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.

My First Impressions of Moscow

My first few days in Russia were great. I was suprised to find out that I knew more Russian than I thought, but also that I have so much more to learn! I was able to negotiate purchasing cell phones and plans for two of my fellow group members without any assistance! I later bought my own phone and plan (see below for the number). I lived in the dorms for the first three days. The first night was the big quarter final for soccer, Spain versus Russia. I chose to stay in on the first night, away from the large, drunken mobs of potentially unruly Russian football (soccer) fans. The following day, we acclimated more to life in Moscow and were allowed to explore on our own. I visited Детский Мир, an extravagant children's toy story suggested to me by Russian friends online. It was great to imagine what a Russian childhood might have been like.

I now have a Russian cell phone number. If you'd like to call me, incoming calls are free for me: 7.915.179.4828