Scrambled Eggs

No, I didn't eat scrambled eggs. But that's the first thing that comes into my mind when I try to describe my current state of being. My feelings are just a bunch of eggs, some of them are happy about going home and some of them are dreading the day I have to leave here, and they're all just cracked into one big pan and scrambled all together. Any exchange student can relate to this feeling I'm sure. All I can do about it right now is just keep trekking. I coming home the 23rd of January for better or for worse. So I just have to enjoy the time that I have here while I can. That's all there is to it.

I haven't done anything major since my last post. Just a bunch of little things, but sometimes its the little things that count :) I have a couple things I can say about school. First, there's this girl at school Ulya, she's in the 8th form, and she's so sweet. She brought chocolate into school the other day and we had a little chocolate fest before English class. I love it! Also, I feel a lot more comfortable with my class and now go to all their English, Literature, Russian, and History classes. This is because before, the only kids who really talked to me were these couple crazy girls who really aren't my speed at all. But now, there's a group of 4 girls, Galia, Vicka, Lera, and Lena, who are like how I was in school. And they have been really nice to me and have been talking to me a lot, which makes me feel a lot better about going to classes with my form. Finally, I'm really starting to like my Russian teacher, Olga Vladimirovna, a lot. She's very sweet and patient, which is good seeing as she has to explain everything to me really slowly and sometimes more than once. She knows that I'm a good student and that I'm really trying my best. She also knows that I like to know why something is and not just memorize it, so she's really good about explaining and clarifying things. She's awesome.

I went to Ust-Labinsk, a near by town, on 12/13. I have some friends there I wanted to visit, Phillip (American), Alessandro (Italian), and Igor (Russian). I was really proud of myself because I went to the bus station in Korenovsk, bought my ticket and successfully made it to Ust-Labinsk all by myself :) It was cool to see Phillip's home and meet his family. We had cake and tea at his house before going to a cafe and walking around the town. The only problem was it started to rain (gotta love Russian winter) so we didn't really feel like walking around on the streets too much. So we went back to Phillip's house and played Scrabble in Russian. It was pretty epic. It's a really good game for learning a language though! The taxi ride home was a bit of a nightmare because the driver didn't know how to get to Korenovsk center, but thankfully we met up with a taxi from Korenovsk and I got home eventually! I went to my cousin's birthday party for a bit after that. I felt bad, because I kinda showed up at the end, but she was glad I came at all!

The next day, on the 14th, IT SNOWED!!!!! It was really cool. I woke up in the morning, and BAM it was snowing. It wasn't so cool to have to navigate the public transportation system to school that morning in the snow, but I was still really excited to see it!!! Unfortunately, we've had some rain since then, so now it's just a slushy brown mess everywhere. You need a map to safely walk down our driveway to avoid the puddles and ruts. I guess snow like that isn't that common here and they're saying we probably won't get anymore :( Maybe some around New Year's, who knows. It was cool though after school because everyone joined in a massive snowball fight at the front of the school! The Russians are brutal! They will liberally rub snow in your face even if you don't even know them! It was still loads of fun :)


That same day after school was this cheerleading concourse thing we did at my school. The girls in the 10th class asked me to do it with them and I was like why not! We did all the choreography ourselves. It was really fun and a great bonding activity for me to do with them. There were only two other classes that did routines. My class won!!! I was surprised we were able to pull it together. Russians don't really practice that hard! All I could think of were dance rehearsals with Pam and I was like, she would die if she saw these girls! But obviously we practiced enough because we nailed it at the performance. I have a video of the performance, but my internet is too slow to upload it to facebook :/ I'll upload it later.

Then there was the whole fiasco with our train tickets for our trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg! AFS Krasnodar was helping us plan our trip, just the Americans. We were going to leave on the 2nd and come back the 15th, stay with our families for 5 more days and then leave for Moscow again on the 20th. Didn't make much since but we were going with it. But then, AFS in Moscow called Phillip and said that they had already planned a trip for us to Moscow and St. Petersburg on the 14th. We were all such confused and super pissed. Why weren't AFS Moscow and AFS Krasnodar communicating?!?! It wouldn't have been so bad, but Wilson had already bought the train tickets for the 2nd... You could return them, but the money you got back depreciated everyday after the date of purchase. And you need to present your passport when you return the tickets, so Wilson couldn't return ours. We had to go to Krasnodar ourselves. We didn't want to wait too long because of the depreciation thing. It was a big problem that I was kind of stressed out about because it was a pain to go to Krasnodar just to return tickets and I didn't know when I'd be able to go. But thankfully, Sarah asked her Papa and, even though it seemed like it was a slight inconvenience, he drove me and her down to Krasnodar and we returned our tickets. Thank god it's all settled now. We're letting AFS Moscow take it from here. But it's still really frustrated to see how disjointed AFS Russia is. None of the Americans are too pleased at this point.

But anyways, that's over with and I don't need to think about it anymore. I went to a disco tech at my school on Friday. Every since the cheerleading thing, I've become good friends with those girls from the 10th class. So I went, but I didn't get to stay that long. We were dancing for a bit, but then one of my friends Susha said she was feeling light headed and needed some air. So we went out in the hall and opened a window but that didn't help much. She almost fainted. She said she needed to go home. But I didn't want her going home by herself. She really didn't look good. She said she'd be fine, but my mama lion instincts kicked in and I was like, no I'm going home with you. I don't live too far from her, so we shared a taxi home so she wasn't alone. I didn't really mind. Honestly after a while school disco techs can get boring after a while. Eventually, ever song sounds the same. I need a little hip hop to really get my groove on! As you can see from the photo, for the time I was there, I really did have a good time.

Yesterday, I went to church with my family. I didn't feel like staying home alone. I didn't really understand anything they were saying. I tried really hard at one point, but there's only so much talking in Russian I can handle before my brain shuts down! But I'm still really glad I went because I felt like part of the family and my Papa was pleased I went. And I want to spend as much time with them as possible with them! That evening, Afonia and Lisa came into my room and started talking to me and looking at all my stuff. I didn't mind until they started running around screaming playing on my bed. I was trying to do stuff on my computer but they kept asking me to play with them. So eventually I was just like, okay, I'll pretend I'm 5 again and I joined them :) It was really cute. I also watched a movie with Alla, my cousins, and a church friend. And it was nice to hang out with them, but 1) I didn't understand the movie and 2) after the movie and I didn't really understand what they were talking about because they're all really close and they were talking really fast and joking around. It just kinda made me miss hanging out with my friends and being able to actively participate in a conversation, not just when some specifically asks me a question and says it really slowly and simply. But I know I'll get that soon enough!

I can't believe Christmas is Friday! I'm going to miss being at home, definitely. But I'm getting together with the Americans in Krasnodar for a party, so I won't be alone on Christmas anyway. But I'll definitely be thinking off all you guys stateside! Hope everyone has a great Christmas : ) I'm really pumped for New Years here. There's this carnival party at my school on the 28th which should be lots of fun. And I guess my family is having a big family party on New Year's Eve. Of course, I don't know many details, but it should be awesome! Can't wait!

Turkey Day Abroad!

Thanksgiving in Russia might have lacked a proper turkey and the family that I have celebrated the holiday with for the past 17 years, but it was still a really nice experience. Sarah and I originally had plans of attempting to make a turkey and have our own little dinner, but both of us being so busy, those plans kinda unraveled on their own. But the day turned out all right after all. We made hand turkey's in English class. Meet Wilbur. We were limited in terms of art supplies, so we had to use Sarah's highlighters. But I think he turned out very handsome :) After school, Sarah and I went for a walk around the town. We walked for several hours because it was such a nice day and we were having really good conversation. It's funny how like-minded we are. We have such great conversations about politics and religion and music and literature and everything. It's nice to have someone to talk to about intellectual things like that since I lack the ability to have such a conversation in Russian! When I got home, my family was preparing a special dinner for me! I was so happy they were recognizing my American holiday! They made mutton. They seemed to know that we usually eat turkey on Thanksgiving so I don't know why it was mutton. But I don't really care because there was mashed potatoes and it was just really sweet of them to think of me like that. I tried to explain to them in my limited Russian why we celebrate Thanksgiving. I think they understood!

Then there was Mother's Day on Sunday the 29th. I thought it was on Friday so I bought my mama flowers and gave them to her early. I think she really appreciated it. Then on Saturday there was a party at my cousins house with all the usual family and friends. Mother's day is a really big deal, more so than in the U.S. Alla and Inna had a whole little program with songs and poems. It was really cute. All the moms were crying at one point! They presented little gifts to the mamas and babushkas too. There was lots to eat (of course) but it was all sweets. Cakes and cookies and candies (I made American chocolate chip cookies that everybody seemed to like) I didn't eat that much; you know me and sweets! I even got to make a little speech. It was quite simple obviously. I just said that when I came to Russia, I came to a family I didn't know at all. And now I will always have a Russian mama, papa, sister, brother, and grandmother. They really liked it I think. If anything they thought my Russian was cute! All and all it was a great party. It just made me miss my real mom!

Not much else is happening and yet everything is happening at once! From this point on, my time here is precious and I need to utilize every minute! I'm getting to know some students in the 10th class really well and am doing stuff with them. I'm doing this dance competition with them at school, so I've been practicing everyday after school and on Saturdays. They don't really practice that hard and the competition really isn't that serious, but it's still something fun to do with them! And then there's Simon, who is also in the 10th class and he's really cool too. I went гуляатьing with him, Sarah, and his sister Sasha. She lived in Alaska with some work program so she speaks English really well. It's weird to hear Russians speak with American slang! Haha, but it was really fun. I got to go to his house for dinner after and his family was awesome. They were really excited to met me and Sarah and were so welcoming. I love being guests at Russian homes!!! I think it's how every culture should be :) It's something I can't really explain and something I'm definitely going to miss...

Updated Pictures on Facebook

I added more pics that Sarah gave me to the album on facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43758&id=1211594619&l=818786fe13

And I added pics from the ballet and some other random ones to the Random Russia pics album.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40742&id=1211594619&l=19cacdfb59

Russian Ballet!

So basically, up until this weekend, nothing really significant happened, so I really didn't have anything to write about. I was sick for the entire week after Sochi and then my school was closed for most of last week because everyone was sick. I think it was because of the flu, probably swine, but I'm not sure. So that meant I was home just chillin', not really doing anything. My papa came home from America on Thursday, which was so great. It's really nice to have him around again. Mama and Alla talk to me only when they have too. Papa is much more patient and will have legitimate conversations with me, even if I don't understand everything and he has to reword or explain a lot of things. He's just a very good-natured person and not only do I have someone to talk to, but his presence has definitely reestablished the norm in the house. Mama isn't as stressed, we eat more regularly and we just feel like more of a family. Something I found very amusing was that Papa brought home a dozen Big-Gulp cups from 7-Eleven home because he'd never seen a cup so big before! Yup, it's American! And he also brought home 2 huge things of Saran Wrap for Mama because they don't have that here and they are absolutely fascinated by it. The best thing he brought home was peanut butter though :) After nearly 3 months without anything American food, Peter Pan peanut butter is heaven <3 Also, Afonia's present was Konex and those pieces are pretty difficult for a six year old to handle, so I ended up helping him build a plane, truck, and Ferris wheel. It ended up being a really nice bonding moment for us :)

Okay, so that turned out to be a lot of writing for not really doing that much! Anyways, this past Friday I went to Krasnodar with Sarah and Olya and saw a Russian ballet! The show was Sleeping Beauty. I was super excited that I knew the show. It made it more interesting to know the plot line and follow along. Though I have to say the plot was fairly non-existant compared to the Disney version we all know and love! What the show lacked in plot was made up for in splendor!


The dancing was phenomenal the costumes absolutely beautiful and the set unbelievable. It was so professionally done! I have so much respect for all of those dancers. They were incredible. Their movements were like water but their legs were as stiff as wood. My ankles hurt just watching! It made me want to get back to dancing so that I could be that graceful too! I'm so happy that I was able to see a Russian ballet! It was something I really wanted to do.


So yeah, the ballet was the highlight of my weekend. But I also got my ear pierced! Just one one my right ear towards the top. The place was small and in the middle of the market, but the lady was very professional and everything was very sterile. So now, I can say I got my ear pierced in Russia! Also, I made bacon and eggs at Olya's apartment Saturday morning. It wasn't real bacon, but it was the closest thing I could find and after I fried it, it did sorta taste like the real thing! Also, I bought a beautiful winter coat that I love :) And I saw 2012, which wasn't all that great. Just like any other end of the world movie. Like I said to Sarah, it was like the Day After Tomorrow, only they end up in boats instead of Mexico.

That pretty much sums it up. I think that this weekend in mother's day here (Not sure, could have easily misunderstood) but no matter what my family is having a party Saturday night, so I'm staying home this weekend. Maybe the party can substitute for Thanksgiving! I'm thinking maybe a trip out to Ust-Labinsk next weekend to see my boys. Maybe, we'll see.

More Sochi pics

There are more pictures from Krasnodar and Sochi up on facebook
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43758&id=1211594619&l=818786fe13

Zombies, and Snow, and the Black Sea, Oh my!

So I kinda have a lot to write about since my last post. First, me and Sarah totally brought Halloween to the Motherland and crashed the school disco tech in Zombie costumes. Well we didn't really crash it, but we sure scared the heck out of them! Once they got over the initial shock I think they thought it was pretty awesome. Me and Sarah spent the whole afternoon making our costumes and getting ready. We spent like an hour walking around the market trying to find some cheap basic clothing that we wouldn't feel bad about cutting up. We both asked where the 3 packs of T-shirts from Walmart were but they don't have anything like that here!

I'm really happy with what we ended up with. We got these mesh tops that are really popular here and cheap black cloth pants and mutilated with with scissors and a razor blade. Then doing our hair and make up was pretty awesome too. Teasing hair is so much fun, especially if you don't have to worry about it looking pretty. All Sarah had to do was brush her hair and it puffed out like a mushroom cloud! And I decided I really like doing costume makeup. If I help with the high school musical when I get back in the spring, they better do a show that has crazy makeup cause extravagant makeup is so much fun to do! That picture is one of the less scary ones that we took. The woman in between me and Sarah is our school director and the woman on the other side of me is my Russian teacher! There are a few more pictures up on facebook under Random Russian Pics.

So that was Friday. Saturday we left for Krasnodar. When we got there, we had to work on the presentations we would be doing for Sochi. Mine was about American culture and traditions. But the only bit of American culture that I really talked about was Prom. Other than that we just sang the lyrics to the YMCA and I taught them a simple hip-hop dance I choreographed. So yeah, the presentations were weird and I'm really tired about talking about America. We also had an AFS Halloween/Karla's birthday party. We cared this squash thing to look like a Jack-0-lantern :). In Krasnodar, we mostly did a lot of shopping, but I SAW RUSSIAN SNOW!!! I made me so happy. When we walked out of the mall we were all just like, AHHHH!!! And we frolicked around for a little while and had a bunch of Russians stare at us like we were crazy. But that's okay it was totally worth it. It made me so happy. In the picture, note the snow on the palm tree and Phillip leaping at the base of the tree!

On Tuesday we took the train to Sochi. For the record, this train was normal and ten hundred thousand times better than the first Russian train I went on! In Sochi, I guess we didn't actually do all that much. We only went into the city of Sochi once on a excursion for the afternoon and it rained for most of it and that was really the only time we left the hotel. But that didn't really matter. What I loved about this trip was just being with everybody. Not only did I have great times with my American peeps, but I got to meet some other really cool Russians. There were these younger girls that I thought were so cute. One of them, Tanya, was crying when she said goodbye to me! She's the one on the far right in this picture. She's a really good dancer. One of the activities we did was an auction. The Russians had created these businesses and had spent the day making money and they could spend it at this auction. And each of us American were auctioned off and Tanya and her group bought me, and the prize was a dance workshop with me. There was also a kiss from Phillip and a walk in the moonlight with Wilson. Wilson was the most expensive out of all of us. I came in 2nd! So yeah, that was pretty cool. And there were a bunch of other people I got to talk to and I got numbers and screen names and I really hope I get the chance to see them all again!

I think that best part of the whole trip was jumping into the Black Sea with my fellow Americans. Sarah jumped right in but it took the rest of us a few minutes to warm up to the idea of jumping into cold salty water with all our clothes on. But then we were like what the heck, who knows when we'll be back! It was just one of the moments when you feel happy to be alive, when you know you're living and you never ever want to lose this feeling. The theme song from Friends was totally playing in the background. Unfortunately, one friend was missing, Clare didn't jump in, but she was there in spirit! The funny part about all of this was there was a camera crew from the equivalent of NBC in Russia there and they interviewed Sarah and took footage of us dripping wet laughing our heads off! All of us are trying to locate the video of it on the internet but have so far been unsuccessful. We also went swimming in the Black Sea again on our last day. This time with our bathing suits. The water felt a lot colder the second time around!

Now, I have a horrible cold. I was actually really sick on Sunday, the day after we got back. I had a temperature and everything and I never have a temperature. But my fever broke the next day and now I'm just struggling with a cold and no tissues. Seriously, they don't have tissues here. It's so weird. I don't know what they do when they're sick like me. But anyways. Since Sochi I haven't really done much since I usually have just enough energy to go to school, do my homework, and go to sleep. But me and Phillip are trying to plan a trip to Krasnodar to see a Russian ballet next weekend, so we'll see if that comes through or not :)

Pics from my trips to Krasnodar!

Check out pics from my trips to Krasnodar! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42267&id=1211594619&l=baa54fe38d

And also, I will be leaving for Sochi for an AFS camp during school vacation next week. I leave for Krasnodar on Saturday and then take a train to Sochi Monday night. So there won't be any blog posts until after I get back next weekend. But when I get back, I'll have lots to tell!

More pics are up!

I added some pics from my first disco tech at my school to Random Russia Pics album at this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40742&id=1211594619&l=19cacdfb59

And pictures from the World Dialogue Day at my school are up at this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41870&id=1211594619&l=b4bc023d72

Enjoy :)

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Finally feeling like fall... well, sort of

Today is the first day since I've been here that the temperature has not gotten about 60 degrees since I've been here! This is what fall is supposed to be like! Well, actually it's kinda foggy out so it's not as dry as I would like, but at least I'm not melting in the heat like I was this whole week. I miss the weather in Maine so much!!! The fall here is too warm and starting to become too rainy. I don't want one of those winters where you get rain instead of snow. But there will be snow when I get back to Maine I know which makes me happy :)

So this week I didn't really do anything all that exciting. I went to my first history class on Tuesday and I really like it. I was kinda nervous about going because I was pretty much just showing up and I had no idea how the teacher would react. But it was with my class and the teacher was really cool about it. He's one of three male teachers in the school and I think he's the best teacher of all. He actually interacts with the students. Like, his lessons are more like conversations than lectures. In most classes that I've seen here, the teachers talks and asks questions of the students but really doesn't talk to them so I don't think the students really understand what they are learning. And my history teacher is Dr Jeckl and Mr. Hyde when it comes to temperment. The others teachers are all sweet one minute than practically screaming the next. He's very levelheaded and maintains control of his class and I respect him for that. He also speaks English a little, which is cool. He even threw in a few English words in his explanations just for me, which I thought was really nice of him. Unfortunately, I don't know his name. I can never remember a teacher's name the first time I hear it. They don't go by Mr. So-and-so. They go by their first name and their patronymic name, which is their fathers name plus -nov or -slav or -vna or some or crazy ending.

I've come across a problem in my English class, the one I have with my class. Lera is a crazy girl in my class I don't like much but she really wanted me to sit next to her and there weren't really any other seats available so I was like okay, whatever. A few minutes later, I realized why she wanted me to sit next to her. She wanted me to do her work for her. And I did, just because I didn't know what else to do. What was I going to say no and have her bug me about it for the rest of class? At the end of class, she told me to sit next to her every English class. So now I'm like great, what am I supposed to do now? I want to go to their English class but I don't want to sit next to Lera. But I think that maybe the teacher spoke to Lera about it after class. So I think I'm going to go to their next English class on Wednesday and see how it goes. If Lera asks me to sit next to her, I'll say no. I guess I don't really care if she gets mad at me because I don't really like her. She's very brash and loud and quite the little party girl.

Let's see what else? I had some really good family time with my Mama, Afonia, and my Aunt the other night. I talked a bunch in Russian. Not very well, but it still felt good to speak to them all so much :) I'm starting to become a little creeped out by all the bugs that seem to be around. The weather is getting colder, so I hope they go away, but right now, I kept on seeing these little hopping bugs all over my desk. And there are tons of flies everywhere. It's really annoying and slightly gross. I also find it funny how Russians are so picky about putting stuff on the ground! I don't know if I've already posted this, but you do not put anything on the floor in Russia. I was sitting in a chair and I put my bag down on the floor at my feet and Olya freaked out. She said it was dirty but I know for a fact that they wash the floors regularly. Also, you don't go bare foot outside and you never wear shoes inside. In America there is a little grey room, but here it is very black and white. We talked about this for like 20 minutes and we both thought the other was crazy!

So I think the biggest thing I did this week was the Форд Боярд. I still don't fully understand it, even after participating. But there were three teams, each of the 10th form class. I was with 10б. We all had team uniforms and as you can see by the picture, ours was just to dress crazy. Each team had to run around the school and do different tasks. For every correctly completed task, the team received a key. The team with the most keys at the end won. That's what I understood but I was more complicated than that I know. But it was really fun and it was a good bonding experience for me even though it wasn't with my class. I really like 10б even though they're all only 15. But that's okay, they're still cool. But spending so much time with them made me realize just how close they all really are. They're like brothers and sisters. I guess that's what happens when you've been in the same class together all through school. It made me feel a little on the outside looking in at some points. They tried to include me, but there's only so much I can understand and only so much I can say. It made me miss my group of friends a little. But I know that they all really like me and they are all very friendly to me. So I hope that as my Russian gets better, so will our friendship. :)

Of cookies and Krasnodar

So I decided I want to try and do weekly posts because now I'm finding I have some cool if not slightly random stuff to write about and I think you guys will find it interesting. If you didn't you wouldn't be reading my blog!

So this entry is for the week of 12 -18 oктябрь (October 12th-18th). Here are some highlights from last week. I talked to Phillip and we established two things: We Americans are not going to school on Thanksgiving (what day is that anyway?...) and we're not going to school on Christmas (they have a different Christmas in January. Idk if they have vacation around the 25th at all). We want to try and together with everyone in Krasnodar. We'll see what actually goes down.

In school, I'm running into some difficulty in my Russian lessons because, I understand how to do what my teacher is teaching me (for instance, I understand I need this ending for this case and this ending for that case) But I can't always understand the concept because the Russian doesn't make sense in English. Like, I can't easily translate it. And when this happens I have to base to anchor the concept to and its just a bunch of random Russian case endings and verb conjugations floating around in my head and I don't really understand it. I'm glad that Olya is here. Otherwise, I would have no one to ask what this computes to in English and I would be totally lost!

Hmmm, what other random stuff can I tell... All the little girls wear this cutest white bows that are about the size of their faces. I have some pictures of my little cousin wearing one. They're so cute! When you buy bottles of soda at the story, they sometimes have straws in them. This makes me so happy for some reason! I love my cooking class but the teacher doesn't speak English at all and she doesn't try and talk to me in Russian and when she does she doesn't speak very simply so I don't understand. This makes the class kinda awkward. She doesn't seem interested in me. Like when I tell her what ingredients are in English, she says Shannon I don't understand and I'm like, I know you don't understand that's why I'm telling you! You're teaching me Russian I thought you'd like to learn some English maybe. It's just kinda awkward and kinda hurts a little you know? Umm, what else. I think it's funny that everyone thinks what I'm doing is so fascinating. The students are always looking at what I'm writing or asking to look at my things. I don't mind most of the time. I just think it's kinda funny.

Oh yeah, I had to translate some stuff for a business! Like it was all offical like and I had no idea what they wanted and I was so afraid I was going to mess up so I was stressing out and it was crazy! This business lady just shows up in my English class and my English teacher asked me to stay and help. But I really didn't do anything because I don't know Russian well enough to do a lot of translating. But I got 100 rubles out of it so that was kinda cool! hahaha

Okay, and then the biggest highlight was Krasnodar on Saturday. There was an AFS party and we had to bake a native dish, so I made chocolate chip cookies! It was also a birthday party for Phillip. For a present, I made him a slide show that made fun of all the awkward situations that we have been in since we've been in Russia it was awesome. He loved it because it was homemade and showed I put a lot of effort into it. The only thing is I went with Andrea and we arrived late so most of the food had been presented and eaten and Phillip had opened all of his presents already. But that wasn't that big of a deal. I stayed the night with the family I stayed with when I came to Krasnodar when I first arrived in Russia. The next day, I went for a walk with some AFS volunteers and some of the AFS students. We went to an exhibition about Putin and a small art gallery. Then we ate a cafe before going to the Galleria, which is a really big mall. But the stores there were pretty high end and most of the stuff was kinda expensive. You'd be surprised Russia isn't as cheap as you would think. In this picture, we're all around this statue. If you touch the nose, it's supposed to bring you good luck! Let's hope it works!

K-dar with Andrea, Sarah, and Olya

K-dar, offically known as Krasnodar but its so much easier to text k-dar so that's what me and the American's call it, is the capital of the Krasnodar region (go figure) and about an hour bus ride from Korenovsk. I went with Andrea, Sarah, and Olya last Saturday, the 10th. We got a bus at 8 in the morning and caught a bus back at 7:20, so we had all day in the city! When we got there, we walked through a big park that had a cute little kid's amusement park that reminded me of a mini Storyland for some reason. There was a ropes course too that me and Sarah wanted to do but it wasn't open yet :(

We then went to a book market which was really cool. They had some new books and book supplies and cheap little plastic toys that Russians like to sell, but there was one part that was all old books and it was so cool. Anyone who has been with me to Yes Books in Portland knows my weakness for slightly used classic literature :) But books are heavy and thus expensive to bring home with me, so I restrained myself and only got three books small in size. Two book with poems by Alexander Pushkin, the greatest and most loved Russian poet, as well as a history book that is written in Old Russian (the equivalent of the Canterbury Tales to modern English from what I gather) I realize they I probably have no hope of ever reading it, but Olya was very impressed by the book and says the author is very respected in Russian history, so I thought it would be cool just to have. We had ice cream in the park on the way out of the book market. I had coconut and it was sooooo unbelievably good!

Then, we met up with Karla, Wilson, Clare (all fellow Americans who live in Krasnodar) as well as Bella (student from Brazil) and Karla, Bella, and Wilson's host sisters. Don't ask me to remember their names, but they seem to go everywhere with them which would be kinda annoying I would think but they didn't seem to mind. We met at the Red Square, which is not an actually outdoor square like I thought. It's basically a giant mall with a bowling alley and indoor skating rink. The first thing we did was eat McDonalds and I really wanted a hamburger but it was so crazy busy and both the lady behind the counter and Olya couldn't understand what I wanted so I just got the McChicken sandwich because it's the only thing that I could say that they understood. (Later, I realized with chagrin that Wilson knows how to order a hamburger and I could have asked him but it was too late then!) I still enjoyed my chicken sandwich and the french fries were really good!

After that, we kinda sat around for a while. And I really wanted to something and Andrea, Sarah, and Olya had gone off to go shopping, but I really wanted to be with Clare and Wilson and Karla, but they were just sitting there! Finally, me Bella and Clare just left and everyone else followed us. We went to couple store and the clothes were really cute but I didn't buy anything. Clare tried on this really pretty dress that looked awesome on her and we all tried to get her to buy it but she didn't think she'd ever wear it and didn't want to spend the money. It was $90 dollars. After that we went to a book store that had English books and I bought Gulliver's Travels (an appropriate title for my current situation is it not?). I know I shouldn't be reading too much in English, but you guys know how much I love reading and I'm halfway through Cat's Cradle already and I can't stand the thought of not having another book to read! But I'm going to see if can make it last til I leave.

We left everyone at the mall after that and me, Sarah, Olya, and Andrea went for pizza, but when we got there they didn't have any just plain cheese pizza and apparently you can't order it that way, so I say hamburger on the menu and was like "That's what I want!!!" It was pretty good. There was mayo and ketchup on it which was weird but didn't taste too bad. Of course, nothing compared to a flame-broiled baby my dad can whip up on the grill, but it satisfied my need for beef. Temporarily anyway. I'm already craving it again!

We had some time to kill before the bus, but Olya felt the need to practically run to the shoe store because Andrea wanted to look for shoes (he's so Italian) But of course, he didn't find any he liked. But there was a DVD store there too and I actually bought some, which might seem stupid at first because they won't play in American DVD players. But they play fine on my laptop, they have the English language on them, and they were ridiculously cheap, only 5 bucks for brand new DVDs!! So I got 17 Again, The Duchess, and Star Trek. It makes me pretty happy :)

So yeah, that was Krasnodar. We are making plans to go back soon and this time, we want to see a movie at the theater!

Pictures are going up, slowly but surely!

I finally got some pictures to post on facebook! It's a random collection of pics I've taken since I've been here. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40742&id=1211594619&l=19cacdfb59

The Russians love their гулять!

гулять: to stroll, to walk with no purpose. It's basically what Russians do in their free time. They don't go to each others houses and theirs really no other place to go, so they гуляют. I had my first major гулять last Friday with my first Russian friend Лина (Lina). She's only 16 and in the 10th class, buts she so cute and funny and I actually really like her. She's really into photography and we have a similar taste in music. So we were talking online (I was using a translator of course) and she invited me to go гулятьing with her and her brother. I met her brother Kostia at the last disco tech at school. He's at the university studying computer programming and he speaks English really well. So I was like, yeah I'd love to! I invited Andrea and Lina's friend Anya (I think? It's hard for me to remember names!) And then we ran into a bunch of other people intermittently as we were walking and met up with Kostia and his friend Alex in the park.

We walked around the park and the streets a bunch, and just as гулять implies, it was without purpose. Until Kostia suggested we go play pool. We were all horrible but it was so awesome. And the Russians play pool differently. The balls are all white and they are numbered. The que ball is yellow but you don't have to use the que ball; you can use any ball you want to hit the other balls. I still sucked at it! We stayed in the pool hall for a while until the smell of smoke drove us out (I smelt so disgusting when I got home, I took a shower right away!). We walked around some more, ran into some drunk kids from school which we neatly got rid of. Then it was getting late and I wasn't sure how I was going to get home because I live too far from the center to walk and the buses had stopped a while ago. But Kostia was so sweet and was like, I will put you in a taxi if you want because I promised your mama when I called her to ask if you could stay later with us that I would get you home safe. I am responsible for you. I was very sweet and gentlemen like of him. I ended up going in a taxi with Andrea and his mom from Andrea's aunt's house. So it was all good. Awesome times. I hope I can do something like that again!

What I've been up to

So, in the last post I talked a lot about my life in general, so know I thought I'd share some funny little details about my life here. I have started to right things that have happened to me as they happen in my assignment book (I don't need a lot of room to write my homework because I only have one actual class a day!) so now I will remember everything and have a bunch of awesome, random things to tell you guys!

Well, first off, I don't think I've talked about the disco techs yet, at least not in my blog. I know I've talked to some of you guys about them already. But anyways, they're pretty awesome. There have been two at my school and then one in the town hall building (I think that's what it is). It's like going back in time to middle school dances!!! The boys and girls don't dance together unless its a slow song and even then there's maybe four couples on the floor and they are dancing a foot apart, barely touching each other, and looking around at anything but the person they are dancing with because they want to be anywhere else but there! It's so perfectly awkward! Me and Sarah were cracking up, but no one else really could understand. They really like to dance in circles too. I would mix it up a bit though and try to break the norm but you need more than one person for that. The best part that is is nothing like middle school or high school for that matter is the fact that the guys actually dance. They don't just stand there with their pelvis pushed up against a girl's butt. And 90% of them are actually really good dancers. I can't describe how they dance. It's something you have to experience. I will get a video of it at some point I promise. I need it for myself so I can always remember. And all you guys in America will have to take notes because I think everyone guy should dance like that.

The second disco tech at my school was part dance/part cultural presentation. I guess it was world dialogue day or something; I don't know exactly. Andrea had a slideshow about Italy, sang the national anthem, and taught the dance that goes with the Tarantella. Rodrigo did a traditional Bolivian dance in a pretty sweet costume (I can't believe he brought that with him; it must have weighed a ton!) Me and Sarah had a hard time figuring out something to do for America because it's so big and each region is so different in culture. And we are from two different regions, Northeast and Midwest. So what ended up going down was I sang the national anthem, Sarah sang the fifty nifty states song, we played a game called Honey do you love me (I had never heard of it before but it's actually really fun. I'll have to teach it to you guys when I get back) and then we taught them the Cotton Eyed Joe. I think they enjoyed it, especially the dance. I had a girl ask me for the song the next week in school!

So yeah those are the disco techs. There's another one this Friday at school. Should be cool, hopefully. Okay, what else? Ummm, oh yeah, October 5th was Teacher's Day at school. It was kinda cool. I think we should start the tradition in the U.S. The 11th class decorated the school and set up music in the lobby and greeted each teacher with a balloon. Then, throughout the day, students went around to their teachers and gave candies and flowers and cards. And the best part was the teachers didn't have to teach that day. The 11th class did! Me and Sarah taught an English class for the day. It was kinda fun. We didn't really know what we were doing because we can't speak too much Russian and I don't think they understood everything we said in English. But Sarah was very energetic and the little kids seemed quite entertained so I think it went alright.

Umm, I was on Russian TV for like 30 seconds! The local TV station came and we had to stand in front of a camera and speak Russian! It wouldn't have been so bad if I had known about it ahead of time. But I was literally walking down the hall to my next class and my English teacher grabs my arm and leads me to the end of the hall where there's a camera and she starts telling me all this stuff in Russian to say and I was like, umm, I won't remember that, so I'm just going to say what I know. I said something like, My name is Shannon, I am from the USA, I am learning Russian, Right now I only know a little Russian. I love Korenovsk and my family, Everything is good! I sounded like an idiot. Andrea's host sister has a video of it I think. I wonder if there's any way for me to post it online? I was supposed to be interviewed by the Krasnodar TV people too but there was a fire in the bizare and they felt the need to go cover that for like 2 1/2 hours so I don't know if they'll come back or not.

And that same day I had the TV interview thing, I had my NSLI Russian test. Because the whole point of my scholarship is to learn Russian, NSLI and AFS want to make sure I actually am learning something, so I had a test to gauge my progress. And again, I wasn't aware of it until the head of AFS in the Krasnodar region showed up at my school with a rep from the Moscow embassy. I mean I knew I had a test at some point, but I didn't know the day. I kinda had a little melt down at the point because that was two fairly major things that they didn't feel the need to inform us about. To be perfectly honest, I don't even know if the Russians know what is going on. But I asked my English teacher if there was any way that we could be notified at least a couple days before stuff like that happens again and she said yes but who knows if anything will change. As I have said before, it's not in the Russians' nature to plan ahead. But yeah, my actual test went alright. My ignorance on the matter might have actually worked in my favor. I probably would have been freaking out about it for days if I had known about it ahead of time. I had to read Russian and translate it then listen to a piece of Russian text and answer questions about it. Both pieces were fairly simple and I understood most everything. My pronunciation could probably be better though and it's definitely harder to understand something that is being read to you than it is to understand written text you can see. But the lady from Moscow said that I did very well for only one month of Russian studies. So I guess I did okay! Only me and Sarah had to take the test because we are NSLI.

Okay, this post is getting pretty long. I'm going to start a new one :)

It's Been Awhile...

So my mom has been riding my case about not posting anything new for a while, and yeah, I have kinda left you guys hanging. I've just been writing in my journal a lot, and when I write in my journal, I find I don't have the energy to restate everything I just wrote again. But, anyways, here's what has been going on.

I guess I'll talk about school a little bit first. I go to школа 17, which is right in the middle of the downtown. There are like, 7 other schools in Korenovsk and I guess they're all jealous that my school has us four exchange students. Yes, there are 4 of us in the school; me, Sarah from America, Andrea from Italy, and Rodrigo from Bolivia. It is nice to have Sarah at school to talk English with, and we help each other learn Russian. They try to keep us apart at school so we don't speak English, but that doesn't work too well. Andrea is cool too. He lives near me and we go for walks a lot. We talk mostly in English. I think he is getting better at English than Russian!

The school is very old, but they keep it meticulously clean. Everyday after classes are finished, one of the older forms is on "duty" and they clean the entire school. And I mean clean. They take rags and wipe the baseboards and walls, they sweep everywhere even the front steps, and they wash the windows. Don't tell the janitors in America about this! It's not strictly a high school; it is 1st through 11th form (they graduate at 16/17, no 12th grade). It's kind of annoying to have little kids constantly running around and screaming, but oh well. I'm technically part of the form 11a (there are two parallel classes in each form, 1a and 1b etc...) but I don't really do anything with them. I have my own schedule, which has been a point of contention in terms of my happiness. To make a long story short, as part of my scholarship I am supposed to have Russian Language classes. The students in Krasnodar are receiving these classes at a language school. However, me and Sarah and Phillip are not in Krasnodar and or schools can not provide us with the same caliber of lessons. After a few days of massive confusion and frustration on my part, I finally got some sort of language classes and slowly, I have settled into them. My teacher is very nice, but she doesn't speak English, so it makes learning Russian a little difficult. But we are getting by. At this point, I have deduced that the Russians don't plan well and its a miracle that I'm getting any sort of private lessons. So I'm just going with the flow and doing the best with the situation I am presented with. I talk to Phillip a lot (he's in Ust-Labinsk, but we have little mini therapy sessions and it's great) and we decided that making the best of what we have is all we can do.

Besides my daily Russian lessons, my schedule consists entirely of English classes. Sometimes I help the teach, but I mostly study Russian in the back of the room by myself, which I don't mind too much. I've always liked to study alone. I hope that later on when I understand more I can join my classmates in some other classes. On Thursdays I have труд which is home economics (only for girls, so sexist) and I get to make traditional Russian food which is pretty cool. So far I have made Russian pancakes (basically a crepe, but don't tell the Russian's that) the Russian version of a pirogi, and soup. (I know the Russian names but have no idea how to spell them! I have the recipe for the pirogi things though so I can make them at home!) And can I just say that the Russians love their soup! We have soup with almost every meal. And also may I add that there are 12 different types of borscht, something I was not aware of until I got here. I eat Kuban borsht, which is basically water tomato sauce with a crap town of onions and peppers and a few potatoes. I eat it, but I don't pretend to enjoy it. Here's a pic.

At school, there is an English translator who is working as a teacher (she told me why but I didn't really understand exactly). Her names is Olya (Оля in Russian) She can't be more than 23 and she speaks English really well. She takes me out in the city sometimes during school and she helps me buy stuff at stores because most everything is in a glass case or behind a counter so if I went by myself I'd have to pull a Tarzan as Madame my french teacher would say and speak very crudely saying "это пожалуйста" ("this please") while pointing. Sometimes me and Sarah and Andrea take walks in the city too when we have English class. The teachers don't really care what we do, so it's kinda nice to have a bit of independence because school can get pretty boring.

So yeah, that's school, which is pretty much my life. My family is so awesome, but they don't really do anything. They never leave the house except to go to school/work or church. So it's good that Andrea lives near me so we can easily go for walks together just to get out of the house. The Russians don't really go outside. Like, there is a beautiful garden behind my house that is really pretty at sunset, but there is not where to sit. There's no where to sit anywhere outside. And as most of you know, I'm used to a nice big deck to go out and relax out on. Oh well. It will be winter soon and I guess it's pretty rainy and cold here in the winter so I won't want to be outside.

Because school is the only thing I do and I get pretty bored being home all the time, I'm looking into doing dance classes at an art school near my school. The director at my school gave me a schedule and told me the teachers name, but I'm a little confused. Like, do I just show up? I'm going to talk to my parents about it, and if they say yes maybe they can help me talk to the director to figure out what I need to do. Cause I was talking to Phillip about the whole being stuck at home thing and he says his family is kinda the same way so he started taking classes at an art school and he says its nice to have something else going on. And also, I really miss dancing. I have no idea what type of dance I'll be doing (I don't think its ballet though :() but I don't really care. Dance is a great stress reliever for me and also, its something I can do without knowing a lot of Russian because with dancing you communicate with your body, not your mouth.

And not to mention a little exercise wouldn't hurt. I'm afraid to say I've gained at least 5 pounds since this whole adventure began. They're diet is so carb-centric. Like the meal I just had was bread, potatoes, and these fried pancakes with cheese things. That's it. No vegetable or meat or anything. I feel like I'm going to explode! I eat grapes and apples and bananas often enough, but I'm not getting a lot of vegetables. I don't like tomatoes so all I really eat are cucumbers, which are basically crunchy water. And of course, there are tons of onions in every dish and yes, I actually do eat them. I never would have thought it possible, but they're not that bad most of the time. But the other day, my mama bought lettuce (it was different than American lettuce but i didn't care) and she made a green salad just for me. They put cucumbers and cauliflower (I told them I like broccoli and I think they think cauliflower is broccoli) and they drenched it in oil and put salt on it (They put salt of everything. And tons of butter. And the only flavoring they use here is salt, dill, and parsley) I didn't care though. I was just happy to have some greens :)

I have a couple other dietary notes to make. First, every Russian, at least in the Krasnodar region, loves sunflower seeds and I have taken a liking to them myself. There are tons of sunflower fields around here. Unfortunately I arrived as they were all dying so I didn't get to see them in all their beauty. But there are still tons of seeds kicking around. And they eat the ones with the shell on it. I still haven't gotten the hang of shelling them, but my host family has it down to a science. And also, my family raises there own chickens. I hear them in the morning and they are in my belly in the evening. And one time I made the mistake of walking into the outdoor kitchen when they were preparing the chickens. Seeing chicken feet sticking out of a pot was an experience I could have done without.

Okay, this is a pretty hefty sized post. I'm going to peace out for now. I'll write more often I promise!

My Host Family

I know you are all anxious for pics of my host family, but I haven't really had a chance to get any good ones. But I promise I will! For right now, I'll just tell you about them.

Alla is my sister and is in the 9th form. She's 14 turning 15 tomorrow (I have no idea if she'll have a party or anything. Maybe a family thing or something). She's like any other girl that age. She loves pink and cats and taking crazy pictures of her and her cousin Inna. She's very easy going though, more so then American girls that age. She always takes the time to help me even if it would appear to be inconvenient and she does what her parents say with little rebuttal. I haven't been able to talk to her that much because of the language barrier, but so far we get along really well.

Then there's Papa. Oh goodness, what can I say about Papa? Well, the first thing you notice is how loud he is. The first night I got there, their English speaking friend Ria came over to interpret somethings, and he told her to tell me not to be afraid of his loud voice, that's just how he is. It's like he's yelling all the time. But not an angry yelling. He's very goodnatured. He has a perfectly round face and a nice smile. And just like everyone else in the family, he does everything he can to make me feel welcome and happy. On the application, it said he owns a moving company, but I don't think that's right. He owns his own business, but there's a giant dump truck parked next to the house that he takes out really early in the morning. So I'm not sure exactly what he does! There are two other things you should know about Papa. He is very proud of his grapes and insists upon telling me about the different types and the growth cycle of them even though I don't understand a word of it. And he is also very proud to be Cossack. He is not Russian; he is a Cossack, which, if my memory of Russia history isn't too muddle, means his family is from the Ukraine or at least that area.

Mama is definitely the more level headed one in the husband/wife dynamic. She is very down to earth and is very patient when she explains things to me. She does most of the cooking and cleaning in the house with the help of Bubula. She also works a few days a week at a cafe in town. Like Papa, she not Russian too. She's Moldavian and when her brother comes over, I guess they speak in Moldavian but I can't tell the difference between that and Russian! I can't understand either! And Mama doesn't speak English like it said on the application, but that's okay. With no one speaking English in the house it's more motivation for me to learn Russian! But yeah, Mama is awesome and very motherly and I feel very comfortable talking to her.

Bubula is the one I know the least. She kinda keeps to herself, joining the family only at meal times. She's usually working out in the garden, hobbling about and mumbling in Russian. Sometimes it seems like she's in so much pain from walking around so much; I can't believe she's still walking to be perfectly honest. Her brown skin is all worn and wrinkly and she wears these thick glasses that make her eyes look huge and I always laugh to myself when she puts them because they look so ridiculous! We don't really talk, but she always insists upon filling my plate (like I'm not getting enough to eat) and she knows I really like milk so she always gets me a glass after supper. She's a classic Russian Babushka and maybe I'll be able to talk to her in Russian at some point!

Oh yes, then there's Afonia (I have no idea how to spell his name!). He is one of the most hyperactive 5 year olds I have ever met! He's constantly running around the house blubbery away about something. She I can always tell when he's upstairs because the chandelier in my room rattles whenever he runs around up there. Also, I think Mama and Papa let him act in ways that wouldn't be tolerated in America, or at least I think so. Like he has an aversion to napkins for some reason and Papa wiped his mouth with one and Afonia freaked out and screamed for a towel. He only uses towels apparently. And Mama and Papa just kinda shock their heads; they didn't tell him to stop fussing or anything. I don't know, it's just different parenting I guess. Afonia may be bratty, but he always says hi to me and loves to tell me when it's time to eat. He runs up to me and says "Shannon, kooshaet, kooshaet num,num,num,num". So he's still kinda cute.

So yeah, that's who I live with. Then there are about 20 gillion cousins and aunts and uncles and I can't remember who's who's brother and who is married to who. It's crazy! I do know Inna, Ulia, and Lesa though because they go to school with us every morning and live right down the street. But then they have a couple older brothers, Sasha and some one else. And then someone is getting married soon, I can't remember who... oh well, maybe I'll figure it out sometime! All I know is I have a great family that I can feel a part of. And as I learn more Russian, things can only get even better :)

Though I do suppose I have one little complaint. It's not that big of a deal, but still. The family doesn't really go anywhere together. I haven't gone anywhere except for downtown Korenovsk with them and that was just to run errands. Sarah has been to Krasnodar and Andrea is going to the mountains tomorrow with his family. I hope that we do something more as a family. And I mean, I've been here just under a month. There's still time. And I can't complain too much because I have such a caring and supportive family that I feel very comfortable being a part of.


I wanted to add this picture of my family I took at their church because I have no idea when I'll be able to post this on facebook and I know you all want to see pictures so here you go!

AFS Camp pics

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38504&id=1211594619&l=d312920bb2

House Pics

I got facebook to work and here's the link to the pictures of my house: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38495&id=1211594619&l=57bb046df4

Arriving at my host family, FINALLY!

So, on September I arrived at my host family, the Bulan family. There is Mama and Papa and Babula and Alla my sister and Afonia (spelling?) my little brother. My cousin Inna was also there when I arrived. I was very tired and overwhelmed from all the traveling. I had dinner and a friend of the family's who speaks English came over. That was nice. We got some initial things squared away like I asked if it was okay for me to call them Mama and Papa and they said of course they wanted that. And they also explained about their church and how they go every Saturday and that I was welcome to join them but I didn't have to. They made me feel right at home from the start. Even though I was slightly emotional distraught just from being overwhelmed, at no point did I feel uncomfortable with them. They told me right from the start that I was family, which wiped away so many worries for me. I've heard so many horror stories from past AFS students about how they had to change host families 3 or 4 times. I really didn't want that to happen to me and unless things change drastically, I don't think I'll have to go anywhere. I think I've found another home in a different little corner of the world.

At this point, I don't have any pictures of me and my family, but I think I will the opportunity to soon. For right now, I have pictures of my house. Facebook is being fussy right now, but I will upload more pics of my house when I get a chance!

Pictures are up!

I just posted some photos from my first week in Russia on facebook! For those of you not on facebook, here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38011&id=1211594619&l=04eb03b592

Krasnodar

So, Krasnodar is the capital and the biggest city of this region. And it is a pretty big city, even by American standards. There's a wide stretch of park down the middle of the city (pictured on the right) that was really cool. It lead right down to the Kuban river, which unfortunately is a very dirty river! I stayed with Noey, a girl from Thailand and her host family. They lived in a flat but it was wicked nice. Like an upscale apartment, not what you think when you think Russian flat. And they were so nice to me, even though I wasn't really their host daughter. That something that amazes me here. There are no strangers; everyone is a treated like a life long friend. Ample Russian hospitality is a very true stereotype.

In Krasnodar, I went to a language school for two days were we learned Russian history and language as well as Russian art and dance, which was really fun. Yes, we did the Cossack dance. Well only the guys did it, but still it was awesome. I have a video that I'll try and post but idk if my internet can handle it! I got my first real taste of true, home cooked Russian food and it was actually really good. But I think that the family I stayed with in Krasnodar was a bit more European (probably because of the whole city life) and they food I have now at my host family in Korenovsk is still good, but much more traditionally Russian. But I enjoyed my couple days in Krasnodar and on the 9th I drove to Korenovsk with Sarah from America and Andrea from Italy who are also in Korenovsk (Rodrigo from Bolivia is also in Korenovsk but didn't drive with us). And so, exactly one week after leaving my family and friends in Maine, I arrived at my host family, my home for the next 5 months.

By the way...

I'd also like to say that I apologize if you write to me individually and I don't get back to you. I will do my best, but it's hard because I don't want to be thinking about home too much and I don't want to be on the internet all the time. So, I'll try, but don't be offended if you write me on facebook or something and I don't get back to you. Know that I love everyone and just hearing from you guys, knowing that you were thinking of me, makes me so happy and gives me a little bit more courage to keep doing what I'm doing. So thank you for that. I have the best family and friends <3
Also, I'll be using facebook as my main mode of posting pictures. So check out my facebook for more pictures. I can post links to my photo albums on my blog so that everyone can see them even if they don't have facebook :)

Leg 2: The Train

Okay, there is no way to describe the train in Russia. You just have to experience it. I'll do my best to convey ever grueling detail of this journey that is, unforgettable to say the least. Okay, so you get on the car and there is a extremely narrow hallway you have to walk down and to your left are the compartments. Lugging two rather large suitcases down the hallway was a task in itself. I was in a compartment with Karla and this Russian couple that didn't speak a speck of English. And they had a little dog (thankfully it didn't bark at all). But this whole getting on to the train thing was extremely stressful because all of us students had no idea what we were doing and the two volunteers with us were the only ones who spoke English on the train. There was a lot of yelling and uptightness and confusion, so as you can imagine, I was pretty stressed out a this point. Thankfully Sergei, one of the volunteers, came to our compartment and talked to the Russian people and told me and Karla where we would sleep and were to put our bags. That was a challenge. The room was no bigger than 7X8 with four narrow bunks. The suitcases were put under the bottom bunk and an over head bin over the hallway. Even when we were settled in, me and Karla didn't know what to do because we were both still pretty scared and stressed and it was so awkward with the Russian couple in there. We had no idea what to do. Thankfully, the Russian couple was nice enough to help us make our beds and after that we just kinda crawled into our bunks and slept in our clothes. The next day, we hung out in a compartment that was only AFS students and slowly slipped into madness. We were so bored and cramped and gross feeling. There was one very small very sketchy toliet on the train but of course no showers so we were all so disgusting. I really can't describe it and really don't want to relive it, so, I'll finish by saying we spent one more night on the train and arrived in Krasnodar, the capital of the region, around 6 in the morning on September 7th. There I met my mama and papa, but I didn't go with them just yet. Instead, they took some of my luggage and I went with a family in Krasnodar so that I could have another orientation in the city. This travel thing just kept getting longer and longer...

Leg 1: US to Moscow

Okay, I finally have access to a steady source of internet, aka, my laptop is finally hooked up to the world wide web! So here I am, in Russia, for just under 2 weeks and I already have a boat load to tell! I'll start at the beginning I suppose. I flew out of Portland and arrived in JFK just fine. I went to a hotel near the airport with all the other AFS students. It turns out that Sept 3rd was the regular departure date for France, Austria, South Africa, and Spain, so I got to meet all those kids. There was a crap load going to France and Spain. We stayed one night at the hotel and got a quick orientation from some AFS USA people where we talked about travel and safety and proper conduct during our stay and Russian culture, but of course we only skimmed the surface! There are 6 other Americans going to Russia, Phillip, Claire, Karla, Sara, Wilson, and Alex. We all got to hang out a lot in New York and got pretty tight. We get along really well. Everyone but Alex is in the same region, within an hour of each other, poor Alex. The picture above is of all of us in the JFK airport. From left to right, Alex, Sara, Me, Wilson, Phillip, Claire, Karla. See how happy we all look? Yeah, we weren't that perky after all that flying. hahaha

We then left for Frankfurt on the 4th. That flight was excruciating, though not as long as I thought, only about 6 1/2 hours. I had a crabby German lady sitting next to me, not fun. Anyway, we had about 5 hours in the airport in Frankfurt before we flew to Moscow. That flight was much shorter and much more pleasant. When we got to Moscow, we met AFS Russia reps and drove a few hours out of the city to a youth camp for another orientation. There are about 30 something students in Russia from the US, Italy, Germany, Thailand, Bosnia, Guatemala, and Bolivia. They had us do this weird activity where we cut the bottoms out of plastic cups and wore them like goggles and then walked around and had to count trees. It was supposed to represent tunnel vision and how we couldn't view things here with these restrictive goggles. I had my first taste of Russian food at this camp too. Honestly it wasn't that good. It was pretty boring except for the weird salads, which everyone tried but no one really ate! And I was put into a slight (but temporary) state of fear that I would die of dehydration because all they seemed to drink was tea! Hahaha. So on the 5th, we left the camp to begin our next leg of the journey; the train (dum dum dummmmmmm)

My Last Night in Maine

After I was told my departure would be delayed, I thought that tomorrow would never come! But, as always, time passes as it sees fit and now, here I am, less than 24 hours away from the beginning of the ultimate experience. Ready or not. But I think I'm ready, physically anyway. I have a very full 47 pound suitcase and a stuffed 23 pound duffel waiting patiently for tomorrow morning, a silent vigil to the emminent change that is slowly making itself known. It's a pretty daunting site to be completely honest! But it also is pretty dang exciting because packed bags mean a quickly approaching departure!

It's hard to describe how I feel right now. I'm on the brink of tears and jumping out of my skin at the same time. I think the scariest thing about this whole thing is realizing how much things are really changing. I'm not going back to Lake Region! Which, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't be more happy about . But its still a little said to make the transition out of high school. I mean, you're never going to be that young again right? Despite these nostalgic feelings, I want to try something new, taste something different. I'm expecting challenges but I hope my desire to experience a new culture and language in the purest way possible will help me overcome these obstacles.

I would also like to take a minute and give special thanks to my parents. I know that this will be a hard for them, a strain I can't fully understand seeing as I have no kids of my own and don't know what its like to see them grow so quickly before my very eyes. However, I do understand that my graduation from high school has ushered in a change for all of us which will take some time to get used to. It's hard for me to say something without it sounding corny. But You'll be in my Heart by Phil Collins keeps playing in my head right now. I think Phil knows what I'm trying to say. I love you mom and dad. Thank you for everything.

And so, I stand upon the brink of adventure. Good luck to all my friends going off on their own adventures. I will miss everyone! Keep checking my blog. I'll be home in January, which will come sooner than you think! Thanks agian everyone for your support! Wish me luck =)

Getting Ready

Okay, so basically, this is just my starter post. I wanted to get everything set up before I left. And since the next few weeks are going to be really busy for me, I thought I'd set it up now while I had the chance.
Here's a link to google maps that shows the city I'm going to be in. Its called Korenovsk and is in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia near the Black Sea. There are about 40,000 people in the city. That's about all I've really been able to find out about the city from the internet. Even though I've heard that the region of Krasnodar is one of the wealthier regions in Russia because of its many ice free ports on the Black Sea and its consequential easy access to trade with Europe. Since my host family didn't give an email address on their application, I had to write them an old fashioned letter and am waiting for a letter in return. I hope that they may tell me more about the city and the weather in the area so I can pack accordingly!