First day at the archives...

I can't even recollect what I did on Sunday by now. The jet lag is still affecting my brain. I think I went for a walk. I did buy a small Moscow map and "Girl with a Pearl Earring" in Russian at the nearby bookstore. I basically just hung out, got organized for the archive and vegged. I've been sleeping until past 11am and wanting to sleep more, but I'm trying to get on a normal schedule.

So, Sally, tell me about this guy! ;-)

Moving on...Today was my first official day at work. Which, because of the bureaucratic nature of things here, was relatively unproductive. I am working at the Moscow city archives right now, which for those of you who are interested, is where I am hoping to find sources related to the Christ the Saviour Cathedral and the cemetery at the Novodevichii monastery, and other sources related to the general fate of religious buildings and spaces in Moscow. The reading room is very nice, no doubt a product of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's ability to funnel large sums of money into Moscow's coffers. The archivists were helpful, if somewhat brusk. They were concerned that I didn't have 20 files to order up right away. It takes 3 days to get them anyway, and I aspire to go about this "dissertation" thing in a somewhat organized manner and work my way into this process so I don't throw up my hands in disgust 3 weeks from now! I think there will be interesting stuff there, but there are many other archives and libraries I have to visit around the city. They all have funny hours, so my schedule will probably become strangely complicated. Monday here, Tuesday there, Wednesday somewhere else....

I worked through lunch, and so desperately had to grab a McDonalds hamburger (I'm sorry! I was hungry and it costs like 60 cents!) while I went to pick up my visa registration. I am officially legal for 3 months.

Then I did some laundry and met Brooke for dinner. Brooke was on the Moscow program with me 3 summers ago, in 2001 and she is here for the year, too. So we caught up, talked about what we knew of the old group and told our Moscow stories, and talked about how everytime we get in the Metro here, we secretly say to ourselves, "please don't blow up, please don't blow up". She's the first verbal English interaction I've had since I got here, with the exception of a conversation with my parents. We ate at Yolki Polki, a Russian/Ukranian style buffet with about 20 different kinds of cabbage salad. Yum! (I'm serious, I like cabbage).

I am pleasantly surprised by my Russian these days. If I don't think about it, I can ramble on, as long as the topic is within my vocab range. I'm sure I make mistakes, but I don't think about every word, and my experience with the archives today was much smoother than any other previous experience. I think it was all marinating in my brain these few years. And my reading comprehension, while by no means 100% is so much improved. I knew that reading Harry Potter in Russian would do me good!

I am waiting with baited breath for Wednesday's 70 degree high....Ahh, two days of Indian summer before it all starts. I'm looking for someone to run with. Brooke says some of the girls in her program are interested in running but don't want to run alone either.

Hey Liz! If you're reading, Brooke wants to come to Latvia with me. We'll make plans soon.

Signing out for now. Thanks for reading. I'll try and do something interesting with a new peice of meat before too long. The remnants of the chicken became chicken and dumplings and I have leftovers for several days!

Tea, anyone?