b-town redux

I'm back now at the final stop of my journey, good ol' bloomington, indiana. Last stop, everybody off! Barb was wonderfula nd picked me up from the airport and even took me to the store. Now i'm stocked up and ready to go.

Oh yeah, somebody stole my mf'ing bike while i was away. Rot in hell, you bastard! Bike donations gladly accepted. i've parted with a few bikes over the years, so i deserve some bike karma.

I feel like i've been gone for a long, long time. walking into my apartment it was strange and familiar, all together. but here i am, i am home.

Lolu

My Lolu

Plus, I've added a whole bunch of pics to my old posts. Scroll on down!

post alert!

New post on Eurasianet!

http://azerbaijan.neweurasia.net/

It's part of a blog-wide survey commemorating the 1991 failed coup attempt in Moscow.

Enjoy!

Home! Home! Home!

I'm in Connecticut. I've actually been here since Monday, and it's Friday! When I come home I sink into slothdom and laziness.... I've had a headcold since Moscow which is only encouraging this tendency, need to call Tonette, still sitting on the couch, however.

Again, I've waited too long and don't know how to capture everything I've done! St. Petersburg was very nice, spent the second day at the Hermitage, had a nice time, came back to Moscow and had a great last weekend.

Me at the kitschy fantastic VDNX:


Me and Maren Novodevitchy monastary (it was closed when we got there, bleen!)


Me and Maren went out on Saturday night to Kitaisky Lyotchik, one of my favorite places in Moscow. There was a concert with one of the guys from 5nizza, and then dancing to the crazy music they always play. They were playing 1) blocks of 90s hip hop of the cheesy pop variety 2) retro cheesy pop (ghostbusters!) 3) reggae/dancehall 4) new hip-hop/r&b. It was so much fun, great crowd, all kinds of differeny people, exacgtly the type of fun I love in Moscow.

Pics of St. Pete:

Me at the Hermitage:


Church of the Spilled Blood, built on the spot where Alex III (or was it II?) was assassinated:


Canal:

Home is good. The flight was good. I sat next to a very nice young woman named Yulia, she's Russian, is form Kyrgyzstan, but now lives in New Jersey. 10 hours of endurable boredom, not bad. Home has been treating me good, enjoying my time with my parents, seeing my sister, relaxing, being congested.

I guess that's it! It's simply not interesting to talk about watching TV and sleeping. THe adventures are over, it would seem. I'm sure there will be more, but for now, it's just me, in the USA.

Everything was amazing.

There's no place like home

I hit that point today- the point where i want to go home. I think the combo of that last week in Baku, plus today in st. petersburg have worn me out completely and i want to sleep and relax now. Moscow as been nice, it all came back to me, and I remember my way around etc. It is super expensive though- US prices! 10 bucks for lunch! I don't spend that much at home! But fun, and alive, and all the good things that a big city can be. And comfortable!

Last night I wook the night train to Peter, shared a coupe with an anti-semite (he said it- Ia- antisemite) and a theater director and a sleeping lady. First time i slept on a train, it was nice. Arrived at 5:30AM!!! Wandered around and stuff until things started to open, saw nevsky prospect, had breakfast. went to the museum of political history- BORING! then to peter and paul fortress- OK. but i was tired, unshowered, and my feet hurt, so i ledt without going in anything there and went to the hostel and showered and had some tea. then i tried to go to the kunstkamera, but the line was INSANE! and so more wandering. i went to the place where my friend's guidebook said the central post office was because i wanted to try to call royal. the post office was NOT THERE. i spent so much time going in circles around this neighborhood. Finally figured out a system- find internatioanal payphone. go to post office, get payphone card. try to find working payphone. call. mobile phone switched off!! cry. seriously, i was so frustrated with EVERYTHING at that point. Since then i've eaten and now i'm doing email. Tomorrow i'm doing JUST THE HERMITAGE- hopefully i won't mess that up.

St. Pete is very beautiful and wonderful. I'm just having technical difficulties.

But it all adds up to me tired- physically exhausted and emotionally stressed. I'm ready for home. just a bit more fun in moscow first!

Safe and sound in Moscow

I am alive and well and in Moscow, which is a land of unimaginable luxury compared to Baku. And my god is it expensive here. Anyway, I'm staying with Maren, my old Moscow roommate, and remembering the times I had when I used to live here.... and it's cold! I can't even remember what it's like to not be hot. Wow.

Anyway, last week. Yes, I was kicked out of my apartment. As terrible as it was, I was taken in by and Azeri family, and the experience was amazing. Apart from learning so much about families here and how they work (and survive), they really took me in and i feel like one of them. They don't have much- a 2 room apartment, with 5 people there plus me. And there is only water for a few hours in the evening- the rest of the time it is water from the tub and jugs. But I was actually comfortable there.

So, Saturday I arrived, Sunday I found out I was kicked out of my apartment and returned, and Monday was nice. Then Tuesday... Tuesday the grandmother fell down on her way to mosque and broke her kneecap. The entire day was full of panic and emotion- i tried to help and stay out of the way. The hospital sent her home in a cast even though she needed an operation becasue they couldn't pay the $500 the doctor demanded to operate (which I'm pretty sure was just a bribe). So, I offered to help them, and with the help of my parents, we gave them part of the money.

Thank you mom and dad. You can't understand how much it meant to them- not just because their grandmother could get the operation, but because we helped them, just because we could, and wanted to. I can stay with them for free for life they said. And they really mean it!

So the next few days I spent with Royal, my friend from the bus. He's a wonderful, sweet, amazing guy. I won't be surprised if I see him again. In fact, ahem, he's my boyfriend. Which is logistically a problem, obviously. But love is love, and we will just have to see where life takes us.

So there you go- i packed what feels like a lifetime into that last week. Hopefully I'll send time updating more here, and get some pictures up soon this week of the regions and of Royal and his family. But it's finally happened- I miss home. So see everyone soon!

<3 Denise