What is Russian?

Hey everyone! I’m writing from the road here, as I’ve just begun ‘traveling my way home,’ which basically means I’m homeless until July when I finally make it back to the States. I prepared this entry about a month ago, so that I could post it quickly while on the road, but I wanted to wait until I officially left Russia. I had a whirlwind past three weeks between my Mankato friend Lauren visiting for a week, then Mom and Brent visiting for the following week, all while I finished classes for the semester, said goodbye, and left Moscow for good. So, I’ve barely had time to reminisce, but I’m sure once I’m on my own again next week I’ll turn some of my thoughts back to Russia.

Moscow was good to me. It took me in when I was craving stability and steadiness in my life, and it gave me a wonderful job and lifestyle that I needed. I still believe I was one of the luckiest teachers of all in my orientation group, as I was placed in a school with phenomenal teachers, coworkers, and students (most of them), a great apartment with everything I could possibly need close by, and a convenient location in one of the largest capital cities in the world.

At school, the support and encouragement I received from the Russian teachers was overwhelming, and I truly looked forward to each day of work. I enjoyed preparing lessons for my students, and when I was in the classroom I forgot about everything else except for how to make the class the best it could be. My students accepted me, respected me (most of them), and entertained me to no end. I learned so much from them, about their daily lives, their modern values, their views of the world around them, and most importantly, what it means to be Russian.

So, what exactly does ‘being Russian’ mean? This is a question that most have a hard time grappling, a question that has been echoing especially since the fall of the Soviet Union, and especially now with the recent political developments in Ukraine. Without communism, without a dictatorial leader, without Soviet propaganda, what exactly is the Russian identity? Of course, Russia is an immense country, and this question can be answered a million different ways. But I’ll tell you what my opinion is, based on the past eight months of observations, research, and experience in this intriguingly complex city.

What is Russian?

Walking.

Without fail, whenever I asked my kids what they did or what they were planning to do for the weekend, one of them would say “go for a walk with my friends.” This wasn’t some sort of translation error, this is actually what they meant. In Russian there is a specific verb for this act: to walk together as a social outing. It’s synonymous with our ‘hanging out,’ though they do in fact mean they will go for a walk, with their friends. It’s a chance to get out the house, get some exercise, and socialize, and it’s the Russian national pasttime. Moscow’s numerous parks and broad sidewalks lined with benches make this possible in nearly every neighborhood. Without fail, out on my errands, I will always see people out and about enjoying a stroll (except in the nasty winter) with their family or friends, usually arm in arm.

Family.

Russians spend most weekends with their families, whether it is at their country house, celebrating a family member’s birthday, or visiting relatives. Young unmarried Russians typically live at home until they are married, and they have a very close knit nuclear family, often with a live-in grandma or grandpa to take care of the kids while the parents are working.

Country Houses.

Besides walking, another common response to my weekly ‘weekend question’ is “went to the dacha with my family.” What is a dacha? Directly translated, it means ‘country house,’ and most true Muscovites will own one within an hour or two of the city limits. The dacha has been a staple of Russian life for many centuries, and is still very present in modern Russia. The ‘country house’ is usually just a typical house, nothing extravagant or fancy, but the point is that it’s a house. Not in the city, not in the midst of overwhelming traffic, not in an apartment building. It’s a family house with full bedrooms, a garden, and usually plots of land or forests to be able to wander in and enjoy nature outside of Moscow. Sometimes the family grandparent or grandparents will live at the dacha year round and keep up maintenance, some families go to the dacha continually throughout the year, or others keep it shut up during the winter, then return for the spring, summer, and early fall. A weekend at the dacha is a time to relax, be with family, and to enjoy the outdoors. Most of my kids try to get away without doing their homework by saying the internet doesn’t work at the dacha – in most cases this isn’t true (I always wonder if they really think they are fooling me), but in some cases it is, due to the isolation and seclusion of the houses. Most are located in little villages, as part of a regular neighborhood, much like we are used to in typical American towns. There needs to be a central grocery store and usually a train or bus station nearby, but other than that, a weekend at the dacha is all about the home. 

Also, on a side note, in most dachas there is a banya, our equivalent of a sauna, which is the desire of nearly every Russian to own. The sauna culture didn’t really hit the US, but to Russians, nothing is better than a full blast of a hot, dry steam sweat session in the winter, best complemented with a roll in the snow or a blast of icy air when you are finished. Many of my students talk about the banyas their fathers have built or desire building to complete their country house. You can go to a banya in Moscow, but the true banya is out in the forest, where you can use birch leaves to lightly slap on your skin in order to improve circulation.

Russians on wheels.

Come spring, out for a lovely weather walk, you will find yourself passed by multitudes of people on wheels, whether they are on wheeled shoes (mostly young boys like my students, from my observation), skateboards, bicycles, or rollerblades. If you care to join these fast moving people there are many stalls in the public parks which rent out various wheeled apparatus for your zipping pleasure. Moscow has also recently introduced the shared city bike program, where you can use a bank card to rent and return bikes throughout the city. It’s not much to comment on, but just be prepared for your visit to a Russian park in warm weather. You will be passed.

Fashionable.

Headscarves. High heels. Tall leather boots. Designer bags. You name it, Russian women look like a million bucks, no matter where they are and what they are doing. Even at the gym, as I witnessed firsthand many mornings this winter. Speaking of winter, let me zero in on a particularly Russian look: the fur coat.

As cold weather started approaching, I remember one of my co-teachers, Lena, stating that “a sign of a good husband is when he buys his wife a fur coat,” as she proudly showed her new birthday present off. Based on this sentiment, there must be a lot of outstanding husbands in Moscow, for in the cold winter months nearly everywhere I turned I saw fur coats. Unless you are a fur coat expert like I now pride myself to be, you must realize that once you get over the initial novelty of the coats, some of them are downright ugly. Make sure you cast a critical eye and only stare at the ones worth staring at. There are short fur coats for the fall and warmer temps, and long fur coats for the desolate winter months. There are sparkly fur coats, striped fur coats, and colored fur coats.

You must also have a matching fur hat or appropriate accessorizing headwear such as a Russian scarf to complement your fur coat, or the ensemble isn’t worth a glance.

Generous to no end.

If you are ever invited to a Russian birthday party, go. Don’t ask questions, don’t take time to think about it, just go. You will be spoiled, treated well, have tons of fun, and not be allowed to pay for anything. The Russian mentality is: if I treat everyone for my birthday, everyone will have the most fun possible. They don’t think in terms of being treated back, they just want to opportunity to show their appreciation and to create the best party ever. But of course, if each friend hosts their own party, things are evened out thoughout the year.

For each birthday at the office, we were treated to either pizza, a spread of cold cuts, cheese, and bread, fruit, some drinks, and a dessert. It was delightful to walk into the teacher’s room and realize it was somebody’s birthday. Or to realize there was a holiday coming up because you received a present from one of your students. Or be treated with a small gift because someone went out of town and brought you back a present. In short, Russians are incredibly generous.

Kids will be Kids.

“What did you do last weekend?”

“Sleep. Nothing. Eat. Computer games. Homework.”

“What do you want to do this weekend?”

“Sleep. Nothing. Computer games. Walk with my friends. Find a girlfriend.” (Unfortunately, this kid had been saying that last bit every Friday since Valentine’s Day, with no luck yet.)

What country would you expect these responses from? If you guessed South Korea, Russia, or the United States, you would all be correct. The point is, kids are the same all over the world.

The world is an oyster.

My students study English. They learn it at their public schools, then they come and learn some more at our school. But for most of them, it doesn’t stop there. They choose to learn French, German, Spanish, Italian and I even have a few kids who study Portuguese. One is interested in Korean, and I’m sure some of them have or will attack Chinese or Japanese. They listen to English, British, French, German and other music, and watch movies from many different countries. These kids, whose parents were ‘closed off’ from the world when they were young, are now embracing international and global opportunities with a passion. They know more world history than I did at the time I started college, and frequently ask me questions about history, politics, and American culture. Many of them are well traveled, and while its true that my students are probably from more affluent families than the average Russian, I’m still impressed with how well versed about the world they are. When I ask them why they want to study English, their answers vary from a desire to travel to study abroad to international work. I have one student who will be studying in New York this summer and we’ve already made plans to meet up. These kids are going places, literally. I only hope I’ve been able to help teach them more about the world that they are so curious about. Some questions regarding America I’ve received: “Do kids with no friends really have to eat lunch in the bathroom?,” “Does every school have the yelling pretty girls with the uniforms?,” and my personal favorite, “Why do you go to university if all you do is have parties?” Can’t learn everything from the movies, kids.

This is Russia

This, to me, is Russia. It’s not scary, or always cold, or full of bears. It does have a lot of vodka. I won’t deny that. It also has warm, generous, wonderful, intelligent people who are close to their families, understand the importance of working hard and live their lives to the fullest. Every country in this world has its good and bad qualities. I’m not speaking in defense or support of any specific recent political decisions, but I am speaking in general defense of the Russian people. The people aren’t making the decisions in this power play, the government is. When my mom traveled through the Soviet Union in the 1980s, she specifically recalled the Russian people as being some of the kindest people she met throughout her travels. I have no reason to counteract her statement nearly thirty years later: Russian people, at least all the ones I have met, are pretty fantastic. Don’t let the Western media deter your thoughts otherwise.

I’ve been so lucky to experience nine months in this fascinating country. I’ve learned and seen so much more than I could have hoped for.

With that, I’m signing off for a while as I finish my current travels through the Baltic countries, then take off for my travels through Scandinavia, Central Europe, and Israel before I head home. Unfortunately, I’ll only be in Minnesota for a week before heading to New York City to start a short term teaching job. If I miss you for the first round in Minnesota, I’m hoping to be back again in late August or early September! Check in here every so often to see what I’ve been up to, and as always, I’d love to hear from you or try to meet you along the way. Take care and have a lovely end of your spring and beginning of your summer!

A Russian Spring

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re finally beginning to enjoy warm temperatures, singing birds, and budding flowers, wherever you are. If you live somewhere warm, you probably don’t understand the magic of springtime like us cold-weather people do. Spring means not having to turn your car on ten minutes before you drive it, not having to shovel the walk every other morning, and not worrying about icy roads. Of course, it also means lots of flooding, melting puddles of dirty ice, and large amounts of rain, but we’ll skip over that for now.

You’ll be pleased to hear that Russia has a spring as well! Our winter was an absolute bust – we didn’t have a White Christmas, then there were about two or three weeks of below-zero temperatures, and...that was it. The weather got progressively warmer, the snow started to melt, all the outdoor ice rinks started to shut down, the ladies stopped wearing their fur coats, and before I knew it, it was spring. My kids and I still strongly believe that the Midwest stole Russia’s winter and added it to their own. But we’ll let bygones be bygones. Though the weather maintained a steady month of hovering just above freezing, it has now finally taken a turn and I believe warmer weather is locked in.

I haven’t written about Russia in a while, not because things haven’t been happening (I'll keep the political issues at bay here, and all you need to know is that things are safe in Moscow), but because I’ve been waiting until Easter so that I could align the six weeks between two important Russian spring holidays.  Which means to start, I’m going to take you back six weeks to the holiday that marked the beginning of the Russian ‘spring’ – in spirit if not in weather.

Maslenitsa

Maslenitsa, one of the most important spring holidays in Russia, traces back to pagan ancestry. The holiday was conveniently adapted to fit with Eastern Orthodox traditions, however, and today it is once again known as the start of Orthodox Lent. It literally translates to ‘Butter Week,’ and represents the final week of winter, a nice excuse to indulge in our extra winter insulation foods (like butter) just to ensure a smooth sailing into spring. In the past, each day of Maslenitsa week was designated for special activities, such as visiting certain members of your family, going for sleigh rides, or skating in the park, with a culmination festival day on Sunday. The traditions ceased during Soviet times, but these days, there is a more of a cultural revival. Today, although Maslenitsa events are growing in popularity throughout the week, most of it focuses on the weekend activities just before Lent.

Maslenitsa blini

I did, however, begin my personal celebration during the week by eating the traditional Maslenitsa food: pancakes, or blini, in Russian. Similar to the Catholic tradition of Shrove Tuesday, pancakes mark the beginning of Lent. The pancakes in description are actually more similar to crepes, and look like very thin, flat versions of my Dad's fluffy pancakes I grew up with. The beauty of these pancakes is that you can eat them with anything – if you want them to be savory you can have butter (hence the name ‘butter week’), caviar (that's a thing here), or some kind of meat and cheese. Alternatively, you can go the sweets route and fill them with jam, sweetened condensed milk, Nutella, or whipped cream. They're even great just plain. Either way, those pancakes disappear like lightning. You could buy messes of them at the stores, at the festival stalls, or make them at home. We had them at school throughout the week, contributed by a variety of school ladies, and I made it a personal mission to embrace the cultural experience by eating a hearty amount. Each time they appeared.

The pancakes, though they very neatly lined up with the Catholic Pancake Tuesday, actually originated with the pagan festival, as they represented the bright, round shape and color of sunshine. The pagans used Maslenitsa to mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring and sunshine. No matter that usually in Russia it was the middle of a cold, snowy winter – tradition is tradition. The final day of celebration is the most exciting and official custom of Maslenitsa: the burning of the female effigy, representing Lady Winter. (In Russian, winter is a feminine noun.)

Lady Winter

If you think this is something not to be missed, you are right. After an unusually warm week, a group of us met up on Sunday afternoon at one of Moscow’s largest parks to enjoy Maslenitsa and watch the burning. Unfortunately, that became the chilliest day of the week, so after ice skating and walking around for a few hours we were freezing, but determined to stick it out until the fire. The park was packed with families milling about, mostly for the kids activities and games, but also just to enjoy the event. There was live music, singing, and dancing in the center stage, and I had fun watching a group of people (most likely due to a certain liquid influence which made them especially happy) dancing and singing in circles to what I assume was traditional music.

Finally, after a cold afternoon of waiting, the burning commenced. We all gathered in a large circle and waited in anticipation. There was some sort of chanting and singing that I can only imagine meant something along the lines of “burn the witch!” and the next thing we knew, she was up in flames. It was all over in a matter of seconds, after which there was cheering and clapping.

Slightly creepy? Definitely. Interesting cultural experience? Absolutely. Though snow still decided to visit us in the following weeks, in everyone’s hearts and minds: winter was over.

Lent

In between Maslenitsa and Easter we had Lent. As in America, in Russia some observe this and some don’t. The Russian Lent starts on a Monday compared to the Roman Catholic Wednesday, and they have stricter rules. In modern daily life, however, it is loosely adhered to. The only difference I noticed around town were the kinds of treats my babushka (yes, my own personal Russian grandmother) served me with coffee after tutoring on Saturdays (I didn't know how to explain to her that I always give up sweets for Lent so I just wrote it off to a cultural experience and avoided chocolate) and the stickers in the grocery stored that marked whether it was ‘Lent approved’ or not.

Thanks to trusty Wikipedia, I learned that in the Eastern Orthodox Church, for those who follow it, Lent is quite strict compared to us lax Lutherans (read more about the differences here.)

“Weekdays during Lent, members are asked to avoid meat, meat products, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil. On Good Friday, members are urged not to eat at all.” Therefore all “Lent” products that I saw stickers on in the grocery store were foods made with no eggs, oil, or dairy, mostly in the bakery aisle. I’m happy to report that all of my purchases happened to be Lent approved.  

Tretyakov Gallery

Vodka Museum displays

The Lenten season this year wasn’t marked with anything special other than gray skies, a snowfall or two, and business as usual at work. However, I did make sure to take advantage of my free typically-non-sunny Sundays by visiting some of Moscow’s great delights: museums. I had quite a few on my list but have since been able to check many of them off. I visited the two most famous art galleries in Moscow, along with two history museums and the official Russian Vodka Museum thrown in the mix just for fun. The vodka museum gives you a free shot when you’re finished with the exhibition.


One of the highlights of my city exploration during Lent was one particular, rare sunny day when I ventured out to the Izmaylovo Market, located on the former royal property of the Romanov family. Today, located on the same property there is a large structure known as the 'Izmaylovo Kremlin,' a mess of brightly decorated and elaborate buildings designed to emulate medieval Russian structures. The 'Kremlin' is home to a wedding hall, restaurants, and bars for wedding events, but it also holds the Vodka Museum, an open air museum and theme park for children, and one of the city's largest flea market. Quite the place.

For my unusually sunny Sunday, I decided to walk around the structures to investigate and take pictures, get my morning fix by visiting the vodka museum and taking the free shot (it was 5 o'clock somewhere, I'm sure), then do some shopping for things to take home as gifts this summer. At the market the first few aisles are heavily laden with typical "Russian' tourist products such as the matrioshka dolls (the ones that open and open and open with sets of smaller dolls inside), fur hats, and Russian decorated everything. However, in the back wooden aisles and walkways the clientele is primarily Russian speakers, haggling and bargaining for the best deal at what most would pronounce as "junk." That's the purpose of a flea market though, right? I'm sure there were many treasures among the items displayed, but I chose to do a quick browse and focus on the typical Russian items first, as the weather was deceptively chilly. I'll come back and do some better investigation now that it's warmer out, perhaps for some old Soviet books, stamps, posters, etc.

 To finish out my afternoon before I became an icicle, I walked across the park to the other side of the frozen pond, where kilometers of trail were laid out along the lake and the nearby forest. To view the entire complex from a distance put it into a wonderful perspective, and evoked a strong sense of Russian magnificence. Whether this feeling was due to the vodka shot or the beautiful sunshine I'm not sure, but it was still a lovely sight to behold and enjoy.

Izmayolovo Kremlin

Women’s Day

Some of you may know that March 8^th is International Women’s Day. What you may not know is that in Russia…people actually celebrate it. Though preceded by February’s ‘Men’s Day,’ (perhaps just so that men's feelings aren't hurt) Women’s Day appeared to be more public and important to acknowledge. Smart Russia, smart. For Men’s Day, our two male teachers received alcohol and a tie. For the weekdays leading up to Women’s Day, I received chocolates, flowers, and little gift bags of cosmetics and toiletries. But for me the best part of the holiday turned out to be my half an hour walk on March 8^th to my Saturday morning tutoring session, when I passed over two dozen men walking on the street carrying flowers. There are always little outdoor flower stalls along the streets throughout the year, but I rarely see more than one or two people carrying flowers on the street. On Women’s Day, however, there were flowers everywhere. It was sweet to think that each man with flowers, no matter how curmudgeonly they appeared, had a soft spot somewhere for his special sweetheart. My girls reported back to me the next week that for Women’s Day most of them had a special meal with their families along with receiving flowers and maybe a small gift from their fathers and brothers. They were shocked when I informed them we don’t really celebrate Women’s Day in America in the same way – we celebrate Mother’s Day. One of my girls asked, to clarify, “So, if a woman isn’t a mother…she doesn’t get celebrated?” I responded by saying that usually we can say Happy Mother’s Day to most women older than us, as a general sentiment, but it did give me something to think about. She had a point – shouldn’t every woman and girl be celebrated?

Cosmonaut Day

 A brief but deserving mention is the final spring holiday before Easter this year, Cosmonautics Day. April 12th, 1961, marked the date of the first man in space, Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin. At a time of high Cold War tension, this event made him an international celebrity and earned him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
April 12th was designated International Cosmonautics Day and still celebrated in Russia today with ceremonies and marches, culminating in the cemetery where Gagarin is buried. Though we didn't see the official celebrations in the city, Jen and I had plans to visit the newly renovated Cosmonautics Museum for the weekend. My students had informed me about the activities at school that week, then recommended the museum. We had problems finding said museum, so by the time we located it and saw the line outside, we decided to just take a walk around the area and enjoy the memorial structures outside. We enjoyed watching Russian families (presumably) educating their children about the statues and murals, hopefully to instill a sense of knowledge and pride in their country's accomplishment.

Easter

Finally, we conclude with Easter. Russia doesn’t celebrate Easter with the Easter bunny, baskets, or egg hunts, but they do have a few traditions of their own. Probably more practical traditions, but hey, we have fun.

Easter Kulich

The week before Easter is the time to buy or make ‘Kulich,’ or Easter bread cake. It’s sweet and has icing like a cake but includes yeast and looks more like bread. It is tradition that families can’t eat their Kulich until they have been to the Easter service and had it blessed by the priest. After church, there is a meal, decorating eggs, and, as my kids have explained to me in great detail, “egg fighting.” I’m sure that’s conjuring up many images in your mind, but what they mean is that after you have hard boiled, decorated, and admired your egg, you are supposed to challenge someone and say your egg is stronger than theirs. Then, it’s a direct hit, egg on egg, with each person holding their egg and putting their might into destroying the other egg. The winner? The person whose egg has cracked the least. Brilliant.

I celebrated my Easter a little differently, though we did decorate eggs and eat Kulich. On Easter, Jen and I went to service at the same church we went to on Christmas, after which we enjoyed a champagne reception with the other members in the sunny garden, then we hopped on the metro and met up with our friends at the banya (technically called a sauna, but it’s a little different than our saunas, so I’ll differentiate). The banya is basically a private bathhouse/sauna/spa where you show up with your swimsuit and towel, some food and drinks to share, and spend three hours relaxing with your friends in between sweating in the sauna, showering off, and soaking in the pool. You could pick your poison and sweat in the Finnish style dry heat sauna or the Turkish style steam room, then recover by plunging into the chilly pool. Traditionally, a roll in the snow would have served the same purpose but we made do with our alternate option of the pool. Needless to say, we all felt very clean, detoxified, and slightly dehydrated when we left.

Pool and common area 

After the banya, we went back to Brendan and Robb’s, our trusty holiday hosts from both Canadian Thanksgiving and Christmas, and had a lovely Easter potluck and a second round of egg decorating. As always, when you are away from home your friends become your family, and Easter this year was no exception. Most of us will be parting ways and moving on at the end of May, so we reflected on the past seven months and talked about how to make the most of our last few weeks together. I’m anticipating the time flying by, and as always will try to appreciate everything to the fullest as the days slip away.

Easter 2014

With that, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your family and friends – please enjoy the rest of your April and start anticipating warmer weather and the coming of…dare I say it? Summer.

What Happened to October?

Well, hello November – where did you come from?

I can’t believe I’ve been in Moscow for two months now. I’m quickly realizing that although I enjoy the thrill of seeing my countdown back to the United States diminish, I need to make sure that I take advantage of Moscow before it’s too late. I’ve taken a sufficient amount of time to myself to establish a weekly routine, understand all the components of my job well enough to start working ahead, and begin working on graduate school applications, but now I need to remember one of the most important reasons I’m here: to learn more about Russia! There’s only so much books can do.

We were lucky enough to have some lovely fall weekends this month – the weather actually improved from September to October, so I made sure to take advantage of the sunshine and crisp autumn air when I could on the weekends – pictures to follow. Other news from October includes celebrating my first Canadian Thanksgiving, sadly having to miss three wedding celebrations from back home that I compensated for with thorough Facebook picture stalking, and managing to make Halloween last for six days straight. I’m also pleased to report that all of my students are now well acquainted with the YouTube Halloween song “Spooky Spooky.” I hope it gets out of my head sometime before Christmas. Here’s a picture of some of my little ones doing the ‘Spooky Spooky dance’ with excellent technique.

Spooky Spooky

On the school front, I’m feeling more and more like a ‘real teacher’ every day. I’ve graded tests and writing assignments, I’ve helped write progress reports, and I’ve employed the teacher techniques that I used to hate when I was in school (examples: keeping the kids after class for one minute in silence while adding a minute for each person who talks, threatening to take away games and movies and then actually following through, and even giving extra homework to disruptive students). I’m not only responsible for improving English conversation, but also for teaching the mechanics of English grammar (which I’ve had to brush up on and even learn about before certain classes). The balance of power shared between me and my Russian co-teacher is nearly equal, which is different than my experience in Korea, where I felt almost guilty for the lack of responsibility I was given compared to the Korean teachers. Here, the only exemptions I’m granted with are parent conferences and progress reports in Russian.  In my Korean classes I was lucky to have a co-teacher in the room with me to help with discipline and assignments, but here I’m on my own. I’m enjoying connecting with my students, however, and the desire to help them improve makes me want to work harder. We only have seven weeks left until the end of the semester, which I’m sure will fly by as much as the first half did!

Taking a walk along the river at
 Kolomenskaya

On the social front, I’ve been lucky to have a group of friends who enjoy ‘doing’ things – two of whom have already spent some time in Moscow and know more about what to see than I do. One of the social activities that Russians enjoy is simply “taking a walk with friends.” This is how the word must be literally translated, because when I ask my students what they did/want to do for the weekend, most of them respond with this. Simply strolling in nice weather and enjoying the scenery might not sound like something we all think to do, but I definitely advocate it for a fall activity. Some of the following pictures will be from a ‘walk’ I took with some friends at a nearby former country estate called Kolomenskaya. The weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful – definitely one of my favorite days so far! The day after, I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving for the first time in my life, hosted by one of the Canadians from my orientation. Much like foreign holidays in Korea, we celebrated by bringing a random assortment of food and enjoyed being together and hanging out more than anything. I’ve also never celebrated Thanksgiving with vodka, but hey, there’s a first time for everything.

Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner,
minus the chicken. 

Happy Birthday Mat!

Another fall activity we had here at our apartment (also involving vodka) was hosting my roommate’s birthday party, which was a fun way for me to meet some other English teachers living in Moscow, along with a few of his Russian friends. Mat, my roommate, is a fellow American who works at my school and has been here for the past year, so he’s basically my walking Google about everything there is to know about living in Moscow and working at my school. He probably finds me pretty annoying for asking questions all the time. The picture on the left (below) is me and Jen, the other American teacher at my school. She studied Russian in college, and lived in Moscow for a summer to take a Russian course. We barely see each other at school, but have started a weekly tradition of having pizza together on Friday night at a little restaurant near the school – the perfect end to the week.

Me and Jen

Kolomenskaya

And last, on the ‘exploring Moscow front,’ I have another pictures from Kolomeskaya and some from Novodevichy Convent, a beautiful place not too far from my apartment. Novodevichy was a Russian Orthodox monastery established in 1524, back when it was on the outskirts of the city. It was founded in commemoration (I’m basically spitting out Wikipedia facts here, you can read more about it here,) of an important conquest, then has since served as a defense fortress, a military hospital, an orphanage, a museum, and now has become a convent once again.  

Novodevichy 

Novodevichy Cemetery

The last set of pictures are from Red Square, both at at sunrise, (which isn’t as terrible as it sounds considering the sun didn’t rise until 8 that morning) and at sunset. The sunset ones were taken on the first day I’ve seen Red Square completely open, with no bleachers or setups in the middle of it. However, the sun goes down over the buildings first, so the sunset isn’t as impressive in Red Square as it is just beyond the Square, where there is a bridge overlooking the Moskva River, with the beautiful cathedral in front of the sun. I shared the bridge with many other Russians out enjoying the scenery and taking pictures of the sunset. 

Sunrise

Sunset

Oddly enough, Moscow has experienced record high temperatures the past few weeks, and there's definitely no sign of snow yet. I know that once it comes I'll have my fix for a long time, but I must say it's strange to think that it's actually warmer in Moscow now than it is back home in Minnesota. In other news, I've decided to take advantage of the weather and of my unexpected three day weekend coming up and will be heading to St. Petersburg to finally experience this famous and world renowned city! I realized that two months is the longest I've stayed put in one place since...college. My travel legs are getting restless - it's time to go explore someplace new. Stay warm back home and take care everyone - happy early Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoy the start of the holiday season! 

Ah, I'm going to include my school address, as some of you have asked about it. 

Gina Covert

EF English First Nikulino

Nikulinskaya St. 5

119602, Moscow, Russia