Bread, Beer, and Bargains

Hello all! I am back! I am feeling much better (we figured out that I did indeed have food poisoning, blech) and am making up for my lost weekend. I was in a little tizzy because I realized I only have about 5 weeks left (NOOO!!!!), so I have been trying to do as much as possible.

Last Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, so some friends and I went out to celebrate. We tried to find this Irish bar everyone had heard of, but, alas, it was closed. So, instead, we went to Hard Rock and just hung out for the night. Oh, and ate lots of brownie sundaes. Met a lot of really cool new people, who I went out with this weekend.

This Saturday we FINALLY started our politics class. Because it is at such a very awkward time (11am on Saturdays) and the group I have class with goes out of town a lot, it has been repeatedly canceled. First class was a blast and I think it is going to turn out to be a very interesting class. The professor is relatively young, which is a nice change, but just old enough to have remembered a lot of the things he is teaching us (politilogy from transition onward) which makes the class all the more relevant.

After class, I planned to finally go to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War with Susan, but she had made plans to go out of town for the day. So, I decided to just explore a bit. I started off at Kropotkinskaya (my perpetual starting ground), picked a direction, and went. I passed by this really interesting market with tasty desserts, a nice little park, and some beautiful old houses. Eventually, I stumbled upon the Burganov Museum (it was not even in my guidebook. Gasp! It is fallible!). Burganov is an artist and sculptor who did the Pushkin and Natalia sculpture out in front of the Church of the Great Ascension. After paying the ecquivalent of $.66, I went into the museum and promptly outside. Not because it was terrible, but because the museum is outside. It was very unique. Burganov does (well, did, he died last year) a lot of very modern sculptures, some of which are massive. He had one of Pushkin, which I swooned over for a while. After exploring around the sculpture garden, you can go in a number of different studios (some of which are still being used) that hold paintings and photographs. Finally, you go into the main indoor building – up a rickety scaffolding, inside a gold door, across some more rickety scaffolding some 20 ft. in the air and then finally down some steps onto a mulch floor. Another one of the more unique museums around Moscow. I loved it! :-)

After that, I headed to the ring line down by the river to see a Gulag memorial museum. It was founded by the wife of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Sakharov. It is located right on an embankment by the Moscow River and right in front of this beautiful little park which I couldn't get into for the life of me (sigh). The museum itself is very small (one large room plus a library) but completely gut-wrenching. It was like going to the Holocaust museum for the first time. The room is filled with the personal effects of many of the people at the concentration camps. Along the walls are photographs of different people from the camp. But the most moving parts are the execution and personal files of individuals who lived and died at the camps. I could only understand parts, but I was near tears by the end. Very, very moving. The museum is very well documented and you can find information about many of the people from the camps. While I was there, a man came in with his young son and showed him one of the files who turned out to be his grandmother.
After that, I went shopping a bit to raise my spirits (yea for capitalism!) and talked to mum. Then, I went out with some friends for dinner. It was an Azerbaijani holiday, so we went to this great little Azerbaijani restaurant with some of my friends from class and these two new Turkish guys I met on St. Patrick's Day. They are very interesting and were nice enough to let me ask them lots of questions about their culture and what-not. I got into a little feminist debate with one of them about whether or not women and men should have equal rights. It was fun. Next thing you know, I will be visiting Turkey. So if I am not home soon, you will know where I am...

Today, we finally made it to the Ismalovo Market, one of the biggest and most famous markets in Russia (and the world for all I know). Yes mom, that's the one Anthony Bourdain talks about all the time. The actual market only makes of the fraction of the whole thing which is a couple of km squared. Huge. I got lost, repeatedly. They sale anything and everything. We went to the unofficial market for a while, but Susan hates getting touched and it was very crowded, so we left for the official part (basically, its the difference between stuff for tourists and stuff for regular shoppers). It was a lot of fun. Susan and Francesca got cold and bored pretty quick, so Jake (one of the guys from my class) and I left them at a cafe and went out. We had great bread and beer from some one of the vendors (oh, yum, you have no idea...) and got down to business. I think I found my calling: Hannah, Professional Bargainer. I never thought I would be able to bargain well, but I am actually quite good. (go figure) Which was awesome. Jake was entertained and I got lots of stuff for cheap. Nobody ever expects the tiny little bouncy girl. Cue evil laugh here... We only got to see a fraction of the market, so I think we will go again in a couple of weeks. There are a couple more markets around town I want to check out as well. I need to hone my bargaining skills...

Gaahh! So much to do and so little time! Classes were moved this week, so I am going out again tomorrow. I am gong to go check out this cool little cemetery I found (no, that's not creepy) then may meet up with some friends for ice-skating at Gorky Park, Sculpture Park, art shopping, cafe, and Yeliseev store. Big days, big days! Wednesday, Susan and I are going to a ballet and then, weekend again! I am going to go see if I can make it out of town. Yasnaya Polyana? Hmmm.....