Russia: myths unveiled, facts to be true, and a few of my favorite things

Whenever I mentioned that I was about to head off to Russia I got many mix reactions. Either excitement, amazement, or pure astonishment. However, it was almost always followed by a bit of knowledge or a word of advice. Whether this information was true, well that was always questionable. After being here for a few weeks now, I have come to realize the truths and the myths so for my blog this week, I thought I would share the inside knowledge about Russia:

Myths:


1. Russians are unfriendly and cranksters, resist smiling and talking to strangers at all times- I have found this to be completely untrue. Every single person we have talked to has been sincere and kind, although, I can see how people can get confused. While sitting on the metro, an elderly lady turned to me and began to yell. I was completely lost and with my best attempt replied with "nyet paruski". (no Russian) I have learned through much experience that this phrase has absolutely no effect when you are speaking to a Russian. They simply will ignore it and continue repeating whatever they are trying to tell you in a louder voice. Anyways this lady followed the trend and kept yelling. I looked around in confusion and with another attempt replied, "ya nyet pawnee mayoo". (I don't understand) Finally she took a breathe and with the help of one of the girls in my group, I found out she was simply asking me what my name was and where I was from. I have met many amazing people here with the kindest hearts.


2. Russian men are unattractive and eye you like a turkey on Thanksgiving- well this has it's truths about it, but definitely not as much as I was told. There are actually many, many attractive males here. I thought signing a no dating contract would be no sweat, however, it has been a bit more challenging than I planned. The stare down, however, was no joke. It's not just males though, everyone stares. I have learned after awhile how to blend in a bit more, but as soon as I open my mouth the eyes turn and they don't move. As soon as they hear English, there is no going back. 


3. The food in Russia is nasty, say hello to potatoes and beets- The first food I was introduced to here was shwarma, which is my all time favorite. I still get obscure looks whenever I tell anyone here this. Shwarma is a burrito type thing that is made of, well that is a mystery. Even to the natives it is unknown, but what you don't know can't hurt you right? Other than the fish our cook tries to sneak in meals here and there, that I have liked almost everything I have eaten, except the buckwheat, but it's rarely on our plate since Lenna, our chef found out we didn't like it. Except when she adds it to our morning porridge thinking we won't notice. The fruit is really good here which always amazes me and we never seem to go a day without a delicious homemade pastry.


4. Men are intoxicated 99.9% of the time- Well this definitely has some truths to it also. Vodka is as common here as churches are in Utah. You know when it is around, because the smell is not unnoticeable at all. In fact, when a person drinks, it seems like it is all or nothing. You can smell it from a mile away and the zig zag walking gives away a little hint too. So while seeing a drunk man on the metro is a daily occurrence, everyone is not drunk. 

TRUTHS:


1. Russians have very strange superstitions-
This is completely true. When I heard that girls are not supposed to sit on the floor because their ovaries would freeze, I must admit I let out a little giggle. Well get ready for a talking to if you decide to do it, however, I wouldn't doubt this to be true with the freezing cold weather. 


2. Babooshkas will save your life-
Whenever in doubt, just find a babooshka. They are all over the place and these ladies are tough. Many times we will pass little old women shoveling the walk ways, or standing in the freezing cold selling items. This country would be lacking a lot with out these fine ladies. 


3. RUSSIA IS FREEZING!!-
This with out a doubt is an understatement. I never knew how cold, cold was until I came here. It makes Logan's winter seem like a Hawaiian vacation. Whenever we are in the positives we call it a good day. I never knew my eyelashes could freeze. 

A few of my favorite things:


1. Colored toilet paper that is indeed scented
 
 2. Our daily breakfast

3. My students, especially Maksim

4. Our culture cooking classes

 Blini

 Palmani Classic Borscht

5. The delicious cereal that serves as a snack, meal and midnight treat

6. Digestive biscuits with peanut butter (Don't be fooled by the name)

7. Postcards for home and the adventures to the post office

8. Quality time with Mindy

9. Mile long escalator rides

10. The thousand cathedrals that are all different

11. The people that make me smile (yep call me a creep)

 Notice the boots tucked in..... Velvet purple pants, yes please

12. The little pieces of home I find here uh I don't know why it's all food places...

13. Random statues, bears, and men

14. Maslenitsa! (pancake week)

15. Last, but not least, the squatter. Payed 20 rubles to use this beaut. 

a sneak peak of a week

It's been almost three weeks since I left America! THREE weeks! I can't believe it. I don't even know where to start. Clearly I need to be writing things down a bit more. So I resorted to my camera. Days speed by here and I try to take a glimpse of what it is like every day. So here is the past two weeks mixed for a little sneak peak of a typical week for the Americans attempting to be Russians....

But first, this is a tiny tribute to our good friend Sasha/ Alexander/ S-man. He had to leave abruptly one night and we still do not know why? Only in Russia.... 

          Waving goodbye at the window.

 Sunday: Always an adventure. Wake up and scrounge for some food, because sadly Lenna is not here. Hurry and get ready for the two hour trek to church, take a moment for the typical silent debate wearing pants over my tights so my legs don't freeze or tough it out so I don't have to carry them around.... Very tricky choice. Then head to the bus with a bag that entails: Two pairs of scriptures (Mindy's and mine), two apples, two clementines, a granola bar, maybe a pastry or two if we are lucky, notebook, camera, water bottles. Which all adds up to lugging a bag around that weighs about fifty pounds. Step outside and  become awkwardly aware of any boogs in your nose because they immediately freeze on the way to the bus that supposedly comes every 8-12 minutes meaning 20-25. Or maybe the time just seems like it is in slow motion because it is freezing. Take a little snoozer on the way to the metro where we usually get lost once or twice, but with a quick fix we are back on track. 

For some reason the walk from the metro to our church is always freezing, but this passed Sunday was the worst! I never knew your eyes could freeze shut while you were wide awake, walking, but they can. I guess the water streaming from my eyes because it was so cold had an instant effect. Once we get to church it is smooth sailing from there. We always get to talk to interesting people and the little babooshkas are just great. By the time we are heading home we are starving and don't really notice the cold. We get home around six and start planning for the rest of the week. 

sometimes we get the motivation to workout, however, weights are hard to find....

Monday: Wake up at six, okay at least by 6:20, bright and early though, well minus the bright since the sun doesn't come up till nine. Layer it up because it is going to be FREEZING! We have to be out the door by 6:45. We hurry to the bus stop and pray that it will be there soon. We head to the metro and hustle and bustle so we can get to the university by 8:50. Most of the time our students are there long before us. After the University class we usually explore for an hour and then have to hurry home so we can get back for lunch. Then it's straight to teach the basic reading class and then rush to our elementary school class. If we don't slip and fall on the way there, we call it a good day. Mindy didn't have a good day. At least it is a pretty walk.

Tuesdays: Sleep in day! Yipee. We have breakfast at nine then head to our Russian Language class by ten. Our teacher is super cute and not that much older than us. Last week we learned the Russian alphabet, well part of it. There are 33 letters that tend to look a lot like pictures sometimes. We teach both of our classes and then usually have a little family night. This week was Valentine's day, so we tried to do a little celebration. The kids had no idea what we were talking about really, but we had a huge girl's night to celebrate. (Yes, every night is basically a girl's night, but it sounds better when it is announced). We made our first cookies, well cookie dough. They didn't quite make it to the oven and we visited the store we found down the street. Then of course we had to pop in a good chick flick, ended up being a pretty nice Valentines. 

Wednesdays: These are always interesting and filled with a new surprise. We have to be out to the "sun" to meet our handy dandy big yellow van, that is ducked taped together in some places. We learned our driver really likes bread with cheese, and fruit so we always sneak him some from breakfast when Lenna is not looking. After about a thirty minute drive to who knows where, we end up at the Captain school for our culture classes with Gulia. The first week, we were able to make blini, which is basically a crepe and then we learned all about the Russian holidays (they have like 500). Yesterday we learned how to make borsch and I tried it for the first time. Nuh nuh nuh nuuuu it was surprisingly very good. After culture class we have to hurry back (yes we are always in a hurry, that is when you know you are a Russian, if you are always rushin' hahaha). We got straight to lunch then to teach our classes that end at six. 

Thursdays: Glorious Thursday! This is my favorite day of the week. Not only do we get to sleep in, but we do not have basic reading and we get to use the gym! Now don't think I am crazy for wanting to use the gym, when I say gym I mean the gigantic swimming pool with two slides that are soooooo long you almost think it never is going to end. It is my favorite. Not too mention the full Russian culture you receive while swimming. Like the lovely old ladies in their bikinis and the birthday suites in the locker room. Oh but don't forget about the males in their fancy speedos. Nope nothing is better than a Thursday. This is a picture of what Mindy and I call our "quality time". 

Fridays: TGIF still stands here. I do enjoy my fridays. Well as soon as classes are over! I am free as a bee. That is not till around 6:30 however, so we tend to stay at our apartments on friday nights and play games. It is a lot of fun. Last week we had a nurtz competition. Never ending games of fun. Then we mix a little laundry time in with our games. Just to keep it interesting. This is our first time doing laundry. There are usually no lights on around the school so you can't forget the headlamp, although, we did accidentally forget our laundry bag. Luckily Mindy put her sweat shirt to good use. 

Saturdays A.K.A Adventure day: Yep definitely another one of my favorites. These days are always jammed packed with things to do. We usually head for the city pretty early, well around ten and then go find historical sites, go shopping, try new foods, go to dances. Things like that. Last Saturday we miss our bus to go back home though. Just saw it drive right on by. So after running away from a man that was so kind to stop get out of his car and plead for us to let him give us a ride, we headed to the other metro stop to see if we could catch our other bus. No luck. We ended up having to get back on the metro and go to the head teacher at Moscow 1 school. It ended up being about a four hour journey to try and find home, but at least we were sleeping in the metro. 

That is it. A little sneak peak of the week. We have lots of surprises every day and I can't believe how fast the days are going now. Loving it. Missing family and friends though for sure!

Teaching like a Teacher

See ya first week of being in Russia. I am basically a Russian now. I even seem to run every where I am going. Maybe that is why they are called Russians, cause they are always rushing.... haha I still think thats funny even though I have heard it just about every day. We officially made it through the first week. I have seen my hair freeze, learned the basics of the metro, met some drunken men and ate more danishes than I have in my life put together.


The first day of school was on Wednesday. Mindy and I are in charge of basic reading class and then we have a regular class right after that. So Wednesday afternoon we trekked through our building to the second floor and over to the main school building. Luckily these building are connected so we do not have to put on our thousand layers to get over there. We began the set up, excited for the first day of teaching. Class begins at 2:15 and we waited in anticipation as the time slowly got closer. We heard footsteps running down the hall and stood up, excitement racing through, the footsteps stopped just shy of our door and we heard another door open and close. The clock continued to pass... five, ten then fifteen minutes. Sarah went to talk to one of the other teachers about where our class was. She came back a few minutes later and relayed the news. Our entire class was absent. We let out a slight sound of disappointment, then remembered it was tea time and quickly got over it.


Tea time has to be one of the best times of the day. We rarely get to attend since we have basic reading at 2:15 to 3:45 and then our regular class begins at 4 and ends at 6, however, this class is on the other side of the neighborhood. So we have to run/ ice skate over there as quickly as possible. But today we sat and enjoyed some delicious pastries homemade by our chef Lenna. Of course we spent too much time there and had to run to our rooms to get our things and then off to the school.


As we got there the students began to stroll in. These kids are hilarious. We have all sorts of personalities, from the sweetest little girl, Lera, that can't stop hugging your leg to kissing your cheek, to the girls that belong on a new "Mean Girls: Mini Style". We have one boy, Maxism, that is just the cutest thing you could imagine. He always is wearing short overall type jeans, with striped long johns underneath topped with a smile that you can't resist. We went through our opening routine quickly and soon we split up into our individual classes. We began with saying our names. This was a challenge all by itself. The children would laugh hysterically as I would try to force my mouth to create a sound I had never heard before. The day was a bit of a challenge. By the time I was finished my hair looked like I had just stepped out of a convertible flying down the freeway at 120 mph, tokens were everywhere, and my voice was just about gone.


We rushed back to our safe haven knowing dinner would be waiting for us. As we got down to the kitchen everything was dark, which was not unusual so we continued towards the cafeteria. The table that usually held a delicious assortment of food was empty. We looked around in confusion and as we peered over to our right we saw a table filled with food, but placed directly in the corner. Like a time out chair. We sat down in confusion, but too hungry to care, however, there was no buckwheat insight so I was grateful for that. I have loved almost all the food I have eaten here, except buckwheat. Oh and the salad I tried that I thought was chicken, but it was in fact fish. It had water jugs and toilet paper sitting next to it, so we knew it was ours. Lenna came to explain that this will now be our table for every meal. As if we did not stick out enough. Earlier that day we had even sat with the children, wanting to branch out. Later that night we asked one of the directors about it. We found out that they have assigned seating at our school and we had been confusing people left and right. I still have a slight hunch that this isn't the full reason but I will except it for now.


Mornings our great since we do not teach until 2 o'clock. Yesterday we got to spend the day in laziness. We started by doing our first workout in Russia with a little Jillian Michaels and rewarded our selves by doing our nails and having a good needed girl chat with the whole group. We went to lunch and then were off to the work room wanting to get our lesson plans ready, with the sad though of missing tea time.


We learned quickly that this was going to be no easy task. Yesterday went a lot better. I was in charge of drama so I decided to do Snow White. While I was planning I could see the children loving dressing up and singing HI HO HI HO, joyfully in a circle. Never do lessons go the way you plan. I ended up doing a little dance and acting like a gangsta for most of the time and covered in sweat. So much for needing to workout. It's all about improv. Second day ended with my first real life drama. I had my first cryer, Dima. At the end of the day we do what is called store and the children get to pick an item based on how many tokens they earned that day. Dima was choosing from the 10-20 category when he spotted a much bigger prize and that is when the waterfall came. I have seen some good fake cries, but this one tops the charts. He had real tears within seconds and the saddest face I had ever seen. I had to hold in my laughter as he looked at me with desperation thinking I would easily give in. As I explained that he did not have enough tokens and tried to redirect his attention to the other toys he stopped crying long enough to choose one and then was out the door looking like he had just witnessed a crime.


This teaching thing might be a bit more challenging than I thought, but the kids are adorable and I think once I get the hang of it. It will be a lot better. Today we have both of our classes so hello overload, but it's the weekend so we get to go explore tomorrow! WAHOOOO!!!