5.31.2008

I remember - Russia!

Wow! Can you believe it! It's been two years since we've come home from Russia!
Two Years ago, I believe I was stuck at an East coast airport with Kris and Catie because we missed our flight. Oh that was such a hilarious night (because of our lack of sleep everything was funny.)

What else comes to mind when I think of Russia? I'm in such a reflective mood.
-I remember eating cow tongue at a home visit, and going to the beach with Pasha and Sonya's family and Anna on Easter.

-I remember Callie and I walking around in Old Stockholm, eating ice cream, and ending off the night by getting off at the wrong stop in Sweden-luckily one more train was going to pass by before midnight or we would've been WAY lost.

-I remember just getting dressed in the morning, on those cold winter days took me about 10 minutes. 2 layers of underneath my pants, two pairs of socks, scarf, gloves, boots, hat, and 2 shirts, a hoodie, and a coat, kept me pretty warm.

We're actually on the middle of a frozen river

-I remember getting to visit Katya in Volgograd! I was SOOO happy to see her and meet her family.

-I remember the advice that eating cold sour cream will make you catch a cold.

-I miss my pink bunny slippers

-I remember Denmark and Sweden, St. Petes and Moscow! What Awesome cities!


-How can I forget my loving family!?! Sasha, Oksana, and Alyosha were so wonderful. I appreciate and love them so much. Sasha had so many funny jokes to tell! I think I miss him the most out of everybody! Alyosha always wanted me to make videos of him--they were so silly. (I posted a couple with him.)

-I was very out of shape in Russia, despite walking so much. But, I got teased a lot for not being able to do pushups...so I practiced doing them with Alyosha. I had to do girly pushups though, and I still don't think I did them right. Alyosha was very good though! Notice how many pushups he does before I even complete one!

-I remember the Busses. They were always so packed, and fun to ride.

-I remember lunch time at school! The fabulous discussions, laughs, chocolate cheese cream things, hamsters (no they weren't really hamsters, but that's what we called them) and potatoes!


-I remember my students
Pasha (the favorite, cute grump),
Anya (the drama queen, babbler, gypsy girl who we all loved...didn't we?),
Sonya (Beautiful Sonya),
Big Oliana (Smarty),
Igor (ladies man),
Senya (I don't think words can explain)
Artium (Pull your pants up)
Maxim (Never spend tokens)
Dima (hyperactive accordian player superman)
.....okay I could list all of those students, but my memories can't all fit on a blog post. Maybe I should stick to a few pictures and videos.







A few video selections of Kindergarten, and a homevisit with Sonya and Pasha.

6 comments:

Nancy said...

Aw! I miss Russia! I miss Alosha!

Do you have their street address? I can't find it anywhere and their email address doesn't seem to work for me anymore...

Ciroks is what we called those chocolately things, but I'm not sure that's what they were actually called. They had some fruity ones, too...without chocolate. I ate those.

Man, you went to Volgograd! I wish!

We should plan a trip to Russia sometime and drag our husbands (and kids) along! :) We can inundate Sasha and Oxana :)

robinly said...

Oh man Di, flood of memories....I miss that land sooooo terribly. Haha, and the pictures of the kids- priceless. Man alive, it was good times out there. Denmark and Sweden trip...yeah...wow. Coolest places! And Petes...oh man I LOVE that city. I'm going back some day. I'm glad I went and I got meet you and the other wonderful ladies. Pretty sure we were the coolest group EVER! I bet Daniel eats in the cleaning closet now that we are gone. We should do a reunion sometime. You must come back to Utah to visit the fam right? Hmmm...yeah, this will happen. Oh and yeah they are called ciroks. And they are amazing. and you should put the Igor Shimmy video up...cause that is wonderful! Love ya!

Anna said...

oh wow i feel so nostalgic right now! i don't necessarily miss the country of russia, but i truly miss those experiences, memories and friendships... so priceless! i forgot about the hamsters! when we moved from manti i was packing up some stuff and found my journal from russia - i spent about an hour reading through just the russia part and i was literally laughing and crying the whole time. what a fantastic and unforgetable experience! sigh...

Diana said...

I love reading through my old Journal. I also had fun going through all the old videos again!

Anonymous said...

Definitely good memories! Thanks for the reminder!:)

-Special Mothertivity- said...

ok, this is how cool I am.... Why were you in Russia? I don't know. I haven't ever talked to you about it. Was it to teach English? Any you stayed with a host family or something? I would love to hear more about your adventures. :)