16/10

"Hillary [Clinton] told me to tell you all Hi!"
Tolya Smeliamnski

Yes today Tolya told us that when he went to the Bolshoy with Hillary this weekend, he talked about us (NTI and NIU- 43) and she was amazed and wanted him to say hi to some of the americans who were actually studing and imersing themselves in Russian culture... another example of how blessed I am to be here. All the same...
TGIF

Despite my great love for the theater I'm a little on overlaod and ready for sunday. Kapustnik while fun to do and interesting to hear the Russian's views was a bit borning to watch. Inside jokes in Russian are really hard to understand. Our part of Kapustnik was quick and to the point which I think the Russian's enjoyed. Luckly like all shows we got back a little earlier yesterday and were able to spend some time on an etude and even some sleep.

Tonight on the other hand I wasted 3 hours of my life here in Mosocw in a production of Ivanov (which we found out was really Ivanov and Other short Works mixed in). It was unclear whether the show was supossed to be a parody or a play. If it was a parody than it wasn't funny and was dragged out to the point where you were praying for Ivanov's suicide- sorry for ruining the ending. If it was a play then it was so overacted that it read as a parody, either way niether is good. About half of our group left at intermition, which was a smart idea because it just got longer and more "dramatic" in the 3rd and 4th acts, but I had to stay because I have a presentation on Ivanov's suicide on friday and I thought it would be interesting to see how the actor set it up. I was wrong, it involved rollerbaldes...

We are beginning the process of picking our final scenes as well as moving in to scene study and anaylsis starting with the Seagull tomorrow. Like always each day I feel more at home in Moscow and MXT.
Love you all
Kirsten