New Jerusalem, Baba Leta, and Mexican night

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Yesterday all of us went to New Jerusalem, a Russian village about an hour north of Moscow. It is called New Jerusalem because it contains a church and garden supposedly modled after Jeruslaem. It was constructed in the 17th century. Russian orthodox believers still make pillgramages to the area, especially for weddings. I don't really know what the temple in Jerusalem looks like, but I think the architecture in the area looked like fairly typical Russian Architecture. The buildings were beautiful but not noticiably different than others that I have seen.
New Jerusalem also contains several beautiful old wooden churches and peasant cottages built in the 1600s.
I enjoyed hiking around the area more than anything else though. The leaves are starting to turn and it was a gorgeous day. Birch forest surrounds New Jerusalem and there is a river running through the territory. It is also more hilly than any other place I have been in Russia so far. It is most beautiful place I have been.
My hozyaika (host mom) says that this time of year is called Baba Leta (women's summer). The weather was in the 50s and rainy until last week. Then all of a sudden it has been sunny every day and in the 70s. My hozyaika says that this is typical for Russia. She said it is called Baba Leta because a women's life is hard except for a few moments of happiness, like the weather in fall is bad except for the week or so of Baba Leta.
After returning from New Jerusalem all of went over to Amanda's friend's house. She let us use her kitchen to make Mexican food. Oh it was absolutely wonderful. I like Russian food but it is rather plain. So Mexican food tasted soooo great. We made tortillas, salsa, fried bannanas, and chocolate chip cookies. Afterwards we watched an American film called 12 Monkeys and ate popcorn. I hadn't had popcorn or salsa or chocolate chip cookies or tortillas since I had been in Russia. So I enjoyed it so much.
Amanda's friend teaches English at Moscow State University. He's probably a good bit better off than the average Moscovite. His appartment seemed huge in comparison to my hozyaika's. He actually had a family room. This is the first time I've been into a family room in Moscow. Most apparments only have a tiny kitchen/dinning room, bathroom, and bedrooms. But he had a family room with COUCHES. As I sat down on a couch I realized that I hadn't sat on a couch in Russia before. Because most Russian apparments are too small for couches. My host family's kitchen/dinning room can only comfortably fit three people in the room. However, we managed to crowd about 14 people into Amanda's friend's living room and kitchen. They said that before they moved in 10 people used to live in the appartment. Their appartment is probably small by American standards and there would have to be 5 people sleeping in each bedroom for 10 people to live there.
When I get back to Michigan I will appreciate my family's home so much more.
Anyway, I think I have rambled on enough. Now I'm going outside to enjoy the Baba Leta.

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Comments

[Joeann Staugaard]

Russia on Tour with Genna
Hi There, Your journal is awesome. Your travel logs with all your descriptions keep me so entralled. It is like reading a novel. Thanks Genna! Have fun and enjoy. Many blessings. Joeann