Starting Out

August 23rd - September 4th

Hello to all the people that wish to follow this project of starting a Montessori school in Moscow, Russia! I plan to post pictures of the work site and details about how the school is progressing. Also, I will talk about my daily life in Moscow. Here is some Background on Moscow. From this point on, if you see blue, underlined text you can click on it and it will give you added information about the subject.                     

From Minnesota, I had to stop by NYC to get my visa from the Russian Consulate at 80 Maiden Ln in Manhattan. Note to Betsy: Betsy, get your passport renewed. Jason Evans, make her do it.

I took the East River Ferry around the area. It leaves near the tip of Manhattan and goes by Greenpoint, north of Brooklyn, where I was staying.

Brooklyn Bridge

Graffiti in Greenpoint

Big Jambox

Portal to Yankee Stadium

I stayed for a little over 2 weeks in Greenpoint with my cousin, Max, and his special lady, Christina. They were fantastic hosts and I really enjoyed my time there. Greenpoint is a very Polish neighborhood where you can hear the language most everywhere. It also includes a large Latin@ population, as well. Also, here come the hipsters!

Here is the Jewish Daily Forward building. The Socialist newspaper was read by, among others, workers in NY's sweatshops and factories. It is now yuppie apartments. Little to they know that when they park their Benz (or rather their valet parks it) and they carry the day's haul from Gucci up to their their swank apartment (or rather the bellboy carries it), that they are walking in under the stone busts of Marx, Engels, and others.

Walking around Brooklyn

I stopped at Grand Central Station to look around and buy a Russian language computer program. **Update** My computer's Russian is now excellent.

Entrance to park near NYU

Park near NYU

Max showed me around the NYU labs where he works. The research he and his colleagues do is very interesting, complex, and cutting edge. The DNA sequencing machine was killer. From what I can tell, it has something to do with science.

Random shot of New York, out the NYU building's window; Somebody has a nice rooftop garden.

The NYU building where Max works used to house the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in the early 1900s, made infamous when a fire started due to unsafe conditions and forced 140-odd deaths, some jumping from windows to escape the fire. Doors were locked to keep workers inside. I also toured a historic tenement building and, together with the Triangle Building, highlighted the struggle for working class people at the time. Unfortunately, bad working conditions and grueling 12 hour days aren't just historical. They just aren't discussed on the news or have moved to other parts of the world.

Thanks for reading! Next time I will post about my arrival on Sept 4th in Moscow (Moskva in Russian) and the beginning of the school.