Last day of our acquaintance

So today is the day when I'll leave Moscow and Russia behind. It might have been more of an epic story if I'd leave Moscow directly for London and UK but a nice cooling down in the lonesome Nordic corner that many people know as Finland appears to be quite vital for me at this point (after three months of Moscow, yeah!).

Now it's time for me to gather some thoughts of my time here in Moscow. Firstly, I ended up in this city very suddenly and even slightly to my own astonishment (mainly due to the amount of work and study I had in the hectic rat race back in Helsinki last spring). Secondly, as I already wrote in June, I continued to live within two different bubbles (in the embassy and at my friends Night and Troll) throughout the whole summer. Thirdly, my life in Moscow very quickly adopted a certain pattern (off to work, off to home, off to sleep) it followed the whole time I was in the city. This pattern did not break but only had few pauses while I was twice in Yaroslavl' and once in St.Petersburg. 

I came back from Yaroslavl' on Sunday with some great ideas that came to my head while I spent a sleepless night on Saturday. Basically what happened was that I was finally able to pick a career I want to pursue. And the one (and the only logical one) I see ahead of me is the one of a teacher. Not any teacher though but a teacher of languages (Russian + Finnish or perhaps English). So, what I need to do about this is to give it a little more thought (find out about the possibilities to realize this in my home university) and sign in and undertake two entrance exams next spring.

Also, these last few days here in Moscow have turned out to be, frankly, the very best days of this summer. Why exactly? Well, let it suffice to say that I've had the pleasure to enjoy the company of an extraordinary girl ('extraordinary' due to her ability to stand me for virtually all the time!). During these last few days we've had some really good time together starting with a house party in Uhtomskaya (where I live) and ending with an evening cruise on the Moskva river. Here I have two pictures for you:

Kremlin (on the right-hand side) at dusk

Me on the waves and in dreamy weather.
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So, I'll leave this city and this country within few hours in a mix of both enthusiasm (of all the things awaiting me) and sadness (for all the good things I've had experienced in Moscow) with the words of Sinéad O'Connor:  
'

This is the last day of our acquintance
I will meet you later in somebody's office
I'll talk but you won't listen to me
I know your answer already
'

The reason for these particular words remains with a number of experiences and phenomenons I've had to come across almost every single day while in Moscow (some of them being but not limiting to such things as overpopulation and overcrowdedness, bureaucracy that by my reckoning is way closer to idiocracy and inefficiency of most public service, but most of all scrupulous, self-absorbed and indifferent people I had to serve, attend, work with and meet on a daily basis). Without being too bitter I must confess that I've had enough of Russia for quite some time and I also need some time on my own to put my thoughts (and myself) back together after this rattle.

But on the other hand I'm certainly (from overall perspective) happy with my summer in the Russian capital. Firstly, I've met and befriended some amazing people not just from the embassy but also some Muscovites and few people from around the world. I'm also very grateful to my friends Night and Troll who allowed me to stay with them and even took good care of me by providing me with an astonishing environment in which to live on the outskirts of Moscow city. And thirdly I wouldn't have missed these last days in Moscow for the world: I've regained some of my past self-confidence and even few of my older more romantic ideas of life in general. And all these aforementioned things neither I nor anyone else can measure in money or gold simply because they are few pieces of the mosaic that make up the pattern and the picture of my life.

Yours & ready for departure,

Stefan

A Postcard from Bilbao

For once I decided to use this blog of mine for what blogs are usually intended for: to share with you some news and to tell you about my day to day  life here in Moscow. So, let us begin!

I set out to Moscow (and to London) in order to rethink the puzzle of my life and to reset the direction where I'm heading to. This jigsaw has become somewhat clearer mainly due to my isolation (I live in two different bubbles, remember?). To say the turth I haven't been at all intrested in the life of my family and friends in Finland and luckily they haven't been that keen on my affairs. So I've got what I wanted: solitude. Well at least to a certain amount (yeah, alone in Europe's biggest city! Who would have thought?).

Then on the other hand thanks to my hosts and firends (Night and Trol) being active member of CouchSurfing we've had intresting and often quite extraordinary people from all over the world staying with us, for a day or two, and sharing some of their life with us. This, for one, has been in a way a major contribution for my efforts to get different perspective to the rat race of my university, my life in Helsinki and in Finland. I've also befriended some of our guests and it is rather possible that I'll meet them later on while in London.

Last weekend I went with my friend to see a peculiar musical in the Mossoviet Theatre. This play was the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. For one I could never have been able to imagine this specific piece of literature being transformed into a Broadway style musical. Nevertheless, this Russian cast along with the director succeeded in creating an entertaining and truly inspiring play with accurate coreography and some remarkable acting.

On the other hand the play thoroughly lacked the feeling of Victorian London or rather the stiffness and pompousness of the British upper class which, at least by my reckoning, is an essential part of R. L. Stevenson's work. Also, I was especially annoyed by the sexist division between the male and female roles: the genteel messrs were convincing in their manners whereas the ladies were so profoundly Russian not just in their apperance but their constant melodramatical arias and romantic whining that I almost lost my nerves. Luckily the crucial scene of the last dialogue between Jekyll and Hyde (seen below) was carried out to perfection by Alexandr Domogarov:

This week I also had the pleasure of receiving a postcard from my friend in Bilbao. The postcard reminded me of those things I've lacked here in Moscow including open spaces and horizons, running water (as in a lake or a sea - we do have tubes here!), Finnish summer (or rural summer anyhow) but predominantly the company of many of my best friends. On that postcard is a picture of the Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao at dusk (somewhat similar to the picture below):

But right now I'm on my way to Yaroslavl' once again. This time simply just to relax and to gather my thoughts before I once more find myself in the ever condensing monotony of Finland. 

Yours in haste,

Stefan

PS. Cheezy as it may sound I've collected and unofficial OST of my summer here in Moscow (following an example of my Dutch friend). If you're intrested enough then, by all means, listen:

1. A beginning of an era: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE&ob=av2n
2. The first and worst days at work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzRecTQUXv8
3. The meaning of life (vol. Russian): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOzkN8dHnjk
4. Babylon had never any power over you!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHDafPS4opk
5. Moscow's got magic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtvgNBRGnMc
6. Wodka trinkt man pur und kalt!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQAKRw6mToA
7. Nights in St.Petersburg: http://www.myspace.com/dushapitera
8. Evening of Finnish cuisine and music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCRGnoVLGnE
9. A postcard from Moscow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTNeCxtPaeM&feature=related
10. A toast for the turning of the season: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEnUp2j8TV4
11. A breath of autumnal air: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CxknQGTjyw&feature=related
12. УГ!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P7tW9-_Fck
13. Stuck in the August rain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9I4l64huA
14. Swimming under a starry sky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahJ6Kh8klM4
15. On an August summer night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ&ob=av2e
16. The last day in Moscow and in Russia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLGobWuiYuc

Nightswimming

'
After all this whining I decided to treat you guys with something more pleasant: I'll share some more pictures of my life in Moscow. I came to this conclusion for two reasons. Firstly, 'cause I'm lazy. Secondly, 'cause they say a picture can tell more than thousand words (this argument only underlines my laziness and inability to write you something fresh). 

But before the good stuff bare with me for awhile. As strange as it may now seem and sound (after all this time in the Russian capital) I've finally learned to really like Moscow. The key was under my nose all this time: to accept this city, its habits and its people just the way they are. But now let's start with the collage:

Wet Moscow riverbank after two beers and few vessels full of partying people that passed by.

Some unfortunate bublik in a pond in Moscow zoo few seconds before it was eaten up by a swarm of salmons, turtles, catfish and some perch.

Me enjoying myself as one of the locals: chilling out in a fountain in the Moscow's Victory Park with live concert playing some lame popsa on the background.  

From here on the pictures are from last Friday evening which I spend just roaming around the city with a friend of mine after a hard day's work and after we had bought tickets to a theatre play you shall soon enough hear about..

This picture could have ended up earlier in the post "Moscow's got Magic" because the park and the pond in the picture make the first scene in Bulgakov's novel Master and Margarita. This park is the Patriarch Ponds and it is here where professor Woland first appears on this visit to Moscow in spring somewhere in early 1930's.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour at dusk..
'

...and probably the best possible view on Moscow skyline at dusk. Here you can clearly see all the layers (the tzarist, Soviet and modern) of makeup lady Moscow has on her face.
'

And here am I thinking of the summers past, pining for Tarnovo and dreaming of a nightswimming (mind you not in the Moscow river - I'm not mental enough to plunge myself into that river!) that I'm going to undertake with my friend some of these days in an outdoor pool.


And speaking of nightswimming here I have my official theme song for this summer: (Psst! mind the link in the subtitle below)

Nightswimming (by R.E.M.)
'

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
Still, it's so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
The moon is low tonight

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday

Nightswimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon
I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me,
This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
Nightswimming

The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night

Yours on the photographs above,

Stefan