Midterm Break...

Well, we are in the middle of exams and next week I will be heading to St. Petersburg with everyone! I'm super excited. This week has been pretty terrible, due to the fact that my students keep cheating. I was almost reduced to tears in one class. It was my adult class, and all my friends are in that class, so it should have been the easiest oral exam to run. They just couldn't or wouldn't get it, though. I'd try to give someone a chance to find their own mistake and someone else would tell them, either in Russian or English. The whole situation was tense and awful for everyone involved, including the people who weren't cheating (they all had their heads in their hands looking ashamed on behalf of their classmates). It is just so blatant and disrespectful... Plus grading my friends sucked. Blah.

BUT! On the bright side, my friend Sasha (who is one of my all around favorite people here) kicked butt on the oral exam because he worked so fricking hard on it. He even came in on his birthday to do extra practice with me and we ended up having this awesome conversation about war/international policy based on the question "Who is the President of the United States?" I actually used some of my vocabulary from this summer; it's funny how something that was so awful and stressful back then is actually really awesome and enriching here. Anyway, I've decided that Sasha is actually an American who was born in Russia because his ideas and personality are really, really unusual especially for Russian men.

In general Artyom, Boris and Sasha are super awesome. We do all this crazy fun stuff, like last week they took me to an arcade and we bowled and drove in bumper cars and ended up racing around a little playground in the middle of the night. And ice skating is coming up on Sunday.... I feel like I'm finally getting into the Russian part of Russia, and I'm SOSOSOSOSOSO happy that we're friends. I'm still hoping to make friends with some Russian girls, but weirdly the cultural differences seem to be more of a problem there, at least so far.

Anyway, coming up in the next few weeks: I have to run a workshop for Russian English teachers. "What?" you might ask. "Don't they have way more experience than you do?" Well, let me tell you, I asked the same thing. But it sounds like more of an English practice session for them combined with cultural discussions (I will be giving the American weddings powerpoint again) and some new ideas for games to play in the classroom. At least we are going straight to Peter after that if things go badly. Nothing like getting out of town for a couple of days...

This next week we are also having a Halloween party, complete with...limbo and musical chairs? Apparently they demand those games at every party so you can imagine me limbo-ing to the monster mash next Saturday...probably dressed in Candy Land gear. Hmmmm....

Still haven't been homesick, despite having been weirdly out of touch with almost everyone for a while. This whole year has an unusual feel to it. It's all very formative I'm sure. Anyway, I'm thinking a lot about what I want to do next year, and more and more I'm thinking that a second year in Russia might be in order....or maybe Spain? I'll see how things feel in a couple of months. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Moscow

I just got back from Moscow, which has serious potential to be my favorite city in the world. I reserve a special spot for Madrid, and New York really captured my heart in June. But there is something about Moscow, some unique Russian character, something about the Red Square and the river and the lights at night. Not to mention the Bolshoi Theater, which was everything I hoped and dreamed. It actually makes me a little sad to be back in Vladimir...

Ending golden autumn....

So about a week ago, Vladimir was bright yellow trees, sunshine and golden light. Hard not to be happy and relaxed in weather like that...The weather is getting colder and wetter now, and I can definitely feel more of the stress of living in a foreign country. I feel like I'm getting a lot more of the real Russian experience, though. I finally got tired of my students not inviting me anywhere and just asked a few of my favorites if they wanted to come to a bar with me and Alli. They all jumped at the chance, so I will probably ask another group of my favorites soon. Anyway, that was Friday night, and last night Alex's host invited us over to his palace...I mean, house. It is huge, overlooking a valley, and has an outdoor fireplace/bar in a nice backyard...right in the middle of Vladimir. We trailed in with our meager offerings of chocolate and wine to find a fantastic spread of grilled vegetables, breads, cheeses and by the end of night, blue label whiskey. Price unknown but rumor has it that that brand is somewhere between 200 and $400. I have his host mom for a student, but she was at a wedding this weekend so I didn't actually see her. I did, however, get to meet his Russian host sister. Six years old, bright red pigtails, totally fun to hang out with. I brought her a pencil that said "Princess" on it, and before I even got it out she told me that she is really into princesses. Perfect. She made me necklaces out of clay, sang for me, checked my Russian reading ability and generally reminded me of all little girls :) She clearly doesn't take us seriously as adults at all, though, given our lack of Russian. When Emily was cutting the cake, Natalia was right there praising her for not making a mess, and later in the night she brought me over to a nook in the wall and said "This is a (something)." Thinking it was some incomprehensible new word, I asked her to repeat it and she explained again "This is a leaf in a bottle." It was pretty cold outside, but we were all huddled around a fire, drinking whiskey and making toasts Russian style. You have to stand up, give a short speech and then everyone takes a shot. I think there were nine or ten of these, so you better believe I started taking half shots...then sips....then pouring my drink into Adam's cup, which turned out to be not such a great idea for him, but hey. It's hard to complain while getting drunk on expensive whiskey at a Russian house big enough to have a ping pong table room. Anyway, I stood up and said how nice it was to see our host with his son and daughter, and how playing with her made me think of my own sisters, and how it really made me realize that there aren't such big differences between families around the world, so, to Family. That went over pretty well :D It was also just really interesting to hear this man's take on growing up in the Soviet Union, how he used to hate Americans as a little boy, how he used to believe that there was no comradery at all between Americans because that was printed in the newspapers all the time. Apparently, his grandfather fought with Americans in the second world war, drank a truck full of whiskey with them, and told him that Americans "are good guys". He didn't believe it as a child, but is so glad that his life has brought him to a point where he is hosting 7 American teachers at his house with his family there beside him. It made me remember why I'm in Russia....
And today we are getting ready to go to a free play with some of Adam's students. It will be in the park and it supposed to be about traditional Russian fairy tales, which could be hard to understand, but it's hard to beat free. After that there is a disco skate at a local indoor skating rink...Have I mentioned that I'm working a lot less? Horseback riding was BEAUTIFUL and amazing the other weekend, next weekend I am going to Moscow, Adam and I are hoping to make it to a Sunday matinee at the Bolshoy Theater and life is generally good. Love love love!