Staring for Dummies

Russia is a beautiful country with wonderful people. We have had a fairly easy time getting the hang of things so far, although it is rather hard to get accustomed to the different customs and practices here. First of all, staring is totally accepted here. Whereas at home ones parents usually instruct them not to stare at others, everyone does it here no matter what age. I know I have personally had an amusing time practicing my staring on the metro as well as other places, and I know others have as well. Another thing that was hard to get used to at first is the fact that it is considered rude to show the bottom of your foot to someone in Russia. I remember learning about this in Russian class, but had largely forgotten. We were reminded of it at the first play we went to. Jake was yelled at by a Russian lady for crossing his leg and exposing the bottom of his shoe, something that would be fine in the States, but very rude here. Another thing that we have been practicing is the half yawn. I'm not exactly sure if it is just at plays or in general, but it is considered rude to yawn. To get around this you have to learn to yawn by barely opening your mouth, a task that isn't easy coming from a society where we don't worry about that kind of stuff. Going back to the States its also going to be kind of weird not having a coat check wherever we go. Anywhere from museums, to theaters, to restaurants make you check your coat a lot of the time. It is actually a really nice service that makes the whole affair seem more classy, but can get to be a hassle to wait in line after a show. You can also check your hat with your coat so there is plenty of fur to go around. One of our favorite things to do at the theater is to go to the bufet (I don't know how to change the language on this computer so the english variant will have to do). It doesn't matter how big the theater is, everyone has a snack bar for before the show and during intermissions. We can't get enough of them and it will be weird going to events back home where we can't get our snack on whenever we want. Well we are about to head to our final dinner in Moscow and then head out for Novgorod. Moscow's been real and we are looking forward to new cities and new experiences.