Off to Russia!

So yesterday I spent all day tidying up the apartment so I have a nice clean apartment to come back to in the New Year. I also went around town today doing my last minute shopping/errands etc. So today I’ll get to fly to Russia and see Evgeny and his family/friends and spend Christmas and New Year’s together with them. Evgeny and I have written to each other since we were 12, and I remember letters saying I must experience a Russian Winter, so here I am, getting all my handwarmers/toe warmers etc ready for my journey to a Russian White Christmas. Stay tuned for our exciting adventures together!

Arrival in Moscow

My flights yesterday went really well and were quite easy. Business class in Lufthansa was really nice. There was a remote control for my seat that actually made it lay out completely flat, and it even had a massage in the back of the chair! The movie selection was good as well, and I ended up staying up the entire flight mainly because the time of the flight was all day for me. Business class was pretty empty, and almost everyone sat by themselves (they’re usually pairs, meaning no one sat next to anyone, including myself.) Flying into Frankfurt was very beautiful. All the trees had been dusted with snow and it was a winter wonderland. I walked around the airport, found the showers, and had a nice hot shower to feel better about being on the plane for so long. I then had some bratwurst and sat at the ‘Goethe’ Bar and lounge and spoke to some people. There was a guy that randomly sat down next to me and he was from San Francisco as well. Throughout the airport, I felt like a poor american–our dollar has sunk so low that no one even wants it anymore. My bill at the Goethe bar was 6 euro, so when I said that I needed to pay in US$, they upped the price to a grand $15. I couldn’t believe it. For a currency that started off completely equal to US$ back in 2001, to seeing that now I was being charged almost double was gross! I then waited around until my next flight for Moscow was to leave, and I wrapped my gifts to be brought into Russia :) By this time, I was definitely tired, so I dozed on the 3 hour flight to Moscow. After we deplaned, we went to the passport control, and there were queues that looked endless. I chose a line that I thought would move fastest, and I could not believe how slow my line was. Not only was it the SLOWEST line, but I ended up being the absolute LAST person through–after 1:40, I finally made it through, which was fine, because Evgeny had been caught in traffic. At around 8pm, Evgeny and Katya came to pick me up, and we started our long journey back to their flat. I was energized by the excitement of seeing them, and I was so happy to be here again. More soon. (PS> I got through customs in a breeze).

Pediatrician

Today, Masha and I took Grisha to the pediatrician. It was quite an interesting experience to see what the doctor’s office looked like, and how they have documentation for his visit. Apparently in Russia there are districts that you are part of, and as such, you are assigned a specific doctor. So you have to wait for your specific district’s doctor to see you. She also had a book that had all these stamped documents of information about his shots, background, etc.  After the pediatrician’s office, we came back home and had lunch. After lunch we headed out to take Grisha to a New Year’s party at Red Square. Here I met up with Evgeny and we walked around while Masha and Grisha were at their party. We then came back for a good dinner at the house and Katya joined us for the evening. It was so great to have everyone together and chat about everyone’s lives. We’re still waiting for the snow!

Life in Moscow

This morning, we all got up and Masha and I took Grisha to his Kindergarten party. All the children were dressed up in different costumes, and Grisha was a little clown. It was interesting to see what customs they have for the kids at Christmas, and who knew, Santa in Russia has an illegitimate granddaughter, Snegurochka. Unlike how in the US, we have Santa and Ms. Clause seen posing together in things, here, it’s the old man and the young girl wearing a triangular hat–with no Ms. Clause in sight. The granddaughter character was the host of the party this morning. After the party, I headed to Kurskaya to meet Evgeny for lunch. He’s had to go into work this week more because of some issues happening due to end of year. After lunch, I went to Red Square and watched figure skaters. They had a performance on the ice rink that’s set up on the Red Square for the winter. I also went by St. Basil’s Cathedral, and then over to Church of Christ of the Saviour. After getting a chocolate crepe, I headed back to the metro and went to Arbatskaya to wander around. I can’t believe how Moscow has changed. Being the 3rd time, each time I have seen such differences compared to the last. The biggest impressions was the emergence of such new upscale shopping areas, clothing outlets, and just newness over all that I hadn’t seen before. Impression #2, men are wearing a lot of dark colors/black (due to winter) and the women are wearing more fur than I’ve ever seen in my life. The good Russian hats are still popular than I’d ever imagine (seems so cliche!) After a walk here, I decided my legs had had enough and I took the metro back to Novogireevo.

Sushi Dinner

Tonight, Katya, Evgeny, Grisha, Masha and I all went to a restaurant to let me taste some Russian sushi. It was quite good! Evgeny is not happy because today his company car has been changed from a decent Hyundai to a Lada. A Lada is a Russian-made car, that basically looks, sounds, feels, acts like a metal box on wheels. Add that plus 30 years of use, and you have our new corporate car for the family :) It does make the experience all more Russian for me, because sometimes now I can forget where I am since there are so many upscale malls, bmw’s, bentley’s, mercedes’, all around us. It’s definitely a paradox to see such a separation between classes.  It’s still not snowing, but it is freezing, and there’s lots of ice on the ground, that walking home tends to be a slip and slide. Which reminds me of something funny from the kindergarten. The weather is unusually warm for Russia and to not have snow for Christmas and New Year’s is very odd. So during the children’s song and dance, when santa asks, and what do we throw in winter?? The children apparently all yelled ‘stones’ rather than the expected ‘snowballs’. Guess they’ll have to wait a little longer for more snow to come..

Evgeny and Work

Today, Masha and I got up and had a lazy morning chatting and looking at the entertainment magazines I had brought with me. It’s amazing how news of our ‘stars’ travels oceans–ie: Masha knew of Britney Spears’ sisters’ pregnancy. I just found that out last week! Guess there are some advantages of such globalization and the exchange of information :)

I then took the subway to meet Evgeny for lunch and to join him for his afternoon visiting the architecture project he’s helping manage with his company. The Domodedevo Airport is quickly overtaking the passenger intake into Moscow from the old Soviet hell-hole known as Sheremetyevo. We are no longer friends after my recent experience with Passport control, and in my future trips, I’ll be directing my flights through Domodedevo from now on. The airport is older and farther out than Sheremetyevo, but it is built on ‘Western’ management styles including service, logistical efficiency, and new roads. They are building a huge new glass facade, parking area, and really making it be attractive withint the next 3 years to gain more and more airlines’ participation. After some errands for work, we drove the tin can back to Novogireevo where I’m staying. During our journey, a liquid started dripping in the passenger area–along with a smell. This just added to Evgeny’s frustration with this crap car and along with no horn, no driver’s seat functioning seat belt, he’s about ready to drive it off a cliff.

When we arrived home, Masha and Grisha were waiting on us for dinner that Masha prepared. I had a good tomato vegetable soup. We then chatted about iphones (more to come later) and I showed them the YouTube clip about Miss North Carolina. For a refresher, click here. We are having the evening in, and preparing my plan for spending the day with Katya tomorrow to visit some museums, the Kremlin, and other areas around Moscow.

Camels in Moscow?

This morning, I got up and headed off to see Evgeny’s commute to his office. It’s interesting to see his life and learn about what his routine is. You can only write so much through emails that seeing it in person really solves the mystery. After seeing his office and meeting some of his office mates, we headed to have some breakfast at the Starbucks ‘like’ cafe called ‘ШОКОЛАДНИЦА’ /Shokoladnitsa. If you say it, you might hear the word similar to Chocolate, which means yes, lots of chocolate options here. However, since it was breakfast, I felt I should eat something wholesome, so I opted for the toast and cheese/tomato breakfast. After breakfast, I left Evgeny and headed for Red Square by the metro, to look around. Today was one of the days you can go to visit good ol’ Lenin. He is still preserved despite all the talk about him being finally buried. There was quite a long queue and you have to actually place your bags and packs at a security point, and I had my nice camera with me, so I decided not to drop my bags off. I’ll go back for the viewing another day when I don’t have my nice camera with me.

After stopping at a cafe for an $8 glass of apple juice (Thank you President Bush for making my US$ practically worthless in Russia), I headed off to the Bolshoi Theater to check out any shows that were playing. Wandering around is always the best way of stumbling upon surprises really, so I just continued wandering around the area. Katya then gave me a call and we planned to meet up and head off to a museum. She was near me anyhow, and we were able to meet almost instantly, so we went off to a book store. Suddenly Evgeny called and asked us to meet him to run an errand with his Lada to be serviced ie: get a horn, get a seat belt, and stop the incessant mysterious liquid from leaking into the passenger seat.

Once we arrived back at Evgeny’s office, we drove to the other side of the city toward Moscow State University. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings of Moscow and stands tall and prestigious. The building was built in Stalin fashion, so it looks really gothic and Batman like. The best part was that it was starting to snow, so I was happy to see some snowflakes and feel the ‘real’ cold.

We then headed towards the Moscow Circus to take a look at the building and see if we saw anything interesting, and sure enough, after taking a walk around, interesting is what we found. In the midst of snowflakes in Moscow, a camel was giving a ride to a child! They say Moscow is a city of contrasts, and I have to say, this is one of the most interesting contrasts I’ve encountered!

We then took a drive over to the site of the newest building complexes that are being built in an area that will include buildings going up until about 2016. Federation Tower, Moscow City, and other buildings will house residents, offices, stores, and even have a Hyatt Hotel.

Things Take Time

Today, Evgeny and I headed out for what we thought would be a simple errand to run–to meet his boss and pick up a package. We arrived at the office, and called for the boss, but there was an important meeting that he was attending–at a completely different location. So we went to breakfast so by the time we were finished, we could meet his boss. I had a great crepe with fresh fruits, and Evgeny had a mushroom soup–with Hot Chocolate.

We then headed to the other location that his boss was at, and we drove by one of the Stalinist type buildings again. This one is a huge apartment building that the old Soviet Politicians used to live in, but now has just been burdened by maintenance costs of simply living there. It’s still a beautiful building showing an amazing power of architecture, but surprisingly up close, is much smaller than it seems from a distance.

After we met Evgeny’s boss, we headed back to pick up Grisha and Masha, and it was already noon! Once we got everyone rounded up and dressed for outside, we headed out to take our red Lada, and turn it into Evgeny’s company–and exchange for a rental. This was quite an ordeal as it was a company car, but apparently the Deputy of Transportation at Evgeny’s company ordered that the car would be brought back to the company by the end of the day. Since this was a company car that had been promised in the beginning of getting the job, giving away the car caused Evgeny to request a solution–which worked out well–we were allowed to go rent a car for the rest of the holidays. So, we went to give the car back, which apparently will just sit on the street outside the company until Jan 9, and in return, we will be rolling in a nice Mazda 3, red, which is Masha and Grisha’s favorite color.

As this is Russia, and documentation has documentation which has stamps of stamps, we rented a car in just under an hour. Once we got the car, I drove the Mazda on the streets of Moscow with Grisha and Masha in tow, as we followed Evgeny in his tin can :) We dropped the car off finally, and ended up parking since by now, it was time for dinner. We stopped at Atrium right outside the station Kurskaya. Atrium houses Masha’s favorite restaurant, TGI Fridays. So we went there for a big dinner and waited for Katya to join. Katya joined for dessert, and after our dinner, the girls went shopping, and the boys went for a drive. I continued driving on Moscow’s Garden Ring–the city has 3 main rings of roads that connect like a spider web. After our drive, we ended up at Federation Towers again to show Grisha the construction site. We then headed back to pick up the girls so we could get our groceries for the New Year’s Eve dinner. For some reason, I was completely exhausted and despite not feeling like we had accomplished a lot for the day, I felt like I had been in a marathon, and could barely keep my eyes open for the drive home. I’m attributing the fatigue to my endless decoding of the Russian letters to sound out the words written on signs, advertisements, buildings etc.

New Year’s in Moscow

Today, Evgeny and I went to the main Santa House for all the children to come and present letters to Santa, get free presents (boxes of candy) and play around with some themepark type games. Grisha got some cotton candy and was shoving his little face into the cotton which was hilarious. We then went to Santa’s house, and believe it or not, he walked out the door, because he only shows up once a day, and his shift was done. So we all stood there as he walked out of his own house, while we stood inside his house looking at his bed and work station. It reminds me of the time back in 1997 during my first visit while we were all riding a tram, and the driver just stopped the tram, and left to go outside for a smoke, while we all sat there waiting to continue riding.

After the park, we headed back home to prepare for the evening’s long dinner. Masha spent all day cooking and prepared a magnificent meal for us to enjoy for our New Year’s event. Masha’s sister joined us as well for the event. New Year’s in Russia is much more like Christmas for us, where you spend it with family. Apparently many of Katya’s friends all went back to their homes to spend it with their families.

From the apartment we could see fireworks throughout the city. We spent the entire night drinking, laughing, eating, more eating, then went outside for some fireworks. We then all went to bed in a full house–this 3 room apartment housed all 6 of us!

New Year’s Day & Sub Zero Temperatures!

Today we went for a drive around the city, since NO ONE was out and about on the roads, it was easy to drive around and see some sights without the annoying traffic. We first tried to find a place to eat, and unfortunately, almost everything was closed, so we ended up at McDonald’s. We then headed for Moscow State University since this was a place that I wouldn’t be able to visit easily from the Metro. Today actually was -10C. The past few days were -3C and that was easy. But today, was the first time I actually felt the pain of cold. While at the State University for pictures, I would take off my gloves just to manipulate my camera long enough to take some pictures, and by the time I needed to make more chanes, my hands were hurting and so cold that I couldn’t even move them. It’s the first time I’ve ever had such a sensation. I actually felt like the hands were starting to freeze, and it would slowly move further along my body. It was so strange because my whole body was fine, it was just my exposed hands. We continued walking around and went to the edge of hillside where we could look out over Moscow. To the right there was a ski jump that was built that I had seen several times before in the distance while driving around the city. So I finally asked about it’s use, and apparently Evgeny said that it’s not in use because there was a miscalculation and professional jumpers could end up flying too far past the range of where they thought they could go. So it’s no longer in use!

After the University visit, I wanted to take some more photos of the beautiful subway system. It’s actually one of the most charming things I find of Moscow, so I enjoy spending time looking at all the stations. They’re all different and feature different architecture, art, and Soviet reminants. Plus, since it was so cold outside, it was nice to be underground and warm for a while! There is a main ring that circles the city, so Evgeny dropped me off and I decided to ride the ring for a while and stop at several stops. I only made it about half way before I figured I should turn around and head home to be back in time for our dinner with some of Evgeny and Masha’s friends.

The dinner was again excellent, and their friends had a little 3 year old girl Anna, that came to play with Grisha. We played games, sang songs, and enjoyed another long dinner until late evening. These great dinners Masha is making confirms the idea of holiday weight!