Гулять

Before I get into the real meat of this entry, a real quick Russian lesson for those who don't know anything about the language. I promise it won't hurt. For the most part.

The title of this entry "Гулять" (pronounced goo-LYAHT') is a Russian verb. You can tell it's a verb because it ends in "ть." You can also tell it's the infinitive form of the verb for the same reason. So why am I telling you this? Well, mostly just so you can feel like you walked away learning something today. You're welcome.

Гулять literally translates to "to walk, stroll," but the reason I want to spend some time talking about this verb is for its second meaning, "to make merry, live it up." This is a bit of a cultural phenomena here in Russia that I've really come to love and I thought it might be nice to share with you all back home. This isn't high level vocab or anything, I'm sure most first and second year students learning Russian could tell you what it means, but I didn't really understand it until I had a chance to experience it for myself. When I go out on the weekends my host Galina always tells me to "enjoy my stroll," but it's more than just walking around. When Galina says this to me what she's saying is something more like "enjoy your time," or "have a good time." It's not entirely about taking a walk, but, at least from what I've experienced, more about enjoying life.

You might say to me "well no duh Tyler, that's what the second meaning you wrote early says, quit wasting my time" in which case I will call you up over Skype and slowly shake my head at you in disappointment, and you don't want that.  There's a few connections that need to be made here that might be hard to see if you've never had the chance to experience this. First of which is that there is an extremely strong connection between walking around your environment and having a good time. You can go for a walk around the streets in the center of Moscow, or one of the many parks that are scattered all over the place, it's not important, but Russians love to be out and about, despite how cold it can get. The second is that you don't have a destination. There is no point A or point B. You might define the area you're in if you're going to talk about where you're strolling, like "I'm in this or that park," but it's not about going some place, it's about wondering.

Back home if I was going out I had a destination in mind. I knew where point A and point B were and the goal was usually to get from one to the other as quickly as possible. Point A might have been home and point B was wherever I was meeting friends, the space between them was... well, just space honestly. Nothing special. Here the whole point is that the fun happens when there is no destination. There's no goal, just exploring and have a good time.

Let me give you an example:
I meet with my friend Sasha about once a week and our meeting usually go about the same every time. First, we'll sit down in a cafe or bar, order a beer, talk about life, philosophy, news, whatever, pay the check, and then go for a stroll. Some of the most interesting things I've learned here have been while we're just wondering around. Topics come up that you would never think of during normal conversation, like issues with the infrastructure of the new parks in downtown Moscow, or why there are still bulky, outdated phone booths that no one uses still littering the side walks of Moscow.

If you wanted to take the phrase "stop and smell the roses" and put it into one verb, it would be Гулять. For me personally this is one of the things I struggle with the most. I always feel like I need to be going somewhere, doing something specific, but this is a completely new way to consider how to enjoy yourself. It's healthy, it's relaxing, and it encourages you to learn the environment. You have to stop thinking in terms of "here and there" and start thinking in terms of "this and now." It's not about where you are going, or who you're going to meet with. It's about where you are, and who you're with right now. Maybe it's difficult to understand by just reading it, but whenever you have some down time grab anyone you know who's nearby (or go by yourself, it's a great time to do some self reflecting) and just go wonder around. Don't set a goal or a time limit, just see where you're feet take you. Go down a street you've never walked down, maybe you'll find a new cafe, maybe you'll meet someone new. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something about yourself or your environment you didn't already know.

We live in a beautiful world full of things we don't know yet, too often we forget that.

Гулять - "To stop and smell the roses. To learn something new. To live here and now."

Someone decided the normal traffic arrow was boring

Nothing takes that pesky "rape-y" vibe away like an Avatar themed paint job.

Speaking of interesting paint jobs...

Yeah, that's a Porsche with a Boondocks paint job. 

Magnitsky Act

A new piece of legislation was passed by Congress recently called the Magnitsky Act that will normalize trade with Russia while condemning human rights violations in the Russian Federation. This act was passed without any problems (a vote of 365 to 43) and signals the US’s continued stance on punishing other countries that partake in human right’s abuse while still moving forward into a new era of trade with Russia. To really understand what this act means though it’s important to understand its predecessor, the Jackson-Vanik Act.

            

The idea behind the Jackson-Vanik Act was essentially the same as the Magnitsky Act, in that it acted as a mechanism to punish countries that violated human rights. Countries, like Russia, that restricted emigration were not given trade benefits with the US. Because of this act Russia began allowing certain levels of emigration so that they could trade with the US. This was seen as a human rights victory and Russia was able to trade with the US. Arguably a win-win situation for everyone involved.

            

Fast forward to the recent introduction into the WTO and we run into a problem with the Jackson-Vanik Act however. It’s against the bylaws of the WTO to have restrictions against fellow WTO members and if the Jackson-Vanik Act was not repelled Russia would be able to deny certain privileges to American firms and the same American companies would be unable to use WTO mechanisms for conflict resolution in Russia. Obviously this was a situation that the US could not allow since we’re all about having the maximum power of trade anywhere in the globe we can manage it. And why shouldn’t we be like that? It’s smart business sense. But anyway…

            

Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who reported a $230 million theft from the government by Russian police officers, Russian tax officials and organized criminals. Clearly the man had some balls, because he must have known that he was going to get thrown in jail, which he did, by the police officers he testified against. It was claimed that Magnitsky himself was responsible for the theft, and while he was detained in prison awaiting trail his health began to fail, and it is claimed (though not confirmed) that while he lay in the prison hospital he was handcuffed to his bed, beaten by several guards, and left to die. Of course, he died before every receiving his trial, but with the state of the Russian legal system, it’s unlikely he would have received a trail with an outcome more favorable than what he received anyway.

            

This is the set of circumstances that led to the Magnitsky Act.

            

The US decided to pass this new act, named after Sergei Magnitsky, that would repeal the old Jackson-Vanik Act, normalizing trade between the US and Russia as well as continuing to have some sort of mechanism to punish Russian human rights violations.

            

So what is the Magnitsky Act? Well, it would deny US visas to the men involved in the detainment and death of Sergei Magnitsky, none of whom stood trail after his death, as well as freeze all their assets in the US. Along with this, all future Russian officials who violate human rights would also be denied visas and be unable to have assets in the US. This would continue to encourage Russian officials to take human rights seriously as well as meet WTO regulations for fair trade among members. This seems like a great solution to the problem of the Jackson-Vanik Act, and some European countries are considering enacting similar bills, but the Kremlin is far from pleased about this development.

            

The Kremlin sees it as a direct attack on Russian citizens and has threatened to respond in kind. They have said that they could similar ban certain US citizens from the Russian Federation, as well as freezing assets inside the RF. They also point out that America has far from a spotless record on human rights and they seem to feel that the pot is calling the kettle black.

            

I don’t think that many Americans would be overly upset if Russia enacted similar laws against the US, but it’s an interesting idea. Personally, I think that the Magnitsky Act seems like a good piece of legislation, and that the Kremlin is upset simple because it may actual force them to conduct themselves in a manner more in accordance with the international views on human rights. At the same time, I’m not sure what to think about Russia saying that they will do the same thing to the US. Maybe it’s a good thing to have the international community holding each other responsible in this manner, but I fear that this sort of tit-for-tat reactionism might create gridlock in international cooperation.

            

Regardless, there are some interesting developments going on between Russia and the US and I think this is something worth paying attention to if you have any interest in international relations or human rights.

           

As always, feel free to comment, agree, disagree or whatever else.

Much love, Tyler

Thanksgiving Day Fail

We (the Americans) decided to celebrate Thanksgiving this year in Moscow by inviting over all our friends from Russia and other countries to enjoy some of the foods we were missing the most from back home. Sadly, I was unable to join them for the festivities. Why? Well, let me back up and set the scene for you first…

About two weeks ago I was at the dorm where our Thanksgiving merry making was going to be held with some friends and it was getting close to 11pm, which is when they ask guests to leave. Me, being the kind of guy I am, thought to myself, “forget that, I’m a grown man, I’ll stay as late as please,” and proceeded to do exactly that. The administrator came by twice looking for me and I hid on the porch while Anton explained that he had no idea where I was (thanks for that buddy). By the time 1am rolled around I decided I was ready to leave, and as I opened the door into the hallway I practically stepped on the administrator who had come up to Anton’s room for a third time to ask if he knew where I was.

Needless to say, she was more than a little pissed.

They tossed me out of the dorm, which was cool, I was leaving anyway, and yelled a lot of things at me in Russian that I could only assume were expletives. I got home, went to bed and didn’t think much of it after that.

Fast forward to this Sunday, I had just finished visiting a very cool exhibit on sustainable city development with my friend Sasha that was all in Russian and I actually felt like I understood with his help (his English is about as good as my Russian and we talk almost entirely in Russian, so this still required some work on my part), we went to the dorm, and as I was trying to sign in the guard told me to leave. A little confused I asked why, and he pointed to a piece of paper on the wall, which, if my translation is accurate said, “If you see some American clown with the goofy name ‘Тайлер Джоунс’ be sure to kick his ass to the curb.” That’s how my name translates phonetically, for those of you who were curious to know that information, which I’m sure is all of you.

After trying to explain to him that I just wanted to eat with my friends, and then trying to sneak in, which almost worked, I was forced to wait down in the guard’s office while dinner was being cooked. Anton brought me down a plate of food and some wine to enjoy in front of the guard. I was sure to eat it as loudly as possible and look like it was easily the greatest meal ever crafted on this planet in an attempt to make the guard jealous. I’m sure he probably couldn’t have cared less, but it made me feel better.

Anyway, that’s what Thanksgiving looked like this year: me sitting in a guard office eating turkey and cranberry sauce, drinking wine out of a plastic cup (because I’m a classy gentleman), and trying my hardest to make the guard feel as uncomfortable as possible.

But now for some important business: Things I’m thankful for

My parents who have been nothing but supportive and loving

My friends here and back home who I love dearly

All the teachers I’ve had that have helped me reach my goals

Eddie’s cranberry sauce, because it was like happiness in my mouth

The Elections

I know it's a little late, and you're probably tired about hearing about the elections now that they're over, but I'm going to write about it anyway.

I thought the best part about being abroad during the campaign season would most certainly be not having to see all the adds on TV, and while that was pretty fantastic, I think the perspective I got from being around non-Americans during the election was perhaps more interesting. I'll try and stick to just what I observed from those around me, but I'm going to share some of my own thoughts too. If something I say offends you... well, get over it.

First and foremost, I can tell you that regardless of your feelings about Obama, the rest of the world is really glad he will be back in office for the next four years. All of the foreigners I've met here, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and especially the Russians were all happy to hear that Obama won the race. My French friends thought that Romney seemed extreme, and reactionary, and of course, all the Russians I have met were more than a little put off by his Cold War-era mentality of Russia being the number 1 enemy of America.

I have to agree with them. Regardless of whether or not I like all of his policies, I do think Obama was the better choice between the two. Of course, I didn't care for either candidate, and saying  Obama was better than Romney, for me, is like saying oatmeal is better than grits. They're both essentially the same,  and I'm not particularly fond of either. All of that aside, I do believe that we are living in an every increasingly globalized and connected world, and it is increasingly important that we have a president that sees the necessity of cooperation between nations. Returning to the rhetoric of "Forget the rest of the world, especially those Godless Commies," will not take us anywhere. It's time to wake up, and realize that the rest of the world faces many of the same problems we do, and whether they speak English, German, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, or whatever else, they are still just people trying to build a better future. Of course, it's more complicated than that, and sometimes groups result to extreme methods like terrorism or economic repression (looking at you, IMF) to achieve these goals, and that's unacceptable, but the principle is still the same. Everyone just wants to be happy.

It's also important to point out that if Romney had won, and we had returned to the "Those pinko Commies are Godless scum," rhetoric I might have a lot of trouble finding work after graduation, and we can't have that, now can we?

One last thing...

I'm getting a little bored about writing entire posts about my week to week activities. Of course, the excursions I go on are interesting, and I'll keep posting about them, but the day to day of my life is pretty regular, and not much fun to write about, so... If there is something in particular you would like to know about let me know through email, facebook, messenger pigeon, whatever, it doesn't matter. Right now I'm thinking about doing a post on food, one about how we get around, and one focused more specifically on the metro here, but if you have some more ideas, let me know, because I'm sure I'll run out of my own quickly.

As always, much love and I miss you all

Happy Halloween from Moscow!

Not much new going on around here this week. As always, just trying to play as hard as I work haha. I wish I could tell you all the details of what I did for Halloween, but I'm really not sure myself what happened this last Friday. My buddy Anton and I went out with a few Russian friends from our faculty and went bar hopping. We met some fun folks from the UK while we were out and enjoyed a few pints with them, went exploring around Moscow and somehow found our way back home. I would like to take a moment to give a huge thank you to Anton for making sure I managed to get home. Who knows where I would be without him.

When I woke up the next day my clothes from the night before were covered in mud, I had hangover that kept me in bed all day, bruises and nice cut on my back from who knows what.

The sure sign of a good time

In other exciting news, I'm starting to get the plans for my Eurotrip during the break between semesters finalized. Right now the list of places I'm visiting includes: Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Germany, Amsterdam, Paris, Piza, Florence, Madrid, and Barcelona. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked.

School is still going well and I feel like I understand more everyday and I'm starting to be able to have somewhat intelligent conversations with people. Classes are starting to get really interesting and I'm having fun writing on topics like "Freedom of speech in the Russian media and how it shapes political views of the public," and "Problems with legislation on human trafficking in the Russian Federation." If anyone wants to talk to me about these kinds of subjects, feel free to ask. I'm certainly no expert, but it's really interesting stuff and I've been getting some extremely different points of view from the people that live here.

And of course, bonus pictures! These are all from the Museum of Modern History.

1/3 Scale modle of the craft that took Gagarin into space

Book made out of coal that has pages you can actually turn. It was a gift to Stalin, but he never read it because he was afraid it might effect his already failing health negatively.

Big 'ole hammer and sickle. Each one of the ribbions was a country in the USSR

Remember folks, they're are friends!

Eddie SMASH!

Forward, into the future!

Gun cart used during the October Revolution. There's a little mechanism set up inside to imitate the sound of gunfire if the gun malfunctioned so that they could still be used as phycological deterrents.

Cornerstone of the Proletariat

Old school mortor

   

The Past Couple of Weeks

I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything, but things have been crazy lately. I kept telling myself that I was going to write about my time in St. Petersburg and go from there, but I'm beginning to think there is just too much to say about Peter and not enough time to say it all, so I'll give you all a short version.

As part of my program here in Moscow we went on an excursion to St. Petersburg for a weekend. I rode in a sleeper train for the first time in my life and enjoyed the experience quite a bit. We did all the touristy things like checking out the Hermitage and doing a tour in the canals  and I have to say, when it comes to beauty Peter beats Moscow hands down. Peter is an absolutely gorgeous city with a nearly unfathomable amount of culture held within it. They say that to spend just a minute at every piece of art in the Hermitage it would take you twelve years to explore everything, and the Hermitage is just one (albeit the most famous) of the many museums in St. Petersburg. The Hermitage is easily the most incredible thing I've ever had the pleasure to see. It's one thing to do a google search of a famous artist's works, it's another entirely to be standing in front of them. I can now say I've seen original works by people like DiVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, van Dyck, Rembrandt, and others. The sheer amount of artwork there is difficult to put into words, and I only spent a few hours exploring a small section of what was offered. After visiting the Hermitage, we went to several cathedrals including St. Isaac's which was also extremely beautiful.

Saturday night in Peter we went out and partied with some friends from Germany who had been studying at MSU with us, but were going home after the weekend. Needless to say, I had a pretty fantastic time, right up until I woke up the next morning. We were supposed to go on more tours, but those of us who had gone out the night before decided to sleep some more (we got back to the hostel around 5am if I remember correctly, and the tours started at 9am) and we went out on our own and explored some more. We took a boat tour around Peter, which required about all the strength I could muster in my hung over state and went back to the hostel to meet with the rest of the group. After dinner we took a sleeper train back to Moscow and resumed classes on Monday.

I really enjoyed seeing St. Petersburg, but I feel now more than ever deciding to go to Moscow was the right choice. When we were in Peter everyone was extremely European, and some people straight up would not speak Russian with me. While it was considerable easier to get food and do the day to day, I'm quite certain that I would be learning less Russian there because I wouldn't need to use it as frequently. Also, it didn't feel like I was in Russia. I have heard people say that St. Petersburg is a European city, not a Russian one, and after going there, I think they're right.

But that's all about Peter, if you want to see pictures, they're on facebook.

We also went to two small towns here in Russia, Vladimir and Suzdal, which were both very beautiful and interesting. Unfortunately we spent 4 hours on a bus to get to Vladimir, 20 minutes there, 45 minutes getting lunch at a mall (and not a local Russian restaurant, which I don't understand), an hour in Suzdal, and then 4 more hours on the bus back home. I was not a very happy camper and I really wish we could have seen more of these two cities. Regardless, it was still a pretty cool trip and I found out they brew some really good honey beer in Suzdal.

Since getting back it has pretty much just been more of the same. I'm working hard to keep up with my course load at MSU and trying hard to understand Russian. For the most part I'm able to get around in my daily life without any troubles, but occasionally I run into little problems. It's always the things you don't expect of course. The other day I wanted to buy a pack of gum from one of the street shops (there are pharmacies, food vendors, and little miscellaneous goods stands about every ten feet in Moscow), but I forgot the word for gum. The women thought I wanted green cheese, which is a thing, and seemed to get pretty upset when I told her that wasn't what I wanted to buy. After about two minutes of arguing with her about not wanting the cheese I finally stuck my head through the window of the stand, pointed at the gum I wanted and said, "that, I want that!" It was a bit of an unpleasant experience, but I got my gum.

For those of you that I haven't told yet, I have started dating a Russian girl here in Moscow. Her name is Anastasia Khokhlova, Nastya for short. She's in her last year at the journalism faculty here at MSU and is originally from Sakhalin Russia. I could probably go on for a long time about her, but I'll try and keep it short. She's unbelievable smart, I'm constantly thinking when I'm around her, she's beautiful, and despite that fact that she's usually pretty quiet she can be quite fiery at times too, which I love. Seeing things through her eyes is incredible because we often have such different views about things like law and philosophy.

Nastya and I 

Park on the outside of Moscow Nastya and I visited

Other than that, there's not really anything new going on in my end of the world. We had our first real snow fall today though, so that was pretty cool. As always, please feel free to contact me, I love answering questions and I love hearing from everyone back home.

First snowfall in Moscow, outside my apartment building

Vladimir

Vladimir

Suzdal

Suzdal

Suzdal

Inside an old church in Suzdal

Outside of church in Suzdal

Suzdal

Suzdal Kremlin from a distance

Suzdal

Still Getting Settled

Another week done and out of the way. Every day I'm here I feel more and more comfortable with living in Moscow. I still don't feel completely set in my routine yet, but it's getting much easier to go about my daily activities.

My grammer class is a little slow paced for my liking, but it's a good refresher on case endings for me. The professor for my reading and comprehension class doesn't seem to like the way I speak Russian very much and stops me any time I read out loud to correct my pronunciation. It's a little frustrating, but I have a feeling that in the long run it will make my Russian much better. The professor for my conversational practice class has been sick the last two weeks so I still don't know if that class will be any good, but I have high hopes based on the quality of my other classes. The two classes I'm taking in English, Russian Legal Structures and Russian Political History, are both extremely interesting. The professor for the legal structures class in particular is fun to listen to. He tends to run class about 30 minutes later than it's scheduled, but it has been worth it to stick around to hear what he has to say. He's Georgian, worked high up in the government for awhile and now teaches at MSU. I don't agree with some of the things he says, but he has a perspective on the subject that I think is very unique and I think I'm very lucky to have the opportunity to listen to him lecture.

It feels like my Russian is already improving and I seem to be able to follow the direction of most conversations at this point. I still don't understand a lot of the words being said, but I'm able to keep track of the topic and the basic idea of what people are saying most of the time. My speaking skills still need a lot of improvement, but I'm starting to meet Russians and I'm hoping that spending time with them will help me on that end.

Last night I met my friend Anton and a few people from his class who all speak fluently and managed to keep up with the conversation almost the whole night. There wasn't much I could add to what was being said, but it's still very gratifying to sit down with people who really know the language and have a clue, even if it's not much of one, about what's going on.

Week 1

I really don't even know where to begin with this first week because it has been such a storm of activity. The flight over here was good, but extremely long and I didn't sleep during any of it, so after 30 hours of being awake and traveling I arrived in Moscow and had to find the cab my program had paid for at one in the morning when I could barely keep my eyes open, much less speak in Russian. I was finally able to make it to my home stay safely though, so I guess it all worked out just fine.

My host is a very nice older woman who is very patient with me and cooks like a boss. We live fairly close to the Moscow State University campus, but my classes are all in a building on the opposite side so my walk to class is about 40 minutes every day. My classes are all very interesting and it's already proving to be a good change in perspective to hear about Russian history and politics from Russians rather than Americans. Everyone in my program gets along very well and it seems we're quickly becoming good friends. I have only met a handful of actual Russians so far, but part of that is because I haven't had much time to go out and the other part is that they keep all the foreign students in separate classes. I was having difficulty finding internet here, but was able to by a little modem that attaches to a USB port and picks up wifi. It's not exactly the cheapest option, but it works well and I'm mobile again, so I'm happy.

I've only been out to one bar so far (The Crazy Daisy) and had a blast while I was there. I had to learn the hard way that the metro shuts down at one in the morning though. Turns out when Russians go out they party till the metro starts running at 5 in the morning. It's a little hard core for me, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I've done some of the touristy things like go to Red Square, the GUM mall, and all that good stuff. It's incredible to see it all with my own eyes. For now I'm just trying to get used to the new routine and language, but I'm happy and feeling good about how things are looking.

Some side notes about Russia so far: Traffic here is the closest thing to total chaos I've ever experienced, the metro really is as good as they say it is, and people here smile much more than I was led to believe.

That's all for now, but please send me emails or skype me, I would love to hear from all of you. I may not respond right away, but I will as soon as I can, I promise.

Today's the Day

It seems like it has been such a long time coming that I can hardly believe it's finally time to get on a plane and fly to Russia. I don't think I can put into words what it feels like to be leaving for nine months in a completely different country. To be completely honest, I'm not sure it has hit me yet that this isn't a dream and that all the work I have been putting into getting ready for study abroad is about to pay off. 

People have asked me what I'm most excited for and what I'll miss the most and I think the answer to both is "everything." How can I pick just one thing that excites me the most about living in Russia when even little thoughts like what the coffee will taste like make me wish I was there already? In the same token there is no way to choose just one thing here that I will miss above the rest. I'm truly gifted with friends that I love like family, and parents that I know will support me through anything.  Of course I'll miss Denver and DU, but I'm leaving it all for something I've been working relentlessly towards for the last two years so it's hard to say I'm sad to be leaving. 

All that being said, I'm planning on updating this once a week, but we'll see how that goes since I'm not too good about staying on top of things like this. I will have a phone with a Moscow number, but I'm not sure how exactly texting will work on it so the best way to contact me is through my email, jones.tyler2014@gmail.com, through facebook, or over skype. Please contact me as often as you like, I would love to hear from all of you. If I don't respond right away it's probably just because I'm having a blast in Moscow. Thank you all for your love and support!