Just an update!

I haven't written anything is awhile so I thought I would let ya'll know whats happening. It's been pretty cold here lately, but mostly cause of the wind. School is going well and I'm only gonna teach two more times. My Russian is getting better, but it's hard when everyone is wanting to speak English with me--but I'm trying to hold strong and speak Russian. Anyway nothing new is actually happing--I wish I had something exciting to tell you all, but what can you do.
This is a picture taken behind our dorm. It's really cold and windy here, but was a gorgeous day!
And this is my roommate Luisa and I--enjoying the sunshine--not that we can actually feel it or anything.
The next two are me and friends out on the town.

Well everyone hope all is well and just have to say that I'm loving the pictures your putting on your blogs. I love seeing what everyone is up to. Till next time...

I went to the OPERA!

Some friends and I went to the Opera last weekend. It was really pretty and the costumes were gorgeous. The story was a fairytale of sorts and it was fun to listen to it in Russian. Luckily there were subtitles!! Yeah, above the stage there was this video thing that showed the subtitles--it was nice because I was able to understand everything that was going on. Anyway here are some pics of the theater.



Other than going to concerts, plays, and opera's things have been going well. Ok I made that sound like all I am doing is going to those kinds of things, which I'm not--BUT I have gone to one of each and have a couple more coming up. We are hoping to go out into the country soon to see yet another palace and see the sights there. Thats been one of the best things I've done is see the different palaces and historical places around St. Peters--It's really been great!

English class is going well. I actually have three different groups one on Thurs. night and two on Friday. Two of the groups speak really well and have plenty of questions about American stuff and it's been fun comparing the different cultures. Class for me is going well--my Russian has been improving..at least I can say more now than I could when I first got here. It's a challenging language, but am enjoying learning it and hope to cont. to get better.

I miss everyone and can't wait to see you guys in Dec/Jan!!! Later

Found a Graveyard!!

Some friends and I wanted to go for a walk then find somewhere to eat. On the way we took what we guessed was a shortcut and it turned out to be a huge graveyard. It was really neat to see it cause its not like the graveyards I have seen at home. Well most of it anyway and its really not saying much since I haven't seen all the graveyards, but this one reminds me of what you would see in a witch movie or something scary. But it wasn't creepy or anything it was (as Becky put it) peaceful to walk through. It was really huge and we didn't go through all of it, but I took some pics of the different parts. Some parts are completely grown over the graves and some are taken care of (cut grass and so forth). Anyway here are some pics...
Oh yeah and the white little specks you are seeing is what I am sure you already know is snow! For the past several days is has done a little bit of snowing then would stop. Its like mother nature is just gearing up to dump it on us.


This is just Julia (Italy) and I after we found our way out of the graveyard. I think I have decided which language I want to learn next and now I have people that I can stay with now. I mean who doesn't want to see Italy?
Well as for me everything here is going well. I am just going to school (almost everyday anyway hee-hee). I have started to--well its not really teaching, but conducting an English speaking class. It's so the students can have someone to speak Russian with. I had my first two classes last Friday and it was actually a lot of fun. My first group are beginners so they struggle, but overall understand quite a bit. They want me to talk about shopping this coming Friday and I really don't know what to talk about. Anyway my next group are advanced speakers and they want to talk more on buisness and school related topics. This next week the advanced class wants me to explain to them the rules of football HA that'll be interesting. To me all I see are a bunch of padded men running into eachother every couple of minutes trying to get the ball to the other side. Oh and you know can anyone explain to me why the US is the only country in the WORLD that had to change the real name of football (aka soccer)? I just don't understand it. Anyway so thats going well.

Anyway, hope all is well with you and will chat later.

Oldest City in Russia

Well its the first city anyway. Last weekend we went on a trip to Novogorod and went around to the different highlights of the city and it was great. It's not the most gorgeous city, but was pretty and had a lot of history. There were so many church-so many in fact I think it beats Provo and thats saying something. Most of them are not used anymore and are just sitting there, but I was able to go into a couple of them. Anyway here is what I saw...
This one below is a church from the 14th or 15th cent. I can't remember which, I would have take more pics, but they didn't like me doing that so...what can you do.
This is the inside of another church!



This one is so Russian--out in the country this is how people do laundry. It was so cold outside--well ok not cold cold, but too cold to be working with cold water doing laundry.





Well thats Novogorod for ya!

Good thing I'm not claustrophobic!

Well first thing--I kinda got a job teaching English. It's only for a couple times a week, but pays pretty decent and I'll get to meet more Russians. So my first day going there I had to go by metro. It was like rush hour or something cause when I got there there was a HUGE amount of people just trying to get into the door. See people here don't wait in line--they all bunch together like a big mosh pit and just barrel through. The the time we were inside, which isn't a big space, there were so many people I was practically being crushed. Well ok I guess it wasn't that bad, but just imagine a room that can hold 25 people max-well this room had about 60--it was crazy if I were to jump in the air I would have been suspended in mid air and been held up by all the other people surrounding me. I couldn't help, but laughing--just imagining Mom being there or someone that likes their space. It's a good thing I can deal with people in my space or else I would've really freaked out. Anyway it was really funny.

You know what else is funny here--or just plain crazy are shoes. Women here love their shoes and not just any shoes but high heels on whatever kind of shoe. For the most part it's ALL they wear. And not just for a while, but ALL day. A girl once said that the pain doesn't matter, but the shoe has to look good. I mean girls at school are wearing these hooker heels and have them on all day and these people walk everywhere. One of the first things a woman looks at when they see me are my shoes--I mean when a woman looks at another woman they always look at the shoes. I think they are all crazy--if Im gonna be walking all day I'm wearing comfy shoes. Anyway just another tidbit about Russian fashion.

Well tomorrow I am going to Novogorod with a bunch of friends. This town is the first established town in Russia. It has a ton of history so it should be a lot of fun. Other than that things here are going well. Can't believe it's already November-well almost anyway! Ciao

I've been Tagged!

Alright here are six quirky things about me...

1. When I see a pile of papers, magazines, whatever I always have to straighten them. Sometimes I'll be in a teachers office or someones home and find myself going for piles on the desks, counters, etc. I usually catch and restrain myself, but if no one is looking I will do it anyway.

2. I hate spiders and when I see them I really freak out. I have gotten better from living in UT and have gotten to the point of being able to kill them. I hate the crunching sound they make and usually have to make a loud noise so I can't hear it and fast so I can't feel it. But the weird thing is I like to look at them in books, on the discovery channel, or if their caged--I am somewhat fascinated by them, but can't deal with them running around.

3. I have this really annoying (to me even) twitch where when eating chips, popcorn, something like that I tap (several times) my hand into whatever I'm eating. It's just with dry stuff in a bag like I mentioned earlier. I don't even notice I'm doing it until someone asks what the heck I'm doing and if I do realize it myself I still do it--I really don't understand it. Any suggestions on how to stop would be great.

4. If I see hair on someone else's clothes I always have to pull it off even if I don't know the person. I can usually do it without them realizing it. The same goes for the tags sticking out of shirts and if a necklaces clasp is showing. However with the two last things I can restrain myself especially if I don't know the person.

5. I like scary movies--the really suspenseful kinds. I don't like the gory stuff, but if I turn to something like that on TV I have a hard time turning it. I have always been somewhat fascinated by serial killers--just trying to understand what makes a person do such horrible things to another human being. But again I know if I watch it then I will end up putting myself into a dream just like the movie and lets just say I don't have a good nights sleep.

6. Last of all I can't walk on the covers of man holes in the street or sidewalk. Even if its clear that its all covered and wouldn't open I just can't do it. I suppose it stems from my mission when I wasn't paying attention and actually walked on one that was only covered a quarter and my leg fell in being scraped the whole way down (till I hit the ground anyway) I am lucky I didn't fall in all the way, but to still scares me to death.

Well thats it. I am tagging Erik and Angela, Amy and Jerry, Miles and Bex, Sadie and Corey, Reed and Annie, and Erica. Here are the rules of the game:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I went skating!

Last night I went skating. I can't even tell you how long it's been since I have been on skates. I can assure you that I was probably worse than Brayden when he first got on skates--but I didnt fall down. It was a lot of fun--i'd really like to be good again with skating I think Id like to do it more often. We went with about 6 other girls and so it was fun to help each other skate. A few of them already knew how and would hold on to those that couldnt. I stuck close to the wall cause I wasn't going to fall. My roommate was going past me pretty fast and looked at me and laughed cause at that time I was practically hugging the wall (i'd had just got on the ice for the first time in I don't know how long and was terrified--I mean we have all seen what it looks like when a fat person falls and can't get up--now just imagine what that looks like with skates on) anyway so as she laughed her skate caught on the ice and she went flying forward and landed on her stomach with her arms and legs spread out. I thought my head was going to explode I was laughing so hard. It was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time--and I don't feel bad for laughing cause she would have done the same to me--I mean come on we all would have. But what was worse for her was there was this guy a little ways ahead of where she fell and he had been teaching his son (he looked about Braydens age-all decked out in his gear) how to do different moves or whatever you call them and they both started to crack up. Anyway it was well worth the night of hugging the wall--ok I moved away from it for a few minutes at a time, but I wasn't taking any chances.
Anyway so thats it for that. Things here have been going well and we are just exploring all over the city. We are organizing a trip to Novogorod, which is about 3 or so hours from here on bus, but is the first established city in Russia--and we know a guy that will take us there (he's from there) and show us around. In a week I will be going to my first Opera--can't say Im too excited, but I hope that Im wrong. I also have a ballet, concert, and play that Im going to so of course Ill talk more on those as they come.

This next pic is of a museum of where we will be seeing a play by Chekov and I thought the horses coming off the roof looked pretty cool.
This next one is of Luisa and I in a park--practically all the parks look like this one and it's a great place to just think or read a book or feed the pigeons cause there are tons. Anyway its too cold to just sit now, but it's pretty to walk through.
Well thats it for now. I send my love to you all and hope that everyones having a great weekend. "Peace Out" as my German friends love to say to me!