So I guess that its about time for that typical “I’m half way through and this is what I’ve learned” post considering that my half way point passed my by about 5 days ago. I know I know, I’m not very good at keeping this blog up on time but this time I’m only about 5 days behind so I reckon that I’m getting better.
So today while I was on Facebook (I know, not a great way to spend an exchange but hey, I’m 19, its how I will spend some of my time no matter where I find myself) I was talking to one of my friends Kylie, who for those of you don’t know her she was in Italy the same year as me and is currently in Korea on the NSLI-Y scholarship, and we were talking about our experience together. We do this a lot because she is one of the only other exchangers that I know that can completely 100% relate to the way I’m feeling about my exchange because she too is a Yo-Yo (someone who does 2 exchange’s before college) and we both went to Italy the first time and a considerably harder country (Russia and Korea) the second time around.
Kylie and I went through this entire process together, from finding out about NSLIY to the frantic Facebook messages of “OMG I GOT THE SCHOLARSHIP” to the many times that we have said “What. Were. We. Thinking.” But there is something that we have both started to realize as we come closer to (and passing of) the halfway point of our second exchanges: This second exchange was very much a slap in the face with reality.
Now I definitely have to explain myself. I want to start this blog post with saying that I truly am beginning to fall in love with this country and its culture but it really has been, as I said, a huge slap in the face. It wasn’t the bad kind of slap that means “you messed up big and you’re in trouble” more like the “its time to wake up and realize that life simply isn’t perfect” kind of slap.
When I started this journey last year I thought that I was in for another experience like I had in Italy but this time I figured that it would actually be easier because I had already done this once, I’ve been through it, I’m a veteran of high school exchange. This thought right here, was very very wrong.
As most of you know these last 5 months have not been the easiest of my life, in fact they have most certainly been the 5 most difficult months that I have faced thus far. Which took me by an even bigger surprise then it would have if this had just been a regular exchange. It shocked me because I assumed that because everything went okay in Italy everything would go okay in Russia. Well I very very quickly realized that Russia is not Italy. That doesn’t necessarily mean its better or worse, but that it’s simply a different country and a different experience.
This realization hit me pretty hard when I realized that this year might not be as easy and as painless as my first exchange in Italy. I had a lot of host family problems this year (see previous posts) and I am currently residing with my third host family, this is something I never thought would happen when I left the USA and came to Russia. But it has, and honestly I LOVE the family that I’m in now. I also began to realize that Russian is A LOT A LOT A LOT A LOT harder then Italian. Now, honestly I DID know this before I left for Russia but I don’t think I realized quite how much harder it actually is. I’d say that this month or so my Russian is equal to how my Italian was in October/November. In Italy I picked up the language fairly quickly and I never really had much of that time where I literally did not understand anything. But in Russia, that time period has lasted for a solid 3 months. I’m definitely getting better but its MUCH slower going then my Italian was.
I’m realizing now that, Italy was somewhat of a dream, most of the year went fairly easily but that’s not normal. Normal life has speed bumps, detours, traffic jams and crashes. This is one realization that I have to thank Russia for. While its not Russia’s fault that I’m having these realizations here I do believe that anywhere that I would have been (be it another country or college) I would have had these realizations and I really am thankful for what Russia has given me these last 5 months.
Russia has made me realize, that well, life isn’t perfect and during specific times, it may never become perfect but with a little work and help from others you can learn to adapt and accept what’s happening, change certain things and you can get to the “happy” stage, even if its not “perfect”. Yes I said it. My life in Russia isn’t perfect but you know what, I really am starting to love it here, does it infuriate me sometimes? YES!!!!!! Do I ask my self “why did I do this again?” on a weekly basis? YES!!!! Do I sometimes ask my self “how do people live like this on a daily basis????” Yes I do. But even with all of that, this place is really growing on me and I’m starting to love it.
So now that I’ve explained myself a little bit ill go through the typical updates:
My Russian I am glad to say is starting to get a little better. I can definitely write more grammatically correct then I can speak because for those of you who don’t know Russian grammar is one of the most complicated things that I have tried to understand (pre calculus included!!!). When I can write it out and take time to think about all of the endings I tend to use them better then when I'm speaking but my speaking is starting to come alone. And the level at which I understand is much higher now then it was back before Christmas so for that I’m thankful! But I do have one complaint. THEY LIED TO US!!!! Everyone says that “you read it like you write it and say it” in Russian! That is a HUGE HUGE HUGE LIE!!! All of the most common words in Russian are not pronounced like they are spelled, letters change their sound depending on where the stress is in a word. And the stress is NEVER marked. Russians are lazy and never write the two dots above the ё. Those two dots make it a “yo” sound instead of a “ye” sound. But in everything except dictionaries they conviently leave these 2 dots out!!! Oh and the stress in Russian is NEVER marked and there are no rules as to where the stress should be… every word is different and if you mix up the stress in a word it can be a completely different word and people probably wont understand what you’re saying! This is probably one of the most annoying things about Russia.
Me and Jenia are convinced that Russians aren’t used to hearing their language spoken by foreigners so they aren’t used to “guessing” and “filling in” missing words. If we forget a word or mix up a case a little bit they get all confused and don’t understand. Which makes no sense to us because as English speakers we are used to hearing our language butchered (and I say this as lovingly as possible! I love my foreign friends!) by non-native speakers but yet, GASP, we still understand!!! Its something that makes talking to strangers a little hard but its getting better with every passing day as my Russian gets better.
School, I know that I say this every time but well…its still high school and by extension just a little boring. Plus it doesn’t help that I still cant fully understand what goes on in my lessons and I’ve come to find that Russian lessons (especially algebra and chemistry) are really easy to zone out in because I don’t really need these classes here! But me and jenia have picked and started the 2 lessons that we are going to do presentations/tests in at the end of the year. We have chose….dun dun duuuuuun… Liturature and Geography. We’ve only had these lessons for about 2 weeks but they seem okay so far and it is nice to be doing something productive for once outside of our Russian classes.
Family: Everything in my family is AMAZING! Seriously I LOVE this family! They are so nice to me and I really do feel like I am apart of their family! Its really nice to feel like apart of a family again, its something that I’ve missed these last few months in Russia! I’m coming up on my 2nd month with them and it already feels like I’ve been here forever so I’m really happy on this front!
So.. that’s how my life has been for the last few months. If anyone has any specific questions that you want answered or something you specifically want to hear about ☺ let me know and I’ll try to blog about it
Oh and another thing! I REALLY wish I had been in Wisconsin this Sunday! GO PACKERS!!!
Love and miss you all =)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
С Рождеством и С Новым Годом!!
С Рождеством и С Новым Годом!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (a bit a little late)
So naturally I’m about a week late with this (okay okay the last post was only 2 months late, forgive me) but I figured that you would all like to know how my holidays were spent here in Russia.
So we shall start by saying that Christmas doesn’t exist in Russia (well it does, in fact its January 7th, so tomorrow or today depending on when I post this) because they are Orthodox not Catholic so to them December 25th is just another day on the calendar where they have to go to school, work, and continue to prepare for New Years. Knowing that Christmas is a big holiday in most other countries AFS decided to try to have a “Christmas celebration” for us AFS students. The mere fact that it was on December 22 – December 24 it failed slightly in getting us in the “Christmas spirit” but it was still nice of them to try to celebrate for us.
So on December 22 we left for Yaroslavl where the event was being held and when we got there we were told that we were going to be staying in host families, which was nice, but honestly after all the problems that I had with families I was and am tired of getting to know new families. My family that I stayed with there was very nice but we didn’t really do much because I was only going to be there for 2 nights.
Russia has yet to figure out that the country that they live in is well… COLD… they still seem to think that it is a good idea to plan out door activities when it is about 0 degrees outside. When we say that its cold they always respond with “well it's Russia” in my head all I think is “well thank you for informing me where I am but its still COLD, if you’re cold and you’re Russian then obviously WE are cold! Give us a break and don’t plan 7 hour outdoor activities in December” but outwardly I just smiling and say “yes I know, but its COLD” All in all the outing was fun, we went sledding then played some games outside on teams, our team came in second but I must admit it was done mostly without me, me and Jenia hid inside for some of the games (we found coffee).
The next day was mostly for the AFSers to hang out which we did, we also had to watch a performance that the school put on for us. Oddly enough their choice for a Christmas play was “the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hallow” … we didn’t understand either. We then had a small feast with cake and fruit before we all went to the center to walk around before we went home.
When I got home (on Christmas Eve) my host family had a whole feast prepared for me! It was so nice of them! They had baked me chicken, real salad, and a cake. They kept asking if they had done it right! It was soo sweet of them, I mean I had only been living with them for about 5 days at that point and so it was just really really nice of them. They gave me a small Christmas gift and then I went to bed, still not quite believing that the next day was Christmas.
So my actual Christmas was very uneventful. I went to an art museum with Katia’s (my host sister) class in the morning. While I would like to be able to say that “I learned a lot and I really enjoyed the museum” I unfortunately cant say that. I’m learning that I’m really just not one for art museums and all I could think was “its Christmas, why am I here?” After that we went home and I met my host dad for the first time since I had been in the house. He works one week on and one week off (as far as I understood when they told me) but I still don’t know what he does exactly. Then Katia & I went ice-skating. Russians really enjoy holding hands while they ice-skate which to me, holding hands with someone who hasn’t ice skated in over 2 years and wasn’t that great to begin with (me), is not a very good idea but alas they really love to hold hands! They also don’t really understand that you can't go from “bad” to “90 mph” in less then one hour! But I’m proud of myself I only fell once and it created a bruise the size of Rhode Island on the side of my right knee but it was still worth it! After that I skyped with my whole family back in the States which was pretty sad, I missed them A LOT, Christmas is a hard time to be away from family. That drew an end to the strangest Christmas of my life!
On to New Years! Which to Russians seems to be Thanksgiving, Christmas, and something REALLY amazing all rolled in to one. Everyone started talking about New Years about 2 weeks in to December. Although now that I think about it, in the States, we start thinking about Christmas in November so maybe it’s not that weird after all. And everyone kept telling me how amazing New Year's was going to be. So the day before New Year's myhost sister & I helped my host mom and grandma get food ready for New Year's, they seemed to be preparing a FEAST (which they were!).
So on December 31st we all woke up late (as usual) and pretty much just lounged until about 5ish pm and that’s when we all started getting ready. Well to be more accurate with that I noticed that they were all getting ready, doing makeup, putting on nice cloths, so I figured that that’s what I should be doing too. No one had told me but I didn’t want to be the only one in pajamas! I mean they even put my little host brother in a SUIT! So we all got dressed up and around 8 some guests came over, friends of my host family and their little daughter who is the same age as my host brother. We all hung out until about 10 pm which is when we started to eat. Yes we STARTED to eat at about 10 pm. My family got very distressed when they realized that I wouldn’t eat most of the food on the table because 90% of it contained mayo, which is one food that I cannot stand! I still managed to fill my stomach much more then I should have yet my бабушка (grandma) was still worried that I’m not eating enough (which is a daily worry of hers)
At almost midnight we turned on the TV and we watched Russia bring in the New Year in Moscow. The president of Russia, Mendeleev, spoke for about 5 minutes and then they counted in the New Year. Then I saw one of the funniest things. I watched the president, and former president (Putin) dance! Together! On! Live! TV! I thought it was amusing. Well Russians have the same champagne and kissing tradition as the USA. We all had champagne and kissed each other’s cheeks at midnight and shouted “С НОВЫМ ГОДОМ!!!!” and that’s when the fireworks started! All over the city you could hear fire works going off and the distant lights in the sky. (and for future reference, its January 6 and people are still setting off fireworks and saying Happy New Years on the street)
Me and my family sat around, talked, danced, sang and hung out with our guests until about 3 am which is when the party started to die down and everyone went home and we went to bed.
So naturally I’m about a week late with this (okay okay the last post was only 2 months late, forgive me) but I figured that you would all like to know how my holidays were spent here in Russia.
So we shall start by saying that Christmas doesn’t exist in Russia (well it does, in fact its January 7th, so tomorrow or today depending on when I post this) because they are Orthodox not Catholic so to them December 25th is just another day on the calendar where they have to go to school, work, and continue to prepare for New Years. Knowing that Christmas is a big holiday in most other countries AFS decided to try to have a “Christmas celebration” for us AFS students. The mere fact that it was on December 22 – December 24 it failed slightly in getting us in the “Christmas spirit” but it was still nice of them to try to celebrate for us.
So on December 22 we left for Yaroslavl where the event was being held and when we got there we were told that we were going to be staying in host families, which was nice, but honestly after all the problems that I had with families I was and am tired of getting to know new families. My family that I stayed with there was very nice but we didn’t really do much because I was only going to be there for 2 nights.
Russia has yet to figure out that the country that they live in is well… COLD… they still seem to think that it is a good idea to plan out door activities when it is about 0 degrees outside. When we say that its cold they always respond with “well it's Russia” in my head all I think is “well thank you for informing me where I am but its still COLD, if you’re cold and you’re Russian then obviously WE are cold! Give us a break and don’t plan 7 hour outdoor activities in December” but outwardly I just smiling and say “yes I know, but its COLD” All in all the outing was fun, we went sledding then played some games outside on teams, our team came in second but I must admit it was done mostly without me, me and Jenia hid inside for some of the games (we found coffee).
The next day was mostly for the AFSers to hang out which we did, we also had to watch a performance that the school put on for us. Oddly enough their choice for a Christmas play was “the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hallow” … we didn’t understand either. We then had a small feast with cake and fruit before we all went to the center to walk around before we went home.
When I got home (on Christmas Eve) my host family had a whole feast prepared for me! It was so nice of them! They had baked me chicken, real salad, and a cake. They kept asking if they had done it right! It was soo sweet of them, I mean I had only been living with them for about 5 days at that point and so it was just really really nice of them. They gave me a small Christmas gift and then I went to bed, still not quite believing that the next day was Christmas.
So my actual Christmas was very uneventful. I went to an art museum with Katia’s (my host sister) class in the morning. While I would like to be able to say that “I learned a lot and I really enjoyed the museum” I unfortunately cant say that. I’m learning that I’m really just not one for art museums and all I could think was “its Christmas, why am I here?” After that we went home and I met my host dad for the first time since I had been in the house. He works one week on and one week off (as far as I understood when they told me) but I still don’t know what he does exactly. Then Katia & I went ice-skating. Russians really enjoy holding hands while they ice-skate which to me, holding hands with someone who hasn’t ice skated in over 2 years and wasn’t that great to begin with (me), is not a very good idea but alas they really love to hold hands! They also don’t really understand that you can't go from “bad” to “90 mph” in less then one hour! But I’m proud of myself I only fell once and it created a bruise the size of Rhode Island on the side of my right knee but it was still worth it! After that I skyped with my whole family back in the States which was pretty sad, I missed them A LOT, Christmas is a hard time to be away from family. That drew an end to the strangest Christmas of my life!
On to New Years! Which to Russians seems to be Thanksgiving, Christmas, and something REALLY amazing all rolled in to one. Everyone started talking about New Years about 2 weeks in to December. Although now that I think about it, in the States, we start thinking about Christmas in November so maybe it’s not that weird after all. And everyone kept telling me how amazing New Year's was going to be. So the day before New Year's myhost sister & I helped my host mom and grandma get food ready for New Year's, they seemed to be preparing a FEAST (which they were!).
So on December 31st we all woke up late (as usual) and pretty much just lounged until about 5ish pm and that’s when we all started getting ready. Well to be more accurate with that I noticed that they were all getting ready, doing makeup, putting on nice cloths, so I figured that that’s what I should be doing too. No one had told me but I didn’t want to be the only one in pajamas! I mean they even put my little host brother in a SUIT! So we all got dressed up and around 8 some guests came over, friends of my host family and their little daughter who is the same age as my host brother. We all hung out until about 10 pm which is when we started to eat. Yes we STARTED to eat at about 10 pm. My family got very distressed when they realized that I wouldn’t eat most of the food on the table because 90% of it contained mayo, which is one food that I cannot stand! I still managed to fill my stomach much more then I should have yet my бабушка (grandma) was still worried that I’m not eating enough (which is a daily worry of hers)
At almost midnight we turned on the TV and we watched Russia bring in the New Year in Moscow. The president of Russia, Mendeleev, spoke for about 5 minutes and then they counted in the New Year. Then I saw one of the funniest things. I watched the president, and former president (Putin) dance! Together! On! Live! TV! I thought it was amusing. Well Russians have the same champagne and kissing tradition as the USA. We all had champagne and kissed each other’s cheeks at midnight and shouted “С НОВЫМ ГОДОМ!!!!” and that’s when the fireworks started! All over the city you could hear fire works going off and the distant lights in the sky. (and for future reference, its January 6 and people are still setting off fireworks and saying Happy New Years on the street)
Me and my family sat around, talked, danced, sang and hung out with our guests until about 3 am which is when the party started to die down and everyone went home and we went to bed.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The last crazy month! Part 2
So no time like the present to fill everyone in as to why exactly I am in yet another new family. I’ll also start off again by apologizing because this post is going to be a bit scattered and a little confusing because I have a lot of information to get across in (hopefully) a relatively short blog post but I want to fill everyone in.
So with my first host family that I had the actual relationship that we had was good and was not the reason that I had to switch to a new family. About 3 weeks after arriving in Russia I started having some sort of mild allergic reaction to something. It manifested in small red bumps that itched really badly and kind of looked like mosquito bites but stayed red all the time. At first I had no clue what it was and I ended up going to the Russian doctors more then once about it (it was not quite as positive of an experience as the dentist) but the only thing that they could tell me was that it was an allergic reaction but because EVERYTHING in my environment was new there was no real way that they could pinpoint what I was allergic to exactly.
Well after a few more weeks I figured out that the only time I got the spots was after I slept in my bed so I talked to my host family about that and we decided that me and my host sister would sleep in my moms bed and my host mom would sleep in our room to see if that cured the problem. For the most part that helped but I still couldn’t sit on my old bed because when I did I got spots. I had thought that this was going to be a temporary fix but this was really the only way that I could sleep in the house and not get spots but I was not fully comfortable with sleeping in the same bed as my host sister for the next 8 months. When I told AFS about our sleeping arrangement they agreed that it had been long enough with this allergy never really going away that they thought it was time that I changed.
All of this talk of changed happened to come up right before I left for Sochi (see last post) and so they decided that they would start searching for a family and would tell my host family about the switch whilst I was away in Sochi and that I should call on the way home and not to worry while I was there. So I tried to do as they told me (but for those of you who know me…I worried) and I called AFS on the train from Moscow to Yaroslavl. That was a BIG mistake. They ended up telling me that they still hadn’t found a host family (because they forgot to start looking) and I totally broke down in the train. Thankfully it was a train full of exchange students who understood what was going on so they were nice about it. After a lot of phone calls and many many many more tears we finally got it worked out that I would be going to staying with Jenia until they found me a permanent host family.
So when Jenia's host family picked her up from the bus station they also picked me up. And so started the 2 weeks that I lived with Jenia. Because Jenia’s house doesn’t have an extra bed I slept on a mattress on the floor of Jenia’s room, which was fine by me. But that meant that in one room it was me, Jenia, and her host sister Natasha. It was cramped but it was a lot of fun. So while I was at Jenia’s I had a big event happen. It was my 19th birthday!!!!! Well in Russia birthdays aren’t huge deals like they are in the states. Jenia’s family was really nice and they tried to make my birthday as memorable as possible. They bought me balloons and gave me a small gift and Jenia bought me a birthday cake so that was really nice. It was a great birthday under the circumstances but I really do wish I had been with a family of my own for my birthday. So just 4 short days after my birthday it was Thanksgiving! I know I know, thanks giving in Russia? Maybe not but me and Jenia were determined to do something for it. Well an actual thanks giving meal was out of the question because we didn’t have any of the ingredients that we needed so we had one of the worlds most unconventional thanks giving meals in the world: Tocos! Jenia and me made tacos for her family for diner. She had already made them for them once so it wasn’t new but still it was exciting because even in Russia we managed to make them taste like “home” we had to substitute things with the Russian version but they still ended up tasting pretty darn…. well I was going to say American but well Mexican!
So a few days after Thanks giving just about 2 weeks after I moved in to their house AFS told me that they had found me a new host family and that in my new family there would be a mom, a dad, a brother my age (but lived in Yaroslavl for university) and a sister that’s 16. I was really excited. So I packed up all of my stuff from Jenia’s (its surprising how much unpacking you can do in just a 2 week time period) and Jenia and Natasha went with me in the taxi to my new family. They lived in a house about 10 minutes’ drive outside of Uglich in a small village. I could still Uglich but I didn’t technically live in Uglich any more.
So while I was there I unpacked all of my stuff as well. They were a nice family, very quiet but they seemed very nice. After I had been there for about a week AFS told me if it was okay if they switched me and Laura (a German girl in Uglich) because Laura needed a new family and they had no other families besides they one that they just gave me. I told them that on my end it was okay because honestly I had only been with this new family for 1 week so it was okay with me. I knew that it had a lot more people to go through to get approved but still I was excited about the possibility.. I had met Laura’s family and they were really nice and lived close to the school.
Over the next week I was slowly informed of each persons approval as it came. First was AFS Russia’s : this one surprised me because I didn’t figure they would allow 2 students to just switch host families. But they said that under the circumstances this was the best solution. The next one I also figured would be difficult: Laura’s family. Again I was pleasantly surprised and they agreed that they would host me and Laura could go to the other family that they still wanted to host and thought that I would be a good fit with their family. So with two of the three groups agreement the last was my family.
At first when AFS called them they said no because they didn’t want to start over again. I can’t say that I wasn’t a little disappointed because I also wanted this switch to happen. But then after afs talked to them again (they really needed a new family for Laura because things for her were getting worse) my family agreed that the switch could happen. So when my school contact called me I started to re-pack my stuff again. And that’s when I VOWED that this would be the LAST time that I packed until June!
So on the next Sunday (just one day after the switch was agreed upon) I finished packing up all of my stuff and got everything together from this family and we went in the car and they drove me to my new host families house. When I got there my new host sister Katia (13) and her friend were outside waiting for me. So once I got all of my stuff out of the car they showed me where the entrance of the house was then told me….we lived on the fifth (yes I said it FIFTH) floor and the building had no elevator.. so I guess I'm going to get very used to stairs! I carried up all my stuff and she helped me unpack it.
I knew instantly that this family would be an AMAZING match for me! In my family I have a Мама (mom) and a Папа (dad) (but for those of you who know my family at home, you’ll find it funny that my mom and dad here are the same age as my oldest siblings) a host Бабушка (grandmother, who is the same age as my parents), Сестра (sister) Katia who is 13 and finally a Брат (brother) named Lonya (pronounced like lone-ya) who is 2.
When I got there the host dad wasn’t home because he worked in another town and does one week at the house and one week not and this happened to be the week he worked. But I got along great with all of the other members of the family! And they talk A LOT, like more then me! And that is a very hard thing to do loll!
So I’ve been here for about 2 and half weeks now and everything has been great. My little host brother is super adorable, he calls me “kenda” because he cant say my real name and me and the rest of my host family get along great. They are very nice to me and I’m enjoying living here A LOT!
So that has been how my last crazy month and a half went!! Now that I’m all caught up in the next day or two I’ll get a post about Christmas and new years up and PICTURES I promise! Ill put up pictures..this week! I’m on break from school for the next 10 days so I WILL GET IT DONE! I promise.
Я вас люблю и скучаю!! (I miss and love you all!)
С НОВЫМ ГОДОМ!!!! HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!
So with my first host family that I had the actual relationship that we had was good and was not the reason that I had to switch to a new family. About 3 weeks after arriving in Russia I started having some sort of mild allergic reaction to something. It manifested in small red bumps that itched really badly and kind of looked like mosquito bites but stayed red all the time. At first I had no clue what it was and I ended up going to the Russian doctors more then once about it (it was not quite as positive of an experience as the dentist) but the only thing that they could tell me was that it was an allergic reaction but because EVERYTHING in my environment was new there was no real way that they could pinpoint what I was allergic to exactly.
Well after a few more weeks I figured out that the only time I got the spots was after I slept in my bed so I talked to my host family about that and we decided that me and my host sister would sleep in my moms bed and my host mom would sleep in our room to see if that cured the problem. For the most part that helped but I still couldn’t sit on my old bed because when I did I got spots. I had thought that this was going to be a temporary fix but this was really the only way that I could sleep in the house and not get spots but I was not fully comfortable with sleeping in the same bed as my host sister for the next 8 months. When I told AFS about our sleeping arrangement they agreed that it had been long enough with this allergy never really going away that they thought it was time that I changed.
All of this talk of changed happened to come up right before I left for Sochi (see last post) and so they decided that they would start searching for a family and would tell my host family about the switch whilst I was away in Sochi and that I should call on the way home and not to worry while I was there. So I tried to do as they told me (but for those of you who know me…I worried) and I called AFS on the train from Moscow to Yaroslavl. That was a BIG mistake. They ended up telling me that they still hadn’t found a host family (because they forgot to start looking) and I totally broke down in the train. Thankfully it was a train full of exchange students who understood what was going on so they were nice about it. After a lot of phone calls and many many many more tears we finally got it worked out that I would be going to staying with Jenia until they found me a permanent host family.
So when Jenia's host family picked her up from the bus station they also picked me up. And so started the 2 weeks that I lived with Jenia. Because Jenia’s house doesn’t have an extra bed I slept on a mattress on the floor of Jenia’s room, which was fine by me. But that meant that in one room it was me, Jenia, and her host sister Natasha. It was cramped but it was a lot of fun. So while I was at Jenia’s I had a big event happen. It was my 19th birthday!!!!! Well in Russia birthdays aren’t huge deals like they are in the states. Jenia’s family was really nice and they tried to make my birthday as memorable as possible. They bought me balloons and gave me a small gift and Jenia bought me a birthday cake so that was really nice. It was a great birthday under the circumstances but I really do wish I had been with a family of my own for my birthday. So just 4 short days after my birthday it was Thanksgiving! I know I know, thanks giving in Russia? Maybe not but me and Jenia were determined to do something for it. Well an actual thanks giving meal was out of the question because we didn’t have any of the ingredients that we needed so we had one of the worlds most unconventional thanks giving meals in the world: Tocos! Jenia and me made tacos for her family for diner. She had already made them for them once so it wasn’t new but still it was exciting because even in Russia we managed to make them taste like “home” we had to substitute things with the Russian version but they still ended up tasting pretty darn…. well I was going to say American but well Mexican!
So a few days after Thanks giving just about 2 weeks after I moved in to their house AFS told me that they had found me a new host family and that in my new family there would be a mom, a dad, a brother my age (but lived in Yaroslavl for university) and a sister that’s 16. I was really excited. So I packed up all of my stuff from Jenia’s (its surprising how much unpacking you can do in just a 2 week time period) and Jenia and Natasha went with me in the taxi to my new family. They lived in a house about 10 minutes’ drive outside of Uglich in a small village. I could still Uglich but I didn’t technically live in Uglich any more.
So while I was there I unpacked all of my stuff as well. They were a nice family, very quiet but they seemed very nice. After I had been there for about a week AFS told me if it was okay if they switched me and Laura (a German girl in Uglich) because Laura needed a new family and they had no other families besides they one that they just gave me. I told them that on my end it was okay because honestly I had only been with this new family for 1 week so it was okay with me. I knew that it had a lot more people to go through to get approved but still I was excited about the possibility.. I had met Laura’s family and they were really nice and lived close to the school.
Over the next week I was slowly informed of each persons approval as it came. First was AFS Russia’s : this one surprised me because I didn’t figure they would allow 2 students to just switch host families. But they said that under the circumstances this was the best solution. The next one I also figured would be difficult: Laura’s family. Again I was pleasantly surprised and they agreed that they would host me and Laura could go to the other family that they still wanted to host and thought that I would be a good fit with their family. So with two of the three groups agreement the last was my family.
At first when AFS called them they said no because they didn’t want to start over again. I can’t say that I wasn’t a little disappointed because I also wanted this switch to happen. But then after afs talked to them again (they really needed a new family for Laura because things for her were getting worse) my family agreed that the switch could happen. So when my school contact called me I started to re-pack my stuff again. And that’s when I VOWED that this would be the LAST time that I packed until June!
So on the next Sunday (just one day after the switch was agreed upon) I finished packing up all of my stuff and got everything together from this family and we went in the car and they drove me to my new host families house. When I got there my new host sister Katia (13) and her friend were outside waiting for me. So once I got all of my stuff out of the car they showed me where the entrance of the house was then told me….we lived on the fifth (yes I said it FIFTH) floor and the building had no elevator.. so I guess I'm going to get very used to stairs! I carried up all my stuff and she helped me unpack it.
I knew instantly that this family would be an AMAZING match for me! In my family I have a Мама (mom) and a Папа (dad) (but for those of you who know my family at home, you’ll find it funny that my mom and dad here are the same age as my oldest siblings) a host Бабушка (grandmother, who is the same age as my parents), Сестра (sister) Katia who is 13 and finally a Брат (brother) named Lonya (pronounced like lone-ya) who is 2.
When I got there the host dad wasn’t home because he worked in another town and does one week at the house and one week not and this happened to be the week he worked. But I got along great with all of the other members of the family! And they talk A LOT, like more then me! And that is a very hard thing to do loll!
So I’ve been here for about 2 and half weeks now and everything has been great. My little host brother is super adorable, he calls me “kenda” because he cant say my real name and me and the rest of my host family get along great. They are very nice to me and I’m enjoying living here A LOT!
So that has been how my last crazy month and a half went!! Now that I’m all caught up in the next day or two I’ll get a post about Christmas and new years up and PICTURES I promise! Ill put up pictures..this week! I’m on break from school for the next 10 days so I WILL GET IT DONE! I promise.
Я вас люблю и скучаю!! (I miss and love you all!)
С НОВЫМ ГОДОМ!!!! HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
This last crazy month! Part 1
Well I’m back guys! And I must start this blog the way that I feel I am always starting my blog posts: With an apology for not having written sooner, but I do have a good explanation.
So this blog update will be in 3 parts: Vacation, Family less, and New Family.
So I guess I shall begin my story with the first part: Vacation: November 8 – November 18th
Our vacation started with all of the kids from Uglich heading off to Yaroslavl so that we could get to Moscow. Let me tell you getting up at 6 am when it’s still dark to go and get on a COLD bus is not an easy thing to do! The trip all the way to Yaroslavl was pretty uneventful and when we got there we had to wait for all of the other kids to show up which wasn’t for about an hour. Once everyone arrived we got on our train to MOSCOW!!
That train ride wasn’t very fun. It lasted about 4 hours and the train was really low quality and the seats were sooo uncomfortable! But hey we were going to Moscow then down south so I couldn't complain too much. But, then when we got to Moscow it was raining! And it was cold! So we made our way into the famous Moscow metro, and let me tell you folks it’s just as beautiful as everyone says it is! But, the escalator is HUGE! I swear it was really steep and when you were on the top you couldn't even see the bottom of it! I was scared to ride on it! When we finally got to the other train station we had about 6 hours to wait until our train to Karinofsk (a small town in the Krasnodar region of Russia). In the airport Jenia, Bettina (another American) and I walked around and we got SUBWAY! It tasted good! It had been so long since I had eaten any “American” food!
When it was finally time for our train to Karinofsk we got on the train and took our seats and realized… these are definitely not first class tickets. The train ride took a total of about 30 hours. It was 2 full nights and one full day. Not that we were really able to sleep much because the beds consisted of hard slabs with an old mattress on top of it and a sheet that came in a package. Okay so about the train. They do not serve food on the train so if you want food you’re expected to bring it all with you when you get on or buy it when the train stops at the little stores that are at the train stations. Luckily we had been warned so we bought tea, sugar, coffee cups, some food, and other stuff to eat at the train station in Moscow. Pretty much for 2 days we lived off of tea and cookies (sorry mom: yes we had cookies for breakfast!) But we quickly realized that there was one HUGE fault in living off of tea… It makes you have to go to the bathroom A LOT! Which is not normally a problem until you realize that the bathrooms on these trains…are probably the most disgusting bathrooms that I’ve ever seen in my life, including port-a-potties! We were told that we were not allowed to use the bathroom for one hour outside of Moscow and when we asked why we were given probably one of the nastiest answers I’ve ever been given in my entire life.. when you flush the toilet.. it just.. goes out side of the train!!! Long story short, Jenia and me avoided that bathroom like it was the plague (because honestly it probably could have given us the plague!) and went as few times as we possibly could in that time we were there.
So we arrived in Karinofsk it was about 5 in the morning and our host families were they’re waiting for us at the train station. In my host family there, there was a brother, sister, mom and a dad. They were such a nice family! I still keep in contact with them even though it has been nearly a month since I have been back! Anyways the first day that we were in Karinofsk we were told that we would be attending (and participating in) a “Pushkin Ball” (for those of you who don’t know, Pushkin is a Russian poet). SO all the girls were fitted for dresses (they were dresses that I assume that girls in past years had worn) that looked a lot like REALLY fancy prom dresses. We spent the next two days there preparing for the ball, which for us meant that we had to learn 2 dances. They weren’t particularly difficult dances but the kids that would also be dancing with us had been practicing them for months! Finally the day before the ball we had our final rehearsal, and it was a disaster! None of us knew what we were doing but everyone seemed to think it was funny so it all worked out in the end.
The day of the ball! So my host family there had arranged for me to get my hair done so I did that then I went home and got into my dress! Which they were all convinced was beautiful and I thought it was a disaster but so was everyone else’s so it was okay! Once we got there all of us (14 in all) realized the extent of this ball! These kids take this ball more seriously then we take prom in the USA! There were professional photographers, everyone was in gorgeous dresses, everyone was very serious about their dances and what not. And the 14 of us were still a little confused as to what was going on.
They called us to start the dance and most of it was a haze for me but we did manage to do our dances (even if we did mess up … a lot!) and sit down and stand up when we were supposed to and while it was a really cool thing to be apart of listening to people read poetry in Russian and do classical dances for 3 hours gets a little long so I was very glad when I got to go home and take off that dress and SLEEP!
The next day all of us boarded a train to go to Krasnodar, which is the capital of the region of the south. It was just a 2 hour trip and then we went sight seeing in the city. The city was really beautiful and I know I’m going to sound like a typical teenager when I say this but the best part was….THE MALL!! They had a real mall there!! Like it looked like an American mall (if not nicer!). That night we got on yet another train to go to Sochi, Russia! And again for those of you who don’t know Sochi is where the 2014 winter Olympics will be!!
Folks this train ride, was the train ride FROM HELL!! First off when we first got on we noticed that the train wasn’t exactly the cleanest thing in the world (worse then the first train) and then we realized where we were sitting! Jenia's, Bettina’s and my car was right in the middle of a bunch of drunken old men! (Apparently in Russia its normal to be drunk on trains.. what else is there to do? ) Anyways at first we didn’t think it would be a problem because the first train there were also drunk men but they were a “we will stay in our car if you do” type..these ones were not! They kept coming over and trying to talk to us! For the first few hours we just kept pretending that we didn’t speak Russian when they came over so that they would get discouraged and not try to talk to us. About 3 hours in they figured out that we did speak Russian so they kept trying to talk to us! And they kept trying to grab our feet when we lay in our bunks thinking that it was funny. It wasn’t funny! Who wants to touch someone’s gross feet? We were very very glad when the train pulled into Sochi and we were finally able to get off that train! We were tired of having to use the buddy system just to go to the bathroom!
We stepped out in Sochi and it was like a different world! It looks less like Russia and more like Florida! Everything is bright blue, there are palm trees, the beautiful black sea (which is VERY blue actually!), we were all very surprised when we saw it. I never thought that I would see palm trees in Russia!
In Sochi the weather was so nice the 3 days that we were there! We got to see the sea while we were there and let me tell you it’s gorgeous!! I loved the black sea! Unfortunately it was too cold to swim (it was November after all)! We again stayed in families while we were there and went to the school almost every day! Their school was sooo nice! It was nicer then my high school in the states! Basically while we were in Sochi we relaxed, stayed with our host families, went to a few museums, saw the sea and just enjoyed the nice weather! It was really sad when they told us that it was time for us to go home and to get on that horrible train again!
But we got a good surprise! The train that they booked for the way back was REALLY nice! Or at least really nice compared to the trains that we had been on! Mostly the 14 of us hung out and slept but mostly ate the entire way back. I think all I did on that train was eat, and eat, and eat some more! We finally got to Moscow at like 3 am and we transferred to the other train station to wait the 5 hours for our trip back to Yaroslavl! Me and a few other’s ventured out to get some breakfast…we ate PIZZA! It was good pizza too!
So on the train back from Moscow to Yaroslavl is when the “familyless” part of my story starts. But I’ll leave that for Part 2 (coming VERY soon)
I’d again like to apologize for having this so late! I’ve had some problems (see part 2) with Internet and families and such. So I’ll get it updated really soon! And i'll try to do some pictures as well! Love and miss you all!
So this blog update will be in 3 parts: Vacation, Family less, and New Family.
So I guess I shall begin my story with the first part: Vacation: November 8 – November 18th
Our vacation started with all of the kids from Uglich heading off to Yaroslavl so that we could get to Moscow. Let me tell you getting up at 6 am when it’s still dark to go and get on a COLD bus is not an easy thing to do! The trip all the way to Yaroslavl was pretty uneventful and when we got there we had to wait for all of the other kids to show up which wasn’t for about an hour. Once everyone arrived we got on our train to MOSCOW!!
That train ride wasn’t very fun. It lasted about 4 hours and the train was really low quality and the seats were sooo uncomfortable! But hey we were going to Moscow then down south so I couldn't complain too much. But, then when we got to Moscow it was raining! And it was cold! So we made our way into the famous Moscow metro, and let me tell you folks it’s just as beautiful as everyone says it is! But, the escalator is HUGE! I swear it was really steep and when you were on the top you couldn't even see the bottom of it! I was scared to ride on it! When we finally got to the other train station we had about 6 hours to wait until our train to Karinofsk (a small town in the Krasnodar region of Russia). In the airport Jenia, Bettina (another American) and I walked around and we got SUBWAY! It tasted good! It had been so long since I had eaten any “American” food!
When it was finally time for our train to Karinofsk we got on the train and took our seats and realized… these are definitely not first class tickets. The train ride took a total of about 30 hours. It was 2 full nights and one full day. Not that we were really able to sleep much because the beds consisted of hard slabs with an old mattress on top of it and a sheet that came in a package. Okay so about the train. They do not serve food on the train so if you want food you’re expected to bring it all with you when you get on or buy it when the train stops at the little stores that are at the train stations. Luckily we had been warned so we bought tea, sugar, coffee cups, some food, and other stuff to eat at the train station in Moscow. Pretty much for 2 days we lived off of tea and cookies (sorry mom: yes we had cookies for breakfast!) But we quickly realized that there was one HUGE fault in living off of tea… It makes you have to go to the bathroom A LOT! Which is not normally a problem until you realize that the bathrooms on these trains…are probably the most disgusting bathrooms that I’ve ever seen in my life, including port-a-potties! We were told that we were not allowed to use the bathroom for one hour outside of Moscow and when we asked why we were given probably one of the nastiest answers I’ve ever been given in my entire life.. when you flush the toilet.. it just.. goes out side of the train!!! Long story short, Jenia and me avoided that bathroom like it was the plague (because honestly it probably could have given us the plague!) and went as few times as we possibly could in that time we were there.
So we arrived in Karinofsk it was about 5 in the morning and our host families were they’re waiting for us at the train station. In my host family there, there was a brother, sister, mom and a dad. They were such a nice family! I still keep in contact with them even though it has been nearly a month since I have been back! Anyways the first day that we were in Karinofsk we were told that we would be attending (and participating in) a “Pushkin Ball” (for those of you who don’t know, Pushkin is a Russian poet). SO all the girls were fitted for dresses (they were dresses that I assume that girls in past years had worn) that looked a lot like REALLY fancy prom dresses. We spent the next two days there preparing for the ball, which for us meant that we had to learn 2 dances. They weren’t particularly difficult dances but the kids that would also be dancing with us had been practicing them for months! Finally the day before the ball we had our final rehearsal, and it was a disaster! None of us knew what we were doing but everyone seemed to think it was funny so it all worked out in the end.
The day of the ball! So my host family there had arranged for me to get my hair done so I did that then I went home and got into my dress! Which they were all convinced was beautiful and I thought it was a disaster but so was everyone else’s so it was okay! Once we got there all of us (14 in all) realized the extent of this ball! These kids take this ball more seriously then we take prom in the USA! There were professional photographers, everyone was in gorgeous dresses, everyone was very serious about their dances and what not. And the 14 of us were still a little confused as to what was going on.
They called us to start the dance and most of it was a haze for me but we did manage to do our dances (even if we did mess up … a lot!) and sit down and stand up when we were supposed to and while it was a really cool thing to be apart of listening to people read poetry in Russian and do classical dances for 3 hours gets a little long so I was very glad when I got to go home and take off that dress and SLEEP!
The next day all of us boarded a train to go to Krasnodar, which is the capital of the region of the south. It was just a 2 hour trip and then we went sight seeing in the city. The city was really beautiful and I know I’m going to sound like a typical teenager when I say this but the best part was….THE MALL!! They had a real mall there!! Like it looked like an American mall (if not nicer!). That night we got on yet another train to go to Sochi, Russia! And again for those of you who don’t know Sochi is where the 2014 winter Olympics will be!!
Folks this train ride, was the train ride FROM HELL!! First off when we first got on we noticed that the train wasn’t exactly the cleanest thing in the world (worse then the first train) and then we realized where we were sitting! Jenia's, Bettina’s and my car was right in the middle of a bunch of drunken old men! (Apparently in Russia its normal to be drunk on trains.. what else is there to do? ) Anyways at first we didn’t think it would be a problem because the first train there were also drunk men but they were a “we will stay in our car if you do” type..these ones were not! They kept coming over and trying to talk to us! For the first few hours we just kept pretending that we didn’t speak Russian when they came over so that they would get discouraged and not try to talk to us. About 3 hours in they figured out that we did speak Russian so they kept trying to talk to us! And they kept trying to grab our feet when we lay in our bunks thinking that it was funny. It wasn’t funny! Who wants to touch someone’s gross feet? We were very very glad when the train pulled into Sochi and we were finally able to get off that train! We were tired of having to use the buddy system just to go to the bathroom!
We stepped out in Sochi and it was like a different world! It looks less like Russia and more like Florida! Everything is bright blue, there are palm trees, the beautiful black sea (which is VERY blue actually!), we were all very surprised when we saw it. I never thought that I would see palm trees in Russia!
In Sochi the weather was so nice the 3 days that we were there! We got to see the sea while we were there and let me tell you it’s gorgeous!! I loved the black sea! Unfortunately it was too cold to swim (it was November after all)! We again stayed in families while we were there and went to the school almost every day! Their school was sooo nice! It was nicer then my high school in the states! Basically while we were in Sochi we relaxed, stayed with our host families, went to a few museums, saw the sea and just enjoyed the nice weather! It was really sad when they told us that it was time for us to go home and to get on that horrible train again!
But we got a good surprise! The train that they booked for the way back was REALLY nice! Or at least really nice compared to the trains that we had been on! Mostly the 14 of us hung out and slept but mostly ate the entire way back. I think all I did on that train was eat, and eat, and eat some more! We finally got to Moscow at like 3 am and we transferred to the other train station to wait the 5 hours for our trip back to Yaroslavl! Me and a few other’s ventured out to get some breakfast…we ate PIZZA! It was good pizza too!
So on the train back from Moscow to Yaroslavl is when the “familyless” part of my story starts. But I’ll leave that for Part 2 (coming VERY soon)
I’d again like to apologize for having this so late! I’ve had some problems (see part 2) with Internet and families and such. So I’ll get it updated really soon! And i'll try to do some pictures as well! Love and miss you all!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Russian Dentist
So, It's been a while since i've updated. That's partially because i've been busy and well quite honestly partially because I'm a little lazy about updating my blog, so i apologize for the laziness but in return i'll tell you about my experience with the russian dentist!
So last week i was on the computer and i realized something! i realized that i had chipped a tooth. It wasn't one of my front teeth (thank gosh!) it was allllll the way in the back, one of the last molars in my mouth! but still it was hurting me and it was a definite chip (well i thought so at least, i've never actually chipped a tooth before). So the next day when i got to school I told my school contact (she is also my russian teacher) that I chipped my tooth and that i would need to see the dentist here in russia. what i didn't tell her was that i was scared out of my mind to go to the dentist in russia! I mean i don't LOVE the dentist in the usa but in russia, well i was just a little more then scared.
The next day at school she told me that she had talked to AFS and they said that yes i would in fact need to go to the dentist because if you don't fix a chip that it would only continue to get worse and that they would find me a good dentist here in Uglich. Then I started playing the waiting game until they told me when my appointment was. They finally told me on friday that i had an appointment for the next morning with the dentist in uglich who does all the bankers teeth. This made me happy because i mean that means she has to be a good dentist, right? Well i was still really nervous because i mean its still the dentist! She also told me that i would need to take about 3000 rubles (90 dollars) with me because that would be the maximum that it would cost her to fix my tooth.
I was in AWE!!! you cant get anything done at the dentist for 90 US dollars! but i believed her and i went to the bank and got out the money. and nervously awaited the next morning. Well when i woke up on saturday i walked to meet Anastasia (an afs volunteer who speaks english) so that she could take me to the dentists office. Surprisingly it was only about a 5 minute walk from my house, which was good because it was raining like crazy!
So when we got there, we opened the door and i was immediately put at ease! it looked just like an american dentist! the room was white and guess what...there was even a fish tank! so she took me back in the back room AFTER she made us put on these little plastic booties over our shoes! it was the weirdest thing! well we went back and it looked just like my dentist in the usa. I sat down and she looked at my tooth and was jabbering on in really fast russian and i didn't fully understand (or rather nothing) what she was doing to me until she pulled out the "orange light gun" used for fillings! then i knew what she was doing.
Over all it was a really quick procedure it only took about 30 minutes. thats when i got an amazing surprise, when she told me how much i owed her she only said 1000 rubles (30 dollars) i was amazed!
So i walked out of the russian dentist with a fixed tooth and a still full wallet! it wasn't traumatic in the least! and now my smile is all fixed!
Love and miss you all!
Kendra
So last week i was on the computer and i realized something! i realized that i had chipped a tooth. It wasn't one of my front teeth (thank gosh!) it was allllll the way in the back, one of the last molars in my mouth! but still it was hurting me and it was a definite chip (well i thought so at least, i've never actually chipped a tooth before). So the next day when i got to school I told my school contact (she is also my russian teacher) that I chipped my tooth and that i would need to see the dentist here in russia. what i didn't tell her was that i was scared out of my mind to go to the dentist in russia! I mean i don't LOVE the dentist in the usa but in russia, well i was just a little more then scared.
The next day at school she told me that she had talked to AFS and they said that yes i would in fact need to go to the dentist because if you don't fix a chip that it would only continue to get worse and that they would find me a good dentist here in Uglich. Then I started playing the waiting game until they told me when my appointment was. They finally told me on friday that i had an appointment for the next morning with the dentist in uglich who does all the bankers teeth. This made me happy because i mean that means she has to be a good dentist, right? Well i was still really nervous because i mean its still the dentist! She also told me that i would need to take about 3000 rubles (90 dollars) with me because that would be the maximum that it would cost her to fix my tooth.
I was in AWE!!! you cant get anything done at the dentist for 90 US dollars! but i believed her and i went to the bank and got out the money. and nervously awaited the next morning. Well when i woke up on saturday i walked to meet Anastasia (an afs volunteer who speaks english) so that she could take me to the dentists office. Surprisingly it was only about a 5 minute walk from my house, which was good because it was raining like crazy!
So when we got there, we opened the door and i was immediately put at ease! it looked just like an american dentist! the room was white and guess what...there was even a fish tank! so she took me back in the back room AFTER she made us put on these little plastic booties over our shoes! it was the weirdest thing! well we went back and it looked just like my dentist in the usa. I sat down and she looked at my tooth and was jabbering on in really fast russian and i didn't fully understand (or rather nothing) what she was doing to me until she pulled out the "orange light gun" used for fillings! then i knew what she was doing.
Over all it was a really quick procedure it only took about 30 minutes. thats when i got an amazing surprise, when she told me how much i owed her she only said 1000 rubles (30 dollars) i was amazed!
So i walked out of the russian dentist with a fixed tooth and a still full wallet! it wasn't traumatic in the least! and now my smile is all fixed!
Love and miss you all!
Kendra
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
SNOOOOOOW
I know that I just updated yesterday (so read that one too!) but I thought that you would be interested in knowing that...
IT SNOWED!!!
Yes it is only October 13th and it is already snowing here in Russia! I think that it is going to be a VERY long year for me! wish me luck and send me warm thoughts you guys! I think I'm going to need it!
IT SNOWED!!!
Yes it is only October 13th and it is already snowing here in Russia! I think that it is going to be a VERY long year for me! wish me luck and send me warm thoughts you guys! I think I'm going to need it!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Russian Bath
So first of all I’d like to apologize that this blog has taken me so long to write but I’ve been submersed in reading the Hunger Game series of books (which if you have not read, you need to! They are amazing) and for the last 3 or 4 days I have been doing nothing but reading those books. My host sister thinks I’m crazy but, like I told her “Ksenia, I’ve been reading them for days now I want to find out how they end!” you should have seen her face when I laughed/cried/was sad from a book. I don’t think she gets as in to books as I do. Oh well enough about Hunger Games and on to a short update on my life, then the main event my “Russian bath”
So we will start with school I guess, its still boring. I know that I keep saying this but honestly, it is. Jenia and me most days just sit at a table and blankly stare at the chalk board while the teacher lectures the class and they take notes. In fact the last few days (since we started reading the books) we have been taking our books to school and reading them during class. I know, we are bad exchange students because listening to Russian is the only way we will learn, but hey it is helping to pass the time and that was only for a few days. So all of this last week my school has been having shortened days. Each class was 30 minutes instead of 45 because the school is cold. The city of Uglich had not yet turned on the heat in that part of town. I will never understand this but hey, its Russia! They actually did turn on the heat on Friday but the school was still freezing so we had short days! And hey we definitely are not complaining about having short days rather then our normal 5/6-hour days.
In my home/family life the major (and this is MAJOR) event that happened was…. Bum bum bum bum… the city finally TURNED ON THE HEAT!!! I was talking to my Italian host sister on Skype on Tuesday and I was telling her about how cold it was and how the city still hadn’t turned on the heat and went over to feel the register thingy (its like the old ones we have in the USA, they are metal have water in them and are like against the wall about 3 feet tall) and it was warm!! I was so happy I about screamed!! Oh there was another good thing that happened as well! I finally got the box that my real mommy sent me from the USA! It took exactly 3 weeks to get to me so I guess Russia is slower then Italy was when it comes to mail! Oh well! Other then that everything in my home life is good, my host family and I are getting along really well which is nice!
My Russian, well I’d love to be able to say that I understand everything that is going on around me but in all honesty, I cant. Russian is a VERY difficult language; probably more difficult then I thought it was going to be when I chose Russia! It is starting to come along I mean I can definitely understand and say A LOT more then I could when I got here but still its difficult to communicate and I still give that blank “I have no idea what you’re talking about” stare to people a lot when people talk to me. My Russian lessons with Jenia are starting to get better now that we are going faster but I still wish that I could speak Russian fluently after just 2 months but I know that that is not an option so I’m trying as hard as I can. Hopefully it’ll click soon!
I also had an AFS orientation in Yaroslavl that consisted of an “international dinner” which I brought chocolate chip cookies to (because I mean honestly, what’s REALLY American?) and some talking in a classroom about how AFS works, how we are doing, what our support system is and all of that. Nothing that we didn’t already know or hadn’t heard in a million different orientations before but it was nice to see all of the other kids that we had not seen in over a month. But honestly I didn’t really remember most of them OOPS. They did tell us one exciting thing though That we would have to option to go to Krasnodar Russia with AFS in November for about a week! I’m very excited about that!
So now on to the main event: my experience with a “Russian bath.” So my host family and I went to Yaroslavl (for my orientation) and we stayed the night at my host mothers boyfriends house. Well after my international dinner we went back to his house and they started to talk to me about “a bath” with “really hot water” I was really confused because honestly I wasn’t planning on taking a shower there (we were only staying for 1 night) and I always take hot water showers so they just kept telling me “okay you will see”.
Then they gave me some old sweat pants to change in to and they told me to take off all of my make up, jewelry and my clothe s and to put on the sweats. I was very confused because honestly, Russians DO NOT leave the house with sweat pants on but hey, I didn’t know what I was doing or what was going on so I just did what they told me to do and changed.
Then we were we all started going outside, it was cold, I didn’t want to go outside but I had to because that’s what they told me to do. We all went out to this little wooden house that was out side of the apartment and it was HOT in there and that’s when I started to connect the dots. It was a type of sauna! So my host mom’s boyfriend leaves and my host mom and sister start to strip. Not wanting to make the already awkward situation any more awkward I started to get undressed to. I’ve never been one for nudity so luckily we all wrapped up in towels after that and then we went through another little room that was a little warmer and then a third room that was REALLY hot. It had some benches and some wooden stove that was producing A LOT of heat.
So we all sat down and I started to understand more of what was going on and why we were actually there! We all sat in there for a while about 15 minutes before we needed a break because it was so hot! So we rested for a while in the first room and when we went back in my host mom had a little cup with her. She offered it to my host sister and me and when I asked what it was she simply said, “honey”. That just confused me even more! Why on earth did she have a cup full of honey? Then her and my host sister both started to rub the honey on their arms and legs, so that’s what I did to. Honey? I mean really? Why rub honey on your body its sticky and yucky but they seemed to think it was a good idea so I went along with it.
Then my host mom and sister went out and my host mom came back in with this branch that had a bunch of leaves on it. It smelled good and it was wet with hot water. Then she told me to lay down on the bench and guess what!! She started hitting my body with that bundle of leaves! All that was going through my head was “oh man how on earth am I going to explain this to people with out sounding like a complete psycho!” well after my host mom did this to me she showed me how to wash off all of the honey with this bucket of hot water and a sponge and then she started to “beat” my host sister with the leaves while I washed off! Then when my host mom came out I told her I was done and she’s like “okay its time to rinse off” and she got this other bucket of water and dumped it on me. I SCREAMED! It was ICE cold water and I had been sooooo hot since I was in that room and she dumped cold water on me! Then my host sister washed off and we got dressed and so went my experience with a “Russian bath”
I was so confused the entire time this was happening but this is apparently a Russian tradition! They kept asking me if I liked it afterward “Kendra did you like it?” and honestly the only response that I could come up with was “well it was definitely an experience!” its not that I didn’t like it but it was just so different and I wasn’t expecting to do that while I was in Yaroslavl or even while I was in Russia!
I hope that you all had a good laugh while reading because I most certainly did while it was happening, I honestly could not believe it was happening while it was happening but hey “it is Russia” !
Love and miss you all!
So we will start with school I guess, its still boring. I know that I keep saying this but honestly, it is. Jenia and me most days just sit at a table and blankly stare at the chalk board while the teacher lectures the class and they take notes. In fact the last few days (since we started reading the books) we have been taking our books to school and reading them during class. I know, we are bad exchange students because listening to Russian is the only way we will learn, but hey it is helping to pass the time and that was only for a few days. So all of this last week my school has been having shortened days. Each class was 30 minutes instead of 45 because the school is cold. The city of Uglich had not yet turned on the heat in that part of town. I will never understand this but hey, its Russia! They actually did turn on the heat on Friday but the school was still freezing so we had short days! And hey we definitely are not complaining about having short days rather then our normal 5/6-hour days.
In my home/family life the major (and this is MAJOR) event that happened was…. Bum bum bum bum… the city finally TURNED ON THE HEAT!!! I was talking to my Italian host sister on Skype on Tuesday and I was telling her about how cold it was and how the city still hadn’t turned on the heat and went over to feel the register thingy (its like the old ones we have in the USA, they are metal have water in them and are like against the wall about 3 feet tall) and it was warm!! I was so happy I about screamed!! Oh there was another good thing that happened as well! I finally got the box that my real mommy sent me from the USA! It took exactly 3 weeks to get to me so I guess Russia is slower then Italy was when it comes to mail! Oh well! Other then that everything in my home life is good, my host family and I are getting along really well which is nice!
My Russian, well I’d love to be able to say that I understand everything that is going on around me but in all honesty, I cant. Russian is a VERY difficult language; probably more difficult then I thought it was going to be when I chose Russia! It is starting to come along I mean I can definitely understand and say A LOT more then I could when I got here but still its difficult to communicate and I still give that blank “I have no idea what you’re talking about” stare to people a lot when people talk to me. My Russian lessons with Jenia are starting to get better now that we are going faster but I still wish that I could speak Russian fluently after just 2 months but I know that that is not an option so I’m trying as hard as I can. Hopefully it’ll click soon!
I also had an AFS orientation in Yaroslavl that consisted of an “international dinner” which I brought chocolate chip cookies to (because I mean honestly, what’s REALLY American?) and some talking in a classroom about how AFS works, how we are doing, what our support system is and all of that. Nothing that we didn’t already know or hadn’t heard in a million different orientations before but it was nice to see all of the other kids that we had not seen in over a month. But honestly I didn’t really remember most of them OOPS. They did tell us one exciting thing though That we would have to option to go to Krasnodar Russia with AFS in November for about a week! I’m very excited about that!
So now on to the main event: my experience with a “Russian bath.” So my host family and I went to Yaroslavl (for my orientation) and we stayed the night at my host mothers boyfriends house. Well after my international dinner we went back to his house and they started to talk to me about “a bath” with “really hot water” I was really confused because honestly I wasn’t planning on taking a shower there (we were only staying for 1 night) and I always take hot water showers so they just kept telling me “okay you will see”.
Then they gave me some old sweat pants to change in to and they told me to take off all of my make up, jewelry and my clothe s and to put on the sweats. I was very confused because honestly, Russians DO NOT leave the house with sweat pants on but hey, I didn’t know what I was doing or what was going on so I just did what they told me to do and changed.
Then we were we all started going outside, it was cold, I didn’t want to go outside but I had to because that’s what they told me to do. We all went out to this little wooden house that was out side of the apartment and it was HOT in there and that’s when I started to connect the dots. It was a type of sauna! So my host mom’s boyfriend leaves and my host mom and sister start to strip. Not wanting to make the already awkward situation any more awkward I started to get undressed to. I’ve never been one for nudity so luckily we all wrapped up in towels after that and then we went through another little room that was a little warmer and then a third room that was REALLY hot. It had some benches and some wooden stove that was producing A LOT of heat.
So we all sat down and I started to understand more of what was going on and why we were actually there! We all sat in there for a while about 15 minutes before we needed a break because it was so hot! So we rested for a while in the first room and when we went back in my host mom had a little cup with her. She offered it to my host sister and me and when I asked what it was she simply said, “honey”. That just confused me even more! Why on earth did she have a cup full of honey? Then her and my host sister both started to rub the honey on their arms and legs, so that’s what I did to. Honey? I mean really? Why rub honey on your body its sticky and yucky but they seemed to think it was a good idea so I went along with it.
Then my host mom and sister went out and my host mom came back in with this branch that had a bunch of leaves on it. It smelled good and it was wet with hot water. Then she told me to lay down on the bench and guess what!! She started hitting my body with that bundle of leaves! All that was going through my head was “oh man how on earth am I going to explain this to people with out sounding like a complete psycho!” well after my host mom did this to me she showed me how to wash off all of the honey with this bucket of hot water and a sponge and then she started to “beat” my host sister with the leaves while I washed off! Then when my host mom came out I told her I was done and she’s like “okay its time to rinse off” and she got this other bucket of water and dumped it on me. I SCREAMED! It was ICE cold water and I had been sooooo hot since I was in that room and she dumped cold water on me! Then my host sister washed off and we got dressed and so went my experience with a “Russian bath”
I was so confused the entire time this was happening but this is apparently a Russian tradition! They kept asking me if I liked it afterward “Kendra did you like it?” and honestly the only response that I could come up with was “well it was definitely an experience!” its not that I didn’t like it but it was just so different and I wasn’t expecting to do that while I was in Yaroslavl or even while I was in Russia!
I hope that you all had a good laugh while reading because I most certainly did while it was happening, I honestly could not believe it was happening while it was happening but hey “it is Russia” !
Love and miss you all!
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