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[kitezh]

Winter's End/May Holidays

I've been baking.

My friend Olivia came to visit from Paris.

We went to some Den Pobedy (Victory Day) celebrations in a rainy Yaroslavl on May 9th.

There is a tradition on Victory Day of giving flowers to veterans on the street. This guy seems to have collected quite a few.

We sat in a few different cafes to escape the rain.

Reform cake.

Sushi

Olivia and I made some chocolate chip cookies.

Not a bad end to the May holidays, despite the rain.

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New Apartment

One of the best things about it (other than the fact that it's ALL MINE) is the washing machine. After doing laundry in the bathtub for months, it's nice to just throw my dirty clothes into a machine and have them emerge clean. The concept of a dryer, however, seems to be unknown here.

My shower is really weird. It's this futuristic-pod-type thing. It also has a seat.

The kitchen has a mural. And a pull-out couch.

The big room:

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Saratov, City of Dreams

We went skiing in "the nature" (as my students often call the outdoors). This is me with Grigory Petrovich, the father of Sarah's host at the university where she works. He used to be a doctor, so obviously when I fell in the snow, he told me to get up as quickly as possible because "women shouldn't sit on the cold ground." Russians believe that this causes infertility.

We went to see the Hunger Games, and in true Russian fashion, we both posed with the movie poster.

There is a street in Saratov named for Sacco and Vanzetti...

Me and Ksyusha, Sarah's dorm cat.

Sarah in front of "Macy's."

One of Sarah's classrooms.

A tasty dinner we made. On a hot plate.

Sarah made a tasty pumpkin pie with a can of pumpkin she bought in Paris. 

The highlight of my visit was probably the Dima Bilan concert at the Saratov circus. 

We put on a lot of make-up to look like Russian teenage girls. It must have worked, because we went to a bar after the concert, and our waitress demanded to see our documents to make sure we were 18. This never happens in Russia.

Not sure what happens at a 7-D film...

A street that was entirely flooded, a common sight.

My bed on the train to Saratov.

Wearing a fur coat and drinking some wine.

Saratov from a mountaintop.

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It's still winter.

UGHHHHHHHH

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Идеальный день/A Perfect Day

It was pretty grey out when I left my apartment, but luckily it's getting warmer. You can see some of the sidewalk now (it was basically covered with ice for the past 4 months).

That red-and-white-striped tape is meant to keep pedestrians from walking too close to the buildings. As everything melts, icicles tend to fall from the roofs. Supposedly this causes some deaths every year.

A lot of ice is waiting to fall from this drainpipe.

The sidewalk! Finally. 

All cops are basters. Or, busters. 

So excited for The Hunger Games

Not a great picture (from Blackberry), but apparently they're making a new American Pie (Amerikanski pirog) movie? Obviously a necessary addition to pop culture.

I walked by this store that carried "Elegant women's clothing for women size 52-76" (plus size, I guess), and there were all of these old ladies sitting around. I'm not sure if they were waiting for something to happen, or what. Maybe they were just tired.

Some descriptive sweaters. They had models that said "Smart," "Blonde," "White," "Perfect," "Sunny," "Black," and, most confusingly, "Cactus." I bought one of the Perfect ones, obviously.

Russian Mall Rats: These girls brought champagne and cookies with them to the food court...Also, the girl on the left's weave was totally sticking out.

I thought about buying this.

While waiting for the bus, I also contemplated buying a fax machine.

The banner on the fence is advertising an equestrian-dance show at the circus called "Viva Zorro!"

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What I've Been Doing

"No! It's too little!"

Not a whole lot, as it turns out. Mainly watching marathons of television shows (currently I'm on the Sopranos), drinking, sleeping, and going to the gym. And, I guess, teaching English.

The gym where I work out has this cool Soviet-era mosaic on the side.

I eat a lot of things that I would probably avoid in the US, like burgers with prosciutto on them and milkshakes. Actually, I'd probably eat this anywhere. (Corner Burger, Moscow)

A notebook I bought for planning lessons (haha). Russia has great notebooks.

The Hunger Games in Russian. I might read it, if I get the urge to do something more productive than watching tv. I'm definitely going to the movie when it opens next week, though. 

So, nothing too thrilling, but I did go to Moscow last weekend, which was a nice break. I'm also going to Saratov on Friday, which is 16 hours from Moscow by train. 

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Maslenitsa, Day One

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslenitsa

Today was the first day of Maslenitsa,* which is comparable to Mardi Gras or Carnaval in other cultures. This week-long celebration is a final hurrah before the 40 days of Lent. However, the ancient Slavic peoples also celebrated the coming of spring around this time, so Maslenitsa is also meant to be a sun-celebration of sorts. The main food eaten during this week is bliny, a kind of pancake (made with a lot of butter). They are very similar to crêpes. 

Me and my friend Alexandra, posing with one of the Maslenitsa dolls made by children from different schools in the region. This one is made up to look like a traditional Russian housewife, holding a plate with a stack of bliny.

I went to the central festivities of the city this afternoon with Alexandra and her parents. We looked at the dolls that were lining a path in a park in the center of the city.

Some were made up to look very beautiful.

  Some were less visually-appealing, like this one representing Baba Yaga, an old, scary witch from Russian folklore.

This one represents the Chudo maslenitsa, or the "Maslenitsa Miracle"

And, this one is the "Russian Soul," at least according to the label.

Some were just hilarious, like this one:

And this koketka (coquette):

And whatever this is:

And this Lady Gaga/Lana Del Rey-looking this (with some random babushka):

All of these effigies will be burned in a week on the banks of the Volga.

________________

*Loosely-translatable as butter-week, coming from the word maslo, which means oil, or butter, in Russian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslenitsa

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Finger-Lickin' Good

These name of these cookies literally translates to "You will lick fingers." Whose fingers you will lick, however--unclear.

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This Clock

Sounds exactly like the doorbell on American Horror Story. 

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Just Riding the Metro

With my giant drill

"in difficulty and in acheivement"

100% illegally-snapped in the Moscow metro

The color of the train wall was more mint chocolate chip than it seems.

Santa in the Okeanarium.

New Carl's Jr. next to the Primorskaya Metro in St. Petersburg.

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I just came for the food...

Went to Moscow a couple of weeks ago, mainly to eat food that you can't get in Yaroslavl (seriously). It's pretty grim when you get excited about going to a "diner," but really, beggars can't be choosers.

Our spread, including sweet potato fries. Yes, that is a bucket of MGD. 

Didn't actually eat here, but it's good to know that they maintain the possessive apostrophe, even in the Cyrillic transliteration.

The ghost of Nabokov is everywhere.

KFC sign in front of the biggest/first MAKDONALDS in Russia. 

Stardogs, but the Cyrillic letters look like Crapdogs.

Oh, and I took pictures of things unrelated to food.

The Bolshoi Theater lives up to it's name.

Matryoshki dolls on Staryi Arbat, a really touristy street.

The wall decorated in remembrance of Viktor Tsoi, the lead singer of the group Kino, who died in a car accident in the early 90's.

Gogol' looking creepy.

The DINER.