Red Inklings

I should really save this post for after tonight’s “Goodbye, Moscow” feast at the Ukranian restaurant Корчма (Korchma)–I shamelessly proclaim my love for pig lard (salo)–but I couldn’t wait any longer.

The corner store is still alive and well in Russia, an un-friendly neighborhood place where nobody knows your name and you have to negotiate with three surly women in separate “departments” within the 30 square meter shop so that they’ll give you your tea and milk and bread from behind the counter. They inspire their own kind of nostalgia.

However, Moscow is big and rich and cosmopolitan, so there are grocery stores to match. The shopping center opposite Red Square, ГУМ (GUM), has an amazing shop, Gastronomia 1. We oggled the marzipan fruits, six types of baklava, premium proscuttio from Italy, and fresh oysters. In the end, we got what Marc claims is the best fruit in the world, which looks like a tough-skinned plum on the outside and a moist garlic bulb on the inside. It was amazing.

 And now, time to run to Korchma!

First, I should tell you that we arrived in Russia with only a few hitches (I was supposed to have left on a 6 a.m. flight, we ended up flying in two groups, my luggage didn’t arrive until the next day…) but it was basically uneventful.

 We’re already seen two shows, Tosca at the Bolshoi and Antigone at Theater on Taganka Street. I managed to stay awake for both, which is more than some of the students did.:) But I’ve enjoyed myself so far, and I’m starting to see how much there is to watch for in the plays, even if you can’t understand what they’re saying.

Today was the Russian orthodox celebration of Christmas. Although the students made sufficiently merry last night, since they didn’t have class today, we didn’t make it to any services. We did, however, visit the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which is enormous and filled with the usual gorgeous iconography. Of course, it wouldn’t have been a real Russian experience without the stage performance outside, pumping the backbeats to folk songs as we entered and exited the cathedral. We couldn’t resist the merry making, and joined the crowd dancing in their fur coats on the sidewalk. Definitely the most aerobic Christmas celebration I’ve had in a while, complete with jesters and freakishly colored animal mascots wandering the crowd for photos and hugs and general attacks on my twenty-year-old charges.

Tomorrow is our next show, “Genesis No. 2,” which I did a bit of translating for.  We’ll get to speak with the play’s director afterwards, one of the Russian avant-garde, according to Marc.

 I may also continue the museum blitz tomorrow. I’ve been in town twice before, so I’ve seen most of the major tourist spots, but this time around I got to see the Architecture Museum and the 19th-20th c. European and American art collection at the Pushkin Museum. Nice to spend some time with the Degas pastels I missed last time, after Joe and I were so exhausted from the temporary Rembrandt exhibit that we skipped the 19th-20 c. hall for some piroshki and a retreat to our hostel room.

  The theater in Russia group leaves for Moscow early tomorrow morning, so I figured it was time to get this blog set up. We’ll be seeing about twenty plays in the next three weeks–all in Russian, and all with students who understand little, if any Russian–and talking to a few actors and directors. Other than that, I’ll be re-exploring Moscow and St. Petersburg, two of the world’s most expensive cities, and trying to keep the students from getting picked up, whether by the police or snakeskin-suited men. Oh, and trying to maintain my vegetarianism (remember that scene in Everything is Illuminated?) without relying completely on white bread, bland cheese, and chocolates. Should be as simple as time in Russia ever is.