Ringing out 2023

I almost forgot to do this until I saw someone else's online. And people say social media is a total waste of time! So what did I do this year?

I traveled. A lot (for me). Riding the high of my Ruskeala trip in the end of 2022, I decided to keep it up. I made day trips by car with friends, and took a couple of solo trips to Russian regions further from Moscow. 

First was a big May trip to the republic of Dagestan, in the Caucasus. I flew alone and joined a tour group to have one of the best experiences of my life. We were divided into 4 groups among different jeeps and driven to see the main sights, mountains, and of course go hiking. Before we went anywhere, we had our first of many lunches at a fish restaurant. Since i don't eat fish or meat, they ordered me... chicken! Once we settled that I also consider chicken to be meat, I had my fill of fresh vegetable, breads, dumplings, potatoes with mushrooms, and lentil soups. Then we headed off to the Sulakski canyon, which I zip lined across before we had a speed boat tour. 

Our main hub every evening was Gunib, where we had breakfast and dinner at a wonderfully cozy guest house with our group and guides. From there we drove across many mountains, hiked to an abandoned village, went into caves, splashed in waterfalls, danced in the rain, and pet some of the many cows roaming freely. We also went to a mill where they make something called urbech - think peanut butter, but made out of different nuts and seeds (you can have ones from apricot seed, flax, hazelnut, and cashew, just to make a few). We didn't make it to the Caspian sea, but that's just another reason to go back!

Next was a day trip to Kolomna in early June, where I saw the old Town and Kremlin, ate a special treat called kalach (sort of like a bread roll with a handle at the end. They normally come stuffed with some kind of pate, which I obviously passed on), went to a soap factory, and got to fly in a 2 seat plane above the city! I even got to steer a bit. 

My stop after that was a trip to Ekaterinburg, which was not the smoothest trip, but I still enjoyed it. I looked up the local weather forecast at least a dozen times while packing, and boy did it lie. It was about 10° colder than promised, and raining! Given that it was late June, I hadn't bothered bringing a jacket, so my first stop was the mall. From the hotel I took the metro, which was just as beautiful as Moscow's. After buying a jacket and eating in a great vegan cafe nearby (thank you, Happy Cow app), I walked what felt like the entire city until I thought I would drop. I saw the stone keyboard, the river, the circus, the dam, the museums, and the cathedral built on the spot where the Romanov family was shot that fateful night in 1918. The next day I visited the Yeltsin center and learned a bit of history, and did a lot more walking. The third and final day I visited the Museum of Fine Arts that displayed iron works, paintings, and stone works from the natural stones in Sverdlovsk region.

After this I thought I was heading back to Moscow, and I eventually did, after missing my flight seated at the gate right next to it, and then buying a new ticket which cost more than the original round trip. A first, and hopefully last, learning experience. 

Knowing that I went home to the US in mid July, you might think this was my last Russian summer trip. Guess again! I snuck one last road trip in with friends. We went to Plyos, a river town in the Golden ring where painter Levitan spent a lot of time - and being there, it's easy to see why! It's got a very relaxed atmosphere, music plays by the water front, and everything is so nice and peaceful. Here I had my first glamping experience, since we rented a dome with actual beds and a shower inside at a campgrounds. For dinner, we grilled. The next day we stopped in Kostroma on our way back to Moscow. 

Finally, then I headed back to America! I was there for the birthday/ gender reveal party of one of my oldest friends. Mom and I took our annual ferry trip to Port Jeff. Pop graciously let me drag him on many a hike, thanks to my Alltrails app; also sponsered by my new contacts, which I'd gotten a prescription for right before leaving Moscow with the goal of hiking glasses-free in mind. We watched all the Indiana Jones movies in order to prepare for the latest one in theaters, followed by all the Mission Impossible films. We took a father- daughter trip to Newport, RI, where we spent a lot of time going through the mansions of the Golden age and seeing how the other half used to live, in between lunches and snacks by the ocean. In CT there were lunches with uncle and brunches with friends, and a group trip to see the Barbie movie. It was a short but good trip back. 

Then it was back to work, where I got a promotion this year to Phase Leader of secondary school! After waiting 2 months for every member of the team to arrive, things have been chaotic - new building, new schedules every day, new journal which doesn't work. On the plus side, things have been much smoother with my students, and my 5th graders won first place at the Christmas concert! 

I'm now cruising through a well earned break until January 9. Lots of reading, walks through the city looking at decorations, cooking, training, seeing friends, playing with dogs, and lighting candles. I went to a concert on Thursday, and the last kickboxing session of the year Friday.  I've cooked a big curry, bought lots of food, and will be heading to friends later to have a very cozy new year's eve. Wishing everyone a calm and peaceful 2024!

2022 - my yearly post

 It's been a complicated year, but I'll sum it up the best I can without going into too much detail.

I started off 2022 quarantined in my childhood bedroom with COVID - I even spent an extra 2 weeks there and rescheduled my flight before finally passing a PCR test to fly back to Moscow. But, I thought, it's ok, things can only go up from here!

Oh, dear reader, how very wrong I was.

We're all familiar with what happened in Eastern Europe on February 24, 2022 by now. Flash forward to friends fleeing, more farewell parties than I care to count, panic and confusion, and serious currency controls. Airspace over Europe closing (and still closed!) to flights from Russia. In the summer, I flew through Tashkent to New York, and back through Dubai. 

I took a Delta Module 1 prep course (teacher things, in other words) in April, but couldn't take the exam since Cambridge suspended operations in Russia. I fought in my first boxing (not kickboxing!) match, and lost, but admirably. I did what we all were doing - anxiously chugging along and trying to live.

Then my company announced it was leaving the country, and employees had a month to sort our lives out. So I took a day to mope, then started applying to jobs and interviewing, and 2 weeks later I had the job I'm currently at in a bilingual K-11 school. 

I went home for the summer to decompress, spend time with family, and get a visa for the new job (which took 2 months instead of the usual 1, but went otherwise smoothly). I was back in time for mom's birthday. I got to go to my 10 year reunion at Williams! Then pop and I ticked an item off my bucket list by visiting Niagara Falls, where we went on the Maid of the Mist, into the Cave of the Winds, on an arduous hike, to the aquarium, on a jet boat, and more. We were together for father's day. I was able to be at my cousin's housewarming party for his and his wife's first home, and then my first stateside 4th of July in 10 years. I had the honor of attending my friend's beautiful (though long-delayed by covid) wedding in upstate New York. Pop and I went on many a hike, kayaked, tried all the vegan places within driving distance, and watched a lot of movies (top picks: Dr. Strange and Maverick. Avoid: Nope and Morbius). Mom and I took a ferry trip to Port Jeff. Uncle and I got to have lunch every week. I visited with close friends in NYC.

It was nice being around for birthdays and celebrations and the regular day-to-day, in the longest stretch of time I've been there since leaving.

Then I got back to Moscow, and 3 days later I was at work. It's been challenging, exciting, but mostly - exhausting. I'm still getting used to it. Working in a school is a far cry from training teachers and executives, running workshops, and working remotely. It has its pluses, but work-life balance, at least for me thus far, has not been one of them. 

Other highlights are that I started living without a roommate this spring. I went to my first Russian village, population ±150. In September, I had my 10 year Russiaversary. Then I got covid a second time! But, to top the year off with positive emotions, I took a Christmas trip to the Russian north - to Sortavala and Ruskeala, with a vegan travel group, and it was amazing. We rode in on a steam engine, played games, traipsed through the snow, zip lined, toured caves, star-gazed, hiked, and lived in an idyllic wood cabin. 

So going into 2023, I wish for peace and tranquility, and the fortitude to cope if we don't get either.

2021

Time for the yearly blog post! Which honestly seems like just enough to me, so let's get into it. 

First off, I'm writing this one from America, where I am visiting for the first time in over 2 years! How about that! But already stuck in the house for over a week with covid.  How about that.  I was home for about 5 days before I came down with the sniffles, and isolating for another 5 when I took a test that came out positive.  And getting a test at all turned out to be lucky, since apparently there's a huge testing shortage in the US. How? No shortages in Russia, I don't get it.  But here we are. 

What about the rest of the year? Not a single business trip for the first time in a long time, although I did have the pleasure of speaking remotely for the 5th annual FISU Leadership Academy - a nice treat, as I was a speaker at their first in Kazan 5 years ago.  

There were some personal achievements to be proud of as well.  I had my first kickboxing fight in April! Officially it was a tie. Technically I lost.  But I still have a first place medal, thank you very much. And I won a pair of new boxing gloves, which were sorely needed. In July I went to Sochi with some of my kickboxing group and our coach to train 3x a day for 10 days.  That was another first, and something I'd love to do again.  Then in October I had my second (!) kickboxing fight. That one I also lost, so you can take a guess at what my 2022 goal is. 

I also took my first pottery class when my lovely friend Anna invited me to one for her birthday, the results of which I'll have when I get back to Moscow. Other than that I can't say there was anything super exciting to report. I worked, a lot. I read, also quite a lot. I got vaccinated in the end of February and my second dose in the end of March. I lived as normal a life as I could hope for "in these difficult and unprecedented times."

So as we all ease cautiously into the new year, my plans are to keep making progress in my career, keep learning, and keep moving forward. I hope you'll do the same!

Goodbye 2020

Sitting at home in my Christmas socks, I've got just enough time to squeeze in a year-end review for 2020, as if any of us will be able to forget.  Nevertheless...

It actually started off really well - at a cabin in the woods with a great group of friends. In February I spontaneously ran off to Armenia for a few days, where I had time to tour the capital, Yerevan, and see the mountains and lakes of some nearby regions.  One particularly amazing site was a monastery carved into the mountains and surrounded by cliffs.

But then March came and things changed fast.  I spent my 30th birthday alone in my kitchen eating cake on a zoom call.  My new roommate and I started working from home and ventured out for groceries as if going into battle.  The floor was lava and the air was poison.  

So I started brushing back up on my Spanish.  I took 7 online courses on different aspects of my profession - teaching online, teaching children, assessment, IELTS, TOEFL, and a few others.  All voluntary, most helpful, some even fun. 

There were still some adventures. In August, one of my good friends visited Moscow.  Later that month, my coworker, Irina, and I wound up at a summer camp in Kaluga Oblast for kids from regions of the Russian Arctic and Far East. 

For 2 weeks we lived in a yurt and worked off wifi in the woods.  We walked around the ethnographic, educational-recreational complex Etnomir rowing boats, going on museum tours, watching fire shows and shamen, and taking lots of pictures. In October, we continued adventuring - this time to Russian soccer games, courtesy of our company's work teaching English to referees. 

By Thanksgiving the cooking and online shopping phases everyone went through in the spring finally hit me, and I stocked up on things for my home office (and sweatpants, the newest work attire). 

Of all the challenges this year has brought, from changing the way we work and socialize to the constant "Am I dying from covid?" scares, the toughest has been not knowing when I can visit home.  My June flight was predictably cancelled, but even now I'm a bit stuck; if I leave Russia, I can't re-enter, as their borders are still closed to US citizens.  So for now I write, call, and wait.

It wasn't all bad, though.  I'm thankful for my friendships, family, and work. I'm glad I had time to learn and relax (so much Netflix).  I'm relieved that Trump is 20 days away from being out of the White House. And I'm proud of a few milestones: kickboxing for 2 years, vegan for 2.5, and in Russia for EIGHT YEARS. 

Everything got turned on its head in 2020.  So here's to looking forward, crossing our fingers, and getting this thing over with!

2019 in a nutshell

It seems I've got just enough time to sneak in my one and only blog post of 2019, so I'll try my best to sum up the key moments from this year. Let's go!

I started the new year off surrounded by my closest friends and family, since I went home to CT for the first time since moving to Moscow.  It was perfect, and I couldn't have asked for a better start to the year.  But then...

...I got sick just as vacation ended, and on the first working day of the year, found myself packing a quick bag for my evening flight to Karaganda, Kazakhstan (side note: this was actually Attempt #2. The first try was in December, when our flight got diverted to Astana due to ice storms, we slept and had a conference call in a capsule hotel upon realizing we were not getting to our destination, entered and exited and entered and exited the country once more without leaving the actual airport, and then barely got ourselves on a flight back to Moscow 15 hours later).  We arrived at 5am, slept for a couple of hours before our meeting after a struggle to locate our taxi, and left early the next morning.  It was -35, but I got a little walk in, and saw the university.  Exciting beginning. 

The next big event was in March, when my dear old dad came to visit Moscow for the first time! I had him walking until our feet were sore, but he saw just about everything in the 6 days he was here: Red Square; inside the Kremlin, GUM, and St. Basil's; Patriarch's Ponds; the zoo; my apartment and office; New and Old Arbat; Tsarytsino; Aviapark; Moscow City; Moscow River cruise; Swan Lake at RAMT; VDNX; the botanical garden at Prospekt Mira; Komsomolskaya station. He tried Russian, Ukrainian, and Georgian food.  I got to take him to some of my favorite cafes, and to some posher places as well.  In all, it was the best visit ever - and coincided with our birthday!

Fast forward to August and September, which I spent travelling for work.  The first half of August, I led an alternative program at a youth forum in the Northern Caucasian town of Pyatigorsk for 2 weeks, followed by 2 weeks in Anapa working with kids from Arctic, Siberian, and Far Easter regions of Russia.  Both were challenging and rewarding in different ways, and called for a lot of creativity while I was preparing the programs.  

After living in summer camps for a month and getting some sort of virus/food poisoning in Anapa, I finally got to take a break and head home in September.  I had the honor of being at my cousin and first best friend's wedding! It was Game of Thrones themed, and we all wore costumes, had sword fights, and slept in cabins.  I also got to see my friend's new guinea pigs and titi's new house for the first time. 

There were other events sprinkled throughout the year as well.  I planned my first webinar series.  I had my 1 year anniversary of kickboxing. I got a new roommate. I visited Tver, Tula, and Chekhov on road trips with friends. 2019 was full of challenges and surprises. And most importantly, as it comes to an end, I'm happy, healthy, and surrounded by love.  Here's to 2020!

2018 - before it's over

Before the year gets away from me (maybe it already has?), I wanted to write about what I've been up to in 2018.Where I've been, work I've done (what do I even do?), etc.

The main thing, and the one you've probably heard something or other about from me already, is Tyumen! It really deserves its own post to be honest, so I'll try to make that a priority.  For now, I'll summarize it by saying that I was out there once a month to train teachers as part of a professional development program the region started at the beginning of this year. 

Another big trip was Lebanon, where I went in the beginning of May to visit one of my best friends from college who's living in Beirut.  First of all, Lebanese food is officially my all time favorite.  I was in Lebanon for 10 days, and we got a lot done - walked all of Beirut; visited ruins, markets, and a palace in Sidon - one of the most important Phoenician cities; swam in Batroun, which boasts its own Phoenician ruins; camped in the mountains; saw the Old Souks in Tripoli; hiked in the Chouf biosphere; walked around the castle ruins in Byblos; went through the Jeita grotto, and much more! Not to mention driving in a foreign country for the first time, which in Lebanon was a whole experience in and of itself.
The country was buzzing with energy because elections were looming, so there would be parades of cars honking their horns for 10 minutes straight, huge posters everywhere, and fireworks in the middle of the day.  For everyone asking: yes, I was and felt safe, the whole time.  And yes, a lot of people speak English there, though it was definitely helpful having someone who spoke Arabic by my side. In short, I highly recommend a visit and would love to go back myself!

In June I was home for: my best friend's wedding; my mom's birthday; Father's day.  Not the most relaxing trip home, but is it ever? And I got to work on my frolf skills.

Not having gotten nearly enough beach time in Connecticut and facing an unexpected long weekend, I flew off to Sochi. During the World Cup. Which turned out to be the best time for a trip, because there were people everywhere and I made great friends with some Uruguayans in my hostel, who then came and stayed in Moscow! The World Cup as a whole was much better than I'd expected - instead of being crowded, poorly organized, and generally overwhelming, it created a really positive atmosphere - the whole city was like a big party for that month, and people were noticeably happier than usual.  And I got some good Spanish practice in!

Those are the main points from this year so far.  Other than that I've been working on some fun projects, hosting people who've come to visit Moscow (come visit Moscow!), trying to strike a balance between ignoring what's going on in America while still staying informed enough, and thinking of what to do next - whether that's going back to school, or something else.  I know I'm not a consistent blogger (sorry mom and dad), but I'm here! And everything is going pretty well.  Keep an eye out for a post about Tyumen, I promise it'll happen!

Happy happy new year!

It's time to stop being lazy and write about my year, for the friends and family who've asked me to! We'll brush aside the fact that this is the only thing I've bothered to write in 2017. I think I can manage to stop eating cake just long enough to get this all down...

January: The temperature went down to -33C/F (it's pretty much the same at that point).  Luckily we were all on vacation and didn't need to go outside.  Which we didn't.

(skipping months where nothing much happened and moving on)

March: Steve announced that he was ABANDONING ME to find his own place.  But then I found Masha, who is even more awesome.  Also I turned 27 surrounded by close friends (or as I like to say, celebrated the 2nd anniversary of my 25th birthday).

May: We had nice summer weather for the May holidays, followed by snow.  First attempt at a business trip to Tatarstan foiled by Moscow traffic.

June: There was more snow, but I dodged that bullet by going home! Attended my best friend's engagement party and said yes to the bridesmaid dress.  Visited Williams for my 5 year reunion, which was everything I expected and more. Had another mini reunion in NYC, and attended my first Pride parade thanks to Ben and Bill.  Was home for both my mom's birthday and Father's Day for the first time in 5 years. Spent a lot of time on the beach.

July: 24 hours after arriving in Moscow I was on my way back to the airport for Kazan, where I was a speaker at the FISU (International University Sports Federation) volunteer training academy. Then I went onward to Aktanysh, ie the middle of nowhere, to observe lessons at a summer camp and speak with some of the children (many of whom had never met a native speaker before). 

August: Our friends from Aktanysh came to Moscow for a week of training seminars that I got to help lead.  Then I fulfilled my long-time dream of travelling to Barcelona! More beach time, plus great food, amazing people, and all the Gaudi architecture my little heart desired.  We also managed to visit the highest point around at Tibidabo. 

October: The memory that sticks out most is Halloween, which I hosted at mine before heading to a club.  I did my Pinterest best and introduced the Russians to worms in the mud.  I was also responsible for the Halloween event one of our clients requested, where we discussed and then planned extreme pranks 💀

November: Thanksgiving! As usual, we celebrated twice.  This was the home stretch until Christmas.  But first...

December: ...I got really sick for a couple of weeks.  What's winter without being out of commission for a week or two? But thanks to the internet I was able to get all of my Christmas shopping done and watch loads of movies.  Speaking of which, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. We celebrated Christmas with 2 feasts as well, and I lead a whole bevy of Christmas events for the companies we work with which was actually really fun.  I showed them how to decorate Christmas cookies American style, and then got shown up by them. My lovely students gave me tons of cake and tea and chocolate that I'm currently working my way through.  I've walked around plenty and seen Moscow in all its New Year's glory.  Now all that's left is to wait for the New Year and see what it has in store for all of us!