Sorry for the delay in post, all. Yesterday was an exhausting fiasco, and today I flew to Krasnoyarsk and met my host family. The good news is that I didn't get sick on the plane. I don't have to take a scary Russian bus to school. My family has internet for me to use. And they asked me the magical question, "Do you like white wine?" (but in Russian), meaning that these people could be serial killers for all I care and I would still be their happy American guest. They might think I'm lingually retarded but it's alright. I'm here to learn, and learn I shall!
My host parents are Andre and Natasha. They live in the top apartment of an old Soviet looking building. They are English professors, but speak mostly Russian to me unless it's something important, like when we drove my walking route to school and he made me tell it back to him in Russian and I got mentally lost. Andre also asked me what Americans say while "chinking" glasses. I laughed and said there isn't anything special we say, he shook his head and said we are strange people. I also had a great time explaining the special stores in which we buy alcohol in Utah.
So, yesterday, Julia, our host professor, dragged all of us around the city for 11 hours seeing sights. I saw a few things that I really loved. First, we went to Red Square and saw St. Basil's on the inside. Unluckily I only saw the bottom floor inside because some Russian woman started chewing Shantel and I out for 150 rubles and we couldn't get back in when she shooed us out. The rest of the group escaped unscathed. When we return we plan on buying another ticket when we return (it was only 50 rubles, 1 ruble = 3 cents) and seeing the rest.
Then we went to Lenin's tomb. It was weird and gross. He looks really fake, except his rotten fingernails on the one hand that is stretched out. It was free, then we walked the graveyard of Russian leaders and saw Stalin's statue. There are no pictures for this because they don't allow cameras of any kind. I had a really proud moment here when I explained to a guard checking bags in Russian with little error that I'm a diabetic.
Then we went to the Kremlin and saw all the Cathedrals and such. It was beautiful, and I got to practice my Spanish because in one Church the only map translation available was in Spanish and Julia had me translate the history of the crown and other ceremonies.
After the Kremlin we went to Arbat, an old street that Stalin built to drive his cars down on his way to work. It was interesting and hot.
My favorite thing we saw was Patriarch's pond and the Evil Apartment from Bulgakov's novel, Master and Margarita. The apartment is evil because it makes people disappear because it is so desirable and the devil lives there at one point, and Bulgakov lived in and used it as his inspiration. Patriarch's pond is another point in the story, where a man gets beheaded showing Ivan the 7th proof of God, the existence of the devil.
In passing we also saw the KGB torture building, and other historically relevant sites.
My host parents are Andre and Natasha. They live in the top apartment of an old Soviet looking building. They are English professors, but speak mostly Russian to me unless it's something important, like when we drove my walking route to school and he made me tell it back to him in Russian and I got mentally lost. Andre also asked me what Americans say while "chinking" glasses. I laughed and said there isn't anything special we say, he shook his head and said we are strange people. I also had a great time explaining the special stores in which we buy alcohol in Utah.
So, yesterday, Julia, our host professor, dragged all of us around the city for 11 hours seeing sights. I saw a few things that I really loved. First, we went to Red Square and saw St. Basil's on the inside. Unluckily I only saw the bottom floor inside because some Russian woman started chewing Shantel and I out for 150 rubles and we couldn't get back in when she shooed us out. The rest of the group escaped unscathed. When we return we plan on buying another ticket when we return (it was only 50 rubles, 1 ruble = 3 cents) and seeing the rest.
Then we went to Lenin's tomb. It was weird and gross. He looks really fake, except his rotten fingernails on the one hand that is stretched out. It was free, then we walked the graveyard of Russian leaders and saw Stalin's statue. There are no pictures for this because they don't allow cameras of any kind. I had a really proud moment here when I explained to a guard checking bags in Russian with little error that I'm a diabetic.
Then we went to the Kremlin and saw all the Cathedrals and such. It was beautiful, and I got to practice my Spanish because in one Church the only map translation available was in Spanish and Julia had me translate the history of the crown and other ceremonies.
After the Kremlin we went to Arbat, an old street that Stalin built to drive his cars down on his way to work. It was interesting and hot.
My favorite thing we saw was Patriarch's pond and the Evil Apartment from Bulgakov's novel, Master and Margarita. The apartment is evil because it makes people disappear because it is so desirable and the devil lives there at one point, and Bulgakov lived in and used it as his inspiration. Patriarch's pond is another point in the story, where a man gets beheaded showing Ivan the 7th proof of God, the existence of the devil.
In passing we also saw the KGB torture building, and other historically relevant sites.
Bolshoi Theater
Shantel and I in front of Bolshoi Theater
St. Basil's Cathedral
So, this bell was made for the Kremlin a heck of a long time ago. However, the Russians didn't anticipate that it was too big to lift, so because of this it was never rung. "Could the Russians build a bell so big they themselves could not ring it?" Timeless question.
Top of one of the churches in the Kremlin.
Me.
The bell tower.
That big chunk missing out of the unringable bell was caused by damage from a fire.
It says, "In this home from 1921 to 1924 lived and worked the writer Mikhail Afanacervich Bulgakov. Here he developed the novel Master and Margarita."
The pond where Ivan meets the devil.
Where Berlioz loses his head.
Shantel, Andrew, and I preparing to get on our plane.
In case of emergency break glass with mallet. Our bus to Krasnoyarsk from the airport was high tech, I tell you.
More next time. :)
I love the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI also love the pictures. One question though, I tried looking up the Arbat and couldn't see much on Stalin. Was it used as a personal street for him?
ReplyDeleteThe old Arbat was a street built a long time ago for commerce and trade, the new Arbat, the one that Stalin had a hand in, was built after World War II and was part of Stalin's master plan. My professor didn't tell us much beyond that Stalin used it as a personal street to drive to the Kremlin everyday, but here's the wikipedia article about the new Arbat, and you can definitely read about the old one through there too!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Arbat_Avenue :)