Midsemester fun-time and my giving back project

Now we are approaching midsemester, which means midterms, another shot at the math GRE, grad school apps, and unfortunately not much else. Topology has become significantly more interesting now that we've moved beyond metric spaces, which were pretty boring considering most of it was a rehash of stuff I learned in Analysis 1 and 2 at UNO. We've finally begun to discuss geometric topology, looking at real projective space, Euler characteristic, surfaces, and how to combine different surfaces to make new ones. This also means, however, that the class has now reached a whole new world of difficulty. I think this weekend will be quite long as we try to finish the problem set due Tuesday.

Algebra is also becoming really cool. I've found that I particularly enjoy group theory, but my intuition is taking a while to build up. We've learned the first isomorphism theorem, Burnside's lemma (or formula, whatever you want to call it), looked at cyclic groups, quotient groups (quotient anything is a pretty cool concept I think), and just a bunch of neat problems that I had no idea would have anything to do with group theory. Looking back over the past month and a half, it is truly amazing how much math we've covered in the 3 math classes I'm taking. This is exactly what I was looking forward to when planning my trip to Moscow.

The excursions around the Moscow area have been put on hold, though, because coursework is taking so much time. On Sunday, my friend Josha and I did go to this amazing little restaurant near Aviamotornaya metro station. After church, we took about a 30 minute jaunt to hunt this place down. After wandering past a huge Ashan (grocery store) and going past some intimidating industrial area with a large barbed-wire fence, we found the place. Its small and cozy, and I think may have something to do with the Orthodox church? Not entirely sure. But there were a few icons in there, and everybody who came and left did the Orthodox sign of the Cross (its more complicated than the Catholic version). The food was amazing! Hearty, filling, definitely made with some good ol' babushka love. I will be returning ASAP.

In other pressing news, MOSCOW JUST HAD SNOW! Crazy, I know. I thought it was way to early, but low and behold, snow fell yesterday as Jacob, Alex, and I chowed down on some blini with condensed milk at our (now) bi-weekly visit to Teremok. Unfortunately, none of us had a camera. So dear readers, you'll have to stretch that imagination of yours. Of course, it didn't stick, but the temps were low and it was pretty cold compared to Omaha. My brother said it was 60 there yesterday.

I have been postponing writing about this until I had a few weeks worth of meetings to discuss, but now I will tell you about my giving back project. Thankfully, Prof. Irina Paramonova, the director of MiM, helped me set up a English language discussion group. Several students of IUM, who also attend other institutions like Moscow State, meet with me on Monday afternoons to practice their English. I think it has been a great experience for all involved (I hope it's been great for them, at least). The first 2 weeks were a little rough as I have never done anything remotely like this before. It's interesting how little we think about our own language and how we use it. I think, though, that I am kind of getting the hang of it.

The Russian students speak amazingly well, I wish I spoke Russian as well as they speak English. We're reading through Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" and they bring in questions they have about grammar, vocabulary, colloquialisms, and really anything else they can think of. I've also found some great grammar quizzes and worksheets online that have, I think anyway, been helpful. Surprisingly they asked for homework, which is funny because I intended this to be as informal as possible so that the meeting doesn't add to their already gnarly workload. What really amazes me, though, is how much math these students know. Most of them are only second or third year undergraduates, but they are already studying things like manifolds and spectral geometry. All in all, they are a fun and impressive group, and I'm very grateful for how understanding they have been that this is my first time leading a group like this.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to a Russian Teen Challenge. An acquaintance contacted them for me, and I've been invited to come check it out and attend their afternoon church service. I'm very excited for this because without God's grace and Teen Challenge in Colfax, I would not be here in Moscow at all. It's comical that somebody like myself would end up on the other side of the world after all that has happened. I don't know what He's got planned, but it is pretty wild to watch it unfold.

Vladimir and Suzdal

My apologies for the break in journal entries. So remembering back, the weekend after we were in St. Petersburg I took the math subject GRE. Thankfully, we got there in time and everything (knowing how to get there ahead of time really helped). Funnily enough, of all the students there, roughly a third or so were taking the physics GRE, 1 was taking the biochem one, and the rest were all taking the math test. The first time I took it, I was the only math student in the group. This was at UNO though, and the testing center I was at this time is only one of two in Moscow, so the group was definitely bigger than at UNO.

As I expected, the test was incredibly difficult for me. I'm hopiyang I scored better than the first time I took it, but results aren't going to be released for a few more weeks (6 weeks from date of testing). I'm taking it again this month too, on October 25. Just trying to hedge my bets. These weeks have been stressful, with homework, GRE, and grad school applications looming over my head. I still have yet to start my apps. However, on the homework front, I'm doing relatively well in my classes. Topology looks like its taking a turn for the awesome, next week we start algebraic topology, WOOHOO!

This past weekend we went to Vladimir and Suzdal, which are two ancient towns a few hours outside of Moscow. They are located in what is called the Golden Ring, which is a ring surrounding Moscow of very old towns reknowned for their architecture and history. Old as in a thousand years old. Crazy old.

We left early Saturday morning and after four hours of first battling through Moscow traffic (who knew there'd be Saturday morning traffic?) and then driving down a forest lined freeway, we arrived in Vladimir. Our guide, Olga, took us to what used to be the city gate and into a museum that told of the attacks from the Tatar-Mongols. We saw a cool diorama and some old weapons. It was a pretty well put-together presentation. After that, we went to a museum that showed a bunch of crystal and glass. Apparently, the first crystal/glass factory in Russia opened not too far from Vladimir a couple hundred years ago. Before that, glass was super expensive since it was all imported from Europe. Recently, the glass factory almost went under, but somebody decided to finance it and now they only do special orders. This museum was only mildly interesting, but I did get a cool picture of a crystal bowl shining in the changing light.

While in Vladimir, we got to see many cathedrals/churches and a nunnery. After a long day of tours, we stayed in this pretty nice hotel in Suzdal. I don't remember when I was in a place this nice. The next day was my favorite day of the trip. We started out the morning with an awesome breakfast provided by the hotel. Favorite food: blini with condensed milk. I could eat this everyday. Then we went to a locally owned pottery place and had a chance to try out making pottery on the pottery wheel. It is WAY harder than it looks. After like 5 attemps and many yells of "Nyet!" from the lady trying to help me, I finally had a little bowl, leaning slightly to the left and definitely off center, but it would have to do. This was one of the most fun things I've done in a long time. Later that day, we went to a monastery where we got to here these monks sing an old Church Slavonic song. The bass was amazing! Lots of great pictures from this trip.

But then it was back to reality. We got in the van for the 4 hour ride home and had to do homework on the way back. Since then, its been all business. Just homework, reading, and trying to keep up. Speaking of which, I need to get back to my Russian homework. Poka!

Pictures from the trip:

Cool pattern I saw in one of the museums.

A bowl from the crystal factory/museum.

Kind of reminds me of supernovae.

The diorama

Military poster from the museum in Vladimir.

Trees sprayed with something to protect them from bugs?

Andy looking cold

View of Vladimir

Cathedral behind this random guy.

Old murals inside the cathedral

Trans-Siberian railroad

Church set far back from the road. No cars allowed near it.

The people walking to see the church above.

Our tour guide, Olga.

Little church at the monastery

There's Vladimir, in the hat. Vladimir organized our trip to Vladimir.

Jesus painted on the dome of a cathedral.

Ryan looking like a thug.

Awesome bells played by one of the monks.

At a cafe on the monastery grounds.

Cafe

View of Suzdal

Old Slavic numbers.

Reminds me of the Midwest.

This is how they decorated their stoves.

Josha looks a little tired.

An icon

Another cathedral

Some of the oldest surviving wooden buildings in Russia

Sitting inside one of the old wooden buildings

Old windmills

Cool picture of a cathedral