Russia Media & Entertainment

Not only do I enjoy the Russian radio stations, such as N-R-J radio, which plays Euro-pop/dance, and Russkoe radio, which plays only Russian music, but I also enjoy the entertainment that Russian television has to offer. There is one program, Счастливые вместе (Happy Together), which is a direct copy of Married With Children (or the later Unhappily Ever After) of the late '80s and early '90s in America. The actors have been chosen specifically to emulate the look and sound of Al, Peggy, Bud, the dog and even a Christina Applegate-clone. The show is on ТНТ every day from 20:00-21:00. Aside from this show, you can also choose to enjoy Такси (Taxi), a Russian take on the American show, Cash Cab. In the reality television genre, you can watch Дом 2 (House 2), which is somewhat like the American show, Big Brother. If you fancy game shows, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? has a Russian version! Finally, if you are tired of the Bob Saget or Tom Bersheron versions of America's Funniest Home Videos, then the Russian version will keep you laughing.

An Interesting Satuday in Moscow

On Saturday, we had an excursion throughout Moscow through Red Square, around the Kremlin and then later all over Moscow on a tour bus. While walking through the shopping mall, we went through a special shop which sells Soviet-era food and drink. I chose to purchase a Soviet-era soda. Without a twist-off top or a bottle opener, I elected to open the bottle on a bench near Red Square. While watching the graduation ceremony of seemingly thousands of Russia military officers, my friend asked me if I could open his as well. I obliged. So as not to disturb the numerous Russian police nearby, I returned to the same bench. With the same gentleness, I opened the bottle, but it did not simply open. The bottle broke, jostling the carbonation and shooting the soda out of the top of the bottle. I had my hand cupped to diminish the spray of the blast in the neighboring area, but it only channeled the spray, unfortunately directly on to a younger Russian couple and all of their baggage. My heart sank. I apologized again and again. My face turned red from embarassment and I slowly backed away, offering to buy my friend another soda.

In the evening, I moved in with my host family. They are from Chechnya. They moved to Moscow 21 years ago, so they are Moscovites through and through. My hostmom is a great cook and there is always more on the table than I can eat. My first meal, dinner, included sausage, a hotlink, swiss cheese, goat cheese, soup with a cut of beef, bread, blinchiki (like small crepes or pancakes) (with optional caviar), strawberries, an apricot, a peach, juice and tea. For dinner the following evening, we had barbecue chicken with a special mayonaise sauce that tastes just like Ranch dressing.

Moscow - Prospective Itinerary (Updated)

PROSPECTIVE ITINERARY

State Tretyakov Gallery
Tsaritsino
The Kremlin (July 4th)
Moscow Museum of Modern Art
Mayakovsky Museum
Red Square (June 26th)
St. Basil's Cathedral (June 26th)
New/Novi Arbat Street
Old/Stari Arbat Street
Pushkin Museum
Museum of the Battle of Borodino
Bolshoi Theater
VDNKh
Vinzavod Gallery
Cathedral of Christ the Savior
Walk down the Moscow River (don't do this)
Gorky Park
Pushkin Square
Leo Tolstoy House Museum
Teremok kiosk-cafe (haha I'm almost positive there are no actual restaurants of this)
Park Pobedy
Circle Line Metros (July 2nd)
Statue Park Garden (where Soviet statues go do die; next to New Tretyakov)
Detskii Mir (you're lucky you already went here, it just closed down today for reconstruction for the next three years) (June 26th)
The Clean Ponds
Moscow Zoo (don't go here)
Kolomenskoe (July 2nd)
Bulgakov Museum (& Patriarch's Pond)
Central House of Artists

Note: Rebecca Johnston was kind enough to fix the many spelling errors contained in the name of sights suggested to me that I had directly copied and pasted from E-mails, Facebook messages and wall posts.