Back in Time: Moscow, Russia 1999

I'm starting a new series, Back in Time, where I share about our early days of expat life.  Blogging didn't exist back then and I'd love to have a more detailed record of those memories. So here we go!

• Before leaving the US we bought the new contraption known as a digital camera!!  The memory card held 15 pictures!!  (Keep this in mind as you peruse the pictures below, 1999 quality here!)

• We'd been studying the Cyrillic alphabet to give us a jump on language study. As the plane taxied to the gate in Moscow I saw a word on the side of a building and was anxious to sound it out. I got to the second letter and realized it was the word HOTEL in English.  I wish I could say that learning Russian from then on was that easy, but that is far from the truth!  Little did I know the pain and agony ahead of me!
• Passport/Visa control in Russia was a scary experience that first time!  It got easier, but you never knew if they might pull you aside to interrogate you! Fortunately that never happened to us at visa control.  It happened later on, but you'll have to wait for that!

• We arrived to our very Russian apartment on the 11th floor of a 22 story building, taking it all in. 

(these photos are a few months later from our arrival, but you get the idea)

Honestly, it left much to be desired. The kitchen items were old and dirty, no utensils, saucers instead of plates......

.....sagging couch, crazy wallpaper against a completely different patterned and fake oriental rug. No dishwasher or washing machine let alone dryer and no vacuum cleaner (we bought one) to clean those fake oriental rugs.  

See the padded door below right?

A king size mattress set upon 2 single metal springy frames that are used more for a stow away bed that you bring out when guests come.  We can laugh about it now!

Let me share a little side story about this bed.  Oh the bed!!  Because it was on 2 spring frames the mattress went up in the middle and sagged down each side creating a little hole we each had to roll into every night.  Jerry rolled across the middle of the bed to kiss me good night and my spring frame toppled us to the floor!!  What can you do but laugh!!!  We quickly decided to pull those crazy spring frames out and slept on the mattress on the floor inside this crazy wooden base from then on!!  Best decision ever made!

• This was still in the days of dial up!!!  No wireless internet or even high-speed existed. 

• Cell phones were a new thing, we didn't even have one for the first 2 years of living abroad.

• We lived at the south end of Moscow close to the station of Yasenovo on the Orange line. We had to plan at least an hour to get anywhere in the city, sometimes more.  People watching, reading, drunk men, people falling asleep ON YOU, body odor and the occasional puking person were the norm on the metro.  Even marriage proposals and requests for an outing (date) from strangers came from time to time.  An awesome place to people watch and take in the Russian culture!

(ceiling of one of the metro stations)

• I came to love Pelmeni (a Russian ravioli stuffed with various ingredients like meat, mushrooms and even mashed potatoes) boiled, sautéed in butter and served with sour cream & soy sauce, along with Salad Oliviet (the Russian version of potato salad) and Borsch (potato & beet soup). Now I'm hungry!  Yum!  We were also known to frequent TGIFridays for a taste of home!

• We attended Russian language classes 4 days a week for 4 hours.  It took over an hour to get there and over an hour to get back home.  Once winter hit we were coming home around 4 pm in the dark!

I wish I had more pictures from our time there and better ones at that, but these will have to do.  Below is the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. These guys know how to goose step!

In our Russian finery, winter wear!

The side of this building says "We are building communism."  Quite interesting sitting across from McDonalds, one that's open 24 hours at that!  Normally the side would be covered by an advert.  We just happened to see it in between.

Grounds of the Russian Expo Center.  Beautiful and elaborate fountains!

Saint Basils on New Years Eve

Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Canon at the Kremlin

The Church of the Nativity at the Kremlin at Christmas.

We spent 14 months in Moscow studying the Russian language.  Next time I'll share about our short stay in the town of Bryansk, Russia.

Hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane.

Have you ever been to Moscow or would you like to visit?