Moscow and The Golden Ring (or, The Onion-Dome Obsession Tour Extravaganza!)

Dear Readers,

Slava Bogu (Thank God) for Vacation. For the past ten days I've been traveling, and I wish I could write a novel here for every day of it because it was SO fantastic! But you'll have to settle with a summary because I'm lazy :)

Moscow: Met with my Russian Bestie Natasha, stayed at Godzilla's Hostel (The best in Moscow, as far as I'm concerned), met two great Danes, finally saw the Tretyakov Gallery and discovered my favorite Russian Artist: Врубель, creeped on Lenin in his Mausoleum, bonded with Lydia during a museum-overload (All art is centered around naked people and fish?), fed a squirrel out of my hand, and found my dad a lovely fur hat.


Vladimir: Had an amazing time couchsurfing, met lots of new and exciting people, ate at "Mr. hamburger," visited the 4 best bars in the city for cheap beer and dancing, baked chocolate chip cookies, met perhaps the most beautiful man I've ever seen, and visited the following three towns...


Bogolyubova: A cute little town right next to Vladimir, took the bus with my host and she showed me an amazing little church in the middle of a beautiful field. Ran into an old woman herding her goats, which made my day.


Suzdal: Went once in the rain, and then again in the sun. Gorgeous town, took pictures of every onion dome I saw, visited every museum inside the main monastery, had a picnic lunch outside of the old prison, talked a lot with an Argentinian, and tried Suzdal's famous honey-liquor "Medovukha"


Murom: A spontaneous trip which turned into a large group excursion to an old Russian city. We found an old soviet amusement park, explored the beach along the river, took lots of group photos, ordered salmon on a pizza, and snacked on lots of smoked cheese and pirozhki.


Back to Moscow: Waiting for my overnight train to Novgorod, I had about 7 hours to kill before I had to be at the station. I walked passed a guy who was obviously another traveler, and we ended up talking. He turned out to be a mystic, a hippie, and a raw-foodist. He told me all about his Guru, took me to an esoteric bookshop/cafe, played me some Beatles songs on his guitar, and we walked around all afternoon discussing idioms and proverbs, whilst looking for his favorite teashop (which had been moved since his last time in Moscow, so we never found it).


Anyway, now I'm back in Novgorod and happy to have my Russian mother over-feeding me. Also: our huge, white, nameless cat has returned from the dacha. I think I'll call her Pushok (which means "Fluff").

I love Russia.
Sarah

Gobbledygook is a real word. Huh.

Here's a crazy observation that I'd like to share with you all: Russia makes me MOODY! I don't know what it is, but I have some insane bi-polar tendencies goin' on (DISCLAIMER: If you don't want to read about my emotions, just skip the rest of this paragraph). So it's like this: One minute I am on top of the world, loving Russia, and feeling at home in this foreign city. Then, all of a sudden, I realize that I'm NOT on top of the world... I'm LOST! I'm lost in the middle of this MONSTROUS country, and no one understands me: in Russian or English or Gobbledygook, I just can't seem to communicate. And then I think about my classes, and how terribly SIMPLE they are, and how I feel like they are teaching us all the wrong things, and it's FRUSTRATING! Which makes me miss St. Olaf, and the amazing professors, and all of my fantastic friends, and having all of my own things (instead of the hodge-podge selection that I brought in my tiny suitcase)...

Needless to say, I have spent many a Novgorod night pining for something/someplace/someone in Minnesota... But I've found a way to fix everything, and get back to that top-of-the-world feeling: What works best for me is to give myself a simple task, that I know I can accomplish, and just tackling the BEJEEZUS out of it! So today, after one of our professors gave us all a very harsh and unnecessary lecture about what terrible students we were, I decided to buy ...TOOTHPASTE. You can't mess that up, because Colgate and Crest are Universal! So, what did I do today? I bought TOOTHPASTE, in RUSSIAN, and I ROCKED it. Other things I have accomplished in Russia, in order to achieve the same effect:

-Trimmed my own hair
-Translated a Russian pop-song
-Chosen my classes for next semester
-Done my laundry
-Given myself a manicure
-Made a color-coded calendar of the next four months
-Sliced 5 apples, and then ate them ALL.

I am Victorious!
Sarah

I could get used to this.

In fact, I already have. I have been in Russia for an entire month, and that is what this post is about!

I am starting to feel at home here. I've met some amazing people, and made a few Russian friends that are willing to help me practice my Russian (but who can also speak English with me when I am completely lost). All 6 of us Oles have been hitting it off like no other, which is a godsend on this program! I think I can speak for all of us when I say we're having an amazing experience here in Russia, but at the same time, it's nice to know that I'm just a short walk or bus ride away from the nearest Ole. I know what buses to take if I want to go to the mall, to the park, to the Center, or just about anywhere I would need or want to go.

I have also come to terms with the face that I can NOT spend all of my time speaking Russian. This was the hardest thing for me to deal with --- I am here to learn Russian, and the best way to do that would be to speak it 24/7. However, if I didn't use English as much as I do, I would not be having such a great time right now: I am still learning, and my Russian is still improving... but I am ALSO making friends with the other Oles on my trip, and getting to know Russians on a deeper-than-2nd-grade level, because we use English. I can say with confidence that, when I come back to Russia/Novgorod (which I hope to do, and stay for a full year), I will have friends that will welcome me back. As far as I'm concerned, 3 1/2 months in Russia just isn't long enough. So, since I HAVE to come back, I might as well make sure I have some friends to come back to!

Anyway, I don't have any pictures to leave you with since my Russian internet is altogether unreliable, so please enjoy this link to my very favorite Russian children's show --- Winnie the Pooh (Винни Пух)

Lots of love,
Sarah