Hosting our first Surfer

Well strictly speaking Sonya isn't our first couch surfer (as Djalma sweetly pointed out) but she is our first official one after Smurf and Paulo, or at least one we didn't know before she came and crashed, anyway...

It's early Saturday afternoon and Sonya and I have just spent the last half an hour chatting about shopping, make-up and traveling (perfect girl talk in my humble opinion). 22 and from St Petersburg, she is our first couch surfer and we are her 8th hosts all very exciting stuff although I do wish that I'd taken a wee bit more time to tidy up - I'm really not feeling all that house proud at the moment!

From Blogger Pictures

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It's now Friday again and almost a week has gone by since Sonya visited and we are back to wedding and trip planning with a vengeance particularly as Ds application for a UK wedding visa was rejected - if at first you don't succeed try, try again! Thinking about our trip and all the couchsurfing we'll be doing made me think a little bit more about the ideals behind the whole idea.

This extract is taken directly from the website:

"What is CouchSurfing?
CouchSurfing is an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. Since 2004, members have been using our system to come together for cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experiences. Today, over a million people who might otherwise never meet are able to share hospitality and cultural understanding.
Our mission as an organization is to create inspiring experiences: cross-cultural encounters that are fun, engaging, and illuminating. These experiences take many forms. CouchSurfing's initial focus was on hosting and "surfing" (staying with a local as a guest in their home). Alongside these core experiences, we now also facilitate a growing array of activities and events.
We have a vision of a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter. Each CouchSurfing experience shared by our members brings us closer to that vision."

I've only just read this but it gives a bit more detail to what I was thinking about this whole business - that it's a great way to meet other people and make some really lovely new friends. I hadn't thought too much about CS before because I didn't really get the idea of it - why would/do people open their homes to strangers? I guess I still don't really get it but having someone turn up on your doorstep who, despite emails and text to confirm details, is a total stranger and welcoming them into your home is such a lovely feeling. I was a little worried that I would feel taken advantage of, after all they don't pay to come and stay with you, but nothing was further from the truth. We welcomed her like we had invited her and she was so lovely and chatty. I guess it's a bit like having new friends delivered to your door, whether you stay in contact only for the time you're together or arrange to visit each other long after the initial visit. The more I think about it, the more in love I am with the idea, more so since we have hosted (a touch of the guilt complex when up until last weekend all we'd done is be hosted) it's so nice to be able to help people out in small ways and not expect to recieve anything for the little trouble you go to. And when I reflect back on our TransSiberian adventure last summer I just can't imagine not having met all the people we did when CSing through all the different cities we visited. These people met us, put us up for a night, even if it was only on the floor, talked with us, showed us around and were just genuinely interested, welcoming and friendly. Such a lovely feeling to start this weekend with!

And on a note completely unrelated to Couch Surfing, make your own Russian Haired Sausage!

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/07/13/russian-haired-sausage/#more-3344

"I was hoping for less farting and more hugging" Women's Day

It's a bit of a mistake writing about such a lovely day now when I've been back at work for 2 days and the memories have been tainted by naughty children and a post mid-night text message from my boss... Anyway, it's now or never because I'll just forget otherwise.

This Monday was Women's Day here in Russia, a much bigger deal than Valentine's Day with fresh tightly budded tulips EVERYWHERE and ladies walking home with flowers, chocolate and other gift tucked in the obligatory fancy paper/plastic carrier bag given them by males young and old. I got a single pink tulip but more about that later. We decided to get out of the house, I'm ashamed to say I needed some cajoling to get out of bed and into some proper clothes but I made it and we took the monorail to the All Russian Exhibition where we spent less than half an hour freezing our asses off (it's basically all outdoors) looking for something pretty to look at. We found it - Fountain "Friendship of Nations" and I'm happy to say it was enough because after we minced around taking pictures we swiftly headed off to the nearest McDonald's for a not-so-quick eat before marching onwards to a mystery destination.

From Womens Day 2010

We took the scenic route to the mystery destination (my surprise for Women's Day) past a beautiful old cathedral and across the Moskva River all the while trying not fall and break something on the ice whilst seeing as much of the spectacular view as possible. We made it just as the sun was setting to the Swiss Hotel and up to the Sky Lounge on the 33rd floor.
What a view! The sky was still light and changing from light blue and pale lilac to deep sapphire and violet with a deep orange band on the horizon, we walked round the 360degree restaurant before settling at the bar where we had the most expensive cocktails ever made by a short man dressed in a pale pink shirt, the sleeves rolled up and held neatly in place by metal bands and neat black trousers held up with suspenders all of which was topped off with a trilby hat. It was all very immaculate albeit a touch Muscle Mary, but he was a friendly little guy and recommended one of the special Women's Day cocktails. I had a Cosmo Ginger Shot, tiny but perfectly formed - citron vodka, raspberries, cranberry juice (I think)and something else I'm forgetting, garnished with home-made crystallized ginger and ginger froth (no idea how he made it!). Our little bartender recommended one of the 2 cocktails on offer for "gay's" the typo made us giggle quite a lot! D had a Kamikaze thing which was also gorgeous. As the setting was so perfect and we could only afford one drink we took our sweet time and savoured every second, which was just as well because although the portions were small they were strong, we both got a little giggly on our one drink.

From Womens Day 2010

It was such a gorgeous evening, we sat and chatted, took some pictures, held hands and just generally enjoyed ourselves. Lush. We payed up and took another leisurely stroll round the restaurant to admire Moscow at night, we could see St Basil's Cathedral, GYM, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the University and loads of other places and winding through it all was the Moskva River. It was so beautiful and made me remember how gorgeous some cities are at night, Moscow has to be up there with the best of them. And the icing on the cake was getting my beautiful pink tulip on the way out, the whole night had me beaming all the way home.

There is Never Nothing Going On - The Peaceful Warrior

The other night Djalma and I watched 'Peaceful Warrior'. D had seen it before and wanted me to watch it because of the ideas in the film. The main idea - to live in the moment 'the here and now' and not waste time thinking about the 'there and then' helped the main character to improve his gymnastic technique and then overcome a shattered leg.

We talked about this ideology in our little kitchen afterwards. It's an idea which D has mentioned a few times while we've been living here in Moscow, more often than not when we're planning our honeymoon and I get a little excitable about all the beautiful places we're planning to go to. I know it's a good idea to focus your mind and your energy on the here and now (instead of spending 99% of your time thinking about what will happen), an especially good idea if you get run over by a pissed motorist, don't wake up in the morning (and not in the 'oops I'm going to be late for work' way) or, as I'm becoming increasingly more worried about - your plane making an unexpected stop in the sky with no-where soft to land.

But if we only focus on the present, it makes learning from our past mistakes and planning for a future a little difficult to do. I can't decide whether living by this philosophy means a life half lived or a life more fully lived.

What really pissed me off about this brilliantly simple philosophy is that if we should do just that- what the hell am I doing in Moscow (future husband aside naturally)?
D often tells me that while we should have fun planning we should also make the most of Moscow (which I heartily agree with) but it doesn't make my boss competent/friendly/professional (and I would settle for any one of these qualities) and it certainly doesn't make strangers in the street/metro/shop any more polite/helpful/friendlier, the primary result of these conversations about being happier and enjoying life to full is that I feel more keenly (than I usually do) that I'm doing an appalling half arsed job of being happy here. Of course there are lots of moments when I am happy but I'm always on countdown, whether it's until the end of a class, my lunch break, the end of the day, the end of the week (and pay day), the next holiday or until we finally leave (the 2nd of May - 55 days to go).

If we could really live in the and now, I would pack our passports, Djalma's Credit cards, toothbrushes (and of course plenty of moisturiser) and get us on the soonest flight somewhere warm and friendly or maybe do the Tran-Siberian again - Russia's only redeeming feature (everything and everyone outside of Moscow).

Well true to English form I've done complaining very well,if it were a sport I'd be Olympic level by now, an opinion well seconded by my sweetheart. Anyway, the morning following this film I did start thinking about a relatively similar school of thought a la Pollyanna (introduced and practised by my Nan).

Not long after I moved to Moscow, late 2008/early 2009 I think, I was having a fairy miserable time of it, I played the Pollyanna game while wandering, lost, down town in a pretty area of Moscow. I think I made a list when I got home but despite having a good look I couldn't find it to help me with this game now, so from memory and with some additions, here goes round 2 of the Pollyanna game - 20 things I like about Moscow:

1) Of course this one is a biggy - meeting, falling in love and living with my boy
2) Our own flat, not controlled by BKC who are able to move their teachers round at whim
3) The Metro System, which I can not seem to stop banging on about
4) The first snow of the year - fresh pretty and without the yellow patches after accumlated after weeks of attention from dogs, drunks and those busting for a quick waz
5) Making loads of dough, the likes of which I doubt I'll have the opportunity to make again
6) The unique Russian architecture, metro stations aside I'm not talking the soviet period here, building which pre-date Lenin which survived the soviet period
7) The playgrounds for kids which are repainted each spring
8) The Kebab pizza we had on Friday
9) The nice big parks (definitely enjoyed more often when D was living in Kolomenskaya)
10) Being to to cuss under your breath at the pleb who just barged passed you in the street or metro nearly knocking you over without fear of being understood
11) Not speaking Russian, an odd one I'll grant you but it's got me out of some unpaid overtime involving seminars, parents evenings and conferences
12) Ice cream and flower stands everywhere - I haven't done it recently but an ice-cream walking home in the freezing cold while you're toasty and warm makes that ice cream so much more delicious
13) Clean streets thanks to the zillions of of street cleaners who are up and out there super early
14) It not mattering when you walk on freshly mopped floor in a corridor/shop/wherever because they do it every 5 minutes anyway
15) CHOCOLATE PANCAKES!
16) Chivalry, admittedly this is selective - the same man who knocks you and countless other over on his way to somewhere important may also be the same man who gives you his hand to help you down an icy mountain of old snow (this happened to me the other week on my way into work)
17) Nobody looks twice if you're a lone female in a restaurant - girl power!
18) Moscow isn't so far away from home that people can't come and visit me
19) Copyright laws are in no way enforced (as far as I can tell) so you are free to download any and everything you like
20) Contrary to what I was told before coming here, tampons are widely available in Moscow - a big plus surely! Never mind my years supply is still going strong.

An Afternoon of Lemonade - Fili Cathedral (Це́рковь Покрова́ в Филя́х)

It's Sunday evening and Curls and I are back in our warm little flat after a trip out to see the Church of the Intercession at Fili which was constructed between 1689 and 1694 in the shape of a Greek cross. Apparently it is actually two churches a summer one and a winter one, although when we went only one church was open.

From Convents

Before we went inside we decide to test my sexy new 55-250mm lens out so walked round the back of the grounds and squeezed through a small gap in the iron fence into the massive garden at the back of the church, ten minutes of mincing around in the knee deep old snow and prolific picture taking followed...

From Fili Afternoon and around Moscow's answer to Canary Wharf

When we eventually decided to go inside we saw the ground floor of the church which looked like it was still under going restoration (after the French raided it and nicked all the good stuff - including the gold onions on top, which have since been replaced). The interior walls were painted white with (what I think was) original artwork some of which directly painted onto the walls. There were few people there and the atmosphere was warm, quiet and very welcoming - the old ladies in charge even let us take some photos 'but not too many' score!

From Convents

We left feeling nice and warm and walked what felt like the long way to the next Metro station. We strolled over the Moskva River talking cameras, lenses and photo editing software (it was delicious!) where we saw a lady with a pony, a big boat frozen into the river and Moscow's answer to London's Canary Wharf, after several stops for directions we arrived at the shiny new Metro - Выставочная (Vystavochnaya) and were soon back home for tea (me) and press-ups (Mr Muscles).

From Fili Afternoon and around Moscow's answer to Canary Wharf