so i am going home tomorrow! i took all my final exams and got my grades (all As, which apparently isn't that exciting because it's very hard NOT to get all As).
i've had a cold this week and it has led me to a very interesting observation. apparently, in russia, having a cold is quite possible the worst. thing. ever. example: i didn't go to some of my classes since i just had to take finals, and i was feeling really awful. i told my phoenetics teacher that i was sick and she said, "do you have a fever? you look like you do." and my grammar teacher told me not to come to class the next day if i was still sick...keep in mind i had an exam (my final exam) that next day. later i was in my room and i walked out to the fridge to get some juice, and i met up with our housekeeper. she heard my voice and knew i was sick and said, "don't drink anything cold! drink hot milk with honey! WITH HONEY!" i went to my mass media class the next day and my professor said "i heard you were sick" (were they all talking about me?) and she didn't make me take my test! my grammar teacher met up with me on the way to the store and told me to buy medicine...i went to the pharmacy but i couldn't understand all the different medicines (seriously, there is medicine for EVERYTHING). later she asked me what i got and i said "i didn't understand anything." and she got mad at me, saying "you need to get better! ask an american student!"
all in all it was an interesting week, especially because in the US there's more of a "suck it up" attitude in terms of cold.
yesterday i went to the canadian embassy. as i was leaving the dorm i met up with my phoenetics teacher (olga ivanovna) and she gave me this stone in the shape of cheburashka (russian cartoon character) that's supposed to keep me safe on the plane and bring me happiness in love. quite possibly one of the sweetest gifts ever. i'll have to post a picture.
anyway i can't wait to be back home.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
sorry!
okay i'm back. i keep meaning to write a big post but time isn't always on my side! :)
first off, rob got extended an extra three months in iraq. lame.
off to happier things. last weekend we went to Souzdal. we went to the train station around 4 pm to get tickets and let me tell you, it's a ridiculous experience in russia. they kept sending us to different windows and we couldn't really communicate well. eventually one girl with us flipped out and cussed out one of the workers, which kind of freaked us out haha. anyway we got the tickets and it was all okay...just took awhile. we caught the train around 8 pm (note to self: don't take a train out of moscow on a friday night, especially on the friday before easter). there were SO many people. we all crowded onto the train but it was PACKED. long story short, nikki, tanya, john and i had to stand in the aisle for the first hour of the trip because there were no seats. eventually enough people got off at different stops, though, and we were able to sit down. we started talking to this guy sergei, who was sort of hitting on me. ("talk to me beautiful." haha). i also talked to this older woman who was very interesting...we talked about soviet times and such, in both english and russian. at the end of the train ride (in all about 3 hours) she told sergei and i to exchange numbers! so i gave him mine (since i won't be here much longer) and we got off the train. then we had to take a cab to souzdal (the train ended in vladimir, another little town about 40 miles from souzdal). the guy had no idea what monastery we were staying at since we didn't know the name and he ended up charging us a lot because he drove us all around, but we got there okay. this monastery had a hotel that actually was pretty cheap and quite nice.
the next day we walked around souzdal and visited some monasteries (there are many, as my pictures will show). we ate some really good meals at some tastey restaurants too. it's a lot cheaper there than in moscow so it was nice not spending so much. we went to this one market and bought more souvenirs (i bought mittens and a hat because it was cold and i didn't bring mine, haha). at night we really wanted to try some mead (it's beer with honey...a medieval drink. souzdal is famous for it) and we went to this one place where we thought we could try it. but nope, they didn't have it. we went to a few bars and eventually found it. p.s., mead is pretty gross, haha.
on sunday we needed to go back to vladimir to catch a bus to moscow. we didn't realize that the bus station was 2 km away. we walked the whole way and this stray dog followed us, haha. we were exhausted. anyway we got to vladimir and then got on the bus to moscow. this policeman came back to where we sat after awhile (we were very nervous at first) and said he wanted to practice english with us. we talked with him for an hour about whatever, and when we were getting close to moscow he went to his seat and gave us a jar of homemade raspberry jam that his grandmother made! i haven't tried it yet but i'm pretty excited.
so that was souzdal. i'm uploading pictures so check them out: http://picasaweb.google.com/caitlinelectric
the other day i was hanging out in my room and got a knock at the door. it was this guy who had been hanging out in the common room...a russian student. his name was grisha. he sat and talked to me for so long (because, again, he wanted to practice his english. i'm a magnet for these people). it was pretty odd all in all. but interesting. he wants to go to cuba.
yesterday there was quite a bit of excitement. turns out there was a fire on the 7th floor of my dorm (i'm on the 9th floor). they're fixing the showers down there and apparently were storing some propane tanks. luckily there were no explosions...as we know, with a propane tank involved the situation could've gotten a lot worse. anyway some guy came banging and yelling up to our floor but i was napping, so i really had no idea what he was saying. eventually jordana came into my room and said there was a fire. i jumped up and ran out and this girl said "get a coat." and i said "nah i'm fine" and the guy who was yelling said "no! get a coat!" haha. we ran downstairs, saw some russian firefighters, etc. it was just smoking though so i don't think there was any damage.
anyway i think i got you all caught up. don't forget to check out my new album of pictures, devoted to souzdal.
first off, rob got extended an extra three months in iraq. lame.
off to happier things. last weekend we went to Souzdal. we went to the train station around 4 pm to get tickets and let me tell you, it's a ridiculous experience in russia. they kept sending us to different windows and we couldn't really communicate well. eventually one girl with us flipped out and cussed out one of the workers, which kind of freaked us out haha. anyway we got the tickets and it was all okay...just took awhile. we caught the train around 8 pm (note to self: don't take a train out of moscow on a friday night, especially on the friday before easter). there were SO many people. we all crowded onto the train but it was PACKED. long story short, nikki, tanya, john and i had to stand in the aisle for the first hour of the trip because there were no seats. eventually enough people got off at different stops, though, and we were able to sit down. we started talking to this guy sergei, who was sort of hitting on me. ("talk to me beautiful." haha). i also talked to this older woman who was very interesting...we talked about soviet times and such, in both english and russian. at the end of the train ride (in all about 3 hours) she told sergei and i to exchange numbers! so i gave him mine (since i won't be here much longer) and we got off the train. then we had to take a cab to souzdal (the train ended in vladimir, another little town about 40 miles from souzdal). the guy had no idea what monastery we were staying at since we didn't know the name and he ended up charging us a lot because he drove us all around, but we got there okay. this monastery had a hotel that actually was pretty cheap and quite nice.
the next day we walked around souzdal and visited some monasteries (there are many, as my pictures will show). we ate some really good meals at some tastey restaurants too. it's a lot cheaper there than in moscow so it was nice not spending so much. we went to this one market and bought more souvenirs (i bought mittens and a hat because it was cold and i didn't bring mine, haha). at night we really wanted to try some mead (it's beer with honey...a medieval drink. souzdal is famous for it) and we went to this one place where we thought we could try it. but nope, they didn't have it. we went to a few bars and eventually found it. p.s., mead is pretty gross, haha.
on sunday we needed to go back to vladimir to catch a bus to moscow. we didn't realize that the bus station was 2 km away. we walked the whole way and this stray dog followed us, haha. we were exhausted. anyway we got to vladimir and then got on the bus to moscow. this policeman came back to where we sat after awhile (we were very nervous at first) and said he wanted to practice english with us. we talked with him for an hour about whatever, and when we were getting close to moscow he went to his seat and gave us a jar of homemade raspberry jam that his grandmother made! i haven't tried it yet but i'm pretty excited.
so that was souzdal. i'm uploading pictures so check them out: http://picasaweb.google.com/caitlinelectric
the other day i was hanging out in my room and got a knock at the door. it was this guy who had been hanging out in the common room...a russian student. his name was grisha. he sat and talked to me for so long (because, again, he wanted to practice his english. i'm a magnet for these people). it was pretty odd all in all. but interesting. he wants to go to cuba.
yesterday there was quite a bit of excitement. turns out there was a fire on the 7th floor of my dorm (i'm on the 9th floor). they're fixing the showers down there and apparently were storing some propane tanks. luckily there were no explosions...as we know, with a propane tank involved the situation could've gotten a lot worse. anyway some guy came banging and yelling up to our floor but i was napping, so i really had no idea what he was saying. eventually jordana came into my room and said there was a fire. i jumped up and ran out and this girl said "get a coat." and i said "nah i'm fine" and the guy who was yelling said "no! get a coat!" haha. we ran downstairs, saw some russian firefighters, etc. it was just smoking though so i don't think there was any damage.
anyway i think i got you all caught up. don't forget to check out my new album of pictures, devoted to souzdal.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
finally pictures.
picasa finally decided to be good to me and now you can see the pictures from karaoke, the cemetery, nikki's hospital stay, etc. so check them out, let me know what you think :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/caitlinelectric
i started a new album, called "russia, album 3," which is where the more current pictures are located.
looks like we're heading to souzdal, a moscow suburb, on friday. a two day stay. i'm very excited to get out of moscow and see some more beautiful places...expect many, many pictures. hopefully my camera is up for the job.
classes have been going well. i found out when i'm taking all of my finals, since i'm out of here on the 29th. hard to believe i've been here 2 months, and that i'm going home so soon. i'm glad i still have a month though. i'm going to try to squeeze in a trip to st. petersburg, so we'll see how that goes.
anyway other than that things are going swimmingly. i miss all of you, see you soon!
http://picasaweb.google.com/caitlinelectric
i started a new album, called "russia, album 3," which is where the more current pictures are located.
looks like we're heading to souzdal, a moscow suburb, on friday. a two day stay. i'm very excited to get out of moscow and see some more beautiful places...expect many, many pictures. hopefully my camera is up for the job.
classes have been going well. i found out when i'm taking all of my finals, since i'm out of here on the 29th. hard to believe i've been here 2 months, and that i'm going home so soon. i'm glad i still have a month though. i'm going to try to squeeze in a trip to st. petersburg, so we'll see how that goes.
anyway other than that things are going swimmingly. i miss all of you, see you soon!
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