Children are the victims of adult vices.

Laura and I spent yesterday in the city. I'm really glad we've gotten to know each other. She's super cool.

First we went to a restaurant called Matroyshka (Mother) which I thought would have a theme of Russian folk art, but nope. It was a super-expensive hoity-toity restaurant. We were disappointed, so we ordered the cheapest thing we could find. Then we went straight to McDonald's. Haha.

McDonald's in Russia is ALWAYS busy. People are packed in there like sardines. You often have to wait for a table to clear. Some of the restaurants have a drive-thru, but some of them have "McExpress." It's where people wait outside...in the freezing cold... and just order at the window.

Russians love eating ice cream outside in winter. God forbid you drink a cold Coke outside, but ice cream is a-okay. So, Laura and I got ice cream, and we walked around in Bolotnaya Square park, near the historic center. Even though it was sunny, it was so cold and windy.

Then we went across a bridge where there are several wedding lock trees. This is where couples and their wedding parties come and seal the deal with a padlock on the tree. They decorate them and write their names on them. It's supposed to represent eternal love. Laura and I saw two couples there yesterday.

The biggest one on the tree...

"Zhenya and Oksana"

After that we went to look at some sculptures in a nearby park. They are fascinating. The entire group of sculptures is called "Children Are the Victims of Adult Vices." The artist is Mikhail Shemyakin, and his sculptures were unveiled in 2001. When he first planned the sculptures, many people in the city were in uproar and thought the sculptures too inappropriate, but up the they went anyway.

Twelve creatures surround two golden children playing with a ball. Each figure represents an adult vice.

In the center the figure represents indifference. He has four arms. Two cross his chest, and two are used to plug his ears from listening.

This creature represents irresponsible science.

To the right the donkey represents ignorance. The fat dude is alcoholism. To the left the creature represents thievery.

To the right the frog-woman represents prostitution. To the left the man represents drug addiction.

To the left is propaganda of violence. In the middle is sadism. The stocks to the right is labeled "for those without memory."

Child labor.

Poverty.

War.

After that we went to the Tret'yakovskaya Art Gallery. It was all Russian art. The Tret'yakovskaya brothers were art collectors, so the gallery is named after them. And the metro is named after the gallery. Laura has been to the gallery five times, and she knew when a painting was being restored or when it had been moved. "That's not supposed to be there." It was pretty funny to me.

Here are a few of paintings I like:

This is actually Laura's favorite painter. His name is Kuinji. This is called "Moonlit Night on the Dnieper."

This painting was HUGE! Laura informed me that it is one of the most famous Russian paintings. I'm glad she knows interesting things like that because I had no clue about what was famous and what wasn't famous. This painting is called "The Appearance of Christ to the People," and it was painted by Alexander Ivanov.

I really like this one. It is "Christ in the Wilderness" by Kramshoy.

This is "The Unknown Woman" by Kramshoy. Laura said that they found who the unknown woman was. She was a prostitute.

I love this one because that is how Moscow looks right now except it has skyscrapers. The snow is melting, the ground is dirty, and the birds are returning. The painter is Sarasov, and it's called "The Rooks Have Returned."

I got to see the original portrait of Dostoevsky by Perov. :)

I like this one a lot too. It's by Yarashenko, and it's called "There Is Life Everywhere."

Well, as always, I'll keep you posted. I'm on spring break. So, I'm going to a ballet on Tuesday, and then Andrea and I take a 1 a.m. train to St. Petersburg that night. We'll be there for four days.

Much Love,
Meredith

The Pyatnitksy State Academic Russian Folk Choir

I went to the Pyatnitsky State Academic Russian Folk Choir concert on Tuesday night at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. It was....absolutely amazing. I was kicking myself because I forgot my camera, but thankfully, Christiana took tons of pics and videos. So, I was able to get these clips from her.

The whole time I was thinking, "Why isn't Dad in Russia right now?!?!" He would have loved this concert. Some of the men's dances reminded me so much of Fiddler on the Roof. I was SO happy to see that live! I remember being little and watching the part where the Gentiles do their Russian stomping/clapping dance. I'd would rewind and watch it again over and over. Soooo good! You know how in the movie the guy at the wedding balances the bottle on his head and drags his feet? Okay, so the Pyatnitsky choir didn't do the bottle thing, but they did the feet dragging thing. So cool.

Here are some videos that Christiana took. Her camera is so nice!

Lots of whoopin' and hollerin'.

I amazed at how the guys bend their ankles like that.

This is video above is my favorite dance.

This song was so haunting. It must have been a Russian dirge. Very eerie. I love it. :)

"A happy man has no need for a watch." - Russian proverb

Last night was English Cafe (photo credit: Andrea). The theme was image, status, and culture. It was pretty fun because I got to lead my own group. I had five Russian girls. Their names were Dasha, Natasha, Irena (pronounced eer-een-ah), Nadya, and Victoria (pronounced Veektoria). Natasha at first told me to call her Natalie, but that her real name was Natasha. I told her that Natasha was an American/English name too, and she was shocked to discover that. So, I called her Natasha. There was no need for her to "Americanize" her name.

Victoria and Dasha are teenagers who are still in high school. Irena is a dentist. Nadya was older than the others. She arranges flights or something like that. I couldn't really understand what she said. Natasha is "at university" (no one ever says "in college" or "studying at a university"), and she is going to be a sociologist. Whatever that means. She said, "But I am at a place where the roads cross."

"You are at a crossroads in your life?"

"Yes, yes. I am at a crossroads."

Natasha and Nadya's English was really good, but Nadya's accent was so thick that it was hard to understand her. Irena's English was okay. Nadya really intimidated me throughout the evening. She wasn't as friendly as the other girls, and I felt like she hated me the whole time. I just tried to be nice and friendly though. She would ask me questions, and if I gave TOO much information, she'd cut me off abruptly and say, "Yes, yes, I know that," as if I were insulting her intelligence. The truth is this discussion is for everyone at the table, so I was giving extra information for poor Dasha and Victoria because their English isn't as good. Anyway, she seemed offended at some points, but sometimes Russians are just blunt and abrupt, I guess. I'm not going to worry about it too much because by the end of the evening she was fairly warm towards me; she smiled and said spasiba (thanks) to me twice. That meant a lot to me because Russians don't say thank you unless it's for something they are genuinely thankful for. I'm glad she lightened up at least a little bit. She was a tough one.

A couple of times there was an awkward silence after we'd finish answering the discussion questions, but they would ask me questions about America which helped fill the silence.

"No snow in Georgia?!?!"
"And how do you like Moscow?"
"Do you drive in America? You have a car?"

We had one really funny conversation. They asked, "What do people call you?"

"What do you mean? My name is Meredith."

"It is such a long name though. What do your friends call you?"

"...Meredith."

"Really??? It's so long though! You see, my name is Irena, but I go by my short name -- Ira."

I told her that sometimes I am called "Mer," but by very few people.

Then Natasha listed ALL of her shortened names. It was crazy. There was a list of 25 different names she goes by. They couldn't believe that I actually was called by my real name.

Irena asked me if I had a brother or a sister. I thought that was a strange way to ask the question as if I could only have one other sibling -- not more. I told her that I had both. "Really? Two? A brother and a sister?" It was just really odd to me. I talked to Cathy about it later, and Cathy said it's very rare for people to have three children. They usually have one or two. The population of Russia has been decreasing, so last year Putin began campaigning a population increase. There are billboards and posters in Moscow that encourage couples to have three children. So I guess that's why Irena was surprised that I had two siblings.

My group also wanted me to speak Russian, and they were smiling when I recited all that I knew. They were pleased though to know I was trying to learn it, and that's all that matters.

Then they asked what a salary is like in America. (At first I thought they were asking about celery. Haha.) I thought that was a dumb question because it's impossible to make general statements about salaries. In Russia it is completely fine to ask someone what they make too. It's not inappropriate at all. I just told them that it varies. Natasha told me a lot about the "middle class" in Moscow. She said her professors say it is impossible to define who is in the middle class and who is not. She said that Russians still need time to figure out what to do with the middle class. "After the fall of the U.S.S.R., we did not know what to think of the middle class that was emerging. We still don't, and we need more time to know what to do with it." It was really interesting. Fascinating, actually.

After the discussion, the school group cleaned up everything. However, one of the newcomers to English Cafe approached Luke and started asking him questions. His name was Andrei, and his first question to Luke was "Why are you here in Russia?" Luke told him that God called him to Moscow. And Andrei said, "Do you go to church? Where is it?" (Luke goes to a Russian Nazarene church.) Then he asked Luke about religion and how he could find out what religion was right. "All the religions claim to be true. I don't know what to believe. I am searching for the truth." He asked Luke what he thought of the Jehovah's Witnesses, and Luke told him his honest opinion. It was really cool because Andrei was the one who wanted to talk about it all. He is the one who brought it up. Luke didn't do anything except try to answer his questions. We try to refrain from being evangelistic at English Cafe because people are coming to learn English, not about Jesus. If we push Jesus, we'll push them away. So, Andrei's wanting to talk about truth is really a miracle. So, if you think of it, say a prayer for Andrei.

Today Cathy, Cody (the dog), and I took a walk in the forest by our apartment building. It was the most beautiful day today. It was a crisp 24 degrees outside, but the sun was shining which made everything clean, shiny, and fresh.

This is a little Orthodox church by our apartment building, but it is not open. It's a rather new building, but there are no services held there. There is a building next to it within the red fence that houses a few people. Cathy said that the church has Caucasians (people from the Caucasus region) live there to watch over the church and to make sure that it is not vandalized. We're not sure why it's not a functioning church though.

Cody is a great tool to use in order to talk to people. If you have a dog, Russians are more likely to speak to you. The first line is always, "What is your dog's name?" And then you take the conversation from there.

Beautiful blue sky.

I love this picture because Cody has a huge grin on his face. :)


A frozen pond.

Walking on water!

Ice fishing on the pond.

Fishin' holes.

Horse riding on the pond.

Cross-country skiing on the pond.


I'm amazed at how many people take babies out in the freezing cold. It'll be 5 degrees out, and mothers and fathers will be pushing baby strollers out in the snow. The babies are dressed like Randy from A Christmas Story. It's hilarious. They look like giant, colorful cream puffs.

People create makeshift bird feeders and hang them up in the trees.

The birds that hang around in the winter are yellow finches, pigeons, crows, and sparrows.

All in all, a very beautiful day. A good weekend.

dirty snow

As promised, here are pictures of the dirty Moscow snow.

This is on the path I take to school everyday...

cigarettes and vodka

Green grass! And sunshine! The other day I was talking to Jeff, the principal, in his office, and the sun was streaming through his windows straight on me. He said, "You can move to this chair to get out of the sun if you want," and I told him I didn't want to. I have been craving sunlight, and I am so thankful that it is finally here. In fact, the sun rises around 6:30ish every morning right now. It will keep rising earlier and earlier as we approach the summer...(as early as 4 a.m.)

The end of the quarter brought lots of cleaning and disposing of old projects and posters. I love these windows. You can look out in this little park where mothers are walking with their strollers and men in fur hats and long coats walk with their black bags. Sometimes the Russian school next door lets the kids wander out in that direction too for recess. It's a great view.

Well, I bought the tickets for St. Petersburg. Nellie, our Russian secretary, is superwoman and does so much for us pathetic Americans. She called the travel agency and found the times and prices of train tickets for me. Christiana and I went to the travel agency after school, and she helped me get the tickets. We had to answer a million questions about what my preferences were, and then she made our tickets for us. However, the whole process was done in the old Soviet way. You are given your receipt first before you buy anything. Then, you take your receipt to the kassa, or cashier, and you pay there. Then you take a DIFFERENT receipt back to the lady, and you get your ticket.

A round-trip ticket is around $50. On the way there we have bottom bunks, but on the way back we have top bunks. I don't care for the top bunks, but such is life. Andrea and I will be there for four days. We're going to stay at St. Petersburg Christian University. They have an apartment that you can rent for about $50 a night, but it's per room, not per person. So, not too bad...$25 a night. I've been emailing the lodging coordinator for the past couple of days. Her English is okay, but you can tell she is not a native English speaker. For example, her questions for me were sentences with question marks like, "You will be comfortable apartment with a shower (1500) or a simple room with shower (1000)?" or "This is convenient for you?"

According to Svetlana, my Russian teacher, that is a very Russian way of asking questions. She told me that to ask a question Russian, you say it just like a sentence, but change the tone at certain parts. Usually at the end, but not always. I need to tell you more about Sveta. She is absolutely awesome.

Mom & Dad sent me a Valentine's Day package, and it finally got here today. Haha. It takes ages for things to get here. Anyhoo, they sent me some P.G. Tips (which smells so good!) and a beautiful necklace. It made my hectic day better.

Well, I have a pretty bad headache right now, so I think I'm going to go to bed early. I'm so tired.

Goodnight!

Much Love,
Meredith

Go Mocs!

A little bit of home for those in my hometown...sent to you from Russia...which was sent to me from my friend Andy, who is from home.

Jimmy is mocking the Mocs a little bit though....

However, I forgive him. At least he pronounced the name Chattanooga correctly (Chadd-uh-nooga really fast -- not ChaTT-brief pause-nooga).