troitsk by cab from there. Left them at the station to return to the train depot since their train leaves at 2am. They'll be gone until the 6th on a business trip to the Chuvash region where Лёша and Sasha are from. On the way home I organized to meet with Irina to meet in the morning before my departure to Saratov to help me run a quick errand and then to catch my train since ... well, since I've never done it.

I have to say that it's really strange to be the guy in a group where there are girls involved, and you almost have to act like an animal marking your territory because guys are relentless. For instance, when Amy and Irina dropped me off at the metro, Amy accidentally waved at a group of guys standing in front of the car, and the entire group just started staring at her while they pulled on their cigarettes... it was super creepy even for me, and I wasn't even the one being stared at. My acknowledging they existed, now they thought she was interested. She even said, "oops..." right after she did it. This isn't just my imagination. The girls turned their backs completely to the guys to talk to me, and I moved to the center of the truck and stared back at them until the saw me and turned away. When I got out of the truck I stood between the girls and them until they were gone to make sure they didn't approach. These guys seriously do act like animals, it's just ridiculous. I wonder if that isn't the real reason that guys are always groping their girlfriends in public ... marking their territory. It sounds ridiculous unless you see it someday, and then you'll understand.

I really should get to packing, but I'm far too exhausted. I'll just have to deal with it in the morning. I hope everyone has an awesome day! I'm not sure what the internet situation will be like on the train or in Saratov, but I will definitely be bringing my computer and at the very least will continue to write and will post my blogs upon my return! If I don't see you for the next few days, have a great week... and wish me luck crossing borders by myself in a country in which I don't fluently speak the language. Exciting!

Старбакс Кофе Хаус!!!! (Starbucks Coffee House!!!!)

First, I just want to say that I think it's hilarious how many words in Russian are actually English words just transfigured into Russian lettering ... I mean that literally translates letter for letter to "Starbaks Kofye Haoos", which just makes me giggle. I spent the better part of the morni... okay, I'll be honest... it took me the whole day before I was finally able to stand up before falling over again. Fortunately I wasn't meeting with Irina until 18.00. Today it was really raining for the first time since my arrival, and the driving somehow managed to get even worse. I chose to wear my 'Sector 9' hat today since it has an elastic band and I thought it might help to hold my pounding skull together in case it chose to actually explode as it was threatening to. By the time I got to the bus stop though the thudding had mostly abated.

Crossing the street from the block where the flats are located, a dog wandered up beside me, maybe 10 feet to my right. This dog was seriously looking left, then right, then left.. checking for an opening in traffic. I swear to God, this dog saw me watching it, and walked up to me and just started watching me, as soon as there was an opening I crossed, and the dog followed me across, looking up at me instead of at the cars. As soon as we got across the street I turned left into the park and he turned right. But seriously, smart dog... I've never seen anything like that before.

Then, however, the bus drive started. As I approached the bus stop I realized I had forgotten my small bills and coins at the flat, but it was raining and I was in a hurry, so I didn't have any bills smaller than 500 р and had to find a way to apologize and explain it was all I had (the fare is only 60 p). I got my change from the guy who looked at me like I was an idiot, and we were on our way.

That out of the way, I then discovered that the buses apparently aren't water-tight and water was pouring in everywhere, some people moved out from under the spouts and others just looked up, realized they were sitting under a waterfall and just pulled their hoods up. Whatever, right? This is Russia! What can you do? I managed to evade getting totally drenched in the bus and hopped a few puddles to get to the metro.

Going back a minute, I should point out that I also noticed that when I came in last night, since I was asleep I didn't notice that the city near my home has started to get cleaner. I made several inquiries and discovered there are several cleaning companies responsible for going around the city cleaning garbage and washing buildings. Apparently when I arrived they were just working on the far end of the city. Well they finally made it to our end, and the city is really starting to shape up. It really is a beautiful city actually, just a bit ... time worn. The vast majority of buildings of course date to the soviet era and are not always fantastically built... some of them kind of look like they're actually at an angle and I'm pretty sure it's not safe to set anything on the table that has a round bottom unless you want it to break.

The metro stopped right after I boarded for about 5 minutes.. I assume to let another train change tracks, but they never made an announcement... everyone looked dead ahead like nothing weird was happening, so apparently it's just an occasional part of the system. Ran through the underground to try to make up for lost time, and ended up getting to the station about 15 minutes late. We headed a few blocks over to the Starbucks where we got Tazo teas... mostly because it was the only thing I recognized. I know it tastes the same as Lipton, but I like the packaging "Please recycle this bottle, it deserves to be reincarnated too." and "ATTENTION: Contents will  actually taste delicious."

Irina explained that she liked this particular Starbuck's because it was a bit out of the way and was quieter than most. She was right, and it was quite lovely until that crazy American guy started yelling and laughing (for those that are slow, I'm talking about me). She also told me she had studied English for years, and could read and write, but just didn't have any actual practice speaking; something I hear frequently. It seems to be the most common problem with learning English... real life application. It's just not really an option for most people in Russia, and for obvious reasons.. there aren't a lot of native English speakers hanging out here... for even more obvious reasons. I started off trying to speak slowly but within a few minutes I was speaking normal speed and she seemed to be keeping up. I have to admit I'm continually impressed by how quickly all of these guys get used to hearing and comprehending what is being said.

I'd like to point out that I don't know if tissues are just crazy expensive or if people just flat out don't care who watches them picking their nose, but I see it constantly. Now, I realize after a week here that the air is pretty dirty by American standards. I mean, I've really noticed that I have to blow my nose about 50 times a day from all the gunk that my body has blocked while I was breathing. It's not enough to prevent easy breathing and I honestly haven't noticed anything other than the natural fact that the air smells different, but that's understandable... I'm 6,000 miles from home. On that note though, the colognes and perfumes people think smell good are VERY different here. It seems to me that Americans tend to favor sweet smells whereas Russians have a more subtle taste... almost like a light musk. I like it... except on Friday and Saturday nights when all the guys are wearing so much I feel like I'm going to choke on the bus.

There was a group of guys sitting at the end of the table we were seated at that kept checking out Irina and winking at her, and she seemed to not even notice, even when I pointed it out. *shrug* Whatever. That's Russian guys. After an hour or so she asked if her friend could join us. I was immediately confused because she hadn't picked up her phone, but she advised me that her friend, Amy, had been sitting at the table just 6 or 7 feet away the entire time. Smart girl.. meet in a public place and have a friend close by as an escape plan if things go poorly, lol =D Luckily things went over without any hitches though, and Amy and her brother joined us. We chatted for maybe another hour before heading out.

I want to point out that family dynamics are very very different here. It seems strange to most Russians that Americans have such horrible relationships with their parents and that we move out at 17 or 18 years old. Most families here have 2-3 rooms, with the parents getting a room, the children sharing a room, and maybe an office (not including the kitchen of course). As a result of sharing such a small space, the siblings tend to get along soooo much better than we do in the US. I haven't met any siblings so far that didn't hang out with each other on a regular basis and get along great. Additionally, the relationships with parents seems to be much closer, and most kids don't even think about moving out until they're at least 21 or 22 when they start really thinking about moving up in the world and starting a real career and having families of their own. Even then, it seems like families stay very close, with the grandparents either living with the family or very close by. It's a really awesome dynamic, and I find myself wishing that families were this close in America.

Since on the ride in I had to switch trains and because I had expressed a fear that I wouldn't be able to get back in time, Amy's brother gave me a ride to a station on the orange line that would take me home so I wouldn't have to switch stations again. He insisted that I buckle up, and I assured him there was no way I wasn't going to buckle up in Russia. The drive past Red Square and through downtown had me holding on for dear life. If you've ever seen Jumper.. remember that scene in Tokyo where he's jumping the car through traffic? I felt like he was doing that. Accelerating through tight spaces and accelerating to the point that I thought we'd never stop in time if a wreck occurred anywhere less than a mile in front of us. He assured me that you have to drive like everyone else if you want to survive on the road in Moscow ... okay, I'll take your word for it. I've been told that when visiting another country you can drive without a license for under 3 months, at which time you need to actually get a certification in that country ... but I'm sure I don't want to drive here. I'd rather live, thank you very much.

Before bed I purchased tickets to Saratov for Monday, so I'm really looking forward to that as well! Will take nearly a day by train .. and it will be my first train experience, so this should be fun! Maybe I'll wear my kilt ~.^ Ahhhh, but I forgot you can't wear anything under it .. maybe not this time, lol =D

Not much else to tell honestly... OH! Except that I turned 24 about 2 and a half hours ago. Natasha was of course the first to congratulate me, texting me at exactly midnight... bless that girl, she's absolutely the best. Within about 10 seconds, Petr, knowing that I'm Scottish, and having just returned last week from England/Scotland presented me with a real kilt with my families tartan on it, complete with sporran. Definitely the best birthday present I could have hoped for. I honestly wasn't expecting anything from anyone, and it totally rocked my day.

Hope everyone has an excellent day! Take care, all!

Russian women are up in arms!

Apparently I was VERY mistaken and I have had a fair number of Russian women correct statements I've previously made about Russian men. Nearly every other store you see here is a flower shop ... and everywhere you go you see men caring huge bouquets. I have previously stated that Russian women still act like women because the Russian men still act like men. Apparently I was wrong. Of course opinions differ depending on the personal experiences of the people giving the testimonials... however. it seems a fair number of women, including those older and wiser that I have spoken to, have made it abundantly clear that Russian men ARE in fact very romantic... until such time as you get pregnant, at which point they disappear. The ones that stick around are admittedly the better of the lot, but I have been told that most of these men are still pretty lazy. Many of them are raised with the idea that cooking and cleaning are the woman's job, and they come home and sit on the couch to watch tv while their wife prepares the meals, cleans, and raises the children.

Now, all the Russian guys I've met have been really awesome, and I can't imagine any of them doing anything like that, so I'm tempted to believe that it's basically the same as it is in America... yeah, sure, there are a lot of bad apples, but there are plenty of good ones still... you just have to look for them. I'm rather of the mindset that if you're not willing to put in the extra effort to find the good one in the lot then you didn't deserve them in the first place, and they probably deserved better than you anyways. That being said, I have been advised that those Russian women whom my friends know who have married American guys have reportedly had a much better time of things and their husbands are very helpful and loving, and the overall opinion I've received is that ... well, my personal take on the matter seems to be that Russian men tend to take for granted that which is right in front of them, while American men realize how strong these women are.

That being said, I'm inclined to say that I'm even more impressed by Russian women ... to continue to behave the way women should even though the men frequently (allegedly) don't do their part. It would seem to me that the general consensus for the whole world is that men need to step up to the plate. I don't care how good of a mother a woman is, she can never teach a boy to become a man. Only a man can do that, and if you don't then boys grow up seeing women do all the work; they accept it as how things should be and the cycle will keep going forever. Okay ... sorry, I went on a bit of a tangent there. My apologies.

Yesterday started off pretty slow again ... since it's taking so long to get adjusted to this time zone I'm still sleeping through most of the mornings. I've finally stopped waking up at 5.00 at least, but I'm still having to sleep nearly 12 hours a day in order to not be exhausted.. hoping after this week I can return to my normal 7 hour cycle. *fingers crossed* At least my ankle no longer wants to explode every time I put it on the ground. It occurred to me about 19.00 last night that my ankle hadn't bothered me all day .. so either it's adjusted or this is the calm before the storm ... I"m praying it's the former.

Because we were going to the sport bar to watch the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game in the evening, I put off lessons until the evening and met with Sasha at about 19.00. We finished up at 20.30 or so when Petr called to tell us that him and Лёша were on the train in from Leninskiy and would be there shortly. We got to the bar just 3-4 minutes before they did and long story short, this place was awesome. I will say that it's strange seeing people sitting in restaurants smoking, hookahs on half the tables, and lots of smoke .. reminds me of the early 90's. Anyways, this place was awesome! There were huge projectors and televisions everywhere, and in true European style, every TV was tuned to the game. Not a single soul in Europe wasn't watching this game.

Because the game was Spain vs. Spain we just picked sides at the beginning, Лёша and I got set with Barcelona, Sasha and Petr with Real Madrid. I have some experience playing soccer, but I've never seen anything like this before. I kind of have a notion in the back of my mind that most Americans think soccer is girly... if you think that, you've never seen a real game. This stuff was intense. I have never seen more screaming and cursing in my entire life. American sports fans... you don't know what team spirit is.

Ordering individual glasses of beer is for limp-wristed daffodils, and so we ordered a 3.5 liter tap for our table. First we had Siberian Corona... I wasn't impressed, but everyone knows you never leave beer behind in Russia, so we drank it anyways. Everyone agreed it wasn't fantastic. We got another 3.5 liter tap with a German beer I can't recall the name of... better. I'll try to get the name of it for you later. By the third tap we got... I didn't much care what kind of beer we had, but I dropped out shortly after we started it. I'm not a big drinker, and it's been a long time ... sorry. I did manage to keep up with Sasha most of the night though, and he's the big guy in the bunch. He seemed impressed, "He is real Scottish!" hahaha =P

Because I only understood half the menu and most of it was pork (which I'm allergic to), I went with Chick Sashlik... similar to a shish kabob... I tried one the other day if you'll recall. I thought it was good the other day, and from my past experiences with sports bars in America, the primary goal is to get you drunk, and the food is typically sub-par. Not so here. This was at least 10 times better than what I had the other day, and I didn't even think it was possible. Barcelona won the match 2-0, with no points being scored at all until 76 minutes in, half way through the second half. Don't think that means this entire game wasn't intense though. You should have heard the crowd with each goal. You'd have thought someone just found the cure for cancer and to celebrate the guy who discovered the cure was handing out a million dollars to everyone in the world.

With the beer, they served a kind of breadstick similar to biscotti, but very sweet and served fresh from the oven. No idea what these things were, but they tasted fantastic! Just make sure to eat them before they cool.. they get pretty hard. Then they brought out a bowl of ... well they were like chips, but very thin, tiny things that were kind of spicy, and again served very warm... then a pyramid of fish. I really don't know how else to describe it. They literally brought out a small plate with fish stacked like a log cabin. Not being the type to turn anything down, I tried it out. Actually pretty good. Whereas Americans like to have something sweet at the end of dinner, apparently Russians prefer something salty. We only got through 1/3 of the 3rd tap, and so the manager brought us a bottle and we filled it to take it with us... also unusual.

When we left Sahsa put the bottle under his arm and headed down the street. What's the big deal? It's just beer! Lots of guys were walking up and down the street with open bottles, probably just as drunk as we were, yelling BARCELONA! BARCELONA! When the taxi arrived I climbed in and was unconscious inside of 3 or 4 minutes. I woke up as we were pulling up to the flat and I only managed to stay awake just long enough to send last night's apology to you all =P

The food here is obviously very different from America, but like I said yesterday, I'm loving just about all of it! I'm planning to spend most of my day today trying to keep my head from exploding, and I definitely don't envy Petr and the guys having to work today. I've only got one meeting today and it's not until 19.00 again, so I'm going to relax for a few more hours before I have to go. Planning my trip to Saratov either next week or the week after.. the sooner, the better, and I'll be booking my tickets this afternoon as well. Really really really looking forward to this trip))))))

I'm going to be completely honest...

I'm drunk as hell. We went to a sports bar at Коньково (Konkova) station to watch the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game. We picked sides at the beginning since the game was Spain vs. Spain, and I was pitted with Лёша on the Bercelona side. Awesome game! The first score wasn't until 76 minutes in, in the second half... and I have to say that whoever thinks that soccer is a girly sport has obviously never seen a real European soccer game. This stuff was intense. Awesome game with awesome company. That being said, I was put in the spotlight and forced to defend my homeland. Can Scotland really stand up to Russians glass for glass? I don't know what they thought about my drinking abilities by the end of the night, but I don't drink frequently. I did my best to keep up, but I'm afraid I fell a bit behind by about 8 liters in. I backed out near the end of the game, and now I'm ready to fall over. I fell asleep in the cab home, and I'm going to have to write about today tomorrow when I remember it. I hope everyone has an awesome day! Sorry to disappoint with today's short post, but I promise I'll fill you in first thing in the morning))) GO BARCELONA!

First day alone...

An interesting day, for sure. My first meeting wasn't scheduled until 4 today and so I slept in until about 12.00, attempting in vain to try to catch up on sleep. My body still isn't adjusted to this dramatically different time zone, and I have a nasty habit of waking up at 5 am then not being able to wake up again until about noon. Got a call about 13.45 saying that it would be better if we could meet at 15.00 so I got dressed and headed out. Traffic was horrendous and the trip ended up taking almost an hour. Her son, Сергей (Sergey, 11), met me at the metro exit and we walked the 1/2 mile or so to their home. We have a slightly different arrangement with Katya's family, and I didn't just help Серёжа (Siryozha, the name Sergey prefers to go by) with his English; he helped me with my Russian vocabulary as well. Katya came home just to prepare lunch, which was fantastic especially considering she made it in less than 10 minutes. She advised me that Tuesdays anbd Thursdays are always horrible for traffic, and although she doesn't know why either, she always has to leave early on those days to get anywhere on time. She then rushed out the door to get to work.

After about 2 hours or so I looked at my watch and realized I had another appointment in about 20 minutes. The meeting was only 1 station away, and there's no way to rush an 11 year old, and so we played soccer with a piece of wood on the way back to the station while we chatted about our families and thei professions. Very smart kid, and I had a great time! We were kicking the piece of wood so far that a few older women made some comments that I don't think I want to know how to translate, but they just need to calm down. Lots of people smiled as we ran down the sidewalk playing, probably assuming he was my son or something, and it more than made up for the cranky old ladies.

Got to Коньково (Konkova) station right about the time I was supposed to meet Лёша and I texted him to let him know I was running a few minutes behind. Ended up being only about 5 minutes late, so no biggie. We discussed music, and after having heard only a small sampling of Russian music, mostly consisting of pop that kind of induced my gag reflex I was happy to learn that there is in fact good Russian music. Granted the musical selection included Gorky Park and tATu, so there was lots of hair involved, but after hearing so many complaints from so many people that there's no good Russian music, it was still a relief.

We had tea, and again I looked down at my watch and realized I had about 3 minutes to get down to the station again to meet Ksana. Лёша came with me because he was headed to the market next to the station anyways, and as we got there I got a text saying she was running behind too. Waited about 20 minutes and so I got to watch a good number of couples climbing on and off trains groping each other. Also noticed a lot of people wearing shirts in English and learned that that doesn't mean that they have any idea what their clothing says... more often than not they just thought it looked cool, the same way white girls get tattoos in Chinese lettering and find out later that they have a giant tattoo running up their side that says "PICNIC TABLE" while some Chinese guy in a tattoo parlor counts his cash and laughs himself to sleep. It's weird to think that English writing looks strange and exotic to people in other countries, and it gives you kind of an interesting perspective on things.

We headed a few stations up the line to a Japanese restaurant near where her father works (used to work? not positive) and the food was fantastic, if perhaps a bit pricy. But then again, Japanese food in all countries runs pretty high I guess, doesn't it? Strange that it costs so much more to NOT cook it. I requested a Kirin Ichiban, and the waitress advised that they don't carry that beer, but recommended another that she said was similar. The beer was awful and I had serious doubts she had ever tasted Kirin or this beer or was in fact Japanese at all. It tasted like bitter, watered down ... well, we'll just say that the meal would have tasted perfect if I hadn't had to wash it down with that swill. I got a crab soup which was like nothing I'd ever tasted and was phenomenal, and a roll that while having only a subtle taste to it, was mildly spicy and tasted excellent. More flavor, less punch.

I'm learning from repeated experiences why people from Russia complain about American food now. Like everything else America does, we like lots of bravado. American is the new kid on the block that always looks forward to show and tell. American food tends to be just as loud as the people are, with big bold flavors born specifically to win the State Fair Taste Competition. The foods here as a general rule are more subtle, but always tasty. I've learned the word вкусна (vkoosna: tasty/delicious) from the constant need to use it at every meal.

We made our way back to the train about 21.00 and I got back to Принц Плаза (Prince Plaza, a mall near the south-west edge of the city) just before sundown to catch the 433 back to Troitsk (Троицк, by the way). As usual, I tried to find a seat near the back ... less people hear you when you talk English and start staring. In Moscow, people will tend to glance at you if you speak English because it's not incredibly common, but most don't take heed for long. It's not totally unheard of to encounter people speaking English in such a huge city. But when you head outside of the city ... in Troitsk it's rare. Most English speakers stay inside the city limits apparently. When I get on the bus, people take notice that there's an English speaker in their little city and find it strange.

So it was tonight, that I was sitting about 3 rows from the back of the transport and someone heard my music. Again, it's not unheard of to hear people listening to American music, but it caught one gentleman's attention long enough to glance over my shoulder and see my texting in English. Before long I had 4 guys sitting over my shoulder looking at my texts. They got out their phones and starting texting eachother, I assume since they didn't know whether I spoke Russian or not. It was altogether awkward and for the first time I had to actually keep my texts vague so I didn't have them showing up tomorrow following me around. That might sound paranoid, but paranoia can save you in Russia. It's always better to let others know no more than is necessary about you, especially where you live.

When they got off they kind of followed at a distance, and so I decided to take the long way around to get home and went into the grocery. I picked up some yogurt, eggs, and salmon. Yogurt because it looked tasty, eggs because we actually needed them, and salmon because the girls last night introduced me to putting thin slices on a particular type of bread they brought and I fell in love. When I checked out the woman asked me a question I didn't understand, and I told her I didn't speak Russian well, at which point she apparently forgot she was Russian and started laughing like she had just heard the commercial telling people that Police aren't bad anymore because they have a different name now (totally hilarious, more on that later). I understand enough Russian to know she asked me what I was doing in Russia if I didn't know Russian, and then she turned to another cashier and the security guard to attempt to incite them to laughter. However, they didn't forget they were Russian and they just stared at her like she had gone completely mad. I really wished I knew enough Russian to tell her she was incredibly rude, but whatever.. no big deal.

Regarding the Police, they were until about a month ago called Милиция (Militia). There's a story behind why they're called Militia and not Police, because they actually did used to be called Police. I'll get into that at a later date. Regardless, the Militia is infamous for not doing anything they're supposed to, and doing lots of stuff that they're not supposed to. There's a huge separation between people that work for the government and people that don't, and the two sects of society don't interact... ever. As you've probably discerned from my previous posts, the Militia is the type of organization you hear about in horror stories. If you get mugged, don't call the Militia. They'll catch the crooks, take the money that was stolen, then pocket it and tell you nothing happened and you were never robbed. They'll stop you in the streets for a document check, take your documents, take your money, and walk off. At least they typically leave you enough money for cab fare to get home.

There was literally a story on the news this morning wherein a guy managed to acquire a Militia uniform and was using it to rob people. But because that's what the real Militia does anyways, no one questioned the authenticity of him taking their money. Even if they did, what can they do? Nothing. This is Russia, remember? Anywayyyysssssss, the government recently decided that they didn't like the negative reputation that the Militia had acquired and spent several million rubles to repaint all the cars from 'Милиция" to "Полиция" (Police) and have gone to great lengths to convince people that the group is somehow different since they have a different name now. Yeah ... nice try, but no one is biting.

All in all, I'd have to say I'm finally getting the hang of the city, which is awesome. Petr and Katya, as well as some others, have expressed that in their opinion I'm not a tourist at all, and they consider me family already. They said that I'm fitting in great, certainly better than anyone ever expected an American to be able to. It's a pretty awesome feeling, and I wouldn't trade this time for anything. Time to finally hit the sack... I'm about to pass out and I at least need to get to the bed before it happens. Hope everyone has as awesome of a day as I did! Take care))))

Better and better and better...

Got up later than I had planned on and was expecting to be running behind from the very beginning of my day... but then I remembered this is Russia. Took my time getting ready and eating breakfast, gave Katya a call to let her know I was running behind, and SURPRISE! No big deal, it meant she got to spend more time at home in the morning. Maybe it's just in my chosen profession, but I love how laid back this country is. Got to her station about 45 minutes later than expected and she picked me up in a truck that I didn't recognize. There are lots of manufacturers here that people in the US would recognize, but they apparently sell models in other countries that they don't sell in the US... and there are a few that are pretty awesome.

Anyways, that's not important. Got to her flat expecting to tutor her son, and ended up working with Katya for about 2 hours. After we got done she gave me a ride to the metro because she was headed to teach a student as well, so we took the train a few stops together and I left her when I got to Leninskiy Prospekt. I headed to the University and had lunch (frozen meal I bought a few days ago and left in the freezer at the lab.. very different from American frozen meals, very tasty) and then headed to Sasha's flat to meet with him about 2.30. Ran into Лёша in the street and chatted for a minute and ended up spending about 2.5 hours with Sasha. When you visit someone's house in Russia you're obviously considered a guest; in Russia, being a guest in a house means that they are supposed to offer you tea or coffee and some kind of bread and jam or something else small to eat apparently. While really awesome, as a tutor it gets tiring sometimes being offered food multiple times a day, and I often feel like I should be paying them, not the other way around.

Still, despite spending longer than anticipated at Sasha's I didn't have plans for a few hours, so I went ahead and headed home after I got done. I managed to get a bit of sleep before Petr arrived and announced we were expecting visitors in 15 and I got up and helped prepare the table. We were expecting 3 ladies and so we set about slicing enough bread and cheese for all of us, a bowl of dates, plates and wine glasses, extended the table and got out some additional chairs. We had an awesome evening with Petr playing the accordion and singing again, and then I wrapped up with a few English tunes they weren't familiar with that went over rather well. Apparently it's not unheard of to hear English singing, but it's rare to hear it without a Russian accent and Petr said it sounded much better than anything they'd heard before. Hard not to be the best if you're the only one, but I'll take the compliment)))

Maybe it's just me, but the name Olga conjures images in my mind of an overweight elderly German woman with rosy cheeks for some reason.... Dear God was I wrong on that one. Apparently it's the most common name in Russia... I went into a grocery today that had like 15 employees and the only one that wasn't named Olga was the security guard who was of course a man. I guess it makes it easier on the manager to remember the employees' names?

Speaking of groceries... I think most Americans would freak out about this but it needs to be pointed out. I don't know whether to attribute it to Russians being laid back, or Russians trying to save money, or to Americans just being too picky... but the food sanitation is incredibly lax here. Every day I see people do things here that would make an American cringe. For instance, when you go into the grocery there is a "refrigerated room" that is admittedly colder than the rest of the store, but that doesn't make the room a refrigerator. Milk isn't kept in coolers or in cold display cases but on a wooden shelf in the middle of the room and when you get it home you need to chill it before drinking. The eggs are handled the same way ... most of the food is in fact. The only food I have seen that is actually kept cold is food that literally needs to be frozen, like frozen meals or meats. So the milk comes in either 3% or 3.2% or 3.5% and is sweeter than American milk, which I attribute not only to the higher fat content, but also to the fact that most of it is in fact powdered milk shipped in from China that the Russian companies just add water to and package.

The eggs are what most Americans would considered spoiled and throw out; hard to crack from sitting on a shelf in a slightly chilled room, and a dark yellow shade that I know my mother wouldn't have served me for risk of food poisoning. That being said, there are plenty of Russian in the world, so it must not be killing enough of them to frighten them, so I eat them anyways, and I'm just fine, so maybe Americans are just stricter than is necessary about food handling regulations.

All of the Olga's were wearing cute green uniforms that showed off their haircuts which weren't covered with hairnets, and occasionally you need to pull a hair out of something, and they don't use gloves. As per the usual way of things, this is Russia; something is going to kill you sooner or later because that's the way it is in Russia, so they only really worry about the really big stuff... like nuclear reactors exploding... or at least I hope they worry about that since there's one near my house. It has admittedly taken me a few days of having to adjust to the food and water, but I'm more or less doing alright now. However, I'm trying my hardest to keep my diet as basic as possible for the most part.

Also, in most restaurants you don't see an option of sodas but an option of teas and beers, and it's not uncommon to see people drinking around town or staggering around town in the evenings. I guess this is Russia after all, and you need to drink to get by sometimes.

Also, a Магазин (Magazine) is the label put on anywhere that sells products of any type... is basically just means store. So it's easily the most common sign here, and you have to check for a description of which products are sold there. Apparently the entire country is broken and it seems that everything is always under construction, with the second most common sign being Ремонт (remont), which means repair and lists what they fix.

Regarding cigarettes; there are mens' cigarettes, and ladies' cigarettes. Mens' cigarettes are like American cigarettes, and ladies' cigarettes are about half the diameter.. crazy thin little things that it looks like it's nearly impossible to actually draw smoke through, and I suspect are even more dangerous from the fact that you're probably getting concentrated death from having to draw so hard on them. That being said, all cigarette packages have a sign that covers pretty much the entire package except the brand name that reads "КУРЕНИЕ УБИВАЕТ" which basically means "SMOKING IS KILLING YOU" in huge bold letters. Not a bad idea. Granted you still see people smoking of course, because this is Russia. If anything, smoking is your friend because it means that's a few less years you'll have to deal with living here.

I guess that about wraps it up for today. I'm spending tomorrow sleeping in and will probably knock out 2 lessons in the afternoon before meeting Ksana again, although the time and place of that have yet to be decided... or at least are unknown to me at this time. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Happy Easter!

For starters, I think it's important to let everyone know that despite my terrible concerns yesterday that my legs would explode, they in fact did not. Hooray for small miracles! On that note though, my left ankle still feels like it might at any moment though.. so boo for that((( Although I had an excellent day today, I'm afraid it wasn't terribly noteworthy. Since it was Easter and Petr stayed with his family last night I woke up about 11 to a totally silent flat .. so quiet it was almost awkward. I spent an hour or two cleaning up since Katya was coming over, and got finished with vacuuming just in time to grab a shower before Petr showed up around 14.00 or so. Katya called to let us know she would be in about 18.30, which gave us just enough time to get to the grocery and pick up some more bread and cheese before her arrival. I had just cleaned out the fridge and decided that what we had wasn't quite up to par for visitors.

So we got some black bread and some fresh goat cheese with 2 bottles of wine, Medoc and Bordeaux, and got back just before Katya arrived. Petr went down to meet her and I set the table and was just setting the plates as she walked in. I have to say first that I was shocked to learn that she had 3 children and that 2 of them were about my age. I honestly wouldn't have guessed she was older than 35 at most. If all Russian women age this well, it's no wonder they're considered the most beautiful in the world!

Petr got out his accordion because Katya loves it when he plays and sings, and so he regaled us with a fantastic performance for about 2.5 hours or so as we drank wine and ate cheese and bread. It may not sound like much, and I have to admit that understood very little of what he sang, but the joy in her eyes and the magnificence of his voice and playing were more than enough to make the evening the best Easter on record. I had an excellent time and couldn't thank either of them enough for the fantastic time; I can't imagine anywhere I would rather have been. I have to admit that as an American, I had a stereotype about accordions... that they were geeky and annoying. Not the case. The evening was terribly lovely, and the music was phenomenal. It only could have been better if I had a lovely lady with me to hold while we enjoyed the lovely music together. Maybe soon? =P

A few random observations... money is an interesting object here. The conversion is roughly 30 rubles to 1 dollar.... so 1 ruble is basically equivalent to 3 cents.. and each ruble is broken up into 100 kopecks. So each kopeck is basically equal to .03 pennies. Granted that the most common denomination seems to be 10 kopecks, you'd still have to collect 10 of them to make 3 pennies and it takes 1.66 to ride the bus, so you'd have to collect 60 of them to even take the bus. They're basically worthless, and I've only seen signs where people bother asking for them in Аптека (pharmacies). It seems to me that they're basically less useful than pennies, and I've seen more than a few people leaving stores sorting out the rubles from the kopecks and just throwing the kopecks on the ground.

Also, apparently this country hasn't discovered leashes yet. Animals don't wander far and if you see a pet without an owner, you'll see them wander around the corner shortly. Animals seem to always stay very close to their master and my best bet is that animals realize as well as humans do that this is Russia. If they wander too far and get lost, they know they're screwed. Additionally, it's interesting to see the different dynamic men and women have here. As I've said before, it's a country where you have to be on your guard, and it seems .. at least to me .. that since women here still behave like women, they still need men (unlike in America where it seems like women wish desperately that they WERE men and try their hardest to act like them) I don't in any way attribute this to women however, so don't get pissed off at me. I do think it has a lot to do with the feminist movement that arose during WWII when women started working though. Men came home and the women were doing all the work. I think the general thought process in the US was, if the women are going to do the work, why should we have to bother with it? In short, I think men got lazy, and eventually it became more and more normal for the woman to do everything. That being said, I think men really need to step up to the plate. In Russia, men are still men, and so women have the luxury of still being women.

I don't mean to say that women are incapable of defending themselves here, but it seems to me like men play a much more vital role in society still. Here, it is still a man's job to protect his family. When you see a family walking down the street, I couldn't help but notice they always stay pretty close to the father. Children don't wander too far off, and although most people don't have pets as large as dogs, the families that do have dogs ... well, the dogs don't wander too far off either.

We headed back to the market to buy some more wine for tomorrow evening since we're having more company over, and when I offered to cook, I was interested to hear that this was silly because they were women, it is not our job to cook. I know he meant it as a joke, but I've heard more than a few women say that on Women's Day men cook for the women in their lives to make up for the 364 days of the year that they don't.. and so I am forced to realize that for the most part in Russia, that this isn't really a joke. It's funny, but in Russia, more often than not, it seems to be true.

That aside, I'm looking forward to tomorrow! I'm going to be going to Katya's house to tutor her youngest son, and if her family is anywhere near as pleasant as she is, I'm sure I will have an excellent morning! Planning to work with Sasha in the evening, and I will need to make time to call a business about a job vacancy as well. They were advertising for a fluent English speaker to deal with they American and Western European clients, and I just may fit the bill :)

Today was the last day of my first week in Russia, and I can only hope that the remainder of my time goes as smoothly! I hope everyone has an excellent Easter! Take care, all! До завтра!

Lost for the first time... awesome.

Started off the day not really knowing what was going on. There were some potential plans with Petr's family because tomorrow is Easter and all, but I felt I would be intruding on their family time and it would have been weird with me not understanding anything, so I abstained. Headed into the city about 11 or so and got to the dorms about 13.00. Met with Лёша for about 2 hours and then we headed down into the shopping center near his dorm to make a xerox of my migration card before I turn it in (always keep copies of all documents in this country, no joke... anything can happen in Russia). We walked around his part of the city, going to then pond which was frozen over still. Lots of ducks sleeping on the ice and parents playing with their children on the jungle gyms. We headed around to the next metro station where we were supposed to meet Katya at 16.30 and we had about an hour to burn so we went to a pizza place and got ... quesadillas. I guess they're kind of like a Mexican pizza? They had the "American" pizza which was ham and mushrooms... which amused me. The quesadillas were alright... not as good as the ones in America.. but then again, I can understand how it's kind of hard to stack up to Del Taco, yes?

Met with Katya on the platform at the metro and gave her migration card so she could get it filed so I won't get deported (always a good thing) and Лёша and I parted ways. I headed to the southern end of town to meet with Ksana again and despite a horrible series of miscommunications, we eventually met up about 45 minutes after we planned to. We headed to Arbatskaya which is where Hard Rock Café Moscow is located and is apparently tourist city. There were thousands and thousands of people bustling through the streets and it was nearly overwhelming. There were tons of musicians and actors performing, skateboarders doing tricks and people singing for money. There were dozens of arts stands selling some really beautiful pieces, and at least 50 places where artists would sketch your caricature for a hefty sum... there was certainly no shortage of lines for all of the above. Not to mention the 100 shops selling nothing but Matroshka (the wooden stacking dolls) for small fortunes to idiots that didn't know any better and Ushanka (the big fur hats that no one wears anymore but are probably one of the first things most Americans think of when they hear the word Russia).

We finally managed to navigate the crowds and headed to the Moscow House of Books, which is the largest bookstore in Moscow. The square footage was easily the same size of a standard Walmart or Sam's Club, but divided into two floors. They sold so much stuff it was crazy! They had tons of souvenirs, toys for kids, CD's, DVD's, all kinds of stuff. Think Joseph Beth Booksellers on speed. Bought 2 books for the incredibly long commutes since I don't have anything else to do. At least I'll be able to get some reading done now.

We ate at a restaurant that I can't recall the name of to save my life, but I'll let you know tomorrow. The food was pretty awesome, and I tried Shashlik for the first time (lamb). All things considered it's just a shishkabob really, nothing different except the peppers and tomatoes, etc weren't grilled with the meat. They came separately and it was actually kind of a nice contrast to eat fresh tomatoes with the lamb. Very, very good.

I'm really not used to walking this much and my legs feel like they're about to explode. By the time we got to the metro I was ready to pass out, and once I got on the train, I actually did. I totally missed my station and didn't wake up until the train got to the final stop, pulled into the maintenance bay and locked the doors. I woke up on an empty train with the lights out and doors locked. The internal lights were on still, but needless to say I panicked. I pressed the help button and they announced on the intercom to wait a minute. The train pulled back out, and I got off. I got out of the metro and took my bearings, trying to figure out which direction to head. I started walking back towards the Plaza where the shuttles left from, but I only had about 25 minutes and I knew the walk would easily take twice that long. I took out 150 rubles, held it out on the side of the street, and the first car that passed pulled over. I don't speak Russian anywhere near fluently, but I knew enough to explain where I needed to go and he gave me a ride to the mall.

Got to the mall a few minutes before the shuttles stopped and caught a ride home. I would learn later the the metro doesn't stop, and if I had stayed on it I would have been back to my station a lot faster... but whatever, you live, you learn. I've been cautioned to never let my guard down again today. The second you let your guard down, something horrible will happen to remind you where you are. So .. I guess that's true; it took less than 20 minutes.

A few observations for the day. In no particular order: you hardly ever see female drivers; although not the majority, there are a decent number of right-side drivers; clothing here is unique... for the most part it's much thinner than American clothing, and although it's more stylish, it's also much more revealing and doesn't really leave much to the imagination in most cases; I've learned why Russian women dress like super models all the time.. it's because parents dress their daughters like this from the time they're old enough to go out in public... these little girls are all dressed up so cute it's almost sickeningly adorable; on a mildly related note, I have never heard anything cuter than a little Russian girl talking ... hearing Russian children talk is almost so cute I can't stand it and I have no clue why; skateboarding is allowed wherever you want to and there's no rules about making too much noise or anything like that so on busy streets they're pretty common; roller skating and biking are much much much much more popular here, and pretty much everyone does one or both it seems; not surprisingly, soccer is the major sport that people love here, and accordingly, when you pass a field, you never see kids playing football or basketball, they're all in team jerseys playing soccer.. it's not unusual, just different I guess.

Now I'm sitting at home on Saturday night listening to club music pumping from half of the surrounding apartments and listening to tons of kids outside screaming so loud it's ridiculous and somewhere a few floors down it sounds like some guy is angrier than anyone has ever been since the Hulk warned you that you wouldn't like him when he's angry. I'm slightly worried he may be murdering someone. I would call the police, but they would just show up and take everyone's money and then tell us no one actually died while pulling a rug over the body. What can you do? This is Russia!

My plans for tomorrow are to spend the day with Petr and his family celebrating Easter, and I'm really looking forward to it! Sorry my day wasn't more exciting today and that I didn't really elaborate more than I did, but it's 2.15 and I'm about to pass out. Hope you all have an awesome day, take care!

Holy hell Russians! You're all ridiculous...ly awesome.

I really don't know what it is about the Russian mentality that allows them to be completely oblivious to everyone around them, but it's insane. For example: as stated earlier, Russians never acknowledge each other in public unless they see someone they know. But when you see couples together, the two of them together are oblivious to everyone else.. and it's not uncommon to see couples just standing in the middle of .. well, everywhere groping each other or just plain going at it like no one exists in the world but them. It was kind of cute the first few times, but it's just getting insane now.

Additionally, I've witnessed a number of things so far that would get someone murdered in the US but Russians apparently accept as part of life and don't care about. For instance, today I was walking with Sasha and saw a car wreck wherein a guy backed out into traffic without even looking behind him despite the fact that it was a busy road. The two guys got out of their cars, looked at the damage (both bumpers were crushed), and then got back in their cars and drove off. I guess the idea is, "Eh, whatever... it's Russia. If we call the Police, they'll just take our money and tell us to go away. Better to not bother with it." I was really expecting them to like fight because it was such a stupid reason to have a wreck .. and then, nothing. It's just strange.

I finally managed to catch up on my sleep today, finally adjusting to the time difference. The good side of that being that HOORAY! No more being tired all day hopefully. The downside being that I was 3 hours late to an appointment. But whatever, it's Russia, right? Turns out that as always, this mantra held true. He ended up getting to stay at home 3 extra hours in the morning and actually thanked me for getting him the morning off. Glad that worked out =D After the lesson I headed to the University and had Sasha hand the guard my slip to get into the building because I wouldn't be able to properly answer questions if the guard asked any. The guard make a crack about why I didn't hand it to him myself ... the closest translation I can offer is "Doesn't he have arms?" We laughed about it on the elevator.

Petr made the observation that I am looking like a real Russian already, smiling less on transports, and I've learned to ignore everyone around me. Not sure if that's good or bad, but whatever. About 5 I caught a train uptown to meet with Ksana (Охана) and we headed to the city stadium where the Spartak (Spartans) play. I'm afraid I don't recall the name of the stadium, but the view from the train station was absolutely gorgeous. The station was actually situated on a bridge over the Moscow river and all the walls were made of glass so you could see the stadium and everything. Additionally, the entire station was done in fresh marble and there were glass display cases with gorgeous jewelry and other beautiful displays. We walked back through to the old stadium and then an even older stadium that I was advised is never used anymore. No joke, I'm sure if more than 10 people climbed those stairs the stadium would probably have collapsed, lol. =P

There were a number of VERY expensive cars racing in circles around the parking lot and Ksana told me that they were practicing for the races that are held in the streets at night. Moscow Drift for the next sequel maybe? I was just waiting for these guys to wreck, They were speeding around in circles around the stadium in excess of probably 130-140 miles per hour and then donutting around light poles. I'm amazed none of them flipped. While my honest opinion is that these guys are probably trying to compensate for their personal short-comings, I have to admit that they're freaking fearless... probably just a Russian thing though. I mean why be afraid of anything? It's not like life could get any worse, right?

We headed back a few stations towards the center of town and went into a restaurant called Му-Му (Moo Moo) that had a cow theme outside that made me think it was some kind of Ben & Jerry's deal where they sold ice cream. Actually it was a really awesome setup similar to a buffet, but all the food was prepared fresh. There was a line with chefs behind it making the food as you ordered it. I didn't know what to order or how to identify most of the foods, so Ksana bought some dishes for me. I loved all of it. Not only were the foods fantastic, but the assortment was incredible, and if anyone travels anywhere in Europe that has one of these place, make sure not to pass it by.

We headed back to the Metro about 9 so I could get back to Prince Plaza where the shuttles leave from to head back to Troitsk since the last shuttle leaves at 10.30. I cut it pretty close, and ran off the metro and up through the mall to the shuttle station where I caught one of the last shuttles at 10.26. Got home and realized that I had forgotten to file my migration card ... блин ... so I have to take care of that tomorrow. Although I'm a bit worried I may have to pay a fine for not filing in time, I had such a great day that I really can't be bothered to worry about anything at this exact moment.

I'll admit that this country has some very interesting dynamics in its mentality and approach to life, but I think by and large it's not nearly the horrible place everyone makes it out to be. Although it's true that it's a make it or break it country where it's important to be on your guard at all times because no one is looking out for you out there, what I've taken from my experience isn't how bad the country is, but how awesome the people are. It should be noted that the people that can survive here are tough, and need to be given more credit than they are given now. Like every country in the world, it has its problems. I admit that some of them may be a bit more severe than a lot of countries have to contend  with, and I'm inclined to understand the general reticence of the Russian people. Although it's a very exciting place to live, I can already see how it can wear you down having to always be on your guard.

Isn't it иронический?

First things first. When you come into a house in Russia, you always take off your shoes at the door (random side note, Russian keys are MASSIVE and kind of remind me of like keys from like the 1700's. Pictures to follow later). There are slippers by the door that you put on that are really comfy and have soft bottoms on them so you don't make any noise when you walk, which is pretty awesome, especially when you're in flats because the walls are crazy thin, and you can pretty much hear everything that happens anywhere in the building...

On that note, I feel it necessary to point out that in our area all the flats are still being built, and everything is covered in plastic and there is garbage everywhere from the construction. So at 6am you start hearing hammering and drilling and guys dropping stuff and throwing stuff, and it's ridiculous. Furthermore, apparently there's a woman that gets up at about that same time that doesn't follow the slipper policy and wears high heels... and the sound is maddening... kind of makes it impossible to sleep past 6am.

First we headed to the grocery to pay for the balance on my phone so I could actually get in touch with people because .. well having a phone with no money on it is kind of worthless. I was also advised that I was mistaken about the way that the phone system works yesterday, and in fact, my phone will still work in St. Petersburg. Apparently the access isn't as restricted as I thought I was. So hooray for that :)  We got the bills paid for the month and then took a city bus into Moscow today. I'll point out that from my experience city buses are MUCH nicer in Russia. They were flawlessly clean, and the seats were actually incredibly comfrotable... I was beyond impressed.

When we got off the metro at Leninskiy Prospekt we had to run to the University because the students were doing presentations explaining what projects they've been working on. I tried my best to understand what was being discussed, and I actually understood well more than I expected to. Went back to the lab afterwards and had lunch, then got some writing done while Petr worked. Later in the afternoon Лёша came in and we headed back to his dorm for an English lesson.

It should be pointed out that English is a considerably difficult language to learn as a second language and the forms are incredibly complicated. I was really really impressed with his comprehension, especially considering the language barrier. We had to make pretty frequent use of Google translator, but I definitely had a great time. He served me some tea and bread with a blackcurrant jam that was delicious. I made an attempt at doing the proper southern thing and tried to clean up after myself, but he refused to let me, insisting that I was his guest and so we headed back to the train station to meet with Petr and Sasha.

I feel the need to point out that although I am aware that Petr, Sasha, and Лёша are the only Russian guys I've met so far... but I definitely would have to say these are three of the best guys I've ever met, and I count myself incredibly lucky to have met such great guys. I could have gotten very unlucky and had to deal with .. well, guys not as great as these ones and my trip would have been thoroughly unpleasant because of it. As things stand now, I hope to get to spend a lot more time with this lot, because they're all great guys in my book.

On the way back home on the shuttle, I found it amusing that the ambulances have to sit in traffic like everyone else.... at 3 points during the trip our shuttle actually cut off the ambulance, and didn't allow them to pass.. and the ambulance driver didn't really seem upset... I guess the patient was dying really slowly? Maybe because the patient was Russian they understood that traffic is traffic, and there's no way to avoid it? I have no clue =P I suppose it's entirely possible that the ambulance had no one inside it, but the lights on top were definitely turned on. But then again, this is Russia after all... maybe they just leave their lights on at all times to signify that they understand that the country is always in a state of emergency? That's probably it ~.^

We headed back to the flat and picked up some groceries on the way. Although I had a great day today, I'm afraid it wasn't terribly eventful ... but I have some adventures planned for tomorrow! I'm meeting with Ksana to see the northern end of the city, and I'm really excited about it :) Really looking forward to it!

Side note ... it just occurred to me that I typed Лёша in Russian ... and most of you all probably can't read Russian. That being said, I'm going to be lazy and not go back and correct it. I'll just let you know that it's pronounced like Lyosha... sorry for being lazy, but not nearly enough to actually correct it =P I can't be blamed that Moscow is so tiring, so stop looking at me that way!

Russia has redeemed itself... kinda... ish.

So today was a pretty awesome day. We were planning to get started about 7.30 and I managed to somehow wake up at 6.00 and couldn't get back to sleep. I think the time difference is probably going to mess me up again today. Additionally, I didn't really sleep well; I attribute this to sleeping in a bed I wasn't used to. So even though I usually get about 6 hours of sleep and I got a little bit more than that, I was still exhausted all day, which was kind of a bummer.

We walked the short distance to the bus station .. and I have to say I really love this about Troitsk; it's such a small city that everything is only about 5 minutes away at most. We had the option of taking a city bus to Moscow or a taxi-bus. Fare on the city bus costs 50 rubles (roughly $1.60) and takes longer because they have to make stops along the way. The shuttle buses are smaller; similar to the shuttle buses at airports, holding about 20 people (although you're packed in against each other), and cost 60 rubles (roughly $2). So it costs a bit more, you don't have as much room, but it's much quicker. So... we opted for the shuttle because 10 rubles really isn't very significant, even for dual fare.

We made good time getting into the city and we purchased a metro pass for me. 45 day duration, 60 rides, only 1 250 rubles (roughly $41.60). Not too bad at all. First off, I want to point out that I really love Moscow's rail system. When you go into the underground, there are signs in between each column leading off the platform onto the loading platform. Each sign has what stops the train will be making, and has them in the correct order. There are also clocks at the head of each tunnel showing the time since the last train left and when the next is due, and the wait is never longer than 2 minutes. It made navigating the Metro tremendously easy. I never got lost once.

Now, I know that I've already talked about how Russians kind of ... well they do whatever the hell they want really. But really, I need to emphasize this; on the metro it became tremendously obvious that Russians have no sense of personal space. They are just as comfortable pressed up against you face to face as they would be standing 200m away. Also, it doesn't matter if someone is pressed up against you face to face, there will be no eye contact. From what I can tell, Russians don't really tend to acknowledge the existence of anyone around them unless you're hanging out together. Furthermore, they'll look at you like you just tore your button-up stripper pants off in front of God and everyone if you don't behave the same. Laughing or .. well, even smiling will put you at the business end of the awkward gun quicker than you can spit. It's taking more practice than I care to admit not acknowledging anyone around me on the metro. Just staring at the wall blankly for 20 minutes waiting for your station is harder than you can imagine.

On that subject, men don't talk at all it seems.. likewise, women talk constantly.. and loudly. It has also come to my attention that Russian women ... well, I don't know if they're aware of the stereotype that they're the most beautiful girls in the world, or if the stereotype exists because it's true, but these girls dress to kill. I haven't seen a single woman yet that wasn't dressed like American women would only dress if they were going on a date with the boyfriend of 12 years hoping tonight would be the night he was going to propose. These ladies dress to steal hearts when they go to the grocery, it's crazy. Another side note, I have no earthly idea how anyone wears a skirt that short in weather this cold and doesn't get frostbite in between their legs.

Anywaysssss, sorry for the tangent. We stayed at the institute and Petr worked and I got some writing done before Sasha came in (different one from yesterday; this is a student, not Petr's cousin). He helped me to find a good priced phone that would suit my needs and we went out into the city center to find one. Sorry, but it's time for another tangent. You can find anything you could every possibly need in the middle of the street in Moscow. There are kiosks EVERYWHERE selling everything from soda and chips (by the way, crab flavored Lay's potato chips are the BOMB... also, Mt. Dew bottles have the weirdest shape ever, pictures to follow later) to fresh bread, any magazine known to mankind, beer, fresh produce... you can buy a bag of potatoes in the middle of  the road. It's craziness.

There are cell phone stores everywhere and their system works differently than ours. Technically I think our system works different from theirs since America is one of the only countries in the world to offer phone plans. Here, phones come with different plans, but it costs only a nominal fee to activate a SIM card (200 rubles: $6.60) and then you can put it into in phone you damn well please. Want a new phone? Just buy a new one and stick it in. The only different as I see it is that the phones are more territorial. My phone works when I need to call people in Moscow, and that's fine.. as long as I'm in Moscow. When I go to St. Petersburg and Saratov, I'll need to buy a new SIM card in those cities when I get there. My phone only works within range of Moscow's towers. That being said, there are small machines in the grocery stores where you just type in your phone number, insert your money and it refills your account balance.. SOOOOO CONVENIENT! Need to know your balance or fees? Just dial 'баланс' (balance)... it's right there in your phonebook when you turn on the phone for the first time. Phone time costs about 4 rubles (~$.13) for the first minute and 2 rubles (~$.06) per minute after that with texts costing fractions of pennies (I may have gotten some of these details wrong, but this is more or less my understanding of the system so far).

After I got my phone I got a text from a friend that wanted to show me the Kremlin and Red Square, so Sasha and I chose to walk downtown rather than take the metro since we had about an hour or so to burn. We got to the Red Square and the mall nearby about 20 minutes there and I stepped in to have a look around while I waited. The mall seemed to be a popular hang out for younger folks, and I thought it was interesting how many jobs were available in the malls. There were people stationed all around just holding dustpans and sweeping up any tiny thing that hit the ground, and there was even a woman that collected 20 rubles (~$.66) from anyone who needed to use the restroom.. I wonder how much money the mall brings in each day just from that =P

Speaking of stores... another brief tangent. In the metro stations and in the undergrounds crossing under major roadways, there are TONS of small shops lining the corridors. I mean, really REALLY small. The shops are typically no more than 10 feet in length and no more than 4-5 feet from front to back. It's pretty much just a display window with a tiny girl packed in behind a tiny window like a sardine. You tell them what product you want, they pull it out for you and pass it through the window. Literally brings new meaning to the term window-shopping, but it's a pretty cool system. No shortage of jobs here (I don't actually know what the unemployment rates are in Russia, I'm just making an observation that they seem to have gotten pretty creative with finding work for people).

Back to the story. Anastasia showed up and we went to see Red Square. Since Victory Day is approaching quickly, the police were out in full force in Red Square. There were hundreds of workers trying to prepare the roadways around the Kremlin for the the parades, and hundreds of police in full uniform were marching around rehearsing their show for 9 May. I think it's already been mentioned that Russians are a very proud people, and this holiday, День Победы (Day of Victory) is a military celebration commemorating the victory over the Nazis in the Великая Отечественная война (Great Patriotic War) WW-II) in which over 20 million people in the former USSR were killed, and it is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in Russia. Needless to say, these guys were intimidating.. totally hardcore.

She took me on a brief walk around the downtown are and we looked at some monuments and artwork in the parks around the center of the city and then we parted ways at the metro and I headed back to the institute to catch the shuttle back to Troitsk with Petr before the sun went down. We headed into the mall and ate at a place called Крошка-Картошка... a rough translation is like .... uhh, well it's Potato, but it's stated in an affectionate way to sound cute if that makes sense. Anyways, Petr just called it Potato. He advised me that it's very expensive and the total bill for both of our meals came to a whopping 456 rubles (~$15). I explained that the same meal in America probably would have cost about the same amount, so really the more expensive foods apparently cost about as much as our standard fare.

So I'll let other decide on whether it's really as expensive to live here as people make it sound, but I haven't been having any problems affording anything. My legs were killing me by the time we made it to the bus about 21.00 (9pm for those that aren't big on military time.. it's what most people seem to prefer to use here) and I fell asleep on the shuttle ride home. We made it back around 21.35 and I'm amazed I managed to stay awake long enough to type all this out. In a nutshell, I'd have to say that Moscow did a pretty solid job of winning me back over today. I definitely need to make sure to get a map tomorrow, but overall the day went by without any hitches. I hope to have the energy tomorrow to post some of the footage I shot today, but no promises.

I know it's only about 3pm for most of you all, so hope the rest of your day is awesome!

OMG I'M GOING TO DIE!

That was pretty much the recurring theme of my day today. I got yesterday morning at 7am and finished my packing. Got a ride to the Pensacola Regional Airport and waited about 90 minutes for the flight to Washington International Airport. The flight was maybe 2 hours or so and not really worth mentioning. I had a 2.5 hour layover at Washington Dulles Airport though and was one of approximately 4 people on the flight to Moscow of the 156 passengers that wasn't Russian. First things first, this was my first international flight and holy hell that jet was massive. Second, there was apparently some kind of "Let's Go To America" field trip and roughly 1/3 of the passengers were 10-12 year old boys.

To start off with, all of them was dressed identically, from the horizontally black-and-grey striped sweaters and black Dickies pants to the black I-wish-I-was-as-cool-as-Johnny-Depp fedoras. Oh, and one of them had a pierced ear... that's important, because he's obviously the non-conformist of the group. Seeing as it's obviously impossible to keep that many little boys quiet, they ran around the concourse screaming and hitting each other for the entire 2 hours. When we finally boarded, as soon as the fasten seat-belts went off it turned into a free-for-all that reminded me of a mosh-pit. Every single person on the plane got up and started wandering up and down the isles like they were on some sort of weight-loss show and they couldn't afford to sit down even for 5 minutes. 9 hours of kids running up and down the isles screaming and throwing things and hitting each other and old ladies jazzercising past them and preventing anyone from sleeping by knocking against anyone close to an isle later, we finally arrived in Moscow at Domodedovo Airport.

I have to say that flying over the countryside for some 50km before landing I got a decent idea of the architecture and ... well, I don't know that it can really be called that honestly. There are structures with roofs. None of the roofs match, and in fact there seems to have been an effort made to ensure that no two adjacent houses had the same color roofs, red, green , orange, green, red, blue. My friend Petr's cousin picked me up and instead of driving into the city and then back out to Troitsk (spoke-shaped city) we drove directly west to the city. This is where the journey got really exciting.

To begin with, our flight got in an hour early, and so I had plenty of time to get through passport control and acquire my luggage (passport control alone took nearly 45 minutes with a thousand people trying to get through 15 lines... yeesh) before heading outside to sit and watch people try to get themselves killed for 30 minutes. Regarding Russian driving/road habits, I have to make it very clear to anyone that has ever driven in any country that is NOT Russia, don't ever try to do it in this country. The drivers here are absolutely the worst in the world. Never mind the lines on the center of the road, just drive where ever the hell you want. Traffic moving too slow? Just drive onto the dirt path on the sides of the road and pass up the traffic to cut in at the beginning of the line.. I mean, after all, that's why the dirt path is there, right? From all the millions of drivers that did the same thing before you! Did I mention the pedestrians that just wander into traffic when you're driving at 90km/h? Yeah .. a young woman wandered right in front of the car and Sasha actually had to slam on his breaks to avoid hitting them. I guess the rule here is look left right left before crossing, and then disregard whatever you saw and do whatever you want.

On the outside of the dirt paths lining the roads are the garbage dumps. Ever driving down the road and just decide you don't want something anymore? Maybe your lunch wrappers, an old tire, that screaming baby in the backseat? Just through it into the swamps on the sides of the roads. I have never seen so much garbage in one place in my life... well, except in a New York City certified garbage dump... and New Jersey... (just kidding New Jersey .. maybe) Beyond the mires are the remnants of old buildings long forgotten except when you pass through small cities (villages would be more accurate), and your entire journey makes for an incredibly thrill ride as you hold onto your seat for dear life as the innumerable potholes threaten to shake the car apart. All this while people are flying past you at 110km/h.

At some point driving from Domodedovo to Troitsk we passed a field where there were men burning ... nothing. They were just setting grass on fire next to the roadway. Of course people were too busy driving way over the speed limit and passing people by driving off road to be bothered with watching where they were driving, and 4 cars piled up right in front of us within 10 minutes of me getting on the roads of Russia for the first time. Someone in front of us stopped his car dead in the middle of the road to watch, and someone else headed towards us was turned around watching too and nailed the guy parked in the middle of the road, ricocheting off into the woods on the side of the road. Luckily, both gentleman got out of their cars and appeared to be uninjured, but holy hell... just ... wow.

Petr took me to a grocery about 3-4 minutes walk from the flat and we stocked up on essentials. Had a lot of fun with people in the store who kept looking at us funny because we were speaking English, and even had a little girl following us trying to figure out why she couldn't understand us. . . was pretty awesome. It came to my attention that people here walk the same way they drive. Get in their way and they'll walk through you. It struck me as odd coming from a country where you stop before running into someone and say excuse me when I had an elderly woman just push me out of the way. After that I learned to be more aware of the people around me and move out of the way when they started walking towards me. I would also recommend to anyone that chooses to visit not to bother smiling at people ... or really even acknowledging they exist unless you have to have interaction with them (ie shopping, etc) because they're just going to ignore you anyways. If you actually talk to someone, so far they seem to be incredibly friendly and helpful... but unless you're having a discussion, just mind your own business seems to be the rule here.

Came back to the flat, fixed up a nice meal, then went to some places that Petr knew people and had some fun sending me in first to talk to them in English until they were so thoroughly confused what was going on that they were almost in tears, and then he came in and they busted his chops for messing with them. Ahhh, messing with people in foreign languages... good times.

So I got my USD exchanged for РУБ and I will be going with Petr tomorrow to the city to get a Russian phone and meet some of the students I will be tutoring. Amazingly, after all of the day's incredibly random events, I am having a really awesome time. Talking with Petr and his cousin, we discussed that the reason that the Russian government has allowed their roadways to get into such horrible shape is actually a brilliant plan to protect the country: with a country this lousy, Russia doesn't need an army! Who would ever want to invade?

The resilience of the Russian people amazes me more now than ever. I have been given the opportunity to witness just a small piece of life in this country already, and I can't help but be shocked that a people living in such conditions can have such an excellent sense of humor. They seem to find the greatest joy in laughing at their own predicaments, and I think a lot of people could really take a lesson from that. There are some things in life that you can change, and others that you can't. Nothing to do but do the best you can with the cards you're dealt.

All that being said, I'm actually having a blast! Maybe I'm crazy, but I actually enjoy it. Granted, it kind of still doesn't really feel real, and I'm half expecting to wake up tomorrow back in the US. The way I see it, an adventure is an adventure, and one taken purely for adventure's sake ... well, you can't really go wrong if that's your only goal. Trust me, while it lasts I'm going to do my best to enjoy every minute of it))))

Soul Crushing Boredom

So I've got 5 days until my 24 hour flight to Moscow. My last day at work was Saturday, and I've finished cleaning and washing everything around the house. I still have to pack, but have everything folded and ready to go. I still have to get my car sold and find another suitcase, but otherwise, I'm left to pretty much do nothing but sit around and ... well, that's about it.

As for my trip, I have lots of friends stepping up to "volunteer" their time to hang out. Awesome. The first week I'm in Moscow, we've got plans to visit the Arkhangelskoye Estate* on April 23rd. Then, we have plans to go to St. Petersburg** to hang out... not to mention going to the System of a Down concert in Moscow on June 21st! So yeah, totally excited about that! I've gotten word from some other expats in Moscow that there's a new place opening on my birthday, 29/4, so I'm really looking forward to that as well!

In unrelated news, it looks like I'll be helping out with getting in contact with a woman named Marina Popovich. For those that don't know who she is ... well ... "Marina Lavrentievna Popovich (Vasiliyeva) is a retired Soviet Air Force colonel, engineer, and legendary Soviet test pilot who holds 107 aviation world records set on over 40 types of aircraft. She is one of the most famous pilots in Russian history, and one of the most important female pilots of all-time."***

Many of the 107 flight records she broke/made back in the 50's and 60's still stand to this day. There is a production team currently working on filming a movie based on her life, and they've asked me to be involved with the interviewing and script-writing processes; I consider it a great honor to get to get to know this amazing woman first-hand.

All in all, I'd have to say that my long-time motto stands truer than ever, "All things come to those who wait." Just be patient, and everything will work out as it should; I promise :)

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkhangelskoye_Estate
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg,_Russia
*** Excerpt from Wikipedia. Full link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Popovich

Back to Houston!

So I just got back in from Houston again. I've got to say, this city gets better every time I go back. Admittedly the drivers are more on the psychotic side than in most smaller cities that I'm used to, but they've definitely got a lot going for them. I went back to find out if my visa had been approved, and if so to pick it up. Good news first, I've got my visa in hand, so the trip is definitely on. That being said, Everyone I've talked to in this city was incredibly friendly and tremendously helpful. Hell, I was running behind yesterday afternoon and the driver went out of his way to help out. He literally cut his break short and I kind of got the feeling he wasn't waiting at the bus stops as long as he was supposed to. We chatted the whole 45 minute trip, and had a great time.

This time around I chose to take a Greyhound bus instead of flying, and oh boy was that fun. First off, buses don't bother me. My first observation would be that they frighten most white people. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I swear, every time I get on a city bus, there's always some random 30-something white guy dressed all sharp sitting in the back corner cowering away from all the non-white people on the bus like he thinks they're going to mug him. So the Greyhound trip to Houston wasn't anything spectacular except that I had a woman behind me with a little girl about 8 and another about 4. There was a woman in front of me with another little girl around 6 or so. All 3 of these little girls spent the entire 10 hour ride screaming and crying, and their mothers didn't seem to care and just let them keep screaming and crying. Fantastic. Further more, the woman in front of me moved to a different seat beside me and spent the entire trip on her cellphone screaming at God knows who. I should point out that there were around 40 people on this bus and it was a 7pm to 5:40am ride, so everyone is trying to sleep. It never fails to amaze me how obliviously inconsiderate some people can be.

So that aside we got to Houston alright, and I had to find a way to spend the day. I hung out at the bus station for about an hour charging my phone at the public charging station (which by the way is awesome) and while I was sitting in the terminal, I started Googling what all there was to do in Houston. I had to burn from 7am until 4pm when the Visa desk at the Russian Embassy allowed you to come in and pick up visas. I settled on the Houston Space Center for an awesome inexpensive $10. The only problem was I had to print off the ticket. I opted to just walk to the public library since it was only about 10 blocks away or so and made it there in about an hour. I suppose it could have taken less time, but I wasn't in an incredible hurry as you may imagine since I knew I had the whole day, and I kind of meandered through the city on the way there rather than taking a straight line.

Side note, Houston's architecture is fantastic, and I hope at some point I can take the time to look into some of it more thoroughly. There are so many awesome buildings and designs, and while some of them aren't necessarily complimentary, I think they give the city a very unique flavor that I'm a huge fan of.

When I got to the library I discovered it wouldn't open until 10, so I sat down and was planning to try to see if I could find wireless internet in downtown Houston, but had brought a book as backup since I didn't honestly anticipate being able to accomplish the former goal. To my surprise, I learned that Houston actually has free wireless internet access across downtown. How freaking sweet is that? The signal was better than what I get at home, which is just embarrassing, lol. Rock on, Houston, you're awesome.

I got on Skype and chatted with a few friends until the library opened and I got into the queue to get on a computer. The Houston Public Library has a really awesome system for their public computers that is both complex and at the same time incredibly simple to understand. Again, I was very impressed. I got my ticket printed off, wandered back the to Metro station and caught the 149 bus all the way out to the outskirts of the city to the Space Center. It was a bit strange being the only person there that wasn't with a family and there were tons of kids and school field-trips going on. I went on the tram ride around the complex and got to see the original mission control room where the Apollo missions were run out of and the Apollo 18 rocket, which was built to be functional and then was never used. I got a bunch of pictures, and will post some later when I get the chance!

About 3pm I caught the 149 back to the Metro station and caught the 35 again out to the embassy. This is where the awesome bus driver came in :P Awesome guy! Even had one of the aforementioned frightened white guys leave the back of the bus to come sit with me... like he thought we would have a fighting chance together if they attacked us or something. Silly white people. We made it there in about 45 minutes despite getting caught in traffic a few times and I ran up to the embassy on the 13th floor. Was kind of out of breath, but again, I was only in the embassy maybe 3 minutes tops. They might have a complicated system, but at least they're efficient. I handed him my receipt, he handed me the visa, and I ran back down and caught the returning 35 back to the Metro station. I have to admit at this point I was fairly positive I was going to miss the Greyhound, and I made it back with just minutes to spare... cutting it a bit close, but at least I made it :P

The return trip proved to me even more colorful than the first. All things considered nothing terribly different except no kids this time. Just a skinny white girl about 20 that wouldn't stop crying for reasons unknown, and about 30 Hispanic guys that wouldn't stop shouting in Spanish and had to continually be told to keep it down. The first 5 hours or so were rather uneventful, but when we got to Baton Rouge, the driver announced we would be breaking for 30 minutes. Awesome! It's usually 15. Then he said to sit back down. Huh? A bunch of guys in police-style green uniforms with badges and the big highway patrol style hats got on and announced they were border patrol and would be checking all our papers proving we were US citizens. Oh, this is going to be fun. Of course the first half of the bus filed off quickly, and then they started taking some of the Hispanic men off the bus and putting them in a van. Apparently they didn't have identification papers and were unable to prove they were here legally. Then dogs got on the bus... the fluffy adorable type that could probably tear your arms off without trying. I fought the urge to pet them.

All that aside, we loaded the bus again. Good, 3 hours of sleep before my drive home from Mobile. Not so fast though, sounds like a fight. Freakishly large angry black guy comes up and says little white girl has an attitude problem and if she gets violent again he'll restrain her. Of course he tells the driver this in front of the State Patrol officers. "Little white girl, come here" Ahahaha, can't believe they just said that. She comes up, in tears... uh oh, bad move big black dude. You must not have been black for very long. Everyone knows little blond white girls just have to turn on the water works and they win. So they escorted him off the bus after getting his luggage and she returned to her seat. All the black people on the back of the bus turned on the white people and the driver had to settle them down. God I love public transportation. Saw the officer basically having to try to restrain this guy as the bus drove off. Fun times.

Got back to Mobile without further incident and had a rather uneventful drive home. Success! Headed to Russia in 10 days! I'm kind of at a loss for words how I feel about this to be honest. Before I got the visa it could have gone either way, so I had tried to withhold my excitement. But now that I know I'm going... I don't really know how to respond. This is the beginning of a new chapter in my life, and I can't really even celebrate. I'm just filled with anticipation at this point. I'm not nervous anxious, but an excited anxious, and my test now is to keep my head on straight and finish up my last preparations. Headed into work soon to put in my notice, and then I get to start packing. Time to get going!

Houston... not as bad as expected.

I suppose I probably thought Houston was just going to be another big city full of angry rude people. I'm happy to report that this was most certainly not the case. From personal experience I've found that in most big cities people tend to be rather ... we'll say cold. They could see someone getting raped in the middle of the street and just keep walking. "How sad ... oh well, not my problem." Maybe there are so many people are around they just expect someone else to help. Too bad all of them think the same thing. Regardless, my point is that I don't think I met a single unpleasant person while I was in Houston. From the minute I stepped off the plane at Houston Hobby airport to the time I reembarked, I have nothing but good things to say about this city.

First, I was nervous to use the bus system, having only used taxis before. That being said, the taxi fare to the Russian Embassy and back would have cost nearly $85 and that was certainly well more than I was willing to pay to get a ride about 10 miles. I would sooner walk, and I certainly had enough time to. However, I opted for the public transit with some trepidation. At least it would only cost me $5 to get there and back! Trying to make heads or tails of the map nearly gave me a migraine, but luckily a number was posted that you could call for trip planning. You just tell them your departure point and destination and they tell you which buses to take. I don't know if every city offers this, but that was awesome. The woman was incredibly kind on the phone, and during my trip I spent a good amount of time chatting with people at the bus stops or on the buses. The drivers were fantastically helpful and all in good spirits, and getting directions from random people on the street went better than I could have hoped for.

Unfortunately, since the Embassy was only available from 9am to 12pm, when I booked my tickets I had to buy a ticket the day before .. and in the morning. So I spent from about 3pm until 6am the following day sitting in the Hobby airport watching movies on my laptop ... which I luckily brought ... and luckily had movies on. So I finished reading the last chapter of 'The Master and Margarita', read a few chapters of 'The Sun Also Rises', got 3 chapters written, and then about 6am I caught the 88 bus to the downtown transit center, then caught the 35 to the embassy which didn't open for another 90 minutes. So I grabbed breakfast and Jack In The Box, a coffee, and sat in the cold rain outside until 8:30 when the woman at the front desk let me come in and wait the rest of the time.

A few Russian women came in that had some papers and other documents that they needed to have made official. Apparently I was not alone in not being able to reach anyone on the phone. All of them had the same story. They had called 10 times a day every day for weeks, had finally given up and just bought plane tickets. So far, this is my only real complaint. Why does the embassy never answer the phone? Anyways, once the embassy opened I was the first seated since I just needed to talk to the woman about my visa. All in all, the meeting took less than probably 5 minutes. I was actually kind of hoping it would be more complicated after all the trouble I went through to get there, but I guess I'm happy it didn't take long. But 5 minutes of my trip was dedicated to getting my visa whereas 2 weeks and several thousand dollars were spent in preparation for that 5 minutes ... meh. What can you do? This is Russia.

I took the buses back to the airport, waited another 9 hours, and finally got back to Panama City about 10:15pm. Had an exciting 4 hour drive back home, but that's neither here nor there. At least I got back home safe))) The woman at the visa desk advised me that I could pick up my visa in 3 days. She said she couldn't imagine any reason my visa would get declined, and was tremendously helpful and friendly. So ... I'm very hopeful about my impending trip. Especially since I already have the tickets. =P