The Latest from Moscow
This post will start off a few days prior to my Russian birthday, but I think it is worthwhile to discuss.
If you have been following my blog posts, you know that I have had a serious problem with mosquitos. Those filthy bloodsuckers have had a serious impact on my life for a few weeks now. Thursday night was the peak of my frustration. I was already itchy and my room was blazing hot. I resisted opening the window, knowing that as soon as I would; the mosquitos would rise from the depths of hell and torment me all night.
After laying in a puddle of my own sweat for about an hour, I gave into my desire to open the window. The chilly breeze from the window felt like a little bit of heaven. Sadly, it was a short-lived trip to heaven. The mosquitos made their way up to the third floor and into my bedroom.
Those little demons buzzed in my ear all night, tormenting me. Their little wings were tickling my face, preparing me for the inevitable bite. Lying in bed, I swatted at the air, praying to stun my opponents and finally have rest. 5:57 a.m. and I still hadn’t slept. The sun was beginning to rise, and the battle began to fall. I finally rested for forty minutes, before my alarm alerted me to wake up for culture class.
Although I desperately wanted to skip culture class and sleep in, I am so thankful that I chose to attend. We learned some new Russian phrases and learned how to make blini. Russians make blini frequently. Blini is the Russian equivalent to a crepe, but slightly thicker. The translation for Blini is “pancake,” but they are far from American pancakes. They also like to spread sour cream and fruit on it. When I first tried blini, I was very skeptical about the sour cream and fruit, but I have learned to enjoy it. The fats in sour cream enhance the fruit flavors. I will attach the recipe at the end of this post in case you are interested in trying blini at home.
We then learned about the Russian holidays. Since Christmas is just around the corner (I know it’s in a few months, but it is all relative) I would like to share some Russian Christmas traditions with you.
Russian Holidays
During the Soviet Era, religion was done away with. Therefore, Christmas was outlawed. The Russian people wanted to have something to celebrate, so New Year was the new big celebration. Saint Nicholas had too much of a religious connotation, so he was renamed, Father Frost. He and his niece, the Snow Maiden would ride on a sleigh pulled by three horses, and deliver gifts to children.
According to Russian beliefs, New Year’s Eve is considered the death of the year. The following day is the birth of a new year. Since the eve is associated with death, it is treated like a funeral. At Russian funerals, you are not allowed to speak poorly of the deceased. At the death of the year, you are not to speak ill of it. Only the good things that happened are to be discussed. I really like this tradition. We all tend to focus on the negative, rather than the positive in our lives. Every year we reflect upon our shortcomings, rather than the good that happened. I propose to you all, that at the end of this year we look at what we have accomplished, rather than what still needs to be done.
Another tradition on New Year’s Eve is the countdown. At about five minutes before the strike of a new calendar year, the president comes on air and says what a good year it has been. Then as time ticks on, you pour champagne into your glasses. When there are only twelve seconds left you write a wish on a piece of paper, and burn it over your champagne. When the clock strikes zero, you drink your champagne with the ashes in it.
Since the fall of communism in Russia, many families have adopted Christmas traditions from around the world. This means they party from December 25th until mid-January.
As I learn more about Russian traditions, I will update you all on the interesting things I discover.
Sidebar: my local coordinator called my host mom and told her that I was getting eaten alive by mosquitos, so they worked it out, and now there aren’t mosquitos in my room! It is a glorious feeling, being able to sleep without fear of the itch in the morning.
The Birthday Weekend
Earlier in the week, our head teacher, Alexa, told us we would have a brief work meeting on Saturday at Gorky Park. It would be brief, and we would explore the beautiful park afterward.
I awoke on Saturday, ready for a nice day at the park. I got ready for the day, grabbed my DSLR camera and headed out the door. I met up with Bailey and Alexa at the metro because I had no idea how to get to the park.
On the way there, Bailey asked me if my birthday was today or tomorrow, to which I replied that it was tomorrow. I didn’t think anything of what she said, and blew it off as an innocent question.
The journey to the park was quite amazing. We went through the metro stop that was recently bombed. Needless to say, there was security everywhere after that incident. We walked across a bridge covering the Moscow River. The view was so beautiful. Lush green trees were hidden within an unattractive perimeter of gray industrial buildings.
As we entered Gorky Park, there was a little band playing. We stopped to listen to the music that had a slightly tropical vibe, making me feel as though I was in the Caribbean and not in the heart of Russia.
As we continued further, opera music started up from across the river. I think there was an opera music festival happening, because we heard opera for the majority of the day.
Alexa led us down a ramp to the river where the rest of our ILP group awaited. They saw me and immediately began singing happy birthday. Suddenly thinking of what Bailey asked earlier, about the date of my birthday, I began saying, “No, no. It’s not my birthday today.” They stopped mid-phrase and said, “we know,” then continued singing for me.
Turns out, I’ve never had a surprise birthday party before, and apparently, I don’t know how to respond appropriately to that. Go figure that I would misunderstand and try to stop the merriment. I really do feel bad about ruining the surprise by stopping them mid-song. After they sang to me, they revealed that there was no work meeting and that this was just an early surprise party for me. I was so touched to know that these kind-hearted people would go out of their way to celebrate my birthday. They even brought me Papa John’s pizza. That little taste of home was so sweet and I savored every second of it. The opera house continued to serenade us as we ate our pizza and took in the beauty of Moscow.
After eating, we rushed off to find an ATM. This should have been a simple task, but several of them were closed since it was Saturday. After withdrawing money we saw the golden arches of McDonalds and pursued getting a beverage. My icy cold, large Coke was heavenly. It had been three weeks since having a soda and I sure had missed it.
We then met up with our coordinator, Gulya, and took a ferry ride down the Moscow River. I had heard that the only way to see European cities is by river. I had never put much stock into that statement until I experienced it for myself. We sailed past the Kremlin and other incredible monuments. I was sad when our little trip came to an end.
Novospassky Monastery and the Romanov Family
After docking at the shore, we walked to the Novospassky Monastery. As we entered the gates, we had to put on headscarves. Since none of us had one, we all got to choose from the box that was potentially riddled with lice and other head fungi. We walked quietly through the grounds, so we wouldn’t disturb the monks, nuns, and other worshipers.
The cathedral was truly amazing. The artwork was stunning, but not in the same way as the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. The room glinted with gold. Candles and windows illuminated the room. The room was filled completely with artwork and decorations. Worshippers kissed various items in the room as they prayed.
One of the highlights of this trip was getting to see the Romanov family burial spot. Yes, as in, Anastasia Romanov. After the coup that killed the Romanov family, the bodies of the royals were secretly taken to Moscow, where they were quietly buried. Their headstones are very nondescript.
Later, we stopped in at the gift shop, and just about all of the girls bought rings. All of the rings said in Russian, “may God save and keep me.” The rings were priced very fairly at only about $6.
After the monastery, our coordinator told me that it is bad luck to celebrate birthdays early in Russia (perfect, I’m cursed for my whole year of being twenty). Since we already celebrated (and cursed me) she gave me a chocolate bar with Angel Day on it. It is a tradition for birthdays in Russia.
The Cosmo Party
Jess’ host sister told her about a Cosmopolitan party happening in Moscow, so Jess, Bailey, Alexa and I decided to go to the party. We went out to eat first, which took some work. We didn’t want to eat somewhere expensive, or that would require extensive explanation, so we settled for a buffet called Moo Moo. As the name of the café suggests, the décor was very bovine. The food was good, as were the prices.
After eating, we went back to Gorky Park, where we thought the Cosmo party was. As we awaited a phone call from Jessica’s host sister, we wandered the park and came across some dancers. We wondered if it was free for anyone, or if they were all trained dancers. We watched from the sidelines and danced privately by ourselves. The DJ saw us from the crowd and beckoned us to join them on stage. We shook our heads no, and then one of the dancers came down and asked us if we spoke Russian. When we shook our heads no, he asked if we spoke Spanish, to which I replied that I spoke a little. He then asked if we spoke English, to which everyone replied yes. He asked me to join him on stage to dance with him. So I go on stage and he begins communicating with me in Spanish. I never would have expected to put my high school Spanish to work while in Russia of all places.
He taught me a dance, and then we danced on the little stage for a few minutes. It was a lot of fun! The experience was totally unexpected and exciting.
After the dance encounter, we made our way to Cosmopolitan’s 20th anniversary of being in Russia. There was a concert playing some Bob Marley tunes. Photo-ops were everywhere. After watching some women pose for their photos, I realized how shameless some Russian women are. It’s not a bad thing, but they all know how to work the camera-in a big way. I don’t know if it was just because they were at a Cosmo party, but they were really getting into their photos. There were makeup artists from Smashbox at the party. I wanted to have the makeup artists do their magic on me, but they were closing up for the night by the time we reached them.
It was beginning to get late, so we headed home. Since the sun had been shining and the weather was warm, I figured there would be no need for an umbrella. I was deeply mistaken. The rain started as a slight drizzle that turned into a wild storm. I had the joy of walking for half an hour in the cold rain. I was drenched by the time I made it home. My host family was gone, so I had the apartment to myself. I took a lengthy shower, cooked up some eggs and sausage, FaceTimed with my mom. It was great.
Yes, my pre-birthday party was fantastic, and my actual birthday was somewhat boring and lonely. It was nice to have some alone time and lounge around in my pajamas all day. It was also nice to be off of my feet. My feet are SO dead.
I would like to say thank you to all of the wonderful people who made my birthday weekend great. This ranges from my ILP family, to my host family, to my actual family, and to all of my sweet friends who sent a simple Happy Birthday greeting my way.
Russia is great. I look forward to updating you on my adventures later this week.
All my love,
Madison
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