Editor's note: While we love cultural outings, Let's Go does not condone illegal activities of any kind, including "borrowing" another student's ID to get discounted tickets. If anything, we present the following as a cautionary tale.
Moscow has proven to be quite the challenge in the dead of winter. I fully expected (at my editor's discretion) to devote an entire blog to how cold it is here. Thanks to several days of above freezing temperatures, the snow and ice have melted and now the whole city is one giant slush pile. My options were to complain about the cold or complain about the warm weather, so instead of coming across as the whining American who can't be pleased, I've elected to keep my mouth shut. Plus, after a week of classes on the post-Soviet republics, I really don't have a lot to complain about. Tajikistan's GDP has a lot more issues than little ol' me.
The program has included a lot of cultural excursions in addition to the classes. One night we were paired up with a Russian family to go have dinner at their house. It worked out very well. While they butchered the meat for dinner, I, in turn was butchering their language. We wanted to continue this tradition of cultural things, and so we decided to get student tickets to the Bolshoi Theater and go to the ballet. For 20 rubles, you can get a student ticket, so long as you have a Russian student ID. The tickets, however cost 2000 rubles, so it was quite the deal.
Unfortunately, like all things awesome, there was some shifty illegal activity involved. The three of us Americans has to procure IDs from Russian friends in order to purchase the tickets. It worked well for all, except me. I am not a bald, glasses wearing Andrei Petrovich from Moscow. Handing over my ID and 20 rubles at the ticket office brought me back to the days my days sneaking into 18+ clubs at the age of 17. Adrenaline coursing through me, I answered the lady with my heavily accented Russian that I was indeed the true holder of that ID card. Then she said something in Russian, and things went downhill from there. Throwing back the ID and money, she told me to leave. I'm sure everyone else is enjoying the beautiful grandeur of the theater, and I would have loved to tell you about it. I guess this story will have to do.