anyway, we've been trying to find the joy here in m-town through the rain. going on 2 weeks without seeing the sun really. it's come out here and there, but always hides away under nasty storm clouds. here are some pics of rainy moscow:
beckie and i only just managed to escape the showers while eating at a cute restaurant near the office. the restaurant is pretty much outdoors, you sit in little porches, basically, while the waiters dash down an open-air alley to each table. geogian food, sushi, and hookah pipes...pretty standard restaurant for moscow! it's been incredibly difficult for me to find food that i love here. some of it has been tasty, but in general, i'm not impressed. i might have to step it up and spend more $. we are starting operation dinner out to see if we can't find some more tasty places. i have a HUGE craving for italian...i'm tired of georgian and pierogies already! (tho the bread here is amazing...)
just between storms..this is one of the seven sisters i see on my walk home.
the storm rolling in! or away...i can't tell.
the evening sun between storms. it stays light until at least 10/10:30 already!
on saturday, between rains, glenda and i went to a gallery...well, it was a collection of galleries, or design studios, or schools, or all of the above. i'm finding that contemporary/artistic moscow is filled with kind of re-purposed old industrial parks...but more like re-purposed apartment complexes maybe...they are places that are tucked behind buildings on the street, with little alley-ways and small building connected together to create one large complex. there are hardly any signs telling you what is what, so it's anybody's guess as to what is a gallery and what is workshop and what is some artist's home. so you try a bunch of doors and ask around, and eventually find what you are looking for. seems like something that should be in east berlin. so glenda and i went searching for an exhibit called "Recycle. Future Archaeology." it turned out to be a rather small exhibit of unexciting artworks made from re-purposed materials. eh. but we found vending machines selling glass jewelry (i bought a necklace), a photo booth, and the street art in the complex was much cooler than the gallery work. some of the street art is below:
birthdays in russia are a BIG DEAL. BIG. there are some traditions that are strictly adhered to, at least in our office. first of all, if it is a woman's birthday, EVERYONE has to give her flowers. big bunches of flowers. so, um, listen up mom and dad...you'd better find a florist in moscow to deliver my flowers on my birthday or it will be a very sad day. so every department gives the woman flowers, but a male member of the department must deliver them to her, and give her a kiss on the cheek. so she is surrounded by a wall of flowers all day. seriously, it looks like a jungle. amazing. then, whomever has the birthday is obligated to bring in treats for everyone in the office. fruit, cakes, periogi's whatever. i'm sure it's not cheap. and i don't know how some of them afford it, they must save up all year to give food and treats to EVERYONE else on their birthday. it's a pretty fun tradition, actually. here are some pictures from a recent birthday in the office. this one was particularly grand because it was our russian ceo's bday:
this is a lot of our russian colleagues on my floor. and they are gathered around...
this amazing spread of fruits, cheese plates, and bread/crackers. and it's not easy to find good fruit here unless you spend a LOT of rubles.
just an example of one bouquet.
this is the poster of the birthdays of our russian colleages for the month of may. it is in russian on the left, english on the right. we internationals don't have a poster up, i think mostly cuz no one wants to have to buy fruit and cakes for the whole office!
anyway, pretty slow week and weekend. i'm focused on trying to find good restaurants with international food. needing a bit of a break from dill-flavor, which is in pretty much every russian dish. :) went shopping at a very fancy grocery store the other day and just acknowledged that i would be spending a lot for fancy items like soy milk, coconut milk, blueberries, raspberries and other foods that are staples of my diet in america. i spent over $100 on one bag of groceries, mostly fruit. and a box of macaroons. :)
have been cooking a lot and learning to perfect a good curry. and last night gerri, an exceptional cook, made us a pork roast and puttanesca pasta. i made bruschetta with roasted garlic. and we had fresh fruit and macaroons for dessert. amazing!!! now to find that in a restaurant...
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