11/29/2010

200. I had an epiphany the other day: I've hardly taken any videos while in Russia. How will I ever convey the Motherland craziness to family and friends without video footage? Ask the teachers, I've probably gone a little overboard recently. Really wishing I hadn't left my flip video in the US, I've grabbed thousands of clips from the classrooms to the chaotic subways (where it is illegal to have a camera) just with my point and shoot. While walking home tonight, I was upset with myself and my new obsession. I took 15 videos today and not a single picture. Well don't worry, leave Russian craziness to Americans for a little while, and you come home to teachers daring other teachers to do insane things. Sorry Lisa your lungs felt like they collapsed after eating the spoonful of cinnamon spice, but thanks for my picture of the day.

11/28/2010

199. Blue and white scarves, flying streamers, rumbling stands, white powder smoke, hovering helicopter, waving flags, three security pat-down checks, naked drunk men, snowballs aimed at security, no empty water bottles, screaming fans, shivering bodies, paper trophies, no goals, hazardous fireworks, meaningless chants, 200+ army personnel with billy sticks, red flares, endless banners, and floating confetti. St. Petersburg loves their futbol team. The drunk on the metro said it best, Zenit Champion!

11/27/2010

198. Snow, snow, snow! It has been snowing for five days straight. A few weeks ago we were all skeptical if it would come before we left because St. Petersburg was having an unusually warm (warm to  the locals, but not to us) November. Just as Sveta had predicted, she planned to take us to Pushkin, Catherine the Great's palace, at the end of November because the snow would make the gardens beautiful. Inside the gigantic palace, which is still being restored from WWII destruction, the Baroque 18th century and Neo-Classical 19th century styles played out in every ornate room. One room was even made completely out of amber.

11/26/2010

197. And a Happy (pseudo) Thanksgiving to you! Never doubt 18-24 year old singles because we can do it all...while in Russia. Finding ingredients written in Cyrillic would normally be daunting, but it didn't stop us. Maybe to impress or so I never forget, here is what we ate: homemade crescent rolls, funeral potatoes, fruit & yogurt salad, mashed potatoes & gravy, a variety of meats (including sliced turkey), candied yams, deviled eggs, 2 berry pies, 1 apple gluten-free pie, 2 banana cream pies (1 gluten free), 1 giant pumpkin pie and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and the homemade egg nog is still to come. Masha was the only Russian local we invited to the feast, but we probably could have fed my entire neighborhood. We all are very grateful for our many blessings and opportunities, and of course for good food!

11/25/2010

196. Morning weekday adventure. Wanting a cultural experience but not technically being invited, we headed out into the snowstorm to find the place where we could watch our first Russian wedding ceremony. All Russians must have a civil ceremony where a representative of ZAGS will marry them and stamp their passport (official way of establishing marriage with the government, which must proceed any church or temple wedding). Well we were too late and we couldn't sneak into any others (believe me, Audra and I tried). Due to the heavy snowstorm, we thought it would be fun to see the outlook from St. Isaac's Cathedral tower. We lasted on that tower for maybe 4 minutes. It was pretty, but we enjoy feeling our toes, fingers and faces more, so we saught warm shelter in a Russian Orthodox cathedral soon after.

11/24/2010

195. Soon enough, I am going to be amongst these beautiful people. I was officially accepted to be a co-country director with Help International for the summer of 2011. I will be leading a group of college students and young professionals for four months as we empower communities to become self-reliant and self-sufficient.  We will be partnering directly with local non-governmental organizations to help us generate specific projects that will be most useful for the Ugandan people. I have a lot to prepare for but I believe with my 2011 volunteers, that together we can help eradicate poverty. If you want to join the fight, join our team by applying at help-international.org or donate today.

11/23/2010

194. Last day of Russian class; I shouldn't be so excited. ILP paid for our once a week four hour class for the first five weeks. Ray, Kelsey, Sarah, Stephanee and I all paid to continue those classes for the following five weeks. Maybe I shouldn't have posted how many times I had class because, yes, I should be able to speak better than I do. We are posing with our substitute teacher (we miss Staussy pants) not because he was a great language teacher, but because he was a nice person with really awesome hair.