Keep me in your heart, I'll stay there Forever.

      The moment that we got back from our big vacation (my last post) my life in St. Pete's has been crazy. It has been one big thing after the next and I blinked and  now I am headed home in just 3 days. So let me catch you up on what has happened the past three weeks here in Russia, my second home.
       The past two Saturday's have been awesome with our Russian mom Sveta! The first Saturday she took us to Pushkin. It is a suburb of St. Petersburg that is about 30 minutes outside of the center of the city by bus. It was a tiny little city with a huge palace! The Palace in this city is one of Catherine the Great's Palaces. I know, it is pretty awesome that she gets to have more than one palace. Anyways, it was the attraction of the city. The Palace is actually still being restored today because during WWII it was destroyed by the Germans. Nonetheless, the inside and outside of the Palace were absolutely stunning even if it was refurbished. The outside was this beautiful Tiffany blue shade with gold and white trim all over the place. There were also two curving staircases that looked like a princess should be walking down them! I loved it. The inside was even better! There was gold EVERYWHERE! It was mostly Baroque style, which was unusual because most of the palaces I have seen in St. Petersburg have been classical style. Inside of the castle they also had the famous Amber room. Unfortunately, they don't allow anyone to take pictures inside of this room but every inch of the room was a piece of amber. From the floor to the ceiling, and even the frames of the pictures. It was breathtaking and I was blown away. So the inside of the palace was thrilling! Then we ventured to the backyard, which was a giant park! The park had beautiful gardens, a huge pond, and multiple buildings styled like different countries architecture. It included styles from Greece, China, Turkey, Italy, and Egypt. It was so lush, green, and just gorgeous. I might have loved the park more than the palace just because it was so pretty. After the park and palace we went to a little blini stand where we had authentic Russian blini. I got a potato and dill blini and a banana and chocolate one. The banana and chocolate one was one of the best blinis I have had in Russia so far! So, as you can see, Pushkin is an amazing little suburb in St. Petersburg that is definitely worth the day trip and time it takes to see all of it.

The outside of the palace. 

The main room in the palace. All gold. 

The palace after getting destroyed. 

In front of the Chinese part of the park. 

        This past Saturday was our last day with Sveta. It was a very sad day but we made the best of it and had a lot of fun. For the second week in a row we went to a suburb of St. Pete's. We ventured out to Peterhoff, which is another palace but we went to see the gardens and the park. It also had fountains everywhere! They were all over the palace grounds and in the gardens. We spent the day walking around and looking at all the different parts of the groudns. My favorite part was all of the tulips that had just bloomed along with the fountains that were in the backdrop. There was also a look out point into the Gulf of Finland so there were a lot of Russians out tanning along the shore. That was interesting to see Russians in swimming suits! After we walked around the palace grounds and took a lot of pictures of the fountains, we went to the little souvenir street that was outside of the palace! There were some great Russian souvenirs there and I finally got a fabric egg necklace that has an elephant inside which I was really happy about.  Peterhoff is totally one of the most beautiful places in Russia I have been to and again we spent the whole day there and ended up sun kissed and tired. It was a great way to end our excursions with Sveta with such a beautiful place.

          Luckily, we did get to see Sveta one more time on Monday night! She came over to the apartment and brought ice cream. Like many times before, all 9 of us girls sat in the kitchen and talked about whatever and ate the ice cream! It was really hard saying goodbye to Sveta, though. We all promised we wouldn't cry, but of course we all did. Sveta, or for anyone that is reading this, I just want you to know that you are one of the most amazing ladies that I have ever met in my life. Thank you again for sharing all of the knowledge of your city with me. I loved seeing you every Saturday and getting a tour of a certain part of the city from a local and especially someone who is so in love with the city. You always know how to make us girls smile and ILP in St. Petersburg is so lucky to have you! So thank you for all you did for me while I was here in Russia, I look forward to coming back and visiting you someday! 

The palace at Peterhoff and the gardens. 

Fountains and flowers in the park.

Saying goodbye to Sveta. Going to miss this beautiful Lady! I love you!

              Now for an update on my students of what has been going on the past couple of weeks in class. It really hasn't been anything too exciting except for the hours that we spent preparing for our spectacle. You are probably wondering what spectacle is...so let me explain. It is pretty much like a primary program, actually a lot like it. We wrote a script, taught the kids songs to sing in between their speaking lines, and then we made costumes and performed for the parents! It was a big deal at one of our schools and everybody came out for the occasion. At both of the schools I teach at the theme of our spectacle was Under the Sea. Our characters consisted of: mermaids, crabs, pirates, jellyfish, octopi, sharks, and fish. All of the kids were dressed to look like these characters and then they had a story line of going to a party at a mermaid castle under the sea. It was really cute and the kids seemed to have a great time learning new songs! The new songs that we taught them were Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid and Yellow Submarine by the Beatles! I was so proud of my kids for performing for their parents and doing so well. They worked hard for 3 weeks to perform it and that work paid off! Plus, who wouldn't love 50 little Russian kids singing Disney songs? It was a grand time. 

Before spectacle at the private school I teach at. 

The mermaids ready for spectacle at the Kindergarten. 

               The past week has been full of spending time with our kids because it is the last week of teaching and the last week of school until the kids are out for summer. It has been so fun just being able to relax, speak English, and have a good time. If you asked me before I came if I was prepared to teach 50 Russian kids every week I probably would have cried but I would not change the past 4 months for anything. These children have touched my heart. Yes, there were days where I wanted to pull my hair out, but at the end of the day kids will be kids. I fell in love with each of their individual personalities. I will miss walking into class everyday and hearing "Teacher Bre!!!". There is nothing like the pure joy in the voice of these little Russian kids when they see someone they love. I have spent about 3 hours a day 2-3 times a week with these children and to say I am going to miss them is an understatement. I will always carry a piece of them in my heart. 

               I also feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to live here in St. Petersburg, Russia for the past four months. It was a spur of the moment choice to go on ILP and take a semester off school but I am so glad I decided to take that leap of faith. I was able to experience many different cultures and see various countries. I have been to 6 countries in four months and I plan to keep adding to that list. Even though the US has been in conflict with Russia and it has been scary at times, I have to say overall I like the people of Russia. I have been welcomed and loved and Russians sure do know how to make you welcomed. I am so thankful I could come and have this great experience of serving children here in Russia. I learned a lot of patience, independence, how to make a pretty awesome Russian face, how to read and understand some Russian, and I learned some teaching skills. I think overall though I found some of myself here in Russia and developed more as a person. There is nothing like serving others to help find yourself. So as I pack up and leave St. Pete's, which I now consider my second home, I just want to say if you need help discovering yourself, or just need a break from America. Take the time to go serve others, especially children. They will love you and you will be rewarded. Also, you will learn to live your life to the fullest and love it! You won't have any regrets. Thank you, Russia, for changing my life forever, a little piece of my heart will always belong to St. Petersburg and my children. 

Alina and I. 

Me and my sass a frass Rita. 

Dasha has my heart. I am trying not to cry in this picture. 

My grown up Dasha. 

She is the cutest Russian you will ever meet. I love my Vitalina. 

Big Vacation

     The truth is I have been really busy here in Russia and I haven't had much time to post on my blog. I guess I have just been enjoying my last couple of weeks here soaking up the memories. Luckily, I got to spend the past 10 days traveling around Eastern Europe. As a group we were able to go to four different countries and their major cities! We spent time in Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; Riga, Latvia; and Tallinn, Estonia. It was one of the best vacations I have ever been on and I loved seeing the different cities and experiencing the various cultures. Now, let me talk a little bit about what I did in each of the countries. This is pretty much just going to be an overview though, so if you want in depth details, come talk to me in 2 weeks when I get back to the USA and I would love to tell you all about it :)
      The first country that we stopped in was Finland. We spent about a day and a half in Helsinki! Unfortunately, it was raining the whole time we were there and pretty chilly but we still tried to make the best of it. We actually ended up arriving on one of their holidays. Everyone was dressed up in sailor hats and these fancy pants. Apparently, the occasion was to celebrate students so there was a big parade, food, candy, and a ton of families out and about. Most of the places were closed in the city that day because of the holiday but we were planning on going to the Fortress of Suomenlinna. It is located on an island in the Baltic Sea about a 10 minute ferry ride from Helsinki. Even though it was raining and windy we decided to venture out to see the fortress and we weren't disappointed!

The streets of Helsinki. 

The Fortress was very cool. People actually live on the island so there were cute, little colorful houses everywhere. It was very green and open. I enjoyed seeing the spectacular views from the edges of the island. You could see out into the Baltic Sea and some swans even joined us as we were looking out. The rolling hills combined with the old fashioned buildings made it a beautiful scene. There were even hobbit looking houses on the island and a miniature beach that you could walk down to! It rained most of the time we were out there and it was freezing but the breathtaking view made up for the bad weather.

The first building you see at the fortress. 

The view from the edge of the island. 

 The second day in Helsinki we stuck to the center of the city. We explored the various souvenir shops and even went to the market on the pier. I loved looking at all of the locals selling handmade items and apparel. There were also a ton of local people cooking traditional Finnish cuisine that smelt delicious. I was a little scared when I was offered a fried sardine though. I still regret not trying it but it just looked so weird! After walking around the market we went to the main cathedral in Helsinki that overlooks most of the city. It has these huge stairs leading up to it and once you get to the top you can see most of Helsinki. It was a great view. The inside of the cathedral was nice as well, but very simple compared to the Russian churches I have been frequenting for the past 3 months. The rest of the time in the city was spent walking around the streets and exploring different sites and cathedrals that we stumbled upon. My favorite thing about Finland though, was probably the cinnamon rolls we had at our hotel for breakfast! The best cinnamon rolls I have ever had in my life! Finland treated me well and I would love to go back someday.

The main cathedral in Helsinki

Roaming around Finland. 

               The next country that we went to was Sweden. We spent 2 days in Stockholm, which was a good choice because I absolutely adored this city. It is located right on the water and is made up of many islands that are all connected. There are boats everywhere, colored buildings, and flowers. We stayed in a hotel that was right in the center of the city, right next to the Central Station which is one of the happening places in Stockholm. The first day we explored Old Town Stockholm which is called Gamla Stan. It is a compact area that is full of winding streets and colorful alley ways. It definitely reminded me of the typical European pictures you see of the colorful alley ways and I loved that. The buildings were all so old and historical. It helped that local souvenirs were located in most of the shops. Gamla Stan had a charm to it and I plan on going back to it and spending a lot of time there. We also saw the changing of the guards in front of Dottingham Palace on that first day. That was a big event as there were hundreds of people surrounding the guards. They were on horses and trotting around in front of the castle. Not to mention a lot of the guards were playing instruments on the horses. It was like a mini parade that everyone wanted a front row seat to, so I don't have great pictures but the horses were beautiful and the music was great. I also recommend the Nobel Prize Museum to anyone who goes to Stockholm because that was very interesting. We just happened to stumble upon it and go in but it turned out to be a great decision. They had the history of every Nobel Prize winner and backgrounds about each of them. So, if you like history and learning about those prizes it is a very high-tech, modern museum. 

Changing of the guards. 

Gamla Stan (old town Stockholm)

 The second day in Stockholm was spent at the Vasa Museum. This is one of the most popular things to see in Sweden. The museum contains a ship that was lost on the sea floor for 300 years and it was found, excavated, and now sits in a museum. If I am remembering right, I think about 90% of the ship is the original that was found in the ocean.
    Walking around the ship was breathtaking. It is gigantic and the detail that the original builders put into it is impressive. There was a lot of symbolism that went a long with the designs which was very interesting to learn about. Let's just say that the Vasa Museum is defininitely worth  the time it               takes to go through the 6 floors of the museum. It was probably my favorite part of Stockholm!

Flowers outside the Vasa Museum.

A view of the Vasa. 

 The next 3 days of our trip were spent in Riga, Latvia. On the first day there we walked around the city. Riga is a small little city and we were located right in the middle of Old Town where most of the tourist attractions are. Riga was a lot like Stockholm where it had the colorful buildings and precious little alleyways. I absolutely loved walking around and seeing what was down each one. That first day we went to a honey shop that we came upon and it was the best honey I have ever had in my life. The lady that was working there owned the shop and harvested and made all of the honey personally. It was a very cool shop and a lot of the girls bought the delicious honey. That day we also went to a World War II museum which was very informative. The museum was in an old tower that was a circle so the different floors were set up to go in chronological order as you went around the circles. I liked that I was able to see the history of Latvia through out the different wars leading up to World War II and then I was able to see what happened after. I had never realized that a lot of the Baltic states became free countries not that long ago. I realized that when I saw a picture of Bill Clinton signing a paper in the museum.

Stockholm, Sweden

  The next day in Latvia was probably my favorite day of the trip so far. We decided to go to Cesis, which is a small town about 2 hours away from Riga. In this town they have a castle that is from the 15th century that is in ruins. It is the main thing in this little town, and when I say little I definitely mean tiny. It took us about 5 minutes to walk through most of the town. Once we arrived at the castle, the employees gave us a lantern with a lit candle in it, and told us to go and explore. It was awesome because we could go anywhere we wanted to in the ruins and explore all of them. Of course, there were some places that were barred off because of structure issues, but overall we got to walk through and climb through most of the original castle. It was thrilling as we walked up the dark corridors with only the little light from our lanterns! All 8 of us girls also decided to play a game of Sardines in the castle, which was very fun. Even though some of the Brazilian tourists there thought it was weird we were all hiding throughout the castle. Another plus was the grounds surrounding the castle were beautiful. They were a luscious green with yellow dandelions everywhere. Then, on the outside of the castle wall there was a simple little park that had a nice lake with ducks in it. Of course I had to go feed the ducks and we ended up encountering a swan as well. It was a day well spent in Cesis. That night we went to a tavern called Ala. Itis an underground, authentic Latvian pub that was EXCITING! The only light in the place was candles and the wax from all of the candles was on the walls from melting over the years. A great thing as well was that the food was dirt cheap and super delicious. I ordered traditional meatballs that were scrumptious. They came with an interesting sauce that I don't really know how to describe and some sauerkraut. It was an overall mouthwatering meal and the scenery helped for a true Latvian tavern experience.

A view of the honey from the honey shop

A view of the wax from all of the years. 

My authentic Latvian food. 

Me with my lantern in front of the Cesis Castle. 

Some of the landscape surrounding the castle. 

   

  The last day in Riga wasn't too extravagant but we had a good time. It was raining and cold so we tried to stay inside most of the day. A lot of the day was spent walking around to the different cathedrals and going inside of them. Lexi and I also ended up walking around the streets of Riga because we couldn't find one of the churches. It was interesting because they had a bunch of huge, colored snails all around the city. Overall, Latvia was a great country!
       Finally, the last part of our vacation was spent in Estonia in the capital of the country, Tallinn. It is a city located up on the North coast right by the Baltic Sea. Unlike Stockholm and Riga, Tallinn was a medieval city that still had most of the original structures from the city walls upright and functioning. They had turned old city walls into parts of buildings and such. I loved the medieval look of this city. There were also a ton of lookout points in Tallinn that were gorgeous! When you stood on them you could see the whole old town part of the city and luckily again our hotel was located right in the center of the city. Most of our time in Tallinn was spent walking around the city. One of the days we had a local take us around so we learned about all of the history pertaining to different buildings and she took us to the various monuments which was nice because I always enjoy knowing the history behind where I am. The next day we went to the beach, unfortunately there was a rain storm following us throughout vacation and it caught up with us again at the beach but we still got to set foot in the Baltic Sea! It was soooo cold, but we made the best of our beach time by collecting sea glass, walking in the waves, and playing in the sand. There wasn't any sun to soak up though, which would have made it perfect. Our vacation was finished up by souvenir shopping in Old town. I think my favorite part about Tallinn though was this little tavern located in a church that we ate at 3 times! The employees were all dressed up in old medieval clothing and the only light in the restaurant was candle light. Every time we went we ordered a bowl of Elk soup that we got in old ceramic bowls and we had to drink the soup. It was surprisingly delicious and filling. They also sold delicious homemade apple pies that I know I will always dream about! One of the times I was also able to fish a pickle out of a barrel and eat it and I love pickles so that was a fun adventure! Tallinn will always be on the top of the list of most charming cities I have ever been to.

One of the original parts of Tallinn. 

View from one of the lookout points. 

Me at another lookout point. 

                    Hopefully I put enough detail into this post that you were able to get a feel for some of the fun that I experienced over the past 10 days! I know that I will never ever forget the great times I have had. I feel so blessed that I had the opportunity to travel around some of Europe and experience different cultures and come into contact with new people. I definitely had my share of love, laughs, and life. I hope you all have a fantastic day and remember to be positive!

  

Setting foot in the Baltic Sea.