Tales from an American in Moscow

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been making mental notes of all the things I've wanted to blog about. However, I find I now have little time to write them down. Time is flying in Moscow and I'm loving it, but it's not very conducive to blogging. I will try to touch on things in summary, but we'll see.

I have been really busy lately. Not the type of busy I am in America, but just busy with seeing the city, hanging out with people, and working on my beer belly. I've also been busy with ruining my clothes. >:( I swear every time I do laundry, something gets ruined. I ruined one of the scarves I really liked unwittingly this morning, so my resolution not to smoke has only been reinforced (although this time I believe it was from second hand smoke). Then, I won't have to wash my scarves. But yeah, my time has been consumed with classes and being in Moscow. I am really settling in here and I'm loving it. Russia is such a different culture that it takes awhile to get used to something so foreign and sometimes inexplicably confusing. But now that I understand the culture a little better, the language a little better, and the metro system a little better I feel a lot more comfortable being an American in Moscow.

On Friday, we went to the circus. I was morally torn up all week trying to decide what to do. On one hand, I didn't want to miss out on a cultural experience, but on the other hand I didn't want to support such a cruel practice to animals. I ended up going because by the time I came to any sort of conclusion, the tickets had already been bought. So I went. The human parts of the circus were really awesome. The animals parts were offensive and nauseating. And cruelty aside, they weren't even that interesting. They led a cheetah around on a leash. How can you possibly give a cheetah what it needs??? And don't scientists need as much genetic material as possible since most cheetahs are so inbred they can't even catch their prey anymore?? I don't understand how whoever can approve the sale of endangered species to a circus. They also had horses, but their heads were chained down, which just looked painful and sad. Then, they had a section where there were six tigers and two lions on stage. There was this guy with a whip who just hit them and poked them until they did something "interesting" like growl or try to attack him. It was so sad. They are such proud creatures and they all just looked so sad. He reduced them to petty creatures as opposed to the majestic cats they are. It was sad. He didn't even look like he liked them. I don't know... the whole thing was terrible. And while one might just want to believe that it's something that only happens in Moscow, it really happens in all circuses all over the world. In fact, most of the acts there were traveling acts from other countries. I will never attend a circus again and I urge you to do the same.

This is all I have time for right now as I have to go get ready to go souvenir shopping at the market. Although it's so windy and rainy outside, going to an outdoor market doesn't sound all that appetizing. We'll see! Пока друзья!