Guest Blogger: Sarah Frederick (’15)
Arriving in Moscow was a sharp return to reality. Suddenly all of the things that had come to feel normal while we were in Kamchatka – the winding gravel roads and little towns with random meandering livestock that would peek in your windows – were replaced by traffic jams and the overwhelming immensity of the city!
One unique experience in Kamchatka was shopping. Shopping, like everything else in Russia is a very long, arduous process that takes hours longer than it should. Above is shown a typical store in Kamchatka. All of the goods are located behind the counter, so each item had to be individually requested from the shopkeeper. However, in all likelihood the first shop you visited would not have half of the items you required, so you would have to visit two or three additional establishments to find everything you needed. Even so, simple necessities like bread or beer were not always available. Also, take note of the high tech abacus being used!
The items we purchased were also completely foreign to me. While I was initially pretty skeptical, everything was quite tasty if you had an expert cook like Tatiana to prepare it!
Cow-in-a-can anyone? More commonly referred to as Tushonka.
There are a variety of culinary influences present. Lots of Uzbek cuisine, but we also encountered Georgian, Russian, and Ukrainian dishes. A common afternoon meal with borscht, beat soup of Ukranian origin, is pictured above.
While in Moscow we toured the Institute, a towering majestic building, one of seven built around the city, which houses several departments of Moscow State University, a museum, faculty and students.
An apartment in the wing to the right was actually our home for the duration of our visit.
While in Moscow we of course visited the touristy section of the city.
The Kremlin
Dr. Wiles with our two hosts, Olga and Vladimir in front of St. Basils.
One of the prominent monuments on the Red Square is Lenin’s tomb. He has been on public display since shortly after his death in 1924.
One last picture from Kamchatka. Thanks for following us through our journey! We look forward to reporting on our findings from the lab soon!
This reminds me of the shopping philosophy in rural western Russia — buy what’s available; it doesn’t matter what you need!