Zach and I - Red Square
Whew, it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote and there is so much to tell. I could describe each of the touristy activities to you, describe the Kremlin, Red Square, Tretykov Gallery, and the Pushkin Museum; however, guide books can do that in more detail and probably do a better job of it.
Van Gough
I am continuing to enjoy exploring the museums with Zach. At the Tretykov we saw emotional, powerful Russian art and at the Pushkin we saw the most breath taking Van Gough pictures. I think in life there are just times when you are ready to experience things. No matter how many times you may or may not have been exposed in the past you find that suddenly you understand why so many people revere a certain artist or artistic movement. It reminds me of music that maybe I heard 10 years ago and then heard again in the past year and, despite having had no interest in it before, find myself suddenly in love with it.
In addition to our tourist activities we've been getting a series of massages by my favorite massage therapist, Tanya. She is not for the faint of heart. Her methods are unique, combining several styles with her knowledge of anatomy and sports medicine. She is an incredible diagnostician - one of those people with story after story of life-saving healing with her hands. You have to understand that amount of pain you experience during a Tanya massage is of the kind that you can not fully describe nor fully remember until the exact moment you are experiencing the pain. I choose to keep a towel in my mouth to bite while I go through the glorious torture. Zach screamed and swore; I am not sure he's convinced it is all worth it. After several sessions my body starts to feel re-set, the pain lessens and all blood flow begins to normalize. Of course throughout the days we got our massages we were often left weak, tired and confused making for a few lazy days of sitting around the apartment flipping through the six different music video channels getting re-acquainted with pop music from all over the world.
On our way to Gorky Park
In Moscow the entire population lives in apartments, some fancy and some horrible, but apartments none-the-less. Most of the city thus has cabin style houses out of town shared often by the extended family. There you have your garden, a place to breathe fresh-air, and perhaps a body of water to swim in during the hot summer months. In the past none of these had running water, electricity or any of the modern comforts, but, as with all the other changes in Russia, people now are modifying their summer homes to be more comfortable and modern. We spent a Saturday getting Olya's (my father's wife) family dacha, as these homes are called, ready for the winter. I was sick so I got to sit and read rather than work, but even for Zach, who worked and cleaned the whole day, it was a nice break from the city.
I think for both of us adjusting to not working has been a little strange. We are in the middle of one of the largest cities with traffic that it so hard to believe I mostly try not to think about it. People are working and moving all around us. Pushing in front of someone in a line is more than common. Yet, here we are taking a vacation from all of our responsibilities. We are putting in family time, seeing some distant relatives, and trying to see some sites, but otherwise have very little responsibilities. Occasionally we find ourselves anxious and bored, but in those moments we try to remember all the work we've put in over the past few years and the work we will likely be putting in for the rest of our lives and, for me at least, I can then sink into the couch and relish in the quiet space of time with nothing filling it. We watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which we've done many times before, but now to continue to build our excitement for New Zealand.
Coffee School
We also are finally feeling awake enough to spend time talking and reading about food and things we enjoy. It is funny when working in San Francisco amongst such a food-centric scene my energy drained so low the last thing I wanted was to think about food. I missed loving food, but my body and mind were exhausted from too much work and too much to take care of in one day. I started to resent the whole scene, which left me feeling even more empty. My financial obligations made enjoying what San Francisco had to offer nearly impossible so the drain had little reward. Slowly but surely I am finding myself thinking about food more and what I could want to do with it. Zach and I talk about ideas we have more often now and think strategically through different business plans. We were lucky enough to take a course in coffee through my dad's business's coffee school. Normally this course is around $400 and takes five days. With our food and drink background it was easier to compact much of the course into two days. We focused on specialty coffee, which is a small part of the market but the best and all my dad's company, Montana Coffee Moscow, works with. With my energy levels and ability to focus on the rise I found the coffee course fascinating. Our repertoire of knowledge related to food and drink is ever-expanding which exactly how we want it.
We only have a few days left in this month long visit that feels as though it has flown by. On Thursday we will land in New York and be visiting my sister and her family as well as hopefully some other friends. Today I am getting indulged in one of my favorite things in Moscow, the circus, and this evening we are going to watch some acoustic blues at the BB King Club. We hope to see a few more sites and maybe get back to the coffee school to practice the art of espresso and coffee making. As time continues we find more and more things we could do and learn here, but we have other plans awaiting. I am already feeling sad to leave, especially about leaving my father back across the world from me, but am looking forward to some of the food I have missed (think all Asian varieties). I hope everyone is well and please keep in touch!
P.S. Check the photo albums to the right for all updated pictures. Also, please let me know if the link doesn't work for you. I was never sure it would work for those who are not my facebook friends.
