Damn, I know that feeling. I'm learning Russian and to practice, I go to this Russian drama club. End result is while I learn a lot, I definitely feel like an outsider. O.o

The interesting thing about Moscow and Eastern Europe in general is that they have a completely different concept of personal space - the train isn't full when you're standing shoulder to shoulder, like it is in America. The train's full when you can feel someone's elbow embedded in your back and you're unintentionally grinding the old lady in front of you.

Interesting! this makes me recall a rather interesting anecdote... I was coming back from the big apple on by train to go home in connecticut... and well people really never ever talk on the train, and if you do you get really mean looks...i was sitting across this old lady, wrapped in like a trillion pieces of cloth (bloody winter was cold)...(background info, my name is Wladimiro Woyno, colombian, but with russian decent) and well, the lady said in terrible english "new york subway total crap" while making gestures and wrinkeling her nose and then put a hopeful smile full of reminisence and said "moscow subway wonderful!"...all this while people look at us ucomfortably... then she said somethin like "Gabrio parruski?" and i remembered my dad sayingthat once and it meant, do you speak russian. So i said "DA!" (but i know absolutely no russian except for that one phrase and how to say yes)and this repressed woman goes off for about 20 minutes in russian telling me her entire life story while i tried to motion her to stop (since people were looking at us really badly) and that i dont know russian... my attempts failed and its was another 20 minutes later that we arrived at my stop (i had given up and just smiled at her and nodded, much like i had done in an elderly home once in brazil, not know jack squat portuguese)... she said good bye and gave me a huge mushy kiss on the cheek (and this is a perfect stranger in the newyork subway)when i got off... i made her day, and that in return made mine. why in the heck did i just write all of this? dont ask, i do not know. I am insane.

oh my gosh. i can picture this with such a clarity. especially those last lines on still feeling incredibly foreign. a man holding his suitcase, still while the world moves around him. this is almost like a haiku, breathing life into that o n e moment/journey.

great write! :)

I've never been to moscow, but from your description the metros sound much like Kiev metros, which I rode frequently in the 2 years I lived there. Excellent piece; makes me nostalgic

Great descriptions hunni! Nicely done =)