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
Monday, November 23, 2009
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 Thurs
day, 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.
day, 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.
Friday, November 13, 2009
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
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 cl
othing 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 R
ussians. 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 :)
othing 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 R
ussians. 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 :)
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