August 3, 2003 || Vladimir, Suzdal, Moscow

So KK and I accidentally bought an hour of internet time instead of 30 minutes--oops. However, it's been about the only reasonably-priced thing I've bought since leaving Saint Petersburg. There's a reason they call Moscow the most expensive city in the world (to live in).

Well, let's start from... July 25th? That was a while ago. On the 27th we had our final exams and a banquet with the teachers. And, yes, it was also my 20th birthday. I really expected that fact to kind of depress me throughout the day, since this is the first birthday I've really spent apart from friends and family, but the day was great. On Thursday, I met with Masha for our final "tutor-time" and she handed me a small bag along with the other "I may never see you again" gifts that she'd bought (I've officially decided; when I get home she's getting something gorgeous from Ahee's, this woman has been ten times better to me than I ever could have hoped for). But she told me that I wasn't allowed to open the present until my birthday. And you know? I listened to her. That night I stayed up late preparing a Powerpoint for my final exam (long story), and everyone had gone to bed a long time ago, and I was stressing out and falling asleep, and I realized that it was 5 past midnight... I was technically 20 (or was I? I've been trying to puzzle that out--since I was technically born in America, and at night, then I'd have to wait until like the 28th in Russia because of the time difference...). So I put my homework away, took Masha's gift into the kitchen (along with a dictionary, for decoding her card) and just sat down. The radio was playing low, it was quiet out on the barely-light streets, and everything was just... right. I don't know, I was very content. I read her card, and it was beautiful (Russians really know how to do well-wishing well), and I opened her gift--a leather-bound day-planner with time zones, conversions, a map of the world, address book, all this stuff, in Russian and English, and--well, if you know me, you know how much I just plain like journals and paper, so this was a perfect present. Also, stuffed in the page were print-outs of the pictures we'd taken at the sketchy club--which just made me so happy. After that, I felt like I could go to bed without stressing anymore--so I did.

When I woke up, I walked back into the kitchen to kind Marina Nikolaevna sitting at the table with another small present, a card, and a bar of chocolate. And then again, after my Conversation exam, my teacher gave me a card and (it was her birthday too) we all sat around and had tea and a small cake. At the banquet the RDs and the teachers all gave me a joint card and a small gift, too--I say this to emphasize how close Russians get to you, once you break into their inner circle of friendship. After our exams, my group ended up at Lenin's Mating Call (extremely tame, and down-sized, from what I've heard before, but crazy-cheap--about a buck-fifty for a half liter of beer), and then headed to the banquet, which was held at trendy Tinkoff's. There we received a wonderful free dinner, our diplomas, and toasted the teachers (toasting in Russia is a time-honored tradition in and of itself; and something I fully intend to bring back to the States). We all had a great time... and then performed our skits. Group 4 did a funny gender-bending skit to the popular "Milii Tui Moy," Group 3 impersonated 2 of our most memorable teachers to gut-busting laughter, our group tweaked a Whinny Pooh (I don't even know if that's spelled right... in Russian, it's Vinni-Poo'x) story, and Group 1 did a Russian folk story, Kolybok. And then the coolest thing--the ACTR kids surprised me and Valentina Viktorovna with cakes for both of us, and cards that they had all signed. I was sooooooo happy and grateful and just--well, it made me feel like I was surrounded by friends and people who cared about me, you know? Like I really WASN'T spending my birthday with my friends and family halfway around the globe. =)

Saturday, walking to the bus stop to do my post-program testing, a familiar face popped out from behind a sidewalk-talker: Curtis! Some of the Moscow kids had come in town, so of course Curtis and I spent the weekend together. We went to this really cool club called Ostrov, which had a revolving dance floor, floor shows, and a chill-out room strewn with bean bags, black lights, and chairs suspended from the ceiling (you'll have to see one or two of the pictures) and just basically hung out, relaxing with each other for a few days. From the texts that I've gotten from him--his group took a small cruise around some islands north, northwest of Saint Petersburg--he's seen moose and horses, and beautiful, beautiful views of the water and trees. I can't wait to talk to him and ask him about it!

Our train pulled out of the station Sunday night, and we slept in the cheapies--that is, basically one long compartment with no doors or privacy, where 50+ people bunk together. There are some wall partitions, but you're fooling yourself if you think you've got any privacy. Our train rolled into Vladimir about 7 in the morning, and after dumping our bags at the hotel we got on a bus and had a full day of exploring Suzdal, which included looking at a replicated old Russian village with windmills, scarecrows, swings, old houses and churches (a la Greenfield Village) and beautiful old onion-topped cathedrals. It was hot, we were tired, there was lots of walking and Neil would only get us guides who spoke in Russian... but eventually we had beds, and a lunch and breakfast paid for by ACTR, so we slogged through it. The next day we trekked through Vladimir, touring some of the more famous and still-working cathedrals, which were gorgeous (littered with ancient icons, still-working sisters, kittens, and oh-so-much-history) but by the end of the day I'd had it. The most beautiful tiny church was under construction, but the pictures of it were fabulous--it's built on a small bluff, and every spring (except for the past 2--global warming!) the snows melt and fill the surrounding lowland with water... just gorgeous. That said, we had to walk across a huge field to get there.

After that, we piled in the bus for the 4-hour trek to Moscow... and played the celebrity name game (Carly knows what I'm talking about... I say Brad Pitt, you say Penelope Cruz, the next person says Clark Gable, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Walker, Walt Disney...) for at leeeast an hour and a half... and then once in Moscow, at 9 o'clock at night, we're given our metro cards and taken down to Red Square for "orientation." Dinner? Sbarro's, cost $13, after 11 at night. This place is mad expensive... so expensive that, after Sbarro's, I've only eaten 2 other meals at restaurants (one the super-cheap Moo Moo on the Starry Arbat--and by super cheap I mean it was only $8 for a full meal--and one a slightly bigger splurge), while buying the rest of my food from a local supermarket. One of Curtis's birthday presents--a jar of Skippy!--has almost been completely eaten (and thank God for it, otherwise I'd have gotten no protein here, not to mention remembered how delicious peanut butter is).

I'm fast running out of time, so I'm just going to throw the highlights of Moscow (that I've seen, this trip; keep in mind I've been here twice before, so I skipped out on the Kremlin and Lenin--who Russians jokingly say "works" from 10am-5pm on every day except Friday); I've been to the Nevodevyshkiy Convent and Cemetery, where I saw the most beautiful churches, sisters, and tombs of old, old famous Russians, as well as the most ridiculous graveyard ever (I also befriended a grave-carver there); I saw Yeltsin (almost forgot that he was dead, when I saw the grave--it happened so recently), Tretyakov, Shostakovich, Tolstoy, Gorbachev's wife, Kruschev (got a story about that one), Stalin's wife, Molotov, Bulgakov, Gogol, and more; I saw Patriarch's Pond, where the devil first enters Moscow in The Master and Margarita [][]AGAIN: READ THAT BOOK[][]; I've seen Red Square again, St. Basil's, been out to the massive souvenir market, and hit up the Tryetyakov Gallery (the Muscovite version of the Russian Museum--which I've also been to, in St. Pete's, but forgot to talk about).

There might be more, but I can't think of it right now--and of course there's always tons I want to share but just can't find the words for or the time to express it--just got warned by the computer... So, the train leaves for Petersburg (can't wait to get there!) tonight, and then on Tuesday I come home! Hurray! Can't wait to see people, sleep in my own bed, and have--wait for it--mac 'n' cheese.

Thanks for all the b-day messages. =) I'm going to have to set aside a half an hour to return them on facebook, but Nancy, I read your poem, and it was superb. ;o) See you soon!