Wednesday, June 15, 2005 6:23 pm

Today has seemed extraordinarily long. The morning was normal; I managed to cathed the 8:15 bus and made it to school early; I worked on some more of the poetry I began last night. As usual, I threw away half of my breakfast once I left home--I'm neither hungry nor adventurous in the morning.

Class seemed interminably long. We had phonetics and grammar. Both are very frustrating. Megan and I agreed at lunch that we are tired of Russian, and ready to go home. My brain is totally full, and I just want to go home where I can understand television programs. I miss my library. I'm so bored.

Kelly and I talked about going to the zoo today, but it was threatening to pour, and I couldn't find Kelly after class, so I decided to go the Wax Museum by myself (Kelly is afraid of wax people). However, Erin and I rode the metro together--her aunt and uncle are in town for the week--and she said she'd like to go.

I decided instead to go to Scriabin's House. It's right off Old Arbat, within a block of the church we went to on Sunday. It was very small, just a few rooms, but still sort of interesting. A little old lady followed me through, turning on and off lights and shutting doors. I saw his bedroom and his tailcoat and gloves. He was very short, apparently. It only took a few minutes.

Afterwards, I wandered about Old Arbat for a while, looking and listening. I took a picture of Pushkin's House, but decided I didn't need to visit. There was a painting of a girl with a red hat that I adored, but the artist wanted 3500 roubles (roughly $125). It's a fair price, but I don't have the money for that sort of thing.

It was only 3:00, so I decided to go the Temple of Christ the Savior. This time they let me in. For some reason, security was much more lax this time.

The church was quite different from the others I've seen because it is still used as a place of worship. It is incredibly beautiful. The walls and most of the icons are in a more post-modern style (except for the very old ones, like the Virgin of Vladimir). There were stands in which to place burning candles. You could buy candles and small icons in the church. (Unfortunately, there were none of St. George, although I'm not sure if it would be disrespectful of me to own an icon, because I'm not Orthodox.) There were many people praying; it was very quiet, even though there were many people there. The building is huge. There is a balcony, but tourists weren't allowed. I saw one or two priests in black robes, which I think are the coolest-looking uniforms ever. Of course camers were not allowed.

I came home on the metro without incident, did my homework, and ate fish and potatoes for supper. Tomorrow, Nina may go to her daughter-in-law's dacha, if it's not raining. (I'm rather disappointed in today's weather; it promised to pour all day, grumbling angrily and whipping the wind, but so far has only sprinkled.) Tomorrow we go to Tchaikovsky's Eugene Oneigin at the New Opera.