My New Apartment!

so when i returned from zurich on monday eve, i arrived to a new apartment!  no more hotel!  granted, the hotel is very easy...with lots of friends, a nice, free gym, free bfast and dinner.  but it's a hotel.  and i would MUCH rather live in an apartment, get to know a neighborhood, cook, etc.  and now i can!  i'm rooming with a lovely woman named gerri sing.  she is our accommodations manager (ensuring we'd have a stellar place!), is from vancouver, loves to cook, and is very chill.  perfect for me i think.  she chose a place in the krasna presnya neighborhood, a bit south, near one of the bends of the river.  in fact, we are directly across from the largest of the seven sisters buildings, which stalin had built, and are scattered around the center of moscow.  this one houses a very chic radisson hotel in part of it.  and there are lots of cruise boats (like day-cruises) and docked boats serving as restaurants along the river near our new home.  also lots of nice restaurants (and pricey).  and a 24-hour small grocer.  and it's a 15-20 min walk to the office, depending on what stoplights you hit, or how much ice you have to traverse to get there.  thankfully, the ice is starting to melt...which does mean that we need to forde a few deep street rivers, but at least it's becoming spring!!  still very cold (2 today), but there is hope!

and tonight i had my first russian language lesson!  i found a tutor through a colleague, a proper teacher, and she came to our place tonight to give me my first lesson.  we went over the alphabet, pronunciations, greetings, and some basic words.  most of which i new, but a lot of which filled in some gaps in my early knowledge of the language.  and she provided me with a workbook, so i have homework!  no hope of being fluent, but hope of being understood, and to communicate a bit.  i'll meet with her weekly, and perhaps 2x week at times, depending on my need and availability.  her name is julia.  she is a teacher of russian to lots of business people.  and she was "very satisfied" with what i have managed on my own - reading the alphabet and a few words.  i made flashcards and she was very pleased when i showed her.   can't wait for the next lesson, when i think we'll get into more things that i don't know, and which will be more helpful in daily life.

here are some photos from my new place, and my new neighborhood:

so when i landed in on monday eve, flying from zurich this is what greeted me.  oh moscow.  you sweet, sweet frozen tundra, you.  

and then this is our living room!  (on the right).  our landlords are installing satellite tv for us tomorrow. so we can get 3-4 english stations!  woo hoo!

there is a PIANO in our foyer!!  JPS, the keyboard lives on.  

this is the russian "white house."  it is HUGE.  and it is across the street.  and heavily guarded.  putin was there yesterday.  so this is a very safe neighborhood.

the river from the bridge near our apt.  the river is at the end of our block.  then we walk along it, cross the bridge, and we get to the radisson, which is that birthday-cake looking building on the left.

the seven sisters/radisson.  gorgeous building.  and lit up at night, which we can see from our street.

on the left, the mural in the ceiling of the lobby of the radisson.  on the right, the river is finally melting! ice flow!

the view of the "white house" from our window...on the 8th floor!  no one above us, which is nice.

my delicious lentil soup at a nearby restaurant.  it is a fab place.  it is azherbajian food.  lots of dried fruits, lamb (i go for the chicken...), tea. delicious soups (lentil, pumpkin, cold cucumber), and kebabs, and dumplings, breads, etc.  likely take mom and dad here when they visit!

the selection of dried fruits.  you can purchase them if you wish, as well as honey made at the restaurant.  the restaurant is called barashuka.  it's prob a chain...but it is a very good one!  and a very nice, classy atomosphere.  

gerri's salad.  one of only a few proper salad's i've seen - it's the mark of a good, high-end restaurant.  tho you could eat there for relatively cheap, if you still to bread and soup.

the sweet park near home, which i can walk thru on my way to/from work.  (don't worry mom and dad, i won't walk here alone after dark!!)  it is very popular, tons of people walking thru during the day.  it is populated with fun, surreal sculptures and a fab playground.  going to be a great spot in spring/summer.

more of the park...with the fab playground.

gerri working away at her mac, in our kitchen!  and then, the entrance to the park.

another view out of our apartment...that is another seven sisters building in the background...our office is between our place and that building.

so like i said, it's great to be "home."  it's a warm, comfortable, lovely apartment.  high ceilings, beautiful floors and molding.  and our land lady is lovely...she gave us each a pair of slippers!  and even a couple of pairs of slippers for guests!! (everyone takes off their shoes when they enter a home here).  and we have a guest room!  and lots of cleaning supplies, and a washer, and a gorgeous, deep tub in gerri's bathroom.  i have my own bathroom with a turkish steam/sauna...tho it isn't working, so they will come to fix it (do you sense the theme here?  lots of things need fixing...as nice as everything is).  and an ESPRESSO MACHINE.  the highlight.  so life outside of work is pretty good so far.  as comfortable as it can be for now, i guess!  work is crazy, but i won't talk about it here - not allowed really.  so it's good that i have a comfortable home and a nice roommate to come home to.  she is in sochi for a few days this week, so i have the place (ie her bathtub) to myself.  will be nice when she comes home tho, too.

ok, to bed!  more later.  will hopefully get some good sightseeing in this weekend.  it's finally "warming up!"