Summer in Vladimir

It really feels like summer has set in, so I have actually made it through a full cycle of seasons in Russia. I even got a little burned sitting out before my class the other day. Unfortunately, the weather has been terrible every day that I have a full afternoon free, but I'm determined to make it to the lake this week. One downside of the weather, though, is that I want to put LESS footwear on my feet and Russians find this absurd. Even at airports they hand out the weird blue plastic foot covers that show up everywhere, because Russian people honestly would not walk 20 feel through security in their socks.

Summer also brings the Loss of Hot Water in Vladimir. Every year, the city digs up pipes and every apartment in town, including the million dollar ones, lose hot water for two weeks. Does it seem to anyone else like a full on renovation of the water system might just be more efficient overall?

Adam and I have been sitting in on each other's Russian lessons, which means we have 4-5 lessons a week. It has been going really well, but I'm definitely ready for the ballet break next Wednesday. We are going into Moscow for that, and might stop by and see some English teaching schools too. (Our interviews last week seemed to go well, but unfortunately there aren't any positions in Sochi...)

Last time we were in Moscow, we found this book by Vladimir Lyubarov. He is a contemporary Russian artist who paints solid, gray, somewhat fantastical pictures of Russian Soviet life. He also writes hilarious reflections to go with them with photographs from his life. Some of my current favorites are "Why I paint fat women." (because he is from the country and all the women there are young, very beautiful, and fat, and also the center of anything that actually gets done) and "How I didn't become a football player." His paintings are all very clever, too, with lots of irony about Soviet life. For example, one is called "Fish Thursdays" from the old Soviet law that on Thursdays, all restaurants had to serve fish. Why? Because fish is healthy. Never mind that people were traveling 3-4 hours to Moscow to buy groceries... Anyway, I'm really excited to go see some of his pieces in Moscow with my grandma this summer.

I can't wait to see everyone this summer! I made copies of a hand-drawn family tree for my class the other day and it almost made me tear up...