Я хачю Daphne

Greetings! It has been a busy but exciting week and a half since my last post. Our weekend trip to Vladimir and Suzdal was awesome and I think Suzdal is my favorite city so far. It is very small because of a UN restriction (no more building permitted) but it’s so quaint and there are cute little houses. (Everyone lives in big ugly apartment buildings in Nizhni and Moscow). Anyway, we were there for a holiday called “matslinitsa” or something to that affect so there were tons and tons of Russians out and about doing holiday activities. The atmosphere was akin to a renaissance fair or market in the states. This holiday is a week-long celebration of the end of winter (yeah right, I wish) during which Russians eat pancakes and have outdoor dances and activities and of course, vodka—don’t worry, Mom and Dad, I didn’t partake in the free shots of dubious origins. I did eat free blini though, and lots of it. There were the funniest, friendliest Russian families and people milling about and doing folk dances and there was even a goose fight and a hot tea chugging contest. At the end of the day on Sunday they burned down a giant scarecrow-woman, who is symbolic of winter, and then we feasted.
Throughout the week I stayed busy with homework, a presentation on Pushkin’s Bronze Horseman, and a few excursions. At about 10pm one night I joined a bunch of Russians from the dorm and some Americans to go sledding. We hiked out behind the dorm, on the banks of the Oka and grabbed some pieces of cardboard and linoleum and slid down the icy, forested hills. It was freezing, hilarious, and very fun.
I had my first day of teaching and it was a little overwhelming but I hope it will be a good experience. I thought I was going to be teaching English but instead I was placed in the history department of the university and will be co-teaching an American history course with a fellow American student. We have to prepare lesson plans and lecture for about an hour and a half every Friday. I am not sure just yet what the teacher or the students think of us or how well they understand our English (first time hearing native speakers I think). I hope we can sort of learn from each other, but I am a little worried about the co-teaching thing since the girl I am to teach with is…sometimes very hard to get along with…
It’s hard to believe that in two weeks I’ll be with a family. I filled out a form last week and right now they are working on finding a match for me. I have enjoyed staying here in the dorm but I think I’m ready for a change. It’s getting to be a huge distraction too, living with everyone. Almost every night there are little tea and chocolate parties and some Russian guy playing the guitar or accordion or just hosting a dance party. And they all give us presents and little notes and things, it’s so cute!
This is around the time people predict a little homesickness. I don’t think I have detected any homesickness per se but I was showing some people pictures the other day and thought that I kind of missed talking to my family and friends I happened upon a picture of my bike, Daphne, and realized how much I miss her!
Hope all is well. Feel free to send me an update. I have been checking my email less frequently but hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks I’ll post some pictures.

Я не понимаю!

I’ve now been in Russia nearly a month. I have learned three of the six cases in the Russian language (barely) and probably a hundred or so vocab words. I often confuse English tenses both in writing and in speaking. And seriously, why do we have so many articles in English? In Russian there are NO articles. There are, however, an absurd amount of endings for EVERYTHING, including proper nouns. Yes, names change in some cases, which makes things interesting, although the name Crystal does not change and neither does Idaho, for which I am grateful. Oh, and double negatives are a must. Weird. не может бытъ! (It is impossible!) Я не понимаю Русскии зяык! (I don’t understand Russian!) Yes, I have been changing settings on my laptop. Now I can use the Cyrillic alphabet whenever I want.

Classes are going well though. I have a paper to write this week but I’ve been neglecting it in favor of hours of drinking чай (tea), eating  шоколадъ (chocolate), and slowly getting to know Nizhni. This last weekend I went ice skating one night with a large group of American and Russian students and then experienced a classic Russian snowboarding adventure. Sasha, who lives across the hall from us and does not speak much English, wanted to take some of us snowboarding. To make a long, crazy story short, I have now snowboarded in Russia in nothing but a peacoat and jeans. Hardcore. Also, there are not chairlifts in Russia…these are not exactly developed mountains and there are little kids on sleds, skiers, snowboarders, garbage, home-made rails, everything. At the base was the frozen Oka river (which I stood on). It took about 5 minutes to get down the mountain and 30 to climb back up. Sasha insisted on carrying every girls’ snowboard and strutted up the mountain in his jeans and windbreaker. As we Americans have become fond of saying, TIR (This Is Russia)!

Oh, and last weekend we went to a баня (banya) and hit each other’s naked, sweating bodies with birch branches before diving in to the pool of ice cold water. This, of course, was repeated half a dozen times until my skin was blotchy and red and my body was tingling and probably the cleanest it has ever been. Glorious.

This Friday we will be going to tour the cities of Vladimir and Suzdal, where there are important historical sites and touristy things. Should be back Sunday night. Then next Friday I will start teaching English culture and language one day a week at either the university here or a nearby high school. This is exciting but sort of terrifying at the same time. 

Now I have a few random observations for you:

Russians do NOT speak on buses or metros. It is rude. They also do not smile when meeting or looking at people and find it odd when Americans smile for no reason. And they love staring, it's not rude for them. They never sit on the floor. Some of us have gotten yelled at for doing this, particularly by babushkas, who insist that our ovaries will freeze. Oh, and public restrooms usually do not have toilet paper. If you want it, bring it, but never flush it. Russians do not shower as much, neither do they change their clothes as much, but they generally wear much more formal clothes: boots, heels, dress shoes, lots and lots of fur. They don't drink with their meals, they drink when they are done eating. They eat meat with bones in it and drink this boiled fruit and nut drink that can either be really good or taste like liquid smoke. Two words: pickle soup. Two more words: yes, please! 

Welp, hope everything in the states is going okay. I heard about the freak snow storm and those Idaho Baptists in Haiti...

More Pictures!

Due to another subzero blizzard, our outdoor activities this weekend are limited. Yesterday a few of us braved the weather and the local bus system and saw part of the city. By the way, Russians don't mind driving crazily in the snow, even if they are driving a bus, They also apparently don't mind parking all over sidewalks and in haphazard fashion. Anyway, today we aren't going outside until our banya trip so I'm lazing around reading. I just found out that I have a certain number of megabits or something to use up before the end of January or I lose them. I don't really understand how it works but I guess it means I'll post more pictures. Enjoy!

 

Outside an Orthodox Church we attended. Note the classic babushka with cane.

 

Swan Lake!

 

Eating ice cream outside in -5F. With David and Laura.

 

Mullet beginnings, being pointed out by Riley. Note: mullets are so common here that there is no Russian word for them. (I've been asking all of the Russian students I meet. Several of them have had the cut themselves. They claim it was made popular by a Russian rock artist.)

Below: milking a goat statue in Nizhni. I just had to.

First thoughts on Nizhni

Nizhni is frigid but beautiful. We arrived Thursday night after a 5 hour train ride through the countryside, where the houses and churches grew smaller as the pastures and trees got bigger. It was dark when we arrived so we didn’t see much of the city; we were supposed to have a tour Saturday but it was delayed due to the subzero temperatures. It was, by the way 17 below yesterday. It was colder the two days prior to that but I had no way of check to see how cold it was. It has now warmed up to the mid teens and my RSP friends and I are rejoicing that we can walk across campus without our faces aching and our eyelashes, scarves, and even nose hairs freezing. I do not think I have felt anything colder than Saturday. We walked to a bookstore to get notebooks and such for classes. It was a 10 minute walk but it felt like it took at least half an hour. My best guess is that it was less than 20 below (it was also windy).
Anyway, our tour of Nizhni will hopefully be this weekend now. This week is the first week of classes and every day I have been exhausted from learning. We have three hours of language in the morning, lunch, then a two hour lecture in the afternoon. It is good, but a much different approach than I am used to and my head is spinning.
The first night here we had a discotheque with the Russian students who are in the international club. It was awkward but ridiculously fun. Most of the students spoke some English and a few were quite good, but it was still difficult to communicate. We danced to a mixture of Russian rap/rock and random American hits. I think one of the Russian guys said it best when he said “Russian or American, it doesn’t matter on the dance floor!”
Our building is pretty nice; not quite your standard dorm but satisfactory for sure. All of us spoiled Americanskiis are adjusting to the bathrooms here and bringing our own toilet paper as well as taking communal showers. The food is pretty good—very sweet—but I feel like all I am doing is eating. Since we can’t spend much time outside I haven’t had a big appetite but I feel rude not eating what we are served-large quantities—so I have been trying to clean my plate, resulting in food comas and probably weight gain. Ah well, when in Rome…
Our Russian teachers are very different. They rotate, and one of them is very quiet and strict and makes us repeat after her a lot. The other is completely ridiculous and giggles all of the time. Her name is Yelena and she wore a miniskirt and stilettos today, despite her age (45? 50?) and the weather. I don't think I learn as well from her but she is very entertaining. Every time she uses the chalkboard she puts hand sanitizer on her fingers on that hand and holds it out, shaking it sort of. She does not speak English very well so mutters under her breath in Russian as she writes on the board. She taught us the word for crazy, then explained why she prefers big dogs to little dogs and why she hates cats (shedding). She came close to shedding tears several times, once after I mistook a hard consonant ending for a soft one. I’m not sure what I said, but her response was “oh, CrEEstal! (insane giggles) No, no, no!"(more giggles, snorts).
That's your update from a dark and cold Nizhni Novgorod. I will post again in a week!

Russia so far

I can’t believe that it hasn’t quite been a week since my arrival in Moscow. It seems like so much has happened. I’m growing more and more used to being a complete foreigner. It no longer bothers me to approach strangers and say in broken and horrible Russian, “Please, where ____?” Of course, I’ve only done this once or twice, but still, it is progress. I like to begin conversations first, before anyone can start prattling off in Russian, by saying “Hello. I do not understand Russian.” Then following up in English “Do you speak English?”

Yesterday, when purchasing a couple Soviet-era prints, a Russian man thought I was French. When I told him I was from Idaho, he asked if I was Mormon. I laughed audibly, as I was very surprised that he had heard of Idaho and even knew there were a lot of Mormons there. I told him no but that there are indeed many Mormons in Idaho. He nodded and said, “They come up from Utah, no?” “Yes, some of them,” I answered. “No good,” he said, “Mormons no good for us.” I just smiled and nodded, a little confused. Perhaps he is annoyed that LDS members don’t support Russian vodka companies…? Hard to say but definitely very funny.

Anyway, I’m still sort of overwhelmed (in a good way) by everything, but it’s starting to sink in. The Tretyakov Gallery was breathtaking and Swan Lake at the Bolshoi was beautiful. I didn’t know I liked ballets so much, but I guess when you go to the best it makes a difference. Also, we toured the inside of St. Basil’s and the Kremlin and I’ve now seen Lenin twice. We keep passing casually through Red Square on the way to other places and it’s become kind of a joke. I’ll poke a fellow RSP student and say, “Hey, wanna pop by and see Comrade Lenin again today? Wonder how he’s doing…” I’m getting used to the metro system here too. A group of us got separated once, but today when I wandered off with Laura (who is a fellow English major) we were successful in navigating our way back. (Don’t worry Mom and Dad. We were careful.)

Okay, okay. I’ll now post a few pictures. Today we will be touring Christ the Savior Cathedral and tomorrow Tolstoy's house. Then Thursday it's off to Nizhni Novgorod.

Asymmetrical building. Architects were unsure as to which plan Stalin pointed to but were too scared to ask so they combined them!

Inside of one of the many beautiful metro stops. Stalin was striving to have the best, most beautiful metro system...

Guest entrance to the Kremlin. We had to stay on the right paths or there would be a quick warning whistle be fore we were shot!

Christ the Savior Cathedral.

St. Basil's.

Moscow Skyline.

Classic babushkas inside Kremlin. (Babushkas are grandmothers, basically. They rule Russia.) 

A Quick Update

It's getting late and I have a long, cold day ahead of me tomorrow (Kremlin tour) so I'll make this short.
I'm experiencing a sensory overload. This morning we went to a beautiful Russian Orthodox service and tonight we saw Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet performed at the Bol'shoi theater. Yesterday we went to the famous Tretyakov museum/gallery and toured St. Basil's. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Russian History and saw Pushkin Square at some point, but it's now blending together.
So far i absolutely love the food. I'll admit that I've been avoiding the fish dishes, but seriously, bring on the cheese. Cheese is EVERYWHERE and delicious. And potatoes. Also, these Russians like their desserts, I tell you what.
Anyway, I'm sort of all over the place right now as I'm tired and ready for bed. Also, I'm sitting using wireless in the smoking room here and a couple women came in just now to smoke...so I'm signing off. I will, however, provide some details and stories and, of course, pictures by Wednesday (your Tuesday, probably).
Ya loobloo Rossiya (I love Russia, phonetic spelling)
Crystal

Greetings from MockBa (Moscow)

My purple luggage and I have arrived safely in Moscow. Actually we got here last night at about this time (it is almost 12pm in Moscow right now but for most of you this is morning/afternoon...strange). Anyway, I think we spent about 12 hours traveling before arriving at a very nice hotel in Moscow, where we will be staying until next Thursday, when we leave for Nizhni. By the way, today is the New Year here, as they follow the old calendar, and there are still decorations up for Christmas everywhere. Very pretty. Oh, and it was snowing lightly as we touched down, but the weather is perfect and “spring-like” according to the director of the program, who says it was -29F on Christmas day.
This morning we saw Lenin, enclosed in glass and still preserved after 80 some years. His fingers and ears, however, are getting a little black. The guards around the mausoleum were very stoic and intimidating. Cameras were not allowed inside. We also saw a fair share of Red Square, although we will not go in to the Kremlin for a tour until Monday. We rode the metro system here and got out at a bunch of stops to see how beautiful and ornate they are. I snapped a few pictures before we were told that it is not allowed. They were beautiful though and I couldn’t help but be amazed at how clean and well-kept they were for the number of people passing through daily.
So far, I've noticed some very amazing mullets (they seem quite popular and stylish here) and a never-ending supply of fur coats and hats. Russian women are intimidating, especially the babushkas in all of their furry splendor. I saw one woman today in purple-dyed fur! Anyway, I am in a constant state of wonder and disbelief currently. I am so small in this huge country. I love it, though I know that it has not hit me yet that I'll be LIVING here...
I should get to bed now, as we are going to Pushkin square and the Museum of Contemporary Russian History tomorrow. But before I go, a quick funny story:
I hurt my knee while in NYC and iced it with snow today. However, I first had to go up to the 10^th floor to get a plastic bag from Debbie, who had noticed my limp and offered her services. Afterwards, I went to my room, slipped on my ridiculous tennis shoes and hurried downstairs to collect some snow in a grocery bag. However, the exit was taped off, so I went over to the entry, where there is a man stationed. (By the way this hotel is very, very, nice and expensive and there are all sorts of people stationed around watching us silly Americans). Anyway, I tried to exit the entrance and couldn’t. After a few more tugs, I turned to direct a quizzical look toward the guard. He shrugged and made a motion with his hand to indicate that I should PUSH, not pull. Ah, wow, pretty embarrassing and it only got worse when I returned in 5 minutes with a bag full of snow. I could almost feel him and the people in the lobby shaking their heads in wonder. Oh well, I had better get used to it I guess.
With love,
Crystal

 P.S. Will attach pictures from Moscow after I leave. Just wait! St. Basil's and the Kremlin and everything!