Shady Restaurants and $.66 Tickets to the Bolshoi

So, Wednesday was AWESOME! Started out as class per usual, but after, I went out with a friend who is leaving in a couple of days. We went to Ismalovo Market (that really big market I went to over the weekend) and, in the Vietnamese section of the market behind the chicken feet and fish guts, was this awesome little Chinese restaurant. They spoke no English and only a little Russian, but fortunately, my friend is from China. He ordered and we sat down next to a lady plucking a chicken while a guy climbed in and out of the window and a cat sat on the table. It was so cool. Silly American health codes which don't allow this. Then, the lady came with our food which was supposed to be duck stir fry and chicken soup. As she put down the food in front of us, she told us that she wasn't quite sure what meat it was, but that it might be duck. It was absolutely delicious. I am going to see if I can find it again and through darts at the board to order since I can't read it anyways. Hongda pointed out a couple more shady restaurants that he likes, so I am going to have to try those. I love this country...

After lunch, I was all excited and made him show me a good place to buy desserts. Next to some more dead fish was this little stand that sold an assortment of fried animal parts and some desserts. We had a rice paste ball coated in sesame seeds with a red bean paste filling. Yum, yum, yum.

After lunch and dessert, I met up with Susan outside the Bolshoi Theater. For almost every performance, the theater has a student section. Basically, a bunch of students line out in front of the ticket office in the freezing cold and wait around for a couple of hours. At exactly 5:30pm, the office opens for students and blood and mayhem ensues... The first 40 students that survive the destruction that is a Russian queue get tickets to the night's performance for 20 rubles (which is basically $.66). Yep, that's right, I got tickets to the Bolshoi Theater for less than what it takes me to buy a candy bar. Granted, they are not the best seats in the world. Actually, they are usually not even seats. Once the performance starts and everyone takes their seats, the students are filed into the top tier and told to sit in the extra seats (or lean against the wall if there are none). We went and saw Giselle, which is one of the most popular ballets, so it was pretty crowded and we ended up standing the first half. After that, some people moved and we got seats along the side. But still, it was pretty awesome. We are going next week, and the week after that, and maybe the week after that... Why didn't I discover this sooner?!?!

So, there is a little secret for y'all – cheap tickets to the Bolshoi. Now, no telling...