It was actually last night and I somehow totally managed to forget about it when I was typing my blog... likely owing to my being tired and shagged out after a prolonged squawk (hardy har). In brief, I was headed off the metro at my home station under Prince Plaza on the outskirts of Moscow and it was about 3 minutes until 23.00, so pretty darn late. I was messing with something inside my bag and had headphones on and didn't even notice the officers standing next to the gates exiting the metro. They apparently called to me and I didn't hear them, and one of them stuck out his stick in front of me, realizing I had headphones on and hadn't heard him. He said something I didn't understand and I explained that I didn't speak Russian well.
He said "Passport" and I pulled it out and handed it to him. He said, "Ahhh, American! You are tourist?" I was rather surprised that he was speaking English and inquired in Russian if he actually knew English, he seemed embarrassed and said, "only little" and laughed. I told him I was just a tourist because I didn't feel the need to try to explain my trip and I'm technically on a visiting visa, so whatever, good enough. He just nodded at the visa, handed it back, and said good luck, and I told the two of them good night in Russian. They seemed friendly enough to me, but I also am not from here, so I'll continue to take my friends' advice and be cautious around them. I'll just assume I got lucky and happened to run into some decent guys this time.
Today I got up early (early for me being 9.00 =P) and headed into Moscow to meet with Veronica. It was to be our first meeting, and I felt a slight tinge of anticipation because I had had to cancel our first meeting due to my being sick. I know she understood, but I just hate having to cancel, and so I was a little ... not nervous, but definitely anxious, like I owed her an apology. Turned out she lives on the far northern end of the city, and what I was expecting to be an hour trip became a 2 hour trip and I was running more than a little late, which certainly didn't help. Then, because I was taking a train line I wasn't familiar with, I miscalculated the station distance and told her I was almost there when in fact I was still like 5 stations away... way to make a good first impression, Cooper; very impressive.
Texted her to let her know what I was wearing since I had no earthly idea what she looked like, and said I was pulling up as the train entered the station. She spotted me on the train before it stopped and I noticed that she recognized me as my car passed her. I stepped out and she was already approaching and we made our way to a nearby mall to get coffee while we talked. She said the same thing I've heard a dozen times; she had many years of reading and writing, and no practical usage. She said she had never gotten to speak English really, and as I seem to find continually in Russians, she was very quick and I was impressed with her working knowledge of English considering she had had no practice.
We had a great time, and I had roughly an extra 2 hours until me meeting with Irina, so we stood outside and chatted for a while. The weather was probably not conducive to my continued recovery as it was raining and I thought a few times that I actually saw snow, but it was just a light mist. Still, it was pretty cold, and I should have probably stayed in, but the air was fresh and clean with the rain and was so incredibly refreshing I just couldn't resist. I headed back to meet with Irina and had to wait about 20 minutes or so at Mayakovskaya, at which time I got to witness all sorts of crazies in the underground.
Mayakovskaya is a lovely station, and one that I certainly don't mind spending time at. There is artwork made in tiles along the ceiling depicting images from the Great Patriotic War that lots of people wander around photographing every day. Today I got to see among other things a woman wearing fingerless gloves, a US-military style camo hat, and a raccoon tail attached to the center belt loop on the back of her pants. She was pacing back and forth and staring at me for the better part of the full 20 minutes and making me terribly uncomfortable. There was also an old guy (approximately 60ish) wearing daisy dukes and a shirt that didn't quite come down to his belly button and had the sleeves torn off that read "Jealous?", complete with pink converse sneakers. Yeah... I just don't even known how to respond to any of that (keep in mind it was freezing outside).
After I left Irina, I headed back to Kon'kovo station and met with Лёша and played some futbol for a bit. We discussed our plans for tomorrow, which is a "free museum day," where museums don't charge an entrance fee, so we're planning to meet around noon and spend the day visiting galleries. I got home about 22.15 this evening and turned on the TV to the only channel we get, EuroNews. While it is a rather repetitive channel, it definitely keeps me up to date on everything I could possibly need to know about what's going on in the world (nothing exciting ever happens in America, and no one cares about Africa... I wish that were just a joke, but it really is true, sadly).
I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, and I hope I can take pictures... but since I only have a video camera, I'm a little nervous that it's not going to be kosher. We'll see what happens though. Since apparently only 1 in every 100 readers actually feels inclined to tell me their opinion I've decided to do what the 3 people that actually responded have voted for and work towards getting an active daily blog going in the nearest future. No promises for at least a few days, but I'll do my best to get it going soon. Hope everyone had an awesome day, and looking forward to seeing you at the museum tomorrow!
He said "Passport" and I pulled it out and handed it to him. He said, "Ahhh, American! You are tourist?" I was rather surprised that he was speaking English and inquired in Russian if he actually knew English, he seemed embarrassed and said, "only little" and laughed. I told him I was just a tourist because I didn't feel the need to try to explain my trip and I'm technically on a visiting visa, so whatever, good enough. He just nodded at the visa, handed it back, and said good luck, and I told the two of them good night in Russian. They seemed friendly enough to me, but I also am not from here, so I'll continue to take my friends' advice and be cautious around them. I'll just assume I got lucky and happened to run into some decent guys this time.
Today I got up early (early for me being 9.00 =P) and headed into Moscow to meet with Veronica. It was to be our first meeting, and I felt a slight tinge of anticipation because I had had to cancel our first meeting due to my being sick. I know she understood, but I just hate having to cancel, and so I was a little ... not nervous, but definitely anxious, like I owed her an apology. Turned out she lives on the far northern end of the city, and what I was expecting to be an hour trip became a 2 hour trip and I was running more than a little late, which certainly didn't help. Then, because I was taking a train line I wasn't familiar with, I miscalculated the station distance and told her I was almost there when in fact I was still like 5 stations away... way to make a good first impression, Cooper; very impressive.
Texted her to let her know what I was wearing since I had no earthly idea what she looked like, and said I was pulling up as the train entered the station. She spotted me on the train before it stopped and I noticed that she recognized me as my car passed her. I stepped out and she was already approaching and we made our way to a nearby mall to get coffee while we talked. She said the same thing I've heard a dozen times; she had many years of reading and writing, and no practical usage. She said she had never gotten to speak English really, and as I seem to find continually in Russians, she was very quick and I was impressed with her working knowledge of English considering she had had no practice.
We had a great time, and I had roughly an extra 2 hours until me meeting with Irina, so we stood outside and chatted for a while. The weather was probably not conducive to my continued recovery as it was raining and I thought a few times that I actually saw snow, but it was just a light mist. Still, it was pretty cold, and I should have probably stayed in, but the air was fresh and clean with the rain and was so incredibly refreshing I just couldn't resist. I headed back to meet with Irina and had to wait about 20 minutes or so at Mayakovskaya, at which time I got to witness all sorts of crazies in the underground.
Mayakovskaya is a lovely station, and one that I certainly don't mind spending time at. There is artwork made in tiles along the ceiling depicting images from the Great Patriotic War that lots of people wander around photographing every day. Today I got to see among other things a woman wearing fingerless gloves, a US-military style camo hat, and a raccoon tail attached to the center belt loop on the back of her pants. She was pacing back and forth and staring at me for the better part of the full 20 minutes and making me terribly uncomfortable. There was also an old guy (approximately 60ish) wearing daisy dukes and a shirt that didn't quite come down to his belly button and had the sleeves torn off that read "Jealous?", complete with pink converse sneakers. Yeah... I just don't even known how to respond to any of that (keep in mind it was freezing outside).
After I left Irina, I headed back to Kon'kovo station and met with Лёша and played some futbol for a bit. We discussed our plans for tomorrow, which is a "free museum day," where museums don't charge an entrance fee, so we're planning to meet around noon and spend the day visiting galleries. I got home about 22.15 this evening and turned on the TV to the only channel we get, EuroNews. While it is a rather repetitive channel, it definitely keeps me up to date on everything I could possibly need to know about what's going on in the world (nothing exciting ever happens in America, and no one cares about Africa... I wish that were just a joke, but it really is true, sadly).
I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, and I hope I can take pictures... but since I only have a video camera, I'm a little nervous that it's not going to be kosher. We'll see what happens though. Since apparently only 1 in every 100 readers actually feels inclined to tell me their opinion I've decided to do what the 3 people that actually responded have voted for and work towards getting an active daily blog going in the nearest future. No promises for at least a few days, but I'll do my best to get it going soon. Hope everyone had an awesome day, and looking forward to seeing you at the museum tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment