Posts Tagged "Moscow"
Russia-NYC Photo Series 9
I learned something new about Russian sports from my chance encounter with Mikhail, whom I saw standing next to Lenin's Tomb on Red Square in his New York hat and USA-flag shirt with Mickey Mouse. Mikhail, who lives about 200km from Moscow, was in town to visit his sister. He said he is a member of a stuntbike team, which is soccer (football) on motorbikes with the exception that the ball is much bigger. He said Russia as several stuntbike teams around the country. As for his t-shirt... It jokingly calls Mickey Mouse "America's version of Cheburashka," a Russia's cartoon character. Cheburashka was created in mid 1960s, whereas Mickey Mouse was created in 1920s.
Russia-NYC Photo Series 8
Vlad was standing with his girlfriend outside a metro station in northwestern Moscow. Vlad said he bought the shirt because he likes the Brooklyn Nets, which is owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. Vlad is a fire-fighting specialist for the Russian Emergency Ministry, which probably explains his big physique.
Evgeny: Gorky Park Visitor in USA Shirt
BBC says Russians in Moscow attacked for wearing western symbols. I saw Russians everyday in Moscow with western symbols on shirts and hats, so maybe the story is how rare the antagonism is? This is Evgeny, who was walking around crowded Gorky Park in August.
Green Man
A Moscow street fashion shot. He said he was from the Moscow suburbs, worked in marketing and hoped to help people.
Krygyz Relatives Enjoying Break
Moscow Portrait: These two young women were sitting in the shade near a "beach" in Moscow. They said there were cousins and had moved to Moscow 3 years ago from Kyrgyzstan to find work. They are two of probably 100,000+ people from that Central Asian country seeking a better salary here in Russia.
Olga: Grandmother Knitting at Park
Olga, a manager at a bread producer, was sitting near a park entrance on a late Sunday afternoon in southern Moscow. She said she was knitting clothing for her 2 year-old granddaughter, something Olga said she enjoys doing that in her free time.
Yana: Opera Singer, Rammstein Fan
Moscow Portrait: I find it fascinating how people have such divergent interests. Yana said she sings opera music, so I asked her what she liked to listen to, expecting to hear something akin to opera. She said her favorite group was German industrial metal band Rammstein.
Olga: Showing Off Selfie
Olga, who grew up in #Kamchatka in Russia's Far East, was listening to music and taking selfies along the Moscow River at dusk as she waited for a relative to return from a store run. She showed me the selfie result.
Pyotr: Engineer Turned Portrait Drawer
It's a story I have heard hundreds of times over the years from Russians older than 40, but it still touches me nonethless.....I asked Pyotr how he began working as a portrait artist. He said he was working as an engineer in the late 1980s but "was forced to by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the economy" to find some other means of taking care of his family. Petr said he would take his son, then a small child, with him occasionally to the pedestrian street or park where he drew.
Fitsum: Ethiopian in Moscow
The best-tasting coffee I have ever drunk was in Ethiopia, so I was keen to try the Ethiopian restaurant near the international university in Moscow. I didn't find Ethiopian coffee there, but did find Fitsum, a native of the East African country. He helps run the restaurant, having first arrived in Moscow several years ago on a scholarship. He says he misses his mom and the warm Ethiopian weather. He is seated in front of a world map on a wall near the entrance. Ethiopia is just above his right shoulder.
