Cuisine, Condi, and Cheburashka...

I’m sorry it’s been so long. Things have been slightly crazy around here and it’s easier to do big updates than lots of little ones. 

I suppose a lot has happened since I last updated, I’ll start with last weekend. Last Saturday night all the interns went to a nice dinner at this Indian restaurant called Aroma.  I had a chutney, mint, curry chicken dish something, a mango lassi, some great Nan, Indian tea, and a weird dessert I don’t know the name of.  It was a great experience, the food was great, the staff was amazing, and it was a wonderful atmosphere.  Afterwards we all went back to the guy’s apartment and hung out and drank vodka.  I was on antibiotics so I was only sipping a screwdriver, but everyone else was knocking the shots back pretty fast. It got interesting in a hurry.. interesting, but fun.  Around 3 am we ran out of vodka and the metro didn’t open until 5:30 and I didn’t want to sleep on their couch so I convinced them to go buy more. You know, it’s Russia, I just assumed you could buy vodka WHENEVER you darn well pleased. Well I guess that pretty much used to be the case, but they recently passed a law and now the amount of time in which you CAN buy vodka in Russia is smaller than in Wisconsin. Someone please explain to me how this makes sense? It’s Russia!?! So you can only buy vodka from 10am-10pm so at 3 am, we were stuck with wine, beer, or champagne. Of course, we picked champagne. Two bottles.  On our way out, these two obviously drunk guys started coming up to us, yelling in Russian (I had noticed them  on the way, but paid no attention). I told them I didn’t understand them and kept walking across the street. When I got to the other side I turned around and Aaron, Josh, and Olivia had stopped to talk to them.  I was mad for two reasons, first, why stop and talk to two belligerent drunk guys while you yourself are also drunk, and second, I had to go to the bathroom like crazy. So here I am yelling at them from the other side of the road, no idea what in the world is going on and finally I walk back across and grab Olivia and start pulling her across the street. Turns out they had said something to her on the way in, but she couldn’t make it out and just responded with random mumbling and it pissed them off. Which is why they came straight up to us after we left the store.  She was afraid they were going to try and fight us and/or follow us home so she was trying to sweet talk our way out of it, the whole time I’m standing on the other side thinking she’s flirting, lol.  They didn’t follow us and I assured her our two champagne bottles and the fact that we outnumbered them would probably keep them away.  We got back to the apartment, had some champagne, then some Georgian wine, talked about the most random things and then around 6 am I got on the metro and went home. By the time I got home, got ready for bed, etc… I didn’t go to sleep until 8:30 Sunday morning. 

That day, I didn’t eat a single thing (mostly because I slept all day).  Our friend Ben Richards and his friend visiting from Germany, Josh, invited us out for Ukrainian food and of course, we said yes.  It was probably the best dining experience I’ve had since I’ve been here.  First, we had AMAZING borscht and wonderful bread.  Lots of garlic.. mmmmm.  Then we had a really good salad which was pretty much like a potato salad with chicken in it (that’s kind of the texture of most salads here) and then the most amazing holubtsi, a Ukrainian stuffed cabbage roll.  MMMMMM. The best part of the night, though, was the honey pepper vodka shots.  Wow. It’s homemade vodka and you can only get it at this restaurant.  I only took a sip, again antibiotics, but wow. The most amazing sensation.  I can’t even explain it.  I’m bringing some home for sure.  It was a great experience all around and I left feeling nice and full. 

Last week was pretty uneventful.  On Thursday I was helping Olivia escort some Stanford MBA students onto the compound for a quick briefing before their reception at the DCM’s townhouse.  After we got them on the compound, all the escorts left and Olivia still needed help with the Stanford alumni that were coming not long after.  I helped her escort them, only they went straight to the townhouse and part way through that, Baron, Olivia’s supervisor and the control officer for the entire visit, asked me I would be able to stay and help escort after the reception. Now considering this was a reception for the Stanford group, of which a certain former Secretary of State (yes, Condoleezza Rice) was a part of, it took me all but .102 seconds to agree.  I was able to hang out with some of the MBA students, listen to Condi give a little toast, and then shake her hand and get a picture taken with her as she left. She told Olivia and I that she had once been an intern for the State Department and that she understood the need to be nice to your interns.  J  (I don’t have a copy of my solo picture with her yet, but it gets better).

On Friday night there was a little fireside chat event with Condi and the Ambassador that all the interns except Aaron and I were going to. We tried to get in, but were told the list was too full as it was.  SO, me being resourceful and all, talked to a good friend of mine who happens to be in charge of those access lists.  Magically, mine and Aaron’s names showed up on that list.  Unfortunately, the person who told us we couldn’t come saw us almost immediately. She came up to us and reprimanded us for coming after she said we couldn’t. We pointed out that our names were on the list and so we thought something had changed and it was ok (hehe).  Really, she was just worried about not having enough food, so we assured her that we would not eat anything.  She also told us we had to be working guests if we were going to stay, meaning we had to mingle with all the guests, not just embassy workers.  By this time, we had seen the MBA students numerous times and knew them pretty well, so “working” turned out to be super easy and really fun.  It was great to listen to her talk and she did a decent job fielding questions.  We were able to get an intern picture with her afterwards, which I will post.  It was pretty exciting to get to meet her… twice.  For those of you who don’t know, Condi is the reason I was ever interested in the State Department in the first place, ultimately, the reason I am here.  It meant a lot to get to meet her.

After the event at Spaso House, Olivia and I went out with Ben and Josh and their friend Tim.  We were suppose to meet up with the Stanford students, but when we got to the club, the bouncers asked us if we had a reservation and we said no and then they asked the Stanford guy if we were with them, and he also said no, so we didn’t get in.  Maybe it’s because they’re from Stanford, or maybe it’s because he’s just an ass, either way, we were pretty put off by the whole thing.  On top of it all, I didn’t have my wallet and was super scared I had left it a restaurant earlier in the day. So I was not exactly the life of the party that night.  On Saturday, Olivia and I did some shopping, went to Ismailova, and then we went to dinner at this little hole in the wall place on the corner across from the White House called 317.  It definitely ties the Ukrainian place for my favorite place in Moscow.  I had tomatoes with grated garlic cheese as an appetizer.. YUM. And then Beef Stroganoff (go figure) as my main entrée.  SO good. Again, though, the best part was definitely the vodka. They are called Nikolayshkas.  The vodka is super smooth, but instead of just getting a lemon for a chaser, you get lemons covered in ground coffee and powdered sugar. I was GOONNNEE before we left the restaurant, AND I was eating. That’s how good they were, we just couldn’t stop.  I spent about a half hour at the club (one mojito) before I decided I needed to head home. Stephen, the intern from the Foreign Agricultural Service (why didn’t I think of that??), left with me and we grabbed a cab (I was able to tell him where we needed to go and negotiate a price… my Russian is so much better when I’m drunk) and headed back to the compound.  Sadly between the club and the cab and the cab and the compound (lots of c’s there), I feel twice.  I had been bragging about making through winter in Moscow without falling once and I fall twice in the same evening. Stupid Karma. L

Sunday was pretty uneventful, we left the house only to go to the gym and pick up our takeout Indian food (Aroma delivers anywhere in Moscow for free).  And then we went back to bed.

This is Olivia’s last week (sniffle) so last night we went to her favorite restaurant, Kish Mish (it’s the Uzbek restaurant we went to my first night) and I had amazing borsht and shashlik.  Then we walked up old arbat again and I found Breanna her Ovechkin jersey, finally.  AND Aaron, Olivia, and I got matching Cheburashka shirts. For those of you who don’t know who/what Cheburashka is, he’s the main character of a Soviet cartoon and very popular in Russia. The episodes are really short and all on YouTube, if you’re curious.  Anyways, if you look at his name, it’s become pretty common for some people to take liberty with it… like CHE Burashka.  Our shirts are pretty epic in that sense. Let me see if I can find a picture of it online…. And nope.  I’ll get a picture up soon.  Pretty much we each got a different color shirt (red, white, and blue) and on the front it has Cheburashka, but he has the Che Guevara hat on and is holding a gun and his name is split up like Che Burashka.  It is absolutely adorable. We had been looking for our sizes all night and we found them in the last store. Sorry, super excited.

Anyways, time to actually get some work done.  Bye for now.

Also, all the interns went to Swan Lake last monday.  I just wanted to add that in the blog... I know most of my facebook friends knew this already, but for those of you who don't have facebook... it was at the Kremlin Theater and it was AMAZING.  It made me miss ballet SOOO much. :( Also, a dream come true...

My poor legs and arms... they hate me.

Hey guys, 

The last week has been pretty uneventful.  We went to the Anglo-American School of Moscow yesterday to participate in a college fair. The school is CRAZY! Tuition is expensive (it's an elementary, middle, and high school) and most Russian kids there are kids of like... the Oligarchs... so the facilities are NICE. The college fair was pretty fun.  I met a couple people from WI. One lady grew up in Ashland, went to UWEC for a semester, and now lives across HWY 2 from Amnicon Falls. And her son graduated from UWEC.  Then the other lady, Peggy Smith (Mom ask Tom Potterton about her, he knows her, as well as Mr. Dvorak).  She graduated from UW Madison and before she left for Moscow a year ago to be the Director of Curriculum at the Anglo-American School, she was the superintendent of the Ashland School District and before that worked for CESA (I think) and with Tom.  She also mentioned knowing Mr. Dvorak really well and then asked if I knew him. Pfffff... crazy small world, he's only my best friend's dad.  It was pretty cool.

Other than that I've been working out a lot. I am super motivated and I feel GREAT!

I booked my flight home and I'm hopefully booking my flight to Scotland today, which means other than train tickets I am set for coming home!!! Yay!

That's about all for now. We are going to the Kremlin this weekend so hopefully I'll have more to update on afterwards.

For the record, I do not adore Putin, I did not come to Russia just for him, and I DO NOT think he is better than Obama. F*** journalistic integrity, this is Russia...

Where to start, where to start?  First, I'm sorry it's been so long... it really has been a crazy week.  


I guess I'll go in order.  


So last Sunday we decided to go to Club Raй (Heaven or Paradise) for this Pro-Putin Party that some of the guys in my section mentioned would be an interesting thing to get "information" on.  So I thought, "it's one of Moscow's top night clubs and it's a Pro-Putin Party, let's go see what this is all about."  Oh boy.  I had an amazing time, but I was so out of my league.  Honestly,  I can't even explain to you what this club was like.  There were half naked girls everywhere, tons of different bars, a whole bunch of VIP seating, etc.  It was in an old chocolate factory on the river.  In order to get in we went through the VIP entrance and had to pay 15,000 Rubles... which is approx. $500 for 11 people.  BUT the money went on these cards that you spent on drinks.  So essentially it was a guarantee that you would spend money and if you didn't spend it, it was like you paid a cover.  When we first got in, there were cameras and reporters everywhere.  I guess the party had attracted a lot of attention because Putin was reportedly against the use of his name as such an event, BUT the party happened regardless.. .so it leaves you to wonder, if Putin were really against it, would it have happened... you know, what Putin wants, Putin gets.  Some even think it was the beginning of his 2012 presidential campaign.  Wouldn't doubt it, actually.  At the main entrance they had this cardboard billboard type thing... one of those face in the hole type things... with Putin on a motorcycle and a woman behind him... obviously I couldn't resist getting a picture of myself, but at the same time some of the press was filming it.  Afterwards, when she realized I was an American, a reporter came up to me and wanted to interview me, so I said yes. Mistake #1, 2, 3, and 150,000.  Just a bad idea, I've learned now.  She asked me a whole bunch of random and leading questions, most of which I shrugged off or said "I don't know" to.  But in the end, "I'm from WI, but I live in Moscow right now" turned into "she flew in from WI specifically for this party."  And everything I said was either cut out of the video or covered up with a Russian voice over that says "I adore Putin. I am here just for him. He's better than Obama" in Russian.  FML. Stupid lifenews.ru and their love for Putin.  (For the record, I said I love Obama and he has a great personality (it was a question about his personality that prompted me to answer in such a way)).  Most of the people who saw it, including the internal section chief, laughed and said I didn't have much to worry about, but that I should learn from my mistakes and stay out of the way of Russian cameras and their sneaky reporters.  Believe me, lesson learned.  Other than that, the night was amazing.  I danced a lot and got to sit in a VIP table that was just there for us, but we never ordered it... hmmmm?? Didn't drink because I had to work the next day, but also didn't get home until 4:30 am... that was a LONG day at work.  But worth it, really.  First ever clubbing experience = major success (minus the press problem).  Since I can't explain to you how awesome and over the top this club was, I'm giving you their website and also including the video.  Just an FYI, the video is kind of xrated, so if you're worried, don't watch it.  It's just funny to see how excited I look for being misqouted, and the Russian voice over, and the fact that they named me Ashley Boil (but it's in Russian), and just the general atmosphere of the party.


http://www.raiclub.ru/


Use Google Chrome and/or search in Google and choose "translate this page"


And I'm just going to include the link for the video so you can also translate the article to see what they wrote about me: Video of me professing my adoration for Putin over Obama.

Apart from some interesting conversations at the office, that's the majority of what happened surrounding that party.


These last few days have been CRAZY!!! We just had our Wheels Up party, meaning Biden left this morning.  I got to meet him on Weds, he told me to get back to WI and straighten out my governor.  That's one thing I caught after seeing him speak a few times, he really isn't afraid to say what he thinks... as we all know, it's gotten him in trouble, but it's still kind of refreshing. I was able to help out with and witness his speech at Moscow State University last night.  It was a very good speech. Very bold, but very good.  He definitely butchered some Russian names, namely Mikhail Khordokovsky, but hey... they're all tongue twisters to us English speakers anyways.  And he had a good sense of humor about it.  He made some bold statements about human rights and freedoms... actually got an applause from the crowd in the middle of it.  There was another incident with the press, this time Russia Today, an english language network, but super anti-American.  I guess they sent a couple reporters, one of which was suppose to actually cover the event while the other one created a scene.  Something about asking her for her credentials and being discriminated against. I don't know exactly. I just know she got thrown out and is making a big fuss over it. Screw the press in this country,  I have a deep-seated hatred for them. (sorry to all you honest journalists out there, I just need some time lol).  I also had a great time as the gift officer... I actually got to hold the gifts that the VP gave to Medvedev and Putin.  I transported them to the MFA protocol officer.  Yep... it was pretty cool. They were uber heavy, but it was still cool.  The whole thing was pretty stressful, but it went pretty well.  Now we have to get ready for Secretary Gates's visit.

I think Olivia and I are going to Ismailavo tomorrow to buy our official Russian furs.  Can't wait.  I think we are both looking at silver fox throws!  


Other than that, I've been pretty lazy at night, but well deserved laziness, for sure.  Can't wait for my mommy and daddy to get home, I miss talking to them. I also made my first hair appointment in Russia... but at Town and Country... for when I get home. lol.  I think I'm just gonna chill for the rest of the night.  Sorry for the delay in this update.

I think I have officially become a member of Putin's cult of personality... St. Pete's update part 2

Alright, first things first, I forgot to mention the attack of the snow removal machines in my last post. Apparently, they really don't give a crap about pedestrians who are crazy enough to be out on the streets at 5 AM, especially on a street like Nevskiy Prospect.  We were headed back to the metro from the Winter Palace (all 11 of us) and all of a sudden we heard a honk behind us and right at our heels there were like five snow plows/spin brush thingys.  We all scattered (mostly into the street as they were taking up the whole sidewalk) and they went past us one by one, but the spin brush thingys flew dirty, yucky snow half way across the street so then we had to figure out if we were going to run into traffic to avoid it or try and jump in front of them to get on a stoop or something.  It seriously became a game of cat and mouse and it was our responsibility to avoid them because they sure didn't care what happened to us.  AND they kept stopping and starting again so we would get in front of them and then have to do the whole ordeal over again 5 minutes later. UGH. It was annoying.

After we got settled at Shirah's, we left for the metro station and decided to grab lunch around her place instead of paying for an expensive lunch around Nevskiy.  We ended up at a small little Russian bar and I ordered a Greek Salad.  It was good. Different. Small.  The thing about salads here. They generally don't include lettuce.  They are more like deli salads I'd say.  After that we got off the metro at Nevskiy and walked around the Church of Spilled Blood (AMAZING) and the little park to the side of it.  We went through a little sovenouir fair and one of the vendors asked me where I was from in America and I told him Wisconsin.  Then, as we were walking away he yelled after my friend Joe (forgive the vulgarity, this is really what he said) "Hey Nigger, hook me up."  After we looked at each other quizzically, he followed with "I'm hustling every day."  Yes we don't know.  Maybe that's the extent of his English?  We went back there on Sunday and saw the same guy, he again referred to Joe in the same manner and when Joe tried to explain to him in Russian that the word was очень плохо (very bad), he said, "Нет, нет, это нормально" (No, no, it is normal).  Hmmmm?

After this great experience, we headed toward The Hermitage (Winter Palace).  As I mentioned, the day before we got there the King of Spain was in Peterburg to kick off the Year of Spain in Russia and the opening of the Prado exhibit at the Hermitage was on Saturday.  We had VIP tickets so we got to go in early and walk through the exhibit. It was pretty impressive.  Afterwards we walked through some specific rooms in the Hermitage, including Da Vinci and Ancient Egypt.  I got to see Da Vinci's Madonna Litta and one of my favorite paintings that I didn't even know was at the Hermitage. So many times I've seen the Return of the Prodigal Son painting used in sermons, but to actually see it in person, unexpectedly.. it was amazing. And huge.  It made my day.

The Hermitage/Winter Palace

Madonna Litta - Leanardo Da Vinci - The Hermitage

The Return of the Prodigal Son - Rembrandt - The Hermitage

After we left the Hermitage we walked across the street and headed towards St. Isaacs Cathedral.  It's a huge Cathedral and you can pay to walk up to the top of the tallest tower. So we did. It was amazing.

St. Isaac's Cathedral

It was sincerely beautiful. (ps. I'm sorry I'm using some itnernet photos here, I just dont' have access to my friends' cameras yet so instead of waiting for my pictures I'm just using other ones so you can still see what it looks like.

After this we went back to Shirah's appartment to shower and freshen up before dinner.  We met Olivia and her family and intended to find an Indian restaurant for dinner, but failed and ended up at a pretty intense Chinese Restaurant.  It was exceptionally good.  And the Mojitos? Oh-My-Goodness.  I've never had anything like them.  They were like $8, but I still had two.  After dinner we all went to bed as we were exhausted from the train ride and running around town all morning.

In the morning, Shirah and Joe made us a fantastic breakfast and then we hit the sights again.  We went back to the Church of Spilled Blood, but this time went inside.  The entire inside (walls, ceiling, floor) was plastered with amazing Mosaics that (from what we could tell) depicted virtually every Bible story.



After we were done here we walked accross the river and went to the Peter and Paul Fortress (weird feeling).  The Cathedral is the tallest in St. Pete's because of the Golden Spire at the top.  When we were there we went to a museum on the history of St. Petersburg, but it was hard to get into it because it was all in Russian.

The walk back to Nevskiy was really long, but worth it. We got to see the Winter Palace from accross the river and then walk through that area one last time.

Before we got back on the train to head back to Moscow, we had one last meal in St. Pete's.  Neither Shirah nor Aaron knew what Stroganoff was so we decided we were going to have a traditional dinner for our last meal.  We tried to go to the place where stroganoff was invented, but it was $60 for venison stroganoff (the original). Instead we went across the way and had it for $20. It was amazing! Different in that it was served with rice, but amazing!

The train ride home was slightly uneventful. I didn't sleep very well and work ended up being really long.  I found out they cancelled the Gorbachev site as a visit for the VPOTUS visit so I no longer have a chance to meet him, although today is his 80th birthday.  Yesterday was extremely busy for me and I was barely at my desk at all.  AFter work I went grocery shopping on my own and bought way too much.  Walking home was intense.  Today Olivia and I took a bit of an extended lunch and ran some personal errands at the mall :)...

I think that's most of what I have to update.  Shirah is coming to Moscow this weekend so I should have a lot more to post about next week.  I know we have been asked by our section to go to a Pro-Putin Party at the RAI club this sunday.  I want to go SO bad.  Seriously. But I guess it's really hard to get in.  We will see.

TTFN

The glorious thing about getting in a car accident with an ambulance is the amazingly fast response time of the EMTs... Oh Nevskiy Prospect. St. Petersburg Update Part 1.

I can’t even begin to organize my thoughts right now.  This update is going to be a huge task and will most likely take me the whole day to write (how fortunate since I have nothing to do anymore… I’ll explain at the end).  Honestly, I can’t wait to tell everyone about my epic weekend in Peterburg, but I’m also so tired that it seems so extremely daunting.  BUT, here it goes nonetheless, starting with the frustrating arrival at Moskva Kyrski Vokzal…

So I thought our train left at like 10 PM or later, seeing as it is the overnight train to St. Petersburg, but it turns out it left at 8:19 PM.  Aaron, Joe, and I went home right away after work and got changed and packed and left for the Metro around 6:45.  We made it to the station on time and picked up a few brewskies and some bread and cheese and then made our way into the vokzal.  Joe decided he wanted to try and do some fancy stuff at the ticket counter so Aaron and I went to get some food (blini with cheese and mushrooms… AMAZING)!  By the time we finished with that we realized we only had a VERY short period of time before our train left and we hadn’t even found the track it would be on, so Aaron went to get Joe and I started asking random people where to find the track we were looking for.  I found a guy who was nice enough to try and help and figure out my broken Russian even though he wasn’t actually taking my train.  Turns out, he spoke English.  Lol.  I’ve learned to appreciate Russians who speak English but don’t automatically default to it when they realize my grasp of Russian is for inferior to their grasp of English. It’s refreshing.  Anyways he took me to the entrance to one of the tunnels and said “we ask police, I translate for you.” And that he did.  We ended up finding the direction our track was in, but by this time Joe had decided to run to the MTS booth to put money on his phone.  Aaron and I looked at the clock just as we were entering the front of the tunnel, which led to 11 tracks, ours being #10 and our wagon being the furthest from the entrance to the platform, and it was 8:12… we had 7 minutes before our train was scheduled to leave.  Needless to say, we booked it.  We got into our compartment and got our winter clothes off and within minutes Joe was on the train (thank goodness) and within a minute after that, the train was moving.  Super close. Too close, in my opinion… although it did mean I didn’t have time to think about how much I dislike trains.

Joe and I were in a compartment with two other people and Aaron was in a separate one with three other people.  Not long after the train started moving, we went over to Aaron’s compartment to say hi to his coopmates.  Turns out they were students and a professor from МГУ and were going on a trip to St. Pete’s to see different areas where Russian writers lived and got their inspiration.  Aaron’s actual coop-mates were Lena, Dima, and Sergey (the professor), but there were like 8 of them total and they all came over about a half hour later.  We ended up drinking beer and hanging out with them for quite awhile.  We spoke Russian with them mostly, but they understand English pretty well, or at least some of them did.  I got to drink some authentic Moscow Brandy, although I found out it is actually illegal to drink brandy on trains (random?).  All in all, the train ride was awesome mostly because of this group of people, they were seriously amazing.  The train itself was unbearably hot… seriously, sleeping was impossible.  When we made it to St. Petersburg it was shortly after 5 AM and the metro was not open.  SO, of course, we decided to walk the entire length of Nevskiy Prospect (the Michigan Avenue of St. Pete’s) with our new friends at five in the morning.  It was actually quite an experience… Honestly the best stories I have for you happened during this walk.

First, for being the busiest street in St. Pete’s, it was pretty dead, which was kind of eerie.  It was really cool because Dima gave us kind of like a tour guide explanation of everything, but he did it in Russian… some of it was hard to understand, but it seemed so much more authentic.  Within 10 minutes of walking on Nevskiy Prospect, we witnessed a pretty intense car accident.  And by intense I mean, A. it was an ambulance and B. 50 feet further and it may have been a car/pedestrian accident… with the pedestrians being us.  There was a sign on the sidewalk obstructing my view, but I heard the accident (scared the hell out of me) and the next thing I know there’s an ambulance speeding towards us that runs up onto the sidewalk and the only thing stopping it is a sign pole (which didn’t survive).  The best we could tell, the ambulance had its siren and lights on and assumed it had the right away and this car either wasn’t paying attention (most likely) or couldn’t stop because it was snowing.  Anywho, there was someone in the back of the ambulance and the poor little car was pretty smashed up.  It was legit scary.  I’ve never seen an accident like that happen before my eyes, let alone be perilously close to being run over by an ambulance.  That was the highlight of our first 10 minutes in St. Petersburg.  We continued along Nevskiy Prospect and made it to the Winter Palace (The Hermitage) which was completely deserted at 6 am and so amazingly beautiful with the snow falling.   There was no one around in any direction… it was really a great experience.  Afterwards our friends brought us to the metro station and helped us find the stop we needed to get off at for the US Consulate and then we bid them farewell.  When we made it to the consulate, the guards were not expecting us and apparently Shirah had given us the wrong phone number and we couldn’t get a hold of her.  The guards ended up giving us a phone number, which we called, but no one answered and by this time we had been outside for almost three hours and we were FREEZING.  So we decided to find a place to eat and rest and figure out what we were going to do.  Long story short, turns out there are two Shirah’s in the 25 member US Consulate in St. Petes.  Such a unique name and there are TWO of them in such a small consulate and the guard had given us the contact information for the wrong one.  Eventually we were able to get a hold of Shirah via facebook message and got into the Consulate around 10:00 ish.  We unpacked, got settled and then mapped out our first day in Peterburg.

Alright, that’s the basic travel information.  I’ll do another post for sight-seeing and stuff so I can add pictures (which I have to do on my own computer).

TTFN.

Санкт Петербург via Северный Кавказский? Thank goodness someone was able to tell us that North Caucasus was the name of our train, not our station. I'm still trying to figure out how that would have gotten us to Peterburg.

Hello Everyone!

This won't be long, really just an update to let you know that I will NOT be updating until Monday because I will be in St. Petersburg this weekend.  I will do one BIG update on Monday about the whole trip.  I'm super excited though... it sounds like we will get to go the Prado/Hermitage project to kick off "A Year of Spain in Russia" and the King of Spain is in Peterburg right now (if I'm not mistaken, Medvedev is as well (: ).  Anyways, we took an early overnight train (don't ask why) so we will arrive in Peterburg around 4:30 AM! It's going to be a long weekend, but I am very excited... first overnight train experience.  Actually, first REAL train experience.

Last night was mostly uneventful, just hung around the apartment, made dinner, watched Law and Order. The usual.

До Понедельника (until Monday)!

Do you think they'd care if I slipped through this gate and wandered the grounds of the White House?

I didn't get out of bed until 12:30 yesterday because we didn't have to work... again... yay Defenders of the Fatherland...

When I did get up, I met up with Aaron, Ryan, and John and we decided to go to Dunkin Donuts (seriously, I had donut cravings like you'll never know... also, I still haven't had pizza or a burger).  Normally you would need to leave through the gate nearest my apartment because it's closest to New Arbat... BUT Ryan had to leave his license at the gate on the OTHER side of the compound so we had to leave that way.  We ended up walking all the way around the back of the compound to get to New Arbat, which was definitely longer than normal.  We did get to see a Michael Jackson shrine just randomly nestled off the sidewalk.  It said "Michael Jackson is alive" on it... I couldn't help but laugh.

Once we made it to New Arbat, John took us on a short cut through alleys and back yards to get us to Dunkin Donuts.  It was crazy busy because everyone had the day off so I just ordered donuts and then we left.  I wanted to get two, but it was confusing enough to try and order and she only got the last half of my order.  I was pretty proud of myself though... I was able to order and pay on my own :).

After Dunkin Donuts we decided we wanted to take the long way back to the Embassy (ok I decided this for us seeing as I had been dying to see the White House from the Moskva River).  We walked from New Arbat down to the River and then crossed in front of the White House.  It was SO cold being along the river... the wind was almost unbearable.  But I was still able to take pictures.  Not sure if you've noticed, but I am obsessed with this building.  I think it's mostly because it's THE White House and I live right next door :)  Honestly, I was so tempted to slip in between the gates at the front of the White House compound, or climb them if I couldn't fit.  There were no guards in the front, only on the right side of the front of the grounds because all access goes through the back... they wouldn't have noticed.  lol. But the guys wouldn't wait for me. Oh well, next time :)

This is a view of the white house from outside my door...

After the guys decided that I took enough pictures, we continued around the White House and came up on the park behind it.  There were quite a few people there, again, it was a holiday.  Outside the park there was this memorial type thing from 1993.  We didn't take a lot of time to look at it and I only got a picture of about a third of it, but we're pretty sure it has something to do with the '93 coup seeing as that's the area where Yeltsin brought in the tanks.

I then bid the guys farewell and continued around the skating rink across from the Embassy before heading home.

It actually was a decent walk, in my opinion, and super super cold.

That is a map of my walk, just you can kind of see how things went.

When I got back to the apartment, Olivia's family was there so I sat and visited for a bit and then we all kind of took a nap (well I watched Law and Order, go figure).  Then we went to Shesh Besh for dinner... I had a potato, chicken, and mushroom dish... AMAZING!  I will so go back there.  And the waitress was really nice and patient, considering only two of the six of us spoke any Russian at all.

I pretty much went to bed right when I got back from dinner, it was like 10 PM. 

So far today it has been slightly frustrating and it's almost time for lunch, so I should get going...

Margaritas, Fire Alarms, and Overtime... you know, if they were paying me...

Hey guys... sorry I haven't updated since Saturday.  I really don't have an excuse except that I've been lazy.  On Sunday Olivia, Katerina, and I went to Red Square again (which wasn't the original plan, but since we were nearby and Katerina had never been there, we decided to swing over).  We then went back to the underground mall and had an amazing lunch that included a greek salad, some chicken and mushroom type salad, and an AMAZING pork cutlet with tons of melted cheese and tomatoes... yuuummmmy.


Then, Sunday evening we had a fiesta night at our place and like 8 or 9 of the marines came over for tacos and margaritas.  As you may have noticed from a previous status that I was a bit skeptical of the meat, but it wasn't that bad mixed in with everything... and they ate it all... actually there probably wasn't enough food, but no one really confirmed they were coming and we didn't want TONS of extra food lying around...


Monday was an extremely lazy day for me... Yay Presidents... 


Today was a great day at work.  I actually had stuff to do, although it was mostly clerical... we have a delegation coming in soon and I had to put together welcome folders/print of a TON of documents for it.  Sadly, the color powerpoint presentation had to be printed off in a classified room and only one of those rooms has a colored printer... and the color printer is ancient and EXTREMELY slow.  I had to print 15 copies of a 22 slide presentation (1 slide per page, double sided, manually)... it seriously took 2 hours JUST to print it... and that was only one of the document that I had to print.  I was at work until like 6:30.  It really was nice to feel useful... and the RSO officer was in there with me for awhile.. it was nice to have company and he was pretty funny.


I'm really enjoying reading up on Russian news in Russia.  Seriously, I love this flipping country and it's political elite.  My life would be so boring without the added suspense... you make my work so meaningful...


I was thinking about going with Olivia to Poland when her family goes after their trip to Moscow, but I think that trip is the same time as the Advance Visit for the BIG VIP visit coming up... which I can now tell you about... ready?!? Drum rolll.... I get to work hand in hand with the site officer for the meeting of Mikhail Gorbachev AND Vice President Joe Biden..  Yes, VPOTUS.  It has been 11 years since Moscow has had a VPOTUS visit... and I get to be here for it :)  AKA, I cannot miss the advance, since the real site officer is going to be in London and the other one has never actually been to the site.  I'm excited!


There's also been some drama with one of the other interns.  I feel bad for him, he's been put in a tough spot... but he feared they may ask him to leave so he resigned before they could... he leaves Friday :(  There's a lot of complicating information going around about what happened, but you could careless... on the bright side, I met the newest (and last) intern today... his name's Josh and he goes to school in Indiana.


Well, I need to sleep... we have a Dunkin Donuts date tomorrow with all the interns... lol 

No really Officers, we are not ignorant Americans and we understand everything you're saying... just nod and smile

Sorry I didn't update last night.  I was slightly incapacitated.  After work last night Olivia, Joe, Aaron, Ryan and I went up to the Leningradski Voksa to order our train tickets to St. Petersburg.  That was a trip! First, we had to figure out which metro station to get off at, then once we got to the right metro station, we had to figure out which station was Leningradski... ughh.  We waited in line for awhile at the first station only to be told to go to 14... didn't know what that meant so we went to window 14 and she told us to exit the building.  Still confused, Joe approached an officer who informed us that we were in the wrong building.  At this point, the group had split up because Ryan and Olivia went to find a bathroom.  So we asked another group of officers where we could find a bathroom.  Didn't understand a thing they said, but nodded and smiled and said "da, da..." and exited the building, as it was obvious there were no bathrooms in there.  Then we realized Olivia and Ryan would be looking for us at that station so we went right back around to the entrance and walked straight past the same group of officers. I couldn't help but chuckle a little and a couple kind of laughed at us.  I just shook my head and walked on.  Then we made it to another station and I successfully succeeded in asking a lady where it would be possible to buy tickets to St. Petersburg... I am very proud of myself.  We finally found the station and made our way to the ticket windows (ironically, ending up at window 14).  We waited in line for a significant amount of time, but were happy to be in the right place.  Now actually ordering the tickets, that was another adventure in itself.  Thankfully we had Joe, whose Russian continues a little further past where mine fails.  It took awhile, but we finally got what we wanted and at half the price of what they cost on the internet.  So three hours, some dignity, lots of frustration, and $106 later, we had our tickets and were on our way back to the other interns' apartment and dinner.  


We ate at a Georgian restaurant and had Georgian style pizza... it was very interesting, but good.  Then we hung out with the other interns for awhile before heading back near the embassy to go to Molly Gwinns for a beer with the Marines, which turned into Coyote Ugly again.... and another 4:30 am night... ughh...


Randomly I met a guy that grew up in Duluth... he actually works at the embassy and is our neighbor... I don't know his official rank or what not, but he's like a higher up Marine... and then as I was leaving I ran into a guy who spoke English that grew up in Blaine, MN and now lives in Woodbury. Small flipping world... lol


Obviously my choices last night did not help me get healthier and I was in and out of bed until 5 PM, which is when I had my first bit of food.  Since then I've done nothing but lie on the couch.  Our other roommate came today! I'm super excited! Her name's Katerina and she is from Arizona... so now we have three girls from three different time zones.  


Anywho, I'm off to bed... 

Иуштп ышсл шы тщ агтюююю lol that's suppose to say "Being sick is no fun"... I just forgot to change my keyboard...

Sorry I didn't update last night.  I really didn't do anything interesting and since I'm not really suppose to talk about work, I just decided not to post.  Today wasn't any better, I actually didn't go to work.  I woke up this morning with a horrible migraine and really queasy stomach.  After I talked to my supervisor I curled up on the couch under three blankets (I was SO cold) and didn't move for five hours.  I was slightly sore when I woke up. Other than that I've just been lying on the couch watching SVU and catnapping here and there.

Last night I was able to help my work sponsor escort visitors from the gate to one of the town houses for a reception.  It was pretty interesting because most of the visitors were from Middle Eastern embassies.  I know in Russia, it's mostly custom for men not to shake a woman's hand unless she offers it.  Well I also remembered that some cultures forbid men form having contact with women at all.  I don't know  exactly where this is practiced or in which cultures, but there was a visitor that introduced himself to ERic and myself and shook hands with Eric, but I could see a moment of hesitation when I put my hand out.  He shook it, probably out of politeness, but I realized maybe I had put him in a hard position.  Needless to say, I only shook hands that were offered to me...

Well I'm going to head to bed.  Still feel under the weather, but I'm going to try and make it into work tomorrow, although if I'm not feeling well I may not last... hopefully I'll feel better...

Never in my life have I been this content with relaxing and being lazy... something about this $3 vodka makes it so easy tonight...

Pretty standard day at work. Actually had stuff to do so that was awesome... Russian class is still really easy...


talked with the other interns about possibly going to Vladimir this weekend.  St. Pete's next weekend.  We'll see, I'll keep you updated on that decision.  My section chief told me today that he'd bring me a pair of hockey skates so I can skate on the rink right outside my front door.  That made me happy...


Worked out, ate leftovers, watched Law and Order, just poured myself a Russian screw driver, and about to get ready for bed.  My poor roommate has had a very bad evening... which she's currently trying to forget about at the Marine House, alcohol being the weapon of choice.  I guess I don't blame her, I'd be in worse shape if my boyfriend broke up with me on V day... long story short, he's a jerk, she's better off... but I'm still worried about her and don't expect her home anytime soon.  So I'm going to get some sleep now in case she's in need of assistance when she gets home...

Alright, no creative title today... I really did nothing creative or interesting today.

I went to bed at 3:30 am last night and therefore did not get out of bed until 12:30 this afternoon.  Other than running across the street to the commissary for some milk, I haven't left the apartment all day.  I was super lazy and stayed on the couch watching law and order and listening to music/drifting in and out of sleep all afternoon. Olivia went grocery shopping again and then we made dinner.  It was AMAZING! As I'm sure you can assume, Mexican food is hard to find around here so we decided to make tacos, complete with lettuce, tomatoes, grilled peppers, cheese, salsa, sour cream, taco sauce, and nacho cheese.  MMMMMMMMmmmmmm.... it looked so good we decided to take a before and after picture so you could see how big of pig I am...

 BEFORE

 AFTER :)

Also, this is a really bad picture of the White House taken through my bedroom window... I'll take a better picture during the day so you can see the exact shape of the building... it's pretty interesting... but the embassy building is in the way form my window.  I also like this photo because of the Embassy's american flag and the Radison hotel in the background, one of the 7 sister buildings that look like crazy awesome castles.


Alright, more law and order and then bed...

Yes, Ryan... Olivia and I know it was a great find, but do you really have to buy the SAME jacket?

Today was pretty fun.  Extremely cold and then extremely warm. ugh.  We were suppose to meet the guy interns at Ismaylavo park at 10AM, but when they called at quarter to we were still in bed.  lol.  It took us awhile to get going and then took as awhile to get there since Ismaylavo is on the other side of the city entirely.  It's this HUGE outdoor market... like an oversized flea market. There are so many amazing things there and it starts to go up towards these huge castle like buildings, it's so pretty.  We had lunch there, ate it outside... we all had shashlik, it's like a really good kabob with wine... hot, red wine. AMAZING.  I bought two matryoshka dolls, the stackable dolls.  One was a packer one and the first player was Rodgers and then as you unstacked them and they got smaller it went Jennings, Driver, Woodson, and Mathews.  I also got a Red Wings one that went Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Erickson, Howard... definitely made me think of Jared.  I saw one that I intend to buy later that had Medvedev and Putin on the big one and then it went Yeltsin, Gorbachev, Stalin, and Lenin... it was amusing.


After Ismaylavo we went to an underground mall near Red Square.  We got off at a station just before the mall and had to exit and then go back down.  Therefore, we had to walk past the entrance to red square and there were SO many police men... it wasn't even close to the time of the riots and there were fences and gates and police men everywhere. The entrance to the metro right outside Red Square was closed off and there were even officers patrolling the mall.  It was eerie.  Olivia and I made a great find... we had been looking for brown, light, springy leather jackets (pleather, actually) and the cheapest one we had found was $70 and then we went to the New Yorker and found one for a little under $30.... YAY! It was such a good deal that one of the male interns, Ryan, decided to buy it too... lol hmmmm.  I got really warm in the mall because I was dressed for Ismaylavo and it started to get unbearable so we headed towards the metro.  When we got off near the embassy we decided to go grocery shopping and picked up a few things, including a $3 bottle of Russian vodka (small bottle, less than 750) and I've been at the apartment ever since.  I bought some hair dye and Olivia helped me color my hair... it's just a darker brown... I like it :)


I made a real home cooked meal this evening!  I made some rice and then put chicken breasts on the bottom of a dish, covered it with cream of mushroom soup, and put the rice on top and baked it for an hour.  It was SO good.  And there's enough left overs for both of us to have another meal!


Now I'm just going to watch Bones and Law and Order and drift of to sleep...

Why couldn't you stupid rioters pick week nights to wreak havoc on Moscow? You're ruining my weekend...

Today was pretty fun.  We got to do the initial visit of the Gorbachev museum and we got to see his personal archives.  Didn't get to meet him yet, but hopefully in one of the next two visits.


I haven't really done much tonight except go for some coffee and cheese cake at a cafe.  It was really good and fun to practice our Russian.  Now we are just sitting at home watching movies on our computers... on a friday night. lame, I know, but not our choice. 


We received an email from the State Dept. today telling us not to go near the center of the city (Red square, Kremlin, etc.) after 3 pm tonight, saturday night, and sunday night.  I'm not sure if you heard of the December 11 movement, but essentially it's a group of people who want to ethnically cleanse Russia of any representatives of the Caucasus region or Central Asia and who use the motto "Russia for Russians" (Russification anyone?).  We were also told to stay out of the metro system after 3 pm, but I'm not entirely sure why.  They are concerned with our own personal safety, both from the demonstrators and the increase in numbers and tension of police officers, as well as the risk as being seen as a representative of the US gov't since we are embassy workers.  So yeah, not really much we can do without being able to use the metro. :(


I guess I'll be going to bed early 

It's kind of awkward when you go to shake someone's hand and introduce yourself and in the middle of your introduction they reject the handshake because they have a cold... considerate, but awkward... now imagine that situation when you're meeting the Ambassador/boss...

Today was pretty uneventful. Went to 21 Prime for lunch, it's a steak house... with amazing burgers and pork cutlets.  Literally, I LOVED the pork cutlet.  And it was a crap ton of food for a decent price.  Sadly, in Russia, water costs as much as beer... or maybe beer costs as little as water, either way, FML.


We had a reception at the Spaso house this evening... it was really amazing.  GREAT food, free wine... and I met the Ambassador... slightly awkward, but nice nonetheless.  Hopefully on to Gorby tomorrow...


I haven't been feeling too well today, but REFUSE to take the day off tomorrow because I CAN'T miss the Gorbachev visit.  I have literally been walking around saying "Hello, my name is Ashley, it's a pleasure to meet you... " in russian just so I don't forget it.  Sadly, I don't know what to say after he says "Вы говорите по-русский?"  in surprise.  Yes, I know a little russian... but no one seems to be willing to talk slow enough or with me long enough to let me prove it... lol...


I'm all done with briefings so on to real work now! Yay!  Found out we may be going to Kiev for an extended weekend in a few weeks... I'm pretty excited!  


I also found out that not all ambassadors are appointed.  I didn't know that.  It's actually only a 30/70 split, were 70% of ambassadors are career diplomats, including Moscow.  Maybe I don't have to give up my dream of being Ambassador to Russia after all...

 Spaso House... yay for the Ambassador... it's gorgeous

 One example of the trays of food being offered... one of those parties where people come up to you with trays of food and drinks... awesome

The amazing chandelier over the reception hall


I feel like there's something I'm missing, but cannot for the life of me think of it... hmmm

Maybe I should make it my goal to meet all the living current and former leaders of the USSR/RF... since by the middle of March, if not Friday, I'll have 1/3 of them under my belt...

Pretty simple day at work. More briefings... 


Started my language class.  It's nice to have a review, but it's all stuff I learned two semesters ago.  They are JUST starting perfective and imperfective verbs and I'm pretty sure I learned that my second semester. Oh well...


Found out I will have quite the opportunity coming up here.  I'll be able to tell you more later, but potentially it consists of meeting Gorbachev on friday, but at least by mid-March.  I have to go to his Museum for work and one of the people I work with said the two times he went there to do the same thing we will be doing, he met him... so... fingers crossed


I also went to happy hour with some of the other workers... it was a lot of fun... they're super hilarious.  Otherwise, eggs and corn for dinner again... ugh.  Now bed, hoping for a full night's rest for the first time since I've been here.

They really should have a disclaimer before you enter security briefing that says something along the lines of: "we completely understand if you quit after this briefing, but would like you to know you're a valuable asset to this Embassy and would prefer you didn't..."

Recap of the day:


Made it to work on time! But was in such a hurry to get to my desk to try and catch my roommate before she left the apartment, that I blew right past the Deputy Minister Consular for the Political Office... pretty much like the head of the section, whom I hadn't met yet.  He stopped me and introduced himself, but I felt bad.


Ambassador was sick, but the DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission, like second in command, stood in for him... he's really nice.  There's a reception at the Spasso House, the Ambassador's residence, later this week so maybe I'll meet him there.


Had security briefing and got my real badge so I can actually get into my office without knocking now lol.  BUT... oh my goodness. Security briefing is flipping scary.  Like of all the places in the world to get posted, I am now convinced this is the worst.  I don't know if you know the history of the US Embassy in Moscow, but it's common knowledge that the Embassy was built 1 and a half times because the first time it was so riddled with listening devices that not one thing could be considered classified.  As a result, they took off the top half and rebuilt with 100% American supplies shipped in in security containers and with American contractors.  That's why there's another post at floor 5, everything from there is under crazy security.  I've heard that story, but being here now, it makes so much more sense.  They've pretty much conceded that anything below floor five is not confidential.  The things they tell you in the briefing, like what to look out for, what happens, etc... goosebumps.


And other than that I've just been vegging out at home... haven't slept well yet so I'm headed to bed.