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January 27, 2005
summary of the past week of Kevin's life
Hello from Moscow! All is well here. I'm living with a wonderful host family that's taking good care of me. I'm living near the Universitet metro station in southeast Moscow, a ten-minute walk from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, where I'm studying 6 hours (9 academic hours in Russia) a week. I'm also working with the people at the Fundamental Digital Library of Russian Literature and Folklore and the Rudomino All-Russia State Library of Foreign Literature and learning about work done at the State Public Historical Library (no English for this one, sorry).
We've got a four-room apartment (as Russians count them), which in American terms is three-bedroom based on how it's currently being used. I learned today that it used to be a communal apartment with three families living here. Now it's just me, Наталья, and Евгений. Наталья and Евгений do research on astronomic isotopes, especially relating to the Tunguska event. Son Миша is married and lives with his wife elsewhere in Moscow, and daughter Катя is currently working in Sicily and dating a guy named Fabio. I've never had a room so large all of my own, but admittedly that's not saying much if you're familiar with the places I've lived.
It was warm when I arrived (for January in Moscow, which is warmer than it was in the US at that time). They even had record high temperatures here. But now it's quite cold:
Since I'm just getting started with all my business here, I've spent a lot of time at home so far, which is just fine since I have plenty to do here and can use the good Internet connection and enjoy the homemade food using mostly natural ingredients from the unpolluted land at my host family's summer cottage. I seem to be blending in just fine since whenever I go somewhere, I get stopped for directions.
A few things I've done in the last week:
- Bought a cheap Nokia cellphone. My interface language choices are English, Russian, Bulgarian, or Ukrainian. I've already graduated from the first to the second.
- Got a haircut.
- Took some photos (see below).
- Took a look at the student festival in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Moscow State University. Think of Art Attack at the University of Maryland, only with lots of interior ministry troops guarding against terrorist attacks.
I'm still trying to figure out how to best handle myself in stores and at the barbershop and such. Having studied Russian so long but emphasizing conversation skills, I can speak at a normal rate with only a slight accent (none at first). So my problem is that they can't figure out why I don't understand what they're talking about!
All right, here are the pictures:
My room.
View from my window. On the right-hand side are the new circus (big dome) and the edge of the Nataliia Il'inichna Sats Moscow State Academic Children's Musical Theater.
The main building of Moscow State University. It's bigger than it looks.
The new library. Kind of imposing, don't you think?
Posted by kshawkin at January 27, 2005 09:16 PM