Печень

Today was the first (sort of) day of class. We met in Yugo-Zapadnaya and had an orientation to ANE and a brief lesson. This was my first time actually going to the school, so it was a little startling. It's also not in the building I thought it was in, so that was quite disorienting. The Academy was founded during the Soviet Union as a school for upper-level party officials to learn communist economics and such. Now, of course, they teach a more Capitalistic approach, but the architecture and interior decorations make it very obvious what its former purpose was. I'll also take the time to reiterate the theme of underground tunnels. There are four buildings on the ANE campus and most are connected to at least one other by an underground tunnel, eventhough they're right next to each other.

We tried the in house cafeteria for lunch where I had an interesting experience. There were many choices for meats and I saw "печень курици" ("pechen' kuritsi") on one of the labels. "Kuritsa" means chicken, and "pechen'" looks like it comes from "печь" (pech'), meaning "oven"/"to bake." So, logically, I thought it was baked chicken (nevermind that it was a dark brown color, I thought that was just because of the sauce). Unfortunately "печень" and "печь" are two very different words. I had in fact ordered . . . chicken liver, cooked with onions. It was actually pretty good, and thankfully I realised what I had done well before sitting down, so it wasn't like I bit into it expecting chicken meat and instead got chicken liver.

It turns out, that for many people, this weekends holiday did in fact extend through Monday, and since everyone returned to work today, the Metro was insanely crowded. So crowded in fact, that occasionally it was not possible to leave the train at the correct stop. I also now know what it's like to spoon someone in public because of the crowds and the pushing. Even after class when I returned to our apartment, it was still quite crowded, so I just stood against the wall until my stop came.

Other than that, today was largely uneventful, except that we went to probably one of the shadiest markets I've ever been to. Russians are famous for bartering and outdoor markets. Eventhough it was raining again today, the markets are still out there. The one we went to was behind some dirty building in the Yugo-Zapadnaya neighborhood. The combination of rain, nasty and poor drainage, and smells from the various things sold there (like rotting fish - I'm sure it was the way it was supposed to be; it just didn't look appetizing though) gave it an almost third-world feel. I actually think that's why Moscow feels like such a strange city - it frequently gives off that weird third-world vibe, eventhough you know you're in one of the most industrialized countries in the world.

Anyway, there's a lot more that I could say, but I don't want to overburden my readers with information. If there are any specific questions that you guys want answered/places you want me to tell you about, just e-mail me. I'm here for seven weeks, so I'm sure I'll have time to get around to it.