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.

Homegurl Takes A Tumble

I can't believe I have been in Moscow for about 4 weeks already. Time goes by too fast. Lately I've been feeling like Moscow is becoming like home to me. But at the same time I still feel like I'm some crazy foreign city and I don't know what's going on. I'm sure as the semester progresses I will feel more and more at home in Moscow.

How's the academic part going? It's actually going great. I have no complaints about the classes so far. Although this week I started to feel a bit overwhelmed by the language. I mean I understand pretty much everything the professors say but when I'm at home flipping through the dictionary or even looking at the new words we learned in class I can't help but feel overwhelmed. There are so many words, so many constructions, and so many rules to learn. But I'm pretty sure I got it. I'm not like cocky, but I'm confident I'll learn it haha Also, I'll give my thoughts about the other students. So far, I definitely only like the Korean and Japanese girls in our class. The Dickinson group has also gone out with a couple of french girls, they're also pretty great. The other American students are just like really weird or sound like tools. My favorite professor is still the phonetics professor. She makes us get up in the end of class to stretch and we repeat some words while we do it, it's actually quite fun haha

I unfortunately have some sad news about homegurl Eleonora. Early this week she fell. She told me she was going down the underpass and didn't see the last step and she went down. When she first showed me her ankle I of course freaked out and said "Oh my god girl what happened?!?!" and few seconds later I realized that she did not understand a word of that. It has gotten better from what I can see. I actually asked her yesterday how was her ankle and she said "Well, I cannot dance, but I will survive" which I thought was hilarious. As for my roommate Chris, he's pretty cool so far. When we have breakfast or dinner together we talk about everything that's going on in our lives. The Dickinson group wants to meet him haha so I definitely need to set up a date. So far the life at home is going well. We'll see what happens next week :)

I'm Loving It

Another week in Moscow has ended. I am starting to get really comfortable here. Although I do think to myself once in a while "oh my god. I am here for a whole year. What did I get myself into?" I'm pretty sure that's completely normal for students studying abroad. But overall, I am definitely loving life in the big Russian city.

This week classes finally started. I have 5 classes and 4 of them are in all Russian. Unfortunately our Dickinson group was separated into two different groups for the Russian classes. I was talking to Kara(a girl in the group) how it felt like forever since we have hung out or something and she felt the same. We laughed when we realized it had only been a day and a half since we all had lunch together at a cafe. I guess that's what happens when you're attached at the hip the first couple of weeks and then you suddenly different schedules. I am happy to meet new people though. In my new classes I met 4 new students, two are from America, one is from Japan, and the other one is from Korea. The girls from Korea and Japan are pretty cool. The one from Korea speaks English but the one from Japan does not which forces me to use my Russian with her. So far my favorite class is phonetics, the teacher is really great and I like what we learn. I'm pretty happy with my schedule.

Things at home changed a bit as well. Someone new arrived at the apartment. His name is Chris and he's from Brown but he's from Germany. So far he's pretty cool. His Russian is better than mine, which means he can talk more with homegurl Eleonora. It's great having somebody else living here with me other than homegurl Eleonora. Not that I don't like her. Other than last week's incident she's been great. Plus I'm still calling her homegurl. It just feels awkward for some reason just having the two of us and the cat. Maybe it's because in the beginning there were three people in the house. I don't know haha The one thing I will say is that she tries to feed us all the time. I'm just like sorry homegurl Eleonora, I'm not a turkey, you can't stuff me. I feel bad sometimes because she says that I must not like what she makes and I of course try my best to tell her that it's not that, I'm just really full or still full from the previous meal. It was actually quite funny, on Monday she called me during classes just because I didn't eat butter brod (like a sandwich?) with breakfast and also I didn't have any tea haha

Last week when the whole coming out incident occurred I was relieved to find such great support from everyone in the group. I am also very thankful to all who sent me emails/facebook messages and such. Your support means a lot. Thank you :)

Photos

As I promised I have uploaded some photos for all to see flickr.com/hotcocoasmoscow :) I will add many more tomorrow. Also I would like to plug my friend Pat's blog moscowinlightandshadow.blogspot.com It's a great photo blog! Also I will definitely make a new post in a few days so look out for that.

Всё будет хорошо

My second week in Moscow is coming to an end so it's time for another post! I feel like the sightseeing has slowed down a bit and now we are slowly being left alone to explore the city on our terms. I am looking forward to the day where we are in full РГГУ mode next week and have our regular classes and everything. It's actually quite daunting haha

Being the only one living in the apartment with homegurl Eleonora is a bit strange. Since James left there is nobody else to help me so you can imagine the many awkward moments where I have to go to my room to get the dictionary. I wouldn't want it any other way though, I came here for the real experience. I was also left alone for the weekend because she went to the dacha(summer home). Today she told me that the student from Middlebury will be arriving tomorrow. I'm actually a little bit excited, the only thing I know is that his name is Christopher. We'll see.

Now onto a more serious subject. I feel like me and her definitely had a falling out today. I decided to ask her about marriage and when people in Russia usually get married. She said now it's usually when people have their careers set. I said it's like the same in America a bit, and then she asked me when I plan to get married. I thought about for a second, "should I lie or should I be completely honest?" and what did I decide? To be completely honest of course... oh what a mistake. I told her how I don't believe in marriage and then I came out to her. At first she seemed completely fine with it, she said oh you know if that's how you want to live your life, to each his own. But as we went on, she was definitely not accepting. I could tell that her stance was that people are made gay or they can change into the "correct" and "normal" orientation. It was quite difficult for me since I am not really anywhere near fluent in the language so it's not like I could defend myself. I simply did my best and flipped through the dictionary desperately trying to find words that would make her understand. Unfortunately there weren't any. We ended the conversation by having some wine, which wasn't bad.

Right now I could be quite pessimistic about my future and also vent about how close minded some people are. But I will not. I am quite resilient, even if I don't appear to be. This experience won't stop me from continuing to enjoy my stay in Moscow. I'm simply gonna take it one day at a time and hopefully всё будет хорошо(vsyo budyet khorosho, everything will be alright).