A Moscow Update!

It's been quite some time since I've written a blog, so I wanted to give some updates about the everyday things (and the small, but special things) that are happening. I feel so comfortable in my life here in Moscow, and my life doesn't feel much like an adventure.  Alas, here's some updates for your enjoyment.

It's a balmy 30 degrees outside, although there is some freezing rain that is making everything glassy.  The first day of spring has arrived, and hopefully will be showing up in the next two months.

Rizza staring pensively at Russian hat.

My average week looks something like this.
Wake up every day around 6, and on the bus to school around 7.
Get to school, have some breakfast in the cafeteria (usually oatmeal and smoothies).
Work all day (which means library classes and reading for the little people, getting some projects done, answering emails, possibly going into a high school class)
Get home around 5, sometimes earlier, sometimes later.
I eat dinner, which is usually fish, veggies, and always spinach that I fry with garlic.  And, I usually finish dinner with a grapefruit.

Grapefruits in my window.

Monday this week, I went to the grocery store.
Tuesday and Thursday I will have a skype call when I get home and then go to dance.
Wednesday, I have plans to cook some granola.

Dance is excellent, and I spend one hour or two hours stretching and working out with a mixture of ballet, pilates, yoga, and some of the special tricks that our teacher (Katya) comes up with.  Last week, I sat next to friends in the class and she pulled a teacher on me.... saying that if we couldn't be quiet, that she would move us apart.  To be fair, the class hadn't started yet, and also, I laughed with another friend when she had an unexpected spill on her mat.

I've also been cooking a ton.  Most recently, I made some granola that I'm pretty thrilled with, and have a plan to try a new recipe this week.  I've made a green curry with vegetables that is one of my standard evening dishes.  And, I've made chili garlic mushrooms, which is not something that I thought I would ever cook, but turned out almost too spicy to eat (aka delicious).  This week, I've bought a butternut squash that I'm going to try with tahini, so that will be an experiment in the making.

This week, some mail came, and Rizza got a Valentine.

XXXXX, Love, Gammy

This last weekend was pretty busy, full of activities.

On Thursday, there was a Peace Corps event hosted by a couple at the US Embassy.  It was to celebrate the birthday of Peace Corps by bringing together all the Peace Corps people in Moscow.  It was quite a high number of people, maybe 25?  Three of us work together at the school, and the rest work in the state department here, which is a massive employer.  There were folks who had served in Russia, in Malaysia, in Cameroon, all over the place.  We had all the continents represented, with the exception of the Pacific Islands.  And overall, it was a really nice time.  I talked about food with some other volunteers, and heard some war stories.  My service was a walk in the park compared to some.

On Friday, we had a final Broomball party, hosted at the German Embassy.  It was themed and costumed with all the German food one could ask for.  I celebrated with my team, and took the stage to accept the gold medals with the other Chicks.  A fuller blog about the magic of Broomball will be forthcoming.

On Saturday, I slept in some (because broomball no longer takes my mornings), and found myself at a Vietnamese restaurant in the city before I went to the opera with a friend of mine.  She is, in fact, the same friend that fell over in dance not too long ago.  Nastia is lovely, and she accepted my invite to see Tosca at the Stanislasky theatre, which is royal blue everywhere.

Nastia and I in the opera, looking classy.

And on Sunday, I rested.  All the resting happened, and I made some scrabble tile coasters and finished my book.

Other big-ish things that have happened recently?

Maslenitsa Happened

Maslenitsa is a huge Russian holiday, the week that precedes Lent.  It is traditionally celebrated with blini (pancakes), more blini, and yet more blini.  Blini for every day of the week, with a special person or persons sharing in their blini bounty for the family.  From what I've been able to gather, it is a mixture between the Orthodox tradition of Lent and enjoying all the food you can before you observe the fasting tradition... and the pagan coming of spring.  Because, in addition to eating all the pancakes you could ever eat, with sweet and savory fillings, you also fill an effigy of a woman with straw and set her on fire.

So, our effigy of a woman lived in the school for a solid week, and then on Friday afternoon, we all went out to the courtyard and watched as some Russian performers took a torch and set her on fire.  It was, all in all, pretty thrilling a moment.  I do feel as though spring has sprung because we set lady winter on fire. In fact, when I came back from break, I found it to be quite mild.  There was less ice than usual!

I had a taste of dog sledding.  

Ready to Run!

The school organized a short trip to a town not far away, just a few hours.  Me and some of my colleagues took the journey out into a realer Russian, the non-Moscow Russia.  Moscow is absolutely an island.  So, we went out, and found a little patch of forest behind a bunch of dachas (country houses).  We walked about a kilometer to a piece of land in the middle of the forest, and there was a warm bonfire, and some coffee and snacks.  AND..... a whole bunch of beautiful huskies, all tied up and yipping.

The First Glipse.

We settled in, and learned our dog sledding lesson from the man in charge.  The sled has two places to keep your feet, and you have to gracefully step on them and off the brake when the dogs start moving.  This is more challenging than it might seem.  We sat around the fire and chatted with one another, waiting as our party all took their turns.  The man would take you ahead on the snow mobile as your partner would ride on the dog sled, and then it would return back to the fire.  In between rides, they would put snow on the puppies to cool them down!

Beautiful and Warm Fire

When it was my turn, I rode the snowmobile first, which honestly I could have done all day.  It was amazingly entertaining and quick.  And then, we got the dogs turned around and I got on the sled.  It was brisk and chilly, and the wind was in my face.  The dogs were so loud when we were stopped, but as soon as they started running, there was blissful silence.  It was almost like sailing, where you only hear nature from a certain place.  I will say, my fingers got chilly, and I could see how any long lengths would be slightly uncomfortable.

So tired from all the work!

But. At the end of the ride, when we were all done, we got to feed them hot dogs, and that was a beautiful moment.  I had prepared all these little hot dog pieces and they hopped up and snapped them out of the air all graceful like when I tossed them.

Russia!

After the sledding journey, we took a few minutes to walk to the nearby cathedral and on the wall, seeing some of the real Russia.  We happened upon a wedding party, with all the girls in short dresses in the chilly, chilly weather.  As we walked around, we saw them posing in various spots, taking photos.  At the end of our walk, we saw them taking a cigarette break, sharing the cigarette even.  So sweet, that was.

A Hockey Game, part 2.

I had been to a hockey game previously, but I enjoyed a second one recently as well.

This game took place at the CSKA arena, which is just a few metro stops from my house.  The security to get in is pretty intense, as it is most places, but I got in with ease.  This game, we were a bigger group, and cheering for a family friend.  One of my colleagues has a nephew (cousin??) who plays hockey for the Russian leagues.  They don't know each other so well, being so distant and all, but since he was down to play in Moscow, we decided to join the match.

On the ice.

 The entertainment was in the variety of music, from American pop to rap, to Russian national classics, to anything else you could imagine.  All of this with the beautiful women dancing in the background.

They filed in so silently.

During the 1st to 2nd period switch, the lights went down for an ice skater (who couldn't have been more than 10) to perform.  And, when the lights came up again for the game, there was an entire army corps in the section next to us.  Not one of us saw them come in, and all of a sudden, the whole thing was full.  They were pretty silent the first few minutes, but eventually started to cheer a bit.