Russia... Day Five

The events of 7/11/2012

On the second day of placements, my group went to the shelter in the morning. Shelters for kids are everywhere in Russia. When a parent isn't able to take care of their children (usually because of alcohol abuse) the government steps in a takes the child and puts them into a shelter. Similar to our child protective services and foster care, except that children and not placed with families but in a group home. Children stay there for up to six months and if the parents can clean up their act, they can take their child home. Sadly many parents never even try to see their kids again. After six months the kids are put into an orphanage and put up for adoption. We did a craft with them for an hour or so and then we all went outside. All the kids wear hats when they're outside, no matter if it's windy, rainy, or hot. Some of them had winter hats on and some had ball caps. Quite a few were wearing a combination of a do-rag and a ball cap, which was pretty comical. You got the impression from looking at them all lined up to go outside that they were given whatever hats could be found or were donated.

Most of the kids behaved quite well and were excited to be playing out doors. They demanded our attention. Let me tell you, there was no sitting down! One small boy, Sasha, was particularly hyper and I had a great time letting him use me as his personal jungle gym. At one point I did get in trouble because I was spinning him around and around and apparently this made the nurses upset because they felt that it would make him more hyper.

Lunch is such a huge meal in Russia! It's the biggest one of the day and consists of several courses. At this point in our stay I was still in love with the food. It was good, it just became pretty repetitive. If I haven't mentioned it before, everything (with the exception of kasha) had dill in it. From the soup to sprinkled on the tomatoes. Needless to say I'm not in a big hurry to eat dill anytime soon.

War Museum Propaganda

Mel excited about the big missles

We did not go to placement in the afternoon, instead we went to a war museum. It was interesting to see all the artifacts that had been collected.

Of course our West Point friends were in heaven with all the guns and military uniforms there were to look at. It was hard because we stood and lot and didn't move very often. Combine that with working the last couple of days, heat, and jet lag and
I had a hard time staying awake, even though I was on my feet.

After we returned I went for a run alone (yikes!) and I was stared at my literally everyone I passed. women in Russia rarely are casual in public. They consider it a matter of pride that they always look good. They are proud of who they are and what they have accomplished and they believe that dressing up every time they go out shows this attitude. I rarely saw a women in jeans, much less running clothes. I only saw one other runner the entire time we were in Yaroslavl and it was a young man. Crossing streets while running was always an adventure. Traffic rules were few and far between for cars, I didn't expect them to take an more consideration for a pedestrian. The one that really considered me was the round about in the center of town. So when I reached that intersection, I slowed down and sped up so that I was running right behind a lady walking, I crossed when she went because I figured she knew what she was doing.

Green-roofed church we visited.

Blurry image of the gold room.

After I got back we decided to go the church in town. Some churches still hold services (green roofs) and some are just now museums (blue roofs). Services are three to four hours long, but people can come and go as they please and it's not considered rude. We went to an actually church service. As women we had to all cover our heads as we went in. Church services incorporate a priest who does many rituals and blessings, and also a choir (usually only four people) who sing a capella. The choirs in churches are known to be amazing. Although the priest is doing certain things up front, people do not have to participate or follow what he is doing. As we went in, the door way was very crowded, many people just stood in the door way for several minutes, crossing themselves and bowing and then they left. I went inside a little bit farther. There were now pews, people were simply standing or walking about the square room. All around the room were different artifacts and relics and paintings that people would kiss or bow to and cross themselves during the service. The priest stood in front of an altar at the front of the room. At one point he opened these awesome gold doors and went into a secret hidden room in the back where he did some more chanting etc... Gio, one of the West Point girls attempted to sneak a picture of the gold room from the back. We were trying desperately not to be rude but we wanted to document the incredibly architecture and beautiful gold of the inside of the church. As she was taking the picture, an old, bent over Russian grandma came over and started admonishing her. I mean this was a legitimate babushka! She then proceeded to use her cane to poke Gio in the chest until she put her camera down and we walked out. I felt so bad, but at the same time it was a funny occurrence.

That night all the young folk stayed up talking and laughing and really just getting to know each other. It was so great to be relaxed and comfortable and with people who were excited about doing the same things that I was. Our big topic of discussion was our trip to Moscow! I was so pumped but also a bit terrified of being alone in such a large and foreign city.

Russia... Day Four

Sorry, camping trip delayed any posting that might have gone on in the last four days...

The events of 7/10/12
Tuesday! This was our first day of going to placements and man were we pumped! My group went to the Leninksy Center. Each district has a center that provides a location for elderly and disabled people to come and interact and play games and get exercise, do crafts, and meet new people. We went to the center in the Leninsky district. Each work day, we would go in the morning to one place and then come back to Home Base for lunch and then head back out to another placement. On this first day, my group was in the same place in the morning and afternoon but we worked with two different groups, the elderly in the morning and then the disabled in the afternoon.

The group of elderly people that we got to work with were great! We shared with them about ourselves (through the translator) and showed them pictures that we had brought of our family and where we lived etc... they all had lots of questions for us, some of which were just silly and maybe even startling. They all wanted to know what it was like where we were from and they also were very interested in what we thought about Russia and if we liked it.

When it was my turn to introduce myself, the first question they asked me was if I was married. When I said no they asked if I had a boy friend and they were completely scandalized when I answered no to that question as well. One lady said that I needed to be married, that it 'was time' and that she would find me a nice Russian husband. I later asked Natasha our translator who is my age and already married about this and she said that Russian woman marry young and really you're considered a lost cause if you're older than 25 and not married. Great!

Armando introduced himself and shared that he really likes to dance, especially salsa. The whole group was fascinated by that and wanted to see him dance. So he turned to me and grabbed my hand and did a little salsa right there in the room with me. Luckily I know the basic step and Mando is a great leader, I just kind of follow by way through it and hoped it looked alright.

We made stationary with the elderly folks. Since I had told everyone that I was an art teacher, they were interested in what I drew on my card and one lady asked me to make one for her. All the ladies thought that Armando was pretty good looking and one even gave him a card with her full name and phone number! We all got a good laugh out of that!

About halfway through our time there they served tea, which was amazing. All the old ladies pulled out their purses, rummaged around in them and brought out hard candy for us to share! So wonderfully typical.

In the afternoon we returned to the same facility to work with the disabled group. It was a much younger group and many of them spoke English so it was easier to interact with them without the use of a translator all the time. We played table games and joked around. I had a great time with them! Sasha, one of the group members, was hilarious. Always cracking jokes! He made me laugh so much!

This first day was difficult because I was nervous about working and about our group and just everything was so new. But I really enjoyed the people I worked with. Our group for the two weeks I was there consisted of; Michelle by roommate. She's an elementary school teacher in Washington DC, probably in her late 30s. This was her second trip to Russia. John Hagen was also in our group, he's the leader of the West Point crew. I thought he was going to be really harsh but really he was mild mannered and easy to talk to. The other older person in our group was Basil, a retired farm-implement maker from New Zealand. Awesome accent! He was super hard to read and most of the time I couldn't tell if he was teasing me or seriously upset with me. Then it was just Armando and me who were in our 20s. We got along really well and I had a great time getting to know him.

Russia... Day Three

The events of 7/9/2012

Orange Juice!

On Monday morning, we got up and had for the first time, delicious kasha. Which on this first day was completely wonderful, but after having it every day for over two weeks, it was not as wonderful. There was never a meal where we didn't have way too much food. The cooks always wanted us to be eating more and couldn't seem to understand that we didn't want eat to the point where they had to roll us out the door. One of my favorite things for breakfast however was the juice! It came in weird box like containers that always sat out on the counter, but it was good!

Shell fish for sale...

Today I had to withdraw money from the ATM at the local grocery store called the Carousal. It was really just a short walk down the road. I was worried about my bank charging me and Armando made me nervous about someone stealing my identity, but I really didn't have a choice because I didn't have time to exchange money at the airport like everyone else due the late arrival of my plane. Rubles (Russian currency) are pretty cool looking, I still have some if you want to see it! The bills are really only the larger amount. Coins are used all the time so it was hard for me to adjust because we really don't use our coins to pay for many things. The exchange rate was 32 rubles to the dollar. So something that cost 100 rubles was roughly about $3.25.
The Carousal was like a mixture of Wal-Mart and IKEA. You could get anything there, but you had to go up an escalator to get to the store which reminded me of IKEA. They didn't have a lot of fresh produce but what they did have was displayed weirdly. They also really didn't sell junk food like chips etc.

Inside of Carousal

Monday we spent on orientation which basically meant a bunch of tedious paper work and lectures on what we were supposed to do and not do. Most of it was common sense and it was very hard to sit still when we all wanted to me out exploring and meeting people. We also had a Russian lesson with Natasha who was really my favorite translator. She is my age and totally cute and spunky. Also blond and pretty, totally what you think of when you think Russian women. Being able to practice with her and have her adjust my accent and pronunciation really made me feel better about the few phrases that I knew.

We then went on a tour of Yaroslavl, the city where we were staying and volunteering. There is a lot of interesting history there. Last year they celebrated their 1000 year anniversary so the buildings and roads and people have been around forever.

Down town Yaroslavl

Later in the day I went running with Gio, one of the cadets from West Pointe. She's a boxer and super in shape so needless to say I felt ridiculously slow and unfit next to her. It was so hot and muggy outside! After we ran, we walked around and almost into town. When we started to head back, we tried to do so by crossing some train tracks and we had to just run across because there really wasn't any designated crossing point. While we were running across, there was a small track car that was on one of the rails and it beeped at us and scared the crap out of me! I didn't want to get arrested for railroad jay-walking!

To finish up a crazy busy day, we began planning our weekend trip to Moscow! Colette and I had decided that we wanted to go and we were going to travel on the train with the cadets and their lieutenant, but not stay with them because they were doing a lot of boring tours and whatnot. The next day was going to be our first day volunteering and I couldn't wait!

Russia... Day Two

So obviously the plan of writing everyday did not work. If you're part of the inner Emily circle (that's how I like to think of my family and friends, makes it sound like I have a spy network at my finger tips) then you know that things have been a little hectic lately and therefore I wasn't able to write for the last couple of days. But now I'm a little more permanently settled back in Macomb and ready to write about day two!

The events of 7/8/2012

So as I mentioned before, I think my biggest fear as the Moscow airport and not being able to understand anything the airport employees were saying and as a result getting lost or doing something illegal. My flight ended up being about an hour late, but the airport was so easy when I got there! I had a moment of panic when my luggage was literally one of the last to make it's way onto the carousal. All I could think about was how was I going to make it the whole time without all my stuff! But it was there and I made it through customs with no problems even taking into account the language barrier and I met up with two other girls in our group; Colette and Michelle, and one of our translators, Asya.

Translators and Gio (Asya is in the pink)

 We then proceeded out into the sunshine (it was really nice weather the first week in Russia) and into a van with on of our drivers, Viktor. We had a ridiculously long ride to Yaroslavl, which was the town that we volunteered and lived in. Viktor speaks no English but understands quiet a bit and has a very good sense of humor which helped a lot. He also really liked to listen to pop music from the 80s which made for a... different car ride. Mostly all I remember from the first half of the ride was trying so hard to stay awake! I wanted to adjust to the local time, but I didn't sleep much on the plane and on top of that I had taken some medicine so as not to get sick on the car ride and it made me even more drowsy. After about 30 mins I couldn't put it off and I feel into one of those car-sleeps where you're totally out but your head keeps bobbing and so you keep waking up, but not really and basically you just look ridiculous.

Half way into our trip to Yaroslavl, we stopped for dinner. Viktor, being the aggressive driver that he is, stopped very suddenly when we reached our roadside diner and because I was semi-asleep, I almost flew into the door. Poor Colette wasn't prepared to have be sleepily grabbing at her in an attempt to not fall over and embarrass myself. She forgave me and we all laughed about it but I felt pretty foolish for awhile and Viktor brought it up several times after that when he was driving us during the week.

At the diner I had cottage cheese pancakes with honey, which weren't bad but after one they get pretty sweet. They were basically like friend cottage cheese and the texture was interesting to say the least. At the diner the second part of our group, West Point cadets, caught up with us and we introduced ourselves pretty much as we were leaving. When I think about it now, they didn't make much of an impact then, but we all got very close by the end of the trip.

The food and water perked me up and I was able to stay awake for the second leg of the trip. There is very little transition between city and rural in Russia. In America we have a lot of suburbs or areas that aren't city, but are pretty civilized. Russia has big cities and then very rural farm areas. I saw a very interesting flea market time set up on the side of the road, but instead of odds and ends for sale, it was completely filled with stuffed animals! I also saw a man pumping up the tire for his care with a foot pump that you might use for a soccer ball.

The drivers were intense! There are no lines on the roads and drivers frequently pass people on what we would call the shoulder of the road. Everyone is busily trying to get where they want to go and anyone who gets in their way better watch out! Viktor got mad a couple of times and even showed one driver his middle finger while swearing at him in Russia which I thought was hilarious of course.
After our long drive, we were delivered to our Home Base and left to ourselves for the rest of the night to eat dinner and get to meet everyone. most of the people there were students younger than me and then a couple of older people. Becky, Victoria, Mackenzie and Claire had already been there for several weeks and were staying several weeks after we left. Michelle and Colette, myself, and then everyone from West Point (Madelyn, Gio, Melissa, Geoff, Armando, Brendan and John), and a mother daughter combo, Quinn and Debra had just arrived that day

Our entire group!

Home Base was great, kind of a dorm feel, but relaxed and casual. I really came to regard it as home and safe. I unpacked, talked to everyone and tried to stay up till a reasonable hour to help myself adjust better. Of course, during that time of year it didn't get dark until 11:00pm and then got light again at 3:00am so I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to sleep at all!

Our living and dining space at Home Base

The downstairs craft room

My room that I shared with Michelle

Russia... Day One

I have been back in the United States of America for about two weeks now and all I can say is God Bless The USA!! However, I did have many crazy adventures in Russia and considering I had limited Internet access, I recorded most of them on paper. So starting today I am going to attempt to recount my Russian experiences. I hope you all decide to follow along!

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

The events of 7/7/2012

The plane was crazy!! I was so nervous about getting on the right one and when I should board since all the airline workers at the gate spoke only Russian when making announcements. I did however meet a nice elderly gentleman who was going to visit his son in Russian but he was a US citizen and therefore spoke English. We traded stories and he helped a little bit with the whole process. 

When I went to board the plane, the captain and flight attendants were greeting us and I had no idea what they were saying so stupidly I thought they wanted to look at my passport/ticket again. I think it was because  he had his hand out and I had my paperwork in my hand. Really what he wanted was to direct me to my seat because the air plane was gigantic! First cultural misunderstanding... ugh!

My TV screen!

So on this plane there were two seats on each side and about five in the middle. I had an aisle seat in the middle. Each seat had their own TV screen in front of them complete with remote control because not only could you watch movies, but also play video games. I was hesitant to use this because I assumed that of course they would charge me for this! The screen was connected to a camera that they turned on during take off and landing that showed the runway from the view of the nose of the plane. It was kinda cool. All the flight attendants wear bring red! The women and little ties/scarves on and cute little red hats. I wanted to take a picture but didn't want to offend anyone and have a second cultural misunderstanding so soon after the first one. 

After we took off, I settled in and did some reading. Everyone was speaking Russian including the lady next to me. However, she realized (after my incredibly blank look at her greeting) that I didn't speak Russian and she addressed me in broken, but passable English. I was able to understand from her that the TV screen and accompanying games and movies were all free. It goes without saying that this made the ten hour flight seem less daunting. She asked about my reason for going to Russia so we were able to have a small conversation. She had very frizzy hair and had on very tight neon-leopard print pants and pink socks with red hearts completed the ensemble. After talking for a few minutes, she proceeded to sleep for the rest of the flight, leaving me to my own devices. 

Russian beverage

I basically stayed up for the whole flight because I was too nervous about missing some important directions from the flight staff. We got two meals on board, neither of which was satisfactory but at least I was starving.  Also the flight attendants handed out illustrated books to children on the workings of a plane and how everything is taken care of on board etc... which I thought was a pretty smart idea. Over all the flight was fast and before I knew it we had arrived in Moscow the next day....