Another sort of Moscow culture: libraries. I visited another 3 this week and can assure you that nothing is as exhausting as spending a few hours in such a place. When entering one first has to meet someone of the directive staff in order to, as always, fill in some unnecessary pieces of paper. The next stop is the metal detector which here in Russia is preset to beep every single time, just so that the Moscow militia has something to do next to getting drunk. “Please ma’am, empty all your bags” (in Russian that is) and I then say “Sorry, I do not understand any Russian” and then the answer is always the same: “Move on”. Russians hate people who don’t speak their language, you see, and thus I more than once tend to take undue advantage of their laziness. Can you blame a girl? Then one has to queue for half an hour because some grannies, who should in fact already be retired for quite a few years, need to put away all coats and bags. Then, what do you know, another metal detector. When one finally succeeds in entering the actual library one’s first reaction is: RUN! In a ridiculously big room one sees a thousand huge cabinets with a million small drawers with a trillion cards on which author and title are handwritten. So what needs to be done: first of all one has to know in advance which books are required, then one has to start an impossible search for that one tiny card (you need to be lucky with the handwriting as well), then one has to queue again to order the books, then one has to sit down and read the d*mn thing at once as one cannot take any books home and if it concerns old books 1 copy costs €3. If you ask me the best thing one can do is to pitch down a tent in the library and camp there for a week. But sorry, that’s even for this cultural geek a “no-go”.
On Wednesday I visited the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. I was so very proud of wandering around in there, being a “Vlamingske”, as almost the entire first floor was stuffed with paintings of famous Flemish painters. People looked at me as if I were some kind of freak because I couldn’t help smiling all the time and I wanted to inform everyone there on the fact that MY country (Flanders – no, I am not a proponent of the separation of Belgium) had produced such a bright souls.
And then on Thursday I had another one of those pleasant days: class from 8am until 7pm. Illegal, I tell you!!!
After class on Friday me and the Russian girl went to “Shoe centre” as Moscow forecasts promised us lots of snow and minus 5 and I thus needed to get ready for the Russian winter. Just as was the case with the libraries, my first reaction again was: RUN! A trillion shoes under 1 roof, even I cannot handle that. But already after half an hour I saw my leather beauties and I immediately knew we were meant to spend Russian winter together. Fur on the inside and an extra layer of antiskid on the outside… Together we will bear all weather conditions!
On Saturday I first took the metro+bus to Moscow’s biggest and cheapest supermarket, and was almost killed by a couple of grannies who were desperate to secure a seat at the bus. Take my word for it, you have never seen anything like that before. Next time I will take my camera and film the whole event. Just brilliant!
In the evening we decided to go clubbing again and in the end we managed to gather as much as 18 girls to come with us. LADIES NIGHT! First a pre-party in one of the rooms and around half past 12 we took off. And guess what time we were allowed in: freaking half past 2! We had to wait outside for 1.5 hour, in the freezing cold and snow (Fortunately me and the leather beauties were already inseparable and thus my feet were covered in fur). Then we finally managed to get in (after another metal detector, obviously) and OH MY GOD I had never in my life seen anything like it before. That place was way beyond eccentric! Russian carnival songs and disturbed, unbelievably drunk people was all the place had to offer. When arriving a few boys and girls were performing a strip act, which appears to be normal in Russia, and already a whole lot of drunken people were sleeping wherever they could lay their heads. Girls really had to watch their bags in there as before you know it some randy cow would grab you from behind. Just disgusting! Boys were wandering around, kissing one girl with their hands already under another one’s top and when that was done they moved on to another pair of sluts (excuse my language). Although I felt disgusted beyond believe, I had more than a good laugh in there. Bed time: 6.30pm, way better than last time.
On Sunday I mainly slept, to be honest, and on Monday I did my laundry, studied, went to the market, cooked and in the evening went to the cinema again with a few Russian students.
Near future plans:
- Writing essays, translating, studying, visiting some more bookshops and libraries gathering material for my thesis,…
Now the more exciting prospects:
- Going to the cinema to watch the film “1612” which is a huge subject for discussion in Russia at the moment and I thus wouldn’t want to miss it.
- Celebrating 90 years of Revolution; Moscow will turn into one hell of a party (and communist manifest, I'm afraid). So watch the news on Wednesday; I'll be saluting...
- Going to see the football match (Moscow-Germany).
- Going to the world famous theatre “Master and Margarita”, based on the book written by Bulgakov.
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