Happy Birthday Moscow!

This weekend we finally move into our apartment - it will be so nice - since we are now onto our 4th bed since we have moved out of our house and are living out of suitcases (8 to be exact) since August 10th.
Just to get into our apartment - you must use all of these keys....We go through two doors with key pads - then our actual apartment has two doors!!! The first is wooden and you need one key to get through this door. Once through the wooden door - you get to a steel door - which you need two keys to get through. It's like Alice In Wonderland - where she keeps going through door after door. I know you are all jealous of our key cases?! Those were Jim's idea :)

Also we are taking a trip to Mega Mall Khimki and I can't wait to go to the Mega Mall this weekend!!! We are going to get a hairdryer and a few things at Ikea - the Mega Mall is outside of the city....check it out - http://www.megamall.ru/mega2/en/shops/

This weekend is also Moscow City Day - Moscow's 860th Birthday - Happy Birthday Moscow!!! We had heard that Russian's don't like to be disappointed - and heaven forbid that it may rain on Moscow's birthday. So to ensure that it will NOT rain - about a dozen Air Force jets will be watching the weather in order to dissolve the clouds. Bean had told us this the other night, but I didn't believe him....until I read this in the Moscow Times this morning while eating breakfast. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/08/31/003.html What can I say...TIR.

Apparently, 3.5 million people are expected to attend the festivities this weekend - we are also planning on attending a few things and will take a few pics....so stay tuned.

Dinner and the Police

On Tuesday night - Jim found a place that we thought read IL Latino - and were looking forward to eating some Latin food. Well after a few minutes of looking through the menu - the two blonde's that we are noticed instead of Latin food - it was Italian. We then asked our waiter, Maxim where the Latin food was? He had a good laugh and said this is IL Patio - Italian food is served here. I think we need to practice our letters - especially the translation of the letter P.

All in all - IL Patio is the Russian version of Olive Garden - they are everywhere and the food is good...and Maxim even entertained me while I practiced my Russian on him. We promised him we'd come back to visit - he works everyday but Sundays. Check it out http://il-patio.rosinter.com/?city=smr

After dinner on our walk home from IL P A T I O - I was stopped by a Russian police officer. He began talking to me in Russian and waving his stick at me - I explained to him that I don't speak Russian and he then said - "Passport please." At least he said please....right? Well to make matters worse - I don't have my actual passport - all I have are copies and a letter from PWC (in Russian) explaining that my passport is being processed for a visa that will allow me to come and go from the country. I handed him the papers and he read the letter - confirmed that the picture on the copy was me and gave them back and walked away. Phew......thank god I had my papers!!!! God only knows what happens if you don't....off to Siberia!!

Tonight we had dinner with Bob "Bean" - my friend from High School who is also living here in Moscow. He will be here until the end of January, 2008 - I've been trying to talk him into staying longer - but he's ready to go...especially since his next assignment with his company may be in Dubai - and Moscow can't compete with Dubai's weather. So I told him that for the next 5 months he will be showing us all the good and affordable restaurants in the city and introduce us to all of his friends.

TIR

Have you all seen the movie Blood Diamond? In the movie Leonardo DiCaprio refers to the craziness of Africa as TIA or "This is Africa." It's a great movie and we highly recommend it!

However, our friends Cameron & Megan have decided to change it up a bit....TIR "This is Russia" - Which we also have decided to refer to when things happen to us that we just can't explain. Russians do things, wear things, and say things a little differently than we are used to - and through-out this BLOG we will be referring to our TIR experiences...

Pancho Villa

Last night we had dinner at Pancho Villa http://www.pancho.ru/ (click on the word Gringo's for an English version of the website....or figure it out in Russian....) Anyways it was GREAT! They also have a band that plays Latin music (mostly Gypsy Kings) - We are going back again this week to keep up our Salsa skills....but it kind of seems like an oxymoron - salsa dancing in Moscow???

It was funny when we used the restroom - behind the toilets were boarded up doors with a few cracks and holes and the door was pad locked (to give it a cowboy western feel) - the bathroom was pretty dark to begin with and as I used the toilet all of sudden noises of chickens and pigs started squealing. With a few margaritas under my belt - I seriously thought these animals were going to break through these wooden doors and I was going to be attacked by these crazy animals and it scared me to death! Jim's toilet had sounds of cats (which we all know how much Jim loves cats.....we was freaked out to say the least.....) TIR.

Azerbaijan

Saturday night - we took a night out on the town. We started off the night having cocktails at Sarah & Tom's apartment (which by the way is located in the same building as our apartment.) Sarah and Tom both work with Jim (but in different departments) at PWC. Cameron & Megan also joined the four of us.

We then set out for dinner at an Azerbaijan restaurant - called Barashka. For those of you who have NO IDEA where Azerbaijan is (and I have to admit I didn't either until I googled it) it is located between Russia's southern border and Iran along the Caspian Sea.

The food was excellent - I had sea bass - Jim had Chicken Kabobs - but Megan ordered Fried Chicken with Garlic Sauce (which is how it was written in the menu) Below is what she got....Ha ha.

Megan's Fried Chicken w/ Garlic Sauce....was basically a flattened chicken (about an inch thick after the flattening process) and a side of garlic sauce.....so you really can't blame them - it was "Fried Chicken with Garlic Sauce."

Here we are at Dinner - clockwise...Megan, Tom, Carrie,
Jim, Sarah, & Cameron.

Tom, Cameron, & Jim

Home Sweet Home

That's right - Jim and I have a new home and are no longer homeless.....below are pics of our new doma (home.) We move into our apartment on Saturday (September 1st) so one more week of living at the Marriott - I can't wait to get out of this hotel room....

A little history on our building - It is really a site and a beautiful building....to say the least. Kudrinskya Square is the name of our building - it is one of the Seven Sisters.

The Seven Sisters are the architectural legacy of one of the most ambitious building programs completed during Soviet times. They were all built on the orders of Jozef Stalin, the towers were constructed for the glorification of the Soviet State after WWII, and were intended to rival the USA’s skyscrapers that had gone up in the 30s. Each Sister was designed according to Stalin’s specifications, in a so-called ‘wedding-cake’ style, that concentrated the eye towards a central tower. Stalin also insisted that all of the Seven Sisters be given a spire (or spike,) in order to distinguish them from other countries.

On Thursday I have signed up to attend a Champagne Art History lesson - so I may learn a bit more on these buildings after Thursday.

The from view of our building

Me across the street from the stairs to the entrance of our apartment

Looking up at our building

View from our Bedroom (the Moscow Zoo is with in the trees that you see)

View from the living room

(The building at about 4:00 is the Metro - very close to our apartment)

Living Room

Bedroom

Bathroom

Metro & The Movies

Tonight Jim and I navigated our way on the Moscow Metro System - Moscow has a very nice Metro - nothing like what we are all used to in the states....It is the way to travel here - the traffic is horrendous and the taxi drivers drive like crazy people.....Although I miss having a car and just having the flexibility to come and go - it's city living for me now....

So we navigated our way on the Metro to the stop where the English speaking movie theater is located - today it was around 94 degrees and HUMID!?!?! I can't believe I am going to say this but I hope it gets cooler....

We saw the movie "Star Dust" it was cute - The movie starred Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert DeNiero, and Clare Danes. Check it out!

Today's paper

Carrie and I got a laugh reading the front pages of the newspaper this morning. Apparantly Putin is vacationing in Siberia and intentionally posed for some shirtless pictures as part of a recent PR campaign. Apparently it is quite the talk among russian women. I thought you would find this interesting. Can't say that I have ever seen shirtless shots of any of our presidents..........

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/08/24/015.html

Apartments Apartments and MORE Apartments

Today we looked at 10 apartments - each nice and some MUCH nicer than others.....From the 10 we narrowed it down to 2 that we liked after Jim put together a Pro/Con List on each of the apartments we looked at.....(He loves to put together lists of anything and everything...)

We will look at the two we liked and two others tomorrow and hopefully make our finally decision.....stay tuned!

We also had dinner tonight with Cameron and Megan - Cameron and Jim will be working together at PWC - they live just a few blocks from our hotel and are from Texas....we had a great dinner at a big Expat (the term used for all of the people living here that do not speak Russian) restaurant called Scandinavia and can't wait to hang out with them again.....since we don't have mANY friends - we have plans to see Cameron and Megan again this weekend.....

Arrival in Moscow

Well here we are - safe and sound at the Marriott. All of our luggage arrived as well
(wet from the torrential downpours at the Pgh & JFK airports) and it is good that they arrived since 4 out of the 5 bags were tagged as OVER WEIGHT. What can I say....I have a lot of things. You should have seen Jim and I navigating the push carts through the obstacle course of people and cars from the airport to our cab. We were quite a site and have to admit that we only had one accident where Jim dented the side of our cab - our driver was less than pleased.

I immediately started to talk to our driver in Russian - I said Savoidnia Jarka (today's hot) he just grunted and our conversation was over....so yes Cathe - I read your comment - I do know a few other words than das ve danya......but no one has wanted to talk to me in Russian yet?!

Jim just got back from the store - he thought he bought still water but instead bought sparkling water......I can only imagine what we are going to do at the grocery store when we have to buy food......I think we will both be shedding a few pounds these next couple of years....

Tomorrow we meet with our realtor, Elena.....

Das Ve Danya

Here we go!! The visas finally came through and we were able to negotiate some flights on a later Delta flight to Moscow. Our bags are (over)packed and we are ready to go!! I'm sure the adventures have just begun and let's hope a minivan really picks us up at the airport to haul all our bags into the city. We will be staying at the Courtyard Marriott, which is where we stayed when we visited last March. You can check it out at the following website:

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mowcy-courtyard-moscow-city-center/

We checked out the weather in Moscow and it looks like it is sunny and about 91 degrees. Let's hope it stays that way for a while!!

Moving Day

Moving out of our house was an adventure in itself. The day started with a delivery from FedEx telling us that our Visa applications had been rejected by the Russian Government because we did not include paperwork for HIV tests. After a little freaking out.... (who knew you needed an HIV test?) we then found a shady little lab that could provide a "Rapid HIV Test" which would provide us the results ASAP - $200 later our blood was drawn and flown off to a lab to be tested. So needless to say - we aren't sure when we will be leaving for Moscow.

As the HIV crisis continuted the movers were busy moving all of our worldly possessions out of our home into a moving truck to store them for the next three years. It's hard to imagine that we won't see any of that stuff again for 3 years - and Carrie has already started a campaign for furniture replacement at the end of the three years - she claims that most likely none of our stuff will be in style 3 years from now and will need to be replaced - but we can worry about that later....

Back to moving....everything was going well until around noon when the PA state police showed in their big black SUV at our home with a warrant to arrest one of our movers, Joe. As soon as our mover, Joe saw the police officers he ran and as far as we know has not been seen since...... The police searched and circled our home for a couple of hours before giving up and calling it a day............ never a dull moment.

Eye Yie Yie - whats next?!