SO, after we came back from our Westerly travels, we had a night at the American Home to do laundry and then the guys came to pick us up and take us to Nizhniy Novgorod. It ended up being kind of a boring city tourist-wise, but it was really fun to have a day with some cool Russians around. The great thing about our trip is that every part really had a new feel to it and it was a good mix of traveling and hanging out. Emily and I also had killer conversations almost every night, sometimes to my chagrin the next morning when the alarm clock went off.
After the day in NN, we hopped a night train to Kazan. It was uneventful except for the extreme heat! It was almost impossible to sleep, which is weird for me. Kazan ended up being my favorite Russian city so far, by far, no questions asked. First of all, people are extremely friendly and nice on the street. There aren't even any change Nazis! The city is totally pedestrian friendly and beautiful, with big walkways and rolling hills and parks. The fortress had both a mosque and a cathedral inside, and there is a huge Muslim population in the city. Maybe the duel culture background is what makes it so unusual for Russia. All the signs were in two languages and there was a lot of cool (not American!) music playing on the street. I plan to go back in the spring, and hopefully study there one day.
On the way back, we had planned a full day in NN, but after getting off the night train at 7am, we decided to try to find a quicker way back to Vladimir. There was no direct bus, so we ended up hitch hiking on the bus system: a group taxi got us to a little town half an hour away from Vladimir and a bus driver going through Vladimir agreed to make an extra stop there and drop us off. It was really fun! Now we are just back and resting up! It also sounds like I am going to get a new host because Kamila and I agreed that would probably be best for both of us. So, new year, new beginnings!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
New Year's Eve! (Winter travels part 2)
One of the nicest parts of my winter travels was getting to stay a few days with Masha and her family in Tula. It was just really nice to see the family dynamic and decorate a New Year's Tree and eat homemade food for a couple of days. And last year Masha spent the holidays in America so she understood our situation. A cool turn of events... They actually invited us to stay for the actual holiday, but we decided to spend it on Red Square in Moscow.
And what an experience! We left our hostel at 7 and went out to dinner, planning on being on Red Square around 9pm for the entertainment. It is the year of the rabbit this year, or as Emily said, more like the year of the playboy bunny based on the waitress's outfit. Anyway, our plan worked except for the fact that there was nothing on Red Square at 9pm except a small number of people milling around. We had to go through metal detectors and police searches to get in (they took our champagne, though everyone told us to bring it; I think that mostly they just take whatever they want), and then the square was covered in a grid of police officers, standing so close together that you had squeeze between them. It was pretty creepy and weird, because the underlying atmosphere was still. not. fun. Even on New Year's, the Russian undercurrent of hardship and gloom kept the mood WEIRD. It was really cold and we just ended up walking laps for three hours. People finally started showing up around 11:30, maybe because New Year's here is a very family oriented holiday and everyone started the holiday at home? We ended up right under the bell tower, where the crowd wasn't very thick at all. After that everyone else crowded in to the other half the square, but the police wouldn't let them past. They were also turning dark-skinned people away from the metal detectors at the beginning of the night, probably because of the recent unrest in the city, so I'm not sure how much of what we saw holds true for every year. Just weird to think that certain people would just never be allowed to welcome the New Year on Red Square...But that's Russia for you.
And there wasn't even a big screen so we could see the yearly address by the President! It was so weird. We saw one guy by himself that we thought we'd talk to for a bit, but he ended up coming up to us while talking on the phone and saying he needed a girl. ????????? He explained: to waltz with. He didn't know how but he was getting instructions from his friend. And he wasn't drunk at all! I finally extracted my hand from him and we bolted.
After the bells chimed and we saw the fireworks (very cool), everyone flooded the streets; marching down the street with thousands of people yelling Happy New Year was actually pretty cool. It is just so strange that everyone was telling us how people would be dancing and singing on the streets, super friendly, talking to each other and so on. I mean, I guess to be fair, there were a few small groups of friends sort of kicking up their heels a little, but it was not in any way a wild party. We headed home around 1 because we had been worked that the metro was going to be PACKED and insane, and it was....totally dead. I mean, no one at all was in the car. We did end the night drinking champagne and eating dunkin' donuts, though, so all's well that ends well.
And what an experience! We left our hostel at 7 and went out to dinner, planning on being on Red Square around 9pm for the entertainment. It is the year of the rabbit this year, or as Emily said, more like the year of the playboy bunny based on the waitress's outfit. Anyway, our plan worked except for the fact that there was nothing on Red Square at 9pm except a small number of people milling around. We had to go through metal detectors and police searches to get in (they took our champagne, though everyone told us to bring it; I think that mostly they just take whatever they want), and then the square was covered in a grid of police officers, standing so close together that you had squeeze between them. It was pretty creepy and weird, because the underlying atmosphere was still. not. fun. Even on New Year's, the Russian undercurrent of hardship and gloom kept the mood WEIRD. It was really cold and we just ended up walking laps for three hours. People finally started showing up around 11:30, maybe because New Year's here is a very family oriented holiday and everyone started the holiday at home? We ended up right under the bell tower, where the crowd wasn't very thick at all. After that everyone else crowded in to the other half the square, but the police wouldn't let them past. They were also turning dark-skinned people away from the metal detectors at the beginning of the night, probably because of the recent unrest in the city, so I'm not sure how much of what we saw holds true for every year. Just weird to think that certain people would just never be allowed to welcome the New Year on Red Square...But that's Russia for you.
And there wasn't even a big screen so we could see the yearly address by the President! It was so weird. We saw one guy by himself that we thought we'd talk to for a bit, but he ended up coming up to us while talking on the phone and saying he needed a girl. ????????? He explained: to waltz with. He didn't know how but he was getting instructions from his friend. And he wasn't drunk at all! I finally extracted my hand from him and we bolted.
After the bells chimed and we saw the fireworks (very cool), everyone flooded the streets; marching down the street with thousands of people yelling Happy New Year was actually pretty cool. It is just so strange that everyone was telling us how people would be dancing and singing on the streets, super friendly, talking to each other and so on. I mean, I guess to be fair, there were a few small groups of friends sort of kicking up their heels a little, but it was not in any way a wild party. We headed home around 1 because we had been worked that the metro was going to be PACKED and insane, and it was....totally dead. I mean, no one at all was in the car. We did end the night drinking champagne and eating dunkin' donuts, though, so all's well that ends well.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Christmas! (Winter Adventures Part 1)
So my winter break has been absolutely fabulous! I got some adorable rabbit gifts from my students at the end of the year and WAAAAY too much cake and candy to count. The kitchen table at the American Home was just PILED with spoiling cream and sugar conconctions for days. Gross.
And, I'm not going to lie, seeing everyone leave for home one by one was pretty hard. Even knowing that they are going to come back with peanut butter and brown sugar and vanilla flavoring and other American delicacies. But Emily and I made a Christmas dinner for some of our favorite friends in Russia and it was spectacular. Unfortunately, the AH wasn't very supportive and sometimes even asked us to help grade/give oral exams while we were working in the kichens. Hmmmm.....But in general it was really fun to have sleepovers in the upstairs classroom for a couple of nights and get massive amounts of food from the markets for our traditonal dinner. The gang was all there and Sasha brought wine that his mom made and the ham was beautiful...It was really, really great. We played games, listened to Christmas music, and even skyped with my sister. And on Christmas day, we did some shopping and prepped for our fantastic adventures through the cities of Russia!
Our first city was Moscow, complete with a Russian opera at the Bolshoy Theater. I actually messed up the dates a bit, so we had to scramble and get a third night at our hostel, but it all worked out. (We may or may not have dressed up and gone to the Bolshoy a day early, and we definitely DID.) BUT luckily Emily is the best person in the whole world to travel with and we just had a night on the town e juthat night. (Seriously, I don't know when I've had this much fun on a trip, we arst exactly on the same page; usually after even a week or 5 days I am ready for major time to myself). And the Tzar's Bride was a beautiful production, the set and costumes and Russian dances on stage were really just stunning. And they had big screens with subtitles in English too! A nice surprise...
And, I'm not going to lie, seeing everyone leave for home one by one was pretty hard. Even knowing that they are going to come back with peanut butter and brown sugar and vanilla flavoring and other American delicacies. But Emily and I made a Christmas dinner for some of our favorite friends in Russia and it was spectacular. Unfortunately, the AH wasn't very supportive and sometimes even asked us to help grade/give oral exams while we were working in the kichens. Hmmmm.....But in general it was really fun to have sleepovers in the upstairs classroom for a couple of nights and get massive amounts of food from the markets for our traditonal dinner. The gang was all there and Sasha brought wine that his mom made and the ham was beautiful...It was really, really great. We played games, listened to Christmas music, and even skyped with my sister. And on Christmas day, we did some shopping and prepped for our fantastic adventures through the cities of Russia!
Our first city was Moscow, complete with a Russian opera at the Bolshoy Theater. I actually messed up the dates a bit, so we had to scramble and get a third night at our hostel, but it all worked out. (We may or may not have dressed up and gone to the Bolshoy a day early, and we definitely DID.) BUT luckily Emily is the best person in the whole world to travel with and we just had a night on the town e juthat night. (Seriously, I don't know when I've had this much fun on a trip, we arst exactly on the same page; usually after even a week or 5 days I am ready for major time to myself). And the Tzar's Bride was a beautiful production, the set and costumes and Russian dances on stage were really just stunning. And they had big screens with subtitles in English too! A nice surprise...
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