A cucumber by any other name...

Today was a pretty calm day. We read about "power" in Russian, therefore going back to strange abstract ideas that are kind of hard to understand in a foreign language. Our teacher is also having more trouble translating the new vocabulary...which sort of makes it hard to learn. But Joe and I are pushing forward and trying not to break down into hysterics (me somewhat less successfully). We talked about Russian economics in the afternoon and it was interesting for a subject that I'm really not interested in.

But the highlight of the day was after that. We went as a group to buy tickets for Suzdal, a city about 100 km outside the city. It's in the "golden ring" which is this circle of small towns around Moscow, called golden because of the domes of the churches. To get there you take a train for 2.5 hours (without a bathroom!!!) and then a bus for an hour or so. I think. Everything is very unclear. Anyway, Ben knows someone who knows someone who rents a place there so we've got the place pretty cheap, which is good because we are going for....

THE CUCUMBER FESTIVAL!!!!!!!

Seriously. This exists. http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/the-suzdal-cucumber-festival.html. It is too good to be true. We can't stop laughing about it because it's such a crazy experience we can't believe we'll actually have. Don't worry, I'll make sure my camera is well charged and bring back cucumber shaped souvenirs for everyone. We leave two weeks from tomorrow.

Then Dad and I went skiing and we both did less than stellar, but maybe it was just an off day. I did get some great coaching from a really cool Russian dude who didn't speak any English, but this other guy helped out with translating and he spoke really good English. Except he didn't know the words for hips so he kept saying you lift this part here this part I don't know what it is, lift this! It was kind of amusing. We came home early and I did my homework, talked to a friend, and now blogging! All in all an average day.

Tomorrow...THE KREMLIN. I'm probably not going to be able to sleep tomorrow, I'm so excited. I can't contain myself. I think I might scare the group with my enthusiasm. But I can always count on Miriam to be excited :). This weekend is pretty free. Dad and I might go to a party at his coworker's on Sunday afternoon when Dad gets back from his dacha trip (that's a traditional Russian summer home). Maybe I'll go window shopping with Miriam at GUM (the expensive, fancy mall) or walk around the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (I have to get a head scarf first) or hit a market. Or all of the above. I think I'll also stock the fridge with some traditional Russian snack/light meal foods - cheese we have and bread but I might branch out into колбаса, Russian sausages.

One last thought before I leave - I can do a lot here with the Russian I have. Especially when people learn that Russian is not my first language and they speak clearly and don't mutter. In a lot of situations I can make myself understood...even if I have to call ice cream by color and indicate "to go" by asking for a bag. I can order food decently well and ask for the check. I can navigate the metro, read a map, and buy metro tickets. Every day life is pretty much in my grasp. But things like buying tickets for the train are totally beyond my capacity to understand. I like to listen when Ben talks to waitresses/cashiers/whatever the most recent Russian person is and see if I can understand. Sometimes yes, occasionally I'm pretty certain I could have that same conversation. But today my ears almost fell off my head trying to comprehend. I think I would have just looked at her like a deer in headlights - my general facial expression when I can't keep up with the Russian. It's days like today that make me wonder if I really ever could feel comfortable doing this completely on my own. Food for thought.

Best day ever!

Dear faithful readers, I apologize for my lack of post yesterday! I spoiled you all with my frequent updates. I had SO MUCH to tell you all butttttt it was midnight before I got home and unfortunately for you guys my bed won out. After a quick call to Cory because I'm the world's best girlfriend and don't abandon him even when I'm half a world away.

Anyway, the day started out with the release of my LSAT scores!! I took the test early June, for those of you who don't know, and the scores were officially supposed to be released today but they came early, like they often do I think. Luckily, I was prepared after living through the release last time. Here's what it was like the first time around:

(Doing hw, maybe checking facebook, writing papers, etc)
Erika: Oh I have an email! AH THE LSAT RESULTSSSSSSS (commence freak out). Ok, get a grip, it's not like the score will be there right in the email. You'll have to sign in to your account so don't freak out yet. (open the email) AHHHHHH I WASN'T READY.

Because basically they just put your score in the email like hey dude you got a 164 love, LSAT commission. This time it was more like:

Erika: Good morning Russia I am so sleepy let's see if anyone exciting emailed me last night. Oh yes, so many people love m-AH THE LSAT EMAIL (choke on strange Danish cereal with dried fruit in it).

But at least I knew that the score was in the email so I didn't nearly die when I saw it. I did however jump up and run around the apartment screaming about how awesome I was. Which caused my dad to run out of his bathroom, probably to make sure that I wasn't fighting off some invader with a lamp (my weapon of choice). I was very pleased :). Plus, I don't have to take the LSAT again so that's enough to celebrate about.

Disclaimer: I'm in a fantastically good mood induced by the good day yesterday so please excuse my exuberance. I know you all miss talking to me so I'm trying to make it conversational.

So basically the morning rocked. We got this awesome text book that's like middle school politics in Russian or something like that and started learning, much to my excitement and the slight concern of my classmate, Joe, who I think hates me for asking if we could do this. Sorry Joe!!! I'll buy you a nice iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts to make up for it. Our afternoon class was Russian Economics but started with a (frank) rundown of politics. It was super interesting and I took like 10 pages of notes.

Joe and I met up with our tutors (who are best friends) in the afternoon and we pretty much walked the width of the city, saw tons of cool stuff, and I got like 4 blisters. I'm still in a war with them (the blisters, not the tutors) that makes me walk like I'm stepping on tacks or something. Very cute. But we're a lot more comfortable with the tutors now.

Then I met Dad and we went to the lake!!!! Everything I ever wanted and more. It took FOREVER to get there in traffic (this city is kind of poorly designed for driving and yet everyone drives...?). But unless you want to walk for like 3 miles with your skis on a dirt road after navigating the metro with them, you drive. But I skied AMAZINGLY. No problem running my opener, which I have been struggling with, easily running 28 and getting deep into 30, tying my tournament PB!!! I haven't even skied at 28 mph once this year yet (very depressing and frustrating) so I pretty much did my victory dance on the dock and possibly scared a few Russian skiers. Everyone was super nice thought and we had a great time. We're going back tomorrow so I'm hoping for a repeat performance. The lake is where the Russian state team practices so I stand to get some pretty good coaching I think.

Then we went to Ikea to get some stuff that we needed for the apartment and made it a pretty late night, rolling in at midnight. For Moscow, that's actually really early but for Erika it was a little bit late. In between we (somewhat) successfully navigated a McDonalds drive-through (I had to resort to "white" ice cream to communicate vanilla but the guy was really patient and only laughed at me a little bit). I called Cory, showered, and crashed.

Today was pretty chill. I managed to eat lunch for less than 5 dollars, a serious feat, but had a lot of food for the cost. Afternoon class was called "Contemporary Russia" and consisted today of a historical background to today's culture, which started thousands of years ago. It was really interesting to see how geography and natural resources shape so much of the culture that defines Russia today. The group went out briefly after class and then I headed home to start my Russian homework. We learn a lot of new words each day and it's pretty hard to keep up with them all. I made stirfry for dinner and we had some yummy watermelon for dessert so all in all it was a good, albeit calm day. Tonight I'll probably study my vocab more and go to bed early. Tomorrow's Russian lecture is about power so I better rest up!

Home sweet home

What a day!! What a very long day. I started today with some nerves about my first day of classes - we would have a Russian test to see what level we should be in and I wasn't looking forward to that. Not that it really mattered at all because the worst that would happen is that I would be put in an easier class but, you know me and my worrying. Anyway, I ended up exactly where I thought I would be, with the one guy in our group, Joe, in what we think is the upper class. We read a short story by Pushkin today and much to my surprise, with help on some of the words, we were able to understand it! Very cool. Then he asked what we wanted to learn about and I told him politics because I'm a political science major but I can't speak about politics in Russian. He just happened to have what I understand to be an intro to politics book IN RUSSIAN that he's bring tomorrow. At this point I almost danced on the table in joy. Especially when he told us that class was over!

Then we had lunch in the cafeteria...I never know what I'm eating but it's cheap and usually good and there is lots of it so yay! Then we had our Russian Foreign Policy class. That's something I'm really interested in so I was super excited. It was a super traditional Russian lecture AKA the professor just talked at us without writing anything down or consulting any outline for 3 hours. The material is interesting...the way in which it was presented actually almost put me to sleep. And the room is HOT! Not conducive to learning. The pros: no test, no paper. And we've worked out more discussion in the class so I think it'll be better from now on. I could go on about the fascinating things I learned but most of you don't care and I can tell those of you who do care later.

Then we met up with our liason at the university and Miriam and I walked around with her and her brother/cousin (Russians are very loose with the difference between these two so we're not really sure what he is exactly). Everyone else was tired and Ben had some duties he had to perform so the four of us traveled the city on foot and Anna, our liason, took about a billion pictures of Miriam and I around the city. We chatted about slang terms in English and Russian, cultural stereotypes, and the university systems in different countries. It was a lot of fun and I think I can speak for Miriam when I say we're really glad we went. It was cool to be hanging out in Moscow.

Miriam and I met back up with the group for dinner, then we walked by the European Mall (which looks like it has the same stores as the other malls, but what do I know) and then headed home. Luckily it was late enough that the trains weren't crowded and I could sit down because by then I could barely pick up my feet!!! It took me almost twice as long to walk home from the metro station as usual because I was moving so slowly. And it was AMAZING to walk into the (clean, the maid came today) apartment and sit down. A little sad though, because the maid threw away our highly sought-after cilantro plant that took us a really long time to find. Why? No one knows. It was still in the tiny plastic pot that it was sold in but we had a plan for potting it. Now I'll have to search again. Cilantro is super hard to find here but it's a key ingredient in beans and barley salad, one of Dad's favorite dishes. We figured if we had a plant it would be even better because he wouldn't have to keep looking for it (the recipe doesn't call for much). Oh well...life in Russia.

Life in Russia now dictates that I must take a shower. I think I sweated a liter of water today (gross I know) and my feet are dirty. Unfortunately, I don't think the tan line from my sandals will wash off....

Do I even speak this language?

Like they said in orientation, there's ups and downs to living in a foreign country and I seem to be on a rollercoaster to rival any found at Cedar Point. (Btw, friends in BHills and A2, we need to go there when I get back). I'm still a little jet-lagged and confused about what time it is - I think it's 4 pm and it's only noon, or suddenly it's 9 pm and I'm not really sure where the day went. The fact that it stays light until 11 (when the sun suddenly disappears and it is immediately dark) doesn't exactly help. Around 11 pm I get this crazy second wind and can't fall asleep but hopefully today I can get rid of that.

Anyway, we kicked off yesterday with a bus tour. But first it got pushed back an hour and I had to make my way from the spot we were supposed to meet to where the group actually was - always an adventure in Russia. Luckily it's always an adventure with the Mayer family so I wasn't too flustered by the sudden change. We finally got going on our 3 hour tour. (three hour tooooour) But we didn't end up on a deserted island, thankfully. It was a little disorienting, but we did see some cool stuff like 3 of the 7 Sisters (famous buildings built by Stalin) and a whole bunch of brides.

The brides: Apparently when you get married in Russia you go on this progression through all of these famous spots in the city and take pictures with the wedding party, drink champagne and generally party it up. Since we were on the general progression route as well, we saw a lot of brides. One spot involves a famous statue of children surrounded by the vices that corrupt the world. It's right by a bridge across the Moscow River that has all these metal trees on it. Tradition is for the bride and groom to put a padlock with their names or initials and date of the wedding on the tree. It's really cool to see all of the locks and we even got to see a couple putting their lock on.

After the tour we met up with our peer tutors. I was really looking forward to this as an opportunity to tailor my Russian learning a bit more to my interests - politics and international relations. I know a lot of Russian words about food, travel, and studying, but nothing about politics. We'll have to see how it goes, but I don't think that's going to happen with this tutor. She doesn't seem interested in it at all. Then again, I have no idea what she said because I could understand about 6 words she said. Maybe it was her accent or that she was talking too quickly but even when I said I didn't understand, it didn't help. We're meeting together with another person in the group, Joe, and his tutor, which is more comforting. Joe and I are at the same level of Russian so maybe that will help. Who knows. I'm keeping an open mind, but I was definitely at a low point after that.

The rest of the day was free time and I used it in some much needed relaxing. I took a nap, read a little, and hung out with my dad. We went out for dinner and I taught him some simple, useful Russian. Конечно - of course, можно - can I have... , может быть - maybe. Then we went to his favorite local bar for a drink and I met a bartender, Olga, who doesn't speak a word of English. But we were able to communicate!! I told her where we were from, what I study, and we made small talk. She said I speak better Russian than Daddy and that she likes that because I can translate for him. When we left she said I was pretty and Daddy should bring me back because she liked talking to me. I was exhausted but it was a definite high end to the night because I felt like I could actually communicate in Russian. I only had to ask her to repeat herself one time. Maybe she was just using simple words and speaking slowly because she knew I didn't speak perfect Russian, or maybe that's just how she normally talks, but it was awesome to talk to her. After meeting my tutor I felt like I had completely wasted 2 years of studying Russian; after meeting Olga I felt like my hard work was paying off.

Today is a completely free day (yay!!!). I slept in deliciously late and spent a lazy morning on the couch reading. While I don't plan to make a habit out of it, I think I really just needed some relaxation. I don't want to get run down or sick and I've pretty much been going constantly since I got here. This afternoon Dad and I are going to Ikea, the grocery store, and maybe to an art gallery. Tomorrow starts class!

Foreign countries are exhausting!

Safely landed in Moscow yesterday after being stuck on the plane for 2 hours on the DC tarmac. First we were delayed by air control for weather outside of New York, then they couldn't figure out how to detach the walkway (seriously?? isn't that their job??), then we were delayed AGAIN for weather. I was starting to think I might never get here! But we were finally on our way and it was pretty uneventful. I didn't sleep a lot but I was able to rest quite a bit so I wasn't too tired when we landed. Dad had a driver meet me at the airport and we got back to the apartment and got in and settled pretty easily.

The apartment is GREAT! Small-ish but the space is set out perfectly. There's some stuff that he hasn't figured out yet - like where to put up art, what to do with some shelves, and we might go to Ikea this weekend to fill out the place.

Then I metroed my way back to the group at a restaurant downtown and we had dinner. Dad and I were supposed to go to a concert in Red Square for the premier of Transformers 3 in Moscow - Linkin Park...but apparently GM got confused about the time. They told everyone 9:30 but it actually started way earlier than that so we heard about two songs. Oh well, that's Russia for you. Then we came back to the apartment and I conked out cold.

This morning, after 9.5 hours of sleep I was STILL tired!!! Seriously, I think my body is just wiped. I'm hungry and sleepy all the time. And a little light-headed. But I met the group and we did a little orientation at the school and then ate lunch in the cafeteria there. Then we got a coffee, did some wandering, and (finally) got local phones. Dad had an extra phone but I needed a sim card. I feel challenged using this phone...it's like relearning everything and it makes me miss my phone at home :-( but for a month I'll live. If I can ever figure out how to text.

I forgot how TIRED your feet get living in the city. I'm sure I'll get used to it again but for now I think I might soak my feet in the bath. Whew.

Airports are my favorite!

Sitting in airports sucks a lot. But it's SO much better with free wifi!!! Thank you Dulles Airport for being my new best friend. After staying in the hotel for the past 2 and a half days without internet, I am so happy to have it back. I can check my email on my phone but it's not the easiest thing I've ever done and between ski team stuff, moving to Moscow stuff, and all the other stuff I get in my inbox, trying to email on my phone has made me want to cry.

Plus I didn't get to update my blog!

But now I am here, with my bag (and skis) safely checked, checked in, and chilling until my 4:58 departure. We got here semi-ridiculously early because we had to be checked out of the hotel at 12 so we were a bunch of orphaned travelers. But it was good because when the self-check kiosks totally failed (as usual) to read our visas, we were hardly in a hurry. And I didn't get detailed in security for carrying a potentially deadly weapon.

(For those of you who don't know that story - it was a metal 9 inch long anchor that my mom was sending to Cory and I had to plead with the security lady to let me keep it)

So far the program seems good. We're doing some cool stuff in the city (especially for someone who loves politics like me!) like a Moscow city government tour, tour of a top secret Cold War bunker, tour of the Kremlin, and a visit to St. Petersburg. There are only 5 people on the trip (including me) plus our Resident Director who is kind of like our handler/cruise director. It's a small group, which concerned me but actually turned out well because everyone is getting along really well and they all seem nice.

Pause - some lady is asking me questions in Russian that I don't know the answers to. Ok, now that we got that all sorted out...let's go to Moscow!!!!

Step 1: Get to D.C.

I'm still not actually sure that I'm going to Moscow...Have yet to see a ticket or a reservation. But, all concerns about that behind me, I'm heading to D.C. tonight. The program starts tomorrow morning and to save a drive in from Annapolis with the morning traffic, Cory is taking me into the city tonight.

But first I have to get my life back in order! In my time here living out of a suitcase I've made a giant mess of my careful packing job. So I decided to make a new blog instead of working on that...:-). I was also able to do some laundry which is nice. Dad's washing machine is pretty small so I'd rather not start out with 5 days of dirty clothes.

It still feels pretty surreal...the combination of the last minute application and the decisions being sent out during finals has resulted in a weird half-acknowledgment of the trip. Every now and then it hits me that I'm actually going to Russia!!!!! But then I get absorbed in my world again - laundry, running, feeding the fish, visiting Cory.

Even now, with my bags packed, my passport in hand, it doesn't feel like it's actually happening. Strange because right about now I should be freaking out about whether or not my program companions will like me or if I'll actually be able to understand anyone there...if I'll get lost or confused or fail the classes. I'm usually so ridiculously over prepared that it's comical. This time...I don't even have any rubles yet! All of the preparations seem like an after thought.

Maybe it's time I learned to fly by the seat of my pants :-). My parents always have been worried about my ability to relax and have fun. Maybe I'm finally following their advice. Either way, I'm going!!