From Russia, With Love.

What an experience. I have to admit at first I was a bit skeptical of how much I was going to enjoy this trip, given the fact that I'm not fluent and this is basically a full immersion interim. However after the first week I must say that the word impressed would be a dramatic understatement. The more appropriate term would be "In awe". Everything is just beautiful here, the atmosphere is great, the people are great, and to be able to experience some of the things that we are experiencing here seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Yeah, it's cold. Yeah, jet lag sucks. Yeah, it's expensive (here in moscow), but honestly, there is no other place in the world I would rather be right now. I am excited to see the next play, and go experience another day in what seems to be an entirely new world. I dont have the camera equiptment to post pictures on this blog, but even if I did, I would probably just flood it with all the pictures I've taken. For my first trip outside of the states, It doesn't get much better than this. Just today, I was able to go backstage at one of the theaters and after that, some of the actors brought myself and another student to their dressing room for an exclusive question and answer session, and one of the actors gave us a copy of one of the movies he is in. That's just part of one day here, I honestly have no clue what to expect next. There are also just some things here that I have never seen before and may never see again, for example, the man on the metro with the blade part of an ice auger. Or also the Red Sqare and all of its beautiful buildings. There's so much here that there is no way I will ever get all of it, but I'm trying to get as much as I can, and so far, the trip is yet to disappoint.

Lines

Hello from balmy Russia!

It is only -4°F and -20°C this morning and I hear the swimming is wonderful this time of year. However, if I wanted to try the polar bear dips in the Moskva River I would have to deal with lines down by the bank.

The standing in line in Russia is something that you have to experience once in your life, it should go on your bucket list right next to the running of the bulls (I'm still not sure which one is safer). The term "standing in line" also is a little misleading, the last thing you do is stand. Imagine this, you are at the theater and you have to check in your coat, there is a line forming. We have all dealt with this situation and in the US what you would do is stand at the end of of the line and wait your turn. The line would be a little haphazard maybe and somebody would be saving a spot, the line would move slowly and we all would wish we had arrived earlier and secretly covet the person in front of the line's spot.

Now in Russia what would happen would be a little different, for starters the line would be less of a line and more of a mob. To me, if people in front carried some pitchforks and torches they could easily recreate the storming the castle in Jame Whale's Frankenstein movie. Once you have joined this mob to wait for the coat check lady, be prepared for the ride of your life, you will get shoved and you will get jostled. The first thing I can guarantee is that when you are in the line you will be instantly surrounded by other people. When you are surrounded, don't see your new neighbors as people. That little babushka on the right, to you she is no longer somebody's grandmother, she is your rival, your opponent, your blood enemy who has sworn to cut you and take your place in line. The family of three on your left with the cute little daughter, they are a tag team of cheating; one will distract you, one will cut you, and one glare at you when you try to get your spot back. After sizing up your opponents you need to prepare yourself, you are now at the starting gates of a race, when line begins to move get ready. The person in front of you will start their trek froward to the next space in line by shifting their weight first, this is where you start as well, lift a leg up an inch or so and mentally prepare yourself for the rush forward. When the person in front of you makes their move you follow suit and step forward, keep a straight line and steady balance, that babushka will push. Use your size and weight against the babushka and your quickness to speed past the family. If you have won the dash make sure to glare at your former rivals and make sure that they know that you knew they wanted your spot and that they couldn't get it because you are that much better than them. If you didn't win the race and find yourself behind, be sure to glare even harder then they do and make a mental note to find a voodoo store. Once you have finished glaring prepare yourself and look around at your new opponent next to you in line. The race doesn't end until the coat check.

A note on dining out

Hello all,
Sarah, Brad, Joey and I went to a fairly nice, decently priced restaurant called Sherbet on Ulitza Petrovka (same street as the prodyktbi) this afternoon. The food is actually quite good, but I ran into a bit of trouble when dealing with the menu. I looked for the most reasonably priced drink on the menu (besides water), and I found tea for a mere 40 rubels. HOWEVER, when the bill came around my total for the tea was 260! Kak uzhasna! The tea on the menu that I intended to order was simply a cup of tea, but they brought out a whole pot. When we asked the waitress about the price mixup, she said the bill was correct and that they don't even serve single cups of tea. Maybe it was my fault for not reading the menu more thoroughly, but in my humble opinion, restaurants should not have items on the menu that they will not be serving. Otherwise, I would have settled for a Pepsi.

Look before you leap,
Will

Oхy Rocks!

We all had a great time last night listening to Oksana Mysina and her band, Oxy Rocks, at the Pyatnitsky Bar last night. We got to meet Oksana Mysina who will be starring in K.I. from Crime which we will see next Wednesday. Oksana is a great performer, full of energy and an extremely talented musician. We had fun listening to her original songs as well as renditions of rock and blues tunes from Ray Charles to Elvis Presley with a French chanson thrown in for good measure. We also got to meet her husband, John Freedman, the theater critic for the Moscow Times. It was our one night off of theater while in Moscow - and I can't imagine a better way to spend that time.

It's official! We've arrived.

Greetings everyone! Well, it's official. We are in Moscow and situated well in the Godzillas Hostel. It took us forever to get here since we only had an hour between flights in Frankfurt and our flight was 40 minutes late. We ended up being rebooked on another flight even though they told us to run to the next plane. Well, at least we all got our exercise! Then the planes were backed up over Moscow which meant we had to circle for about a 1/2 hour. We finally got into Domodedovo airport, waited through the long passport control lines (all those planes apparently landed at once), and got all of our luggage.

We arrived at the hostel and I forced everyone on a miserable walk through frigid Moscow to do some experiential learning about Russian winters. Now they know first hand what took Napoleon and Hitler considerably more time to learn: Don't mess with Russia in Winter. This proves that Oles are smarter than despotic dictators. We bought groceries, changed money and began getting an understanding of the downtown Moscow area where we are located.

This morning we have our first short class and we're off to see Romeo and Juliet at the Pushkin Theater.

Less than a week to go!

It's hard to believe that we'll be on our way in less than a week. Unfortunately, the most recent terrorist attempt will make the travel much more difficult. We will all need to be at the airport by 8 AM (in Minneapolis). I was going to be there then anyway - now everyone will just have to join me! But then we're off (hopefully) to frigid Moscow. Actually, they've been a few degrees warmer than us, but the forecast for next week when we arrive is -13. Then it's supposed to warm up a bit - to negative 4 or 5 for the next few days. We'll stay nice and toasty in our Hostel. Judging from the emails, everyone's getting excited. I know I am as well - can't wait to get back onto the streets of Moscow and Petersburg. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends as well.

Now's the actual countdown. Students, feel free to blog some on your thoughts looking ahead to the trip.

A month from now we'll be in Moscow!

Actually, we'll have almost six plays under our belts by this time next month.  We've got 15 plays for sure and 5 more tentative - so we've reached the minimum of 20 plays.  Hooray!!! Look at the websites - most have pictures or videos from the productions.

In Moscow we'll be seeing:
Romeo and Juliet at the Pushkin Theater
Iolanthe at the Bolshoi
The Tsar's Bride at the Bolshoi
Gulliver's Travels at the Puppet Theater of Obraztsov
The Secret of the Old Cupboard (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) at the Theater on Maloj Bronnoj
Uncle Vanya at the Moscow Art Theater - the Theater Studio of Oleg Tabakov
Prince Caspian at the Theater on Maloj Bronnoj
He Was a Titular Counsellor (The Diary of a Madman) at the Peter Fomenko Studio
Master and Margarita at the Taganka Theater
K.I. from Crime at the Moscow Youth Theater
Salome at theТheater of Dramatic Art
The Black Monk at the Moscow Youth Theater
The Hairdresser at the Theater Praktika
The Blue Monster (The Green Bird) at the Satirikon

In St. Petersburg we'll see:
The Marriage at the Aleksandriinsky Theater
Chicago at the St. Petersburg theater of Musical Comedy
Moscow Choir at the Maly Drama Theater of Lev Dodin
Man Equals Man at the Aleksandriinsky Theater
Sadko at the Mariinsky Theater
Oedipus the King at the Theater on Liteiny
Scapin at the Priut Kommedianta