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!
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!
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