Belka

I'm not really sure what I'm writing about right now. I think there are a whole bunch of people waiting for the computer. That makes it stressful. On a side note, I went to Teremok for blini for the first time today, and it was delicious. If I could live on a diet of Teremok and Shokoladnitsa, I would. And possibly throw in some of the delicious yogurt and museli.
I think the performance I've enjoyed the most so far is K.I. from "Crime." I don't know if enjoyed is the right word, because the play itself was quite depressing, but it was the most gripping. We were really part of Katerina's world, she made such a connection with the audience that I could understand her pain and suffering. It was also nice to have a few sentences in English once in a while so that we could follow where she was in the plot.
In general, I've come to understand that Russian theater is full of symbolism, which is not something I'm used to or look for in American theater. In America we go to the theater to have a good time and be entertained, but here the spectator is getting tons of meaning out of it; there are levels that can be hard to dig through. Now that I'm used to looking for the symbolism, I'm not so disappointed in a performance that is incredibly weird and hard to understand.
Salome was definitely weird and hard to understand, but not the text, surprisingly. They spoke so annoyingly slow that I understood lots of dialogue! I still don't understand the point of the water they poured over the place for the picture of John the Baptist's severed head. Why did Salome need to lie down in water and get all wet? I don't know, maybe it'll come to me in a revelation later.
Also, today we went to the U.S. Embassy, which was exciting because there were lots of Americans there. They were talking loudly and laughing a lot, and it was just like home. Now I know that I can get a job working as a liaison between NASA and Pockocmoc with the foreign service. Woo hoo! And my brother told me I'd have to be an engineer.