I am currently stealing Wifi at a McDonalds in Moscow. I ate the first BigMac of my life. I feel gross now. But anyway, I only have 30 minutes of Wifi, which means I can only do a small update.
I really want to tell you guys about Victory Day. And I will. But you'll have to wait. I don't have enough time to type it up, and I can't do it for a few days because tonight I'm leaving for St. Petersburg. Which means that you will have to wait for-freaking-ever for a giant update about a whole bunch of crap. And I will have a ton of photos up soon, too.
So. Sorry!!!!!!!
Edit:
Here is what I have managed to squeeze in about Victory Day weekend.
Remember my Uzbek friend, Farkukh? Well, a bunch of decided to invite Farukh to a Papa John's in Russia, since he had only had pizza once before in his life. And it was Russian pizza, which is a no-no. He ended up loving pizza, and this was probably the nicest Papa John's I've ever been in. It is like a sit-down restaurant.
Perhaps you've noticed I'm eating a lot of American food. That is because Russian food is so bland, it has negative flavor. It actually sucks flavor away out of other, nearby things. Adam from my group was sent some Tabasco from his mom. It was like a gift from heaven. We put it on our potatoes and everything at lunch and... we cashed a third of the bottle in one sitting. Oh my God, though, it was so nice to taste spice again.
On Victory Day itself, I saw the most. Insane. Parade. Victory Day has replaced the old Soviet May Day celebrations by the parade back a week and making it about winning World War II, or The Great Patriotic War as it is known here. The other Patriotic War they fought was against Napoleon. So this parade. Well first off, the weather was heavenly. HEAVENLY. It was like 79º out, which felt so good. And there were airplanes. And tanks. And it was insane. You'll see pictures, once I have a chance to upload them. All these promises I make. Hold me to my word.
Ok crap, I have to go. I'll update you after Petersburg!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
GREAT BIG GAZONGABLOGA POST
Ok. So. Sorry about that. I am about to try to cover the past... two weeks? Two and a half weeks?
Vasnetsov's House
Vasnetsov is a Russian artist from the end of the 19th century. He painted a lot of Russian folkloric scenes. He is not the most talented artist, I don't think. I do enjoy looking at his paintings, though. He lived in a time where you could draw dragons all day and not be a complete weirdo. I liked seeing his house. It was a contemporary [to the late 1800s] take on a traditional peasant's house. Vasnetsov seemed like he was a pretty cool guy. Grammy, if you're reading this, I think you'd like some of the stuff he's painted.
Kruzhka
Kruzhka is a chain of sports bars in Moscow. I've only been to one, though, on Kuznetsky Most. We usually go at least once a week, often more. It's wooden and kinda reminds me of the Smiling Skull in Athens. Since we frequent it so much, we've made friends with one of the bartenders, Faruk/Fedya. Faruk is an Uzbek working in Moscow (probably 80 hours a week... I know he works from 8 in the morning until, I think, 2 at night. I'd like to imagine he has breaks.). He goes buy Fedya, though, because it's easier for Russians to say than Faruk. He's a cool guy, and always comes up to talk to us. He knows us by name, too. In fact, he even came out with us on Andrea's birthday party. I'll get to that later.
Abramtsevo
On Sunday (two Sundays ago from when I'm writing this), we took the commuter train an hour out of Moscow to a former artist's colony out in the middle of the woods. Vasnetsov was one of many artists who spent time living and working at this colony. The place was filled with Russian folk art. I think it's something Mom would really like.
Folk Art Museum
Have you barfed from Folk Art yet? Because I almost did. Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of feeling ill while exploring a folk art museum. I don't really remember much, because it was hard to pay attention. Nothing against folk art. Everything against barf.
Karaoke Night
Saturday night, almost the whole Russian class went out for Andrea's [belated] birthday party. We had planned on going out to a karaoke club. But, plans do not always go as... planned. Okay, I am barely paying attention to what I am writing apparently. Anyway, we get to the right metro stop and pop out to the street. Nothing seems obviously like a karaoke bar. We run into a few other friends, one of whom drunk off his ass and limping because he fell down an escalator. An escalator that was turned off. We heard him tell that story probably twenty times throughout the night. The whole group in tow, we go out to find the karaoke bar. We find a few things that look like one, but aren't. Eventually, we find a different karaoke club/restaurant, but find out the karaoke section costs 500 roubles! So instead, we sit down at the restaurant (as the ONLY PEOPLE THERE), and half of us order litres of beer. Escalator Man (identity hidden to protect the innocent) sang the Russian birthday song, replacing the lyrics he didn't know with "bli blya blu." It was a good night.
Yasnaya Polyana
Yesterday, we took a chartered bus three hours south to Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy's estate just south of the city Tula. It was pretty cool, although I was still feeling kinda blehbmeh. Apparently, each of Tolstoy's thirteen children were birthed on the same couch. It is known as the Birth Couch. I have a suspicion that each of Tolstoy's thirteen children also may have been conceived on that couch. Tolstoy was also a health nut. We saw his weights and his pull-up bar out in the yard. The idea of a shirtless, bearded Tolstoy doing chin-ups in the dead of winter is priceless.
Vasnetsov's House
Vasnetsov is a Russian artist from the end of the 19th century. He painted a lot of Russian folkloric scenes. He is not the most talented artist, I don't think. I do enjoy looking at his paintings, though. He lived in a time where you could draw dragons all day and not be a complete weirdo. I liked seeing his house. It was a contemporary [to the late 1800s] take on a traditional peasant's house. Vasnetsov seemed like he was a pretty cool guy. Grammy, if you're reading this, I think you'd like some of the stuff he's painted.
Kruzhka
Kruzhka is a chain of sports bars in Moscow. I've only been to one, though, on Kuznetsky Most. We usually go at least once a week, often more. It's wooden and kinda reminds me of the Smiling Skull in Athens. Since we frequent it so much, we've made friends with one of the bartenders, Faruk/Fedya. Faruk is an Uzbek working in Moscow (probably 80 hours a week... I know he works from 8 in the morning until, I think, 2 at night. I'd like to imagine he has breaks.). He goes buy Fedya, though, because it's easier for Russians to say than Faruk. He's a cool guy, and always comes up to talk to us. He knows us by name, too. In fact, he even came out with us on Andrea's birthday party. I'll get to that later.
Abramtsevo
On Sunday (two Sundays ago from when I'm writing this), we took the commuter train an hour out of Moscow to a former artist's colony out in the middle of the woods. Vasnetsov was one of many artists who spent time living and working at this colony. The place was filled with Russian folk art. I think it's something Mom would really like.
Folk Art Museum
Have you barfed from Folk Art yet? Because I almost did. Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of feeling ill while exploring a folk art museum. I don't really remember much, because it was hard to pay attention. Nothing against folk art. Everything against barf.
Karaoke Night
Saturday night, almost the whole Russian class went out for Andrea's [belated] birthday party. We had planned on going out to a karaoke club. But, plans do not always go as... planned. Okay, I am barely paying attention to what I am writing apparently. Anyway, we get to the right metro stop and pop out to the street. Nothing seems obviously like a karaoke bar. We run into a few other friends, one of whom drunk off his ass and limping because he fell down an escalator. An escalator that was turned off. We heard him tell that story probably twenty times throughout the night. The whole group in tow, we go out to find the karaoke bar. We find a few things that look like one, but aren't. Eventually, we find a different karaoke club/restaurant, but find out the karaoke section costs 500 roubles! So instead, we sit down at the restaurant (as the ONLY PEOPLE THERE), and half of us order litres of beer. Escalator Man (identity hidden to protect the innocent) sang the Russian birthday song, replacing the lyrics he didn't know with "bli blya blu." It was a good night.
Yasnaya Polyana
Yesterday, we took a chartered bus three hours south to Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy's estate just south of the city Tula. It was pretty cool, although I was still feeling kinda blehbmeh. Apparently, each of Tolstoy's thirteen children were birthed on the same couch. It is known as the Birth Couch. I have a suspicion that each of Tolstoy's thirteen children also may have been conceived on that couch. Tolstoy was also a health nut. We saw his weights and his pull-up bar out in the yard. The idea of a shirtless, bearded Tolstoy doing chin-ups in the dead of winter is priceless.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Blogpost still forthcoming...
This week is sort of midterms week. Plus my Internet is worse than usual/my babushka is sick (I think).
But I will write about:
• Vasnetsov's House
• Kruzhka
• My dead-ass phone
• Abramtsevo
• Folk Art Museum
• Karaoke Night (Andrea's bday Part Dva)
OK FOR REAL
But I will write about:
• Vasnetsov's House
• Kruzhka
• My dead-ass phone
• Abramtsevo
• Folk Art Museum
• Karaoke Night (Andrea's bday Part Dva)
OK FOR REAL
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
New Photo Sets
- ART Музеон
- Around Moscow (featuring Beard Papa's)
- For more information on the monument in this set, here is the Wikipedia article on it.
- Donskoy Monastery
Friday, April 16, 2010
Beard Papa's
Sorry about how long it's been since my previous blog. I've been itching to post, but I haven't been able to do to Internet problems. Same old story, yada yada.
I've been busy this week! Last weekend, we went back to Ismailovsky Park (the hellish abandoned park), although this time it wasn't abandoned. In fact, it was a huge and pleasant souvenir market. I'll have to come back with more money. It was fun, because you get to barter, and a successful transaction feels even more successful when you do it in Russian.
On Wednesday, we visited the Old Tretyakovsky Gallery, which exhibits Russian art up until the 20th century. The New Tretyakovsky Gallery exhibits more modern art. It was really cool, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. We saw works ranging from old icons (which I am growing to love even more, and I am enjoying learning about them and the meaning behind them) to gigantic masterpieces standing at (if I had to guess/remember) over four meters tall. Very enjoyable. It was also interesting, because along with the huge final results, the smaller preliminaries were also displayed. For more information and details, Andrea has a really good article about it in her blog.
Reading back at that, it seems like my English grammar is getting skewed. Damn it, Russian.
The highlight of the week was not the souvenir market or the Old Tretyakovsky Gallery, however. It was Beard Papa's, a Japanese cream puff restaurant. Oh. My. God. So bizarre. Not the cream puffs. Those were normal, and delicious. However, the dining experience, or rather the ordering experience, at Beard Papa's as a strange mix of Japanese, Russian, and English. Here's an example:
Her: こんいちわ。(Forgive me if this is wrong, I don't speak Japanese.)
Me: Эр, добрый день. Один с Green Tea, пожалуйста.
Her: Другой хотите?
Me: Да, оригинальный.
Her: С Vanilla?
Me: Да.
Her: 140 рублей. ありがとうございます。
Confused? Me too. Here is a rundown/translation:
Her: Hello! [Japanese]
Me: Er, hello. One [Russian] Green Tea cream puff [English], please [Russian].
Her: Would you like a second one? [Russian]
Me: Yes, an original. [Russian]
Her: With [Russian] Vanilla [English]?
Me: Yes [Russian].
Her: 140 rubles [Russian]. Thank you! [Japanese]
I am inspired to make math out of this. I call it Boggs's First Law Of Headache.
(Russian + English) x (Japanese + English) = Runglish x Engrish = Rungrish.
We were speaking Rungrish. A pidgin so terrifying and bizarre that I would want to study it, if I really believed it existed. However, I am convinced it was all a horrible dream.
I've been busy this week! Last weekend, we went back to Ismailovsky Park (the hellish abandoned park), although this time it wasn't abandoned. In fact, it was a huge and pleasant souvenir market. I'll have to come back with more money. It was fun, because you get to barter, and a successful transaction feels even more successful when you do it in Russian.
On Wednesday, we visited the Old Tretyakovsky Gallery, which exhibits Russian art up until the 20th century. The New Tretyakovsky Gallery exhibits more modern art. It was really cool, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. We saw works ranging from old icons (which I am growing to love even more, and I am enjoying learning about them and the meaning behind them) to gigantic masterpieces standing at (if I had to guess/remember) over four meters tall. Very enjoyable. It was also interesting, because along with the huge final results, the smaller preliminaries were also displayed. For more information and details, Andrea has a really good article about it in her blog.
Reading back at that, it seems like my English grammar is getting skewed. Damn it, Russian.
The highlight of the week was not the souvenir market or the Old Tretyakovsky Gallery, however. It was Beard Papa's, a Japanese cream puff restaurant. Oh. My. God. So bizarre. Not the cream puffs. Those were normal, and delicious. However, the dining experience, or rather the ordering experience, at Beard Papa's as a strange mix of Japanese, Russian, and English. Here's an example:
Her: こんいちわ。(Forgive me if this is wrong, I don't speak Japanese.)
Me: Эр, добрый день. Один с Green Tea, пожалуйста.
Her: Другой хотите?
Me: Да, оригинальный.
Her: С Vanilla?
Me: Да.
Her: 140 рублей. ありがとうございます。
Confused? Me too. Here is a rundown/translation:
Her: Hello! [Japanese]
Me: Er, hello. One [Russian] Green Tea cream puff [English], please [Russian].
Her: Would you like a second one? [Russian]
Me: Yes, an original. [Russian]
Her: With [Russian] Vanilla [English]?
Me: Yes [Russian].
Her: 140 rubles [Russian]. Thank you! [Japanese]
I am inspired to make math out of this. I call it Boggs's First Law Of Headache.
(Russian + English) x (Japanese + English) = Runglish x Engrish = Rungrish.
We were speaking Rungrish. A pidgin so terrifying and bizarre that I would want to study it, if I really believed it existed. However, I am convinced it was all a horrible dream.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Novodevichy Monastery
I visited a neat convent on Wednesday. It is sort of a second Kremlin, because it's where the Tsarina Sofia ruled from when she was in a sort of half-exile. I am probably butchering the history, because to be quite honest, I was only have listening. And I can't be bothered to fact check at the moment. I was pretty distracted by how gorgeous it was there, as you can see in the photos. In that photo album, you can also see the nearby cemetery, where I saw the graves of Boris Yeltsin, Nikita Krushchev, and Anton Chekhov.
What else is new. Moscow is being painted. Yeah, it's pretty much how it sounds. Every year, apparently, the bases of trees are painted white, as are benches and curbs. Little fences are also all painted green and yellow. It's interesting and colorful this time of year. The paint is noxious though, and I sometimes hold my breath walking by.
I could talk about cultural impressions, but I guess they're still setting. I don't want to pass judgment on these people just yet. First impressions are that this is a cold city, but underneath it's not really at all. I like their attitude towards customers. As in, "the customer is always right" is unheard of here. Not that people are rude, it's just different and you aren't pandered to. Which I appreciate. When I act like a dumbass customer, it's nice to be treated like a dumbass customer… which is most of the time here.
What else is new. Moscow is being painted. Yeah, it's pretty much how it sounds. Every year, apparently, the bases of trees are painted white, as are benches and curbs. Little fences are also all painted green and yellow. It's interesting and colorful this time of year. The paint is noxious though, and I sometimes hold my breath walking by.
I could talk about cultural impressions, but I guess they're still setting. I don't want to pass judgment on these people just yet. First impressions are that this is a cold city, but underneath it's not really at all. I like their attitude towards customers. As in, "the customer is always right" is unheard of here. Not that people are rude, it's just different and you aren't pandered to. Which I appreciate. When I act like a dumbass customer, it's nice to be treated like a dumbass customer… which is most of the time here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)