Weekend Update

Dear Readers,
I had a pretty eventful weekend (including Friday). On Friday, our school had a group excursion to the Kremlin. The Kremlin as I learned is far more than the Red Square. The Kremlin is a krepost or fortress and the sort of triangle walls of this fortress marked the original boundaries of the entire city of Moscow. Sort of like how the Ile d Cite marked the original boundaries of Paris. The official residence of the President of the Russian Federation (Vladimir Putin, for those of us who do not bother ourselves with the newspapers) is inside the Kremlin. When the President is actually in residence, a flag is hoisted above the building. If he is not at home, (he was in Belarus when we visited, probably attending an oppressive leaders brainstorming session), the flag is not flown. The inside of the Kremlin is very beautiful and you will have to take my word for it because my camera died right after I took this cool picture of Marshall Zhukov. Marshall Zhukov is eminently famous in Russia for luring the Germans deep into Russian territory during WWII, then unleashing the Russian winter on the Wehrmacht.

Two quick funny stories. 1) While we were waiting for our group to assemble, a middle-aged woman, her daughter and grandson (from Tajikstan) point to me and Roman -- another African-American fellow and says "Look, look at the blacks". She meant it to convey wonderousness, unusualness, etc. Meanwhile, the grandson, about 3 or 4, looked absolutely panic stricken. They came up to us and asked to take a picture with us.

2) While we were waiting for our group to re-assemble, after the excursion, a husband and wife team, from Siberia came up to Roman and I (again) and asked to take our picture. We complied. 2a) The husband and wife team track us down in the metro tunnel and ask to take our picture, with all of their friends. 2b) The husband and wife literally run us down asking for our email address to send the pictures back to us. It was a strange day indeed.


The rest of Friday was uneventful. I do not go out much at night, because I do not feel comfortable in the metro after about 9pm and almost all the cabs in Moscow are private.

Quick sidebar/cultural commentary/sheer wonderment. In Moscow, again for those not paying attention, a city of 10 million people, there are very, very, very few official "checkered" cabs. The few that exist hang out at the airport and near the big snazzy hotels. Don't ask me why, I am sure there is a reason, I am just not aware of it and it almost certainly does not correlate with logic. So, if you need a taxi you have two options -- stay with me people -- 1) pretend you are in Wilmington, Delaware and call a cab and make an appointment to be picked up and dropped off, and then call back 30 minutes before your appointment to remind them to come and pick you up and drop you off OR 2) stand in the street, put your hand out and flag down a private car. Yup...a private car, any old car, with any old body driving it, going any old where. If their where and your where line up and you "dogovorilos" come to agreement on price, you just hop in and you are on your way.

Upon hearing about this practice, and then actually witnessing it for myself (the casualness and frequency of this act is astounding), I am still trying to figure out why the International Brotherhood of Serial Killers does not hold its convention in Moscow, every single frigging year.

Here's the best part, this is the advice people give you, "If you don't like the way the person looks, say no and wait for another car". If not for the sheer stupidity of this advice, it may have some merit. Now I have heard of "gaydar" -- still not sure how it works -- but I have seen some empirical evidence that is exists and is accurate. To my knowledge, however, there is no such thing as "murdar". See, the thing about serial killers is that they look normal, else they would just be a 1-and-done killer or a no-killer. If they looked totally crazy, then they could not entice new victims. This is Russia, for God's sake, nothing is as it seems. Sorry, I just tripped and fell off my soapbox.

OK. On to Saturday. On Saturday, I went to Anton Chekov's estate outside of Moscow.
It was really nice to get out of the city and see what the countryside looked like. The estate was smaller than I expected, but Anton Chekov (Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard) was much more interesting as a person than I imaged.
He was a doctor by vocation and a writer by avocation and he established three schools for the peasants in his village to send their children to. He tended to the peasants for free and even built a fire station for the village out of his own pocket.

After we left the estate, we went to visit the Holy Spring of St David. The spring is thought to have healing powers. We witnessed dozens of people carrying 10-15-20 gallons of the water away from the spring. I scooped some up and put it on my face, neck and shoulders. I also filled and small drinking bottle and took a few sips. The water was shockingly cold, but it was virtually tasteless. Visiting the spring was something that I would never had done alone, so I am grateful to my friend M. at the embassy for inviting me along to the tour.

On Sunday, I had an attack of homesickness and I was determined to cure it with food. I went to the only authentic 1950's style diner in Moscow -- the Starlite Diner" . I ordered blueberry pancakes, orange juice and coffee -- what could be more American. The pancakes were so sweet that syrup would have been an insult. The blueberry compote was good, but it arrived next to the pancakes instead of inside of them. The pancakes were more cakey than panny (I like my pancakes more like bliny'), but they served the purpose.

I putzed around the "Moskva" bookstore and then went to church in the afternoon. Church is good and I really like the people a lot. I think great things are going to happen with the Racial Task Force, and I am glad to be a part of it.

Well, good people, so ends my weekend recap. Two things to note: 1) I do read your comments, please keep them coming. I have not yet figured how to respond to the comments, but I do actively look forward to recieving comments.
2) For those of you who are interested, I am on skype.com my skype name is shereeinrussia.
Skype is a free way to make international calls. You just download the free software and you can call other people in Skype for free. It is an amazing tool. Mark, the girls and I use Skype to talk every single day. I would love to talk to more folks.

Hitler and The Heat (No Not Them)

I know putting Hitler in the title is provocative, but first lets talk about the heat. It is/was 96 degrees today and yesterday. Now you may say, dear reader, that well it is summer and 96 isn't really that hot. True, until you consider, dear reader, that you are sitting in an air-conditioned whatever -- office, house, bedroom, cafe-- passing judgment on me for whining. While I am sweltering in a non-air conditioned apartment, with no fan trying to figure out how I am going to sleep through the night. Please note that, in effect, my apartment has no windows. The windows that open open into a balcony. The windows in the balcony do not open. Hence, no ventilation.

Having lived in Moscow, just 2 weeks (but having really lived here like a resident), I have a new respect for the rude, sweaty, city citizen. I have a 15 minute walk to the metro every morning. Given the extreme heat, I have been trying to sashay to the metro so that I do not work up a sweat. This is a really stupid idea because:
1) Who the hell knows how to sashay
2) Its so hot that if I just stood still, I would be in a full sweat in 2 minutes, let alone put my body in motion
3) Even if I could manage to avoid sweating all the way to the station, standing shoulder to knee with 4 perfect strangers on the cramped metro car, would throw anyone into a sweat.

So by the time I hit the metro station, I am a sweaty mess and I am mad because I am a sweaty mess. So I take my frustrations out on my fellow passengers by pushing into the metro car. Then I sweat and get mad some more because I am now even sweaty, hot and crowded.

So if you every visit a city and the people are a little ripe and rude on the metro, please show a little compassion. They are simple hard-working people trying to make it through the day.

OK, so now, let's talk about Hitler. Hitler is a big deal in Russia, where he held responsible for the deaths of 20 million people. So yesterday, while my friend Ilona and I were walking to the metro station near my house, we walk up on 3 teen-aged boys say 16, 17, 18. One of the boys says Heil Hitler -- since Russian does not have an 'H' sound it came out like Geil Gittler (hard g). So my friend, who happens to be Jewish responses, the boys in turn respond to her and now we have a little issue. In the end no one was hurt or even really threatened, but this incident does highlight how schizophrenic Russia is as a country. On the very same day that marked the German invasion of Russia, a young boy -- whose grandfather, 70% probability, was killed by the Germans/Hitler -- is offering praises to Hitler. How do you eradicate or even just change idiotic thinking like that? Hitler took a scythe to the family trees of over 70% of the population and somehow he is considered a hero today.

Russians are sitting on top of one of richest natural resources cache in the entire world at a time when energy is at a super-premium (pun intended) and for a significant plurality of young people, their focus is not how to capitalize on this advantage, but rather, how to become a better fascist.

The even weirder thing is that the Russian government is doing absolutely nothing about this growing problem. They are just pretending it doesn't exist. Perhaps as a way to deflect this anger away from the government.

Yesterday was really one of those, why the hell am I here days. Tomorrow Top Ten Reasons Why I Am Here (and not at home loving on my husband and my children).

PS My American ACTR friend was sick so we did not get together.

PSS Say a cool and chilling prayer for me as I try to sleep in an apartment with an 80 degree ambient temperature and no ventilation.

Parks, People and Churches

Faithful readers,
My apologies for not being as diligent with my updates as I had promised. I have up-loaded some pictures from Park Po'bedy -- or Victory Park. It is a really beautiful park and monument to the Great Patriotic War as WWII is known here. The park is also the customary place for newlyweds to visit. On Saturday there were a least a dozen wedding parties out at the park. There is also a very beautiful, very small church at the park, built to honor the memory of those who died in the war. The picture of me in front of this church is for all of my dear readers who believe I am holed up the States somewhere (Jayson Blair-like), making up stories and pulling pictures off the internet.

On Saturday, I also met up with a friend of mine who works at the Embassy. She took us to the Embassy and gave us a tour and showed us her apartment. The American embassy in Russia is the largest American embassy in the world. It is its own self-contained entity. It has everything, a small grocery store, lending library, dry cleaners, movie rental place, common green area, restaurant, everything. The restaurant was closed so we ate at an Azeri place close to the office of the Alfa Program - on Bolshaya Nikitskaya. My friend invited us to attend church with her at the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy, which is also not far from B. Nikitskaya. The chaplaincy does not have its own facility (it shares with St. Andrew's Church parishioners), so the services are held at 3 pm in the afternoon.
The congregation is as diverse a group of people as you could possibly meet in Moscow. Mostly white Americans from the embassy mix with students and professionals from all parts of the world, Africa, Asia. The church is very welcoming and I felt at home immediately. The church is also very active and offers a tremendous amount of services to both the native Russian and foreign student (and other) communities. I think I have found if not a spiritual home, than at least a community home.

While at church, I invited myself to attend a meeting of the Moscow Task Force on Racism. This particular meeting was held in a private home. The meeting was also very racially diverse, with at least 7 countries represented by the almost 15 people present. The goal of this task force is to twofold -- to provide support for individuals experiencing attacks and to provide record-keeping and reporting about racial violence in Russia. The meeting was both sobering and energizing, as being the presence of truth has the tendency to be.

Racism in general and racial violence in particular is a serious issue here. The issue is not limited to "black people", but effects all non-white, non-ethnic Russians and is increasing effecting Jewish people as well. A "nationalist" aka Skinhead is currently on trial for walking into a synagogue and stabbing 9 people. Some months ago, the Ghanaian ambassador to Russia was attacked and his driver seriously injured, while simply walking in a park. This is the reality of Russia today. But being involved in this group and actually doing concrete work is an excellent way to channel all the anxiety and fear I feel into something beneficial.

I will keep you posted on my civic activities -- maybe you will see me on TV :-)


Ten Things that Do Not Exist In Russia
10. Index Cards
9. Peanut Butter
8. Taxi cab drivers with change
7. Taxi cab drivers willing to wear a seatbelt
6. Open container laws -people walk around with open beer bottles all the time, it is surreal
5. Skim milk specifically, low-fat products in general
4. A black male manager of anything
3. Hot water for two weeks at a time in massive areas of Moscow
2. Elevators big enough to fit 5 people
1. My family

Summer Solstice, Stray Dogs, Big Wigs and Such

Summer
As today, June 21st is the summer solstice, a quick note on daylight here in Moscow. The sun rises at about 4 -4:30 am and it sets around 10:30 - 11 pm each night. The confusing lack of physical cues (e.g. 19 hours of daylight) make it very difficult to get over jet lag. Two weeks later, I am still feeling the residual effects.
The summer solstice is particularly of note in Russia, because on this day in 1941, Hitler launched his initial attack against Russia. Hitler chose this day because he felt the solstice was a powerful and fortunate day. It should be noted that today, is also (in the Russian orthodox church) All Saints Day. The Russians, too believed that June 21st was a powerful and fortunate day. I guess the Russians turned out to be right.

Stray Dogs
Moscow has a lot (and I mean a lot) of stray dogs. The unusual thing about these dogs is that they are completely civilized and even more well behaved than dogs with owners. It is like the dogs have not given up on people and are determined to show that they are worthy enough to rejoin the human community. The dogs are incredibly smart. I saw a dog today cross the street. He waited for the green light and crossed at the cross walk!!! They are extremely well behaved and do not threaten humans at all. I may possibly be suckered into "adopting" one of these guys before I leave.

Big Wigs
Last night I attended the Alfa Bank Award for Foreign Investment Dinner at the Marriott Grand in Moscow center. I met the former governor of Nevada, Bob Miller and several other very important people, including the Belgium trade representative. The "glava" or head of Alfa Bank, Peter Aven was present and hosted the event. Joschka Fischer, former foreign minister of Germany was the key note speaker. He took questions after his speech. The event was very well done. I am proud to be associated with Alfa Bank and the Alfa Bank Foundation. I am sure this is the first of many events. As my Russian improves, so will my networking opportunities.


Tomorrow I am meeting up with a friend from the States for coffee or some such beverage. She is here on an ACTR trip (American College Teachers of Russian).

I will try to take and post more pictures on my blog site. Keep your comments coming and thanks for reading.

Initial Impressions of Russia

Since I have been here for more than a week, I will summarize these last 10 days. Overall it has been a good experience. I am not yet in love with Moscow, not even really like, more like "give me your number and I'll call you"...in a word, interested. This city is a lot to digest, so I am taking really small bites.

First, the people. In general, the people have been, as big city people tend to be, indifferent to me. I was really worried that there would be skinheads glaring at me at every metro stop. There is not. Some people give me a extra second or two glance (making full eye contact in the streets is nel'zya -- not really done), kids stare sometimes, but overall people pay me no mind at all. So in a city of 10 million people, it is tough to meet people, especially when your Russian is, shall we say, still under development. Russian people, I have learned, treat manners like fine china, they only pull them out for their best guests. Other people get nothing. But the cool thing is, everyone in the country is in on this little secret, so no one feels slighted.
One last thing about the people, Russians are very indifferent to one another in the streets, but also very physically affectionate in public. I have never seen more public displays of affection in my life. I am not quite sure why the Russians have a falling birth rate, because they are most certainly expert in the setup to conception, or at the very least, they practice a lot.

Now, the metro. In a city that is arguably larger than NYC, you can image that the metros are crowded, but you really cannot image. In the "chas peak" or rush hour, the metros are so crowded that I swear I could lift both feet off the ground and just be carried away. All this crowdedness forces you into a very new and very high level of physical contact with strangers. I mean, it is not rare to have full-body contact with a complete stranger for at least the distance between metro stops. Russian metro riders push and I have become a converted pusher. Russians push to 1)get past you and get a spot on the subway car (vagon) or 2) to push/pack people into the cars. I fully agree with this logic and support it by pushing. If people did not push/pack people into the metro cars, people would just congregate around the doors and leave the middle of the car relatively empty. So pushing in addition to being rude and really fun also increases the efficiency of the transit system. Pushers of the world unite!

The food.
Russian food is not as terrible as you would think. While I have never seen a people so enamored of dill, mayonnaise and sour cream, the food can be quite tasty. Blini (little pancakes) are filled with everything from jam to caviar. My current favorite is pelmini, little gnocchi shaped pasta forms filled with meat, usually boiled but sometimes fried. I eat alot at a Russian quasi-fast food place called "Moo-Moo". The symbol of the chain is a big Guernsey cow in front of the Restaurant. It can be a little intimidating (image the soup Nazi with a Russian accent), but if you do not speak Russian they seem to be helpful in English, just be quick about it because the lines(and there are almost always long lines) have to keep moving.


My neighborhood.
I walk approximately 2 hours each day. I know God is laughing at me because I have not lost a blessed pound. I thought I dropped 4-5 pounds in the first few days because of the walking, but I bought and scale and (after converting to lbs.) I had'nt dropped an ounce. My feet hurt and my socks stink. And, no, I still have not yet figured out how to work the washing machine.

Pyk (rhymes with fluke). Pyk is the stuff that falls off the poplar (or eastern cottonwood) trees for 3-4 weeks at the beginning of each summer in Moscow. It is not an exaggeration to say that the stuff -- image wispy dandelion seed pods on steriods -- is everywhere. A few days ago it got so bad that it actually looked like it was snowing. I have posted some pictures, but to get the true picture, you would have to visit here. I am terrified that I will find out that pyk is high in calories, because I have accidentally ingested pounds of the stuff, in my mouth, up my nose. It is crazy.





Ten Things I Try Not to Think About
10.Terrorist attack on the subway
9.The militsya (police) harrassing me
8.Skinheads harrassing me
7. Sitting down on a warm seat in the metro
6. Sanitary standards in the street kiosks
5. How much phone calls cost me
4. How much(little) of the television news I understand
3. How on earth I am going to be ready to work in a Russian office in August
2. Honest to God, my gas-guzzling, environment-destroying, sense-of-superiority having SUV
1. How much I miss my husband and children and how much I am missing in their lives

Dear Readers, stay tuned, more tomorrow on shopping my trip to Park Pobedy (Victory Park) and the American Embassy.

It is after midnight and I am tired. After being in Russia, for one whole week, I have a lot to tell everyone. Alas, I have school tomorrow so this post will be short. I am posting pictures of my apartment for everyone to see. The first picture is of my kitchen. My kitchen is very nice and oddly enough has a couch in it. It is my favorite room in the apartment. The next two pix are of the bathroom. Small but serviceable, no complaints. The big white thing is the washing machine, which I still do not know how to use. My living room is a nice size, not a decor I would choose but the furniture is very comfortable. The last picture is of my bedroom. Literally, bed room because there is really no room for anything else. All in all, I have one of the biggest and nicest apartments of all the fellows. I am happy.

I will write a huge summary of my first week tomorrow after class. No really.