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 name 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!

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!

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!

2016: the good, the bad, the mundane

It's been noted that 2016 wasn't a great year for the world - take your pick of natural disasters, wars, terrorist attacks, or elections as an illustrating point.  However, I've decided to end on a good note by writing down some of the highlights from my year, starting from the last post.  So, before it's too late, my 2016:

- My friend, Brendan, came to visit from Connecticut and found my 10 tips super useful.  We had a cultural tour of Moscow which consisted mainly of food, but also included museums, parks, and a visit to the Bolshoi where we saw the opera Katerina Izmailova.

- My translations for an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Moscow were published in a bilingual book! And my name was printed! I did not buy the book.  It was expensive.  Instead, I took a picture of the book.

- I went on a field trip to a cheese farm run by an American guy and his family.  There were over a dozen kinds of cheeses, wines, and meats, and I got to befriend the goats!

- There was the annual America trip with the traditional food, New York stop, beach time, and shopping.  Also the Olympics!

- I voted in the presidential election.  It was a really complicated process, but it was important to get done.

-  I finally had the opportunity to travel to Sochi in October, at first for work and then for play.  I spent a day in the botanical gardens, made friends with a monkey, and jumped off of a boat into the Black Sea.

- After that, I got to travel to Kazan twice, this time to train FIFA volunteers ahead of the Confederations Cup in 2017.  I saw the sites in one day and spent the rest of my trips eating Tatar food.

- I had a very American Thanksgiving in that there was an all-you-can-eat buffet with every traditional dish, and eat it all we did.

- There was one weekend where I was without my phone, and I first realized, then accepted, that I am rather useless without it.

- Last weekend we celebrated Christmas together, and it was nice enough to make up for my having been sick with the flu for the past week.

So, 2017: here's to more interesting projects, more laughs, more learning, more love!

In memory of Gene Wilder, a great man and a personal friend - we will never forget you or your kindness.  

10 tips for Moscow

As my friend's Moscow visit gets closer and closer, I've started thinking of things about Russia which I take for granted but would throw newcomers for a loop.  Can I even remember what makes Russia and the US so different now that I've been here for nearly 4 years? Here's what I've come up with so far (note: all of these things have happened to me personally):

 1.  Just because you have an address doesn't mean you even remotely know where it is. 

Russia has this bizarre system of courtyards that you need to struggle your way through to find things sometimes.  For example, you might need to find Ulitsa Pravdy, Dom 20, but on the main road the numbers go from 18 straight to 22, skipping 20 altogether.  (Not so) obviously, this means you need to walk through the parking lot next to you and wander through some courtyards before you maybe find what you need.  
Similarly, there are "korpuses" - so you might need Ulitsa Pravdy, Dom 20, Korpus 3. Korpus 3 may or may not be anywhere near Korpus 1 or 2, and there's a good chance you'll be wandering through more courtyards.  In the US, we tend to just give separate buildings their own numbers.
Another common thing is needing to walk through one store to get to another, because why not. 
Final thing about addresses - sometimes you might be walking down a street which forks, but both sides of the fork have the same street name and even people who work in the area don't know where you are and once you've finally gotten to where you wanted, you can show a picture to the person you were meeting to prove the address you ended up at really does exist.  

 2.  Buying things can be really hard.  

Someone might refuse to sell you something because you don't have exact change.  Or the cashier might see you and choose not to acknowledge your existence for several minutes.  Or, a customer may have (I have no idea how this even happens) put an oranges sticker on his tomatoes when weighing them, so the cashier will have to argue with him about how tomatoes aren't oranges, go look at the tomatoes and oranges on the shelves, get a manager, argue with the manager about how tomatoes aren't oranges, and then finally put the right sticker on the bag and ring them up.  Or you might change your mind about buying something that's been rung up, and then you'll have to wait ten minutes because only one person in the entire store has the authorization to void purchases.  Or there might just straight up not be food on the shelves.  Or you might order from the menu at a restaurant and then get told they don't have that...or that or that.  Or...you can see where I'm going with this.
 

3.   If you come in the summer, there might not be any hot water where you're staying. 

Every summer, everyone gets to experience the fun times of systematically getting their hot water shut off for ten days, regardless of the temperature outside.  And by fun, I mean awful. 

4.   You will likely get shouted at. 

 If you're doing something wrong, you will hear about it; even if you don't understand what you're hearing.  If you're standing/sitting in the wrong place, if you hand over the wrong piece of paper, if you don't have exact change, if you exist - there is a good chance you will get yelled at.  Every time I go back to the US, I'm really surprised by how comparatively polite and not-shouty people are. 
 

5.  However, people might also go out of their way to help you.

There have been a couple of times where I was lost and asked for directions, but instead of telling me and sending me on my way, the people just walked me to where I needed.  Sometimes this comes after being shouted at, but sometimes there's no shouting!

 6.  You really do need to carry your passport with you everywhere.

Think of it like carrying your license everywhere.  But contrary to what a lot of travel guides say, I've often found that a signed and stamped official photocopy of my passport/visa weren't good enough, so it's a good idea to have a copy at home and the real thing with you.  
 

7.  Something might stop existing overnight. 

Like those stores outside of metros.  Or like this one time when on my way to work I passed a corner store, and on the way back 4 hours later I passed a pile of rubble.  Or a store might get replaced by a totally different store, also pretty much overnight.  The possibilities are endless. 
 

 8.  There is free Wi-Fi pretty much everywhere. 

And I mean everywhere.  In cafes/restaurants.  On the metro.  Even in a lot of the parks now.  Enjoy!
 

9.  If you get invited to a Russian's house, you'd better be hungry.

Somewhere between taking your shoes off and walking to the kitchen, an empty table will suddenly groan under the weight of all the snacks and drinks your host has pulled out of nowhere.  Cookies, cakes, candy, fruit, sandwiches, meat, cheese, vegetables, tea, etc.  It's rude to refuse, as well as futile.  My host mother once cried because I tried to resist eating dinner at home before going out to dinner.  

 

10.   People might come up and talk to you when they hear you speaking English. 

It's usually in a friendly way, to ask where you're from and what you're doing here, or to offer help.  I've gotten offered jobs after people heard me speaking English.  There were unfortunately a couple of times when people reacted really aggressively, but that's not the norm.  

So I guess that makes this my Top 10 of things to expect when in Moscow! I highly recommend visiting, but I might be a little biased. 
 

A (postponed) year in review

A review of 2015? Of my 25th year? In either case, it's about time I got on with it before I forget everything.  I brought in 2015 from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.  A few months later I rang in my 25th birthday back in Moscow.  There was a good amount of mid-year exploring - to Manchester, up and down the east coast of the US, and a brief stint in Romania (they don't have good cheese, but their schnitzel makes up for it).

I started taking Russian lessons again for the first time since college.  I successfully hosted my first Thanksgiving potluck (and without anyone destroying my apartment!) before marching straight into Christmas, which was probably the hardest away from home since I've moved here.  Luckily there were plenty of good friends around to make it easier.

Next up I headed to the land of my people, where Pawel and his family made me feel right at home during the new year's holidays (even without water).  I headed back to Moscow, but not before a side trip to Krakow, where Pawel tried his best to freeze us to death on his self-guided walking tours of the city.  But we lived! And had a great time :)

As for life in Russia? The sanctions are still on, life is still harder, and the ruble is still in a sorry state.  But Russians are really good at handling crises, and I learned about a dozen phrases to express this during my lessons.  In addition to the phrasal verb "to launder money", which became really relevant after the release of the Panama papers.  Spoiler alert, most people here didn't bat an eyelid after their release, and some predictably stamped it as a Western conspiracy.  For some more light reading about the current state of the Russian economy, look here.

Now I'm a ripe old 26, and what do I think I've accomplished? I've traveled a bit; I've become a pretty good teacher; I've worked on translations that were used in an art exhibition.  I've figured some things out, and more importantly, I've figured out some of what I still have to figure out.  So here's to 2016, to 26, and to needing a new passport soon!  

Once Upon a (summer) Time

My mom asked me to write this so she would "have something interesting to read." A month later, I'm finally getting around to it - Happy Thanksgiving?

Summer was a bit of a whirlwind, partially because I stayed almost a week less than in the past.  In trying to cram an entire year's worth of things into about 3 weeks, I managed to: go to a 4 day music festival, have overpriced brunch in Manhattan with friends from college, stay in a lake house with other college friends, see most of my friends and family, road trip down to DC with 2 hours notice, catch the Milford Oyster Fest, and eat everything on my list of foods not available in the food dessert that is Moscow.

After getting back to Russia, I still had some wanderlust to get out of my system, so I took a quick trip to Romania.  Bucharest was a weird mix of classical European and super Soviet, but had great food and the world's largest Parliament building.  Constanta was really beautiful, and allowed me to finally swim in the Black Sea.

Back to Russia, and work/life have been business as usual.  Construction was finally finished on the square by my house, I convinced my roommate not to move away forever, and I've been SUMMONED FOR JURY DUTY AGAIN.  Again.  For Thanksgiving, I'm having a potluck, in which I'll try to fit way more people into my apartment than is probably advisable.  What can go wrong?

Fun fact before you go: remember when Crimea started being Russia again? Remember how the west was like "Not cool bro, give it back"? It's okay if you don't, people kind of stopped mentioning it.  The Levada Center mentioned it recently when it polled Russian citizens on whether they thought Crimea should be returned to Ukraine; a whole 3% said yes! How about that. 

Black Fog

Yesterday, there was apparently a thick, black smoke in some parts of Moscow.  I say "apparently" because I luckily didn't encounter it, despite being in the center of Moscow for work and outside quite a bit.  It was also absent from where I live in the north-west of the city, so hopefully it's cleared up soon! Not before the State Department sent out an emergency email warning to all US citizens registered with the embassy saying we should stay indoors.

In other, lesser news, we celebrated Halloween last week with painted faces and good times; the holiday is becoming more popular in Moscow, at least among my age group.  My 12 year old student assured me that the day isn't observed in any of the state schools, so I decided it would be appropriate to spend a portion of our lesson watching Hocus Pocus.  

That's all I have for now, just a brief update. Also, in case you missed it, Putin being super suave in China. 

The summer, and then not the summer

I spent the first half of the summer finishing out my employment at EF Mayakovskaya, and with it my time teaching children for the foreseeable future. I'm glad to have had the experience, but it's not for me right now.  Before heading back to the US, I took a weekend trip to Warsaw to visit my friend Pawel and his family.  They were the best hosts I could ever have asked for, with Pawel's parents feeding us delicious (and huge amounts of) home-cooked food for every meal, and Pawel himself showing me pretty much everything there was to see in the city - the Old Town, New Town, parks and palaces, forests, a very new castle, and even a pit stop for shopping and a mad souvenir hunt. Warsaw is much smaller than Moscow, and most buildings are new - they were reconstructed after the war, but kept as close to their original style as possible. In short, I loved Warsaw and it was a welcome break from Moscow.   

The following weekend, I flew back to the US for the next month, where I was met with friends, family, and familiar food.  I spent as much time as possible at the beach, got a fair bit of shopping in, and spent a lot of time driving to and from seeing people.  I was able to help my dad out with doctor's appointments after his heart surgery the first week I was back, and I'm happy to say he's been recovering well and quickly.  Another thing I got to do at home was go to and camp at a 4 day music festival by the beach in my city called The Gathering of the Vibes.  I camped with a big group of friends, and in order to gain free entry I worked with another friend selling tickets in the parking garage for a day.  Not bad at all! I didn't get to spend a single day on my own during my vacation, but it was a lot of fun and flew by rather quickly. 

When I got back to Moscow, I started my new job teaching English to EF's corporate clients.  It requires quite a bit of commuting every day, but I really love it so far.  I've had a few stints of being ill and also found out I have a new lentil allergy, but I've also gotten out to see friends and enjoy some of our parks.  I even rowed a boat a few weeks ago before the cold set in! And despite what you may be hearing in the news, there is plenty of food on the shelves, and it has not decreased in quality.  Though cheddar cheese has all but disappeared, leaving me deeply distraught. 

It's been said that without regularity, your writing suffers, so hopefully this hasn't been too painful to read.  That's my news from Moscow for now! 

Notes from Russia

Notes from Russia! I made a nice little excursion to Vladimir over Women's Day weekend, and it was lovely - beautiful old things, minus the hustle and bustle of Moscow.  Also back in March I celebrated my birthday for nearly a week with dinners, walks, and happy hours.  

This summer I'll be coming home for about a month to soak up some sun, sand, and fresh seafood; tickets have already been purchased! Please prepare to feed me. 

Despite the situation in Ukraine heating up and the west placing sanctions on Russia, nothing has changed on the ground here.  Although I did find some really great sweet and sour sauce in the store, so that was pretty groundbreaking.  

In other news, my landlady callously (and rather unfairly given that we live at the last stop on the metro line and a 15min walk from the station) raised our rent, so we're hoping to move after summer vacation - hopefully closer to the center.  

Our academic year at school is nearly finished, which is exciting though also sad as many friends have left or are planning to leave Moscow.  Warm farewells and hugs to everyone as they begin new journeys, which goes for those of you back at home and scattered across the globe as well.  As for me, I'll be here...for now.  

An overdue synopsis

I have no excuses for my prolonged absence, so I'll just jump into a brief update since...what, October?
Thanksgiving was spent the same as last year's - diner dinner on the day of in a large group, followed by a Saturday potluck with a slightly smaller group.  Christmas was spent working, and New Year was spent in the north of England with friends.

Volgograd got bombed, but Moscow is literally closer to Poland than to Volgograd, so we were just fine here.  The Sochi Olympics have come and gone, wrapping up in a few weeks with the end of the Paralympic Games.  My friend Nic came for a visit after volunteering on the alpine track, and we watched the closing ceremony with a nice Williams representation.  Speaking of the Olympics, I'd like to note that they were incredibly well executed, especially taking into consideration that everything had to be built from scratch, unlike several previous sites.  Was it perfect? No.  Was it remarkable, to say the least? A resounding yes.

And now for the biggest news item: the current situation in Ukraine.  I think this is a nice summary of what's been happening since late December (for those of you who don't feel like reading in depth articles from legitimate news sources).  Things have carried on as usual here in Moscow, though people are starting to discuss it more and more.  This is also a nice piece on what's currently happening.  Interestingly enough, the only people I really hear talking about it at all are expats...I supposed it makes sense in some ways, since the ruble's rapid decline is making our money worth a lot less and our salaries suddenly much lower in real terms (since we'll need to exchange those rubles for dollars/pounds/etc at some point, and the exchange rate is increasingly against our favor).  Everyone is (obviously) also really hoping war doesn't suddenly break out, but for your peace of mind I will say that I'm registered with the embassy, I have the embassy's number saved in my phone, and my flatmate and I have an emergency plan just in case.  

In less interesting and less exciting news, the state of CT is being a real pain as they simultaneously inform me of my upcoming license expiration and summon me for jury duty...sorry, I won't be able to attend.  I'm busy being an expat in Russia, which had me ice skating, eating blini, and burning effigies for Maslenitsa today.

Back in the (former) USSR

The nicest part about getting back to my room was that my subletter, Ira, had washed all of the linens so that I didn't have to do it.  The day after arriving in Moscow, I had to go into EF for training and then the rest of the week for oral placement testing (OPT), demo lessons, and more training.  It was a rough week, as I was still jetlagged for all of it.  Classes officially started on September 3rd this year, and I have some comments about year two of teaching.  

This year has already been going a lot more smoothly than the last in terms of the classroom, and this is even with my new class of 4 year olds.  It was really nice to walk into a classroom of familiar faces, and even nicer when they were happy to see me as well and said they'd been waiting all summer to practice their English with me.  Even with classes completely filled with new faces, I still felt much more at ease because I know exactly how the courses work, what the exam schedules are, and generally how to be at the head of the classroom. 

Work aside, it's also really nice to be back in Moscow.  My Russian was a train wreck when I first returned (still better than September 2012, but...not good) but has already returned to its previous level, I'm already settled in with my apartment, I already have friends, and now I get to focus on seeing the people I love and discovering new things about the city.  People have asked me how I feel about Russia after going back to America, and while I loved being home, I also really enjoy being here.  A lot of stuff doesn't make sense to anyone (example: I went to the shop for apple juice.  A 2 liter box of the same brand with the same expiration date was cheaper than a 1 liter box.  Just because), but that's part of its charm in my opinion.  So, I'm going to keep on keeping on with my Russian adventure and continue my semi-regular updates in the meantime.  

Adventures in...America?

I know it's been a while, so I'm going to break the rest of my summer and my return to Russia into two posts.

I flew out of Sheremetevo airport (missed Snowden again!) on July 25, 2013 on a direct, round-trip flight into JFK, where I was met by angry parents (seriously, the attitude was unnecessary and unappreciated, please don't let it happen again next year).  Then we got to sit in traffic, and then I got the fresh lobster dinner I had long awaited (thanks, dad).  The month flew by, but I managed to cram a lot of activities into it.  I went to Manhattan to see some friends (shout outs to Chris and Lea for hosting, and to Brendan for coming up from DC); to Long Island to see more friends and learn to sail (well...how to come about, anyway), taste wine, and cook an awesome vegetarian meal with more-awesome accompanying cocktails (shout out to Julia and her mom and sister); to read a lot of books; to meet my cousin's beautiful baby girl; to see how my other babies have grown (and started talking? Too soon!); to get my first smartphone (which subsequently ate my life); to eat fresh oysters and clams at the Milford Oyster Fest; to drink PUMPKIN BEER, MY FAVORITE BEVERAGE OF ALL TIME; to buy stuff for normal-people prices; to drive!; to eat...everything; to spend time with family and friends (and be fed by them); to ride my bike to the beach where I sunned and swam; and, perhaps most importantly, to welcome my cousin home from his tour of duty in Afghanistan (shout out to Anthony for protecting us all).

People often asked me what the weirdest part of being home was.  The truth is, the weirdest part was that it wasn't weird at all.  For the most part, everything was the same.  All of the same people are around, the landscape is the same, I95 still sucks from 4pm-8pm, I am still a beach bum, and Whole Foods is still my mecca.  I wasn't exactly itching for Moscow in particular, but I did understand that it would be really hard for me to live there again right now.  There's not enough going on, and I can't deal with the complete and total lack of comprehensive public transportation.  While I did catch the train into Manhattan and up to Milford a few times, that's about the most useful it gets.  On August 25, 2013 I went to JFK and missed my already pushed-back flight because some people thought the time I wanted to leave was way too early, but it most certainly was not.  After re-booking and chilling in the worst terminal ever (Terminal 1, if you were wondering), I boarded my plane to Moscow, came home, and crashed.  Next up: work, which I started the next day.

Istanbul, not Constantinople!

This past weekend, I went to Istanbul on a whim.  My friend Evan is there for 2 weeks on a language program before heading back to Petersburg, and I've wanted to go to Turkey for a while, so at the last minute I decided to go for it.  It also helped that I didn't work after Wednesday and that tickets were super cheap.  On Tuesday I sent out a few urgent couch surfing requests, on Wednesday I found out where I was staying and bought a ticket, and on Thursday I was in Turkey.

My first impressions of the city were "Wow, this is beautiful," followed by "So it turns out I don't understand Turkish at all.  Like...I can't read any of these signs. This should be interesting." This was the first time in my life I've been to a country where I don't speak the language, which was really strange for me.  In the US and Canada I can use English, in Puerto Rico I used Spanish, and in Russia...well, you get the idea.  Very few people speak English in Istanbul, to the point where even asking for directions was difficult. Luckily, the Turks are incredibly warm and friendly people, so more than once when I pointed to a name on the list of things to do my host gave me, someone walked me directly to my destination.  There was also a lot of gesturing to communicate, which most people take for granted in these situations. By the second day I could read the alphabet and started to notice some similarities with Russian, though that helped very little. I felt so much more comfortable when I got on that Aeroflot plane and could understand everyone, and completely at home in Sheremetevo where I could ask for help.

The city was absolutely gorgeous, the food was amazing, and my host was really nice, though really busy.  I saw most of the major attractions (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilicas Cistern, Grand Bazaar, and Topkapi palace just to name a few), ate a lot of new things (like a pudding that's actually made out of chicken breast.  It was delicious.  Evan only told me what I ate after the fact, which was perhaps wise).  It was refreshing to be somewhere by the sea that was also warm and beautiful with friendly people.  I took a ferry to and from my host's apartment each day.  I apparently look Turkish, which I never knew before.  Istanbul is really cheap when compared to Moscow prices...why do I live here again? I may need to move to Turkey someday.  I got back to Moscow at 6am Sunday morning after sleeping through the entire flight, and was greeted by thunderstorms.  In another 1.5 weeks I'll be landing in JFK.  So it goes.  To summarize: go to Istanbul!

On FIRE

This isn't a full-blown post, but I thought that today's fire in the Moscow metro deserved mention.  76 people were injured in a fire that started at the Okhotniy Ryad metro station during rush hour this morning. 

Before you worry,  I was not in the fire, though I did happen to be taking the metro to work as I do every morning.  Luckily, I don't pass by that station, or even ride on that line.  In fact, I hadn't even heard about the fire until I logged onto Facebook at around 1130pm and found that everyone here was talking about it.  Strangely enough, it didn't come up at work at all (though I was busy, like, teaching and stuff).  I'm glad to report that I (and everyone I know) am completely unharmed.  And (perhaps inappropriately) now listening to this:


Too soon?

Spring has sprung

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.

Butterflies and holidays and birthdays, oh my!

Lots to discuss! First of all, I did a Life Club to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Eric Carle's The Hungry Caterpillar last month.  It was adorable, and it also led me to the realization that I am a hungry caterpillar, because I am always hungry (bet you couldn't have guessed that one).  Moving on.

I also went on a trip to Yaroslavl in February! My friend Nina is from there and invited me to go back with her one weekend.  We left work on a Saturday night and got back into Moscow on Monday morning before work.  Yaroslavl was amazing; the air was fresh, the streets were less crowded, there were beautiful churches everywhere, and I got fed a whole lot by Nina's parents.  I also got sent home with a few kilos of homegrown potatoes and onions from their dacha, as well as some homemade pickles.  Yaroslavl is a fairly large city, with around 700K citizens, so I didn't get to see nearly all of it.  What I did get to see were the aforementioned churches, the Volga and Kotorosl rivers, and every monument featured on the 1000ruble note.  It was a really relaxing/refreshing trip, and we both came back recharged (and with fresh haircuts, courtesy of Nina's friend Misha). 

On February 23 we celebrated (but were not given a day off for) Defenders of the Fatherland Day (aka Men's Day) by giving our men cookies and chocolates and things (the holiday fell on a Saturday, but none of the boys in my Saturday group showed up so the girls and I were left to eat all of the sweets on our own. Tough life).  Then, on March 8th, we celebrated International Women's Day, which resulted in a Friday off and flowers and chocolates at school from some of our students.  I took the day as an opportunity to walk through Gorky Park (which I am falling deeper in love with after every visit) and relax.  And eat cake (duh). 

This week is the beginning of another holiday: Maslenitsa.  I've never experienced Maslenitsa in Russia, but it's centered around eating pancakes and playing outside and burning an effigy at the end of it all, so needless to say I'm quite excited. 

In addition to Maslenitsa's culmination on Sunday is my most favorite holiday of all: St. Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish, but for those of you who don't know: THIS IS MY BIRTHDAY.  And my dad's birthday.  But more importantly, my birthday (hi dad).  I don't yet know how I'm going to celebrate...the initial idea was to visit Jackie and all of my other St. Petersburgers, but the universe is trying to prevent that from happening. First there was a problem with purchasing train tickets where the booking site took my money but gave me no ticket.  Then, Raiffeisen decided that my 356rub purchase at the grocery store was suspicious, cut off my card, and when I visited the branch yesterday cut up said card and told me they would have a new one in SEVEN DAYS. And there's a tariff for withdrawing cash from a teller.  So I am for all intents and purposes moneyless despite just having gotten paid, and it is tragic and will probably result in a delayed Petersburg visit.  But I shall prevail. Wish me luck!

Thoughts I sometimes think

Ironic that New England is a snowed-in, unmanageable mess right now due to blizzards while Moscow is a toasty 0C/32F and our snow has been cleared. Although that's not because it hasn't been snowing.  In fact, this has been the snowiest winter in 100 years, and we were racked with heavy snowfall just last week.  The difference is that even while traffic was temporarily disrupted, the city still functioned.  Work drummed on, classes happened, and no one was snowed in.  It already looks as if there were no blizzard thanks to the speedy sidewalk clearing that happens every time.

This brings me to another observation, though: owning a car in Moscow seems like a huge pain.  I had a car in the US for all of one winter, only drove it a few times a week, and was still fed up with clearing the snow off of it.  I vowed that whenever the time came for me to buy a home/condo/whatever, I would 100% have a garage (and then use it for my car, not for storage like most of you crazies out there).  Cut back to Moscow, where it snows from October to April and regularly reaches subzero temperatures....talk about inconvenient.  There's also the massive amount of traffic in Moscow, where a 15min commute by metro can easily become a 1hr commute by car.  This seems absolutely crazy to me, but all of the Muscovites I've talked to insist that the comfort one gets out of driving one's own car is invaluable...agree to disagree.  And let's not forget about parking, which is a nightmare in big cities (this summer was parking ticket city for me...whoops).  This is offset by the fact that people just park on sidewalks here, and I'm pretty sure there are no (or only mild) repercussions for doing so.

What else have I noticed about living here? It sort of resembles 1950's America at times.  Our flats (I say 'flat' instead of 'apartment' now because that's what happens when you move abroad...your English mutates) have 50s-esque wallpaper, furniture, and decorations (except for some of the remodeled ones, which look like an Ikea catalog).  I can get a loaf of bread for 30 cents.  It's still acceptable to go up to strangers and yell at them for not wearing a hat, or to yell at someone else's kid for misbehaving and then tell the kid's parent, who will also yell at him.  It just feels as though the fabric of society is more intact, despite the creeping effects of living in such a huge city...maybe this is just me, but that's what I think.  However, the 50s weren't all apple pie and Beaver Cleaver.  The downside is that there's still a lot of blatant racism in Russia.  I've seen Asians get slapped in the face on the metro for not being Russian.  I've led classes where, in response to "Who works outside?" (answer that followed the worksheet about after-school jobs: car washer and newspaper boy), my 8 year olds answered "Tajiks" while laughing.  To the question "What are some problems in Russian society?" the answer "Too many Tajiks are moving here" is not uncommon.  People complain that no one speaks Russian in Moscow anymore.  Actually, this can be compared not only with American racism of the 50s, but of today as well (a la "Too many Mexicans are moving here to steal our jobs, and none of them speak English").

Speaking of problems in America...what the hell is going on over there? Maybe this seems amplified from abroad, but it looks as though things have gone from bad to worse.  I've read about more school shootings in  2 months than in the past 10 years combined.  Hilary Clinton and David Petraeus are no longer in government.  Politics look particularly gridlock-y.  Most of you were more concerned with Beyonce's performance than Obama's speech (don't pretend you weren't, I saw your Facebook statuses).  The weather has been downright apocalyptic.  What has become of my home??  Does it look this bad from within? Someone explain this to me.  For now, I'm going to go continue reading my book (The Scarlet Letter, in case you were wondering) about simpler times. 

Alive

I don't really have anything to say, but people have been questioning whether I'm alive so I guess it's time to write something.  First, YES I AM ALIVE.  And still in Moscow.  And still in love with Moscow, which is quite toasty at -4C.  And not in love with figuring out loan repayments from across the world.  I've been working quite a bit more lately (actually working, not just being lazy) since a bunch of new students have gotten added to my schedule, but that just means that I'm no longer ridiculously under hours (though it was nice while it lasted since we have a set salary).  Oh and one of my kids won our grant project, which means she gets 6 free months of study and I get a cool placard thingy.  Like a boss. 

Russian winter isn't freezing right now, but it has managed to destroy my less-than-2-month-old boots (from the salt) and provide amazing sledding and impromptu snowball fights (best snow usages, obvi).  There also hasn't been a day without snow on the ground since it started...whenever it started.  So long ago that I can't remember, but I'm not tired of it yet. 

I also have a question for America: when is the last time you were in a hotel without internet? Not a hostel, not a motel, but a hotel? Jackie and the other Petersburgers visited for a few days this week to attend their midyear Fulbright conference, so I went to stay in the hotel with them in order to maximize hangout time.  The downside was that not only were we without wifi, but internet all together.  And they didn't understand the concept of amenities like extra shampoo or...anything.  Not letting this get us down, we spent most of our free time either traveling to food or eating food as any good vacationer does/as Jackie and I do.

As far as returning to the US, I don't know when that's happening or for how long.  I might live here during the summer and just visit home for a few weeks, or I might resign a contract but have the entire summer off (and no idea what to do with the apartment), or I might go somewhere entirely different for the summer; everything is up in the air and will be for at least the next couple of months.  That just means you guys will have to get your acts together and visit Russia, I promise it will not disappoint!