Here Comes the Sun

     Hey my blogging friends, I know it has been a while since I have updated my blog I have just been really busy here in Russia living it up. But I am going to update you on what has been going on the past couple of weeks, don't be too excited :)

      In classes the past two weeks we have been doing a lot of arts and crafts. For St. Patrick's day, which they don't celebrate in Russia, some of my kids and I made leprechaun faces. Now, I had to have a detailed description of what a leprechaun was and what St. Patrick's day was but eventually they understood and really enjoyed themselves. What kid wouldn't love becoming a leprechaun for a day?

My little leprechauns. Dasha didn't get the memo :)

            Also in classes this week we talked a lot about the weather. In one of my schools we took on the adventure of making umbrellas. Very appropriate since it has been raining and snowing here a lot lately. It was very interesting watching my children attempt to explain to me what an umbrella was because they didn't know what it was called in English and they aren't allowed to speak Russian. Let's just say it involved a lot sound effects and charades. I absolutely love that about my kids, no matter what we are talking about they always have a sound effect to describe it. This makes classes very funny and interesting! Anyways, once they figured out what an umbrella was in English and what it is used for my children really enjoyed making their little umbrellas. I am  in love with my Russian babies if you haven't noticed, but  who wouldn't? Look at how cute they are!

Gosha being the little crazy boy he is. 

Kostia and Tioma

Love sassy Rita. 

    That is an over view of my teaching the past two weeks, which has definitely been fantastic and rewarding. Nothing feels better than having one of your kids spontaneously start speaking English and having it make sense. I finally feel like I have started to make an impact on these children. It makes all of the stressful, crazy days worth it. 

     

   

                                                                          Now on to one of my favorite days of every week, which is Saturday! On Saturday's we either go on a cultural excursion or we have a Russian cooking class. We have our own little Russian mama named Sveta! She is definitely my favorite Russian and she makes me so happy. I don't think I will ever be able to thank her for all she has taught me about the Russian culture but I am definitely grateful for what she has taught and showed me so far. 

         First, for culture class two weeks ago Sveta taught us how to make Borsch. This is a really popular Russian soup that is totally Russian. It takes about an hour and a half to make in total but it is worth every minute of work. YES, it is that scrumptious. Some of the ingredients in it include: beets, onions, cabbage, tomato, potatoes, shredded chicken, and carrots. Once it is all finished you sprinkle it with dill and put some smatana on it. Smatana (totally butchered the English spelling of it) is like the Russian version of sour cream. It is a little bit runnier and not as creamy tasting as sour cream but overall it is very delicious. When those two things are added to the finished soup the soup is ready to eat. The flavor explodes in your mouth and the second you take your first bite you fall in love with the succulent spices and combinations of flavors in the Borsch. I am so thrilled that I know how to make this soup now and you better bet I am going to make it when I get home. A very successful Saturday filled of delicious flavors and great memories.

Picture of my first bowl of Russian borsch! The white globs are smatana and the green is dill.

           This Saturday was a fantastic one as well. First, I have to say that the weather was amazing so that helped a lot. It was about 45 degrees outside (which is a lot for St. Petersburg) and the sun was shining bright so it made the day a lot happier! Sveta took us to the Cathedral on Spilled Blood, also known as the Resurrection Cathedral. This Cathedral looks a lot like St. Basil's in Moscow which is one of the most iconic pictures of what Russia is. Anyways, the cathedral is along a canal and you walk along the canal and up to the ginormous view of the new Russian style. There is also a bridge that gives you the perfect view of the cathedral from far away. It is definitely a picturesque site that will be engraved in my mind forever. Inside of the cathedral was very beautiful as well. The whole inside of the church is made up of mosaics. They are all over the walls and I can only imagine how long it took the architects to finish all of the artwork but it was mind blowing! I absolutely loved this cathedral and the surroundings of it. Just the atmosphere of the sun shining, walking along the river, and gazing upon the brilliant cathedral was a day well spent. 

Sveta and I. Love my Russian mom!!!

 After we went and explored around the cathedral and saw the inside, we were very hungry! So, Sveta took us to a Russian Pie place. Russian pie is a lot different than the traditional American pie, but it definitely holds it ground in the taste test. I got a piece of pie that was a mozzarella and tomato pie. It was soooo delicious and the mozzarella and tomato meshed very well together. I absolutely loved it. My dessert pie was a berry dessert pie. It had blackberries and raspberries in it. For anyone who knows me very well, I am obsessed with berries. I could eat a whole carton of raspberries by myself. So let's just say I was in heaven with the combination of the raspberries and blackberries and the pie crust. It was so delicious that I wanted to lick my plate clean. That would not be very acceptable though, especially in Russia. The best part was it only cost 100 rubles which is about $3! Plus it was a lot of food and very filling. It was a great end to a great day!
       That is it for this post. I am loving my time here in Russia and I can't believe it is going by so fast. I am so grateful that I could come here and serve these kids to help them have a better future. Do a little service around your house or in your life this week, it really does make you feel great. Have a great week everyone and remember to smile!

The gate surrounding the Cathedral. 

                                                       

My tomato and mozzarella pie and my berry pie. 

Me with my pie!

Lighting in the cathedral with the mosaics in the background.

A Weekend in Moscow

      I finally made it to Moscow this weekend. It was a great time, with many different adventures that I will remember for a lifetime. Moscow has been one of my "to see" cities for a while now so I am glad that I finally made a dream come true. So, let me tell you a little bit about the weekend.
      Our way of transportation was sleeper trains. We left Thursday night at 10 PM and arrived to Moscow at 5 AM. The train was not as bad as the horror stories I have heard about them. Fortunately, we did not have any drunk men in our area. I was located on the top bunk, and there was literally no room to sit up. So once you climbed up, which was not an easy task, you were stuck up there laying down. After a while, the lights started dimming so I attempted to sleep. Key word: attempted. Once we arrived in Moscow, we cleaned up our little beds and grabbed our gear and headed out to explore Moscow for the day.

                                                                                      

My bed on the sleeper train. 

        The first day in Moscow was random, yet exciting. The first thing we did was go to an old Convent where nuns used to live. It consisted of two cathedrals, a very tall bell tower, and a graveyard. The sun was just peeping through all of the trees and the scenery was beautiful. It was so serene and relaxing to just walk around, feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, and snap a couple landscape pictures. Inside the church there were many old paintings and we saw a couple real nuns which was very interesting. After we walked all the way around the convent we went on the outside of it and looked at the pond next to it. Apparently it is where Chikovsky composed the music for Swan Lake, which I think he picked a great place to write that. There was also a wall that everyone touches and gets a picture with, so we decided to do that as well. After the Convent we decided to walk around and go find the love lock bridge. This is a small bridge in Moscow where the Art Institute created small metal trees that people go and put metal locks on them. Once the tree is full of locks, they replace it with an empty tree and put the full tree along the river. It was very entertaining glancing at all of the locks and what people wrote on them. Next, we decided to walk across the street to a little peaceful park where we people watched the Russian couples and played on the playgrounds there. That night a couple of us girls went to a place called the Shake Shack, it was a Russian version of an American burger joint. Surprisingly it was really delicious, but I think Russians must believe that all we eat are hamburgers and hot dogs. For dessert, the family I was staying with gave us apple crisp and vanilla ice cream! It was like heaven on a plate, I had been missing some traditional American dessert. 

  

The coolest headstone with the church in the background

The bell tower

Touching the wall everyone has to touch. 

                   On Saturday we did most of the tourist activities that people go to Moscow for, so that means we spent the day in and around Red Square. The first thing that we did was go and see Lenin's body. They have his body embalmed and saved in an open glass casket. It is in this dark, black, granite tomb that you walk underground to enter the room. There are Russian guards everywhere watching your every step of the way. While you are in there you are not allowed to talk, stop, or put your hands in your pockets. Once you enter the actual tomb, you see him laying there peacefully behind the glass with red lights shining upon him. It was a very interesting thing to do, and at least now I am able to say I saw a 40 year old corpse. After gazing upon the corpse, we went to the mall that is located in Red Square. It reminded me a lot of City Creek because it had bridges and it was 3 stories high. There was a huge shop in the mall that had pastries, wine, beer, vodka, candy, and ice cream. It took up about a whole section of the mall. Next, we went out around St. Basil's and inside the church. St. Basil's Cathedral is the icon most people picture when they think of Russia which is applicable because it is breath taking. The domes are vibrant, decadent, and detailed. My mouth literally dropped when I saw the church up close. The outside was amazing but the inside was pretty interesting as well. There were secret stairways, passages, and the each wall had different designs on them. I loved how I had never seen any of the patterns in St. Basil's before and I think it would be safe to say it is a complete Russian church. If you come to Russia, you should definitely go see St. Basil's because it is as extravagant as it looks. The last thing we did on Saturday was go to the Kremlin. The Kremlin is a museum that has a ton of royal relics and antiques. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures, but the memories will be engraved in my brain forever. My favorite thing about this museum was the original coronation and wedding dresses of the Russian royalty. They also had various original carriages and thrones that Russian Czars used when they were alive. A great museum to go to if you love royal antiques. That night we ate tacos and brownies! It was great because I really felt like I was in America. The nice people we stayed with also sent us with Reese's, M&M's and Twizzlers; they are definitely heaven in a bag. 

The outside of Lenin's tomb

Some candy at the mall. 

The ceiling in St. Basil's. 

A view of St. Basil's.

       Before we left on Sunday we went to a souvenir street called Izmilava. It was a little souvenir city where a ton of vendors sold the typical Russian souvenirs. We spent about 4 hours just walking around and bargaining with the different vendors and spending our last hours in Moscow. Once we were done souvenir shopping we headed back to the train station and went on our way home to St. Pete's on another sleeper train. 

         Overall it was a very fantastic weekend. I am still in shock that I can say I went to Moscow for the weekend so casually, but I am also very grateful that I had the opportunity to. It is so great to experience different cultures and see what they cherish. I could definitely tell that the Russians are proud of their past and love to have people intrigued by it as well. The next big adventure on my list is a weekend in Lithuania the first week of April! I am looking forward to that expedition. For now I hope every body has a great week and smiles at some stranger because a smile can go a lot farther than you think.