Culture tips from Nelli...

My Russian classes have gotten really cool lately. Basically, my professor knows everything about everything cool that goes on in the cities of the area and she is always giving me tips on interesting places to go, museums, etc. I take that information and have my awesome Russian friends drive me to those places. It works like a dream :)

I'm also going to see a Russian play on my birthday, so I told Nelli about that and we are going to discuss it in class before I go so I have some cultural context for it. I'm really digging having these private lessons which can really take any direction that I want them too. In fact, about three days in a row I've delayed Ann's lesson for 15 minutes just because we get so into talking about stuff.

One really interesting thing she told me is that all Russian city streets used to end in churches. (That was the thing to do apparently). Anyway, now there is only one street in Vladimir that still does that (she told me where to find it, of course!).

On one of the Nelli-inspired outings, Artem took me and Emily to Suzdal where we saw this really cool church made out of wood, as well as other old fashioned buildings on display. We also picked up some AMAZING mead, which the city is famous for, and made fun of the Russian abhorrence for making change. Seriously, in America, would you ever hand someone a $20 bill for an $8 purchase and get a look that could kill? That is the norm here. People are always sighing, asking if you have less, even fricking shaking you down if they hear change jingling in your pocket!!!! A lot of times, there isn't change, but even when there is it is ALWAYS an issue. We have adapted a rap song to commemorate the frustration we feel for this sort of encounter. Some key lines include "Make some change, make some change, make some mother *****ing change (I see that money in your box) it's your JOB to make that change..." and so on :D Artem and Andrey found that pretty funny, too.

I also bullied Sasha into taking us on a wild adventure to Mstora, a city famous for making the elaborate lacquer boxes Russia is famous for. Artem decided to skip school and we just made a day of it, leaving Vladimir at 7:am in the dark. We got there to find this INCREDIBLY small, dingy, old fashioned Russian town. No famous museum, no glitz, no glamour. And yet, people travel from all over the world to get art made from that city. Anyway, we were an hour early for the museum, Sasha was totally sure that we were going to get robbed, but we made him get out and walk around for a while. We also decided to ask people for directions in English just because it was SUCH an out-of-the-way little town and we wanted to see what people would do, but Artem ruined it by jumping in in Russian, making us look like TOTAL jerks since he was obviously Russian lololol.

Anyway, the museum wasn't all that great, and they told us that we couldn't see the actual artists without calling first (which my director already had done), but luckily she is always willing to go to bat for us, so between me, Artem, Sasha, and Galina Petrova (via cell phone) we managed to bully our way into a tour of the
'factory'. It was really just a bunch of people working in various rooms of a big, dingy old house, but the art was amazing. We didn't see the most famous artists, because they wont show anyone their secrets. But, we did get to see the feathers and wolf teeth that are used in the polishing and dusting processes, and watch the artists paint with magnifying glasses and even ask some of the nicer ones questions. It was really the coolest thing ever, and I am SOOOOOO happy that I have such amazing students who are willing to show me parts of Russia I could never see on my own :D Sasha even saved us about $30 by accidentally telling our guide that we had already paid when we hadn't. They were so rude to us that no one really minded....

This next week we are doing progress reports and getting ready to cook a Thanksgiving dinner....I'm excited for my birthday and trying to come up with a good plan for the winter break....I've been playing ping pong with my students and we are hoping to make dinner together soon....all good things.

Love you all!