The Celebration of Being a Woman... caution this post might resemble a novel, maybs skip to the pics

What a week... it's not everyday you get congratulated or thanked for being a woman. Not only did we get a four day weekend, but we got presents and surprises left and right. Okay, that is a little dramatic, but being a woman is no joke here.


The week started off pretty normal, typical Monday. (I rarely like those). I'm always so excited for breakfast because Lenna is back in the kitchen, however, some how I always forget that the porridge is buckwheat.... After breakfast we headed for the kindergarten to practice the song we taught the kids for their women's day performance. Here are the requirements we were told, "teach them a song about woman and cowboys". hmm any great songs to mind? None came to mine either, so of course I googled away and boom, buffalo gals. Can't get much better than that. Surprisingly they sang the whole song to their Russian teachers which was a huge relief. Although when the principal found out we had no music for them to sing to, well let's just say I didn't need to speak Russian to know she was upset. Conveniently they have this cute little lady that plays the accordion who seems to pop up whenever there is music needed. So literally ten minutes before the performance on Tuesday, she had us sing the song to her and within seconds she had the tune down. It was incredible. The performance was so cute. The kids were singing and dancing, the only words I could understand were babooshka and mama. My favorite part was when the kids would try to sneak a wave in without getting caught by their Russian teachers.

Wednesday was like an extra Friday! Absolutely loved it. When we got back from culture class, everyone was hustling about. No one really tells us when anything is happening so we usually just follow the crowed or go where we hear any kind of noise. This time it was coming from the huge auditorium. We went in to find that their was a huge performance going on by the older children. It was quite different than the one at our little kindergarten. The girls were dressed (meaning slightly covered) in tiny dresses and the smaller kids were in full on costumes. It was hilarious to watch. We saw everything from a girl singing and shimmying to Shakira to little boys break dancing away. Our little basic reading kid, Vova, (who can and does sing lady Gaga while doing the dance daily) came out to sing with his dad. So great. We had a short day teaching and then we were free for the next four whole days! Wahoo!


Thursday we went to our folk dance, which was actually really neat, for the first two hours. It got a little redundant after the next two. I definitely had a mood change when I heard the word shwarma. Can't get enough of that. Then we headed for the infamous Ashawn, which is like a super walmart, mall, and costco all combined into one. We were told there was a free bus that took us to the one closer to our apartments so after much deliberation we picked one. Wrong one. It's fine though it was still great. As we walked in my jaw dropped. Who knew a building could be so big. Anything you wanted, it was there. I spent a good hour trying to pick out a new camera. I couldn't last another three months without one. As if I'm not already awful at making big decisions like that, try making them when everything is in Russian. So I relied on my charades skills once again. I got the sales attendant guy to come over and I pointed to three cameras than held both thumbs up trying to get him to pick out the best one. After what could have possibly been a laugh he pointed. With relief I spent the next few minutes trying to get him to understand I wanted to buy it. Next we headed to the candy section, word on the street was there were the rare find of gummy candies there. I was not let down. There were tons!!! Greatest place ever. The adventures didn't stop there.


Friday was my favorite event so far. I think. We went to the circus!!! It was so amazing! Anything and everything I knew or had heard of about a circus was nothing compared to this. I saw everything from bears riding bikes, and motorcycles, to 9 people coming out of a tiny convertible, to the stage turning into a huge water tank made just for the walrus that came out. All of this and it only cost us a whopping $12. Yep got to love Russia. then to top it off when we came out I saw lots of people huddling around what looked like two really ugly children. I got a little closer and the children were actually monkeys, just dressed in jeans and coats. So great. The real excitement came when we had to make dinner. Everyone was gone except Mindy and I.... and the chicken. Bluh. Still makes my stomach churn. We get to make some what of a grocery list for what we want for the weekend, but keep in mind that whatever we ask for is literally straight from the farm. Including the chicken. Mindy took it like a champ though.

Forgot to mention we went ice skating that morning.

 

The Saturday we woke up bright and early to get to our bus by 6:30. It was freezing. My hair was turning white as we stood in the dark waiting for our matrushka. 7:00 came around. Can't feel my thighs. 7:15 eyes might be frozen. 7:30 almost in tears and the bus finally shows up. We finally meet up with the rest of the people going on our little trip to Vladamir and Suzdal. There are about 25 of us all together, but with Gulia as our trusty leader it was no problem. We headed towards the bus to take us to Vladamir, as soon as I saw it the smile reappeared on my face. Double decker bus, Yes Please! Of course Mindy and I rushed to get the front of the top. It was like a never ending roller coaster. So great. We came to Vladamir first. It's an extremely old town we had learned a lot about in culture class. The day was spent seeing lots of old sights and playing on one of the best playgrounds I have found here.

It got freezing yet again, and we headed back on the bus around 7 that night to head for Suzdal. We all squished into these two vans and were on our way. It was a 45 minute drive, but after 15 minutes we pulled off the road to a bridge that went over a railroad track. Confused we all got out. We hear Gulia yelling, telling us it's about a twenty minute walk and to hurry back. The question was what were we walking to. So we crossed the bridge and found ourselves standing on the side of a huge open plain, which I guess was part of a frozen river with nothing around us. A little confused a took another look. In the far distance a could see a tiny white building, it was a cathedral. So we started walking.

Suzdal makes Logan look like New York. It's just teeny tiny. We headed straight for the monastery. When we got out of the van we were starving and exhausted. We looked up at the building and it looked cold and very unpleasant. The worry of the tiny backpack filled with no warm clothing or pillow felt a little too light on my back. I kept on reminding myself how sleeping in a monastery is a once in a life time opportunity, it wasn't helping much. The little priest man came out to greet us after awhile and lead us around towards the back of the cathedral to what looked more like stables. We headed up the steep stairs and opened the door. Relief flew over my body. It was warm! As we looked into our cute little room I knew I was going to love it. Not too mention the little monks that lived across.

 This looks a lot warmer in the day time.

Our cute little room.

 Our home away from home, away from home.

The next day was spent seeing a billion and one cathedrals. I swear everyone in the town could have their own personal cathedral. Who knew there could be so many. It was great to see though. We did find a huge hill and a cardboard box. So we put two and two together, best sledding I've had in a long while.

 A delicious Omelette 

The group, well part of them

 a cathedral

and another

 oh you can see three in this one

surprise

 a cathedral plus a nun

one more

 this one was at another monastery 

 this one is made out of wood w/o nails!

 this one is blue on the top, nbd

We got back late Sunday and I was completely exhausted. We have a full teaching week this week, but next weekend we get to go on our big vacation! Wahoo!

Just a little treat.

The Results Are In

See ya February, forgot to stop and say hello. I can't believe it is already March! Time is just flying by. The last few weeks have seemed like they have just jumbled into one. We are always on the go with something exciting to do every day. We have seen so much, and yet we still have so much more to see. Before I came I asked the most advisable source what the best things to do in Moscow were. Google came up with quite a few great ideas, but I decided it is about time I came up with my top ten so far. So here they are....


P.S. I don't know what is up with the spacing... sorry!


Top Ten Count Down:


10. The Gym (goom)
             This was a great place for any woman around the world. Definitely a boys worse nightmare, however, there is a cotton candy stand, snow cone machine, christmas lights, free bathrooms and a whole lot of food. It's basically like a mall x20, comparable to the Gateway, but inside and gorgeous. There are three levels and endless halls filled with every clothing line imaginable. (door handle is just for you mom!)

9. Swan Princess Ballet
             This was a once in a lifetime experience, literally. It was amazing to see not only a famous classic, but a ballet in Russia. The costumes were amazing and the seats were actually pretty great considering they were in the nosebleed section. You think by hiking up six flights of stairs you would need binoculars to see the little ballerinas, but we were on the first row of the balcony, and the railing in front of us had a nice cushion that you could rest your head on. That actually turned out to be a minor problem because I might have fallen asleep for a tiny moment in between the first and second act... I now can release any blame I put on my brothers for not coming to every one of my dance performances. But the dancing was really good. 

8.  Lock Bridges
             Love, romance, and kissing. That is what this bridge is all about. It was incredible to see! I thought I saw a lot of brides at Red Square, that must just be their first stop, because this place was bridetopia. There is a famous tradition in Moscow that when you get married you and your new spouse go to the lock bridge and put a lock on one of the trees there, so your love will never be broken. I had never seen so many locks in my life. They were all shapes, sizes and colors. They even had to put in new trees (which are really made out of metal) so that there would be more room for locks. The older ones were moved to the sidewalk on the side of the bridge. 

7. Hockey Game
             I was stoked for this event! Before we left, we were given specific instructions to not where any clothing suggesting that what team we were for or that we were even going to a hockey game. Conveniently I forgot my shirt that says "Russian Hockey Rocks My Socks" on it.... But I was expecting some serious brawling. Sadly this never happened, the only blood shed was when one of the players got knocked in the face. The game was still really exciting though. The cheerleaders were a hoot to watch since they were basically there to well look good I guess. They did nothing, they did have the most clothing I have ever seen on a cheerleader though, and they were very swift when it came to switching their pom poms to the other hand. 

6. Souvenir Market
             I have been to many souvenir markets, but nothing comes close to this one. The only thing they were lacking was, well souvenirs. As you approached the market there was a mungo castle in the distance. Then you entered what looked basically like a wooden fortress filled with rows and rows of tiny stands, lots of them were unoccupied due to the freezing cold and it was a week day. As we strolled through, "pashalsta" (please) was coming from every direction. Then boom, a huge hat was placed on your head, or another attack with a shawl made from a wolf with the head still attached. There were endless places to explore. We went to the back seen through some old fences and there was like a carnival scene with all sorts of creepy figures just deserted. Then we climbed to the cafe and it was a quaint little place filled with cats crawling around and a stuffed bear just hanging out in the corner. The coolest part was the fortress that surrounded the market. It went on forever and ever. The people there loved to chat no matter if you were speaking English or Russian they did not mind as long as you would nod your head occasionally. Last but not least, my first squatter was there. The only toilet I have paid for in Russia and it was a squatter. Very cleanly though, scariest part was the old lady that took your money in the front. Ooo and the people that stared at me when I got out. Might have been the non stop laughter that sparked that up though.

5. Victory Park
              This place is beautiful, I can't wait to see it in the spring time. There was a huge Maslenitsa lady right when we got off the metro. Then there was a wonderful cathedral of course, and the museum. I had no idea how much Russia went through during world war 2. It was such a humbling experience. I still can't believe how blessed I am. There was one room in the museum that almost put me into shock. It's called the hall of crystals. There were millions it seemed hanging from the ceiling each of them representing 10 soldiers that had died during the war. I was shocked. Then you add in all the others that died, it was unreal. Still gives me shivers. The museum was gigantic. Five floors of history. I was on overload and exhausted by the time we finished. Don't think we didn't cheer ourselves up with a bit of sharma after. That never gets old, however, I showed the trusty place we get our sharma to Nickili (our Russian friend) and he was appalled. We have yet to get sick from it though!

4. Mountains in the middle of the city
              Okay so I don't know the real name of this place, but it is quite great. Our Russian friends invited us to go to a snowboard party, which we didn't really know what that meant, but we were in. They said it was about 20 minutes away if we wanted to walk so we started the "walk". We came to a park that was surprising because we were in the middle of city and the park was huge. They said there was a little hill that everyone goes snowboarding on. We walked down a little hill thinking that was going to be about the size of the one we were going to, boy were we wrong. We turned the corner and this "hill" was a mountain. Hello hiking. We walked/ slid down to the bottom and found a little stream going through the middle of the park. There was a babooshka and her daughter filling up water jugs from it. Nick explained that it was Holy water that never freezes and is always fresh. I decided not to push my luck and supported Muron in trying it. After that they said we were almost  there. Almost meaning after you climb this mountain. When we finally got to the top the view was amazing. You could see the entire city. There were snowboarders everywhere. Then I looked to my right and there is just an igloo right in the middle. You could hear the music blasting and the different colored lights coming through the windows. After watching a few snowboarders go off the jumps and rails we headed to go inside. That's when I caught a glimpse of the tubing hill. It even had a lift to pull you back up. Went on my bucket list as soon as saw it. The inside of the igloo was even better. Disco ball, flashing lights and a dance floor. Doesn't get much better. Sadly we had to leave to catch our bus before the party even started, but the people were great and the atmosphere was even better. 

 

3. Gorky Park
                   Just the name of this park brings a smile to may face. Ever since we got here and saw ice skating on Red Square we had wanted to go. So we heard of this amazing ice rink at a park, so of course we had to find it. My picture of an ice skating rink in a park is a small roundish slab of ice, with a few couples here and there going round and round. This couldn't be more wrong. First of all I had never seen so many Subways in one place, but they seemed to be about every fifty feet in this park. When we finally got to the ice skating we climbed a little bridge and when I got to the top my jaw dropped. It went on forever! Wrapped around trees, through the whole park. There were so many people skating, families, couples, old men, little babooshkas, babies. It was great. For the first time I was actually excited to start skating! Sadly, they clean the ice from 3-5 and of course that was the time we were there. We decided to come back another day and explore the rest of the park. Holy moly, I have never seen so much in one park. Turn one corner there is just a fort with stuffed animals having a tea party inside, turn another corner there is a little ice sculpture playground. Walk a little more, oh you run into a full on space ship, just parked by the river. It was so fun! 

2. Cathedral of Christ
                    This has got to be one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen. You have to go through a security check just to go inside, but it is breath taking. The paintings and detail of every inch are so unique and beautiful. I could walk around there for hours. We even got to see the priest come out and do their little shpeal. Loved it! The cathedral was actually destroyed during the 1930's from the soviets, but they rebuilt it in the 1990's and they did amazing work.

Nuh Nuh Nuh Nuhhhhhhh..... and the number one is...


1. Red Square!
                     Of course this has to be number one. It's filled to the brim with so many sights with so much history. St. Basils cathedral is just as amazing on the inside as it is on the outside. The little church on the corner is always filled with such humble people singing and praying. Lenin's tomb, is well creepy, but such a sight to see. Then there is the Armory filled with so much history and riches. I have never seen so many fine things. There are statues, walls, and even the ceremony of the unknown soldier. So many things to see! I love it and could spend every day there.