Day 16 & 17: Church and School

Day 16 &17: Church and School

Word of the day: церковь [tserkov']: Church 

Day 16 was Sunday. We woke up early and got ready for church. I still was not feeling all that great. Last Sunday, I wore heels to church. Never again while in Moscow will I wear heals to church. Well maybe, we will see. Last week, we got lost and walked around a bunch, trying to find where the church was. By the time we found it, we discovered it was right by the metro station where we started. It was so close! We just went the wrong direction. When we finally got in and sat down, two blisters on both of my pinky toes had formed. It was kind of painful. Anyway, I learned my lesson and this week, I came prepared. I don't have any non-heel shoes with me to match my black nylons (Darcy, I should have listened to you and brought black flats), so I put on my black patterned Keds and just rolled with it. I wasn't feeling well and I didn't care if people thought I looked funny. (It was a much more pleasant experience this time, let me just tell you.) We decided to go to a different church building this time to be with the international ward so I could understand what is being said. We got on the metro and then walked for a bit and we were there! It was so much easier than last time. When we got there, we sat down just in time for the meeting to start.  It was a relief seeing so many English speakers. I could actually socialize! However, I wasn't really in the mood because I still felt sick. After the meeting came to an end, this lady (Shawna) approached us and asked if we were new. We told her that we were ward hopping, but we would probably be staying. She was thrilled! There aren't many members and I am sure we will have to give a talk next weekend. Then, she asked what I was doing with my time here in Russia while Max worked. I told her that I was taking classes and studying Russian. After I finished, she asked if I would want to be a substitute teacher at an English school in Moscow. How awesome is that! 5 minutes in and I am already being offered a job! I am looking at the school this Friday. I hope it works out. I need something that will get me out of the house every once and a while. After the rest of the meetings, Max talked to some people in a few different languages no big deal, he can just switch languages so easily. I'm not jealous. and talked to a few other people about soccer and then we left. We walked back to the metro station and headed back home. When we got there, I practiced some Russian and while doing so, fell asleep for 2 hours. When I woke up, Max fell asleep for 3 hours. I watched vampire diaries and just hung out. After some time, I decided to wake him up out of hibernation. We stayed up for a while and Face-timed a few members of our family. Sunday was a good day. Just a simple, calm, relaxing day. Hope yours was just as great!

Day 17 was Monday. Monday was Monday. It wasn't anything too exciting. Honestly, I just did homework. All. Day. Long. Yup, this week is going to kick my butt. Which stinks because Max has most of the week off because of Russian holidays. He told me that he was going to go out and be a tourist without me. No fair. I hope he was joking because if he wasn't I just might skip homework and be a tourist too. Hey, what's a girl gonna do. I am in Russia for goodness sake! Don't judge me. Anyone want to do my homework for me? I will pay! Just keeding. But really. Well, wish me luck! Oh, one more thing, I finally got Max to watch The House Bunny with me! (The title makes it sound like a horrible movie, but it isn't. At least I think so.) I have been trying to watch it with him forever because I just think it is so funny. Especially the part where she talks in her low voice to remember people's names. I think I might start doing that. Don't know if he actually liked it, but he laughed a few times. That's good right?

Day 15: The Market

Day 15: The Market

Word of the day: волк [volk]: Wolf

Day 15 was Saturday. I have made it past my 2 week mark here in Russia! It has really flown by. These past few days, including today, I have been sick. I slept in until about 11:30am and by this time, Max was (as usual) wide awake and watching a show about wolves. So, I decided to get up and make some breakfast. I made some toast by cooking/frying bread with olive oil over the gas stove (we don't have a toaster oven or even an oven in general any more. We kind of miss our little oven). When I finished making my toast, I sat down next to Max and watched the show about wolves with him.  My toast was yummy and the show was awesome! We both really like wildlife and the outdoors, so it was right up our alley. When the show was finished and all my toast was gone, we decided that we needed to get out of the house. I wasn't feeling 100% better yet, but I was up for it. I wanted to get out really badly, just to even walk around a bit. I was getting a little bit antsy. Conveniently, Max had been looking online just the other day to find new things to explore in Moscow. While doing so, he came across this unique and fun looking market called the Izmaylovsky Market, in Izmaylovsky, Moscow, Russia.  It was a perfect fit for our Saturday. So, we got ready, packed up some drugs (tums) in case I needed any I'm addicted, and headed to the Metro station. We got on the brown line to get to Курская (Kurskaya) and then switched to the blue line to get to Партизанска (Partizanskaya). When we were on the blue line, we didn't realize it, but we missed our stop at  Партизанска (Partizanskaya) and mistakenly got off at Измайловский (Izmaylovsky). Our thought process: [Well, it is the Izmaylovsky Market. It must be in Izmaylovsky, so we must be really close, even though we got off on the wrong stop. We will just walk. Plus, from the map, the market looked like it was in between the two stops anyway]. So we began to walk. 25-30 minutes later, we arrived! It was kind of a long walk, but it was good and refreshing. We talked, laughed, and even saw a man urinating.

When we got there, we paid 10 rubles to get in (which is about 32 cents in American money). The market was full of little shops and all kinds of awesome trinkets to buy. We saw hand carved Santa's (known as Grandfather Frost here in Russia), Russian hatching dolls, hand made booties, treasures from different periods of time, flags, scarfs, vintage cameras, jewelry, shawls, posters, hand made plates and bowls, and fur hats galore.  It was overwhelming, but a good kind of overwhelming. 

All of the doors you see are little shops. They just weren't open. Tourist season isn't quite here yet. I am sure there will be a lot more action here in a month or so. 

There was a cool ship in the midst of all of the shops. 

                                           

This is a close up of the previous picture. I just wanted to point out the cool hand carved bears on the roof of the shops. Max and I wanted one.

Russian men doin' business. 

We walked around for a bit to see what the market had to offer and then began to buy. 

We bought a few different Russian dolls, a Russian egg, a Russian patch, and an awesome wolf ring. 

Although we still had a little more shopping in us, the market began to close and it started to rain, so we began to walk back. Our walk back...

As we made our way back to find the metro station that we missed on our way here Партизанска (Partizanskaya), we didn't have to go far. It was right next to the market. Not what we expected. Remember, we thought the market was in between the two stations. Mental note taken. Get off at the right stop next time. Партизанска (Partizanskaya) was a fairly small metro station with really awesome statues.

We got on the metro to go back home to the Paveleteskaya metro station. On our way back home, we briefly got off the metro to just take a few pictures. Every station is unique and different, so it is fun to look at the different ones. The stop we got off at was Таганская (Taganskaya). Take a look...

We got back on the metro and yet again, continued towards Paveletskaya. The metro was extremely crowded today. Saturdays are always really busy. It is fun to people watch in larger crowds. One gem that I noticed after getting back to the Paveletskaya metro station was this right here...(see if you notice anything)

In case you can't see it, I will just tell you. She is bustin' out of dem heals! You can't really even tell how extreme it was through this picture. They were probably two sizes two small haha.

When we got out of the station, it was pouring rain and everyone was huddled under the shelter that the outside part of the metro station provided. While we discussed what to do next, we noticed some homeless people cuddling in the corner. Take a look...

We decided it was time to eat some food, so Max got a shaurma. He wanted me to spell shaurma with a u because when it is spelled with a w (shawarma- the proper way of spelling it) it sounds like shaw-warm-a instead of sha-uuurrr(roll the r)-ma. Anyway, he ate his "shaurma", which looks like a wrap filled with meat, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, sauce, and other yummy things, and I went to the supermarket to get some chicken noodle soup. MmMMmmm! It is yummy. We also got some chocolate, multi-fruit juice (never does a supermarket trip end without juice), and some bread. 

When we got home, Max had finished his "shaurma", but I still hadn't eaten. So, I heated up my chicken noodle soup and we put in a movie; Gladiator. What a great movie. Then, bedtime came quickly after.    

Day 12, 13, & 14: A Little Bit of Hail and An Upset Stomach

Day 12, 13, & 14: A Little Bit of Hail and An Upset Stomach

Word of the day: странный [strannyy]: Weird

Day 12 was Wednesday. Wednesday was not too exciting of a day. I mostly stayed inside and worked on homework. It was an overcast day and a little chillier than normal.  Before Max left for work, he told me there was a 60% chance that it would rain; I didn't doubt that. What I didn't expect was hail. I was sitting on our cheetah print/mini giraffe print couch (we haven't decided what the print is quite yet, it is sort of a mix between the two. Any thoughts?) doing some homework when I heard super loud rain drops hitting our balcony window. I went to our balcony to check it out. I love watching storms and everything about thunderstorms. They are really relaxing to me for some reason. When I got to our balcony, the side window had already begun to collect pea sized hail droppings. It was awesome! The weird part is that this hail storm literally lasted only two minutes, then it was immediately sunny. Take a look...

Rain Phase 1 (1 Minute long)

Rain Phase 2: Hail (1 Minute long)

Rain Phase 3: Non-existent. Sunny. (Immediately after 2 minutes)

Weird things happen here in Russia. So, anyway, I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts that this apartment that we are in now (apartment/home number 3) was advertised as having a shower.  However, it turned out to be not just any typical shower; it is a party shower. In other words, it is not okay to take a shower and not fist pump. It just comes naturally. Our shower has a radio, blue lighting, jets shooting out from all directions that actually spray really hard and hurt  (one spray is located on the seat of the shower and when I first turned it on, it didn't shoot straight up like it should, rather it shot sideways and nailed me right in the eye), and a mini tub, just in case. The whole shower is kind of overwhelming It is awesome! 

There is a hand spray as well as a ceiling spray

A little touch of disco. 

Blue Lighting

Well, today's blog is filled with a bunch of random things. My next random spiel is about the ambulances in Russia. So, traffic is HORRIBLE here. Luckily we don't drive a car because I would probably die. Not only is traffic horrible, there is always traffic. From early in the morning to late hours of the night. It is never ending  People just honk constantly out of frustration. They will hold down their horns for a good 30 seconds if not more. In order for some smart Russians to avoid the frustration and horrible traffic, they do something completely illegal. But, it's Russia, so as long as you pay someone a pretty penny or I should say ruble, the law doesn't matter. They pay the people in the ambulances to take them to where they need to go, and quickly. It is an awesome taxi service. Everyone moves out of the way, no questions asked. This is now becoming an issue because people have caught on and aren't so nice to ambulances anymore.  I just hope I am not the one having the real heart attack needing to get to the hospital. Check out this traffic! 

If you look closely you will notice an ambulance right in the middle

If you notice behind the traffic, there is a HUGE crater.  That is where the meteor a little while back hit Russia. Right in the heart of Moscow. I am just keeding, we have no idea why that huge hole is there.

Well, after Max came home, we ate some dinner and went right to bed. That was our Wednesday. 

Day 13 was Thursday. I woke up feeling really sick. I knew this day would come eventually. I am surprised how long my body has resisted the new environment, food, and smoke. I luckily finished all my homework for my online classes, so I just slept most of the day away. I was out all night until about 3:00pm. I was awake here and there, but my body felt really tired and my stomach really hurt. It was so uncomfortable. When I woke up for a little bit, I practiced a little Russian and then fell back asleep. When Max came home, he brought me some yummy homemade chicken noodle soup and some bread. I hadn't eaten anything all day so I was really weak and hungry. I almost asked him to help feed it to me. I took a few breaks...pathetic, I know. haha We also looked for some hotels in Paris for when we go in July. Any suggestions? We would like to get something cozy and not super expensive. After looking up hotels for a bit and Face-timing some of the family, I knocked out again. This time for the night.

I woke up in the middle of the night in a lot of pain and feeling like I had to throw up. I had the chills and felt feverish. I couldn't sleep. I ran to the bathroom a few times, but they were just false alarms. I hate throwing up, so I think I forced myself not to. After some time, I had to. Max ran to me and comforted me. What a great husband :) I love him. After that, I felt a little bit better and was able to fall back asleep. 

Day 14 was Friday (today). I woke up still feeling not too well. I was so weak. I had a little bit of bread for breakfast that Max had to inspect carefully because some little ants had gotten into our delicious bread. Dumb ants. Max stayed home from work to take care of me and because he had stayed up a good chunk of the night with me. His stomach also felt a little bit off.  Maybe because of the lack of sleep, or maybe because I got him a little sick. Hopefully not the latter. After eating my little bit of bread and drinking some water, I fell back asleep. When I woke up, Max left the apartment to go get some more chicken noodle soup for me as well as some bread and sprite. He's the best :) When he got home, I ate it right up. Probably a little too fast. He told me to slow down, but I was super hungry. Again, I had to take a few breaks throughout the meal because I was so weak. After lunch, I went to sleep again while Max watched some videos. When I woke up, I sat out in the balcony to get some fresh air. It felt great. I miss the outside. I haven't left the apartment since Tuesday. I am crawling out of my skin a little bit and my back hurts from sleeping and laying down so much. Hopefully this will be my last day of sickness. I am starting to feel better. Here in Russia they call it Tsar's Revenge when you get sick first entering the country. It is for all the people that were killed during the Russian Revolution. I am glad that it is slowly but surely passing. I don't really like Tsar's Revenge. 

On a more positive note, today is going to be an awesome day in Chicago! It is Chris and Carrie's open house! So a little shout out to my brother, Chris, and his new Mrs., Carrie! We love you guys and wish we could be there to celebrate and party it up! Happy Marriage! 

Well, that is all for today, but if you want to check out this previous blog post, Kostroma, I have added a few fun stories about a black man bearing a white baby and the police stopping us.

Day 10 & 11: My First Day and Our 3rd Move

Day 10 & 11: My First Day and Our 3rd Move

Word(s) of the day: да [da]: yes
                    нет [niet]: no

Day 10 was Monday. It was my first day of school. I am taking 8 credits of online classes. I am actually really excited to get back into school, I have really missed it.  Who knew I would ever say that. I woke up around 9:00am and got right to it. I was somewhat nervous because I have never taken online classes before, but I was and still am ready for the challenge, I think and hope!  I sat down on the couch and sat there until about 8:00pm with a few breaks here and there. You could say that I was a little cranky afterwards. Max got home from work around the time I finished. He had gone to play soccer after work with some of his co-workers, so he came home a little later than usual.  We were low on food and water, so we left the apartment to get some groceries. All the grocery stores close to us are very small and don't have a lot of selection. When we got to the store, I am pretty sure I walked around the store 50 times looking for something new to try.  I was pretty antsy after staring at my computer screen all day. We grabbed what we needed and headed to the register to check out. On our way there, I picked out a new candy bar to try and a salad to cancel out the unhealthiness of the candy bar.  When we got home, we unpacked all the groceries from our backpacks (you have to buy plastic bags here at the grocery stores, so we just bring our backpacks to fill up instead). After that, we decided to relax and continue watching a movie called Dr. Zhivago.  The movie is based off of a book by the same name by the author Boris Pasternak about life and love in Russia during the Russian Revolution.  It focus' on Dr. Zhivago, his family, and his mistress during this difficult time in Russia. It is a really great movie, it comes highly recommended from me; however, if you don't like really long movies, then this one is not for you. Max fell asleep mid movie and I finished it out to the intermission. That was our Monday.

Day 11 was Tuesday, otherwise known as my second day of school and moving day number three!  Max went to work and I stayed home to work on my online classes.  In the middle of the day around 1:00pm, I made a lunch for Max and walked to his work.  He works only about five minutes away, so it is really convenient.  This was my first time visiting him at work. He met me at the bottom of the building and took me up to the 20th floor to his office.  The building he works in is pretty awesome. It is really tall and has a clock on it. Here it is...

When we got to his office, I met one of the VP's of the company, Connie.  We talked for a little bit and our conversation drifted towards food, as it usually does for me. I told him how much I missed American food and especially spicy American food. Russians don't typically like spicy food and it is nowhere to be found! I miss it so much! So, as the conversation ended, he told me that he would be traveling to Texas this next week and offered to bring back some spicy food for me. Oh man did this make my day! I said my thank you's and we headed to Max's office. When we got there I couldn't help but notice the view. It was amazing. Until now, I have not realized how HUGE Moscow is. Take a look...

The view on my right

The view in front of me

The view on my left

Moscow seems to go on and on! I am pretty sure Chicago is a quarter of Moscow. Anyway, I left the office, went to apartment/home number 2, and began to pack for apartment/home number 3. Once Max came home, we left and carried all of our stuff to the next building. Apartment number 3 is literally the building right next to apartment number 2.  So, we got into the apartment and began to get settled for the first time since we have been here. Something I have noticed throughout all of our moving is that they love their prints here. The first apartment was pretty neutral, but our second apartment had zebra print, and now this apartment has cheetah print everywhere. I am not complaining though because it is a lot nicer and I am ready to stay put for a little while. It is very comfortable and feels like home. It does smell a little bit like smoke because of people smoking outside of the apartment, but luckily in the apartment we are equipped with something I have never heard before very useful for about three minutes. Check it out.

Yup! Anti-tobacco spray. I got a good laugh and have sprayed it a lot lately hoping it would actually take the smell away, it hasn't worked yet (notice how I say "yet". I am still hopeful that it will one day magically work. I will keep you updated).  So, I know you are eager to see the new apartment. Here is the cheetah apartment/home number 3:

It has a balcony too, which is nice :)

View from balcony. You can see Max's work behind the building (which happens to be the place where we last lived, I told you we just moved to the next building)

Kitchen

They love their fancy showers here. That is how they advertised this apartment. Under  anything special, they put "shower". I was sold right when I saw it. haha

I wouldn't typically show a picture of a toilet to show you what the apartment looks like, but check out this huge crack! You can't tell, but it is cracked all the way through. Yup, gotta be careful with that, wouldn't want to get pinched! haha  Max already has

Well, when we got all settled, we went to another supermarket and got some more food. We were out of water, so that was top on our list (we didn't get any on Monday because we didn't want to haul it over to the new apartment when we moved). When we got home, we restocked our juices because we love our juices, but guess what we forgot to buy. Yup, water. Gave us a good laugh, and then we cried a little bit. We were thirsty and probably a little bit dehydrated. We had been living of a two-liter bottle of water since Saturday. So, we rationed off what was rest of the water, ate dinner, and finished Dr. Zhivago. Great movie, once again. Then, we both knocked out. That was our day. 

Day 8 & 9: The Park and An Accident

Day 8 & 9: The Park and An Accident

Word of the day: извините [izvinite]: Excuse me

Saturday morning was day 8. We slept in really late because of how late we went to bed after getting back from Kostroma. When we did wake up, I was ready for another day of exploring and shopping of course! We made plans to take the metro to Prospekt Mira, which is about 30 minutes northeast of the center of Moscow (where we are). In Prospekt Mira, we saw a few different monuments and fun things. When we first got out of the Metro station, we saw the Monument to the Conquerors of Space which is basically a statue of a rocket blasting off into space. This statue was built in honor of Russia's achievements with space travel. Here is what the statue looks like: 

Alongside the gate around the park that the statue is located were some small street vendors, selling everything from underwear to paintings to stuffed animals filled with candy. We also saw this native american rock band looking group by the fence. 

As we moved on, we came across the All-Russian Exhibition Center with a live band playing and bunch of other different stands. A few of the stands had food, so we stopped for a snack. We got a middle eastern type of food called a Kebab. It was yummy. It tasted just like a burrito. Here is the stand we stopped by and a few pictures of the Russian guy making our dish.

This is chicken all bunched together. They cut of pieces and chop them smaller to put in the Kebab we had.

Maximo patiently waiting for his Kebab. 

Yummy

The All-Russia Exhibition Center was built in the 1930's to represent the times of the Soviet Union and praise Communism. The statue they have on the top of the column is a couple holding a bundle of wheat and behind the statue and columns is an amusement park. 

On our way to the next monument, we saw this guy driving his four wheeler in the city of Moscow. I am pretty sure they are illegal to drive on the streets, especially because he didn't have a license plate. He is pretty crazy to be doing that with all of the police check points Russia has. But, nevertheless, kudos to him and his bravery/craziness. 

When we got to the next statue we wanted to see, we noticed a group of hip hop dancers filming and practicing nearby. It was pretty fun to watch. One of the girls was wearing parachute pants (girl in all blue). I am pretty sure those pants are going to be the next big thing in fashion if overalls don't beat them to it. 

Next to the hip hop dancers was a pretty neat statue. It is called the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman.  It was built to symbolize the main influence of the soviet land; the working class and the Kolkhoz farmers. To learn more about the history of this monument, you can click here.  It is a pretty interesting story about how the statue came to be in Russia.  

After looking at this statue, we decided it was time to go shopping! My favorite! So, we walked back to the Metro to go a little bit further. 

The hubby :) So handsome. 

At night, this hotel has strobes all around the sides of it. We saw it at night once and let me tell you, it's a party.

So, people in Russia pay to use to the porta-potty. I know, who would want to pay to use those nasty things, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. There is usually either a woman or man sitting in one of the stalls with a desk and you pay him or her about 30 Rubles, or 1 dollar to use one of the potties. 

 We got onto the metro and after a few stops, we got off the metro and walked about fifteen minutes to the shopping center; the largest shopping center in Moscow, called the золотой Вавилон (Zolotoy Vavilon) which means Golden Babylon. How ironic is that?! Max immediately said, "Oh great, we are not only going into the largest shopping center, but also a huge building called the Golden Babylon." We laughed quite a bit and proceeded to walk in, don't judge us ;) 

After shopping for a bit, I got a few new things and we headed to the food court. We had Subway for dinner and it was it delicious. They don't like spicy food here and I LOVE spicy food. When we were in the Subway line, I noticed there were Jalapenos! Man did I load the sandwich with them. It was very spicy and I was very pleased. Afterwards, we went to the supermarket, which was also in Golden Babylon. The supermarket was HUGE and we have been used to little grocery stores around Moscow. We probably looked ridiculous because we grabbed a basket and stood in one place with our mouths open, not knowing where to start. It was difficult to comprehend, but after we snapped out of it, we got right to it, loading our basket with awesome goodies. We love our juices here, they are so amazing! Especially the peach. So, naturally we grabbed about five different ones. 

After checking out, we loaded our backpacks with our groceries and bought a bag to carry the rest. Yes, we bought a grocery bag, like the plastic ones. They don't give those out freely here. We got back on the metro and when we got back to Paveletskaya (where our apartment is) we took a picture by this awesome mural in the station. 

By the time we got home, we were exhausted and ready for bed. We went right to sleep.

Day 9 was Sunday. Again, we were out really late and stayed up until 2am. As a result, we slept in I slept in until 11am, Max woke up a few hours earlier. When I woke up, we began to pack because we were moving to a different apartment! YAY! As we were packing, I heard a noise and looked up at the ceiling. This is what I saw...

                                     

Our chandeliers were coming out of the ceiling! It was the weirdest thing! They would move up and down, in and out of the ceiling. When we finished packing and were about to leave, I swear they looked like they were going to come crashing down. We also saw one more cockroach. Cockroach number 3. It was already dead though, so we left it where it was and left that place as quickly as we could. haha That apartment had character, that's for sure. We moved our stuff to the new temporary place (for a few days) before we move on Tuesday to our official apartment. I don't think I have ever moved this much in my whole life. The temporary place is quite interesting though. It has pink accents and the bathroom feels like sea world. The pictures speak for themselves, so I will let you take a look...

Our View 

Sea World!

Pink Accents. Beautiful.

Living room. Zebra print everywhere! The apartment we will be settling into after this one is decked out in cheetah print. They love their prints. 

Awesome decorations and wallpaper

Bedroom and balcony

It isn't a bad apartment at all. It is right in the middle of all of the action and right by Max's office. Right before we went to bed, Max was checking out the balcony and taking pictures. All of a sudden I heard screeching  and a big huge bang. I ran to the balcony and basically witnessed the last little bit of a car accident. Max saw the whole thing. He told me that the car was coming down the street sideways and then flipped backwards and crashed into a cab parked by the sidewalk and another parked car. It was insane! Luckily no one was hurt. Here are some pictures of the accident right outside our apartment...

The car that flipped around is the white one on the left. The back end of it hit the taxi on the right which smashed the side of the taxi and hit it on the sidewalk. The car then flipped back around and hit the red parked car. 

 After all the excitement, we went to bed. It is fun living in the city because you see a bunch of crazy things happening. Well, that's it for now! Miss y'all!