Moscow

Dear friends,
I am in Moscow and having a wonderful time. As usual, I am having technological problems, so I haven't blogged yet. I have been here for a week and two days.
I feel at home in Moscow. It feels somewhat like Los Angeles. It is big. The streets are wide. Most of the buildings are low. However, many of the buildings here are painted a beautiful yellow and were built in the 18th or 19th century. The subway is amazing. It is very cheap and incredibly efficient. I have never waited for more than 3 minutes for a train.
I have seen the Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral, assorted other churches, and the family home of the Romanov tsars. The Kremlin was not what I expected. From growing up in the 1950's with the Iron Curtain, I thought the Kremlin would be massive, concrete and oppressive and the soldiers would march out onto Red Square and control everyone. In fact, there is not an entrance onto Red Square. The Kremlin floats in the air surrounded and supported by a red, brick wall and has many trees, open spaces, and beautiful churches. It does not look like a serious place from which to run a totalitarian government.
The light here is amazing. It starts to get light about 4 in the morning and is light until about 10:30 at night. Also, in the evening, the twilight lingers and lingers, not as in Los Angeles, where the desert night comes on quickly and efficiently. My childhood had long lingering evenings in the summer and I feel very safe as the day very slowly disappears.
Also Russians eat the same foods as Swedes pretty much, so I have had herring, rye bread and so on, and my stomach is very happy.
I have been busy with the Contact Improvisation and Performance Festival. If you are curious about Contact Improvisation, go to www.contactimprov.com and read all about it. I am here more for the performance part, not having done much contact for the last 5 years or so, but it is amazing to dance and perform with the other teachers who are very skilled and very creative. I am teaching voice production and the use of texts in performance. Tonight the teachers perform a great theater in Moscow and then we go to the forest for the festival itself.
There are 8 of us living in a small 3 room + kitchen + 1 bathroom apartment. It is like my hippie days when I lived in collectives. I need to escape from time to time and be by myself, but I like having people around. I get up the earliest and sit in the kitchen and then others get up and wander in. I like it.
I am not sure if there is an Internet connection in the forest or not. If not I will next write from Moscow on the 26th or 27th or from the capital of Siberia a little later.