Я Чайка

Number of Steps: 26349 (8.32 mi)

Well, today was our last day in Moscow.  Weird.  We got up bright and early and headed over to Novodevichy Cemetery to visit the graves of Stanislavsky, Chekhov, Nemirovich-Danchenko, and a number of other important folks.  The Russian students who graduate from the MXAT also make this trek at the end of their studies, and it is a very moving way to spend a morning.

From there, we did the opposite of something moving – which was we went to a giant flea market and bought souvenirs for four-ish hours.  I’m not sure I’m super pleased with my gift-buying prowess this time around, but it was fun to be in there and be familiar with the territory.  I even bought from a few of the same people I bought from last year, so that was kinda fun.

Once we were done emptying our wallets, we headed back to the dorm where I wolfed down some pasta and led six of us back to the Сатирикон for our final show of the month: Чайка (The Seagull).  It’s an impossible show to describe, but I will say that it is the shortest four and a half hours of your life.  It is a stunning, imaginative, exciting, brilliant take on a classic that these actors and these audiences know so well.  And even though we couldn’t understand the actual words that were being spoken, we were all help in rapturous attention.   I wept – all out sobbed – for the last 20 minutes or so of the play – it was so beautiful.  A girl stopped us after the show - since we are clearly American - and asked us if we understood the show.  It's one of those crazy things about seeing shows over here - they are generally so clear and communicative, that we can be moved without understanding a word - the Russians don't always believe us, but it's true.  I really wish there were something I could say to do this show justice in blog form… but there really is nothing.

Just some eye candy from a piece of theatre that is absolutely what theatre is supposed to be.

Then we headed back through the metro – our last trip on the metro for the month (including what I assume will be my last time for a while giving directions in Russian to a Russian…booyah) and back to the dorm where the packing began.  It’s now almost 3:00 in the morning… the bus will be here in about 3 and a half hours… and the packing continues.  As you can tell from the fact that I’m currently posting a blog, I am totally on top of this packing thing.

The next time I blog… I’ll be back in Detroit!  Wow!