This week in review

This week has been fairly usual as far as weeks go in Russia.

Monday and Tuesday we had classes as usual. Then we went and walked around the city a bit going into as many stores as possible cause its beginning to get pretty cold here. The package mom sent me came just in time and I was able to break out some of the scarves this week to keep warm. I am understanding more and more in my classes and even understood most of the movie we watched for our culture class even though they were speaking quite quickly.

On Wednesday we deviated from the normal for our speaking class and she took us to the planetarium which is right next to the school. There we got to see the star show with about a hundred elementary students on field trips. The show we pretty interesting and I learned all the names of the planets in Russian (pretty much just like the they are in English). Then we older students go to go into their artifact room where they had two meteorites that were found in Russia. Then they showed us their pendulum that proves the earth is moving. The building itself was also really interesting because the inside was very ornate and there was even a mosaic of Stalin that they had left in place because it was to much to take out and replace. After the planetarium we just had a normal day of classes and then Ashlin and I ventured to get bus passes for the month of November and were successful!! Americans 1 - Russia 1500. I also did some grocery shopping for my host mom cause she wasn't feeling well and that was mostly a success as well so I guess I can make that tally Americans 2 - Russia 1500.

On Thursday I headed over to Ashlin's house again as it seems to becoming the thing to do on Thursdays so much so that her host grandmother is ready with blinis when we get there. While there we watched Shrek and then headed to the mall in an attempt to find orange attire for the halloween gatherings we had yesterday. But apparently bright orange leggings (what I wanted) aren't really in style in Russia yet so I settled for a flame/scarlet pair that I think worked quiet nicely. Then on my way home from Ashlin's I go to talk with a woman on the bus in Russian and I told her all about how I'm studying in Volgograd and how long I'll be here. It was cool to be able to carry on a conversation at normal Russian speed.

Yesterday was where the week turned interesting. We had threes classes and we got a new reading teacher for some reason. Then we headed to the American studies department's halloween show. The show was mostly in English as that's what they are studying but some of it was in Russian too. Each class had to put on a skit that they thought was halloween esque. The first group dressed up like the ghostbusters and danced around to the theme song. Their costumes were quite realistic but the dancing was not really something I could see Bill Murray doing. One group made a video about aliens coming and destroying the earth and it was quite comical to watch seeing as the alien space ship was a paper cutout haha. The last group was really the only one that was a halloween type skit complete with murder and everything. Overall the show was really cool to watch if just to see the Russian interpretation of the holiday. Our only complaint was they were missing the main aspect of halloween, trick or treating and candy.

After this halloween show, we headed up to meet Marina at her work where she teaches English. We got to meet some of her students who apparently we can tutor for money! So we will have to see if anything comes of that cause even a little bit of money would be nice to have. Then after her class she had organized a halloween party and it was really fun. There were games like bobbing for apples and wrapping up a person like a mummy. I have to say I think I was the best mummy :) And we got to talk in Russian and English again so that was good practice as well. Marina even had the main part of halloween candy!!

To continue the celebration of halloween, or just to do something, Marina invited us to go to a club tonight with her so we will see how that goes with asking our host parents and all. I'll keep you updated on what happens. But for now I'll leave you with the phrase of the weekend Хаппи Хэллоуин! In english Happy Halloween! And I'm sure you can all guess why I picked this one :)

Phrase of the week

Im a bit behind on words so I decided to do a phrase for this past week.
The phrase is куда вы идете? In english kooda vi idyote?
It means where are you going (talking to someone formally). I chose this because I think it is always interesting to learn about the people around you and you can tell a lot by their destinations :)

Sochi through Pictures!

So instead of the traditional blog post I decided I would do Sochi through pictures to tell you about my trip, so lets see how this goes :)

Our train compartment on the 16 hour trip overnight. There weren't really doors so that was bit awkward but it was really fun to spend the night on the train. There were stops all throughout the night so it was cool to see the different places along the way.

Ashlin and I had the top bunks this is my view across to her.

I couldn't even sit up in my bunk but it was pretty comfy to lay down in. This is the view from inside the bunk.

We finally arrived in the northern-most suburb of Sochi, Lazarevskaya, where we were going to be staying. We were shown to our hotel and we had two hours or so to relax. This is the view from our hotel room. We were also two minutes from the sea but you can't see it from our side of the hotel.

Another view from our hotel.

A close up picture of the beautiful houses on the mountain.

My first experience with the black sea! It had just rained, like it does everyday in Sochi, so the clouds were just beginning to clear. According to the Russians, it is because of days like this that they call it the black sea, the storm clouds make the water look black.

The beach on the Black Sea is all rocks that look like they have been splatter painted. It is amazingly beautiful.

This is looking back at the town of Lazarevskaya from the pier.

After we walked along the sea for a bit we were shown through the park by our guide. Russians are really big on their trees so the tour of the park was marked by him pointing out the different types of trees they had there.

This is the monument in the park to 50th anniversary of WWII and the part that Sochi played in the battle.

After the tour of the park we went to a museum of the ethnography of the region. Sochi is part of the caucus region so their customs and ancestry are actually closer to that of Georgia than the rest of Russia. If you can see in the picture the  red line through the mountains separates Russia and Georgia. Right above that line is Sochi. It was so interesting to be that close to Georgia. In Lazarevskaya we even saw an announcement for and Ossetian festival, the ethnic group the was central to the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Considering the US takes Georgia's side in the conflict, even though we didn't talk about it while we were there, I thought it was interesting to be that close to the situation.

Tradition dress in the caucus region for the winter months.

Its really easy to forget how close this part of Russia is from Turkey and the Middle East. You can even see the cost of Turkey in the map above. The museum we went to had two copies of the Quran, this is one.

Women's heels from this region. Who would even be able to walk in something like that!

Old Russian Rubles from the WWII era.

The museum concluded our first day in Sochi and after some cards with the Chinese students, we headed off to bed so we could be ready for our first visit to main Sochi. So the next morning we took an hour and a half train ride into the main city and headed off to the botanical gardens, as I said the Russians love their trees. So the following pictures are of the huge botanical garden in Sochi.

Again it was raining but it made for some really good pictures.

From the hill in the botanical garden you could see out to the sea. You can kinda see it in this picture and its even better in the next one.

Russia is filled with wild cats and the botanical garden was no exception. This cat followed us during the entire tour and was kind enough to pose for me :)

Snow White and her seven dwarfs also joined us in the garden.

Also weirdly enough they had ostriches at this botanical garden.

And even some swans. Both white...

and black (all I could think about was Natalie Portman).

Then we walked along the boardwalk in Sochi.

And we finally found the olympic count down.
Apparently we were 874 days 4 hours 18 minutes and 55 seconds early...

And we even found the Sochi Sea Port right across the street from the McDonalds. Which has lines that are 15 people deep at least, apparently they really like McDonalds here.

The next day we again headed off to Sochi and were surprised by another two hour bus ride up into the mountains of the southern most suburb of Sochi called Adler. As it turns out this is actually where a lot of the events  for the olympics will take place besides the main stadium in main Sochi. This small village type place was our first stop. It is named Bear Corner, hence the bear holding the sign.

In the middle of this little village was the fountain above and this weird mushroom man. I am not quite sure what it is supposed to be but I thought it was really cute so I decided to take a picture.

This little village sat beside an this river and it had been raining so much that day that the sound of the almost overflowing river was deafening. I don't think these pictures quite do it justice.

After our stop at this village we headed up to our real destination, the resort at the top of the mountain where apparently even the president vacations. Although the slopes were not open for use we got to ride up to the top of the mountain in the gondola if we wanted. It was freezing and pouring down rain but amazing especially when the rain stopped halfway through. These pictures are the product :)

These two are while it was still raining. It felt like we were literally in the clouds they were so low and heavy with rain.

When the rain cleared I got these amazing pictures and we even were allowed to ride one of the ski lifts up and down so we could see everything.

And on the ride back down the mountain we experienced more of Russia's love of foreign trees. These are banana trees in someone's yard.

I don't have any pictures from monday but it was still a really great day. We went to a vo-tech type school in Lazarevskaya where the students are studying to become chefs. And after a mix up about time and place some of the students showed us around the town and invited us to hang out with them. We even got to ride on mopeds! Then Monday after checking out of our hotel we headed into the mountains again.

In the mountains we stopped at a lot of different taste testing places including a cheese farm, honey, wine and a tea house. This picture is on the tea fields where the tea we tried came from.

This is a close up of the tea plants. The plants actually sounded like they were making noise because there were so many bees in them. I also learned that the difference between black tea and green tea is that black tea leaves are cooked first and green tea leaves aren't.

Also at the tea house the guy told us all about his family history and how he is part of the group that were the original inhabitants of the caucus region. On the bus stop across from his house this picture of this man from ancient Russo folklore.

Following the taste testing, we drove out into the middle of nowhere and all piled into a Russian army jeep and were driven through rivers and up and down almost 90 degree inclines to the 33 waterfalls. 

The 33 waterfalls are a series of waterfalls that are formed by one river flowing down the side of the mountain. It was beautiful all the way up to the top. Although the rain made for some treacherous climbing we made it up and down in one piece and saw some amazing views along the way.

From the top of the first waterfall.

These are Russia's definition of stairs. Wet wooden ramps covered in mud and wet slippery leaves.  I am thankful to be alive!

Also hanging off the side of the mountain.

Made me think of Eric so I had to take a picture :)

Well for some reason this picture wont rotate but if you can turn your head to the side this is me being happy I survived the trip up and down the mountain.

After the waterfalls we headed by to our bus via army truck and then to the train via our bus. After another 16 hour train ride we arrived back in Volgograd. I have to admit I absolutely loved Sochi and hopefully I can get to go again another time, maybe when the olympics are there!

Пока :)