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!