Spring has sprung in Moscow, and kept on springing into summer. Moscow was -8C when I left for Siberia, +8C when I returned, and briefly floated around a comfortable +15C for a couple of weeks. It was nice springtime weather until the temps reached +29C/85F a few weeks ago, bringing us summer. I'm sitting here writing this at 930PM, and the sky is still light. It's been consistently WAY HOTTER here than back home. That's crazy.
Also crazy were the May holidays we recently had. May 1st was International Workers' Day, and it was combined with the holidays we didn't get this January (or was it February?), giving us Wednesday the 1st-Friday the 4th off from work (you guessed it, I had to go in on Saturday. All good things must end). Then we had a few days off around May 9th, which some of you know as Victory Day. For this, the Russians have a huge military parade throughout the city, displaying all sorts of planes in the air and tanks rolling down the streets, followed by an evening firework salute in several locations. Not bad, not bad.
There have been a few other crazy things going on as well, and I'm struggling to remember everything I've been up to. One is that my new roomie arrived on the 15th. He's from England, so I only understand what he says some of the time. Another thing is that my last week of the academic year at Mayakovskaya begins tomorrow! After that I'll be at Marino school, way in the south of Moscow. Not looking forward to the commute. For those of you not in the know, I've re-signed my EF contract and will be sitting tight (with all of the knowledge I've gained so far) for another academic year. I can't believe this one will be over in 2 weeks.
What else? Random tidbits. I've now been to Tsaritsyno and Sokolniki parks, in addition to Vorobyovy Gory (no Wiki link for this one, but it's a huge parky, nature preservey place in the southwest of the city, on the river bank) during the holidays. I officially booked my vacation home for the summer (inquire within for additional details). I've replaced my first light bulb in this apartment (the exciting life of a sort-of-adult). I've been branching out and trying new cute/quirky cafes with friends (no disappointments so far). And, I've played hostess to Jackie's sister, who was stranded at Vnukovo airport when her layover en route to Petersburg changed from a few hours to overnight, with the airline only providing hotel rooms to Russian citizens. She took it all in stride, even as she, Eggert, and I were drenched with rain on the way to my place. This is Russia.
What more could a girl want? I'm going to get back to my lazy Sunday, courtesy of the rain.
Also crazy were the May holidays we recently had. May 1st was International Workers' Day, and it was combined with the holidays we didn't get this January (or was it February?), giving us Wednesday the 1st-Friday the 4th off from work (you guessed it, I had to go in on Saturday. All good things must end). Then we had a few days off around May 9th, which some of you know as Victory Day. For this, the Russians have a huge military parade throughout the city, displaying all sorts of planes in the air and tanks rolling down the streets, followed by an evening firework salute in several locations. Not bad, not bad.
There have been a few other crazy things going on as well, and I'm struggling to remember everything I've been up to. One is that my new roomie arrived on the 15th. He's from England, so I only understand what he says some of the time. Another thing is that my last week of the academic year at Mayakovskaya begins tomorrow! After that I'll be at Marino school, way in the south of Moscow. Not looking forward to the commute. For those of you not in the know, I've re-signed my EF contract and will be sitting tight (with all of the knowledge I've gained so far) for another academic year. I can't believe this one will be over in 2 weeks.
What else? Random tidbits. I've now been to Tsaritsyno and Sokolniki parks, in addition to Vorobyovy Gory (no Wiki link for this one, but it's a huge parky, nature preservey place in the southwest of the city, on the river bank) during the holidays. I officially booked my vacation home for the summer (inquire within for additional details). I've replaced my first light bulb in this apartment (the exciting life of a sort-of-adult). I've been branching out and trying new cute/quirky cafes with friends (no disappointments so far). And, I've played hostess to Jackie's sister, who was stranded at Vnukovo airport when her layover en route to Petersburg changed from a few hours to overnight, with the airline only providing hotel rooms to Russian citizens. She took it all in stride, even as she, Eggert, and I were drenched with rain on the way to my place. This is Russia.
What more could a girl want? I'm going to get back to my lazy Sunday, courtesy of the rain.
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