What everyone THINKS they know about Russia...

Before I came here, everyone told me about so many things to expect about the wonderful country of Russia. I heard about how backward and rude Russians are, how ugly the people are.. countless other myths that everyone claims to know about Russia. Well, I am here to tell you what is true and what is completely false about this wonderful country. Tuesday I will have been here for one month, so you can pretty much consider me a pro in all things Russia.

Myth #1: Russian men are unattractive. FALSE!!!!! This is the most false of anything people tried to prepare me for at home. The men here are not hideous whatsoever, in fact they are quite good-looking. Are you a fan of the rugged, manly man? Well then, Russia is the place for you! Sorry all you American boys, but Russian men make all of you look like wimps. I was extremely surprised and was not prepared to meet such good-looking men. They're EVERYWHERE!! I'm always taken back by how attracted I am to these men, it was completely unexpected.

Myth #2: Russian women are beautiful. This myth is 100% accurate and very much true. The women are gorgeous! Really, all the people here are extremely attractive. And, they remain good looking (well, for the most part) as they get older. It's like the cold preserves their age or something. Seriously though, the women are gorgeous, along with the men. They have such beautiful eyes and skin complexion, and are just attractive all around.

Myth #3: Russians drink all the time. This is not false, but it's not entirely true, either. People are drunk quite often, but I wouldn't say that they're always drinking. I have seen my own fair share of vodka and many drunk people in the city, especially on weekends. Oh, and the older men smell strongly of vodka and cigarette smoke. Standing close to an older man on the metro or subway is difficult; their smell is extremely strong and I have to force myself not to throw up when I get a great giant whiff.

Myth #4: Russians are rude and cold. From my experience with the Russian people, I would have to say that this is false. At first, the people seem to be very hard and rude, but they open up to us and are friendly. There definitely is the "Russian face", but they warm up and smile their golden toothless grins.

Myth #5: Russian food is disgusting. I guess this is a matter of preference, but I would have to say this is FALSE. Of everything new and unique I have tried here, there is only one thing that I hate. One whole month of food I've never eaten before, and there is only ONE thing I cannot eat? That's a pretty good record! The only thing I won't eat is buckwheat, it is terrible. Let me just tell you about the food. We have porridge (delicious!!!) for breakfast every morning, potatoes, rice, pasta, meat, sausage, soup, cabbage, bread, and pastries on a very regular basis. I love it! Dill is used in everything, so it's a good thing I don't mind it! I love borsch and blini and every dish I've had so far (except for buckwheat).

Myth #6: Russians hate Americans. I am still not certain if this is true or false yet. People are pretty dang nice to us, but maybe we've just had the good fortune to only run into the super sweet and not-too-crazy Russians (because believe me, there still are some crazy ones we've ran into). We try to be safe when we're in the city and not be too loud and obnoxious, something that is surprisingly rather difficult to do. I never realized how hard it would be to try and blend in, we kind of suck at it. Whether the people hate Americans or not, they all love America and would do anything to get to the wonderful land, including marry one of us. Oh, Russia. :)

Myth #7: Russian women like to show a lot of skin. I know it's freezing, but this is so very, very true. I am quite astounded by how short these skirts are and the lack of layers underneath. Oh, and the short skirts and other skin-bearing whatnot starts pretty young; I am shocked by how short the girls' skirts are at the junior high we live at. Apparently there is no such thing as a dress code here, and everyone lives by the phrase: "If you got it, flaunt it!"

Myth #8: Russia is cold. True, true, TRUE!!! Actually, false. It is FREEZING!!!!!! Being indoors is fine, but the moment you walk outside it is absolutely freezing. I hate the cold and I will be fine if I never see snow again as soon as I return home.

These are all the myths I can think of at the present moment, but if you can think of anything else just add it in a comment and I will let you know if it is true or false! I love Russia and I can't believe I've been here for 4 weeks already.. the time is flying and I'll be back in Utah before I know it. Time, please slow down! I'm enjoying myself immensely and am incredibly happy to be here.

Dasvidanye! :)

Greetings from Moscow :)

I love being able to say that I live in Moscow. Guess what ya'll? I live in MOSCOW!!! Actually, it's kind of a suburb of Moscow, and I don't actually know what city I live in, but it's just easier to say I live in Moscow.

It's been about three weeks since I've arrived, and it still doesn't quite feel like I live in a foreign country. I mean, it does, but I'm not freaking out over it like I thought I would be. Honestly, my little dorm feels like home to me. I have great friends here with me who I can hang out with all the time, I have internet access for whenever the heck I want to Facebook stalk my friends at home or Pin my little heart out, and I have enough books to read throughout the semester (just as a side note, I started the unabridged Les Miserables... I'm feeling quite ambitious!).

I love the Russian culture. Gulia, our awesome native coordinator who helps us out with everything, teaches us culture classes weekly and has taught us how to make blini and borsch. I'm in love with it! There is so much history surrounding me, there are countless cathedrals everywhere. There's never a dull moment in Russia! Call me crazy, but I LOVED borsch. Borsch is a Russian soup that's made from meat (we used chicken), sauteed onions, carrots, beets, tomato sauce, and boiled cabbage. Then, you top it with a dollop of sour cream. I love it. LOVE! And blini... it's the Russian version of a crepe. Basically it's the same things, only blini is usually served with cheese and meat or mushrooms. I seriously crave it like no one's business.

The people here are wonderful. My teaching team is fabulous, I love these girls I live with so much! We're all like best friends. But it's not only the Americans who I'm in love with, we have awesome people always watching our backs. Our security guards are amazing. We've become best friends with Peter, he's always at the front doors of the school and will always say "Hello!" and try and wink at us and smile. Whenever we need something from him, or any other guard, we have to use google translate or just a lot of charades. I'm very much used to being laughed at, it's really interesting being the foreigner. I love our cooks, they are so nice and their food is delicious. Although the majority of people here will ignore us or give us dirty looks, there are so many wonderful and kind people we've met. Like Lucia, the babushka (grandma) on the bus who started talking to Reagan and I (in Russian) to our head teacher, Sarah (she speaks a little bit of Russian), about how great and wonderful of girls we are and told us to learn Russian. Then there was Miran, the man we met on the metro who helped us walk to the grocery store safely. When a sketchy man approached us, Miran told Reagan, "Go, I will protect you." These people are great. I love them! And their accents are so great.

This past weekend, we (except Kris) all went to a YSA activity in Moscow. It was kind of a big deal, they only have the activity once a year and people from all over western Russia and Ukraine come to this activity, so it's an all day event. We signed up to go, thinking it would be a cool activity to go to and would be fun to meet Russians our age who can show us around the city from an insider's perspective. I really didn't take into consideration the fact that I was in RUSSIA, meaning that the activity would be spoken in Russian. Holy cow. I got the biggest headache of my life, there were so many Russian singles speaking their language so loud and fast. Yes, we did have a translator, but it was kind of hard to understand her and it was so confusing listening to her but hearing noise in the background. Really though, it was an awesome activity and I really enjoyed it! The activity was all centered around marriage, I guess single's wards are the same all over the world. :) The best part of the activity was the dance at the end, and meeting people who speak little English trying to communicate with us. I had a blast!

Oh, did I mention that it takes two hours to get to church? So it's an adventure, and an all day activity. Well, the YSA activity lasted until 11, but we had to catch our bus by 10:00 at the latest, which meant we had to leave the church by 8:30 at the very VERY latest. We left on time, and were making good time, but we forgot to put into account our much needed visit to the grocery store. We met Miran on the bus, and he was being so nice and helpful, but we stayed and talked with him too long. Turns out, we missed our bus. It was pretty dang cold, and we were stranded in Moscow. We called Gulia, and she told us there was another bus we could go to that stopped at 12:00. So we traveled an hour to the next bus stop, to find that the bus stop actually closed at 10:30. We got right back onto the metro to travel another hour to the head teacher of one of the other Moscow school's apartment. On the metro, everyone was drunk. Vodka was everywhere, and some teenage boys reeked of marijuana. Finally, at about 12:15 AM, we got to Robin's apartment and crashed for the night. I know, the story probably doesn't sound as awesome right now, but when it was happening it seemed pretty darn crazy.

On the metro at midnight. This is Reagan! Love her.

I think it's pretty safe to say that despite the cold, I'm in love with Russia. The food, the culture, my adventures, and most importantly, my students. I feel so grateful to be able to be here, this truly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am trying to live every moment to the fullest! Thanks for your support my dear friends! :)

By the way, the mail here is completely unreliable. I have a new address, if you would like to send me something you can! Just so you're aware, it takes two weeks at least for a letter to be sent, and AT LEAST one month for a package to be sent. But if you want to send me something, go for it! :)

Can you see how freakin' cute the envelopes are?? I love them!
And I LOVE that there are 5 stamps <3

I'm a teacher!

Throughout my experience in Russia so far, there is one thing I have learned over and over again. Expect the unexpected! Every day has been a new adventure, and nothing has happened how I anticipated. From the language barrier, the icy cold, how busy I am, and how out-of-control my students are, it is so different than I could have imagined.

I knew there would be a language barrier, but it's not really something you think about when you're going to be in a foreign country. For some reason, I just thought that I'd be able to communicate with people. But, it doesn't happen. I end up playing a LOT of charades and end up looking like an idiot. I guess I thought people would be able to understand me, because my egotistical self feels like every body in the world should know English. Well, they don't. And sometimes, I feel like if I speak louder and slower, they'll understand me. Trust me, it doesn't work. :) This is a learning experience for sure!

I hate the cold. Hate, hate, HATE it! I found myself questioning why the heck I signed up to move to Russia, of all places in the world. If I had my way, I would live in Utah until November and then move to Florida or California for the winter. I hate wearing coats, but I love wearing jackets and especially cardigans. I myself thought I was crazy for moving to Russia in the middle of the winter, but it just felt like the best decision for me to go. So I came, and I thought that the cold would be... cold, but not a big deal. Holy cow. I was wrong. It is a frozen wonderland here. When I go outside, I wear my fleece-lined nylons, leggings, thermals, and then pants, and within minutes am STILL cold!! I knew I'd be cold, but I never anticipated this. I love being here, but I am so excited for the snow to melt. And to think, my head teacher, Sarah, told me that it's even coldER in St. Petersburg. Oh, the horror...

I only teach from 4:00 - 5:30 Monday - Thursday and 9:30 - 11:30 on Fridays. Before I left, I thought, "Holy crap! I'm going to have so much free time, whatever will I do with all my time?" So I bought lonnnng books (the unabridged Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Great Expectations) so I could have something to do with all my down time. I have not had a moment to really breathe since getting here. Every weekend we're in the city all day long, church is a 7 hour excursion on Sunday, we have a University class we teach Monday morning that takes up most of our day, culture classes, language class, group meetings, and teaching. All this adds up to hardly any time leftover in the day, and the extra time I do have I spend with my roommates, watching silly shows or talking about the good looking Russian boys. :)

As for my students... they are all wonderful individually. But collectively? That's an entirely different story. My children literally punch each other, scream, run around in circles, climb on top of the piano and jump off it, rip up my art projects into shreds, kick me, bully the little ones, and don't pay attention to a word I say. Of course, they don't understand a word I say. But it's hard to get a lesson in when there is not even a little bit of discipline. So yes, this has been a struggle. Definitely much different than I imagined.

Does it sound like I'm complaining? I'm totally not meaning to. I just want you readers to know that things don't always happen how you'd like or how you imagine. But, in the end, it's actually better! Yes, a lot of things have gone wrong, but I am so incredibly happy here. I am having an amazing experience, and I don't think I could be doing anything better with my life right now. It is a challenge, but I can conquer it and I know that I can do amazing things. I have promised myself that I will smile always, no matter what is going on there is always something I can smile about. I am so happy to be here, and I know these next few months will be some of the greatest, most memorable times of my life.