Journal 126
Thursday - 12-30-10
Skating on Red Square
- Walking up on it from the Metro with Nastena -- how beautiful!!!
First Blue skies in about a week or so; sun-kissed clouds!! "This is a true, Moscow, winter day!" Nastëna said later.
- Bon Jovi and Ricky Martin, after a rousing Russian Pop song about the new year.
- Joked about "ballroom exercises" -- how I needed to train the inner thigh muscles that are weak, but so oft-injured for me, I wonder if it's hopeless.
- Took pictures here and there the whole time.
- Did fall once. Choice of either hitting Nastëna, or getting hit by other people. Oh well. As I told Nastya, "I fall today, so that I may not fall tomorrow!"
"That's a good thing, because tomorrow is New Year's Eve!!!"
Went to find a Coffee House afterwards; Saw a "Battlestar Galactica" helmet in one of the GUM windows. Had to take a picture for Alex.
- You never know what you'll find.
As we were walking to the other mall --
- Talked about how the ice that is everywhere on the trees, etc, is very unusual for Moscow. Nastya said it was the first time she'd seen it.
- Walked through what I realized was Manezh Square -- where all the protests/crackdowns were just the last week or two ago.
- Took more pictures in front of an iced-up tree.
Did finally find a Coffee House
- Seek and ye shall find.
- Got my Russian Hot Chocolate
Had to part ways with Nastëna pretty quickly -- she went to meet her Papa, and I had to get to Izmailovskii Park to buy Christmas presents!!
- Not before I snapped a picture of a store named, "Stradivarius."
- Which reminds me, "Rubber Duck" logo
-Which reminds me, "MustHave" is apparently one word.
-Oh, and the, "Kawaii Factory" kiosk I saw from the Coffee House. Seek and ye shall find.
Spent 2 hours ish in Izmail.
- Don't want to ruin the surprises yet; I'll check back in with what I got later.
[Amazingly hand-carved chess sets and some pretty shawls for my girlfriends; Amber for my mutti.]
- Found my Peacock Shawl in Red -- tempted to pick it up…Thinking on it tonight.
- Suffice it to say though, Moscow really will mess with your sense of, "What is too much money to be spending."
- I apparently got some minor discounts 'cause I was pretty. And I think I got some pity points for, "Aww, you're freezing, aren't you!?" Because I was starting to shiver badly enough for it to interrupt my speech. Whoops.
Went home to drop things off -- then to head out for practice.
- Only to miss it, AGAIN.
- Hall was supposed to be open until 8 (would have had at least an hour ish of practice); but I guess the guard came and told them to close up early.
- Definitely no practice at all tomorrow. Ugh.
-Bought more of the cookies I want to share, at least.
- Roma and I realized we won't see each other, "Until next year!" He leaves tomorrow; myself, the day after. Told me to give my best to my family. I said maybe we could chat over Skype, and introduce our families. (This sounds like dating, doesn't it? XD "Meet my mother!" -- But Roma already told me he showed his mum pictures of me, and she said that I was very pretty.)
- Roma also thinks it's hilarious that about every single one of my guy friends who heard I'm dancing in higher heels have all said, first, "I bet they make your butt look amazing," in some way, shape, or form.
Dinner and some chatting with Olga Dmitrievna. She was impressed by some of the stuff I picked up.
- More sweets
- Trying to stay up. More "Mad Men." Chatting.
Feeling Nervous about flying the day after tomorrow… Don't know why. I love to fly… It's not weather related -- I have separate worries about that. I'm having honest to God, "Little Tube Up In The Air, We're All Gonna Crash And Die" worries. Strange. I'll chalk it up to stress and lack of sleep.
I'll hit up Izmailovsky Park again, early, tomorrow. Hoping it will be open. Need to pick up a few more things. Will probably hit up Old Arbat to check on a few things there, too. Maybe try to get lunch at Hard Rock. Still debating. Will ask Mulzoff, if he's got any free time.
Thinking about everything I need to do… Charge batteries, move files between my laptop and netback, make sure I have the proper money for the proper countries, bring a safety pin so that I can switch out sim cards between phones…. Whew… Travel.
Love,
MK
=^__^=
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