I just arrive home at around around 7:30. It was a long day and Andrei was in the kitchen making dinner. Soup.

This soup was actually pretty good. The white stuff is egg, the dark stuff is sorrel and there were potatoes and carrots in it. I am just happy the Chicken noodle soup is finally gone. 

I thought the theme for my blog today would be to walk you through a  typical day. The weather now is clearly Moscow autumn. Hard to believe I gave up spring in NZ to be here. The weather has been between 5 and 10 C and the wind has been blowing so it gives you a real chill. This is the beginning of my walk to the Metro station to get to class.

Just in front of the metro stop this enterprising woman is selling hats and gloves. If I wasn't late for class, I would have stopped. My gloves and hat are cleverly packed away in my suitcase.

The entrance to the Metro has numerous small kiosk type shops where you can buy just about anything from jewelry and sweaters, to eyeglasses,  to fresh bread.

A ride on the Metro, to anyplace in Moscow, including the suburbs, is about $1. If you want, you can ride the train and stay warm all day for the price of a single ticket. There are no turnstiles, but they have very scarry people at all the entrances. Consequently, I have never seen someone try to go through without paying.

I promise to do a page just on the Metro, which has been called the most beautiful in the world. Each stop has a theme and several look like palaces. Here is one stop with a decidedly Soviet feel to it.

The Metro is very crowded during rush hour and I rarely get a seat. I have to change to a different line about half way through. The station is Lubyanka, the site of a terrorist bombing four years ago (hope my mom is not reading this). 
This system would be very hard to navigate if you do not read Russian.

The escalators go on forever, deep into the bowels of the Earths (I love gastroenterology metaphors). There is rumoured to be a second subway station, built during the Cold War, deep under the current Metro! It was to be used to evacuate government officials in the event of a nuclear attack.

Once I get to my school's Metro stop, which is right downtown, not far from Red Square, I have about another 5-10 minute walk. You will notice that even the dogs here look Russian.

Arriving at school is always nice. There is fresh coffee and smiling faces. Russians, while generally very warm and friendly, do not show much expression in public. It is just the way the are. If the video below is not too small, you may note the serious expressions on all the faces of people making their away through the Metro.  Now compare it to the faces of the three women above (all Russian) at my school.

I spend a lot of time at school, averaging about six hours a day. One of the most interesting things about the school is the students. My morning class currently has three students: A woman from Vietnam, one from Finland, and me. My evening class has two diplomats, one from Turkey and the other from Slovakia. I find it strange that we are all conversing and are able to communicate with each other in Russian.

Between classes I try to get in a combination of Russian fitness training (I put this photo in because, Pete, my trainer, is reading the blog) and site seeing. This guy was nice enough to spot me when I did my bench presses. I had to ask him in Russian.

The Pushkin State Museum for Fine Arts is located very close to my school. I spent over two hours there today and will return tomorrow after class to see the Impressionist Exhibit. It is a great museum. There is a second museum, the Tretyakovskaya Gallery, which I plan to see on Sunday, which is supposed to be even more impressive.

Tomorrow I have classes during the day and then some siteseeing. I have my first Russian medical conference on Saturday and will be staying at the hotel where the conference is being held. I hear they have great soup.