Settling in...to more snow!

it's been a while since my last post.  not sure why, but i know last week i didn't have much to say, was a pretty average week.  worked a lot, tried to work out in the eve's, then eat, by then it's nearly time to head to bed!  (well, for me, who is an early-to-bed kinda gal).  we are all kind of settling in now...i have breakfast at the hotel every morning with the italians...and some brits and a canadian.  we take the shuttle to work, either buy or make my coffee.  work a few hours.  go to the grocery store for lunch.  work more.  shuttle home.  work out.  dinner (either cooked, or in the exec lounge...but if i go to the exec lounge i'll likely get pulled into working more by the producer, so sometimes i avoid it), read a bit, maybe practice russian, then it's time to go to bed!  sometimes i'll call home...planned a trip for my folks to come out in june - can't wait!  hopefully i'll know a bit more russian so can order things all in russian, and get around.  that's my weakest area at the moment...wanting to learn more russian language.  meeting a tutor in a couple weeks for regular lessons - looking forward to that.

and then on friday night, we went out to Propaganda again to celebrate Glenda's birthday.  Glenda (or Glendina or Glendushka as we like to call her) is a fiery, dramatic italian girl.  just turning 29.  she is fantastic and one-of-a-kind.  speaks her mind, and we love her for it.  so we went to dinner and ate one of the best meals i've had since being in russia.  delicious tomato and basil salad and an entree of korean-style bbq beef.  yummy.  then the place turns into a nightclub, so we danced (horrible music, but it's the company that matters, right?).  a very fun night out.  i spoke a lot with another sara(h), from england, also 37.  works in casting.  so she and i and guido (italian, early 40's), spent the majority of the eve talking while the "kids" danced.  and then we joined them for a bit.  lots of vodka shots, as it was the waiter's birthday as well!  when in rome...

was FREEZING this weekend.  like, -19 freezing.  so, teens in fahrenheit?  and snowy!!!  we probably got 6 inches of fresh "powder" today!  and really, it is lovely snow.  parkites would love this snow.  it's no fun to maneuver around moscow in the snow and ice (seriously...we need some salt here...the sidewalks are SO icy!), but it would have been delightful to ski on!  very dry here, so the snow is light and beautiful.  i was one of the few to venture out both days this weekend.  a lot of people are starting to move out of the hotel now, so saturday i went on a walk-about around the neighborhood where the italians will be living.  and today i went to visit mike and julie-ann (our artistic production coordinators) at their flat in the arbat district...which used to be the old part of town, but now is the new part, with lots of modern hotels and restaurants and lots of neon in some parts.  they live right by the hard rock moscow (i didn't go, but they did!).  and they made me a tasty espresso from their espresso machine in their very modern ikea kitchen.  then we braved the cold again to go shopping at GUM, to the sochi merch store!!  if i'm going to nyc in april, i have to buy gifts to send to folks back home.  much easier to fly to nyc with gifts, and ship from there than to ship from here.  i got a PACKAGE from mom this week!  and it was fantastic!!!!!  more love in a box!!  the only not-fantastic thing was that i had to stand in line at the post office for an hour to pick it up.  there was only one woman working.  and i think you have to fill out forms in triplicate even to buy a stamp it seems.  whatever it is, it takes FOREVER.  i guess that is a comforting thought...post-offices are notoriously slow around the world.  but i got the package, after being cut in line by a 10-yr-old boy, who only wanted to buy a lottery ticket for his dad, so i let him cut, and then it took, i'm not kidding, 15 minutes to get the lottery ticket.  insane.  so much for being accommodating.

anyway, it was very snowy and very cold and very russia today.  spring is very much NOT around the corner.  sigh.

so i'm trying to settle in.  get into a routine as much as possible while still in the hotel.  hopefully moving soon.  i'm rooming with gerri, a lovely woman from canada.  she's the accommodations manager, and wants to live close to work, so i figured hey, we'll likely get a nice place if she's the accommodations manager!  plus, she wants to live near the river, which will be fun in the summer, and there are lots of parks and things in our future neighborhood.  hoping to get the lease on the place this week, and moving shortly thereafter.  that will be terrific, and then i can finally feel like i'm "living" in moscow.

so here are some pics from the weekend:

the bday party.  glenda is in the black and white stripes.  the waiter is in black.  we were his favorite group he's ever waited on, he said.  i bet he says that to all the groups...  but he did speak english which was very nice.

sarah (also my age!) at a lovely cafe we came across in the tverskoy neighborhood where she will be living.  there were photos of nyc on the walls of our booth!

mike and julie-ann's place.  julie-ann is making me an espresso.  :)  and, there's a HUGE shower, which is also a steamer, and has speakers inside it!

 from today.  soviet mural in the revolution square metro stop.  and snowy sidewalks of moscow!

bikes! the stores at GUM are ready for spring.  there are trees with fake cherry blossoms inside, and a sports shop has it's beach bikes out for sale.  reminds me of silver star...tho there aren't any friendly bulldogs begging for food at this bike shop.

my first matrushka doll purchase!  and i think it is quite appropriate that it is part of the sochi merch...this one is very mini...only about 3" tall!  very cute and touristy.

so yeah, i'm settling in here now...just can't wait to get into an apartment!!  we are getting to know the city better, starting to spread our wings and feel more comfortable going out and about.  will be fun to visit everyone's places when we all move out.  sad that i won't be having breakfast with the italians every morning, but will just need to meet them for sunday brunches in the city instead!

big hugs home.  xoxo