It's a Cookie!: Lost in Translation

Ilya: "It is round, hard, its like a bread. You can find it in a Starbucks."
Me: "I'm lost, is it a scone?"
Ilya: "Um, no, it is like a disc. A flat disc."
Me: "......"
Me: "Wait, a cookie!"
Ilya: "Yes, a cookie. I forgot that word!"

My 10 days in Russia was basically playing this game. It was like playing a different version of Scattergories or 20 Questions every day, at any given moment. I had to be on my toes, constantly. I became a walking thesaurus.
I don't know Russian. I don't even know how to form a sentence, except for "I don't know". I do know the alphabet at least, and can count only to 4, but beyond that it is very, very, very, minimal. I went to Russia knowing these few words:

frog .................... Лягушка
rainbow .............. Радуга
young girl ............ Девушка
grandmother ....... бабушка
grandfather ......... Дедушка
sour cream ......... сметана
piroshky ............. пирожки
cat/kitten ............ Кот, Кошка
house ................. дом
ticket .................. Билет
(informal) bye ..... Пока
hello (informal) ... Привет
thank you ........... Спасибо
yes/no ................ Да / Нет
I don't know!.......  Я не знаю!

How I was going to get by using only those words, forget it. I doubt anyone there wanted to know of frogs and rainbows (unless they wanted to know of Kermit the Frog and the Rainbow connection). At least the latter words were of more use.

Thank goodness for boyfriend's cousins hosting me while in Russia. Their English was a bit rusty when they started to speak, but by a few days time, it greatly improved. It only takes live practice. I wish I could say the same for me speaking Russian, but I unfortunately don't know it. I plan to learn one day, and I have boyfriend's family to practice with. There were some words that they didn't understand or would get confused with other similar sounding words. I had to annunciate every word when speaking English. When my "thesaurus" failed, or when we came at a dead end trying to explain a word, Sasha would turn to his iPhone and speak the word to translate it; Ilya would turn to his Russian-English dictionary, as I would later on use, too.

Here are some words that I had to describe really, really, well:
blanket, waterproof, beets, pickle, dessert, backpack (that word was a matter of dissecting the compound word), allowed (which was being confused with "out loud"), flour (which was being confused with "flower").

But when it came to ordering food at a cafe or restaurant, it would be a matter of pointing to a menu item. At least Sasha or Ilya would translate the menu beforehand, and sometimes just order for me. I would try and sound out the word, and sometimes I would know what I was reading. Sometimes. Before leaving for Russia, boyfriend's mother told me not to worry too much about the language barrier because most of the younger crowd knows English. False! They might "know" it, but they can't speak it. Start flexing and stretching those fingers to point at things if you plan on visiting.

After leaving Russia, I felt that I started to speak in broken English because I got used to listening, and even speaking, in a very simplified manner. I have to admit I loved being stuck in that language barrier.

Hustle and Bustle: the Moscow Metro

Going to Russia, I highly anticipated riding the Moscow metro. Arriving to the airport, although very, very, exhausted from traveling, I was awaiting my first ride on the metro. First off, I needed to ride the airport shuttle that connected to the Belorusskaya (Белорусская) metro station in order to reach my final destination for the time being off of the Dinamo (Динамо) station. I probably would have grown frustrated upon arriving to the metro stations if I had not had Boyfriend's cousin with me, because everything is in Russian. I know how to read Russian, but understanding it is another story. So I survived my first metro experience thanks to him. For the sake of efficiency perhaps (or a welcoming), Sasha (boyfriend's cousin) let me pass the metro turnstiles with his metro card, so I didn't yet have to bother purchasing a metro card. 

Mayakovskaya Station ( Маяковская), considered to
be the most beautiful of all stations in Moscow.

Just from being inside my first metro station, it had lived up exactly to my expectations: monumental, soviet, elegant, grande, ... I should look into a thesaurus for more words. The bustle of the people in the station prevented me from looking like a gaping tourist. The amount of people using the metro system was incredible enough by itself as well. The Moscow metro is the 2nd busiest metro system, next to Tokyo's- which takes first. In Tokyo people are shoved into the metro cars like sardines by the metro officers; I'm glad that Moscow isn't quite like that, but it does happen, more or less, during rush hours, sans the officers. As I walked through connecting tunnels that popped out to larger spaces, I felt like an ant in a colony. watching the efficiency, the population, and the hustle and bustle of the people made it feel more like a proper underground ant colony- and I loved it. It's a beautiful dynamic that Moscow has. When the metro came to the platform, it resembled a long worm that seemed to never end- each train had at least 8 cars, and each car always at least 3/4 full.


After my return from St. Petersburg, I got to experience more of the metro, which included buying my first 10-trip metro card. Sasha wanted me to participated in this "experiment", as he called it, to see how an American can get by buying a metro pass in a place where English isn't as widely spoken, especially with the older ex-soviet population.  It wasn't as hard as I thought. I knew how to say ticket at least, so I bluntly said "Билет" and held up 10 fingers. The woman behind the desk simply pointed at the price on the register, and I paid my 285 rubles (about $8.50 USD) for my ticket. And that was that. I think Sasha was left just a bit surprised. 

a detail showing the soviet emblems located in the
Mayakovskaya Station ( Маяковская)

From station to station (and even throughout the city above), I noticed that the soviet emblem (hammer and sickle) were still in place, untouched, even after communism fell in Russia. Personally I love how the emblems are still undisturbed in the metro system. How I see it, it still somewhat represents the labor force of the population that goes through the system on a daily basis- to work, to school, to anywhere... but without such communist government of course.

a not-so-busy day at the metro platforms. trust me, i couldn't
even reach for my camera when i wanted to take a picture of the rush hour traffic.

After about my 3rd day in Moscow, I started feeling more comfortable using the Metro, although I never used it alone. I got to buy another 10-trip pass by myself again, surprising another of boyfriend's cousins. Sometimes, I would go to the correct platform without actually following him. It more more of character recognition, or even intuition, when it came to moving along the metro corridors. It is a little scary moving around in a strange land I'll admit without looking confused, but what a beautiful strange land it is. I think next time I visit Russia, I will be able to move around by myself. I'll leave it up to me to impress myself later. Being confused without looking confused is an art. And I believe I have almost mastered that with my travel experience.

taking an escalator down to the platforms
... it looks never ending from the top!

I recommend to search "Moscow Metro" on Google images or Flickr , because I did a horrible job at photo-documenting such a beautiful aspect of Moscow. Perhaps next time I'll become a classy, gaping, tourist going station to station photographing the heck out of them.

Food in Russia

One of the many things I love about traveling is tasting different food. It is part of the experience, and is possible for those on a budget to those who aren't. Tastes might be different or foods might be different according to budget, but whatever path you chose is always an experience. Just don't east McDonald's or Burger King. Unless you have a spam burger or something very, very, unique to the menu I guess.

Here are some few items, which are easily available at grocery markets, that I tried during my stay in Moscow:

ряженка (ryazhenka)- This is by far one of my favourite things that I had while in Russia. It is baked cultured milk (I haven't found an equivalent product in the USA), but it tastes like the perfect kind of yogurt for me. It tastes ever so mildly sweet from the caramelization of the milk, but it's a perfect balance. It is pourable/drinkable, and some Russians like to add a teaspoon or two of sugar to a small cup of ryazhenka. You can purchase ryazhenka's with different fat content (like with milk), but I found the 2.5% fat content to be just perfect.

Кефи́р (kefir)- This is another yoghurt-type drink. It tastes like drinkable sour cream to me, but I add a teaspoon or two of sugar to a small cup. The color is pretty white, and it's consistency is like a pourable yoghurt. The sourness of this drink comes from the fermentation of milk. This drink actually originated from the north Caucasus region of Russia, originally being fermented in leather pouches. This isn't done anymore, but now I wonder about the taste coming from the leaather.

Квас (kvass)- This drink can be found in the supermarket in plastic liter bottles, or out in the street in small stands. If you have the choice, get them from the stands. It tastes better. I can't say that the taste is phenomenal, but it is a unique taste. Its best consumed slowly while having a good chat with a friend. It is Russia's version of non-alcoholic beer (or you could even call it Russian root beer). Although some kvass can actually contain trace amounts of alcohol, it is rather insignificant. This photo is of some kvass we got in a nicer part of town, but I actually found that the kvass we got from Red Square tasted better. I can't say what makes it taste better, so one day if you ever get the chance- taste it yourself. I assume that for beer drinkers, it will be an easy taste to acquire to drink kvass. Kvass is also an ingredient used when making the cold summer time soup  окрошка (okroshka).

Икра́ ('ikra'... or caviar!)- This small jar of small red caviar already is prepared with butter than other ingredients. Last time I had caviar was actually in the united states because a family friend of my Boyfriend's came over from Russia bearing gifts of small tins of red and black caviar. My first experience wasn't all too tasty. The red sturgeon caviar were large, oily, balls, which Boyfriend's mom prepared a buttered piece of bread, placing a tablespoon of caviar on top. The sensation of them popping all over the inside of my mouth is all too strange, and the saltiness also added to this. I couldn't take another bite, but at the same time I couldn't say that it was disgusting. It was just... different. Taste and sensation. But this little jar of 'ikra' goodness was a better experience. The 'ikra' was smaller, so the popping was of no bother, and all the ingredients mixed into this little batter made the saltiness just another part of the ingredient list. All I did was slab it on a slice or piece of bread and it was good to go!

Confections from Tomsk- Although these little candies aren't probably widely available in any supermarket outside of the city of Tomsk in Russia, I had the opportunity to have a taste of these "Tomskaya" sweets. The center is a like a mix between mousse and marshmallow, and not to sweet. It is covered by a thin milk chocolate shell. It is a perfect balance of sweetness between the two because neither ingredient is too sweet on the tongue. I wish I could have brought a box with me home, but it would have hung out in my luggage for an additional 2 months before arriving back to California. I didn't want to bring home old confections, so all I can do it hope that one day I can get my hands on this to share.

Behind Domo you can see a bag of what seems to be sliced bread. It is more or less that, but it is sliced, dry, sweet bread. I didn't have too much of this, I think I ended up having the last piece in the bag that had probably been hanging out for a while. It was a bit stale at that point, but it still maintained some sweetness. If I had gotten a new bag, I could imaging myself adding a fruit marmalade spread to a slice and making it even better.

Тархун (tarhun)- One day I saw this drink on a menu at a coffee shop called Shokoladnica (Шоколадница ... they are everywhere in St. Petersburg and Moscow, I bet they are elsewhere, too). I asked Ilya- a cousin of Boyrfriend's- what it was, it was hard to gather what he was trying to describe. Later during my stay, I came across this drink again, but in a vending machine this time. I decided to get it- might as well try it anyway. I had no idea what to expect really, which is always an exciting and strange sensation when it is about to hit your tongue. I tasted a hint of sweet licorice first, then a hint of citrus (but just a hint). It was a different taste for sure, and I liked it. After hitting up google for more information on this drink, I came to know that it is actually a tarragon flavoured drink! Never knew a beverage came out of such herb. This is traditionally a Georgian drink (no, not the state of Georgia in the US- remember that they have sweet tea!; I am talking about the country of Georgia located south of Russia, on the eastern side of the Black Sea) that was typically dyed green. It was actually created by a pharmacist in 1887. 

I wish I could list all of the amazing little treats- food and sweets alike- that I came across while on my small trek in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but those are the highlights, at least for now. 

2 Days in Leningrad St. Petersburg

After walking to the supermarket earlier to pick up some things, I realized that it is too muggy outside to do anything. Currently I am in Moscow, leaving tomorrow night for Riga. But I wanted to take some time to finally reflect on my time spent in St. Petersburg during my first 3 days in Russia. 

After having a few hours in Moscow, which was spent traveling from the airport to another of Boyfriend's cousin's apartment in northwesters Moscow and having a quick bite to eat, we left to the train station to board the overnight train bound for St. Petersburg. At the moment, I was more excited to sleep on the train, since there were beds. While still in the states, Boyfriend's family made the train seem horrible. I had pictured it probably worse than a 3rd-world country train. But in reality, it was rather nice, well, compared that that original picture I had: linens, pillow, and mattress was provided for. Although the beds were probably less than 2 meters (which I knew because my feet hung off and people constantly kept running into them while walking the narrow passageway), I survived the night with little sleep. 

The first day in St. Petersburg was probably the best introduction to Russia I could ever ask for.

We met up with a friend of Sasha's who, although from Moscow (originally from Tomsk like everyone else we were to met that day), knew St. Petersburg rather well. We grabbed "breakfast" which consisted of soup and pizza. The pizza tasted like plastic, but at least the soup- borsch (Борщ) was rather good. Borsch is basically a beet soup with some beef bits and other vegetable goodness. I don't even know what the pizza was made out of. Probabaly horse-glue and sawdust. Just like during the blockade of Leningrad during WWII. 

St. Petersburg can be done in 2 days. 3 if you want to hit up museums, which we did not do. As much as I wanted to see the interiors of the Hermitage, I kept running scenes from Russian Ark through my head. I also kept telling myself that next time I will. I just hope and pray that there will be a next time. I also realized why the city is dubbed "the Venice of Russia." It really is- with its canals and main river. But that also makes the city a little chilly and windy, even when the sun is out for summer. 

That evening/night was my first experience with White Nights. Because St. Petersburg is situated just far enough north, the sun sets rather late into the night. Very late into the late. And dusk lasts way after- like past midnight. We spent most of the evening in a part in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral (Исаа́киевский Собо́р), meeting up with more and more friends. All of them, except for one, are originally from a city in Siberia called Tomsk, where is also where Boyfriend is from. Funny how St. Petersburg brings people together. Even someone from California. At some points, I felt like a deaf-mute since there is obviously quite a language barrier, but I picked up on some familiar words that I usually hear in conversations from Boyfriend's family. I would continue feeling like this through Moscow, and probably will be the same in Riga. 

We finally slept around 3 or 4 in the morning, and didn't wake up until after 1pm. It was the best sleep I had since Sunday, and at the point I didn't care if the day was cut short. We decided to take a river-boat tour of the city, which was nice and photographic, but I didn't understand anything the tour guide said. It seems like in both Moscow and St. Petersburg there isn't too much tourism in English- contrary to how it is in most of Europe. But that is all part of the experience, right? At least Sasha acted as a translator for almost all the trip, except for the river-boat tour- it was just too fast to translate, and I was fine with that. 

Lessons Learned #2: Russian Vegetarianism

While on my flight from Amsterdam to Moscow with Aeroflot, a Dutch guy behind me requested a vegetarian option for the meal. There was only fish and beef. The stewardess didn't understand this, so she suggested fish. After the guy said no meat, no fish, she was confounded. I don't know what happened after that, I don't even know if he ate. But I do know what ran through my head: this scene from Everything Is Illuminated:

10 Time Zones Later...

I don't think I have ever traveled so far or so long to get from point A to B.

Leaving LAX was bittersweet, but I kept ramming the fact in my head that I am only away for 3 months. Then home again, then away for more months... which didn't help all too much. Losing my phone in an LAX restroom also didn't help.

I had Norwegian seat-neighbors during my flight to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. They were elderly couple from Bergen, and super-cool. Every time they would get up to walk around the plane, I would, too, so that I wouldn't disturb them while they were sitting. When they asked about my final destination (which would be Moscow) they asked why. Besides their excitement for me visiting such country, they were curious to know my reasons. When you think about it, generally when you tell others that you are traveling to London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, and so on, they don't ask "why". I guess Moscow deserves that question, though. Well, all of Russia.

(By the way, I highly recommend watching the French film "The Intouchables." I watched it on the plane and it was probably the best in-flight movie I have ever seen.)

And I flew on a 747.

At Schiphol, I was melting in that airport. Just because it was drizzling outside didn't mean that they could crank up the heater. During my 4-hour layover I exited the terminal to re-check-in at the ticketing area. After I finally figured out what I had to do, I sat down waiting for the Aeroflot desk to open. A young lady sat beside me, and after exchanging some glances, we started to chat up. Interesting, but very nice Moroccan-Dutch girl. She's one of those conspiracy theory types. Her English was impeccable, but then again, I was in Holland. After she met with her family, it was about time for me to finally check-in with Aeroflot and make my way to the gate. But the gate and departure time moved so I virtually had to hike a kilometer or so to another gate.

Finally boarding the plane, I fell fast asleep. I only woke up for beverages and food. Then more sleep. I had only perhaps gotten an hour of sleep during the first leg of the trip. As we landed in Moscow, my heart was slightly racing. My heart, too, was tired, so it's excitement was a little dull. Standing in line for the passport check might as well been as long as my flight from Amsterdam to Moscow. There were 2 blobs of Chinese standing "in line" for the passport check. When I say "blobs", it is exactly that- they weren't standing in a straight line, they were just crowded around what should have been a line. After perhaps 45 minutes of torture, I got my luggage at the carousel and made my way out. I was already delayed because of the flight and the hoard of Chinese people by more than an hour. I immediately spotted my host- Sasha- and his friend by his side. I think I felt more relief than excitement at that point, but all feelings were good.

We had about half hour before the train departed for greater Moscow, so we took a coffee break (water in my case). Sasha called Boyfriend via Skype mobile, but I guess the connection wasn't the best. At least he knew I had arrived, more or less alive.

At that point, I was looking forward to sleeping more than anything else. After 18 hours of travel, it was time.

T - 15 Hours

For the most part I am done packing. It only took me 4 hours (which is actually a personal fail). I had to go through my luggage twice to weave through what I really needed vs. what I wanted to bring. I ended up losing a lot of clothes, but that's ok.
I think.
I'll see once I get there. I hope it doesn't dawn on me mid-flight exactly what I forgot. It's the worst feeling when you are miles up in the air feeling like the most helpless person.

Actually, at the moment, I already feel helpless. I wish it were easier.

Everything in 20" rolling luggage! Among my belongings in there are only 2 pairs of pants, 2 skirts, 2 sweaters, and whatever shirts I could fit in there. Obviously there are more things, but in terms of apparel, it is what it is.

Now my room is a mess, which I am not looking forward to cleaning and organizing. If I could just go to sleep and wake up in Moscow, that would be great.