Simple Girl, Simple Life: 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.