Istanbul, not Constantinople!

This past weekend, I went to Istanbul on a whim.  My friend Evan is there for 2 weeks on a language program before heading back to Petersburg, and I've wanted to go to Turkey for a while, so at the last minute I decided to go for it.  It also helped that I didn't work after Wednesday and that tickets were super cheap.  On Tuesday I sent out a few urgent couch surfing requests, on Wednesday I found out where I was staying and bought a ticket, and on Thursday I was in Turkey.

My first impressions of the city were "Wow, this is beautiful," followed by "So it turns out I don't understand Turkish at all.  Like...I can't read any of these signs. This should be interesting." This was the first time in my life I've been to a country where I don't speak the language, which was really strange for me.  In the US and Canada I can use English, in Puerto Rico I used Spanish, and in Russia...well, you get the idea.  Very few people speak English in Istanbul, to the point where even asking for directions was difficult. Luckily, the Turks are incredibly warm and friendly people, so more than once when I pointed to a name on the list of things to do my host gave me, someone walked me directly to my destination.  There was also a lot of gesturing to communicate, which most people take for granted in these situations. By the second day I could read the alphabet and started to notice some similarities with Russian, though that helped very little. I felt so much more comfortable when I got on that Aeroflot plane and could understand everyone, and completely at home in Sheremetevo where I could ask for help.

The city was absolutely gorgeous, the food was amazing, and my host was really nice, though really busy.  I saw most of the major attractions (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilicas Cistern, Grand Bazaar, and Topkapi palace just to name a few), ate a lot of new things (like a pudding that's actually made out of chicken breast.  It was delicious.  Evan only told me what I ate after the fact, which was perhaps wise).  It was refreshing to be somewhere by the sea that was also warm and beautiful with friendly people.  I took a ferry to and from my host's apartment each day.  I apparently look Turkish, which I never knew before.  Istanbul is really cheap when compared to Moscow prices...why do I live here again? I may need to move to Turkey someday.  I got back to Moscow at 6am Sunday morning after sleeping through the entire flight, and was greeted by thunderstorms.  In another 1.5 weeks I'll be landing in JFK.  So it goes.  To summarize: go to Istanbul!

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave?

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I've begun celebrating by lazing around the house and eating.  Like a true American.  Well, and meeting a courier to sign some paperwork, because I'm important ;) While I am bummed to be missing fireworks and jello molds, I take joy in the fact that my friends and family will eat double for me.


And I leave you, dutifully, with this:

Summah Summah time

I started my day by petting and shaking hands with a monkey outside of my metro, where I met Steve to go to GUM because they were handing out free ice cream to celebrate their 120th anniversary.  There were also a lot of cool photo displays on the first floor, so we walked around looking at them and getting seconds on ice cream.  I also bought something for one of you, but I won't say who.  I like to keep you in suspense.

After we were done with GUM and Steve had to go to work (I didn't.  I win.), I had my own mini adventure wandering the streets of Moscow.  First I stopped in the Alexandrovskii Sad and laid on the grass reading some of my book (On the Road, if you must know) before heading off in no particular direction.  I passed by the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Pushkin Museum before landing on a bus stop for a little while - I figure if I'm paying all this extra money for an all-forms-of-transport metro card (not by choice), I might as well get some tram action.  And it was nice out.  So a tram FINALLY comes, takes me down to Oktyabrskaya near Gorky Park, and I get off not wanting to go any further south.  Then I get on another tram going in the opposite direction, taking me exactly where I had come from.  Almost.  It stopped while saying "This is the end of the line," but as I got off I heard it announce the next stop as other passengers boarded.  I don't know.  I walked and walked in some weird artsyish hipstery place by the Bolotnaya Embankment and enjoyed the view before once again passing the Cathedral, buying a cream soda, sitting by lion statues, and looking at the entrance to an exhibition of sand sculptures depicting ancient Russia before deciding to head home.  So that was my day.

The summer has been sort of a blur since it's going by so quickly.  I finished working at Mayakovskaya on June 1st and switched to Marino June 3rd (which equals 3 day weekends, yesssss).  I had some friends here for about a week, then I took off to Petersburg again (White Nights + Jackie was heading back to the US soon), then I had a friend visiting for a few days, and now I'm toying with a trip to Turkey next weekend.  Almost forgot to mention, it's been sweltering here.  We're talking +30C/86F and humid pretty consistently.  The kinds of days where you're glad to work from 1230-1010 because at least it's air conditioned there.  Oh also, random aside, the airport where Snowden is currently hiding out is the one nearest my apartment.  We're talking like 30 mins away at most.  I'll send him your best.

Stateside in less than a month! Now that is crazy.

On FIRE

This isn't a full-blown post, but I thought that today's fire in the Moscow metro deserved mention.  76 people were injured in a fire that started at the Okhotniy Ryad metro station during rush hour this morning. 

Before you worry,  I was not in the fire, though I did happen to be taking the metro to work as I do every morning.  Luckily, I don't pass by that station, or even ride on that line.  In fact, I hadn't even heard about the fire until I logged onto Facebook at around 1130pm and found that everyone here was talking about it.  Strangely enough, it didn't come up at work at all (though I was busy, like, teaching and stuff).  I'm glad to report that I (and everyone I know) am completely unharmed.  And (perhaps inappropriately) now listening to this:


Too soon?

Spring has sprung

Spring has sprung in Moscow, and kept on springing into summer.  Moscow was -8C when I left for Siberia, +8C when I returned, and briefly floated around a comfortable +15C for a couple of weeks. It was nice springtime weather until the temps reached +29C/85F a few weeks ago, bringing us summer. I'm sitting here writing this at 930PM, and the sky is still light.  It's been consistently WAY HOTTER here than back home.  That's crazy.

Also crazy were the May holidays we recently had.  May 1st was International Workers' Day, and it was combined with the holidays we didn't get this January (or was it February?), giving us Wednesday the 1st-Friday the 4th off from work (you guessed it, I had to go in on Saturday.  All good things must end).  Then we had a few days off around May 9th, which some of you know as Victory Day.  For this, the Russians have a huge military parade throughout the city, displaying all sorts of planes in the air and tanks rolling down the streets, followed by an evening firework salute in several locations.  Not bad, not bad.

There have been a few other crazy things going on as well, and I'm struggling to remember everything I've been up to.  One is that my new roomie arrived on the 15th.  He's from England, so I only understand what he says some of the time.  Another thing is that my last week of the academic year at Mayakovskaya begins tomorrow! After that I'll be at Marino school, way in the south of Moscow.  Not looking forward to the commute.  For those of you not in the know, I've re-signed my EF contract and will be sitting tight (with all of the knowledge I've gained so far) for another academic year.  I can't believe this one will be over in 2 weeks.

What else? Random tidbits.  I've now been to Tsaritsyno and Sokolniki parks, in addition to Vorobyovy Gory (no Wiki link for this one, but it's a huge parky, nature preservey place in the southwest of the city, on the river bank) during the holidays.  I officially booked my vacation home for the summer (inquire within for additional details).  I've replaced my first light bulb in this apartment (the exciting life of a sort-of-adult).  I've been branching out and trying new cute/quirky cafes with friends (no disappointments so far).  And, I've played hostess to Jackie's sister, who was stranded at Vnukovo airport when her layover en route to Petersburg changed from a few hours to overnight, with the airline only providing hotel rooms to Russian citizens.  She took it all in stride, even as she, Eggert, and I were drenched with rain on the way to my place.  This is Russia.

What more could a girl want? I'm going to get back to my lazy Sunday, courtesy of the rain.

End of an Era

Well, the day has finally come.  My partner in crime/best roommate in the whole entire world has moved out and is currently sitting in Sheremetevo waiting for his flight to take off.  The new guy doesn't move in for another couple of weeks, so I'll try not to just mope around the apartment until then.

 After spending the entire day eating (cake and spaghetti for bfast after unsuccessfully trying to get McDonald's, then Vietnamese pho, then more cake...and all before 4pm), watching videos, and hanging out together, Uliana and I walked Chien to the bus stop with his luggage and saw him off.  Then we tried not to cry but failed as I walked Uliana to the metro. 

And here's where I'd like to take a moment to describe the incredibly warm and caring nature I see in the Russian people on a daily basis.  Not quite ready to head back to my now empty apartment, and also not able to pull it together, I sat on a bench on the way home and cried.  I didn't want anything, and I didn't know what to do, so that was my temporary way of dealing with it.  Luckily, no one paid me any mind and just kept on their ways - until a guy stopped, turned to me, and asked why my eyes were red, and what I was crying for.  He asked me what was wrong, who had offended me, and how he could help before sitting down, lighting a cigarette, and introducing himself.  His name was Denis, and he said that he's a local hooligan and doesn't like to see girls crying, so he wants to help if he can.  After I explained why I was crying and assured him that no one needed a talking to, he told me that if I didn't cry everything would be ok.  And also that its simply no good, my eyes were all red and my mascara was running.  Which was true. He told me that Russians are good people, but also not to trust anyone, and taught me the phrase не верь, не бойся, не проси (which I'm assuming is from this song).  Once I was satisfactorily calmed down and he'd finished his cigarette, he got up, reminded me not to cry, and left. 

Well, after that I just laughed, took a few deep breaths, and headed back home.  One of the many reasons I love Russia/Russians is that little things like this happen all the time.  Maybe it's partially because I'm young and a girl, but complete strangers are constantly helping or comforting me in some way, even before they realize I'm foreign.  It's so difficult to describe, but it's what has made me fall deeper in love with Russia. 

PS I know I still need to recount my Siberian adventures, but today is just not the day. But it will happen.

Crazytown, Russian Federation

Since my last post, not only have things refused to calm down, but they have also gotten more chaotic! This hasn't been all bad though, and I'll tell you all about it presently.

To keep up a continuous narrative, I'll fill you in on the rest of my birthday weekend.  Thanks to amazing, caring friends lending me money, I was able to get tickets to St Petersburg! I left Thursday night on the overnight train after Lydia (my coteacher) and our wonderful students gave me a very sweet gift - Russian books, a Narcissus plant, and chocolate.  I was sad not to be able to see their Art festival (talent show) performance while I was away, but they won 2nd place and will perform again in April! After arriving in Piter Friday morning I spent the weekend seeing my friends and meeting new ones, as well as attempting to play tour guide for Nathan, who visited all the way from England.  It was the best way I could think of to spend my birthday, and I'm really grateful to everyone who helped me celebrate (especially Jackie, Emmy, Nathan, Evan, and Justin).

I got back on Sunday evening, and over the course of the week discovered that I would be sent on a business trip.  To Siberia.  Crazy cool! From April 2-13, I will be in Muravlenko, which is in Noyabrsk - the largest city in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.  Here I will help on a special project to rapidly increase the English level of several Gazprom teams by July.  They've been studying with a Russian teacher and now want the experience of learning from a native speaker.  I'll be working 10hr days and living in a hotel, but I'm very excited. Though I will miss my students back at Mayakovskaya, who will be taught by a different Sarah while I am away.  I told each of my classes that they're not allowed to like her more than they like me, just in case.

Unfortunately, my computer also decided to cease functioning less than a week before my trip, which caused me to freak out.  Luckily, my friend Sheila has a student who also works as an IT engineer and had him come fix everything for me - basically saving my life.  Sheila and I also went with some other friends to see Sergey Lazarev, a Russian pop singer who I happen to love and who also happened to study at our EF years ago (resulting in discounted tickets, yay us!). Most of my Russian friends have been making fun of me for this, but it was an awesome concert.  Sorry not sorry. 

As if none of this had been quite hectic enough, my soon-to-be new flatmate emailed saying that he had been offered an affordable flat in the center and asking how bad a situation I'd be in if he didn't take Chien's room.  I decided that the situation wouldn't be too desperate, and I couldn't even get mad at him due to the fact that I would've done the exact same thing.  So the hunt is back on for a new roomie, although this time I'll be in Siberia for part of it.  

Speaking of hunts, I've also gotten some really good Easter egg hunts in during the last 2 weeks as we celebrated Easter in school.  On that note, I wish a wonderful Easter to everyone who celebrates today! Wish me luck as I journey to the unknown.