MAIL

To whom this may concern:

If you were thinking about sending me a package, STOP RIGHT THERE. Don't send it. You've missed your chance. I'm going to be home in 4 weeks, and your package is going to take longer than that to get here. Send it to one of my parents and they'll make sure I get it. Or you can give it to me when you see me! It's sooner than you think!

Please send mail no later than MAY 1ST. That will give it a good two weeks to get here. Or, again, you can send it to one of my parents.

And if you weren't planning on doing either of those things, well, then you can just completely ignore this. :-D

26 days until America!!!

Changes...

Today, for the first time, I saw a car and it startled me. Well, that's not true. Cars quite often startle me in Russia, but it's for reasons like how dirty they are, how small they are, how old they are, how generally funny-looking they are, etc. But, this time the car I saw was... American. Not only was it American, but it was an Avalanche. Huge, black, gas-guzzling, and shaped like a sneaker. It reminded me of home. I don't even like them in America. But here it just stood out. I take it as a sign that I'm probably going slightly insane from being away from home so long. *Sigh.* I miss America and its wasteful consumerism. Although, Russia is definitely giving us a run for our money.

Now, if you know me even slightly, you'll probably have caught on to the fact that I'm kind of a germ freak. I don't like touching doorknobs, telephones, ATMs, and don't even get me started on bathrooms... However, when living in Russia, this kind of all goes out the window. It has to...or you die. In a place where bathrooms might not have a toilet seat, hot water, soap, toilet paper, or the ability to flush whatever tissues you have in your bag after you use them, you kind of forget why you aren't supposed to touch the doorknob on the way out. Also, standing on the metro has become easier, but contact with the grimy bars at one time or another is almost always required. Really, though, the only thing I still don't like to touch is the handrail on the metro escalators. I know it's a really weird thing to not want to touch considering the same people touch them that touch the rest of the metro, but they're made out of this rubbery material that always feels sticky (probably like escalators in America, I just don't remember). And I just can't take it; they feel dirty. Although, if you think that this is a significant improvement for a major germaphobe like me, I have started doing some really weird things that I never used to do in America. The most disturbing to me, specifically, would have to be that every time I eat a piece of fruit (ie. apple, pear) I wash it. With soap. I know, I'm a seriously troubled person.

Also, my perception of fashion has changed. Not that I can't look at Americans and see that they are obviously fashionable, but just that when I look at Russians, I don't place them on the same fashion scale. I have developed this weird sense of fashion, to the point where I — despite all efforts — have actually caught myself liking it. Okay, I shouldn't say 'it' as if I like what Russians wear in general, but I occasionally think, "Oh, that looks nice/pretty/cute." Then, almost immediately afterward, I usually feel like I have to smack myself. One time I was standing on the metro in front of this girl, about my age, who was wearing one of those necklaces that has like 4 or 5 different length chains of the same necklace. It was silver-colored with these blue and purple hexagonal gems, each a little smaller than a dime, set in the necklace: so if the gem was facing out it was blue or purple with a silver edge, but if it was facing in, it was just silver. She also had little dangly earrings with a longish chain with a gem at the bottom. I kept looking at her necklace (which is kind of conspicuous when you're standing in front of someone sitting on the metro...with your knees almost touching), but I thought it was really pretty. I even thought to myself, "I would wear something like that." Then, almost immediately afterward, I realized where I had seen jewelry like that before: it was almost exactly like the jewelry from Pretty, Pretty Princess (or maybe just some random kids jewelry we had when I was little) except silver and not pink! It even looked like plastic! I think I could've died. Luckily, she stood up to leave just then, so I took her spot and sat hanging my head in shame. And things like this are starting to happen way too often...

Well, I have a presentation in about 36 hours that I haven't really started yet... But next time I promise a very interesting discussion about the men and women of Russia. We had a great time talking about it in Speech Practice... :-)

A new system...

So, yeah. It's been a while since I've updated. I thought I would update more once I got my computer. However, I haven't updated the stuff from the second half of the trip, so I kept feeling like I couldn't post something about Moscow until after I covered the stuff that came before it. Well, I kinda gave up on that. I promise it will come. I promise. Just right now I can't sit down all at once and do it. ...Or even enough that would constitute a post... So, Moscow...

I have this new system. I always sit on the metro and think about thing that I should tell you guys. However, by the time I get around to posting, I forget it all. So, I have a new system. I just remember the first letters of all the things I want to talk about, and make them into a word. The letters trigger the topic and then I get to tell you all about it.

Today's word: OMITS

We'll start with M. Moles. The Russian population is a lot more mole-y than the American population. Sooooooo many people have them. On the metro I see people with huuuuge moles on their faces. I don't understand it. I have been told that they just don't get them removed like we do in America. That may be true. However, I find it highly unlikely that droves of Americans are heading to the dermatologist every year to get things cut off their faces. I would love to know, evolutionarily, why Russians have so many moles. What makes this a desirable trait to pass on to future generations? :-D

You're going to like I, I promise! ICE CREAM. Russians love ice cream. They eat it year-round. It'll be the middle of winter and people will be eating ice cream on the street! There's all kinds. Russian's favorite "to go" ice cream is the эскимо (eskimo, trans. "ice cream on a stick"). There's more kinds that you could ever imagine! And now that it's actually spring, I see someone eating one every day. Mmmm...

T is for Transport. As you all know, Ann Arbor is not the world's biggest place. 10-15 mins of walking and you're already where you want to be, and that's at my leisurely pace. I'd kind of forgotten about that recently. Here, it's at least 10-15 mins of walking PLUS 30-60 mins on the metro. Driving or taking the bus for a half an hour to get somewhere is never going to bother me again! Also, when you're walking or driving somewhere, if you're late you feel like you can at least do something to make yourself less late. Here, if I leave my apartment 5 mins late, I can walk the 8 mins to the metro in 7 and the 5 mins to my school in 4. Other than that, it's just sitting or standing and waiting with nothing to do! I miss my маленький город (mall-en-key gore-uhd, trans. "little city")!

So, I realize that my system doesn't work too well. It really only works if you end up writing the post in the same day. Or, maybe, within a hour after you come up with your acronym. I had forgotten both O and S for the LONGEST time. Now, after 2 weeks or so, I've remembered what they are. So, here we go.

O is for Old people. Russia has a demographic crisis right now. Basically, too many people are dying and they're not pumping out babies like they used to. Just like in America, the baby boomers are getting older and so our "greatest generation" is, unfortunately, becoming weak and feeble. It seems like everyone in Russia is old. And a woman. And they're slow. Oh, so slow. And they're always walking in front of me. Especially when I'm late. I'll be walking in a metro transfer that's wide enough to fit two people walking next to each other, and I'll come upon a little бабушка (BA-boosh-ka, trans. "grandmother") who's walking smack in the center of the hallway. No room on the left, no room on the right, just takin' our sweet time getting through the transfer. Sometimes I just turn sideways and squeeze by, but sometimes I feel oppositional and stand at their side with my arm touching theirs until they realize that they're not the only person in Moscow at the moment and move over! Now, you're probably thinking, "Ohhh, poor little old lady getting practically beat up by Kendra!" But they're not helpless little old ladies! They're mean, they're rude, and they think that just because they're old, all of this is okay! It's not okay, and I'm here to tell them. Well, everyone tends to tell them nowadays. They mostly keep their mouths shut, but they're quick to shoot you a look of severe disapproval. They're also a prime example of the truthful saying, "Don't make that face, or it will stick that way!" Hehehe.

S is for STINKY. Oh my does Moscow have an unpleasant smell. There are certain smells that are identifiable and easily described. Like, our stairwell generally smells like a dumpster. There is a reason for this: we have a trash shoot in our stairwell, and only living on the third floor, we aren't far enough away from the dumpster where they fall to. Entryways and hallways mostly smell like port-o-potties (Russian: той-той, toy-toy). Even the entryway/hallway to the building of our school smells this way. The street can smell like anything: dog poop, car exhaust, vomit, rotting flesh, etc. However, there's this one smell that I just completely associate with Moscow. It's utterly indescribable, and therefore the only way to know what it is, is to come here and smell it. I'm not going to even try, but for those of you who've been here, you know what I mean. It's really gross, but I guess you get used to it. The smells have started getting stronger since the snow's melted. Of course, loving snow and cold, I have to come here on the year they have all-time high temperatures in March and April. Blech. I miss the snow, and all stinky things on the street being frozen.

Anyway, now that I've posted this out of order (there will still be at least one travel post to come), I'll hopefully be able to convince myself that it's okay to post more. I've got less than six weeks left in Moscow, and I feel like I should try and get all the thoughts down before I'm back in America reminiscing. :-D

I'm going to try and post some more pictures later today. Make sure you check them out! :-)

The rest of the West...

Krakow, Poland
Wawel Hill
This is main attraction of Krakow is the castle and cathedral which are located on Wawel Hill. It's really funny how most of the city is flat and then there's just this giant hill all of the sudden.
Wawel Cathedral
The cathedral has like a bunch of stuff in it. And you get this ticket with a part that gets stamped for each of them. It's really weird. It's like most organized, and yet most disorganized thing I've been to. Every time you go through one of the "exhibits" you exit the building and had to go back inside through the one entrance. The exhibits: Crypt, Tombs, Sigismund Bell, and the Cathedral Museum. The Sigismund Bell is the largest bell in Poland. It's pretty big... One might even say huge. :-) It was pretty cool walking around the other stuff with Shannon because she knows a lot of Eastern European history and she told me about what all the stuff these people did during their lives. Like, I saw the only woman in Polish history to be king. Pretty darn cool.
Main Market Square
The main square was pretty cool. It has a 16th century building called the Cloth Hall. It has a big (and overpriced) souvenir market. Then there was St. Mary's Church.
The Florian Gate/Barbican
The Florian Gate is pretty much just a gate, otherwise known as an arch in a wall, but it did have a cool icon in it. And the Barbican is like a giant defense bastion (aka tower) which was built in 1498.
The Mall
It sounds lame, but it got dark and cold really early so we went to the mall and got warm. I also bought a coat and stuff so that I would stay warm as we went to colder and colder places. Also, we has just flown in that morning and were leaving by train that night, so we didn't have a hostel to go to or anything.

Prague, Czech Republic
Hostel #1
We got in so early that our hostel wasn't even open yet. So we went to McDonald's and ate something before we went back. Then we got there and they told us we couldn't check into our rooms until the afternoon.
The Mall
The second mall in like 12 hours? I know, kind of pathetic. But this time we had a reason! Shannon's huuuuuge backpack had broken, and mine was really too small for the length of our journey, so we both bought medium-sized backpacks. For a travel backpack, $50 wasn't so bad. Most school backpacks now aren't that cheap! It's so much nicer than a suitcase, too, for short trips. Yay! By the time we bought them, we went back to the hostel and could check into our room.
Prague Castle
Prague Castle is definitely the coolest castle ever. EVER. It's also ridiculously high up. Especially when only having slept like 4 hours or something. But it was totally worth it. So beautiful.
St. Vitus Cathedral
This cathedral is in the castle and is amazingly beautiful. It has a large number of ENORMOUS stained glass windows, one of which was designed by the famous Mucha. Really awesome.
Old Royal Palace
Also in the castle. The Palace is pretty cool, except for it's emptiness. There was only one or two rooms there with stuff in them. I mean, it was pretty interesting stuff, but... Well, I guess you can't ask tons of furniture and stuff when a palace is like hundreds and hundreds of years old.
The Story of Prague Castle
This exhibition is located underneath the Old Royal Palace. Pretty cool, but way way way too in-detail. You could spend like 1,000 hours in there and not read everything. Whoo. But they had the artifacts there. Cool old stuff!
Basilica of St. George
In a beautiful red building in the castle, this church is definitely not as cool as the cathedral, but it is really old. And in a red building. I dunno, I guess this was like the thing in Prague I wasn't really impressed by.
Golden Lane
Lonely Planet really says it best: this "16th-century tradesmen's quarter of tiny houses built into the castle walls, is a souvenir-laden tourist trap." We just kinda walked through it since we already bought the ticket. I mean, it was really cute—really, extremely cute—but we weren't in the market for souvenirs.
Charles Bridge
This is a really old bridge from the 18th century with 30 statues along it. We watched the fireworks on New Year's from the bridge. There were lots and lots of fireworks everywhere, but the main ones were from a barge on the river right in front of us. Amazing!
Old Town Square
There's like lots of cool old stuff: St. Nicholas Church, Old Town Hall, and an astronomical clock that was built in 1410 and still works! Although, kind of unimpressive except for the fact that it's extremely old.
Mucha Museum
This was a very small museum with some very amazing artwork. I really like Mucha a lot. His style is very unique. He was also obsessed with Russia (and slavic people in general). Awesome. :-)
Wenceslas Square
This is a really long skinny square with a statue of St. Wenceslas on a horse. There's also a shrine to the victims of communism, the major ones being two students who burned themselves alive in 1969 in protest at the Soviet invasion.
The Communism Museum
Squeezed in between Prague's largest McDonald's and a casino, it's really amazingly objective. The information itself was really moving enough, to make it more emotional would've just been off-putting.
The Jewish Museum
Really amazing. The entire museum spans like 6 or 7 places. Each one is dedicated to a different theme. The Spanish Synagogue was definitely the best though. It was the most beautiful, and it housed all of the information from the 20th century. Amazing...except for all the crowds of tourists pushing and shoving.
Hostel #2
The hostel was really hard to find, and the people weren't very nice, and they didn't even know how to turn the heat on (luckily, I figured it out), but it was located near a VERY delicious Chinese food restaurant. Mmmm, I miss Americanized Chinese food.
Language Skillz
Also, one more thing. I speak Russian, a slavic language, a very hard language. So, when I say that Czech is the most ridiculous slavic language I've ever seen, you won't take it lightly. Ugh, gross. Kudos to everyone who can hack it.

Vienna, Austria
Hofburg
The Habsurgs' Imperial Palace in the city is amazing. It's huuuuuuge. I've never seen a bigger palace. We got to see the royal dinner service collection (I forget what it was actually called) as well as the Sissi Museum and the royal apartments. They even pointed out the rooms that Alexander I stayed in during the Congress of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon. Sweeeet.
Museumsquartier
This is like a huuuuge complex of museums, including the Leopold Museum and a modern art museum. The Leopold Museum has the largest collection of Egon Schiele paintings, which was awesome. Who knew? The modern art museum had a really cool exhibition from contemporary Chinese artists, as well as some Yoko Onos and Andy Warhols in its regular exhibition.
Naschmarkt
Oh my god! The food market! Looking back on these pictures makes me want to cry a little bit. Everything was so delicious-looking! And everyone was so nice! Well, except for that one lady who wanted us to pay 5 euros to take a picture of her stand. Ha!

And that concludes the Western Europe part of our tour... Please forgive me for taking so long to get this stuff up.

And don't forget to check out the photos! You can see what all of this stuff looks like there...

Next up, Eastern Europe...