Putin's Playground.

Here are five of the things that I have discovered about Russia in my short time here.

1. All Russian stereotypes are true. They are terrifying. They do not smile in public. Whenever I see someone crack a smile I am shocked. It was very hard for me at first not to smile in public but now I am stone cold. K not really but I feel like I'm constantly pursing my lips & glaring. They also LOVE vodka. I'm not joking. My host dad told me, "During the weekdays we do not eat food, we only drink vodka. That is how we survive."

2. Russian women are hot. Well half of them. They are like straight models with the longest skinniest legs I've ever seen. OR they look like men. There is rarely a happy medium. Regardless I always find myself in shock  at the 6'3 woman that weighs 90 lbs next to me on the metro. Curse them.

3. There are five smells here & only five smells. Dill, fish, alcohol, smoke & body odor.

4.People team carry/push everything. I think it's the cutest thing.

5.They paint everything pretty colors for no apparent reason. All of their curbs are green & yellow. I've asked a couple of people why they do this & the only response I have ever received is "why not?"

More to come... 

москва867

On the first weekend of September every year Moscow has a big celebration to commemorate becoming a city. Let me just tell you that it was great! These Russians sure know how to have a good time. So get this... I was talking to Guyla (our amazing native coordinator) about this weekend & she said something along the lines of "It will be sunny! It's always sunny on this day." I commented on how interesting that was & she proceeded to tell me that they control the weather. CONTROL THE WEATHER?! They would. So basically they send airplanes up into the sky & release some funky stuff into the clouds that makes them move. She told me it is very bad for the environment (no duh) & that it makes it rain somewhere else. So thoughtful of them. Moral of the story is it was a BEAUTIFUL day & now I'm probably going to start growing a third ear from all the weird crap in the air! Here's how the day went down...
Bailey was bitter because she had to get her pic taken. 

Baye did this simple braid in my hair & I liked it. 

We got a kick out of these posters. They were pretty intense.

There was an corner where you could do a whole bunch of awesome arts & crafts. We painted part of a giant poster & then saw our first attractive Russian man. 

We toured this awesome cathedral & listened to the cutest old man tell us about a bunch of dead guys. Then the women got upset because we didn't have our hair covered. 

They had us wear the cutest inside shoes. 

These hats were so nerdy & awesome & we rocked them. 

Another one of those darling candid photos. 

I love these streets. 

They had the greatest flea market going on with an insane amount of stuff to browse through. 

People were packed into the streets participating in all sorts of games & activities. 

THEY WERE GIVING OUT FREE LINDOR CHOCOLATES EVERYWHERE. We may have asked every single guy we saw for a piece. 

We then spotted the cutest burger joint & the rest was history. 

That night we went to Gorky park & attempted to watch the fireworks. It's such a beautiful place & again there were so many great things going on. There were also SOOOOO many drunk people out that night & the entertainment they brought was top notch.

ВДНХ

So one day not too long ago we went to ВДНХ. It blew my mind. For real. So basically it's an all Russian exhibition center. Full of tons of rad buildings & other cool things that represent countries that were apart of the soviet union. As always it was a good time & I snapped a billion pictures.  

They have corn everywhere here & its super yummy.

I'm notorious for getting photobombed by old men. 

Another awkward photo. 

Creepin At The Kremlin.

The day after we arrived we checked out Red Square. This obviously included seeing the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral & a lot of other famous buildings that I don't remember the names of! This was the day that I realized how flippin nice Russia can be. The architecture here is unbelievable. I quickly came to the realization that this place is full of treasures & is unlike anywhere I have ever been. It got me stoked to say the least. Now here are a bunch of pictures of cool buildings...