So I posted a ton of new pictures, some from Tomsk and some from Moscow. I'm not really going to talk about them here; I'll do that through the captions.

As an overview of what's been going on, though, I've been enjoying my free time before I have to go check out the State Archive of the Russian Federation tomorrow. Thankfully, I didn't have any terrible bureaucratic messes to sort through here, since the visa service will just take care of everything for a fee (they didn't have an office in Tomsk). So now I'm registered, I have an apartment that I've fully paid for, and I have working internet, which is really all I could ever need.

In my spare time, then, I've been going back to some of the places that I remember being really cool two years ago. I went to Red Square and Tverskaya like I've already mentioned, and today I went to VDNKh (I'll explain, hang on) and stopped by RGGU (Russian State University for the Humanities), where I studied two years ago.

VDNKh (pronounce it Veh-Deh-Ehn-KHAH, but fast) stands for Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy (at least that's how I'll translate it). During Soviet times they built it to inspire awe and pride in the technological advances, productivity, and culture of the Soviet Union, with some special emphasis on the nationalities. For all its universalist communism, the Soviet Union made a very big deal about the so-called "Friendship of Peoples" between the nationalities within its borders, and at VDNKh they had separate pavilions to display the achievements of individual nations.

So imagine an enormous area of land with wide sidewalks, fountains, and lots of large buildings with majestic architecture. That was VDNKh before 1991. Since then, the place has turned into probably the best example anywhere of the communist past and the capitalist present coming into direct contact. Basically, the grounds have been partially transformed into a carnival...there are open-air shashlyk (kebab) cafes everywhere, popcorn stands, a Ferris wheel, horse rides, carnival games, and even a couple roller coasters. Honestly, it surprised me today even though I'd seen it two years ago, because the carnival has grown considerably since then.

Clearly, it makes a really interesting contrast. As you can see in some of the pictures, you've got lofty Soviet monuments next to cheap souvenir stands. I'm sure Lenin wouldn't be happy about how things have turned out, but there's nothing he can do now but watch from his statue in disgust.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

(As a postscript, I noticed three separate instances today of policemen asking Central Asians for their documents. So much for the Friendship of Peoples.)

I was here two years ago, and I feel like I both remember everything and have forgotten everything at the same time. On the one hand, I'd sort of forgotten how big Moscow is. In terms of pure city limits, it's the 7th biggest city in the world, with more than 2 million people more than New York, so I'm not sure how I could forget that, but somehow I did. Tomsk is a respectable city, but it feels like a village in retrospect. Here there are huge buildings all over the place; even in the peaceful residential area where my apartment is, there are 25-story apartment buildings. There are restaurants and cafes everywhere, clothing stores, electronics stores, movie theaters, etc. And it really caught me by surprise.

It has gotten me really excited, though. I guess after spending most of the past two summers in Tomsk and most of the rest of my time in Chapel Hill, I've been missing big cities without even knowing it. It's fun to just walk around in central Moscow; today I went by metro to Red Square and then walked along Tverskaya (maybe Moscow's biggest street) for a couple hours. And even without actually doing anything per se, it was exciting. I'm sure this effect will wear off, but for now I'm having fun just by being here.

At the same time, like I said, some things are very familiar. The metro brings back memories, of course, and makes me again wish that Houston had something like that. I remember some other places specifically, too; important ones like Lenin's tomb, of course, but also stupid ones. Today on Tverskaya I saw a Rostik's, which is KFC but renamed for some reason, and I got tempted by the prospect of fast food and went in. Once inside, I realized suddenly that I'd been to Rostik's once two years ago, and it was that exact one. So it's all coming back to me, I guess.

As for my setup, I'm living in an apartment that's pretty much the exact opposite of the one I had in Tomsk. The other apartment was modern, sparse, had recently been renovated, and had a very spacious and well-lit, if empty, main room. The man I rented it from certainly never lives there; he just owns it and rents it. This apartment, on the other hand, is home to a family of three, as far as I can tell, and is about the same size as the last one in overall area. It's divided into more rooms, though, and feels very lived-in; there's homey wallpaper, rugs, little trinkets and books all over the place, etc. It's very cozy, in a good way. At the same time, it has some typically Russian quirks. For example, the woman who lives here told me to only turn the cold water on when I need it, and otherwise turn it off (I mean the cold water to the whole apartment, turn it completely on and off). She said it's because it's very expensive otherwise, which seems to be due to a problem with the toilet; it runs a steady trickle of water constantly into the bowl when the water's on. As a result, if I want to go to the bathroom, I turn the water on, do my business, wait for enough water to accumulate, flush the toilet, and then turn the water off. But that's just Russia.

This post is probably already too long for one day's attention span, so I'll talk more about what I've seen and done so far later. I'll also post pictures later (I won't have my laptop's internet working until tomorrow anyway). До завтра!

It's been far too long since I updated, and I suppose I can still post despite Arden's return.

Happy late Fourth of July to everyone, also. As you'd expect, there were no fireworks in Tomsk, but the Americans who are on the language program I was on last year went to the White Lake in Tomsk to hang out and celebrate, so I joined them. This "White Lake" is more like a very large pond in Tomsk, around which are little food stands, benches, shops, etc. You can rent a paddleboat and float around on the lake if you want, but it was kind of hot yesterday, so it wouldn't have been very pleasant. But it was nice to relax and talk to other Americans (although we spoke in Russian the whole time!). I don't really like setting off fireworks anyway, so this watered-down Fourth was fine with me.

Other than that, I'm busy procrastinating on cleaning up my apartment. I leave on Tuesday morning (you know, that still makes me think of that little store on Gessner), and let's just say I have a lot of cleaning to do. Work-wise, all I'm doing on Monday is getting all my copies from the archives and filling out the paperwork required for that. I'm not sure if I have enough info, or if what I have is good enough, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. We'll see what there is in Moscow.

I also have some more pictures, but I'm stupid and forgot to bring my camera with me today, so it'll have to wait a little longer. More interesting pictures will come once I'm in Moscow, anyway. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm glad I have the guide Arden gave me (thank you) because the last time I was there I mainly just followed program leaders or people who knew more Russian than me. So this time maybe I can go specifically to the places I remember being really interesting, and to places I didn't visit two years ago.

I'll keep you posted.