Sardines!

Well it has been quite a while since I have posted about our adventures here in Russia. Maybe that is an indication that we are starting to get into the swing of things and my days are filled with shuttling the kids - on foot - back and forth to preschool and other activities :) It is really also an indication that little man thinks he is too old for naps just like big sister. I seriously thought I had a few more years of peaceful, serene afternoons where I could work on whatever I felt like doing for a couple hours (i.e get caught up on laundry, iron, clean the house, iron, clean the kitchen, iron....Did I mention iron????

Anyways, on to talking about Sardines.....

I haven't talked much about the metro here in Moscow. It is quite amazing! I recently learned that there are metro tours (self-guided) you can take so you can visit each one of the 188 stations and counting. Each station has its own unique architecture and story....some kind of boring, but others are truly incredible works of art! There is this one not too far from where we are that has all these really neat mosacis...I will eventually get some pictures of them :)

The lines and stations are also spread out really well, so in most cases people live at most about a 15 minute walk from a station. In the winter I am sure it will feel longer....

We (mostly me and the kids) take the metro quite a bit since it is our main mode of transportation (well that and our feet). At first it scared S since it is quite loud and you are deep down underground. But now that she is used to it, both kids are usually really excited to hear we are going to get on the train! I usually stay away from peak rush hour on the metro since I have the kids with me and a stroller. Getting the stroller (especially the larger one) on the metro is quite a feat on its own. So trying to do it with less people around is a much more pleasant experience.

A couple nights ago I went out at rush hour by myself to go participate in an activity for the first time and I was able to experience a brand new rendering of the Moscow Metro. This new experience totally blew open my nice little American bubble of personal space.

I have no idea how many people are technically supposed to fit in one of the cars, but I am pretty sure they at least tripled its rated capacity. I was one of the first people to step on the train at my station and as more people got on behind me we all kept moving closer and closer together. At some point I didn't think we could get closer, but more people kept pushing on until I was squished in like a sardine. I couldn't really move my arms and was having a hard time moving my feet out to keep a wide stance so I wouldn't fall over as the train moved. My little engineering mind was racing with all sorts of concerns about exceeding the rated capacity and about how impossible it would be to follow any safety measures  if something happened with the train car. My mind was also racing trying to think distracting thoughts because when you are surrounded by that many people you know you are also surrounded with that many smells! Yikes! The smoke, b.o, alcohol and last meal were just all over the place! I was trying fight a balance of deep breaths to keep me from passing out and shallow breaths to keep from smelling everything around me! One lady close by started giggling and I was so relieved to see that Russians have a great sense of humor in these close knit situations!

As the train started to move we all did what I call the "hula" dance in unison. The train rocks back and forth and side to side, so we "hula-ed" together since of course very few could reach a bar to grab on. We finally reached the train station after what seemed like an hour (it was probably only about two minutes)! Luckily we live one station from the ring metro line and a lot of people get off and transfer on this line. As expected the train emptied some....maybe down to double its capacity...but just enough where I could breathe some slightly fresher metro system fan air and I could once again re-establish my nice little American bubble around me :)