Moscow Musings: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

The Russian children that started school today did so in 43-degree temperatures, with blowing wind and driving rain. A far cry from yesterday’s beautiful cloudless sky, when Cindy’s school got started. I’d like to report that I watched them all walking to school, but the truth of the matter is, I haven’t left the house all day. The groceries were to be delivered today so I had to stay put, which gave me a chance to get the kitchen organized and to clean up the last bits and pieces of the move. As of this moment, the house is clean and everything is where it is supposed to be, at least for the time being.

Now here is something to consider: We have been here for a month and I just now realized that we don’t have a can opener! I’m trying to imagine how I’ve been cooking without using at least one can of something. I guess when you shop every day, you mostly use fresh stuff, but I do need to get an opener before the snows fly since I know I’ll be needing standby dinners, which most certainly will require a can opener.

The weather today has been really something. The thunder seemed more like howitzer fire, sharp reports and booming echoes. The lighting has been the only thing that has brightened the steel grey sky and when it goes off, it truly illuminates. This is weather you want to look at from a warm house while reading a good book and sipping hot tea. I have one of the above and it is the tea. There is no way to heat the apartment until they throw the central switch for all of Moscow. Central heat takes on a whole new meaning in Moscow. Every single apartment building, office and store gets heat when the Central Heating Authority thinks it is time. I’m perfectly willing to wait since we are told that these places get very, very warm. As for a good book, I’m more involved with the technical manual regarding Kosmos Cable Television and Sony televisions. I’ve managed to hook the DVD to the TV and that works fine, but I appear to be missing a cable adaptor so that the TV will get stations and need to go back to the embassy to get one. I hope the weather cooperates.

Today, you will all get two messages from me, one from the old faithful Mac iBook and one from this new iMac. Apple, for all of its innovations, still has to rely on Microsoft for a decent suite of office software. I’ve been using Entourage since it came out for Mac, but there is no one that can tell me how to transfer the list of people on Moscow Musings from the old Mac to the new one. I’ve tried everything and nothing works, so if there is a Mac genius out there let me know. Anyway, if you only get one message, let me know if it was from the iMac or the iBook. I’ll label them clearly. (I may have figured this out! If so, you’ll only get one copy.)

We decided to dine out last night and went to a local Italian place that we were told was inexpensive, which we now know if a relative word in Moscow. It is a lovely spot called Gamberi, very nice mirrored interior, with lots of couches and easy chairs, instead of regular tables and chairs. I think it might have been a former house of ill repute, but I could be wrong. I don’t understand how anyone enjoys eating when your face if only three inches from the table, but most of the restaurants and cafes seem to have this set up. Anyway, the menu if extensive and it has pictures, which really helps. Cindy is getting amazing at being able to sound out the Cyrillic and she was just going to town last night (from CC: figuring out that what looked like Recto is pesto, for example, was pretty easy. It was actually very comical … my brain would be struggling along with tah – tahl – tahlyi – oh! Tagliatelli). Cindy ordered a mushroom soup, which was fantastic. Not too salty and the mushrooms were rich and earthy, not your mom’s cream of mushroom soup ala Campbell’s. I had a Caesar salad, granted it isn’t Italian, but the picture looked good. It was very tasty, more anchovies than I like, but certainly fresh and certainly small enough to make you want something else. The something else was a pizza margarita, which while edible will not cause anyone in Napoli or New York to lose sleep. I had garlic pasta that might have been improved if they had added garlic. We may or may not go back, lots of choices in this area and we want to try more local ethnic food, like Georgian.

As I anticipated, we slept like babies last night. The new mattress pad, sheets, and pillows just enveloped us and I didn’t move until Cindy came in to say goodbye as she was headed out the door for school. I felt horrible that I didn’t get her breakfast ready and almost stayed awake to repent! I suppose I’ll have to set an alarm now that sleeping is so comfy.

I thought I would leave you with a few pictures of the outside of Tchaikovsky Hall, which is a great place for music and it is located at Triumfalnaya Square, only a few blocks from the house. Don’t let the miscellaneous stuff distract you.