Magic Mountain.

It’s nearly impossible to keep up on everything when there are constantly eventful things taking place. I’m perfectly fine with that fact but it’s surely the reason for the scattered posts & outdated photos. Things have been great & Russia finally feels like home. Here are some things...

-Imagine a street full of random performers, countless cafes, cobblestone roads, art, colorful buildings, old school lamp posts & you have Arbat Street. Nestled in the center of Moscow, Arbat Street is easily the most European location I've been to since my arrival.I love it & it's surrounding area.

-I’m growing more & more fond of the kids every day. I need to take more pictures of them. This is “$teven” he insisted that we make a selfie. He picked the filter, changed his face ten times in order to get the right angle & managed to snap this photo with his shaking hands. I think it is so funny.

-We spent a day at the Kremlin. It was cool. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it other then the buildings were pretty & the military men terrifying. They were swarming that place. Luckily half of them were smitten by Bailey so they seemed a little less intimidating.

-I can get Chai fraps here. So my white girl lives on & that’s a beautiful thing. I love how they write our names in Russian.

-We went to a Russian Ballet. Giselle to be precise. It was good. I’m not a huge ballet person, like at all. BUT a combination of snacks & Bailey constantly explaining the plot to me got me through.

-Angus & Julia Stone’s new album has surely been the soundtrack of the last  month of my life. Oh also The Drums finally came out with a new album. It’s dark & awesome.

-Red Square. I think I was there on three separate occasions just last weekend alone. It’s my favorite place. There was a massive anti-war protest there last Sunday. So that’s pretty nuts. The political situation here blows my mind.

-Speaking of the political situation. Russia has closed down several of the McDonalds in Moscow because of the sanctions. Okay so whatever I can’t eat a cheeseburger or mcflurry for the next three months. Big deal, I don’t even eat in McDonalds in the states. But what you probably don’t understand is that McDonald’s is a life source to a foreigner. It’s a place you know will always be warm, clean, have free bathrooms, wifi, diet coke & endless fatty food items. It’s just not fair to take that peace of mind away from someone. All I’m saying is our countries need to kiss & make up so that Mcdouble can live on. 

& that's a wrap. 

Strange Days

Living in a foreign country can be odd. You come in all defensive. Thinking that 75% of the things these people do are wrong. From the way they chew their food, to the kinds of clothing they wear. You are usually convinced that you know a smarter way of going about things. Then one day this changes. You realize that some of those bizarre things are actually super awesome & maybe even better than how you normally would go about it. You start to become more like them & it’s a beautiful thing. You find yourself grimacing at people on the metro & craving a big bowl of buck wheat. You think twice before popping a squat on the ground & wonder why everyone doesn't drink a big cup of tea with every meal.

That’s my favorite thing about the travel I've been able to do the last couple of years…  Having a place that was once foreign to me become home. Anyone can hop in and out of a country but it isn't until you stick around for a little bit, get to know the people & learn to appreciate the culture, that you've done it right. Despite all the awesome things I've already been able to do & see, most of my favorite aspects of being over here take place every day. It’s the fact that I have a cute little Russian family waiting for me to come home every night. It’s listening to Syoma play the trumpet & belt obnoxious songs before I go to bed. It’s walking past the babushkas every day that are selling flowers. It’s sitting in the metro with tons of other humans & still being comfortable enough to fall asleep. It’s having munchkins that wait for your arrival every day & squeal when you walk in the door. It’s knowing all the best places to eat. It’s waving to the guard & having him let you in. It’s realizing that everyone everywhere is so similar.

Here are some things I love about day to day life here...

The massive farmer's markets.

The view from our apartments. 

The kiddos. 

Guyla! Nothing beats having your own little Babushka that caters to your every need & takes you mushroom hunting. 

Doing TRX at the park with Baye & guys that creep.

My daily walks to the different schools. 

Knowing where all my favorite cars are parked. 

Getting lost in the rain on the way home from AWAH.

Syoma in general. 

Watching Baye become an awesome teacher. 

Our schools. 

All in a day's work...

Last Saturday was a pretty dang eventful day & here’s why. One of the girls in my group named Madison had a birthday coming up so we decided that we should throw her a surprise celebration. I told her we were having a meeting but really we just got together at the beloved Gorky Park & ate pizza. That’s right we had delicious Papa John’s pizza & hung out in Moscow’s Central Park. We live the good life here. We then did our typical exploring & enjoyed what is one of the most beautiful parks ever. We also found a Mcdonald's that wasn't closed! (They've closed most of them in retaliation to the sanctions)So we were able to drink our weight in diet coke like the white girls we are. 

We then boarded a ferry & cruised down the Moscow River. It was pretty dang cool & we saw a lot of rad buildings. I rarely remember their names but there are a few that I do recall. 

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

  This is one of Stalin’s Seven Sister buildings. 

So apparently this was originally made to be Christopher Columbus but when Russia received it they decided that it should be Alexander the Great or St. Pete or something like that. Because Russians do what they want when they want you know?

 This is the back side of the Kremlin.

Here are some more of those super cute pictures. 

After we went to the Novospassky monastery. IT WAS THE COOLEST. We were asked to put scarves over our heads & that made the experience feel really authentic. We were able to go inside of the cathedral & let me just tell you it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. The whole place was covered (literally everywhere you looked) in the most beautiful paintings of Christ & other saints. We weren’t able to take pictures & quite frankly I’m glad. Pictures would never do it justice & sometimes it’s nice to just take in something beautiful for what it is & not worry about capturing it. There was an undeniable peace/spirit there & I loved that. We then walked around the grounds, looked at tombstones, bought blessed food & engraved rings from the nuns, & watched the monks. Some of those monks were kind of hot. Is that bad of me to say? Either way it was cool to see their living quarters & stuff. Oh & they had nasty squatters there that made me feel like I was in China again.

That evening we went at ate at this delicious place called My-My’s (Moo-Moo’s in English) I’d highly recommend it if you’re ever in the neighborhood. It’s super cheap & delicious. We then spent more time at Gorky Park. That place is seriously a dream come true. After we went to the coolest Cosmopolitan party. They were celebrating twenty years or some nonsense like that & there were all sorts of great things going on. There was a concert, photo booths, free makeovers, you know just your average vain girl stuff. Funny that we were even at this big cosmopolitan party right? Well what's even funnier is that we were super underdressed. Most of the women looked like they had just stepped off the red carpet. I learned something about Russian women while I was at this party. There is no shame in their game. Seriously, you should have seen the poses that these gals were striking. They really could be on the cover of cosmopolitan. We made fun of them a little as shown below.

 

Bailey & I then went home to her empty apartment, soaked our feet, drank hot chocolate & laughed at these stupid pictures.

Here’s to another beautiful day in the motherland!