Long Overdue Update

SO MUCH has happened since I've returned to beloved Vladimir!!! All wonderful things, of course. I'v been back here for nearly one month- on Friday, it'll be officially one month.

For starters, I live with the absolute BEST family in Vladimir. The Kozmavas, they are so loving, considerate, generous and fun! I love coming home to visit with them every night.

My Beloved Host Family, The Kozmavas.

Sitting is my host dad, Oleg.

To his right is Manana, my host mom.

Standing next to me is my Russian brother, George.

We took this photo last Saturday (21 Feb 09). They took me with them to a Georgian Christening Dinner Party. It was OUTSTANDING!!!!! I was introduced to everyone single person there but no one thought I was foreign. Ironically, everyone tells me that I look Georgian. Perhaps that is why I blended in so well =) Then the people sitting around us heard me speaking to George, my host brother, in English. They asked and I told them I was American. NO SOONER THAN FIVE MINUTES LATER, the DJ is on the mic calling for "The American" to be brought to the front for a dance.

A line of at least ten people, men and women, formed- all of whom brought their cameras and shot glasses to take photos and shots with me. It was hilarious! I felt sorry for the little two-year-old girl whose party it really was, because it turned into mine for the few hours I was there.

I can't tell you how many photos, shots and dances later it was when I finally left with George. But suffice it to say that we left at 11pm. It was tons of fun. While there, I was invited to two more Georgian functions- both weddings. I'm told that it will be more even grand. It's hard to imagine since this party was so extravagant. I kept commenting and George, who is only 14, continued to assure me "this is nothing, Erin". I can't wait to see more!!!!

Here are some photos:

AN OUTSTANDING SPREAD of DELICIOUS Georgian food!!!!!

Their food is very similiar to Mexican food in that it's very flavorful and they use a lot of the same spices.

With my Georgian aunts, The Ladies Kozmava.

Nona is to my left. She's married to Oleg's younger brother Soso.

Next to her is Oleg and Soso's sister, Mamida.

With Soso and Nona Kozmava.

They have three BEAUTIFUL kids who are my Georgian cousins, of course.

The American- dancing with a random Georgian/Russian man. He was such a great dancer.

I was telling George "I'm going to kill you" because he was taking photos papparazzi style.

The American dancing with random man from above's son. I can't remember his name and

that's his mom in the background. They are George's godparents. Their son invited me to his wedding in September and I'm in!

Not to be left out- A GOAT made a cameo at the shindig. It was announced that we should all dance with him (and PEOPLE DID!) because he'll be the meal at the next soiree!

My two FAVORITE ladies in Vladimir!!! My host mom and host aunt. They are both WONDERFUL moms to their kids (and me), AMAZING cooks and hostesses, and BRILLIANT doctors. Behind them in my dance partner from the previous photo. In spite of having just one eyebrow, he was pretty hot.

Last, but not least, my friends- introducing the correct way to begin and end a party. Any gathering, actually =) PELAMUSHI!!! It's this outstanding dish with nuts as a topping that is essentially congealed red wine, OH YEAH!!!!

RETURN TO RUSSIA!!!!

Vso Privet!!!! (Hi Everyone!)

After 36 days of life in America, I have finally returned to Vladimir!!! It's a beautiful winter wonderland!!!! Although, I really could use the ski mask that I so proudly purchased but accidentally forgot in my mom's car.

Things are going swimmingly! I have a new host family, the Kozmavas, whom I love! They are super, as my host mom would say =) After everyday I really look forward to coming home and talking with them. Words can't accurately describe the improvement from my previous place. Suffice to say that they are God's blessing to me.

I haven't be able to blog, lack of time and internet access. But I have many things to share. So perhaps after this weekend...

Poka!

TEXAS OR BUST!

And NYC too =) And Connecticut!!! YAY! AMERICA!!!!!! Russia has been OUTSTANDING! And I was sad to leave BUT THEN, I got to see both Alyoshas and the grads from Kameshkovo orphanage so all is well. Alyosha & I.

With the grads on Red Square: Tanya, Sergei, Olya, Erin, Sergei, Artyom & Alyosha.

I leave Russia with the best memories and fantastic photos knowing that all my precious moments here were a gift from God! My students were awesome, I had SO MUCH fun with them! I met a ton of great people and am progressing in learning Russian so that's a plus. I still have a SUPER long way to go =)

Since I haven't finished packing and our driver will be here to take us the Moscow airport in like 30 minutes, I will post a few of the best photos from my FINAL DAZE here =)

ENJOY!

With Arseny. Then my students, they ROCK!

The Best News This Month...

I GOT TO SEE ALYOSHA!!!!!!!!! What could be better than that? SEEING HIM EVERYDAY. Of course, and I DO get to see him everyday!

As of Tuesday, he has been in the Vladimir Regional Children's Hospital for exams and observation. They are checking his kidney and health. He underwent major kidney surgery this past May. I was with him when he checked in on Tuesday and have been able to see him everyday. Sadly, visiting hours are only in the evening so I am only able to stay for an hour in between my classes.

The condition of the hospital is sad and scary but his spirits are good. He is quite brave and has a strong character. He is healthy and doing fine. His doctors say he is in good health, doesn't need any more surgery (presently) and can go home on Sunday. Selfishly, I am sad because seeing him everyday is literally the highlight of my day. But I know he will be better off with his foster family. Life with his foster family is leaps and bounds ABOVE what he has at the hospital, where it's a known fact that the food is terrible. But I enjoy cooking and bringing him food and snacks. Shopping for kids is so much more fun!!!! I will be very sad to not see him anymore =( Hopefully I will get permission to visit the orphanage SOON! If anything, at least by 2009!

Here is a photo of him wearing the wax vampire fangs that my friend Stephanie sent. THANKS STEPH! These were so fun =)

A Vegetarian with Winter Boots Living with Sneg

So it's been almost two weeks since my last blog- apologies. I got a terrible case of food poisioning the weekend before last - ugh. I was so sick for like FOUR days!!!! I have since sworn off meat. I am now a vegetarian while I live in Russia. I always rolled my eyes when someone said they were a vegetarian, thinking that nothing in the world could stop me from eating meat. Well, that's because I hadn't lived in Russia before. Yeah. After unknowingly eating cat/dog, constantly getting stick and now food posioning, I will no longer eat meat in Russia. Nope. No can do. Perhaps I may change my mind once I get my own apartment and can clean the apartment, kitchen and meat to my standard of clean. Until then, no.

What else is new? Hmmm.... my apartment quest continues. It's not fun like it would be stateside- well, it wasn't fun in CT either so I will rephrase. It's not like looking for an apartment in Dallas, that would be fun!

I FINALLY brought a pair of winter boots JUST IN TIME!!!! It started sneg-ing on Tuesday. It stopped briefly for a few hours that night hasn't let up. It's not the pounding we normally got in CT but it definitely is a steady stream of tiny flakes that is quickly building up. Back to my new word sneg-ing. One of the American teachers, SashAlex made it up. Sneg is Russian for snow and ing is the gerund ending. So pretty funny. We all died laughing when she said it too. SashAlex is part homage to Beyonce's new ridiculous name "Sasha Fierce". Sasha's real name is Alexandra but all the Russians call her Sasha and she started hating it about the same time she started hating Russia and teaching. We try to call her Alex, which is her usual name, but then we heard about Beyonce's ridiculous name and viola! We are a hilarious bunch! I am so serious. I haven't had this many laughs at work before in ages! If we had a live webstream of video from our teacher's office, MTV or CBS or Comedy Central would TOTALLY pick us up as a new reality show!!! We'd be funny, rich AND famous =)

Update on permission for visiting Kameshkovo orphanage... I am now waiting for Tatiana, the orphanage director, to contact the Ministry of Education via phone or letter and express her approval of my visiting. Then the ME will decide whether or not to grant me permission. Well Tatiana is on vacation until NEXT Friday. So at the earliest, she could call the ME would be December 1st. UGH! I was doing fine with waiting and just dealing with the run around of all the bureaucracy. But the last few days, it's been very difficult.

What else? OH!!!! How could I forget??? I got tickets to see Yevgeny Onegin- my absolute FAVORITE Russian story. Four of us are going Sunday night and we got front row seats! I love the theatre! Plus, here it's only $7!!!!

On Saturday we are having a Thanksgiving Dinner here at the school for the staff and our host families. Ugh, I am not really looking forward to this. I wish that I could say that I was but that wouldn't be true. I am just really, really tired. And I feel like I am always here at the school and I need a break. The other teachers feel the same but somehow we all feel like we got "guilted" into preparing this dinner. One more weird thing, they don't sell whole turkey birds here, we are buying it in hunks. HAHAAH! At least it will cook faster.

I will post photos of my snowland, new boots and the Thanksgiving Dinner over the weekend!

Moscow Holiday Photos

From my fantastic one-day trip to Moscow on Monday with Reece & Becca. They are American students that I met at church and are totally fun & cool.

Here we are at Starbucks on Old Arbat Street. I paid $9.89 for a tall white chocolate mocha that was so not tasty. Fortunately, the $4 that I spent on a white chocolate-cranberry cookie partially redeemed the mocha. UNTIL! I found out that I got cheated out of my free drink that I was supposed to get after buying a coffee mug. BOO STARBUCKS IN RUSSIA!!!! I will not go to Starbucks again until I am stateside =)

Before hitting the Bucks, we hit Ismailovo Market and froze to death. But we did feast on tasty lamb shaslik. Here I am trying to warm up by wearing the Soviet fur hat that Reece purchased.

On Tuesday, I met up with Amanda and we hit Globus. We brought all the ingredients to make pizza. It was a fantastic meal!!!!! Of course, it was gigantic and pan-style. One piece was like eating 2.5 slices. No matter, it was delicious!!!!!! Behold...

A Good Week with Kameshkovo News

Today I got some good news- not the best news, but hopeful news =) The Department of Education has read my request for permission to visit Kameshkovo orphanage. They are now only asking to speak with our orphanage director, Tatiana. Then they will make their decision.

Just this past Tuesday (on our holiday), I saw Tatiana at Globus (my favorite store)!!!! She came right up to my ear and said "hello". I turned to see her with THE CUTEST little boy! I was so happy to see her!!!! The little boy is named Sasha, he's one of our new kids at Kameshkovo. He will be living with Tatiana, her husband and their foster son, Vanya. OH! Vanya is GIGANTIC!!! He is at least 3 inches taller than me! And he continues to study English at school and refuse to practice with me. Though he did manage to say he was impressed with my Russian =)

When I talked to her at Globus, she said that she would call the DE and tell them that she wants me to be able to visit. So I hope she won't forget or get too busy =) Please keep this situation in prayer! I wish that I would have taken a photo of all of us at Globus, I am sad that I didn't. I remembered when they were walking away but hesitated. I never should have! Oh well.

In more Kameshkovo news, on Wednesday I visited the Graduate Ministry Center like I do every Wednesday. I got to spend time talking with a girl named Masha. She is really sweet and eager to learn English. She is so very patient with my Russian which I really appreciated because I need to practice. The MC is the only place I can really practice speaking Russian =) I told her about my sad pirozhki story. She offered to teach me to make them!!! YAHOO!!! That way I can insure that I eat quality meat in them! We are planning to meet up so.

Masha & I.

While she and I talked, another girl walked in. I was struck by how beautiful she was and how fashionable she was dressed. She came over to where Masha and I were sitting and stared at me, as if she was waiting for me to say something. About 20 seconds later, I jumped off the couch and hugged her- it was Olya Bizyukova. I didn’t recognize her at first. She is a woman! Gosh, it’s exciting to see how beautiful she has become. She was always a pretty girl but to see her mature is cool. Everytime I see one of the orphan grads grown up, it never ceases to amaze me. I can't believe fast it has been. I remember when she was a shy little girl. She's still pretty shy. She was at the MC working on a report. I didn't want to distract her so I gave her my cell number and told her I'd like to see her sometime. She agreed. Later that night, I received the sweetest text message from her- in fluent English!!!! I hope to see her soon.

Olya & I.

Tatiana & I. She is on the CHC staff at the ministry center. She speaks great English and often, actually each time I visit, translates for me =) She's great!