30 October 2009

snow oh oh oh

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Unfortunately this update is going to be small and whimpy, but I just wanted to tell you all that I'm still having a fabulous time and I love it here more and more every day.

Also, it SNOWED last night! And by "it snowed" I mean there was a light snow. And by "light snow" I mean you kind of have to look for the snow to see where it's still sticking (mainly on top of cars). This is snow nevertheless, and right now there's a few light snow flurries making their way down to the ground. I'm so excited. (I'm a little kid.)

I hope there will be more snow soon, but rumor has it that Moscow's mayor is actually banning snow from Moscow this year.

No, but really.

Read this.

I haven't had any environmental science classes or anything of the sort, but I'm pretty sure shooting liquid nitrogen into the air to make snow fall before it reaches Moscow isn't the best of ideas for the environment. But, that's Russia.
I've also heard another rumor that because of global warming, there wasn't going to be any snow this winter at all anyways, so this plan is actually a money making scheme and the extra 300 million rubles saved will go into someone's pocket.
Fact or fiction? No one knows.
I take it back - someone knows, but they're not letting me in on the secret.

For now I am content with last night's dusting; my next post might just come from a small village outside of Moscow where I ventured to find snow, only to be snowed in.


Until next time (which I promise will have more updates about what I've been doing),

Kara

20 October 2009

search for art and grown up things

As the weather gets colder and colder, the Russians are pulling out their warmer coats. These coats come in many colors: black, black, and black (and sometimes red or red).
Enter Kara, strutting down the streets wearing a green jacket, purple hat, purple gloves, teal scarf, and teal bag.
I think I stand out a bit.

Lately I've had this strange feeling of being invincible. I can't decide if this is good and means that I feel comfortable in Moscow, or if this is bad and means that I feel too comfortable in Moscow. I feel like I'm starting to understand more of what's going on around me. I can pick up on conversations I hear on the street and understand what they're saying. Homework doesn't seem as hard and even if I don't know every word, I somehow know what's going on because I can sense it.
Little things don't scare me anymore, either.
Answer the phone when my host mom's gone, and explain that she's stepped out and I'm not sure when she'll be back? No problem. Ask the маршрут (mini bus) driver to drop me off a little farther down the road than the normal bus stop? Yep, I can do that. Make small talk with people who, like myself, couldn't squeeze in the metro train because it was already packed like sardines? Child's play.

This is all good, yes. But....I feel like since it's so good, it can't actually be that good. So many things are going so well, something bad has to happen soon. I like it here so much, so something is bound to happen to make me second guess myself.
(They should make pills for this.)

Until then, I'll enjoy every minute.

The third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art has been going on for the past month, which means, among other things, photography exhibits! I've been wanting to go to something other than a history museum for a long time and it's safe to say that I'm addicted to photography exhibits.
I happened to learn about the first exhibit from The Moscow Times, a newspaper printed here in English. The exhibit was at the New Tretyakov Gallery and featured photos by Vladimir Sychyov. The photos were, in a word, amazing. They showed ordinary people as well as nonconformist artists in the Soviet Union during the 1970s. Sychyov actually left the Soviet Union in 1979 and took all his photographs with him; this exhibit is the first time these photos have been shown all together in Russia. Read more about the exhibit here.
I also went to an exhibit put on by the Moscow House of Photography, by photographer Boris Mikhailov. It was awesome. I can't really describe in a blog how good it was, it was more a had-to-be-there type thing. The pictures made me think. I liked it.

Another student and I decided that next semester we want to take a photography class at the university. How cool will that be?!


I also got a job. The program director's neighbor has a 9-year old daughter who is studying English in school, so they pay me to come over twice a week and speak in English with her for an hour. Awesome.


You know how basically everyone says that the time you study abroad will change your life?
They're right.
I don't know if it's that I'm in a huge city and away from the sheltered little Dickinson campus, or if it's the different culture I'm living in, or that I'm just growing up, or a combination of all these things. In any case, something big is going on here. I don't know what. I don't know why. But something's happening.
I can feel it.

14 October 2009

food, glorious food

Today my host mom called me a плохой человек (bad person) because I didn't finish my breakfast. I laughed, but she wasn't laughing. Hah. Hah. Hah.
I thought I had lucked out and escaped the wrath of the Russian force feeding, but apparently not. Oh well, such is life. In other news, I just finished off my favorite dinner of borsh, pelmeni, and tea. Before coming to Russia, I knew that Russians drink tea all the time, but I didn't think they'd actually drink it all the time. You mean you want a cup of water? What? No. Tea. You drink tea.
(You could also opt for beer, since it's cheaper than water, but that's a whole other story.)


Almost every restaurant has this nifty little deal called a бизнес ланч (business lunch). To pronounce it you say "business lunch" in a Russian accent. The standard is a soup/salad, main dish, and drink, all for less than $10. There are also variations of just soup, salad, and drink or just salad, main dish, drink and so on and so forth. It's quite the little gem.


The first McDonald's in Russia was opened in 1990, in Moscow. Our program director told us that she went with her family and that it was a really big deal to go to McDonald's. The line was also a few miles long.
I have yet to visit this "pearl of capitalism." A few of us have been to others a few times, but I didn't get a Big Mac. I feel like the Big Mac is the deciding food when trying to determine which country has the best McDonald's. I'm a little hesitant to make this decision, because "best" and "McDonald's" probably shouldn't be used in the same sentence, but nevertheless, a Big Mac I shall have.



We ate at a Mexican restaurant a few weeks ago.
They tried.



Anyways, it's time to get another cup of tea and read some Pushkin.

From Russia with love (and a full stomach),

Kara

11 October 2009

Deustchland

So, yesterday was a big important football match: Germany vs. Russia. A few of us wanted to get tickets since the game was in Moscow, but unfortunately since it was such a big game the tickets were too expensive.

Instead, I watched the game in a sports bar!

We walked in the bar around 7 (the game started at 6:45), and it was naturally packed. We got there just in time to stake out a standing place and watch the opening ceremonies with the national anthems. It was so cool when the Russian anthem played - everyone stood up, linked arms, and sang along.
Also, Putin and Medvedev were at the game and whenever the cameras went on them, all the people in the bar cheered. Interesting.
Germany scored a goal about 35 minutes in. I confess, I kind of wanted Germany to win; as the game went on, Russia had so many good shots but nothing went in. The crowd was all into it and shouting at the TVs and I almost hoped that Russia would win, just so they would be happy.

But, alas.
Russia was defeated.


Hopefully sometime soon I'll go to a football match or a hockey game or both, either of which guarantee insane fans.

давай!

07 October 2009

I. Love. St. Peters.Burg.

The trip to St. Petersburg, or Leningrad as my host mom still calls it, was a great success.

The overnight sleeper train rolled in to Petersburg around 5:30 Friday morning. After sleeping maybe two hours out of the eight hour trip, I was a tad tired. We eventually found our way to our lovely hostel located in the center of the city and after a little negotiating we were allowed to crash in a room that was being renovated until we could check-in at 11:00.

The schedule for Petersburg was packed full of touristy/cultural excursions.
Friday, post morning nap, we met with our tour guide Olga, who has been working with Dickinson for years. We all jumped as energetically as possible into the minibus and went around Petersburg, stopping at certain places to take pictures or go inside cathedrals, museums, etc.
Fun stuff.


This cathedral is Храм Спаса на Крови, or Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. It was built on the place where tsar Alexandr II was assassinated.



Saturday we ventured out of Petersburg to Pushkin, a little town where tsar Nicolas II built his summer palace. The palace was, well, amazing. The grounds were also beautiful, especially with all the fall leaves starting to change.
The school where Pushkin (the poet, remember?) studied is also next to the palace. After we toured Pushkin's school, our cute little Russian tour guide asked us if we knew any of Pushkin's poems. One of the students recited a poem we learned last year, and she looked like she wanted to cry because she was so happy we knew Pushkin.

On Sunday we went to the Эрмитаж, aka The State Hermitage Museum. It's HUGE. Olga gave us a tour of some of the most important/interesting things, and then we were free to wander around. ...I honestly don't remember everything I saw, but I know it was interesting. By this point in the trip I had gotten about 10 hours of sleep over three days, so everything started to blur together. In any case, it was all really cool and you should go if you get the chance. After the museum we went to a ballet at the Mariinski Theater. The Mariinski ballet company is considered [one of] the best in the world. It was really really really really really really really awesome. (Really.)

Sadly Monday was our last day, but we were able to do what we wanted. Five of us decided to walk down Nevsky Prospect. Suddenly we came upon the brilliant idea of taking a boat ride around Petersburg. Peter the Great was obsessed with water and built a series of canals through the city so that his citizens could travel around by boat rather than on roads. What better way to see Petersburg than how it was intended to be seen? We dashed down a side street along the Fontanka canal. Our first attempt to get on a boat failed, as the boat tour people said the water was too high for their boats to go under the bridges. Distraught, we continued walking along the canal until we spotted a lone man on a little boat, putting down the water. He pointed to us then pointed at the boat, and we nodded enthusiastically until he pulled over to a dock to give us our own little private boat tour of Petersburg. This was probably my favorite part of the trip: I got to sit down after days of what seemed like non-stop walking, I was on the water (I might be more obsessed with water than ol' Peter), and I got to see all the beautiful Petersburg buildings.
















So, differences between Moscow and Petersburg:
Petersburg is like a European city - pretty buildings with pretty architecture.
Moscow has some of the pretty buildings, but Stalin took a lot of them down and put up his own style of buildings. ("Ugly" has been used to describe this style. I may or may not agree.)
The people in Petersburg seemed more outwardly friendly, and the middle class was more evident. It had the feeling of a college town.
Moscow's elite are very visible, as well as the poorer classes.
The police in Petersburg also didn't scare me.
I felt like I didn't have to be on my guard as much in Petersburg. I feel safe enough in Moscow, but I felt safer in Petersburg.
Even with all the good vibes I got from Petersburg, I started to get the feeling that Petersburg was giving me a false sense of security; it felt like there was more there, hiding just beneath the surface.

Four days was just enough time to see the obvious: a beautiful facade.
Maybe someday I can return to find out if what's behind the facade is just as beautiful.