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2nd to Last

Not too much has been hanninin' here in Moscow. We finished up a good couple of weeks teaching at the school and are now looking forward to our LAST week of teaching. We have some fun things planned!

Last week as we were walking from the preschool to the elementry school, we took a quick detour. Seeing at christmas was 3 1/2 weeks away, it was time to get festive. We needed a Christmas tree! The area where our school is located looks like a Washington campground; surrounded with trees and trails. We trudged through the forest to find the perfect mini Christmas tree. Once spotted, we pulled the little sucker right out of the ground, wrapped it in a towel, and stuffed it into Julie's backpack for the two hour ride home.

That night we decorated our christmas tree as a family and shared a delicious pot of hot chocolate. The tree is in our kitchen on our window seal. It's PERFECT! The spirit of Christmas is alive in apartment 48 in Moscow, Russia.

With it being so cold here, half the Russian population is dressed up in fur everythings.Jenny made up a game to keep us entertained our last week here; Grope fur game.
Objective: Recieve as many points as possible throughout the day by touching/ rubbing/ groping the fur of any persons coat, hat, boots, etc.
1. Anyone living in our apartment may participate
2. Fur coats= 1point (this includes hoods, lining, outside, or inside of the coat)
3. Fur hats= 3 points, due to difficulty & danger level of both yourself and the hat wearer
4. Fur boots= 4 points due to difficulty and rareness
5. No fur item can be touched more than once
6. You may only use your hand to touch  the fur. It doesn't count if you just rub up against them
7. If you are caught by the Russian with whom the fur belongs, points are not elegible.
8. Participants may award style points to other participants for creativity, style, and effort.

We are a pretty competative group of girls. It gets nasty!

You know what else has gotten pretty nasty- the protesters. We recieved an E-mail from the ILP offices warning us to stay away from Red Square and the popular metro stations surrounding it. Some elections and political demonstrations were held this past week in Moscow and have caused some uproar. dont worry, we are entirely safe...mom.

With 9 days left  in Moscow, I am still waiting on more than one lousy inch of snow! It has been cold, but apparently not that cold. I was warned multiple times before leaving to Russia of how I would freeze my bal...toes off, but I have managed, even witout a pair of gloves.

Merry Christmas

Initiate countdown sequence

Got stuck on the bus the other day. The public transportation is crazy. The bus literally stops for les than 10 seconds and you have to get off or on in that short amount of time. I was waiting by the door when we were about a block away from the stop. The bus halted to a stop and all of the sudden the doors were rushed with people. I ran to the other bus door behind a lady who seemed she was hurrying to get off as well. NOPE! She stopped right in front of the door I was hurrying to get off from and blocked my way out! Before I knew it the bus doors were closed and the bus was driving away. The rest of my group had successfully gotten off, but I was stuck. I channeled my Russian dictionary and yelled “STOY! STOY! STOY!” (wait, wait , wait)as I banged on the door. The bus driver yelled something back and I then said in panicked English, “OPEN the dooor!” he opened the door and I literally ran off the bus and straight to my group. It was HALARIOUS and kinda scary at the same time.

Last weekend we were able to go to a Russian folk dance show. All the performers were wearing native Russian outfits head to toe to tip of the hair with long braided pony tails.  The music was played by a live Russian orchestra. I loved every number. And yes, all the men were doing the “squat and kick” dance move. It was very impressive. I really felt culturally fulfilled that night.

On the following Monday, Gulya our native coordinator came over to teach us how to make a Russian dish. We made a ravioli type of noodle called pelminni. They were pretty tasty at the moment, but one hour later we were all rolling on the floor holding our bellies. Food poisoning. For two days we were sick. There was only one day that week that all 4 of us went to the school. By Friday all of us were completely recovered and back to normal. Which was perfect because we had a vacation starting Monday!! Well, more of a STAYcation.

We enjoyed our week off very much. On Monday we went to a HUGE flea market. It was so overwhelming. There were probably over 500 shops, mostly clothes and shoes. We were on a mission to find ties, and we did. The owner of the tie shop was a PERVE! But made for a good story. We told him we were all married, but he still continued to stroke our hair and arms, and asking us if he could kiss us. You better believe we got a good deal on them ties.

On Tuesday, Gulya invited us to her house to bake some more Russian food and learn a little more history. This time we made peroshkie. It is a roll stuffed with different fillings such as meat, cabbage & onions, mashed potatoes, or jam. They turned out really delicious, and no one got sick this time.

Wednesday we had to wake up early and teach at the university. After a good lesson with the students we had the rest of the day to spare! Jenny and I went to this really cool market two stops away from our house. We found ourselves some delicious candy and I bought a pair of socks that I LOVE! We found an “AWAH” (uh-shawn), the huge grocery and department store. Now that we found one closer to us, we will probably start going there. I had a really good day with my best, Jenny!

Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving! I did exactly what I would have done if I were in the states; wake up at noon, start munching, lounge, make a last minute run to the grocery store, cook, eat, clean, more munching, and more lounging! Our dinner consisted of baked chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, bread, and rice. And our desert was mini apple pies and ice cream! It had been a thanksgiving like no other, and I will never forget it. I was missing my family a lot, but I was thankful to be here.

On Friday a few of us went to a popular park. It was very big and there were paths and trails leading in all different directions. There were a few churches within the park along with a beautiful wooden palace. We must have walked around the park for 3 hours! That night we made cupcakes and took them over to our neighbors who we recently met. They were very thankful and sent their 20-something year old son to our door a little while later bearing a jar of mushrooms as a thank you for our cupcakes. The son speaks a little bit of English and was very nice. His name is Ivan. He offered to take us out on a night excursion of Moscow; as in clubbing and drinking and partying. I think I’ll pass, thanks.

On Saturday, we had been invited over to an American family’s house for a turkey thanksgiving dinner. In Russia, a turkey can sometimes cost 200 dollars! This family specially ordered a full turkey dinner from the American school and had it delivered to their door. It was very delicious! It was so nice for them to have us in their home, and refreshing to be around people that spoke our language and appreciated our stupid humor. They even invited us to stay and play games and eat pie. it was a fun night!

This week has been amazing!

 I am having mixed feelings about returning to the school tomorrow. But there are only 3 weeks of teaching left, and looking back I can’t believe how fast it seems to have gone by.

23 days

Goods

daily life at school

Our trip 

time after some time

Been a while. We went back to teaching since my last update. I cant believe how comfortable I am here now. After mid semester visits, (when the big boss man came to visit from Salt Lake) everything seemed to smooth its self out. We were having some issues with the school and the teachers and those problems got worked out while he was here. I finally feel like I am in a solid routine and I love it! I enjoy teaching and the two hour bus ride home doesn’t even seem to phase me. 

A week ago was HALLOWEEN! Only to us Americans though because sadly, they don’t celebrate it here. We did have to teach at the kindergarten on Halloween so instead of a lesson we had a party. The kids made masks and we played games and ate candy. I was a pumpkin. Then later that night me and my room mates watch a scary movie and ate cupcakes. It was un-like any Halloween I have ever had, but I enjoyed it very much.

Three days after Halloween we set sail to Finland, Sweden, and Estonia on the Princess Anastasia cruise ship! We left our apartment and hopped on a sleeper train to St. Petersburg. We had almost a full day to spend time there before boarding the ship. We had already spent a week in St. Petes when we first got to Russia so we knew all the spots we wanted to see. We ended up getting kinda lost, but we were able to navigate to downtown. It was a long walk and we had the opportunity to get on the metro but instead we took the senic route. It was so fun to just walk all over the city. We ended up at the Hermitage/ Winter palace and then headed to the Catherdral on spilled blood. Those are my two favorite spots in St. Petes so it was nice to see them again.  We showed up the the port of St. Petersburg at about 4pm and waited in line for a couple hours before getting on the ship. (passport control :/)It was a very nice boat. It had 11 decks, a few restraunts and bars, a movie theater, casino, strip club,spa and pool area, duty free store, and a show room. My favorite place on the boat was a bar called the drunken rabbit. They had karaoke nights every night and it was so fun to watch drunken Russians sing. A few girls in our group got up there and showed them all how we Americans do it. It was fun and entertaining. There was also a free show every night in the huge show room. Except it had to be the WORST live entertainment I have ever seen. It was entertaining because it was out of the ordinary, and dumb. But it was the only free thing on the boat.

Our first stop was in Helsinki, Finland. We got lucky with the weather in Finland. It was perfect. The architecture here was beautiful. Every building was worth taking a picture of. This little city was full of friendly people. Just about everyone spoke English here, which was nice. I noticed as I waled around that the moose was Finland’s mascot or something. Moosen everywhere ;) we walked along the port of Helsinki and it reminded me of the waterfront in Tacoma, but way better. There was a small bridge with locks all over it. Putting a lock on a bridge is a love thing. When you get married or when you are really in love, you put a lock on the bridge. We put a lock on the love lock bridge with all of our initials on it. Now there is a small piece of us in Helsinki. I have so many stories I would love to share, but to sum it all up… I LOVE FINLAND!

Next stop was Stockholm, Sweden. (I always thought Sweden was spelled “sweeden” until my recent trip to this country) I’m not ashamed!  There were two main parts of Stockholm, old town and new town (city area). The city area looks a lot like any downtown city in the states; tall buildings, stores and coffee shops all over, and lots of people walking the streets. We went to McDonalds for breakfast and interwebs. Let me tell you, the people in Sweden are BEAUTIFUL. The people working at McDonalds were like the cheerleaders and the star football players at your typical high school. Gahhh!! You should have seen the fry cook, maaaan. He was gorgeous. Annnnnnyways, the older historical part of town was the best. Cobble stone streets lined with old buildings with tons of character. Both sides of this tow(ish) mile long street was lined with tons of cafes and restaurants, souvenir shops and candy stores. I got to have the real deal “Swedish fish” and “Swedish meatballs”. But no, I did not see an ikea. We were able to stay late enough for all the street lamps to light up and it was the cutest thing. I really enjoyed my time in Stockholm. I would love to go back.

The last stop on the map was Tallinn, Estonia; a place I had never heard of until this cruise. The main attraction in Tallin was this old part of town that used to be a huge monastery. This whole part of the city had a wall around it. Inside looked somewhat similar to the old town areas of the last two countries; Cobble stone streets and old buildings. The difference here was that there were more churches and cathedrals. This place had lots of cute and unique doorways. Every door was a different color or shape and size. Pretty interesting. I don’t think I could spend more than one day in Tallinn. It was beyond beautiful and I am very happy to be able to see it.

The next morning we woke up in St. Petersburg again. It was strange, but when we got off the ship I had this happy feeling, a relief to be home after a long vacation. I never thought I would be excited to be BACK in Russia but it really does feel like home.  It was my BIRTHDAY J! We took a lazy day. We walked around a new area and found a T.G.I. Fidays where I had my birthday dinner. I had the perfect birthday. I missed my family and friends and all the people I love, but I got to spend the day with my best friends in a foreign land. How many people can say that?! BOO YAAAH!And when we got back to Moscow, Jenny & Julie made me cupcakes and yummy food, and I got to blow out my birthday candles :) 

I feel so lucky to be able to have gone on this trip. It was an experience I will never forget. I really LOVED every second of the time I spent in Finland, Sweden, and Estonia.

Tallinn, Estonia

                                                       Helsinki, Finland

Stockholm, Sweden

More pictures will be posted on my facebook, too. (facebook.com/kaysirenae)