Week One

So this is going to be my way of contacting people while I"m in Russia. I have found that I am much to lazy to send actual emails to everyone...so if you want to email me ( which I would love) my email is MeghanGattuso@yahoo.com

Russia is so different and yet the same in so many ways to America. For example: Driving. Both in DC and Moscow drivers have this desperate, frantic need to drive as fast as possible, with an indifference towards traffic lights and pedestrians. The difference, however, lies in the Russian's creativity of how to circumvent traffic. You see, cars here, when traffic gets to slow, or they need to drive in the opposite direction of traffic drive on the sidewalks. I was quite innocently walking on the sidewalk with a few of the girls when we heard an engine behind us. A black lexus had pulled off the road, onto the curb, and was now waiting impatiently for us to move off the sidewalk so the car could pass. This isn't an irregular occurance...cars here always seem to be driving on the sidewalk. Also, parking? While in DC people circle around forever and pay enormous fees for legal parking, cars in Russia have no qualms about parking anywhere. its very strange.
Dancing in Russia has proven to be kind of ridiculous. "there is a new dance...very popular in Russia. It's called the hustle...do you know it?" a sweet russian asked me. I would have laughed, thinking he was joking, if not for the earnestness(sp) in his voice. Yes, the hustle, that infamous 80s line dance usually reserved for those who lived in the disco era, is the new cool dance in Russia. or at least it was to this poor guy. After explaining that my mother danced the hustle, and for that reason alone, the hustle is a dance that i can never do, i could not help but understand the anti-american sentiment throughout the world. Talk about adding insult to injury, not only have we shown them democracy in forms of mcdonalds and organized crime- we have also exported the henious hustle.