May 11 2012
Moscow Nights
I run in the same place every night. But the Moscow night sky changes each time. Tonight, the sun set at 10 pm just when I was doing my cool down and walking home.
Mar 25 2012
Running Again…
Time to emerge from my winter hibernation mode and shed off all the Christmas pounds brought about by excessive carrot cakes, foie gras and lechon de leche. So I started running outdoors yesterday and did it again today… which is crazy if you look at the temperature reading…
Mar 24 2012
The Fiery Angel and the Bolshoi Theater.
We are just lucky that the world-renowned Bolshoi Theater was re-opened, after being closed for an extensive six-year renovation worth US$680 million, during the time that we are posted in Moscow. We are not so lucky though… because it is virtually impossible to get tickets. We’ve been trying since December. Never mind the expense, it’s a one in a lifetime experience after all, but it all the shows are fully booked. Plus, if I have to watch only one show at the Bolshoi Theater, I wanted it to be a Russian ballet. Well, we were finally able to get tickets… but it was an opera, not a ballet. Still, it was very Russian – The Fiery Angel or Ognyennyii Ongel by Sergei Prokofiev.
It was February – the dead of Russian winter, when temperatures dip down to -30 degrees Centigrade (that sort of temperature should be outlawed!). It was the time when I refused to go out of the apartment, except to run to the car (pre-heated by Honey) just to go to work. But of course, for the experience of heavenly opera, I would brave the frigid cold… it was just to walk from the car to the theater… but at -30, I tell you… a 15 minute walk seems like forever. We didn’t even bother to take photos of the facade. We have lots of those anyway (see here). But here’s the hall… in gold and velvet… this is what heaven must look like.
Feb 23 2012
Pictures at an Exhibition Live
OMG! OMG! OMG! I just came back from a live concert of my idol when I was in college. No, no, no… not Bruce Springsteen or Ric Springfield, hrhrhr…. and it wasn’t a pop or rock concert. It was a classical concert…. and the guy was… BARRY DOUGLAS, winner of the 1986 Tchaikowsky Competition. I’ve posted about him here… when I actually met him and served coffee when I volunteered during last year’s Tchaikowsky Competition and Barry Douglas was one of the judges. I also said in that post that watching the Tchaikowsky Competition on betamax is one of my favorite college memories at the UST Conservatory of Music, and that was when I first had a crush on Barry Douglas.
Jan 29 2012
Condo in Manila for Rent
I’m renting out my beautiful modern two-bedroom condo right in the heart of Manila. You can enjoy living and working in this bustling city, especially if you get to go home and relax in your resort-style apartment. With its beautiful views of the Manila bay sunset and the spectacular MOA fireworks, fresh breeze slipping through and natural lighting coming in through the numerous windows and sliding doors from this corner unit, and all the amenities of a world class resort, it’s like you’re always on vacation.
Jan 18 2012
Zolushka or Cinderella
Now, why haven’t I blogged about all the ballets I’ve watched in Russia? And I’ve watched quite a few too – Giselle, Don Quixote (both at the Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow), and The Fountain of Bakhchisarai at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. I guess it’s because I’d just repeat myself and tell you guys how absolutely heart-wrenching it is, how fabulous the form and the grace of the Russian ballerinas, how precise and perfect the production, how beautiful the music, how magnificent the sets! Oh, as the song from The Chorus Line goes… everything is beautiful at the ballet. Especially Russian ballet.
So we watched Zolushka or Cinderella, composed by Sergei Prokofiev, at the Stanislavsky Theater last Friday.
Jan 07 2012
Christmas in Russia
Its Christmas day today in Russia, where the Russian Orthodox Church follows the Julian Calendar and the date of the Nativity is January 7. Here’s the Red Square and GUM (Moscow’s glitzy department store) all spruced up for Christmas.
Jan 04 2012
Walking on Arbat
You should know by now, after my last few posts, that I’m a latte addict (adik! adik!). I need my fix right after my lunch. But I do make this consumer-trap media-hype of a coffee drink worth it with my ritual of taking a nice long walk after lunch to a nice coffee shop, and creating an idyllic rustic scene for myself by bringing out my notebook and writing by hand to my heart’s content while sipping my sugar-laden coffee drink. Today, I walked along Arbat, Moscow’s most popular street – Bohemian walking street lined with cafes, shops, galleries, pastel-colored townhouses, tattoo parlors, and where artists display their wares and sketch your portraits, musicians senerade passersby with violins or balalaikas (traditional stringed Russian instrument), and other street performers.
Jan 03 2012
Walking Along Ulitsa Dmitrovka
All I wanted was to buy tickets to watch the ballet at the newly-opened Bolshoi Theater. But we tried Nutcracker Suite, Sleeping Beauty and the opera, Turandot – no tickets! It was quite a feat actually – just to find out that there were no tickets, as the lady at the kassa (box office) couldn’t speak English and it took me a while to find out that Russian for Sleeping Beauty is Spyashchaya Krasavitsa. How do tourists manage to watch anything in Moscow??!!!! Russians watch operas and ballets the way Filipinos watch movies, it’s amazingly difficult to get tickets to anything. Anyway, we just decided to brave the snow and walked to Ploshad Teatralnaya (Theater Square) in front of the Bolshoi to take photos.
We’ve actually took a lot of the pictures of the Bolshoi in the past whenever we bring relatives and friends. But it’s the first time we’re here at night and it’s all lit up. The Bolshoi was closed for six years for renovation, and we’re just lucky to be here in Moscow and have the opportunity to be able to attend a ballet or opera. But it’s just so hard to get tickets. Never fear because we will persevere. 
