Snow Snow Snow!

It's finally started to snow! It took a awhile, it has been below freezing for some time. It's still October, we never get snow in Atlanta before Halloween! It's not much, though, just flurries that melt as soon as they hit the ground (like Atlanta), but soon we should get real snow. I heard that in Moscow they spray the clouds with some sort of chemical in order to get it to snow less. I don't know if that's true, but it's snowing now!
I just got back from St. Petersburg last Monday, but haven't had time to post the pictures yet. It was fun, but the last day was boring. We were there from Friday morning till Sunday night (taking night trains Thursday and Sunday night), but most everyone left Saturday night for Finland or Estonia. I wish I had gone with them, as the rest of us (just 6 people) wandered around the city.
Overall it was good though.

Kuskovo

This Sunday I went to the Russian estate of Kuskovo with one of my Russian friends. It is good to go with Russian friends, as I get to practice my Russian more. My friend also has a car, which beats taking the bus when you are away from the center of this city! It was nice, but all these estates seem similar to me, and now I am not very interested. I am still very excited about St. Petersburg coming up, and I have to decide soon whether I will go to Istanbul or Sweden over Thanksgiving. Such a hard choice, I wish I could do both!!!

Today we went to go see Lenin's Mausoleum. It was a long line, and we were rushed through, but it was free. Lenin looked totally fake, and he seemed very short. There was a rally by the Communist Party outside. The police thought it was funny. It was just a bunch of old people. After that, we went to the State Polytechnical Museum. It was ok. Tomorrow I might go to Kuskovo, another Russian Estate with one of my friends, but we'll see. The statue in the picture to the left is Markil Zukov, a famous Russian General if I remember correctly. This, along with Lenin, is near red square.

Arkangelisk

Sorry I have not posted anything for awhile. This while be like a double post. First, last weekend I went to Arkangelist Estate right outside of Moscow (the town of Podmoskovski) with one of my Russian friends. It was cold, but a good time. Getting a little outside the city was nice. The estate kind of reminded me of Madison, GA. Next week we are going to St. Petersburg, so I am very excited about that, and will take lots of pictures!

Sports

So last night was the big World Cup qualifier match between Germany and Russia. There were lots of people on the street yesterday, selling Russian flags and celebrating before the match. There were lots of police out too, and instead of carrying their usual batons and pistols, they all had automatic weapons. I tried to stay inside, as to avoid all the rowdy crowds. I contemplated going to the game, but tickets were 3000 rubles ($100) and up. I am just not THAT interested in soccer. I couldn't watch it, but watched the highlights. Russia lost, and now will have to fight for a play-off berth to go to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Not to rag on Russia, but no one likes soccer in the US, and we still won our division and qualified for the World Cup. Even North Korea Qualified! Soccer is the most popular sport here, and they still could not qualify. Now, granted, the European divisions may be harder, but the US still beat teams such as Mexico, Costa Rica, etc., where soccer is very popular.
I've also noticed that American Hockey is very popular here. I don't know if they even have a Russian hockey league, as everyone seems to follow the NHL.
Tennis is also not very popular, even though there are many great tennis players from Russia.
And, of course, no one cares about American Football. You can watch NHL Hockey here in Russia on Russian television, but not NCAA or NFL football.