Out On The Weekend

Hey everyone! I am actually going to keep the updates on the regular. Unfortunately this last week I was out of commission since I was sick. But thankfully I got better by Friday so I have plenty of stuff to talk about :)

Alright so nothing really happened during the week except sleep. Although when homegurl Eleonora realized I was sick, she went into like super host mom mode. She brought me like some chicken noodle soup, like two different kinds of tea, lemon slices with honey and oranges. She also cleaned my room and said that if my room looks nice I will get better soon. And on top of it all, she made me recite positive affirmations in Russian haha it was like "I am too strong to be sick... The Russian cold is not cold to me" and some others. She was really sweet and I definitely need to buy her some flowers soon. I also told her today that I am going to the Beyonce concert next week and explained Single Ladies to her. She totally loved it haha

Alright so now onto my weekend. So Friday I returned to my regular schedule. I felt much better and all that good junk. So the usual group plus Pat's friend and our classmate went out to this club called Propaganda. It was a fun time except they took forever to clear the tables to make the dance floor. We had to leave early though since we had an excursion to Yasnaya Polyana(Tolstoy's Estate) early the next day. I got up on time and everything, but all I'm gonna say is I should not have had that extra Long Island Ice Tea haha... His estate was really nice. My favorite place was his actual house, I have read his books and it was just so interesting to see where he made it all happen. It's also always really interesting to see the huge contrast between huge cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg and like the rural areas of Russia. The only really unpleasant part of the trip was the train ride. I don't know who thought it was a bright idea to heat the train up to like 90 degrees, like I know it's freezing outside but let's calm down. After we got back from the trip Pat and I decided to go out.

This time I really wanted to see the drag queen show. So we met up later and went back to Tri Obezani. We had a really great time. We actually met this one Jewish guy who goes to the theater institute here. Pat and I call him UFO because of his hair haha all I'm saying is gurl needed some help with that. It was actually quite hilarious because he thought Pat and I were together and he asked me "are you going to share him?" and I looked at him and was like "ummm no..." and said "oh you bitch" he laughed and so did I, then I said "Yea, I know". We ran into him a few more times. But anyways, we stayed long enough to catch the show! I was so excited. I actually couldn't believe I was watching this defiant act of the gender norms in Russia. They did a few Russian songs but they also performed "Stronger" by Britney and "Human Nature" by Madonna. It was a nice little performance but I was a little dissatisfied with how little attention some of them payed to their tucking technique. Some of you reading this might not know what I mean by "tucking" haha well it's basically what drag performers do in order to hide their junk down there. I mean, it's part of the whole performance. So, we left a little bit after the show and called Kim up because the plan was to stay at her place since the metro is closed and her apartment is like 10 minutes away from the place.

Finally, on Sunday, we went to the Bolshoi Theater. We went to go see a ballet, Giselle. So far, this has been my favorite one. I enjoyed it more than the first one we went to in Moscow and the one in St. Petersburg. Basically, it was a love story, how could you go wrong right? Well that's what has been going on during the past week. I'll definitely keep on updating this thing regularly(I'll probably have a new post up every Monday night).

It's Been A While

Hello everyone! It definitely has been too long since my last post. I think it has been almost three weeks. Well don't worry, I'll try to catch you all up with what has been happening in my busy life in Moscow.

Well I left off with the trip to St. Petersburg. It was an amazing trip. I did so much and was quite exhausted at the end of it, but it was well worth it. I saw Catherine the Great's Palace, Dostoevsky's home, Pushkin's place of study, Mariinsky Theater, Hermitage, and of course some old churches. It seems like I can never escape them haha But anyways, I would have to say my favorite place was Dostoevsky's home. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about it just really captivated me. The hostel we stayed at was actually really nice too. The location was great. And of course, people have asked me which city do I like best. St. Petersburg felt different than Moscow, and it is definitely more Western than Moscow. But in all honesty, I don't think I can answer that question. I was in St. Petersburg for about 4 days and I spent those days as a tourist. I didn't actually live in St. Petersburg. It is impossible for me to judge a city like that. If I ever do spend time actually residing in St. Petersburg, then I will definitely know the answer.

Now, onto the next weekend(that's when everything happens). We had an excursion through Chistiye Prudy(Clean Ponds) and went to a quite peculiar museum. It was a museum about the history of lights in Russia. It was interesting because it's something so specific and something I actually have never really thought about. Well, onto the nightlife haha So Pat and I decided to go to a new club that weekend, Tri Obezany(Three Monkeys... yea I don't name these places). So I would call this one an actual club, it has three floors and a huge dance floor which was cool. The other place I mentioned before is more like a bar... like where you can have a few drinks with your friends and listen to music and stuff. It was a fun time and I'll definitely go back. I actually really want to see the Russian drag queen performance. But, highlight of the night haha we got stopped by the Moscow police. We were rushing to the metro because it was about to close so this police car like rolls up and I told Pat "uh.. I'm pretty sure this is for us..." So we stopped and so did the car. Two officers came out and asked for our documents aka Passport + Visa. They like asked us where and what we studied. Then asked if we used and had any drugs, to which of course I replied no. They patted us down then gave back our stuff and let us go. Unfortunately they made us late to the metro so we had to take a taxi home. The taxi driver told us he liked Obama so it was all good haha

And now, this past weekend was pretty good. On Saturday night, the whole group was invited to Pat's house for a performance/party. We also got to meet Amy's parents who were visiting for a few days. They were pretty cool, I liked them. Pat's host father was in the band that played which was really awesome. It was a really good time. I could actually see the band having a good following back in the US like among college students and people of that age group. Overall it was a good time, Pat's host family is really cool and his apartment is actually really nice and big. On Sunday Kim and I made a rough plan for our travels to Europe this Winter. Kara's house in Germany is headquarters, which I'm really excited for.

Ok, so I summed up the past three weeks very briefly. I will definitely go back to my weekly schedule(and will def talk about homegurl Eleonora). So expect another update next Monday :)

It's Getting Real

It's been a while since my last blog post. Sorry to everyone, but don't worry I'll try to catch you up with what has been going on. I'll start with last weekend :)

We finally left the city to travel a bit. We went to Alexandrov Kremlin and Sergiev Posad. We had to meet early for the train to Alexandrov. We didn't go with Irina, we went with someone named Dasha. She was quite fun. It was quite strange for me when I first got there because I was used to the big Russian city and I just got to this town. We went to the Kremlin which was the residence of Ivan the Terrible. I really liked that tour and I could understand a lot of what our tour guide was saying. We went to Sergiev Posad next and met two of the people who unfortunately overslept. It seemed like it was a bigger town than Alexandrov. We had lunch there and I had what is possibly my favorite thing to eat, pelmeni! I don't know what it is about them, but some pelmeni with sour cream just makes everything better. But anyways, we got to the church and it was really nice. There were some souvenir stands set up in front of the church that I browsed with Nina. I thought it was kind of odd that there was this church place and right in front of it is some Russian guy selling all kinds of fur items. The contrast was a bit weird.

This week something really exciting happened. Well... at least I think it was. I finally went to a Russian gay club! After our meeting for info about the trip to St. Petersburg(keep reading haha) Pat, Nina, and I decided to go try it. The place was actually pretty decent. It was small but there were a good amount of people for the space. I felt like I found a good place in Moscow to just let my hair down and have some fun with a friend or two. The music was really good, it was like better than a lot of the stuff they play back at Dickinson parties haha I got to just dance and have some fun which I needed. I am definitely going back there again and possibly exploring more of the gay scene here in Russia. From what I have seen and heard, it's more of an underground thing. Hmmm possibly for my research project next semester? I think so.

Now to the future. I am leaving in a couple hours for St. Petersburg. I have heard a lot about the city but I have not actually seen it. I am expecting this European looking city and a different atmosphere than Moscow. Our schedule is packed with stuff to do and see. I'm really excited but part of me is a bit worried. I'm gonna be real for a second. I have a feeling like 9 people are going on this trip but only 6 or 7 are coming back. I am definitely coming back so don't even worry haha So yea... I expect some drama to happen. I mean, it's only natural with the kind of group we have. Not that we don't have a fantastic group, but I'm just saying... there is definitely some clashing happening. It's gonna be fun :)

PS. I want to plug Kim's flickr account. It's www.flickr.com/moscow-2009. It's probably going to have more photos than mine haha Don't worry, I'll upload when I come back from St. Petersburg.