Spring has Sprung in Moscow

Our time living on the embassy compound went by quickly, so before we actually moved into our apartment, our sponsors offered to show us around the neighborhood.  We figured out the walking route from the embassy to where we live and discovered that on the way we get to cross a bridge with great views along the Moscow river - 

- and of on of the Seven Sisters buildings that are dotted around Moscow.  This one is now the Radisson Ukraina, a very beautiful, upscale hotel. It was an easy and picturesque walk, which I get to enjoy everyday going to and from work.

Once we got a little feel for our neighborhood, our sponsors offered to take us to the Izmailovo Market, so we all hopped on the metro.  I say 'hopped', but it's more like schlepping since the metro isn't particularly stroller-friendly.  There are escalators for the main descent, but Stephanie and I do a fair amount of lifting up and down smaller stairways. People are also not generally very sympathetic to us and tend to shove past us and cut us off when we're trying to maneuver.  It isn't too bad for the two of us, but it means that Stephanie can't really travel on the metro by herself with Aiden.  Still, we're lucky to be close to a metro that's on the major ring line, so it's easy to connect to any other line in the city.  It's also a particularly beautiful stations. 

 Our destination was the Izmailovo Market, a huge souvenir emporium that looks like a Russian Disneyland.  It also features some good shashlik stands and a very interesting flee markets sporting all sorts of soviet-era antiques. This place, along with the nearby Izmailovo park, certainly warrants further exploration.

While there, we took a break from our browsing for shashlik and while we ate, Aiden attracted the attention of one of the babushka cleaning ladies working there.  She was so taken with him that she started dancing to try to entertain him. It's really something to see the effect that Aiden sometimes has on the sterotypically dour Russian population.  And while that stereotype certainly doesn't describe everyone we see, there are a number of people here working very hard to maintain that image.  We've seen some surprisingly sour looks even from young people in response to what we think of as Aiden's most charming smiles.

A few days later we got to move into our apartment. It was a very hectic day as we had to pack all of our stuff again and load it into a car and then unload and carry it up the tiny elevator (the three of us barely fit). I was a little annoyed that we didn't get more help with the move since we were already inconvenienced by the temporary stay, but at least the driver was very friendly and volunteered to help.

Not long after we got our suitcases in, the movers arrived with most of our stuff from Washington and Dushanbe. In Dushanbe, our house was huge, so there was plenty of room to put things out of the way until we could get to organizing them.  While our apartment is perfectly fine, it doesn't have nearly so much space so we were sort of buried under our own things at first...

But we got most of the house set up fairly quickly.  Our main issue was that we couldn't figure out where the hardware for Aiden's crib went, but we found it in our suitcase (because we brilliantly put it there so we wouldn't lose it) a few days later and got him set up.

At least we got things organized enough to celebrate Aiden's actual first birthday, and we even had some friends over to do it.  Aiden hasn't had the best experience with wheat so far, so he couldn't actually eat the cake, but he made good progress with the ice cream and the icing.

Our first weekend in our new digs, some friends who live nearby offered to take us to the outdoor market, which is a short walk a way.  It's similar to the bazaar in Dushanbe except that it's well organized, spotless, and has a much greater variety.  I only got to fire off one snapshot before I learned that photography isn't permitted.  We found some good deals on fresh cheese, nuts, and cinnamon, but the prices on fruit and vegetables were horrific.  We've had to deal with some pretty big sticker shock - even compared with NY - on food in general, but when we were there tomatoes cost 500 rubles per kilogram - or about 8 dollars a pound.  Luckily there is a grocery store in the mall near us and it has much more reasonable prices on produce.

We've enjoyed sampling Russian food around us, but couldn't resist checking out Russia's take on MacDonalds.  Some of my Russian teachers recall people waiting for hours in line when the first one opened  in the Soviet Union.  It seems that Micky D's remains popular as people were lined up 6 deep at all 7 registers when we went in at 4pm.  They even have people with wireless devices taking people's orders while they stand in line so that they're ready when they get to the counter.  Of course, true to the stereotype, you don't get a smile with your meal here (not that you get one in the U.S. either).

The food was actually surprisingly good.  I had a Beef-a-la-Rus, which is a burger with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a tangy sauce on a brown bread bun.  I don't mean it was good for MacDonalds, it was actually good.  We also sampled the brie nuggets with cranberry sauce, which were also good - but when has fried cheese ever been bad?  Speaking of sampling Russian takes on American food - I tried some potato chips that claimed to be flavored with horseradish and head cheese.  I tasted the horseradish, but I've never eaten head cheese, so I don't know if it tasted like it.  We have also found new flavors of baby food for Aiden - like cauliflower and potato, and rabbit.  He's not been much for solid food in general, so it's hard to tell what he thinks about these exotic flavors.

There are two things we've noticed about the weather here. The first is that it is completely unpredictable.  The weather forecasts are almost never right even just a few hours ahead.  And it can go from bright sun to pouring rain, back to bright sun in the space of an hour.  It is ALWAYS necessary to have an umbrella with you if you are going to be out for more than an hour or so.  The second thing is that Spring happens very quickly.  When we arrived a month ago, there was snow on the ground.  Within two weeks, the trees were budding and flowers were everywhere.  Spring literally transforms the city.  We landed in a gray, dreary, and depressing place mostly filled with uninspired buildings.  The past two weeks have made this into a European capital, with green trees and colorful flowers.  It is really a in incredible transformation.

We took advantage of the arrival of Spring last weekend with a day trip to Victory Park, which was fitting since last Wednesday was Russia's victory day.  It's about a three mile walk, but only one subway stop away - and a rather impressive subway stop at that.

All over the city, preparations were underway to mark the great victory (that's what the sign below says), but Victory Park is entirely devoted to memorializing the Soviet Victory in WWII.

The park is huge, so we didn't see all of it, but we got to see some very nice attractions.  Our first stop was the church erected as a memorial of the war in the 1940's.

Given all of the beautiful decorations, I think we'll be spending a fair amount of time visiting the various orthodox churches in the city. Here, the priests were kind enough to let us take pictures, which I understand won't always be the case.

Another incredible sight is the huge victory monument, topped with winged victory flying above a representation of St. George slaying the dragon, which is bedecked with swastikas.  The column itself is decorated with scenes of war and the names of major cities involved in the conflict. I found it particularly interesting that there is a replica of the statue of St. George outside of the UN in New York, but the dragon has been replaced with an ICBM in that case.  Of course, the nazis were actually defeated, while ICBMs are still hanging around.

Continuing into the park, we encountered a very poignant holocaust memorial.  I was a bit surprised given Russia's historical treatment of Jewish people, but it was good to see the tragedy is recognized here. 

And on a brighter note, there were the flowers.  The city is full of tulips, and as the weather gets warmer, they have already passed their peak, but we certainly enjoyed them while they lasted.

The next day we took the metro out to Kolomensky Park with some friends of ours, which features a number of historical sites. The weather started out pretty crappy, but it was no less impressive for that. Below is the Church of the Ascension, which was built in the 16th century to celebrate the birth of an heir for the empire.  It turned out to be the birth of Ivan the Terrible, but I'm sure no one knew that when the church was built.

There was also a guy in a bell tower who really went to town when the time came for him to play. I mean, he went on for a good 15 minutes, and it was LOUD. But I guess when ringing bells is your job, you have to give it your all. 

Having escaped with only a little ringing in our ears, we moved deeper into the park and visited a cabin that was built for Peter the Great so that he could oversee the construction of a fortress on the river.  No pictures allowed inside, but the guy must have been very very short because I had to bend over almost double to get through the doors.

From there we made our way through some very extensive orchards to get to the main attraction...

The replica of the wooden Kolomenskoe Palace, which was originally built in the 17th century.  Apparently, Catherine II had it destroyed when the capital was moved to St. Petersburg, but it was reconstructed from a surviving scale model very recently.  I don't know about the replica, but the original was constructed without any nails.

This weekend, in celebration of Mother's Day, I wanted to take Stephanie to see a particularly beautiful church.  On the way there, we were walking through the park to get to the metro, when we had to stop because thus woman was trying to parallel park in a space too small for her car and she was making wild maneuvers to get it done.  When we finally slipped passed her, she had the nerve to yell at us "I'm parking here!".  I guess having to speak Russian 4 hours a day is paying off because I was quick to reply "Can't you see we're walking here?!" in kind.

That brings up another side point that Stephanie and I have talked about.  We feel that there is a pattern among drivers, where women are far more aggressive than men.  We notice when we are at a crosswalk, that women are much more likely to speed past, even when we have the stroller.  Men are much more likely to stop and wave us through. It's not 100%, but it's a clear trend.  We notice the same thing in stores and in the metro. Russian women are more likely to shove past us or cut us off, than men.  It's something we'll have to explore to see if our theory is correct. We'll also need to hypothesize as to why this is the case.  Stay tuned.

Anyway, we made it to the church and then realized we couldn't go in because we were both wearing shorts. Still, the church was beautiful and we had a nice time crossing the pedestrian bridge across the river and taking in the views of the Kremlin.

On the other side of the river, we got great views of the monument to Peter the Great.  An interesting story, it was originally designed as a monument to Columbus.  You can even see the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria at the bottom. However, the story has it that the artist was unsuccessful in finding a governor in the U.S. who wanted the statue in their state, so they cut off Columbus' head and attached Peter's instead.  I zoomed in pretty close, but can't see where the new head was attached, so they must have done a good job.

On our way from there to the metro station, we went through Fallen Monument Park (as it is known by expats - Arts Park in Russian), which I understand is where many old Soviet statues have been retired.  Judging by the cage of heads...

...and the many Lenin's...

I judge this to be the case.  Today the weather wasn't so nice, but we made the most of it.  I made Stephanie southern grits (which I made as close as I could to what we had in Savannah, including the bacon gravy), and savory eggs for Mother's Day breakfast.  Then for dinner, I made homemade blinis to go with red caviar and sour cream that I picked up at the grocery store.

Tomorrow it's back to work, which has turned out to be quite interesting.  Last week, with less than a month under my belt, I found myself in the position of acting chief of my section.  The interviews are stimulating to say the least, and every now and then I get some particularly interesting cases.  I'm enjoying the commute as well, at least while the weather is cool, although I did have a bit of a mishap on Friday.  I stopped at the store to get the caviar and bacon on my way home, but while I was standing in line, the guy next to me (who was trying to hold about a dozen beer bottles and looked to have drunk almost as many), dropped two beers on my feet. So now one of my next adventures will be finding a dry cleaner that I can afford - that and a barber.

Until then...

For those interested, here are additional pictures

Saying "So Long" and Heading to Moscow

So this is my first post coming to you from Moscow.  I've set a goal for  myself of updating the blog at least every two weeks - which is a lot less than I was doing from Dushanbe, but a lot more than I was doing while in the States.  This post has three parts - "Home Leave", where we got to see our friends and family before leaving; "The Trip", which was an adventure in itself, and Priyekhali (We Arrived), our first experiences in Moscow.

Home Leave

We went straight from our trip down south into our Home Leave, starting with my family in Maryland. We had a nice, relaxing couple of weeks visiting with everyone. The weather cooperated as well and I got to enjoy beautiful sunrises on the creek behind my parent's house.

One day, we took Aiden to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge for an afternoon.  We enjoyed the scenery...

And he enjoyed watching the birds fly around...

Maybe Aiden is destined to be an animal lover, because he was also very taken with our dog Xena, who's almost 17 years old.

While there, we celebrated Aiden's first St. Patrick's Day.

 Stephanie cooked a wonderful corned beef and cabbage as well as Irish soda bread. Since we wouldn't be there for the actual event, we also celebrated my birthday with a Smith Island cake that was supposed to be dark chocolate and raspberry, but turned out to be vanilla and blueberry, but was still delicious.

One of my favorite things was the early morning fog, which rolled in pretty much every day.  It provided some great photo-ops...

And one day we went for a drive with Aiden and saw a flock of wild turkeys passing into the woods...

Of course, Aiden doesn't turn one until after we're in Moscow, but it would have been a travesty to miss the chance to celebrate with family.  So we started his birthday extravaganza over a month early with an Elmo cake, balloons, and all...

From Maryland, we headed to see Steph's family in Pennsylvania, where Aiden was the hit of the retired crowd.  While there, we celebrated my actual birthday and Stephanie went all out, taking me to a nice lunch in Lancaster and then to a surprise visit to a nice cavern.  I guess that sounds strange, but it was right up my alley.  The caverns were amazing.

We made good use of our proximity to Hershey and took advantage of the free simulated factory tour.  Stephanie and I were mesmerized by the Chocolate.  Aiden was far more interested in the animatronic singing cows.

While in PA, we celebrated Aiden's birthday for a second time - what a lucky guy!

After Pennsylvania, we got to spend a nice couple of days with my Aunt and Uncle in Maryland before heading back into DC for a whirlwind round of doctors appointments, organizing our air freight shipment, and packing our suitcases.  Everyone was healthy and more or less sane (me, probably a little less). One thing about all this time is that I have become a superb packer.  I wowed the people at the storage facility when I fit all of our belongings into our rented Ford Focus.  I took that as high praise since I'm sure they've seen a lot.

One nice benefit of staying in DC was that we got to see some more family, including Aiden's Godparents (who are also my cousins). We were able to go with them and their daughter to an Easter Farm outside of town, which included an Easter Egg Hunt, introductions to real Easter animals like bunnies, chicks, and lambs, and a giant slide.  Aiden enjoyed all of it, although his bib flew up in his face on the slide, so I'm not sure how much he got to see.

On our last day in DC, we went to meet some friends in Georgetown for lunch, and guess who we saw on the way... the Easter Bunny! I guess he deserves brunch after delivering all of those baskets.

The Trip

That's where we began our travel. Our first stop was NYC, where I had some consultations with DHS. Everything was smooth enough to start - we fit everything into our suitcases, the cab arrived on time, we got to the airport 2 hours before our flight...and a darn good thing we did.  When I got to the ticket counter to check in, I was informed that my tickets were reserved but not purchased. WHAT?!?! (cue record scratching)

So I hustled over to the pay phone, leaving Stephanie to feed Aiden amidst our enormous pile of luggage (moving overseas is not a time to pack light - even less so with a 1 year old in tow), and called the travel agency, who informed me with complete diffidence that they didn't have my travel orders and couldn't buy the tickets without them.  And when I asked why they hadn't contacted me to let me know, they said the did, on my work e-mail two days ago, which I didn't have access to on leave, and which had an out of office message. Oh well - being well prepared as usual, I had a copy of my orders and offered to give them the information over the phone. But no, they can only accept fax and e-mail, which was great because everyone knows there are fax machines and computers all over the airport!

So with no help from the travel agency, I went back and threw myself on the mercy of the airline and they actually helped. They offered to fax my orders for me! So here's my shout out to U.S. Airways for the best customer service I've had from an airline in a long time (ever). They even faxed it again when the travel agency said that one page didn't go through.  So with less than a half hour till boarding remaining, I got our tickets and we dashed for the security check. Of course, you don't get through security check quickly with all that carry-on, plus a stroller and a car seat, but we got through eventually and sprinted for the gate, where we learned our flight  was delayed 40 minutes - and actually, I was relieved that we got to have a breather.

Now, the reason the flight was delayed was that there were high winds in New York.  But our flight was smooth and we didn't think about it... until the landing. First the pilot announced that we were delayed a bit more and had to go into a holding pattern.  No problem.  Then he said we were cleared to land and would be on the ground in 20 minutes.

Almost an hour later, we landed. In between was the worst flying experience I have ever had.  Turbulence doesn't bother me, it doesn't fright me, and it doesn't make me feel ill.  But this wasn't turbulence.  It was like being trapped on the teacups strapped to a rollercoaster - for an hour.  I was even ok at that point, but then other people started using their airsick bags around me and that is something that I just can't deal with.  The smell, the sounds... I had been trying to hold a conversation with Stephanie to take her mind off of it because she was petrified, but suddenly I knew that if I opened my mouth, it wouldn't be words coming out. The worst was that it didn't seem like we were getting any closer to the ground.  But we did, and safely, and I held on to my cookies, so kudos to the pilot. Aiden slept through the entire thing.

Having consultations in New York gave us a chance to see our home city one more time, as well as my sister-in-law and her family. Not to mention, we had a great view from our hotel....

Finally, the moment we'd all been waiting for - our flight to Moscow.  I had to run to several Duane Reade pharmacies just before we left because they all seemed to be out of his formula, but once again, our trip to the airport was fine and this time I had confirmed that our tickets were purchased.  We had a small hiccup in security because they decided that the router (which could fit in a small purse) that I packed in my carry on (to avoid having it crushed in my checked luggage) qualified as a "large electronic device" that had to be removed and scanned separately like a laptop.  In taking it out, they unpacked my entire carry-on, which was fun to try to re-pack there on the floor in front of everyone.  Not very dignified for a diplomat. 

We got settled on the plane and took off and generally had a very smooth 10 hour flight. While he was awake, Aiden was the hit of the plane.  He had just learned to wave and kept standing up in his seat and waving to all the people behind us (who luckily didn't seem to mind).  We did get a little nervous when I Russian woman came up to talk to him and abruptly picked him up out of my arms and started walking up and down the cabin.  I mean, I know she couldn't go anywhere, but really.  Finally, I said we needed to feed him, which was true, and he luckily went to sleep and stayed that way for almost the rest of the flight. 

Other than a long wait for our baggage, our trip through customs was smooth and soon we were on our way to the Embassy, where we are being temporarily housed until our apartment is ready.  Our trip from the airport convinced us that we made a wise choice to not bring a car to Moscow.  The driving is as bad as it was in Dushanbe, but there are many times more cars on the road.  We were also struck by the architectural similarity - it really looked like a big Dushanbe until we got closer to the city center.  It's just evidence of how pervasive the styles were during the Soviet Union. 

We got to our place, and I went to take care of some administrative stuff and then we all passed out for a few hours.  Luckily we have fantastic sponsors and there was a lasagna ready to go in the oven for dinner, and plenty of food for the next day. 

The next day, I reported to work. Thankfully, it was Friday.  Everyone was very welcoming and I had lots of help getting through my check-in procedures.  And while it's a little frustrating not to be able to move right into our place, it's kind of nice to be at the Embassy for a couple of weeks so that we can all get familiar with the place. Stephanie discovered a nice playground and a children's playroom and has already met some families with children close to Aiden's age.  There are a lot of other amenities as well, including a commissary, a gym, and a group that helps organize tourist activities. Don't worry taxpayers, we pay for all of these services and they aren't cheap, but it's very nice to have them conveniently at hand.

The first weekend, our sponsors took us shopping on Saturday morning so we could stock up on essentials. Even though they took us to the equivalent of a Sam's Club, we definitely experienced some sticker shock - Moscow is an expensive city.  That said we found a very decent bottle of red wine for less than $4 - so it isn't impossible to find deals. 

When we got back we decided to dye Easter Eggs for the Orthodox Easter, which was that weekend. We had a mix of brown and white eggs and got some interesting colors as a result. 

That night we got our first dose of local culture when all of the churches, including the one next door, rang their bells for almost an hour starting at 11:30pm in celebration of Easter.  Aiden was already having a tough time sleeping as he adjusted to the change in location, new found separation anxiety, and a cold that eventually required antibiotics. The bells didn't do much for our adjustment to jet lag either. 

The next morning our sponsors took us on a nice long walk to breakfast. It was nice to get out and see the city. I also got to try Russian hot chocolate, which seems to be basically a chocolate bar melted in a cup - delicious!

To get home we took our first metro ride, which was every bit as impressive as we had heard.  I think the metro system is going to require it's own excursion with my camera. We got home and took a nap, and then had an Easter Egg hunt with Aiden, who seemed to readily grasp the concept...

Over the course of our first week, we gradually adjusted.  We let Aiden sleep on a mattress on the floor of our room, which helps both him and us to sleep better. He has also taken well to new flavors of baby food like broccoli, cauliflower and potato, and strawberries and cottage cheese. 

I had a whirlwind week at work and before I knew it, I found myself at a window with an applicant for an immigrant visa on the other side. To my great relief, my Russian didn't fail me and I was able to do my job.  I think I'm going to enjoy it quite a bit.  It's a wonderful feeling when you get to tell someone that their visa is approved and they can immigrate to America - especially when the applicant gets very excited about it. 

Finding my way around the office was probably more difficult than anything.  It's in a very old building and going anywhere seems to require going up and down a number of stairs to floors whose numbers don't make sense, making at least five 90 degree turns, and passing through a multitude of doors. It makes me think of finding classrooms at Hogwarts, but without the magic. 

Anyway, I survived my first week of work.  Everyone has been welcoming and helpful, and we had drinks with the other officers on Friday after work. 

On Saturday, we decided it was time for a solo excursion and the clear choice was to make for Red Square, which is within walking distance of the Embassy. We took in sights along the way and just got more familiar with the city. 

Finally we went through an underground passage and when we came out the other side, we were looking at the towers and buildings surrounding the Kremlin.

We made our way to the gate and caught a glimpse of St. Basil's through the archway...

And as we walked out onto Red Square, there it was! It finally feels like we're in Moscow!

St. Basil's is even more impressive in person and of course, I had to try my new camera out on it from every angle.  I can't wait until we go back and take a look inside...

I even decided to get a little artsy and tried out some of the manual settings on the camera...

After taking in the church, we made our way out onto the bridge over the river to get some nice views of the Kremlin walls and surrounding area...

Also a great chance to try out the panorama mode...

By then our energy was starting to flag a bit, so we stepped into GUM (haha, not stepped in gum - it's pronounced "Goom"), which is a huge upscale shopping mall right on Red Square. And upscale isn't even the right word - it's like a shopping palace, complete with stores we can't possibly afford to shop in. But as they say, it's free to look...

Oh, and it wasn't all expensive.  We got a Barberry and Estrogan soda for a dollar each.  I have no idea what those flavors are - that's the english translation.  But they were very refreshing after all that walking. 

We gave Aiden a bottle while we were in GUM and then headed to Staraya Bashnya (Old Tower) for dinner. It's actually inside one of the old towers outside of the Kremlin. I had bear cutlets while Stephanie had chicken Kiev. It seemed like an appropriate first dinner out on the town in Moscow. 

I think getting out on our own was good for helping us feel comfortable here, but that doesn't mean we don't have more to learn. Our washing machine, for example, seems to be based on some kind of hieroglyphic system.  

Stephanie tried to use it and it ran for almost four hours last night before we got it to rinse and spin. I tried to find a manual online and found something similar that helped decipher it a bit - a rosetta stone, if you will. Going clockwise from the top, it turns out that the little tree on the right is actually cotton, and the thing below it that looks like a horse's hoof is supposed to mean synthetics.  The butterfly is for delicates (which actually makes sense given what we now know about the others), and the weird thing that looks like two jellyfish stuck end to end is wool (yarn?).  Still no idea what the rest of it means, but I'm sure we'll get there.

Well, there's plenty more to come.  We're supposed to move into our permanent quarters this week and most of our shipments are already here, so by the next time I post, we should really be getting settled in.

Oh, and if you want to see all the pictures, here's the link.