Blogs from Centre, Russia, Europe - page 11

I started this blog almost a month ago, but never had pictures to go with and once I had pictures, I never had time to update the blog so finally after almost a month, here it is. I owe a huge thanks to Freddie for his help in finding it, working out the details, and just all of the time he took in the process to help! I am so glad we found this and got it all taken care of before I leave on Friday for the States. We looked at several, all two rooms (one bedroom). The very first one looked nice, but was smaller for about the same price. This is not cheap, but compared to others we looked at, it was a great deal. I also love the location, walkable to most ... read more

I have a brand-new theory about life in Russia. It’s called “Don’t Look Down.” Yes, it is exactly how it sounds. I’ve found while living here that this country requires a certain amount of looking the other way, even if that means up. As a literal example, the streets here are awful, full of holes, covered in trash, puddles, and spit, and are in a fair amount of disrepair. This might incline someone to actually keep his eyes toward the ground in order to avoid such hazards. However, if you take the time to look up and around, the scenery is actually quite beautiful. The Russians have a flair for architecture, monuments, and they love their grand, stone buildings. So if you have a moment, I suggest taking in all the wonders of coming someplace like ... read more

It all started as a fairly normal day. Mike and I had Russian conversation, Russian grammar, and then lunch. After lunch, we went to Tatar class and worked on conditionals. We then proceeded to McDonald’s for some of their awesome eight-ruble ice cream cones. We happened to see Aygul and Dilyara there and hung out with them for a while before going to the group-sing. There is a teacher at the university who holds a free singing group for foreign students every Thursday. We sit together, she plays the guitar, and we sing along to Russian folk and other famous songs. Following the singing, Trevor, Élan, Mike, Ian and I went to my house to pick up my laptop so we could watch a movie later. We stopped by the grocery on the way to Trevor’s ... read more

On Friday we have a few flakes but nothing to really talk about other than it was October 12 and we had snow; however today, while going to work, we had a mini-blizzard! At first there was nothing, but you could see more and more cars and trucks with snow as we were heading out of town towards the office and about half way there, it really started to come down. While at the office it kept snowing and snowing and snowing. It is right at freezing so the flakes were big and fluffy and the snow on the ground was very wet, but the roads were icey as we drove home. It is still snowing a little, but not like it did earlier today. We are still right at freezer so I am not sure ... read more

Culture Shock: it happens. People tell you how to adapt and ways to cope, but seriously, I still feel like screaming every time people start honking because the car in front of them didn’t start to go five seconds before the light turned green. It doesn’t help, and I want to kick their cars. Plus they all try to hit you. Navigating this city is like a giant live-action version of Frogger where the cars speed up at random intervals. But I’d rather focus this blog on how to avoid detection and blend in with the general populus. A lot of my guy friends are immediately recognized as Americans from far away and can’t fool anyone. Apparently I look Russian though, because people keep asking me for directions. Then again, I have figured out the ways ... read more