Soviet Union Still Lives On
So yesterday I had a pretty "Soviet" experience. We went to the Mayakovsky Museum which is right across from the old KGB building the Liubech. Before we went in, we were standing outside talking about the old KGB building and just what it stood for and all that good stuff. So me and this other girl took a picture of the building, and then we spot two policeman walk across the street and up to us. They're like "Sorry you cannot take pictures of this building. Please delete those images now" So I went and deleted mine, and the girl was using a disposable camera so she just snapped another pictuer of the ground and the police were none the wiser hehe.
After that we got into the museum and it was pretty cool. Mayakovsky was an influential writer whose works were used a lot in the Bolshevik Revolution. So this museum was set up pretty cool, in a very artsy manner - there weren't really exhibits, but a lot of artifacts about him arranged in certain ways. The whole apartment type area that hte museum is in was even a work of art really.
After that we went to the Russian Museum for the War of 1812, which actually ended up being pretty cool. The guide we had was the best guide yet; he was just straight and to the point in everything. Most of these Russians just go on and on and on about inane stuff for a long time, and it makes things pretty boring.
After that we got to go back to our hotel and just chill for a while. Then me and my roommate John decided to go try and find some people to find something to do. So we started to walk toward Red Square and this guy drops a wad of money, in a plastic bag, on the ground. And I'm just like "Scam scam scam scam" since I read about this somewhere befoer we came over to Russia. And so John and I just keep walking, and some other tall Russian guy picks it up and asks us "Did you see who dropped the money?" And John told him, since he speaks Russian. So we just keep on walking and the one guy is like "Let's split the money" and we don't say anything and just keep on walking. And eventually the other guy who "dropped" the money comes up to us, and in very broken english, he says "Excuse me, can I have a minute of your time? I just dropped 10,000 dollars. Did you see it?" And so we just turned around and walked the other way because we weren't e ven going to talk to them. It was just soooo easy to tell these guys were trying to scam us from the very start, they were such horrible actors. Lol, so we walk back down the street and just hang out in front of a couple police cars and wait there for a few minutes. Then we see the two guys both walk down the street together, and we just kind of laughed and walked back through Red Square to get to the mall we were going to in the first place.
And my time is running out on the internet, so thsi part will be pretty short.
Today we went to the headquarters for this group called "Memorial" which was awesome. It is this organization set up to draw public attention to the atrocities committed under the Stalin regime and honor the victims of Stalin, and for that matter other Russian leaders, purges. It was just a really great organization and it was cool to see what they were doing.
But alright, I need to go for now. Might head out to a bookstore, or head back to the hotel to take a nap. I've been feeling kind of sick the past couple days, so I've been extra tired.
Take care! See you guys later!
posted by Kane's Russia Odyssey @ 4:22 AM
7 Comments:
Good Job young man. Stay away from those scammers
Any good restaurants yet?
Were the Police nice to you?
Any one ask you about what America is like?>
Sorry to hear you're not feeling good.
Hope you're feeling better soon but I'm sure glad you knew what was going on with those scammers. Sounds like you've had some interesting experiences. You'll laugh at this: Fox News had a story this afternoon about how they're experiencing record high temperatures in Moscow and we can't even get above the low 60s today. So much for only travelling to cooler climes for you, huh. Hope you have better weather soon and stay safe. We love you & miss you....Mom
Hey Kane...it sounds like you need to incorporate some vegetable into your diet!! No wonder you're feeling sick!! Tooooo much Mickey D's!! :)
Kane the Crime Dog..He can sniff out all the scammers! ;) Hugs. Stay safe!! We love reading your stories. Jan
We found some good restuarants in Moscow, but they're normally pretty expensive so I stick to the cheap stuff.
We actually didn't talk to the police since you never know how they'll react here. They might've been involved with the scammers, haha.
And we've talked to the Chechyians who asked what America is like and we asked them what it's like where they live. It was a pretty cool experience.
And I am since feeling better. I got really dehydrated and felt sick, and so I realized I need to watch that more carefully. So I drank like 2 litres of water one day, then the next day a bought a 6 litre jug of water.
And you guys can't even get out of the low 60s??? I'm jealous. I forget exactly what the conversion is right now, but I think it's been in the upper 80s and lower 90s here. /=
And haha, believe it or not Janice, I am eating vegetables! Just not at макдоналдс (McDonalds). Every now and then we go to nicer restuarants, or sometimes at breakfast, I'll get vegetables (or in the case of breakfast, things resembling vegetables).
And Dad, did not purchase any vodka for you yet. I was going to do that the last day or two that I'm here just to make sure I have the money. I did get some souvenirs though.
Catch you guys later! I'll try and call with the phone card I got from Janice, but people have been having trouble with phone cards here. I will try and call on the 31st though, if I can at a decent time... because I am 8 hours ahead!
Anyway, I will see you guys in a week! Love you guys!
OMG YOU PASSED UP $5,000 WHAT WERE YOU DOING IDIOT GOD
Anyway that first museum sounds kind of neat...are a lot of the museums there kind of "artsy" like that? It doesn't seem like a typically Russian thing to do but I'm also an idiot American who doesn't really know anything about that. Anyway, it sounds kind of stupid but the way a lot of museums present stuff kind of bore me, I think it'd be neat to look at a tasteful but artsy exhibit like that.
The soviet experience sounded pretty awesome, if you left Russia without getting oppressed in one form or another I'd be disappointed.
Yeah, the museum was pretty sweet. The only thing with a less traditional museum like that is you definitely need a guide. And as it turns out, the law in Russia is that any group in a museum must go with a guide anyway (WTF?). We normally don't listen to that, but a guide definitely helped point out a ton of stuff we would've missed in the Mayakovsky Museum.
As far as I've noticed it, it was definitely not the typical Russian museum. Most of the ones we've been to have had the traditional layout you'll see in American museums. And I'd have to agree, the presentation in a lot of museums can be boring...especially if you have a guide, more specifically, a Russian intellectual guide. They love to hear themselves talk. "Please, look at thees. Look thees way. *continue to talk for 10 minutes about 1 piece of one exhibit" Oh god, it makes you want to pass out. Luckily thought we got some free reign in some of the museums (the Hermitage which is fricking huge) to look around at whatever interested us, and you could generally find a professor and ask questions about something if you wanted to.
And yeah, I know...that $5000 /= Me and John were talking about going back to that street the next night to con the scammers. Lol, we were going to get a few more people to hang up around the corner... and john would pick up the wallet and run. I'd trip up the immediate guy, and the other people would trip up anyone else following john. What would they do then? Nothing!
And oh by the way, you might know John, Alex. He lived in Tappan, and actually in our corridor. His last name is Weilnau and he's like friends with Dusty now.
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