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.