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!

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!

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. 
 

Things have changed

A big change: The roommate and I moved to a new apartment! While Steve was in England getting a new passport, our old apartment sprung a major leak - the latest on a long list of things wrong with the crumbling housing. The landlady decided I was responsible for paying the plumbers, while Steve and I decided we'd had enough. In short: Wednesday there was a leak, Thursday we'd decided we were moving. Friday Steve sent me a list of places to check out and I made a call, Saturday I viewed a place. Saturday afternoon I started moving, Sunday evening I finished. It was a marathon. The place is much nicer, in the center, and about the same price (finally we benefit from the crisis!).

Other changes:
1. I'm 25 now! Cue quarter-life crisis.  Not really.
2. Almost every expat I know has either left or will leave before year's end.  This makes me quite sad.
3. I've now cooked over 65 different recipes successfully! I guess it's a solid hobby now. Come get fed.
4. It has finally stopped snowing, we can rejoice - and put away our winter coats.
5. I've been summoned for jury duty again. No, I still can't serve because no, I still don't live in Connecticut.

If you're thinking of visiting Russia from the US/Europe, now is the time. Your currency is strong, meaning things will be cheap - but it won't stay that way forever (fingers crossed, I need the ruble to perk back up!). Plus you'll have a free tour guide :)

Life on the edge

If you're not already aware (ie if you don't read the news ever), the ruble and the Russian economy are going through tough times - the word "crisis" has accurately been used to describe the situation.  To give a brief summary, the ruble is at its lowest rate against the dollar in its history, inflation is rising in Russia, companies are unable to pay back their foreign debt (held largely in dollars), and it's only getting worse.

Why? Partially because of Western sanctions against Russia for its actions in the Ukraine.  Another significant cause is the huge drop in oil prices - while this seems like a good thing because it results in cheaper gas prices for those of you back in the States, it's terrible for oil exporting countries, most of whom rely on the price of crude oil being somewhere around $100 a barrel (to give a rough average) to break even.  It's now fallen to around $60 a barrel and shows no immediate signs of rising.  

What does this mean in real terms, for people living in Russia? Because of inflation, it means that the prices of everything from food to medicines to clothing and electronics have gone up.  To give a real example, I bought medication today for 766 rubles that only 28 days ago cost 750.  Grocery bills are quietly going up 50, 100, 150 rubles more than you expect based on what you're used to paying.  

Because of sanctions, a lot of food items are simply not available.  The most noticable for me is imported cheese, as I find Russian produced cheeses to be fairly bland and plastic-y, and therefore lived on English cheddar and Italian mozzarella. Other items have gone the same route and will continue to do so as existing stock is sold.  

Because of the combined effects, going on vacation to either the US or Europe is simply no longer an option for many people, as the exchange rate vastly decreases their purchasing power.  When I first arrived in Russia two and a half years ago, the rate was around 30 rubles to the dollar; now it's around 70.  Luckily I planned my New Year's trip to Bishkek, so it won't be as bad.

While people are certainly worried, some are also finding some humor in the current situation. 

Unfortunately, things aren't slated to get better any time soon, but for the time being there's not much else to do besides sit, watch, and hope for the best.  

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.  

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.  

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!

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!

Slacking

You know you're slacking too much when several people (including but not limited to my mom) call you out on your lack of blog posts.  Anyway, a lot has been going on around here:  -28C weather jumping up to +2C and then back down again to -17C; Christmas stuff; New Year's stuff; VACATION in St. Petersburg; realizing I have to be a real person and return to working for a living. At least I've got all of this youthful energy or whatever it's called to help me handle all of it.

The cold finally got to me, and after walking around for almost an hr in -28 weather which caused me to get a little sick, I broke down and bought a coat.  A real, puffy, long, behooded, Russian winter coat.  My life improved immediately and I can't believe I was that stubborn for that long.  Actually, I can believe it.    

So, Christmas holidays have come and gone...I'm going to give you the Reader's Digest version because I'm still busy (again, read:lazy).  I like Christmas a whole lot, and since I was away from home I decided to go with the flow by celebrating it 3 times.  Once at the EF Christmas party on the 22nd, which was catered with Georgian food and included way too much wine/vodka...yes, still in Russia.  Once on Christmas Eve, when I went to a potluck that some friends were hosting (this is where the walking around in the cold came from...I struggle with directions pretty hard & therefore couldn't find the apt to save my life) to eat, drink, be merry, and get home on the last metro because I still had work the next day. And once more on Christmas day, which I spent working (by "working" I mean "doing Christmas worksheets and watching movies), going to (and being disappointed by) the Strausburg Christmas fair on Manege Square with Uliana and Vanessa, eating Chinese food like a Jew, and meeting some friends for a drink at the bar.  There was snow EVERYWHERE and I hadn't bought the coat yet, so that was...fun. 

Our holidays from EF started on December 29th, so there was a fair amount of chillaxing before the New Year celebrations began.  I planned to go to Red Square (like a crazy person. Every single Russian I know said DON'T DO IT and I was like BUT I WANT TO DO IT) and then go somewhere else, but I ended up staying at Nick's place with him, Lyuba, and Martin to celebrate and be comfy. This is the Russian tradition: watch the Irony of Fate (we did), cook olivier salad, eat way too much of everything (olivier, caviar sandwiches, potatoes, chicken, regular sandwiches, pickles, tangerines, chocolate...I feel like I'm forgetting something), drink champagne, and watch fireworks.  Not a bad way to bring in 2013!

On Jan. 2nd, I threw some things into a suitcase & boarded the Sapsan (fast train) to St. Petersburg to see my other half, Jackie.  Our vacation together basically consisted of eating, sleeping, and partying, as any proper holiday should.  Especially when it's the two of us, and especially about the eating part.  I parted from Piter on Jan. 5th at 645am (we didn't sleep that night.  Life is hard sometimes) and got back home around 1130am to be united with the roomie since he & Uliana had been in Riga for a few days before I left.  We started work again on the 9th, and I got a surprise day off today (1 student is on holiday in Malaysia, the other called and cancelled.  Happy late new year gift). I think that's everything important, so I hope this keeps you busy for now.  

Just go

This runs parallel to things like "If not now, when?" and the ever popular "YOLO."  This has also (to an extent) been my philosophy of late.  I will elaborate momentarily.

So, 4ish day weekend. 4ISH because I had to go to an EF at Ploshad Preobrazhenskaya on Friday to observe a Life Club...it was cold and dark and the school was a little hard to find so I had to call Sarah, who also didn't know where it was, but I eventually found it and everything went fine.  Also the people there were super cool, which made the journey worth it.  After the Life Club, I trekked to meet Masha, Ulianna, and Nicole for our slumber party, at which we did super girly things like drink mulled wine, bake cookies, and watch The Holiday.  All done in pjs.  Ulianna and I followed this up the next day by baking potatoes and watching Harry Potter 3 at my place while Chien had to work (muahaha).

I began my "Just go!"-ing that night by heading to the bar for English Social Club with my friends and ending up at a club until the next morning when the metro re-opened...you have to experience this at least once while in a big Russian city, in my opinion.  And it was harmless as I had both Sunday and Monday to catch up on sleep.  But I had caught up on so much sleep Sunday that I felt lazy and useless on Monday and decided to take a field trip (in the -20C weather). The challenging bit in this decision (besides convincing myself to brave the cold) was where to go because museums are closed on Mondays.  I originally planned to head to Gorky Park and walk around until I got too cold and needed to duck into a cafe, but none of this happened.  Instead, I decided to carpe diem and exit from the other side of the Park Kultury metro station to walk around looking at lights and buildings until I found myself at a women's monastery tucked away in an alley.  After warming up in the basement icon shop (and buying something so as not to be a total loiterer), I ventured into the church and found myself in a line, because I am a sheep.  Luckily the line was long enough for me to figure out what was happening and what was expected of me: bow before icon, get fragrant oil painted in cross on forehead by priest, cross yourself.  There was also supposed to be a kissing of the hand, but I missed that detail and stood awkwardly before the priest who looked at me strangely and expectantly but didn't miss a beat in his chant.  Then I wandered toward the back of the church to look at all of the icons dripping in gold and sit to think/reflect for about an hour before finally heading back home feeling rather satisfied.

One thing I thought about was how churches make me feel simultaneously comfortable and uncomfortable.  Comfortable because churches are calm, quiet, welcoming, and smell nice (there's also a good 10 years of Catholic school in there, so church is basically home).  Uncomfortable because I know nothing about Orthodox traditions and am constantly afraid of offending someone and being asked to leave (didn't help that the security guard was intently watching me.  I was probably doing something wrong, but he yelled at someone else instead so I assume everything was ok).  Another thing was that I am genuinely curious as to why everything is dripping in gold and silver.  I'm not opposed to it; I'm not saying that it shouldn't be there or that it should be gotten rid of. I just wonder who came up with the idea and why.  Sure there's the standard complaint of "Why don't you give that money to the poor HMMM?" But there's also "Why do these inanimate objects need gold? Does it please them? Are they aware of their wealth?" And the also standard "Jesus preached the divestment of material wealth, this sort of runs opposite of those teachings." If anyone has any sort of thoughts on the matter, I'd love to hear them. 

This post is already too long, but there are more exciting details: we've finally moved to our new school! It's mostly set up, all of our things have been located and unpacked, and it is adorable.  Adorable is also an appropriate word because it is smaller, but it's also next to a Starbucks so I think we'll overlook the size.  And the fact that the door is down a somewhat sketchy alley near the dumpsters and the entrance has "No Entrance" written on it.  And the fact that we have no water in the kitchen, no hot water in the bathroom, and no idea why the heating system makes some rooms hot and others cold.  Oh, Russia.

Last thing before I finish: shout out to my parents for loving me and sending not one but TWO care packages! I now have enough vitamins for my entire life, some warm things, candy (which was opened either by my mom before shipping or the postal workers in Russia...both are entirely possible. Hi, Mom), peanut butter, 5 boxes of mac&cheese (which comes in Ice Age and Phineas&Ferb shapes now? I love you so much, America. Don't stop what you're doing), CHRISTMAS PRESENTS (one of which I accidentally opened and the rest of which were hidden by Chien to prevent future such occurrences) and a few other things. I'm starting to worry about how I'll get this all back to America, so I guess I'll just have to stay in Moscow for a very long time! With visits in between, of course :) Kisses and hugs, everyone! 

Hand Turkeys

Celebrating Thanksgiving in a foreign country is the oddest of all the holidays since it's only recognized by the US.  I mean sure, other people have heard of it (fewer the farther away you get), but for the most part we expats are on our own.  So walking down the street on Thanksgiving day felt like having a secret no one knew about.  I was celebrating and radiating joy and gratitude* while everyone else was going through an average day.  It felt like being magical or something, its hard to describe.  Anyway, I had little kids to teach on Thanksgiving day and dutifully drew hand turkeys.  I actually got in trouble for this when my twin 5yr olds' father walked in and asked me why, after only a month, his children weren't speaking English at home with him and suggested that "all [you] do is draw pictures with them," but no regrets.  Also he is wrong and clearly doesn't understand the concept of cultural education.  After work, I waited in the teachers' room (and drew a beautiful hand turkey) with Nick and Nina before heading to the Starlight Diner, where we had a delightful (and traditional) Thanksgiving dinner with some friends.  We also got the manager to give us free ice cream with our pie as an apology for not showing American football on TV as promised on their website. 

After work on Friday, I procured a potato masher from Martin (he totally saved the day with that) and headed home to buy 2.5kilos of potatoes and then turn them into mashed potatoes for the Thanksgiving potluck John was hosting at his place after work on Saturday.  Thanksgiving was a success, John managed to get turkey (which is a little tricky in Russia), and everyone ate so much they felt they might die.  A bunch of us opted to catch the last metro home (just barely) instead of taking a cab, and then we fell into food comas.  Chien also took some leftover turkey home, so despite planning on never eating again for the rest of my life, he, Ulianna, and I had leftover turkey sandwiches and mashed potatoes, just like real Thanksgiving.  This was joined by staying in pjs and not leaving the house.  Perfect.

Now I'm ready for Christmas, and so is Russia...or New Year, since they celebrate that the way we do Christmas. More on that when the date gets closer.  Anyway, Christmas lights are up! And Christmas decorations are in the shops.  Snow has returned, I've pulled out my warmer coat, and I'll soon have to buy a super big coat and warmer boots.  Christmas songs abound at school, and the semester is almost over.  Oh also, today I was told that my Russian is really good! I walked to the post office to mail things, but I couldn't get the door open.  I walked to the other door thinking it must just be a thing. When that door didn't open, I double checked their business hours on the sign and walked around to the other side of the building looking for another door.  There was another door all right, but it was to a different business.  After a comical exchange with the elderly security guard (who didn't realize I was a foreigner until I got flustered and exclaimed in a whiny voice that I just wanted stamps), he informed me that the post office was closed for lunch. At 2pm.  Of course they were...Russia. 

*I'm thankful for everything that has happened for me over the past year.  I'm also thankful for you guys! Thank you for caring enough to check this from time to time, and a big special thanks for those of you who have actually made the effort to keep in touch and communicate.  Big bear hugs!

Kheppi Khelloween

...and now you know the Russian pronunciation for "Happy Halloween"! Some days, I completely forget I'm in Russia.  I speak English all day, and I go to/from work and meeting my friends without anything to remind me I live in Moscow.  On other days, however, I'm sharply reminded of where I am.  Halloween was one of these days, as were the several after leading up to today.

As I exited the metro at Mayakovskaya to walk to work on Halloween, I immediately noticed that I would need to take a different route.  The babushki (I taught you this word twice already. If you don't remember, you have no one to blame but yourself) selling gloves/socks/magazines/you-name-it had been replaced by metal barricades and more police than I have ever seen in one place.  Despite REALLY wanting to ask one of them what was going on, I reminded myself that they are not my friends. I had to keep reminding myself of this as I fought the urge to pet the police dogs, but it became easier when I noticed some of them wearing muzzles.  Yikes.  After figuring out how to get around the barricades, I saw that all of the Mercedeses, BMWs, Audis, Lexuses, and Range Rovers that normally line the street leading up to the EF building had disappeared as well and been replaced with big trucks and buses....probably explaining how every cop in Moscow got to Mayakovskaya.  There was a big traffic jam in front of our building, and as I wove through it, someone started blaring an instrumental version of a Cheburashka song (for those of you unfamiliar with this, Cheburashka is an old Soviet cartoon that is still popular.  I'll post a youtube video below to help you out here...don't say I never did anything for you!)  As I stood in front of EF with a face-splitting grin on, the usually grumpy security guard walked out, laughed saying "Great music, eh?", and then held the door open as I entered.  The only average thing about my morning was that it snowed, like every other day.  At work, we all dressed up (I was Sherlock Holmes. Chien drew a mustache on my face, Vanessa lent me a magnifying glass and bow tie, and Nicole lent me a checkered jacket. I'll try to post pictures soon) and had fun classes...again, a day out of the ordinary.

At this point, many of you are probably wondering what the whole police-and-barricades situation was all about. On the 31st day of each month, protesters gather in the square to support the right of peaceful assembly in Russia.  The Russian government is none too happy about this, and the result is a swarm of cops.

We also have a holiday this week: Day of Russia.  This means that I get Saturday and Monday off, in addition to my usual Sunday.  In short, a gift from Russia to workers (Edit: it has been pointed out by a friend that the holiday is actually Unity Day , click on that link to learn more. Still a gift thanks to the glorious days off).  This coincided with a teachers' party at work on Friday, where we ate too many cookies, drank cocktails, played Mafia, completed a team-building exercise, and were finally told (officially) where our new school location will be (answer:Starbucks where we play Mafia on Thursdays.  Hello daily coffee fix, goodbye salary).  I spent my Saturday off reading in bed, playing board games with Ulianna and Chien, and then going to English Social Club to meet friends at Hudson Bar (where they had special election day shots and cocktails...I didn't try any, but it was a cute idea) before going to a bar called Casa Agave, where we celebrated Day of the Dead by eating Mexican food and dancing salsa. Lyuba, Gleb and I literally ran to the metro to avoid being stranded, and I thought about how I never expected to sit in a Moscow bar listening to salsa and reggaeton, but there it was. Today (which is Sunday) I left the house only for groceries and plan on spending the rest of the day inside, but tomorrow should be another fun, relaxing day before getting back to work.  What did you guys do for Halloween?!

The little fuzzy thing is Cheburashka.  He is not a boy but also not an animal.  Hope that helps clear things up a little.

No, thank YOU

Day 2 of teaching: still very challenging, but also encouraging.  I reported to the office at noon again today in order to fill out some paperwork, which I then had to bring to HR.  2 metro rides and a million signatures later, I headed back to the Mayakovskaya office of EF (this is where I work.  EF is well known around Moscow and has many locations.  This location is named  after the metro stop it is closest to...about a 5 minute walk away) with apx. 20 mins to plan my first lesson for the day.  I had another group of intermediate teens, but what I learned from yesterday combined with a totally different situation led to a pretty successful class.  Unlike yesterday's group (which I teach again tomorrow...hopefully it goes better), this was the first class of the semester for these students, and none of them knew each other beforehand; this meant no side convos, no note passing, and no giving me a hard time for being the new guy.  I also learned to have a more set structure and incorporate more fun stuff.  After doing intros, we covered taking a gap year before/during/after college and talked about all of the negatives and positives associated with it, in addition to different types (travel, internship, volunteer, etc).  After this we worked on phrasal verbs, which was a little difficult as I myself barely have a grasp on the matter.  I sprinkled in 2 games, 2 videos, a random debate, and some homework that I scheduled while they were re-watching one of the videos, and ended at 649pm - right on time.  As the kids were leaving the room, several of them thanked me for the lesson.  Thanked me! As opposed to running out of the room as quickly as possible...I basically wanted to hug every one of them.

Immediately after this group, I sat-in and somewhat co-taught Sheila's adult group, which has been together since August.  Sheila is an older English woman who has been in Russia for over a decade, and she's being moved to a different school (which she found out about only upon getting to work this morning and was not pleased about...luckily she didn't take it out on me and encouraged the students not to either).  We spent most of the time going over homework, so I'm not sure how I'm going to pull off a 2 hour lesson on Thursday, but we'll see.  The group is good, if a little quiet, and I look forward to teaching them...I just hope I can answer their tricky grammar questions and stimulate some good conversations!

After work, Chien and I took the metro home together, bought a few groceries, and hung out while cooking ourselves dinner.  Quiet end to a busy day, which is about all I could handle.  And if there's anything you, my dear readers, would like to see on this blog that I haven't gotten to yet, please let me know in the comments section! I aim to please. Or at least...I'll see what I can do.  That's all for today!

God Bless the Teachers

So I've said it many times before, and I'll say it many more times (now that it applies to me): teachers are grossly underpaid for what they do.  Today was my first day of work, but before I get to that, listen to me briefly whine.

I was wrong about defeating jetlag, because after going to bed at 1am I woke up at 5...it's 1118pm...I'm still up.  Then I had to call Citibank and tell them to get themselves in order and stop messing with my account.  During this 20min phone call, the landlord comes for the rent, which is short because I couldn't get my money from Citi, and then the Citi rep was having a bitchfit (excuse my language) on Skype because I asked him to please hold on one moment.  Then I spilled foundation everywhere, and then I went to work.  Awesome.

Now, on to work! I got there at noon, and my directors (Sarah and Natasha and Braden) all showed me around and told me what was what.  Sarah told me I'd have a group at 5, but the group was really half of Ryan's and hadn't been divided yet.  Take book, attempt to make lesson plan, great.  Then lunch at Natasha's friend's restaurant (3 course meal for $10? Don't mind if we do!), then back to lesson planning and running through the teacher's manual.

The other teachers I've met seem awesome so far, and I'm looking forward to working with them.  My group of 12 teens, however, is a totally different story.  The lesson was supposed to run from 510-650, but by 610 we had run through the entire thing because they didn't feel like cooperating. There was a cross between them not saying anything, speaking to each other but in Russian (which I expressly stated was NOT ALLOWED when we began the class), speaking over each other, and getting off topic.  So then I tried to drag them through separable and inseparable phrasal verbs, but they were having none of it...at this point, in addition to the previous list of misbehaviors, they were also ignoring me/passing notes. Then I mistakenly thought we got out at 640 and released them, when Ryan comes running over from the next room and herding them in because, duh, we get out in 10mins.  So I play a game with the only ones we were able to catch.  It's hard to teach teens when you yourself still look like one, and it seemed as if they thought of me both as a peer and a bothersome authority figure at the same time...I'm going to have to switch my tactic for the next lesson on Thursday.

After my lesson, I sat in on one of Nick's to observe, although he was teaching adults instead of teens. When I finally got back to Rechnoi Vokzal (my metro stop) at about 10pm, I rewarded myself with groceries (figured I should have something besides bread, cheese, and sausage).  Quick note about groceries here: SUPER super affordable.  As in I got a carton of eggs, a bag of macaroni, 2 tomatoes, 3 apples, 2 liters of water, a juicebox, and a chocolate thing all for $4.  Yesssss.

I go back to work tmo with a similar schedule, so for now I'll leave you with this:

Russian Around

September 16

Day 2 in Moscow!! I think (knock on wood) that I've mostly escaped jetlag...I went to bed at 1am and woke up at 9am, not too bad.  Today Chien and his gf, Ulianna, went with me to Ikea (yes, it's everywhere) and the hugest grocery store I've ever seen to get some food.  Then Chien and I came home and I totally finished unpacking (that's right, be impressed), had some tea, and went to meet Yulia, my friend/Russian TA from Williams :)  She and her friend Jamal showed me how to get to my job from the metro, helped me get a phone, and hung out with me for a while before walking me back to the metro.

Tomorrow is my first day of work, and I have no idea what my schedule will be like or any of the details whatsoever.  I do know that my day will involve yelling at Citibank and possibly TD Bank, as I called both before leaving the US to notify them so my cards would continue to work, yet both of my cards were rejected when attempting to buy a phone.  Luckily, Chien had lent me some cash to tide me over.

I'm slowly re-learning a lot about Russia that I had forgotten, such as: how to say a lot of words I used to know; don't drink the water; put the money in a plate instead of handing it to the cashier; its ok to bump into people and not say sorry; it's colder than Connecticut...just as a few examples. Loving every minute of it and falling in love with Russia all over again.  Come visit!!

(Disclaimer: I will definitely not continue to update this blog every day, but a lot will happen in the first week and so you can expect a fairly regular amount of updates at first)

So maybe I should blog about this…

September 15, 2012

Day 1 in Moscow!! I flew over on Friday the 14^th at 230pm JFK time on a direct flight to Moscow, where I arrived at 640am local time.  Quick note about the airline before I move on to the good stuff (and believe me, it’s good): best flight experience ever, and it was a Russian airline! Aeroflot changed its name to Transaero to escape its bad reputation.  The in-flight entertainment was nonexistent (no movies.  In fact, the screen on the seat back in front of me didn’t even work), but I never use it so that wasn’t a problem.  As soon as we took off they gave everyone a little packet with a sleeping mask & socks, and then blankets. Then juice, then dinner (I swear I asked for potatoes…and got fish. Pretty sure I misheard the options and she didn’t know what to do with me...my Russian was rusty still!!), which was an entrée, a salad (with shrimp!), the makings of a buterbrod (open-faced sandwich…I figured this out too late and ate the bread and ham separately), mousse, and wine.  Then they gave everyone coffee and haagen dasz.  Breakfast reminded me why I was going back to Russia in the first place – fooood.  Yogurt, another buterbrod, BLINI with cherries and tvorog, and cheesecake.  Then tea and kit kats.  Thank you, Russians. 

Passport control was a mess, as was trying to carry 3 suitcases, but my driver was waiting and super nice. He was also super excited that I spoke Russian and we were able to have some good conversation on the 45min ride to my flat.  He’s from Georgia but has been in Moscow with his wife for 20yrs and spent 2 working in Siberia.  He says there’s no democracy in Russia, which I’ll wait to comment on until I’m back in the States…

Getting to my flat: arrived, realized I had no idea how to get in or what was happening, tried calling people using my US phone (hey there, crazy expensive intl rates), then figured out the doorbell.  Chien (roomie!!) was home and threw down the key from the 4^th fl window because he was locked in…welcome to Russia!! I paid the driver for helping with my luggage, got upstairs and talked to Chien through the door for a while before sitting on the internet with my ipod (thank you for reaching the hall, wifi).  The director (Masha, who was super excited to discover I speak Russian) showed up an hour later with her husband (Max), a toolkit, and a 3yr old daughter (Sonya, cutest thing ever).  They couldn't get the door open and called up a locksmith, who showed up an hr later.  In the meantime, Masha took me and Sonya to get food at the supermarket while Max waited by the flat w my luggage.  We got back, ate in the hallway, and then watched the locksmith struggle with this ancient lock. Finally we get in, they leave, and Chien shows me around/tells me practical things about our home/job (he's been here for a year and signed on for a second).  Then I shower and sleep forever, Chien leaves, Rebecca (another teacher who stayed here for 2 days) comes to get her things, and I sleep more.  And now I’m unpacking! Tomorrow I will meet up with Yulia and hopefully have my very own Russian phone #..and see where my school is, since I start teaching on Monday.  And this is only the beginning…but I'll always remember my first day in Moscow.