Day Two/366

2009

November 19 2009 - this was my second day in Moscow. I had my orientation with the school I was teaching at then, which much to my dismay began with a 9:30am pick up. It was a pretty long journey from where I was living into the center where the school was located. The metro exit was directly opposite the Kremlin - which was such a surprise, since I hadn't ventured to that particular metro station back in 2007. I can see why the school brings new teachers there - it's certainly an impressive first view of Moscow! 

I was told that orientation would only last a few hours, then I'd be free. That was not the case, and I was stuck there all day. Finally free around 8:30pm, I escaped and went directly to Red Square to see Saint Basil's Cathedral, Alexander's Garden, GUM, and the Kremlin - exactly what I'd been dreaming of since I stepped off the plane! It was just as magnificent as I remembered, maybe even more so since it was all lit up at night... I remembered all of it, of course, but one thing was funny - St. Basil's seemed huge! I guess after spending two years only seeing it in pictures, I forgot just how big it was! I wandered around a bit more, then got myself a blini (like a crepe) for dinner. Blini were definitely one of the things I was looking forward to eating when I got here, and I figured that it would be an appropriate first official meal in Moscow! It was just as good as I remembered, and it was even from the same chain - Teremok. 

After that it was time to make the journey home... and what a journey it was! Going by metro was no problem - I had a map and figured out where to go, that was easy. I'm pretty sure I even took the right exit out of the metro. The problem was remembering which paths to take to get to my building, because from the metro to the apartment you basically needed to navigate through parking areas and other buildings. Jet lag and an unplanned very long day are not a good combination, and due to that it took me a good 30 minutes to find my building! Once home, I contemplated unpacking a little, but decided in favor of going to bed :)

2010

Today was a nice and relaxing day. My 8:00am lesson was cancelled, which meant that I got to sleep in! It was a grey and cold day, just like last November, so I decided to just stay in and relax. I cleaned my apartment a bit, baked some peach and cherry muffins, and taught my only lesson for the day. It was nice to just do nothing and unwind at the end of what's been a rather stressful week. To celebrate my anniversary of surviving one whole year in Moscow, I did exactly what I did one year ago - walked around Red Square and Alexander's Garden! Yes, I'm familiar with everything there now, but I still love seeing it just as much as I did last year. Now I'm off to enjoy a little piece of America, Grey's Anatomy... stay tuned for more on my adventures!

One Year Ago

Exactly one year ago I stepped off a plane at Sheremetyevo Airport and began my adventure in Moscow. There was about an inch of snow on the ground, and the temperature was hovering around freezing. There was no gate for the plane to pull into, so we were loaded onto a bus and dropped off outside of the terminal. After waiting in the seemingly endless lines at passport control, I collected my luggage and found the driver sent by the company I was working for at the time. After a  long drive (half of which was spent in a typical Moscow traffic jam... welcome to Moscow!), I arrived at my apartment.

The location of the apartment was quite a surprise for me, as I had thought it was going to be in a completely different area than it was! It was late when I arrived, so I met my roommate (another teacher) and her friends, called home to tell my parents I made it safely, then fell into bed to get some much needed sleep. It had been a long trip, but I was finally in Moscow!

Check back tomorrow for more on my story, and to find out what happened on day 2 in Moscow! I plan to do a comparison between my life now and on the same day 1 year ago, since I didn't blog much about it then. As for today, I taught like usual, and then treated myself to a walk around Red Square and Alexandrovsky Sad in the evening. A nice way to celebrate my one year anniversary of living in Moscow!

November Update

Well, here it is - November 2010 - almost one year since I arrived in Moscow. So much has happened that I don't even know where to begin... but I'll try to chronicle as much as possible over the next few weeks. To start off, here's a snapshot of the past year by numbers:

• 9 types of transport taken
• 6 Russian visas
• 4 different roommates
• 3 very different apartments
• 2 trips to Kiev, Ukraine
• 2 trips back home to America
• 2 companies worked for (1 past, 1 current)
• 1 trip to Saint Petersburg 
• 1 Moscow Suburb visited
• 1 Smogpocalypse (aka Moscow this summer) survived
• hundreds of churches seen
• thousands of pictures taken (I promise to post them once they're finally sorted!)
• +40 C/104 F - the record breaking temperature in Moscow this summer
• -26 C/ -15 F - the coldest day of the past winter

Right now, the weather is behaving much like it did when I arrived last November. It's cold, but tolerably so, grey, and rainy. We have had a few sunny days recently - yesterday was one of them actually, and it was gorgeous. Sun definitely becomes a precious commodity in the winter here in Moscow!

As for me now, I'm right where I want to be. I've got a great apartment in the center of the city, a great roommate, a great job, and life in general can be described as great! :D While this past year certainly had its share of trials and tribulations, the good far outweighed the bad, and I wouldn't change anything even if I could. Everything happens for a reason, and I'm pretty sure if things had gone differently for me in the past year, I wouldn't be where I am now. 

St. Petersburg

Hi there! I'm posting from St. Petersburg, where I've escaped from the smoke and smog of Moscow. Stay tuned, and I'll update more later!

May update

Well, it's been more than a month since I last posted here - and a lot has changed in the city. The trees are are full of leaves now, there are flowers everywhere, and when it's sunny the temperature hovers around 77-81 F (25-27 C). The only form of precipitation we've had has been in the form of rain :) We had a lovely thunderstorm today - the first one I've experienced in Moscow! I even got to see a couple of lightning strikes above the Kremlin Wall as I was waiting for the downpour to stop. I absolutely love thunderstorms! Right now, the temperature is perfect - it's cool enough to have the windows open all day and all night. I definitely like this proper Spring. Summer temperatures can hold off for quite a bit longer, I'm in no hurry to have blazingly hot days!

One of the best things about this time of year in Moscow is the length of the days. While we don't have the White Nights here like St. Petersburg (where it literally doesn't get dark until 3am), we do have quite long days. Today the sun rose at 5:15am (according to Yandex - no, I wasn't up early enough to witness it!) and it set at 9:35pm, although  it wasn't fully dark until about 10:15pm. I'm still getting used to it, and sometimes it feels earlier than it really is because it's only been dark for a couple of hours. From what Yandex shows for sunrise and sunset times, every day the sun rises and sets 2 minutes earlier and 2 minutes later - that means that by then end of the month the sun will be rising before 5:00am and setting after 10:00pm! I like having days that are so long - it makes it much easier to catch a good sunset, and it's nice to leave work at 9:15pm and have it still be light out.

Keep checking back for new posts - I've got a few in the works that I just need to add pictures to and then I'll post them. I've got posts for Victory Day and the 75th anniversary of the Metro :)

Spring comes to Moscow

Spring has arrived here in Moscow at last! The snow is gone, and the temperature is finally consistently above freezing! It still goes down to around 2-5C (32-27F) at night, but the days are reaching temperatures around 9-12C (47-54F). We're in the annoying period of spring where the temperature gets drastically warmer in the sun/during the day, but still cold in the mornings and at night, and even in the shade, so you still need a warm jacket. Oh well, in a few more weeks it should get warm enough to finally put the winter coat away!

It's interesting for me to watch the city go through its spring transformations. Growing up in the suburbs, things are different. Spring in the suburbs means people working outside on their yards or maybe preparing their gardens, doing some repairs on their houses, and the first signs of children playing outside. Public parks get flowers planted and some things get painted, if they really need it. Here, children play outside all year round (which I think is wonderful – kids shouldn't just sit around during the winter!), so the sound of children playing doesn't associate with spring at all. All the work is done by migrant workers, it seems, rather than the citizens. Moscow doesn't like its workers to be idle. Two weeks ago, they were chopping ice and shoveling snow, now they're painting things. Literally, anything that can be painted is being painted! They're even painting the manhole covers and trashcans!!!

Everything really does look nice with a fresh coat of paint – but the smell… well, that is anything but nice. They're using a really heavy duty oil based paint, and it's got such a terribly strong odor. The places that they're painting in the sun are the worst – the hot sun just exacerbates the smell! Add that to the pollution from all the cars… UGH! Moscow is not good for the lungs, I think.

Daily sights and sounds

I suppose when I look back on my first winter in Moscow many years from now, a few things will stick out in my memory. The snow, of course, is one of those things, but there are a few other sights and sounds that are distinctively 'Moscow'. The first is the sound of a shovel scraping the ground. It's what I woke up to at least half of the days this winter, and what I heard all day for the better part of the past two months! If it wasn't scraping, it was chopping to break up the thick layer of packed down snow, from everyone walking on it. Moscow is nothing if not efficient at snow removal!

The other memories are all sights. One, the huge force of migrant workers who are out all hours of the day and night clearing the snow. Two, babushkas brushing snow away with an old fashioned broom made from twigs that looks like they've had for the past five decades. Three, men on roofs clearing off the snow and icicles, typically without any kind of protection whatsoever - just standing and balancing, perhaps leaning against a small railing at the edge of the roof.

Sosnoviy Bor

I've just returned from a week in the Russian countryside, where I was teaching English at a Russian camp for kids during their Spring Break. It was held at a former Soviet vacation complex located in the forest. It goes by the name of Sosnoviy Bor, which means Pine Forest. True to its name, there were a lot of pine trees in the forest – and they were massive! I've never seen trees so tall before. It was wonderful to see the green of the trees – it's been months since I've seen anything that's colored green here!

The complex itself was nice enough - it was basic lodging (which I'm pretty sure hasn't been updated since its Soviet days) but each room had it's own bathroom with a shower, which was nice. In true Russian form, the rooms were all over-heated, and lacked good ventilation. They all had balconies, but for safety reasons (kids can't be trusted not to fling themselves off the 8^th floor balcony, I suppose…) the doors and windows to said balconies were bolted shut. The only ventilation and relief from the heat was a small window above the door. After wrestling with mine a bit, I managed to get it open. It helped a bit, but I really would've liked to open the door and get some fresh, non Moscow polluted air in. Believe me, I tried everything to get that door to open, but judging by the coats of paint that were dried in the gap between the door and the doorframe, it hadn't been opened in a very long time, and wasn't going to be opened in an equally long time!

We got fed while we were there, which was both good and bad. It was nice not having to spend money on food, or cook and clean, but it was the same food every day. All meals were served buffet style. Breakfast options were blini (crepes), cottage cheese pancakes, porridge, and various greasy meat. Lunch options were pasta or watery mashed potatoes with too much butter, some type of kotleti (a ground meat patty), more various types of meat, and soup that started out pretty good in the beginning of the week, but got progressively watered down as the week went on. Dinner was an assortment of Russian salads (of which I only ate one, since the others were all meaty and mayonnaise-y), and the same choices as lunch, without the soup. We got a piece of fruit each day as well, and something sweet for a snack in the afternoon. There was always homemade kompot, a Russian drink made by stewing pieces of fruit and sugar in water. For lunch there was an apple and spice flavor, and for dinner it was some kind of berry flavor. The drinks were by far my favorite part of the meals!

I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat red meat or pork, and I'll only eat white meat skinless chicken. There certainly wasn't any of that at camp! I managed to force feed myself a few kotleti, as I figured the protein would do me good – but after a couple days I just couldn't do it anymore. So, I ate carbs with sugar for breakfast, carbs with carbs for lunch, and carbs with carbs plus a tiny bit of vegetable for dinner. That one piece of fruit a day didn't make up for the carbohydrate overload!

The teaching part of camp was quite enjoyable. I had three groups, 7-8 year olds, 11-12 year olds, and 14 year olds. The lessons were all based around different themes, and the kids seemed to enjoy all of the lessons, which was a plus! It was a lot of hard work, as we had to prepare all of the materials ourselves – but I was with a great group of teachers, so planning the lessons ended up being half the fun! We certainly had a lot of laughs during our planning sessions, which made all the time spent on it more than bearable. Plus, now I've got lots of ideas and things that I can use back here in Moscow!

The two best things about camp were the fresh air and the cats! There were probably about a dozen cats roaming the complex – half of them were afraid of humans, but the other half were just overjoyed to get attention. I had a couple favorites, but doled out love and petting to all of them who wanted it. I miss my Dascha kitty from home so, so, so much – all these kitties helped make up for my cat-lessness life in Moscow. The fresh air was just as enjoyable as the cats – we don't have fresh air in Moscow. It's all polluted by cars using diesel and leaded gasoline. All the cars, and the snow (which is almost gone now) are black from the pollution. Lovely, no?


*I'll add pictures later - I haven't had a chance to sort through all of them yet!*

The weather has ADD

Here in Russia it's been "spring" for three weeks now. Russian spring begins on March 1st - although I can't for the life of me figure out why! We've only had temperatures above freezing for 3 or 4 days, and just last week the temperature was back in the -15 to -10C (5-15F) range for a few days. Craziness - and COLD!

Currently, the weather can't seem to make up its mind about what it wants to do... and therefore every day is a surprise! Monday was a perfect example of this - when I woke up in the morning it was wonderfully sunny and the sky was a nice shade of blue... then a few hours later it was white and snowing.... then blue/sunny again... then grey and cloudy.... then snowing heavily... and finally by nightfall it stopped snowing and the sky was clear except for a few clouds! I've never experienced weather quite like that, with so many changes all in one day! On Sunday, I was out for a walk, and it had been a bit overcast for a few hours, but the sky certainly didn't look like it would snow soon. But the next thing I know, it's a blizzard! About 20 minutes later, not a single snowflake is falling from the sky! Today it decided to snow again - but it was a real snowfall this time - I think we ended up with about 8cm/3in in total!

Another very interesting thing for me is snow showers when it's sunny! This happened on two separate days, actually. It's sunny out, the sky is blue, there are some nice fluffy clouds in the sky... and it's snowing! Just flurries, but still...! I much prefer flurries to rain showers :) So there you have it - the beginning of "spring". At least today it was above freezing!

The new 'normal'

After being here for almost four months, a lot of things that were once new to me, are just ways of life now. Here's a list of the five biggest changes for me.

• The metro. Three months ago the metro was a brand new concept for me. I lived in the suburbs in America, and had a car since I was 17. Now, I go through the metro on autopilot. I know which part of the train to get on, and I don't even need to read the signs anymore to know where to go, as I take the same route every day. I don't need to hold onto anything anymore, although I tend to take my preferred place leaning against the doors. There's the most room back there, and you don't need to shuffle around any time people want to get on or off. I usually don't sit, because chances are I'll give up my seat for an older person 2 stops later, and by then my place by the doors is already taken!

• Having to go to three different shops to buy the foods I want. Yup, just another part of daily life now. It was annoying at first to have to stop at two or three stores just to get what I wanted, but now I'm used to it, and I plan accordingly (well, most of the time :-D) so that I don't have to go to the stores in the same day. The good thing is, they're all on my way as I walk to my apartment from the metro, so even when I need to stop, it's not such a big deal.

• Just because the food store has something one day, doesn't mean they'll have it the next time I'm there. This took a bit of getting used to, and it still frustrates me, especially when I'm really craving something, only to find that it's not there... Take note of the point above - it's not like I can just pop into another store, since they probably don't carry what I want. But for the most part, I've learned to just sigh and roll my eyes, remind myself that I'm in Russia, and then find something else to eat instead!

• Waste. Unfortunately, this has become a part of life. Everything is wasted here, there's no recycling or even re-using of anything. Everything goes into the trash - papers, glass, plastic, and cans. Glass bottles are at least salvaged by old or homeless people, as they get a tiny amount of money for turning it in somewhere, at least that's what I assume. They are always digging through the dumpsters to see what they can find. Many people (myself included) leave the bottles out of the dumpster so that can get to them easily. 

• Getting bumped into and/or pushed. This too, is just part of daily life now. You will get pushed, shoved, or bumped into at least once per day living in Moscow. And don't expect any words of remorse from the pusher/bumper - after all, you were apparently in their way, so it's your fault. The pushing tends to only happen in the metro, but the bumping happens everywhere - supermarkets, the street, and even art galleries and museums! I think that people forget that they're not still on the metro...

Yup, it's still winter...

Today's weather was really strange, and just proved to be a reminder that yes, it is still winter here in Moscow. While it started out beautiful and sunny, it ended up snowing! No accumulation other than a dusting, but still, it was snowing!

The weather right now seems to be a bit of a tease. About a week and a half ago, we had our first day above freezing since December (or perhaps November?)... it's been cold for so long that I just can't remember! It was wonderful and sunny, and some of the snow started to melt. That's fun, let me tell you... There are puddles everywhere, and half the time you have to tiptoe your way down the street to try to find the relatively dry patches, or in some cases, the shallowest puddles! Fast forward a few days, and we're back to temperatures well below freezing, in the -12C/+11F to -6C/+20F range. Guess what those puddles turned into?

The worst part about the change in temperature is that -6C/+20F actually feels cold now! When it was -15C/+7F, -6C felt nice and warm! Now however, it just feels cold, as I suppose       -6C probably should feel! On the plus side, -2C/28F feels fairly pleasant, and +2C/36F feels warm, especially in the sun! As a matter of fact, I just opened the window in my apartment, and as the breeze blew in, I thought to myself, "this feels quite mild, temperature wise." Then I looked at the thermometer and realized that it's only 0C/32F! How's that for acclimation?

How's this for a difference in scenery?
(click to enlarge)

How Moscow Does Snow Removal

This is how Moscow does snow removal. Shovel all the snow, pile it up in a dumpster, and then dump it somewhere else! They only do this for walkways and roads, parking lots still have traditional mountains of snow that children turn into slides! I'll take some pictures of how high some of the snowpiles are and post them within the next couple of days. 

Now the real question is, where do they take all of that snow?

Maslenitsa

giant lady Maslenitsa in front of Red Square

Maslenitsa, or Pancake Week as it's often referred to, is a Russian holiday that dates back to pagan times. It's meant to celebrate the end of winter and to welcome the upcoming spring. It's also tied in to Orthodox Easter, as it's celebrated the week before Lent. However, since holidays are observed based on the Julian calendar - this year Maslenitsa fell on February 8 to 14 - and we're certainly not at the end of winter yet! I found it rather amusing that it was snowing for the past two days - the biggest days of the festival! Traditionally, on the last day, a big straw Maslenitsa doll (see picture below of the smaller ones they sell at the festivals) is set on fire, to burn away the last of winter. They used to do this at the festival on Red Square, but due to safety reasons they've stopped. Since I didn't stay until the end of the festival tonight, I'm not sure what they did instead... so it will have to remain a mystery! It was cold, and I didn't feel like staying out so late :) 

Maslenitsa celebrations are held in all of the big parks in Moscow. The festivities include singing and dancing performances from folk groups, carnival style games, drinking medovukha (honey mead), and of course eating lots and lots of pancakes (blini, as they're called here)!

Maslenitsa dolls. These dolls were being sold as all of the Maslenitsa celebrations around the city. They're made from straw, and are meant to symbolize the sun.

A blini stand in Red Square. In honor of Maslenitsa, I made sure to eat at least 1 blini per day :) I figured that was a good excuse to eat lots of them!!! I also tried sample as many as I possibly could at all of the fesitivals! I tried them with many different kinds of jam and honey. They were all delicious 

Maslenitsa ice sculpture. Russians seems to love their flashing lights, and this was no exception. She alternated between glowing blue and purple, and the red heart in the middle appeared to be beating.

January/February update

To answer the question I proposed in my last blog entry - how hard is it going to be returning to work after nearly one month off? - the answer is it's HARD! I've never had a vacation that long in my life, nor do I want another one for quite a while. It's one thing when you're changing jobs, because then you have a new adventure to look forward to, and the time doesn't seem so long. It's another when you're simply not working for a month and then you have to go back to the usual daily grind... or in my case, a lessened daily grind due to lack of work.
I'm the strange type of person who absolutely despises having nothing to do. Now don't get me wrong - I certainly enjoy it every now and again - but not on a regular basis. Right now, my workload is extremely light, and I'm bored. I have lots and lots of free time, and nothing to do with it. I can't just sit around and read or study, or do something that doesn't require any activity. I blame it on the fact that I was a competitive ice skater for most of my life - I certainly never sat around when I was skating! Top that off with the fact that I used to teach ice skating as well, which is not a job where you sit around. In short, I've never had to just sit around until now. I'm not good at it :)
I know that in a few weeks everything will go back to normal, but that thought isn't really making this time period any easier. It's hard adjusting from life in the US to life in Russia. Even though I was only back in America for two weeks, I hadn't been in Russia long enough to not miss and long for some of my American comforts. This too will pass in a few weeks - but I'm just not enjoying the readjustment period. Stupid visa laws, this is all your fault!

For some good news - it's snowing today. We're certainly not getting snow like everyone was getting back in America - Snowmaggedon, as it was dubbed - but it's still snow nonetheless. It's starting to coat the layer of snow we've had since December, which was starting to get a bit shabby from the dirt and pollution. I must admit, I am very jealous off all the snow my parents and friends got this weekend. The year I'm not in America, it finally snows! Being in Russia, I shouldn't be envying the amount of snow back in America, but there's been more snow there than here!I would certainly enjoy a good snowstorm here.

10 day vacation

Sorry for the hiatus! I was enjoying my 10 day vacation by sleeping in late and doing tourist-y things with my friends. I didn't spend much time at my computer at all, which was nice. We happened to have wonderful weather here in Moscow, including five sunny days!

This is the first time I've had an actual vacation from work - when I was teaching figure skating, I would only have a few days off - and I would actually work more over the holidays because kids were off from school. This ten day break was quite nice, but it was VERY difficult to get back into the work mentality on Monday. Now I'm finally ready to work, and I leave in three days to return to America to get a new visa! I'll be there for two weeks. My grand total of working days in January is four... yes, four! It's nice on one hand, but on the other, how hard is it going to be to start working again in February?

I'm off to work now, actually - and I promise I'll post more regularly from now on! I'll update this later with some pictures and descriptions of the places I visited over the holidays.

Hello 2010!

For me, the new year began by watching fireworks over Red Square. My first moments of 2010 were spent surrounded by friends, looking at St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin, taking photos, and dancing to live music. For me, that's perfect. It was also snowing - an added bonus! It's all great, really. I'm living in Moscow and I got to start my new year in the center of the city. I've never done anything like that for New Year's before - I usually just go to a party and we all watch the ball drop on TV (a US tradition - it's a ball made of lights that is lowered down a pole to countdown to midnight). This was definitely something different - and it's my favorite New Years Eve to date.

My friends and I in front of Saint Basils - officially 2010!

Not a bad sight for the beginning of a new year, is it?

Sorry it's a bit blurry, but one more of St. Basil's, a bit of the Kremlin, and the concert stage.

I'm very ready for the new year, and I'm excited to see what is has in store for me. My only resolution this year is to find at least one way to be happy every day. I've found many things to be happy about today! Number one is the fact Moscow feels like home now, and that's truly a wonderful feeling. I know exactly where to buy good fruit and veggies, which store has good bread, good prices, plain yogurt, etc. Taking the metro is second nature now, and I even know which part of the train to get on depending on where I'm going most of the time. I don't mind the time I have to spend in the metro now either, as long as I have my iPod touch to play with or something to read, the time actually passes pretty quickly. All in all, I feel settled, and that's the best feeling in the world.

Tomorrow I'm going to Izmailovsky Market with some friends - it's rumored to be the best place to get souvenirs and traditional Russian stuff in Moscow. I'll get in some good Russian practice, which always makes me happy. I savor any opportunity I have to speak in Russian - teaching English doesn't really lend itself to much Russian speaking!