This little update is to let you know that I have moved my little journal over to a wordpress address: http://recountingrus.wordpress.com/ This page will remain as a memorial but all new posts will be at the new address.
I also promise that this week will see a major update chronicling my adventures to Jerusalem, Yaroslavl and more.
16 March, 2008
28 February, 2008
A scrambled post
So one thing I've noticed is that egg shells here in Russia are harder than what I'm used to. The woman I lived with said it's because they're brown eggs which I hadn't thought of. Besides that I can't remember the last time I broke a brown egg in America. So if any of you in the land of the free feel like testing a brown egg and letting me know...
In other observations, I have been disappointed by the so-called winter here in Moscow. I thought it was promising when we had the first snow in October but since then it's all been a wash which has turned into a mudslide. The snow has been minimal - there hasn't been one time that it has been up to my knees - and a far cry from any image I previously had of a Russian winter. It has been quite cold a few times but no colder than the coldest parts of Chicago's winter. And now it seems the winter is over. For the past three or four days the snow has been melting to reveal the piles of poo that will probably be there until summer. I do have to say, however, that when I've been outside of Moscow the snow appears to be more prevalent.
If anyone hadn't heard I've been working as an editor for an English language magazine and news source. I'm now on my third week at the office and going strong...
So you (self-centered) Americans probably didn't know that last Saturday was Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland here in Russia. Originally it was the day for the Soviet army but all that's done away with now. Besides being another day for those who serve in the armed forces it is a day for men in general (of course everyday is men's day but this day particularly so). So last Friday afternoon at work the women in the office, of which there are about 20, had a small party for the 5 men in the office. On Saturday my ever attentive fiance took me to a concert in honour of the day and Patriarch Aleksey who's names' day was coming up.
So here's the program of the concert which was appropriately called "Defenders of the Earthly and Heavenly Fatherland" (contrary to the picture, however, it was not in that church)
The performers ranged from a few choirs which sang church music to traditional Russian folk music to orchestral compositions.
To my surprise when I was looking at the program it seemed to me that one of the soloists looked like one of the men in the choir at St. Antipas where I go to church. When said performer entered the stage my eyes proved not to have been tricking him. Moreover also in the small choir in which he performed turned out to be two more members of the choir at St. Antipas. On top of that, the choir director deserves some recognition...imagine Neo (except in light brown) doing the robot dance and you have the choir director:
For those of you who don't really believe I'm in Moscow or that I attended such a concert I will present photo evidence for your doubting eyes to see:
For more pictures (of the concert, not of me at the concert) click here.
While you are all particularly self-centered I think you all know that an election is coming up in the ole RF (Russian Federation that is). I have to say that I am pleased with the lack of advertising such that can be seen in the US of A. (Of course, I don't watch tv so I don't know what goes on there.) But one interesting bit of spreading the word I noticed conveniently printed on a metro pass:
The observant viewer will probably notice that this is simply an exhortation to vote in the elections with no mention of who to vote for. You may say that there really that there really isn't much of a choice of who to vote for but for me that's neither here nor there.
Now, in the consumer crackhaven that is consumer America no crackhead is surprised by seeing a comment card at your favorite crackhouse. Russia, on the other hand and probably for a short time being, is approaching the consumer cooler. Where else but in the window to the West would we be likely to see this cooler warming up? Observe:
For those of you deficient in the art of reading I will translate to the common: Dear guests! We work for you, therefore your opinions and wishes are important for us. Please answer our questions and express your thoughts about service in our restaraunt.
For those of you whose memory has not been completely cracked you will remember my post about my upcoming wedding and the paperwork involved. I now present you with photo evidence of a certain paper exhibiting (even for the deficient) the handwriting that caused so much trouble:
In other observations, I have been disappointed by the so-called winter here in Moscow. I thought it was promising when we had the first snow in October but since then it's all been a wash which has turned into a mudslide. The snow has been minimal - there hasn't been one time that it has been up to my knees - and a far cry from any image I previously had of a Russian winter. It has been quite cold a few times but no colder than the coldest parts of Chicago's winter. And now it seems the winter is over. For the past three or four days the snow has been melting to reveal the piles of poo that will probably be there until summer. I do have to say, however, that when I've been outside of Moscow the snow appears to be more prevalent.
If anyone hadn't heard I've been working as an editor for an English language magazine and news source. I'm now on my third week at the office and going strong...
So you (self-centered) Americans probably didn't know that last Saturday was Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland here in Russia. Originally it was the day for the Soviet army but all that's done away with now. Besides being another day for those who serve in the armed forces it is a day for men in general (of course everyday is men's day but this day particularly so). So last Friday afternoon at work the women in the office, of which there are about 20, had a small party for the 5 men in the office. On Saturday my ever attentive fiance took me to a concert in honour of the day and Patriarch Aleksey who's names' day was coming up.
So here's the program of the concert which was appropriately called "Defenders of the Earthly and Heavenly Fatherland" (contrary to the picture, however, it was not in that church)
The performers ranged from a few choirs which sang church music to traditional Russian folk music to orchestral compositions.
To my surprise when I was looking at the program it seemed to me that one of the soloists looked like one of the men in the choir at St. Antipas where I go to church. When said performer entered the stage my eyes proved not to have been tricking him. Moreover also in the small choir in which he performed turned out to be two more members of the choir at St. Antipas. On top of that, the choir director deserves some recognition...imagine Neo (except in light brown) doing the robot dance and you have the choir director:
For those of you who don't really believe I'm in Moscow or that I attended such a concert I will present photo evidence for your doubting eyes to see:
For more pictures (of the concert, not of me at the concert) click here.
While you are all particularly self-centered I think you all know that an election is coming up in the ole RF (Russian Federation that is). I have to say that I am pleased with the lack of advertising such that can be seen in the US of A. (Of course, I don't watch tv so I don't know what goes on there.) But one interesting bit of spreading the word I noticed conveniently printed on a metro pass:
The observant viewer will probably notice that this is simply an exhortation to vote in the elections with no mention of who to vote for. You may say that there really that there really isn't much of a choice of who to vote for but for me that's neither here nor there.
Now, in the consumer crackhaven that is consumer America no crackhead is surprised by seeing a comment card at your favorite crackhouse. Russia, on the other hand and probably for a short time being, is approaching the consumer cooler. Where else but in the window to the West would we be likely to see this cooler warming up? Observe:
For those of you deficient in the art of reading I will translate to the common: Dear guests! We work for you, therefore your opinions and wishes are important for us. Please answer our questions and express your thoughts about service in our restaraunt.
For those of you whose memory has not been completely cracked you will remember my post about my upcoming wedding and the paperwork involved. I now present you with photo evidence of a certain paper exhibiting (even for the deficient) the handwriting that caused so much trouble:
19 February, 2008
It's the handwriting that counts
This fabulous piece of crapitecture houses the "Palace of Weddings"
I believe my regular readers know that I have proposed marriage to and been accepted by a certain resident of Moscow. You residents of consumer friendly America probably think that there couldn't be much of a simpler thing to do considering anyone of you could be in Vegas within the day and marry the citizen of the opposite sex (for the time being) of your choice. Well in Russia it's not so simple considering its unfortunate bureaucratic Soviet past. During Soviet times, and remaining unchanged to date, "marriage" became the act of signing a marriage license at ZAGS (registry office).
Soon we will be this happy couple signing "the document."
What is most unfortunate is the great pomp that is now the modern Russian "marriage." It is comical how so many modern Western traditions have been imported into the Russian wedding (limos, receptions, &ect.) but that all the real substance is the signing of a document.
Soon my bride and I will ascend these majestic steps to the above seen "desk of destiny."
Once again you may say that signing a few papers is not so difficult. I would agree with you but then you have to remember that I am a foreigner and almost everything is more difficult for foreigners. First of all the foreigner must have an approved statement ($30) from the American embassy stating that they are not currently married. Next this statement must be approved ($4 and one week wait) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the RF (Russian Federation). While waiting for this the foreigner should have their passport translated and notarized ($20 and next day service). Having gathered all these requisite documents my Russian bride and I made our way to "the palace of weddings no.4" to submit our paperwork.
As upon visiting almost every office to do with the government one needs to be ready for a long wait. Surprisingly the day we went there wasn't a huge line so we only waited for probably 30 minutes. After being admitted and declaring our intentions our papers were checked and scrutinized. After a few adjustments to my declaration of not being married my passport translation was checked. And thus began the problems... The silly translators translated "Given Names" as "Name, Patronymic" and proceded to state my first name as "Name" and my middle name as "Patronymic." Disregarding the fact that my declaration of non-marriage had just been illegally modified this slight mis-translation couldn't be accepted. Once again, never mind that other government bodies often call middle names "patronymics." So only thing left to do was go back and have the translation fixed. One consolation, however was receiving the paperwork and bill ($8) in advance.
Thankfully the translators were nice enough to fix their mistake but, however, when I arrived at 4 or 4.30 on Friday the notary had already left for the day. So all that was left to do was leave it for the next week. Having picked up my translation on Tuesday we once again set out for the "palace" which one, thinking it not be so busy on such a day, would be wrong. This day we waited at least an hour while 6 other couples either filled out declarations of marriage or divorce.
Having been given a marriage form on our last trip we filled it mostly out in advance but had a few questions before completing it. So the ZAGSer glued our receipt to the back and examined what we had done so far and told us how to fill out the rest. Well my lovely fiance had filled out my part as I don't have pretty hand writing. So once she was all done the ZAGSer noticed that she was filling out my part and started saying it would have to be re-written by me. (Don't forget that with such official papers there is the space for a signature which I, of course, would write.) I must remind you that this same ZAGSer had all but 2 minutes ago examined this paper which had the exact same handwriting all over it. So now the ZAGSer proceeded to rip off the receipt that she had just glued to the first sheet and glued it to a new one (once again disregarding the obvious that it would be much easier to fill out the paper without glue smeared all over the back of it). Once the paper had been thoroughly filled out the ZAGSer compared all three of my documents and my passport to one another for the third time.
At this point I, of course, have to tell you the kicker. One of the questions we had asked about filling out the document was which address to put as place of residence as both my fiance and I live at places other than where we are officially registered as living. (On my declaration of non-marriage I had accidentally put my as well as my fiance's actual place of residence.) It turned out that such details are of no importance but what is really important is penmanship.
The other thing that makes Russia different from Vegas is that one has to wait 31 days before the marriage document can be signed. So on March 20 we will be "married."
To see more photos of so-called weddings click here.
01 February, 2008
A picture post
Peter "the Great" piloting the storm cloud he brought over Russia.
A strange statue to find in any case and especially among old Soviet statues: Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus.
Memorial sculpture of sorts for those who were repressed by the Reds.
21 January, 2008
Snow at long last
Moscow has finally had a good snow after what seems like at least a month of cold with no consolation of snow; hopefully it will last through the rest of winter. I bought ice skates yesterday after contemplating on the subject for a while. Last weekend I had gone to a mall and skated on their little rink with the poor skates they rent and decided that I want to skate more as it is an excellent workout. In several parks around town the sidewalks are iced over and made into a type of skating rink so last night I was invited to a birthday party for which we first skated at one of the said parks.
In other news I quit my teaching job about a month ago. As that was the case I had to move again since the company I worked for was renting my apartment. After searching with no luck I have been able to stay with a neighbour of a friend of a friend. She has been kind enough to allow me to stay until I find another place.
In that regard I had found an advert at St. Tikhon's University for a room which I decided to check out. So a friend and I set up a time to visit and set out... When we arrived we rang the flat as normal people do but no one answered. There was someone else entering the building so we went in with him and decided to call using the telephone. So we eventually got through and went up. When we made it to the flat we also rang like normal people do. Answering the door was a middle aged woman who had about the same appearance as Gollum from lack of light. When we came into the flat there was one light on in the hallway which was probably about 20 watts. She invited us to look at the room which was a very nice spacious room with a balcony (this room actually had about 2 or 3 lights on). We then returned to the hallway and my friend and I noticed in the bathroom a sign over the sink reminding everyone to turn off the lights and water. My friend starting asking the woman what it meant and who controls the light and water. In short the flat belongs to the woman's parents who live most of the year in some village. Said parents only wanted their children staying at the flat and evidently check the bills to see what's going on (the phone is completely off limits...). The parents come to town in turn - one in the summer, one in the fall - for a few days or a few weeks so at that point the unauthorized occupants have to vacate. (If I wanted to live there I was only to bring the most necessary items for ease of vacating.) So this woman's brother also lived there, evidently, but she would not let us meet him even though he was in the neighbouring room. Upon my agreement to live there I could have met the brother (I have a feeling he was probably something like Sloth). On top of hiding the fact that I would be living there from the parents the neighbours also shouldn't know that I would be living there. When asked how this was possible we were told that I would have to leave after the neighbours had left and arrive after they had arrived. The woman was even nervous and perturbed at the possibility of the neighbours knowing that someone had even visited the flat. So considering my lifelong fear of being chopped up into tiny pieces and fed to homeless dogs I declined the flat...
Here is Christ the Saviour under snow:
And a good reminder for all:
(On the streets of the capital live about 30000 homeless dogs. "We are to answer for those we have domesticated." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
You didn't think it possible but the horrible truth is true: Moscow has become completely Westernized:
Some more random pictures:
It's hip to write graffiti in English - even if it makes no sense (it's also hip on clothes).
A type of chapel to mark the spot where a man died in a plane crash: (There is a full size chapel down the road a few hundred feet)
In other news I quit my teaching job about a month ago. As that was the case I had to move again since the company I worked for was renting my apartment. After searching with no luck I have been able to stay with a neighbour of a friend of a friend. She has been kind enough to allow me to stay until I find another place.
In that regard I had found an advert at St. Tikhon's University for a room which I decided to check out. So a friend and I set up a time to visit and set out... When we arrived we rang the flat as normal people do but no one answered. There was someone else entering the building so we went in with him and decided to call using the telephone. So we eventually got through and went up. When we made it to the flat we also rang like normal people do. Answering the door was a middle aged woman who had about the same appearance as Gollum from lack of light. When we came into the flat there was one light on in the hallway which was probably about 20 watts. She invited us to look at the room which was a very nice spacious room with a balcony (this room actually had about 2 or 3 lights on). We then returned to the hallway and my friend and I noticed in the bathroom a sign over the sink reminding everyone to turn off the lights and water. My friend starting asking the woman what it meant and who controls the light and water. In short the flat belongs to the woman's parents who live most of the year in some village. Said parents only wanted their children staying at the flat and evidently check the bills to see what's going on (the phone is completely off limits...). The parents come to town in turn - one in the summer, one in the fall - for a few days or a few weeks so at that point the unauthorized occupants have to vacate. (If I wanted to live there I was only to bring the most necessary items for ease of vacating.) So this woman's brother also lived there, evidently, but she would not let us meet him even though he was in the neighbouring room. Upon my agreement to live there I could have met the brother (I have a feeling he was probably something like Sloth). On top of hiding the fact that I would be living there from the parents the neighbours also shouldn't know that I would be living there. When asked how this was possible we were told that I would have to leave after the neighbours had left and arrive after they had arrived. The woman was even nervous and perturbed at the possibility of the neighbours knowing that someone had even visited the flat. So considering my lifelong fear of being chopped up into tiny pieces and fed to homeless dogs I declined the flat...
Here is Christ the Saviour under snow:
And a good reminder for all:
(On the streets of the capital live about 30000 homeless dogs. "We are to answer for those we have domesticated." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
You didn't think it possible but the horrible truth is true: Moscow has become completely Westernized:
Some more random pictures:
It's hip to write graffiti in English - even if it makes no sense (it's also hip on clothes).
A type of chapel to mark the spot where a man died in a plane crash: (There is a full size chapel down the road a few hundred feet)
15 January, 2008
St. Petersburg in the winter
As I said I went to St. Petersburg for New Years and Christmas (yes, they're in that order here on the correct Julian calendar). I'll let you know now that all my pictures (231) are here (I will only post a few here in the course of my re-telling the story).
St. Aleksander Nevsky
I set out with a friend on the morning of the 29 on a train. We arrived about 8 hours later in a surprisingly not so cold St. Petersburg. We had planned on staying at the St. Aleksander Nevsky Lavra hotel (for pilgrims) located at the monastery. Upon arrived we were told that although we had reservations we didn't arrive during the receiving hours (which, posted on the wall, said receiving hours were until 7 (it was about 5:30 or 6 at the time...)). It seems that the security guard felt like giving in as he called whoever was in charge of receiving and they allowed us to come up. Once we were received by the hostess and my friend had paid for our four days there we were told that foreigners had to pay over twice the rate as Russian citizens... In the end we decided to stay for two nights and try to find a better place to stay (we had a friend to stay with but that wasn't supposed to be until sometime past the four day limit). We ended up staying those two nights and being able to move to our friends place a little early. However, he was out of town and didn't exactly know that we were coming (it was agreed through a third party about that third party staying (who didn't end up coming, so we took their place).
When we had dropped our stuff off we decided to try to visit St. Ksenia of Petersburg's chapel to receive her blessing. We weren't sure that the cemetery where her chapel is would be open but we knew that it would be beneficial that we had tried (with plans to go when it was open). We made it to the cemetery which happened to still be open but the chapel was already closed (by this time it was after 8).
The next day we attended liturgy at the cathedral of the Lavra which turned out to be the place where Metropolitan Vladimir was celebrating his 45 years as a bishop. For the first half of the service I was wondering why 28 mitred priests, over 30 other priests and 5 deacons were serving... At the end of liturgy and a moleben various representatives of church institutions and government bodies congratulated the metropolitan with long letters and flowers. At this point it was past 1 pm (liturgy had started about 9.30) so we ducked out before the final end...
I'm having trouble remembering the order of all the events of the following week so I will give summaries of said events.
Monday afternoon we went back to Smolensk cemetery to St. Ksenia's chapel where we venerated her relics and prayed an Akathist. As it was approaching evening we stayed at the cemetery and attended New Years Vespers at the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Theotokos which St. Ksenia helped to build.
For New Years we decided not to stay up all night (which was necessary if we wanted to go to someone's gathering as the metro isn't open all night) since we wanted to utilize the next day going somewhere.
The next day I believe we went to Tsarskoe Selo (also known as Pushkin) where we walked around the palaces and went looking for churches. In one of the churches we met a very nice man who told us all about the different icons in the church. When he found out that I was generally from Chicago he was very excited and started talking about St. John of Tsarskoe Selo/Chicago and gave us directions how to get to the church where his relics are. Unfortunately St. John's relics are in the altar so we weren't able to venerate them but there was this icon:
After visiting this church we visited, after many detours while trying to find our way, the Fyodorovskaya Icon of the Theotokos church by the time which it was quite dark and getting colder.
We visited Vyritsa, which is about an hour and a half by train, the next day as far as I can tell. In Vyritsa are the relics of St. Seraphim of Vyritsa whom you can read a little about here. By the time we arrived at the church it was quite dark but we found that the chapel was open and that it is never closed. There also was a service for St. John of Kronstadt in the church for which we stayed. Afterwards we hazzarded to ask someone for a ride to the railway station who in turn offered to take us all the way to Tsarskoe Selo where we took a bus back to St. Petersburg.
At some point we took an excursion around the city on a bus which drove around downtown with a guide talking about different places. This was a good way to see the city as a whole and get some bearings.
At some other point we went to St. John of Kronstadt's monastery where his relics are entombed.
And at a third point we went to Sts. Peter and Paul Fortress and walked around for a short time in the cold. Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral is where almost all the tsars from Peter the first are buried. They say that the relics of the Royal Martyrs (Tsar Nikolas and family) are here but it is not true...
On Saturday night we went to the Optina representation church for vigil. The church was packed and when the lines started forming for confession I was about freight-trained by a frantic babushka. The church is in the process of restoration (inside and out) and is quite amazing. It seems like the interior was whitewashed at some point and now they are clearing it away. As well an excellent all-male choir sang in what I believe was something like obikhod.
On Sunday morning we planned to go to liturgy at the church within the Academy of Art... Firstly it took us a lot longer to actually get to the Academy and then we went searching for restrooms which set us back another 20 or more minutes (there seemed to be only 2 restrooms in the complex which was about 1/4 of a block). So we finally arrived at liturgy about 7/9 of the way through.
As this was Christmas Eve and we would be staying up very late that night we went back and rested in the afternoon and early evening. We decided to go to The Kazan Icon of the Theotokos Cathedral for Christmas service as we were told it wasn't extremely crowded and there was room to breathe. This is the main cathedral in St. Petersburg so Metropolitan Vladimir was serving and the service was televised - unfortunately I can't find a source for the video. You can see one picture here though.
We didn't do much the next two days... We did go to a small Christmas party at a home on the edge of the city where we heard some traditional folk singing, did some singing ourselves and ate plenty of meat.
And I almost forgot, we saw the sequel to Irony of Fate - a classic of Soviet cinema - which is shown every year on New Years. It was quite a similar story to the original but updated and slightly revised for a modern audience.
The return trip was uneventful.
That's the story of my trip to St. Petersburg...
St. Aleksander Nevsky
I set out with a friend on the morning of the 29 on a train. We arrived about 8 hours later in a surprisingly not so cold St. Petersburg. We had planned on staying at the St. Aleksander Nevsky Lavra hotel (for pilgrims) located at the monastery. Upon arrived we were told that although we had reservations we didn't arrive during the receiving hours (which, posted on the wall, said receiving hours were until 7 (it was about 5:30 or 6 at the time...)). It seems that the security guard felt like giving in as he called whoever was in charge of receiving and they allowed us to come up. Once we were received by the hostess and my friend had paid for our four days there we were told that foreigners had to pay over twice the rate as Russian citizens... In the end we decided to stay for two nights and try to find a better place to stay (we had a friend to stay with but that wasn't supposed to be until sometime past the four day limit). We ended up staying those two nights and being able to move to our friends place a little early. However, he was out of town and didn't exactly know that we were coming (it was agreed through a third party about that third party staying (who didn't end up coming, so we took their place).
When we had dropped our stuff off we decided to try to visit St. Ksenia of Petersburg's chapel to receive her blessing. We weren't sure that the cemetery where her chapel is would be open but we knew that it would be beneficial that we had tried (with plans to go when it was open). We made it to the cemetery which happened to still be open but the chapel was already closed (by this time it was after 8).
The next day we attended liturgy at the cathedral of the Lavra which turned out to be the place where Metropolitan Vladimir was celebrating his 45 years as a bishop. For the first half of the service I was wondering why 28 mitred priests, over 30 other priests and 5 deacons were serving... At the end of liturgy and a moleben various representatives of church institutions and government bodies congratulated the metropolitan with long letters and flowers. At this point it was past 1 pm (liturgy had started about 9.30) so we ducked out before the final end...
I'm having trouble remembering the order of all the events of the following week so I will give summaries of said events.
Monday afternoon we went back to Smolensk cemetery to St. Ksenia's chapel where we venerated her relics and prayed an Akathist. As it was approaching evening we stayed at the cemetery and attended New Years Vespers at the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Theotokos which St. Ksenia helped to build.
For New Years we decided not to stay up all night (which was necessary if we wanted to go to someone's gathering as the metro isn't open all night) since we wanted to utilize the next day going somewhere.
The next day I believe we went to Tsarskoe Selo (also known as Pushkin) where we walked around the palaces and went looking for churches. In one of the churches we met a very nice man who told us all about the different icons in the church. When he found out that I was generally from Chicago he was very excited and started talking about St. John of Tsarskoe Selo/Chicago and gave us directions how to get to the church where his relics are. Unfortunately St. John's relics are in the altar so we weren't able to venerate them but there was this icon:
After visiting this church we visited, after many detours while trying to find our way, the Fyodorovskaya Icon of the Theotokos church by the time which it was quite dark and getting colder.
We visited Vyritsa, which is about an hour and a half by train, the next day as far as I can tell. In Vyritsa are the relics of St. Seraphim of Vyritsa whom you can read a little about here. By the time we arrived at the church it was quite dark but we found that the chapel was open and that it is never closed. There also was a service for St. John of Kronstadt in the church for which we stayed. Afterwards we hazzarded to ask someone for a ride to the railway station who in turn offered to take us all the way to Tsarskoe Selo where we took a bus back to St. Petersburg.
At some point we took an excursion around the city on a bus which drove around downtown with a guide talking about different places. This was a good way to see the city as a whole and get some bearings.
At some other point we went to St. John of Kronstadt's monastery where his relics are entombed.
And at a third point we went to Sts. Peter and Paul Fortress and walked around for a short time in the cold. Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral is where almost all the tsars from Peter the first are buried. They say that the relics of the Royal Martyrs (Tsar Nikolas and family) are here but it is not true...
On Saturday night we went to the Optina representation church for vigil. The church was packed and when the lines started forming for confession I was about freight-trained by a frantic babushka. The church is in the process of restoration (inside and out) and is quite amazing. It seems like the interior was whitewashed at some point and now they are clearing it away. As well an excellent all-male choir sang in what I believe was something like obikhod.
On Sunday morning we planned to go to liturgy at the church within the Academy of Art... Firstly it took us a lot longer to actually get to the Academy and then we went searching for restrooms which set us back another 20 or more minutes (there seemed to be only 2 restrooms in the complex which was about 1/4 of a block). So we finally arrived at liturgy about 7/9 of the way through.
As this was Christmas Eve and we would be staying up very late that night we went back and rested in the afternoon and early evening. We decided to go to The Kazan Icon of the Theotokos Cathedral for Christmas service as we were told it wasn't extremely crowded and there was room to breathe. This is the main cathedral in St. Petersburg so Metropolitan Vladimir was serving and the service was televised - unfortunately I can't find a source for the video. You can see one picture here though.
We didn't do much the next two days... We did go to a small Christmas party at a home on the edge of the city where we heard some traditional folk singing, did some singing ourselves and ate plenty of meat.
And I almost forgot, we saw the sequel to Irony of Fate - a classic of Soviet cinema - which is shown every year on New Years. It was quite a similar story to the original but updated and slightly revised for a modern audience.
The return trip was uneventful.
That's the story of my trip to St. Petersburg...
10 January, 2008
Merry Christmas to one and all
Well it's the fourth day of Christmas here in Moscow and I just returned from St. Petersburg late yesterday. Soon I will have a more complete update with pictures and all. I just wanted to let you all know that I haven't been caught by the militsia yet...
20 December, 2007
A helping hand
As Moscow is a pretty friendly place people often "help" each other on and off the metro. By help I mean compact people into the metro or expend them out like a balloon releasing air. So the other day I did my duty and "helped" a young man onto the train (it wasn't completely my idea to help him as someone was helping me as well). Upon my helping I was met with protest which if I understood correctly was something like "what's with you" and a dirty look. He continued to stare at me and push around a little in protest but it was pretty easy to ignore him as I found the whole thing a little comical besides not really having anything to say to him as I'm still not too quick on my Russian feet.
In other news I celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at his church in Pizhakh where there is a Myrrh streaming icon of Tsar martyr Nicholas which you can read about here.
In other news I celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at his church in Pizhakh where there is a Myrrh streaming icon of Tsar martyr Nicholas which you can read about here.
14 December, 2007
Miyazaki on the metro
So I've been seeing a lot of fur (or otherwise similar) coats lately...the other day when I entered the metro I came upon a rather large woman in a long fur coat bending over to do something for a child or something...well all of the sudden I realized that she looked just like one of Miyazaki's bumbling bears...so now every time that I see such a coat I think of bumbling bears...
In other news I spotted either 4 or 6 deaf people this week...it seems that deaf sightings only come every few months as it was probably October or even September the last time I spotted this rare species. It made me think about how amazing it is that they can communicate so much with just gestures.
In other news I spotted either 4 or 6 deaf people this week...it seems that deaf sightings only come every few months as it was probably October or even September the last time I spotted this rare species. It made me think about how amazing it is that they can communicate so much with just gestures.
10 December, 2007
Zvenigorod
As my Saturday class was cancelled I went on a little trip to Zvenigorod which is about an hour and a half from Moscow. Outside the town is the monastery of St. Savva Storozhevskii who was a disciple of St. Sergei of Radonezh. On the way to the monastery there is a spring and a little church with mosaics which Andrei Rubloff painted but unfortunately only a few indistinct outlines remain. This is also where his icon of the Saviour which is now in the Tretyakov Gallery was found.
The spring:
View of the monastery from sometime in the late 1800's:
St. Savva:
Even in Russia they like to park old cars in their yards:
One of the houses at the local Sanitarium:
The spring:
View of the monastery from sometime in the late 1800's:
St. Savva:
Even in Russia they like to park old cars in their yards:
One of the houses at the local Sanitarium:
08 December, 2007
Singing a new song
So I started some singing lessons yesterday...I found out that I have a "low bass" - maybe one day I can record my very own basso profundo cd...
06 December, 2007
A Patriarchal Приглашение
I attended recently the annual celebration (this time celebrating 15 years) of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University where various speeches were made, gifts were given and choirs sung. Patriarch Aleksey was present and spoke about the university and various other topics about which you can read here. You can see the official pictures here and view my very own below.
Fr. Vladimir Vorobyov the rector of St. Tikhon's (about whom you can read here) presents Patriarch Aleksey with some gifts.
A few "interesting" pictures:
I believe you will remember this Dostoevsky statue in front of the Lenin Library...
...well now Dostoevsky not only has Lenin to keep him company but wonderful American materialism in the form of a garmongous "Christmas tree" or "New Years tree" as it's called here.
And Lenin himself with his proletariat rushes to greet the New Year's tree...
Fr. Vladimir Vorobyov the rector of St. Tikhon's (about whom you can read here) presents Patriarch Aleksey with some gifts.
A few "interesting" pictures:
I believe you will remember this Dostoevsky statue in front of the Lenin Library...
...well now Dostoevsky not only has Lenin to keep him company but wonderful American materialism in the form of a garmongous "Christmas tree" or "New Years tree" as it's called here.
And Lenin himself with his proletariat rushes to greet the New Year's tree...
05 December, 2007
The latest news
So since the last update I have officially resigned from my position as teacher-intern. My last day of teaching will be the 22 of December after which I'm not quite sure what will happen. I'm looking for a flat and new job at present.
Speaking of Old Believers...a girl in one of the English classes I visited, for whom it was hard to believe that I wasn't Russian, thought that I look like a "raskol" (schism)-the informal name for Old Believers-also where the name Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment comes from.
At present I can't remember all the exciting things I had planned on saying...
Speaking of Old Believers...a girl in one of the English classes I visited, for whom it was hard to believe that I wasn't Russian, thought that I look like a "raskol" (schism)-the informal name for Old Believers-also where the name Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment comes from.
At present I can't remember all the exciting things I had planned on saying...
24 November, 2007
A long overdue update
I would like to say that many exciting things have happened in the last two weeks but I can't... However, I will bring you, my dear readers, up to date with a few select happenings.
As I said I was forced to move to a new apartment and in with two other teachers. I lost the tranquility of living alone as well as my good internet connection and now have to suffer with an inconsistent wi-fi connection. My new apartment is about an hour and 15 minutes from both of the schools I teach at so, obviously, I'm not excited about that; it is a nicer apartment, however.
After my move I finally went to see the Tretyakov Gallery with a friend of mine. We decided not to rush through so we only looked at the icon galleries and the church. I had read that there was a church in the gallery but I though it just meant a part of the gallery that is set up like a church but I was wrong. It turns out that there was a church right next to the gallery which became part of the gallery when it was re-opened. It is a bona-fide church with several priests and daily services (in fact a wedding was taking place when we went in). So we spent about 2 or 3 hours at the gallery and I saw the originals of many icons which I have seen in books and prints, including, of course, the Trinity and Vladimir icon's of Rubloff.
I was put in contact with a man who was looking for an English speaker to tutor his two children so last Saturday I tried that out. This family lives in an exclusive little subdivision outside of Moscow so a car was sent to pick me up for the hour trip. On the way I actually spotted the indoor ski hill which is being built in Moscow (see here). So when I arrived I had breakfast with the children (ages 4 and 7), their father and someone who I had assumed to be their mother (turns out it was their nanny). I was told that I would just be playing with the children and trying to speak English with them so that's what we did while playing with some Lego sets. We next spent some time playing outside in the snow. I was at a loss of what to actually do as I originally thought that there was only one child and that he already spoke English but just needed practice. After a joyous time in the fresh snow we returned to have lunch (where I met the children's real mother) after which I was driven back to Moscow.
Last week was another week of teaching... I started a new class which will be a challenge. That's all I'm going to say about that.
We went again yesterday to the Tretyakov to continue where we left off and saw about 20 rooms (only 30 or 40 more to go). I saw many famous paintings including the ubiquitous ones of Dostoyevsky and Pushkin.
In other news Moscow has been under snow for about 2 weeks but in the last few days it has warmed up a bit so a lot has melted creating many dirty and unattractive streets.
St. Basil's in the snow.
The Kremlin in the snow:
St. Tatiana's, where I have been going to services.
As I said I was forced to move to a new apartment and in with two other teachers. I lost the tranquility of living alone as well as my good internet connection and now have to suffer with an inconsistent wi-fi connection. My new apartment is about an hour and 15 minutes from both of the schools I teach at so, obviously, I'm not excited about that; it is a nicer apartment, however.
After my move I finally went to see the Tretyakov Gallery with a friend of mine. We decided not to rush through so we only looked at the icon galleries and the church. I had read that there was a church in the gallery but I though it just meant a part of the gallery that is set up like a church but I was wrong. It turns out that there was a church right next to the gallery which became part of the gallery when it was re-opened. It is a bona-fide church with several priests and daily services (in fact a wedding was taking place when we went in). So we spent about 2 or 3 hours at the gallery and I saw the originals of many icons which I have seen in books and prints, including, of course, the Trinity and Vladimir icon's of Rubloff.
I was put in contact with a man who was looking for an English speaker to tutor his two children so last Saturday I tried that out. This family lives in an exclusive little subdivision outside of Moscow so a car was sent to pick me up for the hour trip. On the way I actually spotted the indoor ski hill which is being built in Moscow (see here). So when I arrived I had breakfast with the children (ages 4 and 7), their father and someone who I had assumed to be their mother (turns out it was their nanny). I was told that I would just be playing with the children and trying to speak English with them so that's what we did while playing with some Lego sets. We next spent some time playing outside in the snow. I was at a loss of what to actually do as I originally thought that there was only one child and that he already spoke English but just needed practice. After a joyous time in the fresh snow we returned to have lunch (where I met the children's real mother) after which I was driven back to Moscow.
Last week was another week of teaching... I started a new class which will be a challenge. That's all I'm going to say about that.
We went again yesterday to the Tretyakov to continue where we left off and saw about 20 rooms (only 30 or 40 more to go). I saw many famous paintings including the ubiquitous ones of Dostoyevsky and Pushkin.
In other news Moscow has been under snow for about 2 weeks but in the last few days it has warmed up a bit so a lot has melted creating many dirty and unattractive streets.
21 November, 2007
Relocation
I was forced to abandon my apartment last Friday so I just now was reconnected to the interweb so I will soon have a comprehensive update...
13 November, 2007
Of pizza deliveries and dances
So I came home the other day and when I was entering my building a pizza delivery man yelled at me asking about where the first building was...I told him that it was farther down the road... When I went in I realized that I don't even know where I live...
I bought some cucumbers and tomatoes at my local food market the other day. When the transaction was finished and I took my produce and money and the vendor smiled and said "thank you"...I just looked at her and smiled... I went back to the same place today and the woman talked to me a little more asking me where I was from and what I was doing in Moscow. She then told her fellow vendor how and American has come and bought from her twice...
I went last Sunday to nice little church where an English friend attends called St. Antipas; it even had a trapeza afterwards like good ole American churches.
Today we had the second major snow fall of the year; there is something like an inch or inch and a half on the ground.
On Sunday night MP had its second annual Russian Ball which I attended: (there are not too many pictures as I was "dancing" most of the time) We danced various traditional dances, some waltzes and some other that I don't remember.
Yes, even the whigs were in attendance.
I bought some cucumbers and tomatoes at my local food market the other day. When the transaction was finished and I took my produce and money and the vendor smiled and said "thank you"...I just looked at her and smiled... I went back to the same place today and the woman talked to me a little more asking me where I was from and what I was doing in Moscow. She then told her fellow vendor how and American has come and bought from her twice...
I went last Sunday to nice little church where an English friend attends called St. Antipas; it even had a trapeza afterwards like good ole American churches.
Today we had the second major snow fall of the year; there is something like an inch or inch and a half on the ground.
On Sunday night MP had its second annual Russian Ball which I attended: (there are not too many pictures as I was "dancing" most of the time) We danced various traditional dances, some waltzes and some other that I don't remember.
09 November, 2007
Of hotels and Old believers
08 November, 2007
05 November, 2007
The Lavra (Sergeev-Posad)
Went today to the Lavra with some friends to venerate the relics of St. Sergei. As it was a holiday there were many people there for the same reason so we had to stand in line (most of the time in the snowy weather) for about 40 minutes. After I had venerated the relics my friends were leaving out another exit and I didn't know what that meant but it turned out that they were letting us into another reliquary. So in this lower church and reliquary there were more relics of St. Sergei and relics of other saints of the Lavra as well as a whole part of the arm of St. Stephen the first martyr and many other relics (I simply can't remember all of them). These were the biggest relics that I've ever seen as usually they are the tiny particles in cases. (Of course God can work miracles through all alike...) We had a dinner in the monastery trapeza and then found out that a friend who works at the monastery was having a birthday party at the moment so we joined and spent some time singing songs and conversing.
The pilgrims in the wonderful snow.
We celebrated a birthday under this icon of St. Sergei.
The monastery trapeza's very own cup.
03 November, 2007
Major update
At long last I have my own internet connection so I have uploaded all the pictures from the past month. However, I posted them somewhere else as to not have to upload each picture individually; in short, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/hazzard.duke
02-03.11.07: So I met a friend of a friend before MP today who refused to believe at first that I’m not Russian and don’t have parents or grandparents who are Russian... Later they said that I look siberian...
I met a friend of a different friend, an Englishman who is here teaching English and has been here a year and some months. He encouraged me concerning teaching as he’s had a very similar situation.
I met with my boss again yesterday and they decided to change my schedule as another is leaving - so I’m getting one of their old classes and one of my roommate’s classes whereas he is getting one of my classes (and my best class at that...I get his worst class in exchange). They’re also making me teach at a company early in the morning two days a week and another individual student.
So I stopped by a church which was never closed during commie times near where I have my individual student today. It had a lot of late 19th century icons which weren’t particularly wonderful but it also had some older icons that were very nice; plus all the woodwork was very nice. I was able to venerate relics of the Three Hierarchs, the 40 martyr’s of Sebaste, St. Seraphim and the Cross. At one point while venerating an icon I almost broke my nose and threw my neck out as the glass was a little to polished...
Went to the Detskii Dom again today for a few hours and played some games with the children.
02-03.11.07: So I met a friend of a friend before MP today who refused to believe at first that I’m not Russian and don’t have parents or grandparents who are Russian... Later they said that I look siberian...
I met a friend of a different friend, an Englishman who is here teaching English and has been here a year and some months. He encouraged me concerning teaching as he’s had a very similar situation.
I met with my boss again yesterday and they decided to change my schedule as another is leaving - so I’m getting one of their old classes and one of my roommate’s classes whereas he is getting one of my classes (and my best class at that...I get his worst class in exchange). They’re also making me teach at a company early in the morning two days a week and another individual student.
So I stopped by a church which was never closed during commie times near where I have my individual student today. It had a lot of late 19th century icons which weren’t particularly wonderful but it also had some older icons that were very nice; plus all the woodwork was very nice. I was able to venerate relics of the Three Hierarchs, the 40 martyr’s of Sebaste, St. Seraphim and the Cross. At one point while venerating an icon I almost broke my nose and threw my neck out as the glass was a little to polished...
Went to the Detskii Dom again today for a few hours and played some games with the children.
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