Pics of week 4

 With one of the soldiers who works at the museum

Next to a bomb shell

 I have no clue what this is

 Dostoevsky!!!!!!

 So many weapons

Why do Russians have this????

 My scooby doo magazine and the giant brick of ice cream

 Actors from the play

 Hot dogs and noodles it is whats for breakfast

 Dostoevsky station!

The Russians are now addicted to tobasco sauce and salsa.

speaking Russian

Well I just got back from hanging out with some of my classmates and some Russian friends. It is Friday night and we had a long week of class. I can't believe another week is coming to an end. I have learned so much while being here. On Thursday I had my individual lesson with my teacher. We had a conversation in Russian for nearly 90 mins. There was very little English used. My professor is great. She has helped me become much more confident in my speaking abilities. I am also starting to actually comprehend all of the grammar. I bought some Russian textbooks to bring back with me. One of them is a simplified Russian history book. So excited to read about Russian history in Russian while in Russia!!! I also found a Russian/Arabic book. It is Arabic fairy tales written in Arabic and Russian. I am nerdly excited about translating that book in both of those languages.
Another then class, I didn't do a whole lot. After class I just took a nap. I haven't been able to sleep most of the week or at least sleep well. I finally got about 2ish hours of decent sleep. Then went to the store to get some groceries...ok more of snack/junk food. What can I say I am a college student who is avoiding using the kitchen. This is mainly due to how deformed and unclean the kitchen utensils are. Anyways, Russia has so many different types of juices. I am addicted to the cherry juice. My roommate really likes the strawberry juice. I think I am going to try some before I leave. I then got some chips and was happy that I didn't need the pictures to tell me what I was eating. They have bacon chips...so yummy! My friend got crab chips and caviar chips...I don't plan on trying these at all. OOO, yesterday I bought some ice cream. Well when I bought I read chocolate on the wrapper twice (which was all I needed to persuade me to buy it) But I  figured it was an ice cream sandwich...However it was a giant block of very tasty ice cream.
Then when I was hanging out with the Russians I attempted to speak Russian with them. That was really cool. They would answer in English. This way we both got practice.
Tomorrow we are going to the souvenir fair! I am so ready to buy some souvenirs that are not all books, even though I love my books.
Well it is 1 a.m. and I got to get up at 7 to talk to my father (who is in Texas) and my sister (who is in Singapore). I am not sure how we figured out a time that works for all 3 of us.

It is such a small world after all

Monday:
It isn't every day that you get to see a friend from field training in Moscow. At 5:30 a.m. I went to catch the 1st metro of the morning. When I got off there was a friend from field training waiting for me. We were in the same flight last year and I found out that he was in Moscow for 2 days I did my best to see him. We got to hang out before he had to catch the train to Siberia. I found it amazing to be able to see a friend who I haven't seen in a year in another country. It is definitely a small world. When I made back to campus I had to drink a lot of coffee or more of a liquid donut (it had a lot of sugar in it). As a lot of you know coffee and are not a good combo...but I survived class and learned a lot. Then we attempted to go play soccer, but someone was mowing the yard and shooed us away. That evening we got to go to the opera. I kept an open mind as I went to it. The Opera was Evgeny Onegin based on Pushkin's novel and made into an opera by Tchaikovsky. I have read the novel before, but wasn't sure if I would like the opera. The 1st part was a little to slow for me. But, I really liked the 2nd  half. I was in awe over the music and the singing. I got excite when I knew some of the words they were singing.
Tuesday:
We just had class, but for once everything just clicked. The light bulb in my head is beginning to slowly flicker on. After class I did my homework and then made flashcards for 3 hours. Not that exciting but wait until all of those flashcards cover my apartment walls back in the states.
Wednesday:
After breakfast today, 3 of us decided to go to the Central Armed Forces Museum. We didn't have class until 2:15 and I wanted to go check out the museum. It was amazing, even though I couldn't read all of it. (I took pictures of some of the descriptions to translate later). This place was perfect for someone who loves history and the military. The Russians were very proud about beating the Nazis, there were giant boxes full of  iron crosses. We went outside and found some cool military equipment. There were migs, tanks, and rockets. It was so cool!!! There were some soldiers in charge of keeping the equipment clean. I asked one of them if I get a picture with him (in really good Russian). He seemed surprised and excited about it. He also wanted to take a picture with my friend YaMila. I think he was surprised to see a black woman. It was kind of funny. He ran to go get his phone and his friend. I was happy to understand part of his Russian.
This evening on the way home from the store I was asked by a Russian if I was German. I replied "no" even though I am part German. After seeing how happy the Russians were about defeating the Nazis, I am pretty sure they are not big fans of Germans.
It was a great couple of days! I am sad that I only have a few days left here. 

Photos of this past week

Penguins!!!

A cool fountain we found

Christ the Savior church

 Sunny and I

The group at the ballet...well half of us

 At the Ballet

Hanging out with the Russians

men in tights, historical paintings, american food and a microwave in the bathroom

I apologize for not writing. This weekend was very busy. So be prepared, this will probably become a long blog.

Men in tights: Well Friday night we went to go "Sleeping Beauty". Even though I am not as interested in performing arts as I am literature it was still an amazing performance. The dancers did a fantastic job, I was highly impressed on the pure muscle they had to have to be able to do some of the things they were doing. One of the girls was on her tiptoes for what seemed like a good 2 minutes or even longer. It looked painful. Then their costumes were so beautiful. Even from being on the balcony I could still see how much detail was on their costumes. The one thing I wonder is how can they wear these tight clothes and not get wedgies during mid performance....just wondering. 

Historical paintings: Yet again I am not that interested in paintings and art, but Saturday morning when I walked through the Tretaykov gallery I felt like I was looking at history. My favorite part was the 12 and 13th century art. It was all of the art work I had learned about: the first martyrs for the orthodox church Boris and Gleb, St. George and the dragon and so many more. It was so amazing. I am really glad that I have had the chance to learn about all of these historic paintings and was able to actually appreciate them. 

American food: Saturday afternoon I got to meet a future teacher for Tech (his name is Anton) and his girlfriend( Marina). They were really nice and we worked a little on Russian and English. I am hoping the next time we hang out that we speak more Russian. Marina loves literature like I do and so we ended up walking to many of the famous Russian writers statues. It was wonderful and almost unrealistic. I couldn't believe I was walking by the houses that these great writers had lived in. It was awesome that Marina knew so much about a lot of the Russian writers.She was surprised I had heard and read so many Russian works. I felt like my friend Sunny and I had our very own tour guides. While we were walking around the city we stopped to get blinis which are like pancakes with filling. They were delicious. I then found it surprising that Anton's favorite restaurant is a play off old American diners http://www.starlite.ru/ . This diner was pretty good. The burgers weren't too bad, however it became hard to eat when a group of Russians came up behind our table and were discussing that the burgers were made out of dog...I am going to go with this not being true.I hope.  Anton also loves Mexican food. He will at least not go hungry when he moves to Lubbock. 

Then when I returned to the doors we hung out on one of our classmate's floor. His floor is all Russians, except for him. It was the last night of one of our classmates. So we wanted to hang out with her before she left. Well apparently the Russians were already partying and decided to join us. One of the guys had studied music and decided to play a bunch of American songs for us. He was really good. We then all talked in a mix of Russian and English. It was interesting to watch people communicate when they don't completely understand the other person's language. We managed to do pretty well and got to practice our Russian, while the Russians got to practice their English. It was a fun night.

Well this morning when I woke up and went to the bathroom I had noticed there was the microwave in the bathroom. I was really unsure what all had happened on my floor last night for there to be the microwave in the bathroom. Apparently the fuse in the kitchen had blown and so I guess the next best option was to put the microwave in the bathroom. I will definitely not be using the microwave and am hoping this does not become a fire hazard. 

Well, I need to get ready to go to a park that is dedicated to Bulgakov's novel Master and Margarita. We decided to do our homework out there.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. 

Football...I mean soccer

The last 2 days I have basically just had class. Yesterday I had three hours of language class followed by 3 hours of Political Science. It was very interesting to listen to. However, I would have preferred if it was a history class, because politics don't interest me as much. My favorite part was when he went on a tangent about a story called "Heart of a Dog" by Nabokov...it was a very good story. I still am in awe that I am learning about Russia in Russia...I don't think that will rub off any time soon. I am trying to soak up as much as possible before I have to leave. I wish my brain was a sponge.
I cooked dinner last night...yet again I wasn't 100% sure what I was eating. I think it was chicken and pasta, at least that is my best guess.
Today I had language class and then was suppose to have my 2 hour individual class...but someone else got to go instead of me. I really hope I get to go tomorrow. I really enjoy talking to my teacher. Today in class we discussed Chekhov, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky...in Russian. She was surprised that I had read so many of these authors (yes I have read each of those authors, in English). She was even more surprised that I had read War and Peace by Tolstoy and Brother's Karamazov by Doestoevsky. I actually want to re read that book.
Some of the students from Tech were suppose to meet with a Russian who is coming to Tech in the fall to teach and go to grad school, however he had to work late. We are hoping to meet up with him on Saturday. It will be nice to have a Russian contact and we can help him when he comes to the states.
Then this evening I went to go kick the "football" around with a guy from the Netherlands and one of my friends. All I can say is I thought I had bad hand-eye coordination...I definetly have worse foot-eye coordination. The Russians who were running on the track looked like they were laughing. I attempted to get the ball before the Netherlander and I had no chance...it was so sad that it was hilarious. I am waiting to see how many bruises I will have on my shins in the morning.
Well it is midnight here and tomorrow night we are going to the ballet!! I have never been to an official ballet. I am excited! We are all dressing up (yes Grandpa Gruff I will post pictures of this) and then going to explore the city afterwards hopefully.
Quote of the day: "Kealey how do you flush the toilet???"
До Завтра!!

Russian Independence Day!

Today was Russian independence day. It was a day where most people had the day off and all of the museums were free or really cheap. Thus, two of my classmates and I went to the zoo. It was really crowded and the zoo was huge. We needed a gps just to get around the place. I decided when I come back to Russia I am bringing rain boots and a gps. We got to see a lot of the animals at the zoo, but of course the day we decided to go it was finally really warm (it was also the day I stupidly decided to wear a long sleeved button up shirt). We were really jealous of the polar bear and her cub who were swimming around in the nice cool water. Oh and we found where all of the ice in Russia went...to the polar bears. I wonder if the polar bears took all of the air conditioners as well. OOO and I got to see penguins!!! They were cute, but need some more love. I don't think they even got ice in their encounter...I guess the Russians definitely take pride in their bears.
The rest of my evening won't excite you much. However, I am realizing how much Russia is taking over my brain. I was working on my Russian homework, while listening to Russian music and was drinking vodka and orange juice ( don't worry there was very little vodka...I learned that it helps me sleep).
До Завтра!