在前面的博文里，我写过我在俄国生活，那几篇博文主要是从记叙的角度去写。下面的这篇小文是习作，我的侧重点是想从描写的手法把这段生活浓缩到一篇文章里。写完，读了几遍，还是觉得使用描述性语言不多。而且用英文写，肯定会有语法和拼写错误。希望朋友们在阅读后能指出来。我珍惜你们的评论（只要不是人身攻击就好），谢谢！

                         Russia, Moscow Has A  Special Place In My Heart

I have traveled to many places in my life, and one of my favorites is Moscow Russia where I lived and worked for a number of years.  So what is it about Moscow that makes it such an attractive and interesting place to me?

I was born and grew up in China.  At school, we learned about Russian history, Lenin and Red Square.  In 1995, I had a chance to go to Moscow, Russia to go to a college studying Russian Language. 

The first day when I arrived at the Moscow train station, I did not like the place. It was a cold winter morning, the sky filled with dark clouds, and the air was crispy cold.  While I was standing in the train station waiting for the school staff to pick me up, I was curiously looking around.  The train station was pretty small; it was much smaller than the Beijing train station, and it was not as clean as I imagined. People walked by in a hurry with serious facial expression; several drunken men were lying outside, their bodies curled up to keep warm. Moscow was different from what we learned at school and what I was seeing in reality.  This was my first impression of Moscow.  However, several days after my arrival, I went to my dream place, Red Square, and it proved my first impression about Moscow was wrong.  I fell in love with Red Square at first sight. 

The entry to Red Square was considered the beginning of Russia, and Russia starts from here and spreads in all directions.  To the left of the entrance is the State Historical Museum, G.U.M., the department store, and to the right are Kazan Cathedral, Lenin's Mausoleum and the Kremlin.  Saint Basil’s Cathedral is at end of the Square.  Surprisingly, Red Square is not too big; if you walk around it, it may take about thirty minutes, but if you want to visit each building and read the history, it may take more than a day to finish the tour. There is so much history that has happened there. Each building tells the history every day. 

Saint Basil’s Cathedral is a magnificent place; started in sixteenth century and it is still standing on Red Square.  It has unique architecture. There is nothing quite like it anywhere else.  The colorful onion domes around the center section make the church even more attractive. Saint Basil’s Cathedral has another special meaning to me; my husband proposed to me as we stood in front of the famous church!

Moscow is a big city, there are so many things to do and see, and you would never be bored living there. Walking around in the streets of Moscow, you can see lots of buildings with special architecture. Some of the buildings are decorated with sculptures; it is like you are walking in an art gallery.  There are also many historical museums around the city.  In a sunny afternoon, in your spare time, you can unintentionally walk into a museum and enjoy the magnificent history.

For me, one of the biggest things about Moscow aside from the history and the architecture, is the people I came to know so well.

At the college, I lived in a student dorm.  We had an elderly lady who was cleaning our floor and kitchen. She was a tall woman with a full figure like most Russian elder women; she was working to make a little money to help her family. Every day, after dinner, I went to her small office and engaged a conversation with her to practice Russian Language.  She was kindly and patiently corrected my pronunciation over and over again. Remember, she was not my tutor and did not make money from me; instead, she often brought me a piece of bread with butter on it, a slice of cheese and a cup of black tea when she saw me studying late at night. A piece of bread, a slice of cheese and a cup of tea may not a big deal for many people,but she was working hard to make a little money that was barely enough to buy groceries. It was something for her. Her kindness stays with me to this day. 

Another person I will remember forever is my landlady.  After college, I found a job in Moscow and rented a room from an elderly retired Russian woman.  We lived in the same apartment, shared the kitchen and bathroom. I called her grandma.  I remember her main outfit to wear is pajamas; most of the time she stayed at home and hardly went outside.  She had a pair of thick glasses on her smiling face which made her look even kinder. Grandma and I got along quite well and our friendship grew stronger each day that I lived with her.  I left Moscow in the winter.  That morning grandma got up early and made a good breakfast for me.  She and I sat at the dining table and had our last breakfast together.  Grandma walked me outside our apartment and as my taxi drove away, she was standing in the snow and waved at me until I could not see her any more. 

Everybody has stories to tell, and this is one of my memories. I hope someday, I will go back to Moscow with my dear husband to visit the places we had been and visit the people who helped me when I needed help.

Everybody has favorite places, and Moscow, Russia is one of them for me. It doesn't matter where I go and live, the city always has a special place in my heart.