Souvenir Shopping - It Begins

So it's finally starting to sink in that I only have a little more than a month left in Moscow, which means, of course, that I need to get on with the gift-buying. And where in Moscow do you go if you want gifts for your friends back home? ISMAILOVO!!!

As I've explained earlier, Ismailovo is your one stop three-mile-long-shop for all of your overpriced Russian souvenirs. From Matroshki to those cool little jeweled eggs to scarves, to fur hats to freaking gas masks, they have it all. And so today I decided to go there and get started on my souvenir shopping. I know a month is a long time, but I don't want to go the last weekend and then realize that I couldn't find a good gift for someone with no time left.

So I set off at around 2:45 PM and got to Ismailovo at around 3:50, which left me around 2 hours before it closed up for the week (people are still there during the week, but in greatly reduced numbers). The sellers tend to be more willing to give a discount before closing time, so I was counting on some help from the clock.

One of the problems popping up now is that the weather in Moscow is warming up, which means that all of the snow and ice in the streets is melting, which sounds great, right? WRONG! All of the ice and snow melting means that all of those holes in the road that you couldn't see before, which were covered up by the ice and snow are now covered up by big, muddy puddles. You quickly see how real Muscovites navigate the terrain without getting themselves soaked and dirty - they nimbly walk along the sides of the road or sidewalk (the parts still covered in ice and snow) or jump from little island to little island to keep out of the water.

I'm not quite so experienced. Before I even made it to the actual market, my jeans were covered pretty well in muddy water up to the middle of my shins. I didn't really care, but it is a little deflating when EVERY SINGLE other person's jeans are perfectly dry and yet somehow I managed to go swimming. I guess that's another way to spot a foreigner.

Anyway, once I got to the market I decided that I would only speak in Russian while I was there, no matter how many times they ask "Speak English?" I actually did pretty well, only faltering two or three times when I simply couldn't express what I wanted to say in Russian or when I couldn't understand what was said. It really is wonderful how far my ability to speak the language has improved. Now, I still have a pretty crappy vocabulary, but in terms of speaking and understanding, I've gotten leaps and bounds better.

The only problem I had was what exactly to buy. They've got all kinds of stuff there, but most of it is overpriced, and most of it is so American or is a such stereotypical gift that I decided to look around thoroughly to try and find more obscure gifts. Eventually I gave in, of course, and started shopping for matroshki and stuff.

It could just be me deceiving myself, but it seemed like the initial prices that they gave me this time around in some cases were a little lower. I'm probably wrong, but in any case looked at the various traditional matroshki and the football matroshki and the Arnold Schwarzenegger matroshki (seriously, I'm going back for that thing, eff the price) before I started actually buying stuff. I won't say exactly what I bought, since it might spoil the surprise, but I am pleased with what I got (though I can't say that my wallet feels the same way). I'll probably be going back either next week or the week after - it really is a fun place to go, even if it is a tourist trap.