Bloom where you are planted. M&M: Our new adventure: Day 66, 67, 68, 69, 70: A Traumatizing Week to Say the Least

Day 66, 67, 68, 69, 70: A Traumatizing Week to Say the Least

Word of the Day(s): танцевать [tantsevat']: Dance

Day 66, the 17th of June. It was our 10 month wedding anniversary! (Just had to throw that in there. Yes, I celebrate every month. And yes, we are still newly weds, so it is okay.) Quite a few things happened on the 17th. Max stayed home from work because he wasn't feeling too well and I had the typical homework load to tackle. As I was sitting and doing my homework and Max was doing some work on his laptop, we heard a loud screeching noise outside of our apartment. We hear these screeching noises all day long because of all of the crazy Russian drivers passing by the major intersection outside of our apartment, so it doesn't really phase us anymore. But, when we heard this particular noise, we both looked at each other and as soon as we heard the crash, we ran to our balcony. We have seen our fare share of accidents, but this one was different. It was more traumatizing than ever. As we both looked out the balcony window, we realized that it was a motorcycle accident. The man on the motorcycle was laying on the ground, screaming so loud that we could hear it clearly from our apartment. I do not do well in these situations. I hate to see people hurt like that. So, naturally I began to cry and hide myself behind Max because I didn't want to look anymore. After some time, I calmed down and looked again to see if he was alright. Luckily he was wearing all leather and a helmet, so he was able to stand up without any serious injuries. Man was I relived to see him walking. Needless to say I was traumatized by this experience and told Max that he would never buy a motorcycle. Here are a few pictures that we took:

What we think happened: In Russia it is a HUGE deal if you cross a double white line. We believe the guy in the car was going the wrong way down a one way street connected to the major intersection (based on how the car was positioned) and went to quickly cross all lanes of traffic (even though it was illegal and there was a double white line). While this guy was crossing, we are assuming the motorcyclist went to pass someone up and the car hit him because he didn't see him. Hopefully that all makes sense.

After experiencing this accident, I went back to doing my homework and Max continued with what he was doing. We periodically checked to see the progress of the accident, but it took hours before any real progress was made. When an accident occurs in Russia it is against the law to move any of the cars/motorcycles involved and it takes forever to clean the accident up. There is always a bunch of paperwork involved and other steps that they must take. Just thinking about it stresses me out.

Later that day, we took some food to Valentina, a homeless lady that we have been helping out lately. We had asked her on Sunday what her favorite food was and she said potatoes. She also requested a sweet drink, so we brought her some Sprite. It was really great to serve her and see her smile when we brought the food. She talked to Max and me (mostly Max because he is the one that speaks Russian) for about an hour and then we went on our way.

Day 67, the 18th of June. A typical day in Moscow, Russia.

Day 68 was the 19th of June. Another traumatizing day to say the least. Max and I were about ready to go to bed and I decided to go close the blinds. As I walked over to the blinds, I saw a man with a large beer belly looking out of his window. I didn't think much of it, but as I was closing the blinds, he took off his towel and yes...I ran away from from window as fast as possible and buried my head in the bed. Never again will I assume that I am safe looking outside of my window.

Day 69 was the 20th of June: my last English lesson with Sonya. In the morning I took the metro and then the bus to her apartment. When I got there, I saw her usual outgoing, smiling self and began right away with the lesson (which is basically just repeating words in English and playing with her). She showed me her baby brother by pointing and saying, "baby." I could see how excited she was to have a new little brother. It was really cute. After talking about her little brother, we walked over to the bedroom/playroom and began to play with a bunch of different toys. I said the names of the toys out loud in English and she would repeat after me from time to time. We also outlined each other's hands in red marker. She had a lot of fun doing this, so we talked about fingers and our hands for a little bit. When our time together came to an end, we sang the clean up song and picked up all of the toys scattered around us. It is fun to hear her sing along with me in English. It shows me that she was making some progress. Right before I left, we took a picture together and Natalya (her mom) gave me a picture in a frame as well as some chocolates.

Day 70 was the 21st of June. Friday! Marcus was having a teachers bowling day, so we decided to go. When we got there we checked in with the group, said our hello's, and went to get our bowling shoes. We told the lady our size and she brought out our shoes. We were given these really thin booties to protect our feet from the fungi growing out of the shoes, but to be honest, they didn't do much. I still put them on and pretended they were doing something to give me some peace of mind (they don't clean or even spray the shoes). As I slipped on the shoes they were still a little warm from the previous bowler, but I ignored it and got ready to get my bowl on. We played a few games and hung out with some friends. I didn't score above 90, but it was still really fun to be out and about. After bowling for a few hours, we had to get a ticket to return our bowling shoes. I don't really know the point of the ticket because we didn't even have to get a ticket to get the shoes, but whatever. After we left the bowling alley, we made our way to the red square. I wanted to participate in this online activity that BYU-Idaho (the university I am currently attending online) put together. Everyone around the world attending BYU-Idaho online could send in a video of them dancing in front of a well recognized place in the area they are living. I obviously chose the red square because everyone recognizes that right away. As Max recorded me dancing, no one even looked at me. Like I said earlier, Russians are not phased by ANYTHING. It was fun though. After dancing around, we went and got some Sbarro's. While Max was paying for the food, I went to go use the restroom. Usually when you use any public bathroom in Russia, you have to pay, but the person at Sbarro's told us it would be free. So, I went to the bathroom, but when I got there I couldn't open the door. It looked like it was just stuck, so I pulled harder and harder. Eventually someone from the other side opened the door. I finished going to the bathroom and went to leave, but the door wouldn't open again. I started pushing the door, but it still wouldn't budge. After a few minutes I got a little bit more freaked out that it wouldn't open because I did not want to be stuck in that bathroom. So, naturally, I got a little bit of a running start and threw my body at the door a few times. You could see the door open a little bit, but it wouldn't open for me to get out. After some time, I tried to call Max. He didn't answer. So, I looked around and noticed a button. I pushed it and tried to open the door. Still didn't work. Man was I getting nervous. Then...a person finally opened the door from the other side. I got out of there as fast as possible. Turns out there was a magnetic lock holding the door closed. I needed a code to get in and I had to push the button to get out. Max told me that I almost broke down the door, frame and all. He was watching the whole time. After that little experience, we left the restaurant and went to watch all the fancy cars go by. We sat on a ledge right next to a major intersection by the red square and ate our pizza. At one point the truck that drives around to wash the streets was turning towards us. We realized that it was coming our way when it was almost too late to move. We grabbed our stuff and ran away from the ledge we were sitting on by the road. Luckily we were only sprinkled by the soapy water (Yes, Russians wash their streets everyday, many times a day. My grandmother told me that if they cared about cleaning themselves as much as the streets, the world would be a better place. I agree. haha).

Here are some pictures of the day...