"There is nothing in the desert .. no man needs nothing."

So, in my time lounging around Thailand waiting for my next flight, a thought has begun to form in my mind:
What's the next step?

Wanting to see the world is lovely... it's all very romantic and everything... but it doesn't pay the bills. Ultimately, when you get to your destination, or whenever you stop anywhere really, you have to be making money somehow, or else you're losing money. This trip has made me much more keenly aware of this plight than I have been in the past... though it has certainly always plagued me.

Through discussion with Maria, we have settled on not staying in Russia forever... I love the cold, but she just doesn't. She wants to live somewhere warmer, and I can hardly blame her for it (though I certainly prefer the cold). I won't provide a lot more detail than that, but it has put into our minds the irrevocable knowledge that this isn't permanent. Furthermore, when we leave Russia, her accounting degree will basically become a useless piece of paper... so we will need to decide on new careers.

My job history has been largely in customer service and hospitality... I'm good with people... and I can do that anywhere. If we settle someplace where English isn't the primary language, I can give English lessons.... however, I've been thinking of ways to supplement income. My writing might not be riveting, but I like to think I have some skill with a pen (metaphorically of course).

I know there aren't many that read my blog, but I'd like to ask your advice... Does anyone know any writers that might be able to offer advice on making the leap from hobby writer to professional? One that could at least offer some advice on changes I could make to my writing style? =D

Suggestions?

Oh Lord...

So, in Thailand, there is no president, there is no Prime Minister... there is a royal family still. That's not so strange, I'm sure there are plenty of countries that still have a King and Queen... but something I've observed now, is that there is a law regarding respect towards the royal family.

Nearly everywhere you go, there are portraits of the royal family... I could identify the King of Thailand in a lineup of 10,000,000 Thai people already. Again, not so strange. However, the law includes defacing any image of any member of the family, and of course his image is on the currency.

Beware, if you are in Thailand, and drop a coin, don't step on it to stop it rolling... don't step on that bill that's blowing away... lest you get arrested like that poor bastard just did.

A Whole New World

So, whereas before I was staying in Patong which is for all intents and purposes solely a tourist attraction and is rife with Russians and Australians, I am now staying in Phuket Town in basically the heart of downtown.... and I'm not the only white person... but I'm certainly the minority now. Last night I ran into 3 Americans (very rare... plenty of Australians and Brits, but not many Americans) that were eating at a pizzeria around the corner when I went exploring, but for the most part, I draw more strange looks from people here that seem to ask with their eyes if I'm lost.

That being said, I'm quite enjoying it here actually. I miss Maria tremendously of course... but I'm getting a much more accurate feel for what life is really like in Thailand now that I'm away from the beach. Most storefronts seem to be closed until about 5pm when everything opens and everyone is selling something from their front porch, but until then, I don't know where everyone is. Does everyone work a 9 to 5 job and then come home and sit on their porches and sell wares until 10 or 11? Or do they sleep until 4pm and live off the income from the noodles they sell at night? Without watching individual houses I really don't have any idea to be honest... as I don't have the slightest clue what rent is like here or what the hourly wages are comparable to.

However, I did go out last night really for the first time to explore. Usually I map out online where I'm going so I know exactly where I'm headed, and while I did use maps to get a feel for the surrounding area, and always knew where I was, I did a bit of meandering to try to find somewhere that had cheap Thai food. My search was a bust, excluding one sit down restaurant that I may check out later... but I did find a small mall about 5 minutes walk away. I think mall isn't really the most accurate way to describe it to be honest... it seemed more a place for kids to hang out after they get out of school. There was a movie theater, a video game store, a few various and sundry clothing shops, a hair salon, KFC, Dairy Queen, the aforementioned pizzeria, another Ice Cream shop (guess ice cream is popular.... considering we're at the equator, I'm sure I can't figure out why), and hundreds of kids and teenagers just sitting around staring at the white guy walking through the mall alone.

Too bloody hot though ... tried to take a cold shower, but apparently the electric shower doesn't have a cold setting, just a not-quite-hot setting. So that didn't help much. It did help temporarily with the "I feel like I'm drowning in my own sweat" experience that happens every hour or so though, but I can't just stay in the shower constantly. Trying to stay in the room as much as possible to be honest though; I had my fun the past two weeks and this is just a waiting game as I'm trying to save my money for Russia. I love it here, but really can't wait to move on to Russia .. got a woman waiting for me that I miss too damn much ;)

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto..

Well... Where to begin? Maria made an interesting observation about vehicles here. Though lots of people drive motorbikes, there are still many many many people that have cars... and though there are some clunkers, she pointed out that 90-95% of them are VERY nice cars... Are vehicles very cheap here? Or have the followed the American tradition of being able to buy a nice car because they didn't spend much on their house? You do seem to see really nice vehicles parked in front of not really nice homes a lot.... Maybe not so strange, but interesting.

I have to withdraw my previous statement about driving laws in Thailand after having done a lot more driving. Apparently in our little corner of Phuket, it was mostly locals that ... well, drove like locals. After further exploration, I've found that most everyone follows laws like wearing helmets, and the road habits have made more sense to me after driving enough. The left lane is for motor bikes; the right is for larger vehicles. You are allowed to use the other lane, but only when there is a lack of the other already using it.

Everyone always uses turn signals... always. It puts a slight buffer on the craziness of people swerving all over the place in and out of lanes if you at least know they're about to do it. If you're passing someone, never assume they're paying attention to their mirrors... honk first before passing. The center lines however... well, they do seem to be more of a suggestion than a law.

I was also wrong about driver's licenses not being required though... Though it doesn't seem heavily enforced unless you go on the highways between cities. We ran into a checkpoint where I had to show mine, though they didn't pay much attention to the fact that I'm only authorized to drive cars and trucks, not motorcycles.... so no, not strictly enforced... Though they were ticketing an Australian that didn't have his license with him.

Which brings me to my next point. As for most of Thailand, I can't say... But if you only speak English, Patong beach in Phuket is the place to go. It seemed initially that Russian was the only alternative... but down by the beach there's a half-mile long road called Bang-La Road.. You'll hear some people call it walking street, because after 6pm, you're not allowed to take vehicles down it. Why? Because it has 12 million Australian bars and night clubs. Everyone goes there at night, and you can always bet you can easily find someone that speaks English there. It seems like this is a relatively close and inexpensive place for Australians to vacation, and they hold a strong permanent influence over the city near the beach.

Through an interesting turn of events, after Maria returned to Samara, I got stuck in Thailand a further 2 weeks after missing my flight for complicated reasons. They couldn't return my money so I could buy new tickets for a later flight the same day.. they could only exchange them for a later flight to the same destination with the same airline ... and the next flight is in 2 weeks.

So I booked into a hostel in Phuket Town that costs basically the same as my previous hotel, but cost less to get here because there are busses that run from the airport regularly. Planning to lay low and spend my time watching Russian tv and reading all the Russian I can to try to improve my language skills before I get to Russia.

Got my hotel in Samara rebooked for 2 weeks from now since I obviously won't be using the time there I had booked for .. well, yesterday. Can't say I'll have anything terribly fascinating to share for the next two weeks, but I'll keep you updated on any further developments))

Be Grateful for What You Have

So... something that should be pointed out. You know how public restrooms are free and come with free toilet paper? Be grateful for that, because in the rest of the world, that's not how it works. There are public restrooms here, as in Russia, but here, also like Russia, they don't come with toilet paper. But it gets better!

Sometimes restrooms are little more than holes in the ground that you have to pay to use. Granted, it's only about 10 baht usually (about 30 cents), but the fact remains that you sometimes only get a bucket of water to pour over your posterior for cleaning purposes. The nicer restrooms feature a hose attached to a real toilet that you use to spray yourself off with. But wait, there's more!

The reason they don't use toilet paper is because some brilliant mastermind designed for Thailand a septic system that can handle human waste, but not tissue paper. So, in some of the nicer restrooms, when you pay, they offer you 4 or 5 squares of toilet paper to dry off with after you hose your waste all over the place. This must then be thrown into the trash, not the toilet, lest you blow up Thailand via septic blast. This, in turn, leads to not very pleasant smelling bathrooms((

In summary, when you use a public restroom, and don't have to pay, and it has toilet paper, and it's an actual toilet... be grateful.

Disco disco!

Dear America, you have no clue how to party - sorry. The night before last, we started off at Hollywood Disco. No cover, and a decent size club. It was divided into a front and back club, each with dramatically different club music styles. In the front, bad, in the back, good. Inexplicably, the front was more packed than the back.

We ended up only staying for about 30 minutes because despite having good music, it was pretty much just unattractive girls that no one had ever told were unattractive shaking what their mommas gave them for lots of old guys... No real dancing, just lots of reasons to vomit.

We headed to Tiger Disco next, which was markedly better. Again, no cover, and a much larger crowd.... Including a fight which broke out basically right on top of us. Some drunk guy tried to make a pass at one of the girls and was jumped by 5-6 security instantly... I mean they were on top of him before I knew what was happening, and I was there. Security here is on top of their a-game.

We had one of Orasa's friends with us though, and since she worked at Tiger, she couldn't come in and had waited outside, so we moved on quickly. Finally, we ended up at Seduction Club, which was hands-down the best. I had some reservations about the place because I had read about it online before about girls being offered money to go home with different guys, and I wasn't wholly comfortable taking Maria there. Orasa assured me it was the best though, and nothing like that, so I just resolved to stay on guard.

The cover charge was 400 baht (about $13), and a Corona cost me about $8. Now, the stupidly high prices aside, this really was amazing, and a must-visit if you're in Patong. The DJ may have been the best I've ever heard, and the crowd was fun, not fantastically intoxicated, and the evening was wholly enjoyable. We didn't stick around too long though, the day had been exhausting and our legs hurt from extended travel.

Yesterday, Orasa had the day off, and took full advantage of it. We hopped on our bikes and made our way to the eastern end of the island, then down the coast to ... not where we were trying to go. She was attempting to take us to the Big Buddha statue, but we went the wrong way, and ended up at a temple.... and then the zoo. Since we were planning to visit both anyways, it ended up working out though.

The temple was gorgeous. No other way to put it. My one regret was not being able to speak Thai, because I would have loved to have known what the murals on the walls said. Not a lot to say about it I'm afraid, it was a temple. It was beautiful and we got some great pictures. We discussed the lives of the monks in brief with Orasa because the differ a bit from the lives of holy men in our own countries, so that was interesting to learn about)

The zoo, which despite being a bit decrepit, was a ton of fun. The tickets were only 500 baht (about $17) and included entrance to all of the shows. We made our way around for a bit, and then caught an elephant show, which was great. The played football, painted pictures, and played (read: broke) musical instruments. It was cute, and very fun. I remember growing up hearing about Barnum & Bailey and the animal cruelty charges, and haven't even much a fan of captive animals since. That being said, the animals seemed remarkably well taken care of, and though I'm not a certified elephant shrink, they seemed happy and like they had great relationship with the handlers.

We went on to see a monkey show, where they rode tricycles, played basketball, and answered math problems... kind of. The crowd would pick two numbers to add or subtract, and the handler would solve it, then draw with his finger on the board what shape to get and the monkey would retrieve it. Still impressive, but not as impressive as it might have been ;)

We skipped the crocodile show to save time, and made our way on to the Big Buddha statue. It was in some state of renovation and was covered in scaffolding, and the entire grounds were in a rather dramatic state of disarray. Still, as usual, the amazing beauty of the place made up for it, and we were glad to have made the trip.

There was an amazingly high-pitched siren sounding off the whole time that took me the better part of an hour to realize was for meditation, which I thought was lovely, although I doubt any tourists realized it that weren't Thai.

After another half hour of driving, we made it to the southern tip of the island just in time to watch a gorgeous sunset with 30,000 other people. We got there earlier than most it seemed, and so we sat down near the cliff face on a rocky outcropping with no one in front of us, and got some beautiful pictures before a giant cloud mass completely obstructed the sunset just before it hit the horizon... stupid clouds.

We made our way back up the west coast to Patong and arrived back at the hotel at 7pm. We showered and changed and met Orasa for dinner at her favorite Thai restaurant which was thankfully right around the corner.... I don't think I want to ride a bike again for a while. The food was buffet style, but all raw. When we got back to the table there was a bowl with a fire in it and an over-turned colander on top you pour water around the sides and cook the meats on top and the rest you put in the water to cook. You're given a few choices of sauces to pour over your food, but all were spicy and didn't agree much with Maria. Still, the food may have been the best I've ever had, and although long, the day was arguably the best day ever. Altogether, the bill came out to about $6 for way of us... which was impressive considering how much everyone at the buffet was eating. It had to have been the cheapest food on Earth.

Tooooon of pictures ... I'll just post the highlights)) Take care all, see you in a few days))

Elephants and Such

So yesterday we met with Brian and his wife Irina and their son Sasha and went elephant trekking. Being new to riding motorbikes, and immediately taking it out on mountain roads was exciting (read: terrifying) to say the least, nevermind the fact that we were in a country we weren't familiar with which has obnoxious traffic laws (read: none).

After getting thoroughly lost because our map failed to mention all the roads were one way until terminus and having to back-track almost 30 minutes, go back to where we started and leave again on a parallel road. We arrived 30 minutes late because of that nonsense, and because of the no traffic laws I couldn't answer the phone while driving because it took every ounce of concentration I had to not get us both killed. By the time we finally arrived ... well, there's no polite way to put this... if you've never ridden a motorcycle before, don't make any long trips for a while, it'll wear out your spine and your butt will be so sore you won't want to sit down again ever.

Then of course we got to sit on an elephant for an hour, which was of course not a stable ride, and further impacted my spine. I felt like an 85 year old man dying slowly from a severe case of scoliosis... hurt like hell.

That all being said, we had a fantastic time which words can't adequately describe. We rode the elephants to the top of the mountain, and had an amazing view of what seemed like the whole southern end of the country. Pictures attached ;) We went back to Brian and Irina's hotel, which wasn't really even a hotel so much as a luxury resort, and were treated to coconuts while laying out on a lawn right along the sea. Wish I had taken pictures of the place, but was too busy doing nothing for it to occur to me to be quite honest.

They were absolutely amazing and their insight into what was in store for us was fantastically helpful (Irina being Russian and Brian American and having moved to Russia to be with her). They had a lot of advice on where to work and what fields would be the most promising in the coming years for the region I'm moving to.

We made the drive back in the light of the setting sun (gorgeous, hard to pay attention to driving) and didn't even want to sleep... it was the kind of day you never want to end.

Today we almost got arrested, which was exciting since I don't speak Thai and had no idea what was going on. Apparently the only traffic law in Thailand is that at this one intersection in this one city, you have to wear a helmet when driving. Had no clue of course, and after realizing I wasn't being arrested but just fined, it wasn't so bad.. just 300 baht ($10).

Went to the beach and experienced the saltiest water known to mankind. Couldn't stay in too long; had to lift Maria over all of the waves because the salt was bothering her contacts and she was going blind. That aside, another fantastic day... learned how to tell the 8 million vendors to scram, which was useful but I wish had been unnecessary. I'm at the beach to relax, not to go on a shopping spree... do I look like I want to buy a dress from you? Don't answer that; just go away.

We went to the mall to get lunch/dinner (trying to get used to the shopping for fresh food everyday, rather a new concept), and mostly just lounged the rest of the day because we're going dancing tonight at the disco.... or rather several of them.

On that note, it's about 11pm now, and Maria is ready to go now, so I've got to take off ;) Hope everyone has a great day!))

More thoughts on Thailand

So the rumors you've heard we're true; Southeast Asia really is fantastically cheap to visit. The only thing you'll pay for that's expensive is the plane ticket, and even that only cost about $1,200 one way.

My room is about $8 a night, and the only way you're going to get ripped off here is by the taxis, which strictly speaking aren't even necessary as long as you're capable of ambulating distances of a mile or so.

If you prefer, and have a group of 3 or less, you can rent a motorbike for pennies on the dollar. The streets are lined with people cooking food for sale or people renting motorbikes, so you never have to walk far. Most places charge about 150-200 baht a day, which is only about $4-5, and if you getting one for a length measuring in weeks, some will take the payment off for a day or two; just shop around.

I was told to avoid prices at the mall by trying to shop at street vendors, but it seems to me to be on more of a case by case basis. I've found some things that were cheaper at vendors, and some that were cheaper at the mall. Again, it really just comes down to shopping around; simple stuff.

The night before last, Maria and I ate at an Italian restaurant at the mall, which cost 889 baht, or just under $30, and the portions were large enough that he couldn't finish hers.

Last night she was in the mood for genuine Thai food, as was I. It was, of course, quite easy to find: there was a decent looking little place right around the corner. Unfortunately, the staff spoke neither Russian nor English, and I'm not quite positive that we received what we actually ordered. The name of the game last night was "What on Earth is this? I have no clue... Let's try it..." But it ended up working out and was all delicious ... though we still don't know what it was. The bill for 4 dishes, tea for us both, and a bottled water came out to 520 baht (about $17) and was way more than we could eat.

We met up yesterday with a Thai girl named Orasa that Maria had met on an international pen pals website (she was the one that took us to the mall on her motorbike). She was fantastically lovely and we've discussed with her where to go dancing. It's always best to ask a local ;) She's taking us to a party Sunday night, so we're both quite looking forward to that.

Today we're planning to spend some time at the beach. I've heard mixed reports about it being terribly over-crowded, but from the hotel it hasn't looked that bad.. So we'll see what happens.

Final note regarding included pictures.. Shameless theft of Chic-Fil-A cow amused me at the Shwarma place in the mall.. and the power lines are possibly the most ridiculous electrical monstrosity that I've ever seen... if anything goes wrong with one it must take weeks to figure out which is which... and by the way... what the hell? Does each house have its own direct connection to the power company? Seriously strange...

Will check back in in a day or two! See you soon)

Phuket, Thailand!

En route to Russia again! I've made a two-week stop over in Thailand before continuing onto Samara, Russia)) Flew into Phuket, Thailand this morning, and have had a great day so far.

Took a stroll around town for a bit earlier, and made it down to the mall near the beach. Although this blog's primary function is of course to speak about my observations of and life in Russia, I have some thoughts to share about Thailand so far.

First, and perhaps most amusingly, is the fact that I'm glad I at least speak mediocre Russian, because this is apparently a hotspot for Russian tourists, even to the point that some store fronts have their signs in Russian, and a fair number of shop workers speak Russian in addition to Thai. My English has been entirely useless for accomplishing anything other than attracting confused looks, aside from one store worker in the mall that helped me with getting a Thai phone set up.

Second, they've gone all British driving-wise, and looking right-left-right has been throwing me off a bit. As in Russia, there doesn't seem to be much regard for lines on the roads, and people mostly just drive wherever they want... although since most people drive motorcycles or scooters, it's not really that big of a deal.

As it would happen, there's another American expatriate and his Russian wife who are visiting here as well this week (a friend I met on a Russian website for American expats), and they're staying about 15 minutes away by taxi, so maybe well get to hang out some time this week and see some Thai kickboxing ;)

Maria will arrive in the morning tomorrow, so I'm still up in the air about what to do tonight by myself. It seems the best opportunity to try out some genuine Thai cuisine, but don't want to go to a nice place without her... So I think I'll go check out a nice little hole in the wall place nearby.... the streets are lined with them, so it shouldn't be terribly difficult to find one that looks appealing ;) Wish me luck! Will update soon!))

A day that would bore others; I loved it.

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

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

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

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

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

Picture Uploads!

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

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

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

Russian Day of Chemists!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Job Hunting! Also, other assorted adventures...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visa details... exciting!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Calligraphy Museum!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gathering my energy for ...

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

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

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

Practice makes perfect... I hope.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Longest day ever!

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


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


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


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


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


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

Museum Day!

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

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

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

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

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

First Police Encounter!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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