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.

Yay Packers! Sorry I was completely and totally incapable of watching your victory...

I really can't believe the Packers won. Like I'm super happy, but I didn't REALLY think it would happen.  And I'm not even there to celebrate properly. (Although Amy and I are throwing a happy hour party with beer and cheese in our office tomorrow). And I found out one of the other interns is from WI and goes to Madison. Yay Cheeseheads! My roommate's never met anyone from WI... but then she comes to Moscow and meets three of us lol.


My first real day at work was pretty sweet... I got to do some research and went to a meeting for the pre-advance on our VIP visit in March... so excited!  I also met all the interns that are currently in Moscow right now.  The other intern in Political, Aaron, seems pretty nice.  It was pretty exciting on that front.


I get to meet the Ambassador tomorrow.  The section heads meet with him for Country Meetings, but when we first get here they bring the interns along, too! I'm pretty excited for that tomorrow!


Pretty standard day, updates will be boring from here on out as I won't be doing much after work except working out and relaxing... which is what I'm about to do now!

It's ok if you get lost when entering the metro right outside Red Square, you end up in a mall...

I'm back at the apartment, about to make taco dip for the Super Bowl tonight. We got everything we need thanks to Amy and the commissary!


Olivia and I walked down Old Arbat, the pedestrian only street, and then went to Red Square.  We got to see the Kremlin, Lenin's Tomb, and, of course, St. Basil's cathedral.  We didn't go inside and tour anything because we didn't have a lot of time, but I will most definitely make it back there many more times.  It was snowing pretty steadily on the way there, but by the time we made it to St. Basil's, we couldn't even see the entrance because it was snowing so hard... so we decided to head into the ГУМ.  It's like the Russian version of Mall of America, only the elite, Dior, Coach, DeBeers, Armani version.  It was nice to walk around, not practical to spend money.  We did have lunch and some coffee at a little cafe.  It was very good. I ordered a mozzarella panini and it had tomatoes, basil, and olive oil with it.... yummmmmmy.  And the iced cappuccino was really good, but different... it was cold, but like light... not like blended ice... I don't know how to explain it.


Afterwards we headed into the metro right outside the Red Square and kind of got lost, but ended up in another, underground mall... one that was more in our price range... so Olivia and plan to go back and do some shopping soon... like for some flats, maybe :)


The metro here is really very cheap and super efficient, but it's also nice to walk.  It's really hard when you're walking a lot, though, because a lot of people come up to talk to you, but in our welcome folder we were told to be weary of people coming up to you on the street because of all the scams and pickpocketing. Olivia's figured out already that you just have to keep walking, but I feel bad... I'll learn, though...


I think I'm going to head to the gym after we make taco dip and then go to bed.... so I'm rested for the 2:30 AM Super Bowl!

Excuse me sir, I don't have a badge, but I'm American so you should let me in my embassy...

UGH. My first grocery shopping trip off the compound... disaster.  Well, actually the shopping trip was successful, except they don't have salsa or shredded cheese... but when I first got into the store I took my jacket off (I swear Russians try to compensate for the (not so) cold weather by cranking up the heat inside public buildings) and Olivia told me to put my id badge under my shirt (you wear it on a chain) because you're not suppose to wear your embassy id visibly outside the embassy. Well when I went to do that, I noticed that my american id card (to replace my passport so I don't have to carry it around) was the only one on the chain. The Visitors badge for the embassy, the id required to enter the compound, was missing.  I had the clasp connected to the chain, but the plastic strip with the snap button was undone and the badge itself was gone.  I retraced my steps back to the embassy and didn't find it.  Olivia had to go in and find my work sponsor, Amy, and she told her to try and check me in with any id I had on my and then call the RSO office immediately to stop the badge because potentially ANYONE had FULL access to the embassy if they found it.  Plus, Amy's driver's license was being held as collateral for that badge.  When you turn in your passport to be registered, they give you a letter from the embassy and photocopies of your passport and visa... thankfully I had that in my purse and was able to get in with it.  We retraced our steps through the compound just in case it fell off before we even left, but didn't find it so we headed back to the apartment to call RSO and found it sitting on the couch.  I was so extremely thankful!!! ESPECIALLY since Amy thought the badge number was 60, but it was 61, so we would have stopped the wrong badge anyways.... I am so relieved.  I took it off the clasp and just ran the chain through the hole so I wouldn't lose it again.  I should get my REAL ID badge on tuesday so I only have a few more days with the stupid visitors badge....


But anyways... I think we are going to the Kremlin tomorrow... maybe meet the other interns tonight... not sure. We are making some taco dip for the Super Bowl, but we need Amy to buy us shredded cheese and salsa... she already gave us taco seasoning... oh, and sour cream tastes HORRIBLE here...


Anywho, that's all for now...

Moscow night life... let's just say, I have a feeling there's no such thing as bar closing here...

Hello friends... it is currently 5 am in Moscow and yes, I am still awake.  FML


Olivia (my roommate) and I went over to the Marine house on the compound and hung out in their bar for awhile  (I was there for a short period of time and they still managed to spill blue alcohol ALL over me... blue alcohol topped with everclear... in your eyes... ya... it sucked.  I don't know what you've heard about Marines, but these ones are flipping crazy).  We went out to a new bar called Chesterfields... it's a sports bar... but they decided they wanted to dance so we left for Coyote Ugly... yes, THE Coyote Ugly... Moscow version.  Super hardcore... for a small town girl anyways.  I don't do clubbing or anything of the sort so this was quite an experience.  I met some guys from Brazil... they were very nice and they spoke both Russian and English. I only bought one drink... well actually two, one for myself and one for another marine... vodka tonic and jack and coke... and it cost me 1,000 rubles... which is approx. $30!!!! I have decided not to drink in Moscow bars... WAY too expensive.  The nice thing about going out in Moscow is that ALL the Russian women are beautiful... like amazingly so.  Therefore it is very easy to have conversations with guys on a friendly level without any expectations because the minute a russian woman pays them any attention, they forget you.  I like it... it makes it very easy to go out and avoid awkward situations.  I think it makes Jared happy as well. :)  


It is late... but I think we spent quite a bit of time at subway and that is why we got back so late.  Believe me, ordering sandwiches at a russian subway where the employees do not speak english and the customers do not speak russian is very, very difficult... and time consuming... I don't think I ended up with the exact sub I wanted, but it was still very good... and very comparable in price!


I am very, very tired and I think I am going rock climbing later in the afternoon so I should get some sleep...

You could pave the streets of Moscow with paper by the time I finish completing all these forms...

First day in the embassy... complete. Well, kind of, I do have to go back to pick my ID badge so  I don't have to carry my passport around Moscow.  But until then, I am taking a nap.

So far all I've really done is fill out paper work... and discover that I don't do well in high heels... guess who didn't bring flats? 

At first, I thought maybe I really am not an office person after all, but as the day went on I decided I actually like it... and I haven't even started working yet.  It's extremely laid back so the atmosphere is really nice. I met the head of the Political Department today and he told me that "since you're not getting paid, you can show up late on Monday. Everyone else has to call in sick."  I'd say that's permission to have a little fun during the 2:30 AM Super Bowl... lol.  I like everyone in my department, they are really fun.  I'm working in the external section of the political dept, which means I work with foreign affairs, whereas Aaron, the other intern in the Pol Dept that showed up today, is working in internal and works with domestic politics.  I also met a former intern who now works here and he told me that state department internships are the best because you actually get to do hands on work instead of sorting through mail, as embassies are ultimately their own city and have permanent services like a post office.  

There are two security check points you have to go through to even enter my office.  Not that it's top secret, but I can't even say out loud or publish in any way what floor I work on because access to all floors above floor five is restricted.  I think it's pretty fun going through all the check points. Makes me feel important. 

That's about all for now. I'm going to take a nap and I'll probably post again later on tonight, er... later on this morning for you guys :)

Goodbye foggy New York, Hello Smoggy Moscow, How I Love Thee...

Oh. My. Goodness. The end. Sorry in advance if this isn't coherent.

First things first, it was SO hard to say goodbye to my Mommy and Jared. I cried. And cute little Kaelin sitting there waving only added to the tears.  Once I made it through security at MSP it was a very short wait until boarding.  The flight was uneventful, I sat across from an engineer on his way to Ghana.  He was super nice and very helpful.  Unfortunately we both realized that we were catching connecting flights at JFK but had failed to inform the Delta ticket desk at MSP of this... therefore we had to exit AND pick up our baggage AND re-check it.  You should have seen me.  I suppose I was quite a sight, carrying two fifty pound suitcases, one of which was large enough for me to fit, a backpack, purse, jacket, and pillow through JFK International Airport... through two terminals. UGH.  When I finally made it to my terminal it was 2:30 and I was informed that the Aeroflot ticket counter would not open until 4:30... so I had my luggage for another two hours.  It ended up only being a half hour (there is a God) and this man (who ended up being from my airline) helped me carry my luggage back to the ticket counter (thank goodness).  I made it to the gate and sat... and sat... and sat some more. BUT... at least I was in the gate and free of my suitcases.  I had borak (or however you spell it) for lunch, a Turkish croussaint type dough with beef and cheese in side.. mmmmm.  When I went to get on the plane, I handed the lady my passport and she looked at another attendant and asked if "he" was suppose to look at this.  The next thing I knew she was handing it to a guy coming up behind me and I turned and say it was the man who had helped me with my luggage earlier.  He told me he had just walked the length of the line looking for me because he was going to let me board early.  It made me feel not so alone.  I also met a man from India, who now lives in Manhattan.  We talked for awhile in the terminal and than sat next to eachother on the half - full Airbus.  His name is Deepak (cool, huh?) and he was on his way to New Dehli.  Because the plane was only half full, I was able to take a whole middle row of four seats to myself, although I still didn't sleep VERY well.  The recycled air in economy really gets to you after approx. 34 minutes, let alone 8 hours (yay tailwind).  The landing, customs, and the road trip back to the Embassy compound were very uneventful...

My work sponsor, Amy, is from Green Bay and super, super amazing.  She's really nice and supportive and even took me grocery shopping.  Most of my initial orientation stuff will start tomorrow.  So far today I have only had time to move in.  When my roommate, Olivia, got off work around 6 pm, we headed out to New Arbat, the modern version of Old Arbat (yes it's true), the famous historical Moscow main street.  We walked FOREVER looking for a bank to hit an ATM for Rubles and then turned back to a restaurant we had picked out.  Come to find out there were about five banks on the other side of the street, but New Arbat is IMPOSSIBLE to cross above ground so we had to wait for an underground crossing anyway.  We ended up eating at an Uzbeki restaraunt and the food was wonderful.  I was forced to use Russian for the first time, although I kind of let Olivia lead the way since she's a little more used to it.  We had these chicken skewers with seasoned onions and a tortilla/blini like dough, this chicken appetizer that was a lot like a pot pie only different seasonings, and a rice dish with some type of beef... I think lol. 

Now I'm here... falling asleep... so I will bid you farewell until tomorrow!

Спокойной ночь!  Good night!