Culture Shock, Holidays, and a Much Needed Rest

I've noticed a trend. I'm usually fairly regular in my blog posts. Twice a month, every month. Except November and December. The same thing happened last year. Two entries for each month overseas, until you get to the last two months of the year. Once I noticed that, it wasn't too hard for me to guess the reason. This time of year is when culture shock hits general end-of-the-semester exhaustion. And since culture shock usually hits me as weariness, you can imagine that the combo isn't such fun. It's not even that interesting, blog-worthy things haven't happened. I just haven't had a lot of spare energy to write about them. But here it is, New Years Eve (actually, it's already January 1st here), so I'd better write something before the calendar turns over!

Once we got back from Thanksgiving break, the rest of the semester just felt like a rush to finals. Between project presentation days, exam review, the final, and a party at the end, I only had to teach about 3 actual lessons. And even those were a little different than usual, as Jennifer and I ended up combining several of our classes. Our early (4:30) classes have always been small, but by the end it was bordering on ridiculous. Even when we combined the two groups, we averaged about 5-6 students. Thank goodness we're going to be testing and adding new students for 2nd semester.

The final party was great fun! We played a few games (such as blowing up balloons and stuffing them into a pair of nylons to make reindeer antlers) and did a white elephant gift exchange. In both classes it started out pretty tame, without any gift-stealing. But about halfway through they seemed to get into it, and that's when the fun began! One poor girl in our last class went home with an onion! We also taught them "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" along with the add ins (ex. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio!)) At the end (You'll go down in history) where I had always heard "like George Washington" and Jennifer had learned "like Columbus," we let them pick their own historic figure. One class picked the president of Kazakhstan, and the other a famous Kazakh poet.

I have a few more fun stories to share, but they go so much better with the pictures, so they'll have to wait. Once I find my camera (it's hiding somewhere in our apartment) and with it my memory card, I'll upload them. Or, at least, that's my plan. We'll see. :)

What with our final English club of the year, gift shopping, Christmas Eve dinner with all the Americans at Margaret's apartment, and more, vacation didn't really start until the 26th. But all the craziness was fun in it's own way. In order to have plenty of presents under the tree, we decided to have a cheap gift competition: we made a list of categories (smallest, biggest, most artistic, noisiest, most American, etc) and imposed a 200 tenge (about $1.50) limit. The results were pretty hilarious, and it made for a fun gift-opening time.

And then there was New Years. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but New Years in America has got nothing on New Years in Kazakhstan! We just chilled out in our apartment until midnight, at which point everyone and their mother goes outside into the courtyard and sets off approximately a million fireworks. And we're talking the huge ones they do for the city 4th of July shows. It's unreal. And it lasts almost an hour. While out there we saw two men dressed in a Chinese dragon suit (it's the year of the dragon) taking pictures with people, and 3 different Santas. We also met one of our friends who lives across the courtyard and she invited us up to her family's apartment where they had a table set with fine china, wine, homemade salads (the mayonnaise-y kind), and tea. It was great fun as we're good friends with all three of the daughters and their parents are pretty awesome too. It was 3am by the time we left them. Now that's what I call bringing in the new year!

So there you have it- December in a nutshell. As fun as it has been, I am so grateful that we have another week before classes start again. I have serious plans to go off the grid for at least a few days and just chill. It's gonna be great. And in my more immediate future, I have serious plans to go to bed. So I'll leave you with a few parting words (taken from our toasts this evening/morning):

I hope 2011 was a great year for you, and that 2012 is even better. May there be more good times than bad times. May your life be full of love, friends, family, and good memories. Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving comes at a great time of year, particularly for ESI teachers working overseas. It comes precisely when we need a break from teaching (and life in general) the most. A week of speaking only English and hanging out is exactly what I needed.

This year was different from my past 3 experiences in that we didn't go away for the whole week. Since I left the last time, it's become tradition for the KZ team to go to Karkaralinsk (a mountain resort in a town about 3 hours away) for the first part of the week and then return to Karaganda for the holiday itself. While I would have loved having a few more days to explore the mountains, I'm glad we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with all the Americans in Karaganda.

There aren't many adventures to share, besides Jennifer making friends with all the stray dogs in Karkaralinsk and Katina and I making another beautiful lattice-topped apple pie (if I do say so myself). But here are a few pictures to share the fun:

Dinner in the dining hall

Showing off our snow-caked jeans (it was knee-deep in places)

An icicle duel with Sara (I won, of course! :) )

Group picture (minus Curtis): Sara, Amy, me, Jennifer, Katina

And just because it's my latest accomplishment, and I'm so dang proud of it- here's the pie Katina and I made (before the oven, of course):

I hope that all of you had a wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving as well! Happy Holidays!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! Halloween is a holiday that most of our students have heard of, but not one that is generally celebrated here. So the yearly Halloween party that we throw with our classes is always a lot of fun. We started last week, teaching lessons on the traditions of the holiday and (one of my favorite lessons) the art of storytelling. At our English Club on Friday we took our cue from the season- our topic was ghosts, witches, and fortune telling. It was a great opportunity to discuss the reality and dangers of such practices.

The weekend was spent preparing for the party (pumpkin shopping, anyone?) and putting together our costumes. It's interesting to do it without the benefit of ready-made costumes and props, though Sara did find a shop with some cool stuff. She and Jennifer ended up portraying the 1940's and 20's respectively, and I got a chance to try my hand at victory rolls. Word to the wise- they are not so easy. We would have done better to have a bit more time to practice. But it turned out well enough in the end. Amy went as a clown and I, true to form, was still wandering around the apartment at 1am the night before looking for inspiration. I ended up going as a nun, though I felt more like Maria von Trapp.

Our class parties went well, although we were decidedly more organized with our second classes than with the first. We bobbed for apples, told scary stories, had a costume contest, and did a mummy wrap. Everyone had fun, and we now have sweets and beverages enough to last until the end of time (or at least Thanksgiving break).

After classes, we had our various non-student friends over for a second party. We ate a lot more of said sweets and played a few fun games. The evening took a more subdued turn, though, when the doorbell rang around 11:30, and not with cute kids looking for candy. Our upstairs neighbor had come down to complain of the noise and inform us that she had called the police. We quieted down, of course, and several of our friends hung around to talk to the police for us. We were so grateful for their presence. Not only were they able to translate, but they also were able to run interference with the police and reassure us, as locals, that it was nothing to worry about. In the end, we simply recieved a verbal warning and multiple reminders of the law about keeping quiet after 11pm. The policemen also took it upon themselves to usher our guests out the door before them. Needless to say, after this we will be imposing an 11pm curfew on our friends hanging out here. If we want to hang out more after that, we'll go to a cafe.


All in all, it was a (mostly) fun, event-filled day. Though the ending left a little something to be desired, it was certainly memorable. Never a dull moment when you live in Kazakhstan!

Pictures of Kazakhstan

The other day I was sitting on a minibus on my way to school. There was a perforated metal partition separating the driver from the rest of the bus. As I sat there I noticed that if I looked past the driver and out the window, the circles often framed perfect little vignettes of the city as we drove by: a woman crossing the street, people walking down the sidewalk, all the cars on Bukhar Zhirau (the main street in town), a bus driver reflected in his side-view mirror, a family at a bus stop, the father smoking a cigarette... I wish I could have caught them on an actual camera, but it just wouldn't have looked the same.

Since I can't share those little pictures with you, I thought I'd try to paint some word pictures of life here, gathered over the last few weeks. So here you go- snapshots of Kazakhstan:

• Meeting friends just to go for a walk. Why do we hardly ever do this in the states anymore?


• We're ordering a combo at a fast food restaurant, and they won't allow us to choose which fountain drink we want, despite the fact that all three options cost exactly the same price. When we ask for a 7-UP, they simply point at the picture of the combo. See? It comes with Pepsi.


• Cramming four people, plus purses, school bags, and at least one computer bag into the backseat of a taxi. It was cozy.


• A big pickup truck parked in our courtyard one day and opened up the back to reveal hundreds of sacks of potatoes. He produced a scale and lockbox out of the back seat and then proceeded to sit on the tailgate calling out to passersby. I did not stop to buy some at the time, and have regretted that decision ever since. It has now become a goal of mine to buy potatoes from the back of a truck before the year is out.


• Some students were giving us a ride home after classes one evening and the guy was carrying a bag of trash for me (I was just carrying it until I could find a trash can). As we got into the car I noticed that he didn't have it, and figured he'd found a place to throw it away. Then I looked out the window as we drove away and yep- there was my trash bag sitting on the curb, all by itself.


• Walking a friend home after dark one evening. Our arms are linked as we navigate around mud and various puddles, and she's telling us about an old Kazakh superstition that if you give a baby a terrible name, it is more likely to survive. That's why some Kazakh names apparently don't stand translation!


• Buying milk in a bag. I don't know why, but it just cracks me up every time.


• We got locked inside our classroom in my first class one day. That's right. Locked inside. Someone from the school must have come by and thought the room was empty. We had to pound on the door and call out for someone to go get the key and let us out! :)


• On our way home one night, the marshrutka (mini-bus) stopped about 4 stops early and kicked everyone off. Apparently he just decided that he was done for the night!


• It's a beautiful day and the courtyard is full of people (50 or more): old men and women sitting on benches talking, mothers with strollers, little kids on the playground or chasing each other around cars with imaginary guns, boys playing soccer, clumps of teenagers talking or playing cards, people on their way to or from school, work, the bus stop, or the store, people hanging out their laundry to dry or beating their rugs... I love this kind of community!

So there you have it. Mental snapshots of my life here in the past month.

Oh, Kazakhstan... Sometimes you confuse me, often you make me chuckle, but mostly you just make me smile!

Teacher Appreciation Day

Today was Teacher Appreciation Day. Our school invited us to the office for a special tea in honor of all the teachers we work with. They also asked us to find a creative way to introduce ourselves. We decided to write a song to the tune of "This Land is Your Land." Each of us had our own verse (my first two lines were "I come from Georgia, we have no winter/I hardly saw snow before I came here") and then we closed together. With the permission of Amy and Jennifer, here is our last verse:

Jump, Jive, and Wail

Many of you know how much I love swing dancing, a love I first discovered while living in Houston. Well this year it turns out that one of my roommates, Sara, loves it too! She has been in the habit of going dancing at least twice a week for years (and frankly, she puts me to shame). So we've decided to join forces and start an American Dancing Club for our students and friends! We'll start off teaching them swing, but then we'll branch out into various other dances that Sara knows. Our first lesson was this afternoon in our living room, but it looks like in the future we'll be able to use a dance hall at one of the schools nearby.

Today was a ton of fun. We were able to teach them about 4 turns/moves in addition to the basic step, and they all seemed to really be having fun. We had a slight shortage of guys, but a few girls took the man's part and it worked out alright. And one of the guys promised to bring his friends next time.

Swing 101 (minus Roma, Roma, and Jasin)

Here's a quick video of some of the free style dancing at the end.

Homecoming

Coming home from living overseas is exciting for so many reasons. There are the obvious, big things, like seeing friends and family again. But there are so many small things too- familiar stores, restaurants, brand names... being able to understand what people are saying around you... knowing exactly where to go if you need something... favorite foods. Basically, just being in a world that is familiar, that you understand. It's exciting. My family and I are somewhat used to that aspect of it by now. One of the first things my parents ask me when they pick me up from the airport, after "How was your flight?", is "Where do you want to eat dinner?"

What I didn't expect was the second feeling of homecoming I experienced when I flew into Atlanta on my way out of the country. Chick-fil-A, Quiktrip, Checkers, Steak and Shake, the Braves, sweet tea, a chch on every corner, southern hospitality... it would seem that no matter how far I travel or how long I stay away, I'm a southern girl at heart! It was so nice to get to see two of my best friends again, and my sister and her family. But it definitely made it harder to leave. As the plane rose higher and higher, I found myself watching for one last glimpse of home. As dramatic as it sounds, I just couldn't look away or let myself take a nap (though I was exhausted) knowing that when I woke up I wouldn't see it again for a year.

It got better when I got to Frankfurt and met up with the rest of my team. But I wasn't prepared for the amazing way our Father planned to help me through it. We got to Karaganda with no problems (though there was a little concern over our lack of transit visas in Moscow) and the director of our school was there with two drivers to pick us up and take us to our new flat. We arrived early in the morning, and as we were driving accross the steppe toward the city, the early morning sun shining on the grass, little villages and herds of horses in the distance, I was struck with how much I love this country. I LOVE this country, and this city, and these people. I am so glad to be back.

This is home, too.

How am I so lucky to have so many places to call home? Atlanta, Las Vegas, Houston, St. Petersburg, Karaganda... so many cities full of dear friends and memories. They say home is where the heart is. Well, to quote my friend Jillann, "my heart is all over the world." It's a beautiful thing. Our Father is so good.

Welcome home, Molly.

Shenanigans

Ah, training... one of my favorite times of the year! Take a seriously awesome group of people and put them all in southern California for a few weeks- what's not to love? This year was no different. I met my new team, and we bonded over many things, not least of which was the photo scavenger hunt at the end of our first week. They gave us a list of crazy photo ideas, a few rules, and the morning running loose in downtown Pasadena to rack up as many points as we could. The general idea: to involve as many kind strangers as possible! We even got two women to let us take a picture wearing their shoes!

Rocking out on a stage downtown

Left to right: me, Jennifer (back), Amy (front), and Sara

Congo line on the sidewalk

The CIS alums also did our fair share of bonding. The regional director of Vietnam (and my former teammate in KZ) left the keys to their split room in the office one night and Jeffrey found them. What started as a joke quickly turned into something of a prank war!

Night #1: TP-ing the Vietnam room

The next night, when the keys were still there, we got a bit more ambitious! :)

Night #2: 650 balloons!
(we were up 'til 2am, but it was totally worth it!)

When Vietnam figured out how we were getting in, we had to turn our attentions to the Hungary room. Unfortunately, I wasn't in on this one, but I sure enjoyed the results!

At this point everyone figured out who was doing the pranking. I left before there was any retaliation, but I hear that one day the CISers opened their split room in the morning to find a few hundred pixie cups full of water covering the floor! :) Have I mentioned how much I love training?

A Willing Heart

The first time I went overseas with ESI, it was a fairly straightforward proposition. I felt specifically called to Kazakhstan, I requested to be placed there, and I was. When I felt called to return for another year only to a different school, I did. When I felt Him calling me back to America, I went. Done.

After two years in Houston, I was excited to realize that I was being called to return. But this time the road had a few twists and turns in it. As you may remember, at first I asked to return to Karaganda. When it became obvious that I wouldn't be able to get a visa, they decided to put me on the team going to Azerbaijan. Then, only a few days before leaving Houston, my regional director called me and asked how I felt about Russia. As I mentioned in my last post, this time around has been a similar journey. From Vologda to St. Pete to Karaganda in only a few short weeks! It's enough to make my head spin (and it did!). But I don't doubt that it is His will, and so of course I said okay. So far so good. That was the easy part. The struggle that follows is much more subtle and prolonged.

This year in Russia was very hard at times, particularly first semester. This was due to several factors, but the one I recognized first was a kind of culture shock, only not from America- I was homesick for Kazakhstan and the life and work I'd had there. Even the littlest things threw me off. But rather than focusing on the symptoms, allow me to go straight to the root of the problem (something that took several months to do when I was actually in the middle of it): I was willing to submit to God in a moment, when they asked me to go to Russia. But in the long term, wearing-down process of submitting all my expectations and warm memories of how it was "in Kazakhstan," I folded. For months it kept me in a fog, making it difficult to grow attached to the places or people in front of me. How much did I lose to that? Now, having grown to love the city and so many dear friends and students, I mourn the loss of those months that could have been spent building deeper friendships and enjoying their company.

Now I find myself in a similar situation. Having grown to love Russia and so many people there, I am sad to leave them. Even to return to another country that I love. There's also the added difficulty that I have been to Karaganda before so, to a certain extent, I know what to expect. And anyone in ESI knows that expectations are just about the worst thing you can have going overseas. I am so worried that I will do the same thing again- that I will allow my memories of how it was to mar my experience of how it is.

This year is going to be completely different. Our team will be different. Our students will be different. Even the city itself will be different (I haven't been there in 3 years, and I've heard of all kinds of changes). I need the willingness to embrace the year that He has planned for me, not the year I remember or think it will be. I need the courage and strength to give up all those ideas and expect nothing except that He will be with me and that that will be enough.

This is not a battle that can be fought and won in one fell swoop. I don't know how many times I will have to lay my expectations down before I stop picking them back up again. It won't come easily. But it will be worth it.

If you would like to join me in lifting this up, I would appreciate it. I could use all the help I can get!

Last Weeks, First Weeks, and the Near Future

Well, since I've been home for almost a month now I guess it's about time I updated this blog, huh? For those of you who wondered, I did survive the last month and a half in Russia without my computer! Except for one or two minor inconveniences, I actually got to the point that I hardly noticed it. But that doesn't mean that an electronics store wasn't one of my first stops once I got home!

Our last few weeks in St. Pete were super busy. I probably went more places and saw more things in the last 2 weeks than in the 9 months preceding them! Not to mention all the parties, get togethers, goodbyes, and last things. Here's a small sampling:

Baseball in the park with one of my linguistics classes (Athens)

Enjoying the Victory Day celebrations downtown

Going for a walk with two of Erica's students, Lisa and Natasha

Day trip to Vyborg, a beautiful city near the border of Finland

Visiting a museum at Peter and Paul fortress with Natasha

A boat tour of the city with Masha

On our last day, several different groups of students dropped by (unplanned) and it turned into an impromptu going away party! Then Dasha and Arina came over to spend the night, though very little sleeping was done. They helped us finish packing up the apartment and stayed so we could spend every last minute together and then they saw us off in the morning.

On the way home, Erica and I spent a week in Berlin with our friend Toni (Antonia), one of the German girls we met in St. Pete. It was a great chance to hang out and see the city and to get a little decompression time between leaving Russia and arriving home.

These first few weeks at home have been a great break, though I haven't been sitting around doing nothing. Between cooking for my family and taking on some of the housework, organizing and labelling my pictures from the year, studying Russian, and reworking my lesson plans for next year, I've been very busy. But it's a different kind of busy, which is a break in and of itself! Plus I feel like I'm getting a great head-start on the year to come. Which brings me to my next bit of news...

It looks like I'll be back in Kazakhstan for this next school year! It's been a bit of a roller coaster deciding where I'll be teaching. First, the school in Vologda where I was hoping to teach backed out, so I thought I'd be in St. Pete again. But then, due to the difficulties in finding teachers who would qualify for a KZ visa, ESI asked if I'd be willing to return there. I only found out for sure after I'd already left Russia, which made my goodbyes particularly hard. I never knew if it was "goodbye until September" or "Goodbye for good." I'm definitely sad that I won't be returning to see my friends and students there, but I'm also excited at the chance to return to another city and country that I love. And all this country and city swapping is making sure my blog lives up to it's title!

So that's the long and the short of it. I'll be sure to keep you posted as I wait to see where in the world God will lead me next!

Molly: Unplugged

This year the name of the game seems to be computer issues. This time it's not actually my computer, though. It's the cord that's causing problems. Fortunately that's a much more manageable problem than the last time- all my information is still there, I just can't get to it until I find a new cord.

I've been to a few electronics stores here and no one seems to have the one I need. They all have universal ones that would work, but those are much more expensive. So it looks like I may be computer-less for the next month and a half.

Honestly, now that the initial shock is over, I'm kind of looking forward to it. I don't know about any of you, but I'm way more consumed by my computer than I have any right to be. Now that I've figured out how I'm going to pull off the rest of my lesson plans this semester, it's just a matter of getting used to doing things the old fashioned way again. It will take getting used to, but I think it will be good for me. There are so many things that I can do more of (walking, reading, knitting, drawing, cooking) when I'm not constantly distracted by the internet. I even played an old-fashioned game of spider solitaire the other day- you know, with actual cards! ;)

So here's to doing things the old-fashioned way! It's gonna be great!

Vologda, Baby!

I have an exciting announcement to make- I've been thinking and talking and praying about it for some time, and I believe God is calling me to return to Russia for another year! Only this time I hope to be serving in Vologda, a smaller city a 12-hour train ride from St. Pete. ESI has had teachers in Vologda for several years, but it has always been a small team. This year, however, they are planning to expand to a new school and will need another team of teachers. The idea intrigued me as soon as I heard of the new program, but I wasn't sure that that was where God wanted me until this spring.

I'm very excited about the chance to pioneer a new program, and to be on a slightly larger city team. And though I will miss my friends in St. Pete, it's nice to know that I'll be close enough to visit them a few times over the year.

In honor of this decision, here are a few pictures from our trip to Vologda in December, which I never posted:

Bowling with some of Timon and Andy's students

Visiting a monastery outside the city- Yes, that is snow up to my knees!

Erica and I by the train on our last day

Birthday Adventure

As mentioned in my last post, Erica had a special surprise planned for the Sunday after my birthday. After church I was handed a note instructing me to look at a certain Psalm to find out who had my next clue. What followed was a city-wide scavenger hunt that we dubbed Molly's Birthday Adventure!

.

First I was sent to the nearest underground station to find the horse-drawn train...

.

.

However, I got there before my next clue- so I was told to follow Joshua's example and march around the train 7 times (slowly, if you please!) After all, what are birthday adventures for but making me look as foolish as possible? :)

.

On about my 5th time around who did I spot but Arina, bringing the next clue leading us to the restaurant where we had lunch...

.

.

After lunch I was sent downtown to a bookstore Anne had discovered in the fall. Forbidden to take public transportation, though, it became an impromptu walking tour. One stop along the way were some griffins gaurding part of the Neva river. Apparently you're supposed to rub it's head and make a wish. I added the stupid face all on my own...

.

.

Pause for a touristy picture across from St. Isaacs Cathedral...

.

.

Once we found the bookstore, I had to go up and introduce myself to the cashier to get my next clue which took us to the пышки (doughnut) shop a few blocks away. One of my favorite little places in St. Pete, this restaurant/cafe has been around since soviet times. It's one of those hidden treasure type places, and it's always filled with locals. The line is usually almost to the door and the tables are always so full that if there are extra chairs at a table, other customers will just come sit down with you.

.

Arina, me, Erica, Anne

What you can't see in this picture is the dozen or so Russians behind the camera, looking at us like we're crazy! But it was worth it!

.

The doughnut shop was the end of the scavenger hunt, but not the end of the day. Afterwards we walked back across the Neva and home where Erica made grilled cheese sandwiches and cookies and we all watched a movie. All told, I spent 12+ hours with these wonderful ladies, and it was such a fun day! What great friends I have!

Spring has Sprung!

Well, it's not exactly t-shirt weather here yet, but it's starting to feel like maybe it will be eventually (in the dead of winter, summer just seems like an insubstantiated rumor). Some signs that warm weather is around the corner:

• I haven't worn my hat, gloves, or a scarf outside for over a week now
• The snow and ice are starting to melt, though it's still piled taller than me on the side streets and in the parks
• The sun is out most days (as opposed to the 3-4 times I saw it throughout the months of November and December)
• On a walk with Anne earlier this week, we had our first encounter with Russian sunbathers- men and women who strip down to their underwear and stand (in the snow) against the wall of Peter and Paul fortress to soak up the sun!

March also brings with it Maslenitsa (or as I call it, blini week- blini being the super thin pancakes they make here), International Women's Day, and my birthday! It's a good month. :) To celebrate Maslenitsa, some of Erica's linguistics students from the fall (the same ones we went ice skating with) invited us over for blini. It was delicious, and a lot of fun, too. One of the girls had found a classic Russian movie with English subtitles, so we watched that after lunch. It was hysterical. I almost cried I was laughing so hard! Now I want to find a copy for myself to take home with me.

Women's Day was relatively uneventful for me, except that one of my linguistics classes gave me tulips. I told them that tulips were my favorite flowers, and they remembered and brought me some more for my birthday!

For my birthday, besides the shower of candy, flowers, and congratulations I got all day, My wonderful roommate promised to try her hand at homemade bagels! They were delicious, especially with the cream cheese she gave me that morning. And apparently there is some sort of birthday surprise in the works for tomorrow, but she's being very secretive. All in all, it's been a pretty awesome birthday. I'm telling you- March is a great month to be here in Russia!

Flea Market

This morning I went with the Germans to a flea market they had heard of only a few metro stops away from our flat. It was so cool! Actually, it was outside and therefore freezing (!), but it was totally worth it. They had everything from antique books, teasets, and even military uniforms (fairly old) to computer keyboards and universal remotes (not so old).

.

.

I ended up at one booth where the guy had a huge pile of old watch faces. Now, you wouldn't think they would be much worth selling, but some of them were beautiful, and all of them were interesting. I hardly knew what I would use them for, but for only 10 rubles a piece (about 30 cents), I couldn't pass them up. The gentleman selling them asked me if I was planning to make earrings, and I would have said "I am now!" if my Russian were good enough. What a unique souvenir that would make!

.

So now it's late, and I'm off to bed- with visions of art projects dancing in my head!

Billiards

One of my favorite things to do here is play pool with our friend Arina. There's a great pool hall not too far from our flat. We meet on the corner near my place and walk there, more often than not stopping to get сосиски (sau-SEE-skee- basically giant pigs-in-a-blanket) at her favorite little bakery on the way. It only costs about a dollar each to play for an hour, so it's a relatively cheap and fun way to spend an afternoon.

My beautiful billiards partner

Anyone who has ever played pool with me will know that I'm terrible. But with all this practice I'm getting better. Arina, on the other hand, is awesome. But today a miracle occured! Due to the combination of me playing the best game of my life and Arina suffering from a spectacular bout of bad luck, I actually won! For the first time. Ever. Recognizing that this will probably NEVER happen again, I decided to take a commemorative photo- this is me aiming for the 8-ball for the first time ever. That's right- I've never even made it that far before!

Who says miracles don't happen? :)

Snow, ice, friends... Russia! :)

Well, I'm back in St. Pete and back in the swing of things! Those three weeks at home were exactly what I needed- restful and relaxing. It's a good thing, too, since the moment I got back our crazy busy social calendar picked up where we left off. Until this weekend, hardly a day went by when we didn't hang out with people. Dinner with the Germans, billiards with Arina, dinner/games with students, ice skating with students, Dasha's birthday party, Anne's 'moving party,' visits from both our teammates in Vologda... the list goes on. You won't hear me complaining, though!

One of my favorite outings thus far has been ice skating with Arina and some of our former students last Tuesday. Neither of us had been skating in years, so there was a bit of a learning curve. At first I could only make it around the ring once before my ankles started hurting and I had to take a break. But even the breaks were fun, including such antics as Arina and I "ice dancing" (oh yes, there's a video!) and Erica and I teaching them the motions to the YMCA song. At first they thought we were crazy. But we explained that anywhere in America when they play this song, people know (and often do) the dance. By the end of the song we had them all doing it (some of them a bit reluctantly) and it was hysterical! I can't wait until the next time we hear that song with them!

Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I took. If you leave me nice comments, maybe I'll post the ice-dancing video later! ;)

.

I was trying to 'be dramatic' for the camera, but we usually only caught me almost falling down afterwards

Ella, Lisa, Natasha, me, Paul, Arina

Christmas x 3

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am currently in Las Vegas, soaking up my last days with my family, going out with only a light sweater, and TV in English. My parents' gift to me was to fly me home for the holidays for a much needed break. It has been a wonderful, relaxing three weeks and I feel much better prepared to face the semester ahead. Not to mention all the American goodies (mostly food) I'm bringing back for my teammates, my friends, and myself!

This post is actually one that I meant to write before Christmas, but once I got home I was so busy that I never got around to it.

Before I left, Erica and I hosted two different Christmas parties at our apartment. The first was for our students. We invited all our classes, and as much as we would have loved to celebrate with all of them, it was something of a blessing that only 11 showed up. Seventy-some students in our apartment would have been a bit crowded, to say the least! We had a white elephant gift exchange, broke out the guitar (it turns out that several of our students have studied classical guitar) and had a merry old time!

Gena, the Christmas elf!

The most surprising event of the evening was when one of Erica's students presented us with a DVD player! This particular student has been to several of our movie nights and has witnessed first-hand our many struggles with the old one. Apparently he'd had this one for some time but never used it. I only wish you could have been there to see my reaction!

Our second party was for our international posse. Most of our German friends had already gone home for the holidays, but it was still a pretty good group of us.

We made it a pizza party and everyone brought their favorite toppings. It was so much fun (as parties with this group always are), and the pizza was delicious! While we ate we introduced the non-Americans in the group to "The Princess Bride." Someone gave us the game Jenga, so after the movie we decided to play. And as if Jenga isn't stressful enough, we made it even more interesting by saying that whoever knocked it over had to do the dishes. Talk about incentive! By the end of the game we were trash talking each other ("You hear that, Arina? It's the dishes calling your name") and trying to psych each other out as the tower got higher and more unstable.

The moral of the story: we have awesome friends and students. It was such a fun weekend. And then a few days later I got to fly home and spend Christmas with my family for the first time in 5 years! What a way to end 2010!

PS. All photo credits go to my roommate, the photographer! Actually, you can probably assume that for most of the cool pictures I post here!

The Teapot Song

This week I have my last classes with my two linguistics groups, since we only have them for one semester. This morning one class, which I named Amethyst, decided to give me a parting gift.

As some of you may know, every year I teach my students the song "I'm a Little Teapot." When they are late to class, their penalty is to sing the song for us, complete with the dance. It's become quite the class joke, and often late students are greeted with "Hello, teapot!" when they come in the door!

This morning I was running late myself because I had to print out their final exams, so I was preparing to sing to them. As I came up the stairs I looked up and saw several of my students on the landing above me. When they saw me coming, they all hurried to get to the classroom first- or so I assumed. But when I got there the room was empty. A moment later they all filed in with big smiles, apologizing for being "late"...

I love my students!

Thanksgiving

Hello again! I'm still here! I apologize for the lack of posts over the last month and a half- we've been without internet in our apartment for the last three weeks, which makes things decidedly harder. For the three weeks prior to that I have no excuse (insert sheepish look here). But here I am, back on track, with a lot to share!

This past week was our Thanksgiving retreat, and it was a wonderfully fun and relaxing time. Our country team (Jeff, Erica, and me, plus Andy and Timon from Vologda) spent the better part of the week in Riga, Latvia. It is a beautiful city and we rented an apartment smack dab in the middle of the historic (read:tourist) district. We're talking cobblestone streets, beautiful architechture, and cathedrals around every corner. We spent a fair amount of time just walking around and exploring the city. Erica and Timon are photographers, so we have no end of amazing pictures from the week. There was a whole photo shoot in front of some cool, weathered doors we found in Jelgava (very CD cover-esque). The perfectionist in me wanted to wait to post this until I got the pictures from them, but that's how I got in this mess in the first place!

This retreat was almost like a small getaway to America. First of all, it was English only the whole time! When I'm in the states I tend to underestimate the value of simply understanding what's being said around me. Even in the stores and restaurants most people spoke English. And one night Jeff took us all out to dinner at T.G.I.Fridays! They also have a great store there, Stockman's, that sells a lot of American brands. I bought a can of Dr. Pepper there for only 70 cents. The only Dr. Pepper I've found in St. Pete was $4 for a can! That's definitely not happening. But the best part is that they have a movie theater there that shows movies in English. Jeff, Erica, and I saw the new Harry Potter movie- or rather, Harijs Poters. I wanted a picture in front of that movie poster so badly, but when we tried to do it a security guard came up and stopped us.

In addition to all our explorations, we spent a fair amount of time just chilling in our little apartment. We watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Santa Clause" and a lot of "Big Bang Theory," which Andy had on his computer. We played a few games of Settlers and Dutch Blitz, made up nicknames, took (and subsequently laughed at) surreptitious pictures and videos of each other, and just generally enjoyed one another's company. All in all, it was a great time, and just the break I needed.

In parting, here are some of the pictures I took while we were there. Most of the cool ones of the city are on other people's cameras. I'll add more on my "Pictures" page once I've gotten them from everyone.

Timon playing the air-saxophone on a street

corner. He actually kept it up for almost 10

minutes, and even got 3 Lat (about $1.50)!

Strikingly similar Russian and American

political posters... in a Latvian store window.

I guess some things are universal! :)