It's kinda okay......yet

So after I posted last Sunday night, I went on another walk with Ilena, Daniel, Vasya, and Igor. Here is a lovely picture of them!

So then I go to the school the next day and it turns out we would be getting on a bus that night and driving into Moscow. It is an 8 hour ride. So we left at 11:30pm and arrived there at 7:30pm. Let’s just say the busses are not the most comfortable thing to sleep in, but it is cheap and it was nice to be able to sleep on our journey to Moscow. 

 Me and Jallyn headed to Moscow!

Well most of us slept okay! I wouldn’t say wonderfully, but we made it through!

So when we arrived, we got off the bus and immediately headed on the Moscow Metro. I have never been on a metro, but Moscow Metros are very clean and very nice!

We got our passes and rode the metro to our stop. Well here is where the fun begins! Haha no Russia trip without an adventure right?!

Well the directions they gave us to the hostel were definetly written by someone who is not a native American speaker! Haha :) So it was very very confusing. We were headed the wrong way, when I asked someone on the street if they spoke English, and they did. So we told them kind of what we were looking for (we didn’t have an address!!!). So he informed us that there was “Tverskia” street and it was very prestigious, and very expensive because it was the street that led to red square. Then there was “Tverskaia- ymskaya” street which was the opposite direction. We told him to was on “Tverskia street” and he said that he didn’t think any hostels were down there but gave us directions on how to get there. Our hostel was on #4, and we were on #22. We walked quite a ways before we thought that this didn’t seem right. We called the hostel and after not answering for a long time, they answered and although our little Russian-English convo was very confusing, I did learn we were on “Tverskaia- ymskaya” and not “Tverskaya”. So we turned back around and headed that way. 

To speed up a LOT of lost wandering around with backpacks and lack of sleep… we decided to pray outloud because we had no idea where to go and we were sososososososo lost! So I said the prayer in the middle of Moscow and we went on our way wandering the busy streets of Moscow. I’d say 5-10 minutes later we ran into our answer to our prayer. This is why we knew for a fact he was our answer:

1.       1. He was walking our way

2.       2. He spoke very good English

3.       3. He was friendly

4.       4. HE HAD AN IPHONE

5.       5. He found us our hostel

Okay so seriously… we are so lost, we pray, and this man with an iphone leads us to our hostel which, I promise, there was no way we could have found it on our own! It was so confusing to get to! We asked if we were going to make him late for work and he said “It’s kinda okay….yet” haha and so that is the motto of our life now! ;) One of the guys in our group is not a member, and he said “Magical things happen when I hang out with Mormons!” Yes prayers are answered and  yes we have a Heavenly Father who is mindful of all His children! Thank you for all your prayers from back home!

 Number 5- Our Hostel!

Well we found it! “The Yellow-Blue Bus Hostel”! For those of you who don’t know what a hostel is, (Like I didn’t before this trip) A hostel is a very cheap way to travel. In the one I stayed at, there were 3 bedrooms. 2 of the bedrooms had like 2-4 beds each, and then our bedroom had 8 beds, which is very convenient because there are 8 of us! Then all of the bedrooms share a kitchen, toilet room, and a bathroom. When you leave the hostel for the say, you just place your stuff in a locker, and take the key! Sounds crazy probably, but really it worked out great! 

 You can kind of see the set-up of the room 

So all 6 of us girls and 2 of the guys stayed in the same room. Trust me, we were very grateful to have the boys with us because of safety reasons! And we are all really good friends and we can trust each other. Basically we spent 4 nights there, and there was no fighting, no gossiping, no anger… basicially I have been blessed with the BEST GROUP EVER! Seriously, these people are the best ever! All we do is laugh when we are together! I cried every night from fits of laughter. It was just worked out really nicely!

The only downside to the whole hostel situation is the fact that we were…

EATEN ALIVE BY MOSQUIOTES! 

 There were at least 13 on one of my arms, and I wasn't even the worst of my group!

I brought bug spray to Voronezh, but I did not bring it to Moscow. Luke and Mikayla got bitten the worst, and then I think I did. Man talk about a buffet for them! We looked up at the ceiling and there was probably 25 before we would go to bed!

But anyways the 5 days in Moscow were amazing! We went to St. Basil’s Cathedral on my b-day! 

 Not a good pic of me, but I was so happy to be here!

 Luke in front of St. Basils!!

 I had to make sure it was real!!! :)

Both around and inside, it is very colorful on the inside and I am so happy to have been able to visit the staple of Russia! And we walked around red square!!! WAHOO!!! And then we also went to Arbat Street which has fun street performers, shops, artists, and restaurants!

 It's my b-day on Arbat street!

  

Even Max Hall is in Russia!

We ate at Moo-Moo. Which is a restaurant that is Cow themed! Bahahahaha! So much fun! I got sweet and sour chicken- YUMMMY!

ps- there was this crazy old man with a binki that would dance on the street, someone in our group has a sweet video of him, i'll put it up when I can! He was CRAZY WEIRD! 

In the course of our trip we visited:

The kremlin- Holy Cow, the armoury was AMAZING! I wish we would take pictures, the carriages and vintage clothing were so so so so so so beautiful! 

 

“The Great Patriotic War monument” Which was a museum about WWII. So I’ve seen Russia’s WWII museum, but have yet to see our own…. But the museum was HUGE and I learned so much, and I don’t even speak Russian! Oh and I used my first squatter bathroom here! What an experience…

 I'm not in America anymore...

Izmaylovo Market- the biggest souvenir market I have ever been to in my entire LIFE! It was insane! We were there for 4-5 hours and we could have spent a lot more time!! I bought a t-shirt, and a music box, and sheep wool gloves for myself! Used my second Squatter bathroom here, and had to pay 20 rubles (Like 60 cents!) Talk about an expensive terrible experience! (My camera died, so sorry no pics of the market)

Puskin Art Museum- We got to see 2 mummies. It was really big and awesome, but we were tired and hungry, and so we weren’t in the best mood! But after, we ate Perozhki (I have no idea how to spell that…) and pretty sure that is my favorite Russian food. I had made some for my Russian class once, and they tasted like them!! YUM YUM YUM!! I ate a meat one, and a strawberry one!

 Don't you hate it when you can't spell and you have already carved it! :) hahaha

 Pushkin art museum!

 Perozhki! YUM!!!!!!

 Pals!! Ps- I didn't bring a straightner on vacation, so I had crazy wild bohemian hair!

Cathedral of Christ our Savior- um… AMAZING! We walked off the metro and this is what greeted us! 

The church is HUGE and so so so so well landscaped and so beautiful! It was breathtaking, I could have spent a large portion of my day looking at it! We went inside and watched a mass-like program. Very interesting! I can’t wait to see what the temple will look like when it is in Russia! 

 EXCUSE ME! This was so beautiful!

 view from nearby bridge

 The landscape reminded me of Temple Square, it was gorgeous!

McDonalds! Yes they are in Russia (even in Voronezh too!) but the one on Tverskaia street is the huge hot spot of hangout! It is SO LARGE and SO CLEAN! You can basicially order in English because the items are Russian-English! Like Hamburger is “Gamborger” so it is very similar! I ate Blini at McDonalds, and man, if they served that in the US, I would like McDonalds for breakfast.

 This was a t-shirt in a shop... yes caviar is everywhere- you can get it in your Blini!

 It's Blini------FOR BREAKFAST!

 One of the many many clean levels of McDonalds downtown!

I have ate a lot of Blini and I really really like it! I have had Apricot, mushrooms and cheese, strawberries, and they are all delicious! :)

We ate at this pizza place really really close to red square and because it is so upscale it was pretty expensive. I got fruit and vegetables, and a slice of pizza, not thinking it be that much, but the meal cost me like $14!!! So yeah… that was an experience!

One of my favorite things we did was saw Lenin! I don’t know if you know, but because so many mourners gathered around Lenin when he died, people decided to preserve his body! He is only open Tuesday-Thursday for 3 hours! And we got to see him. The place is so creepy!! You can’t take any bags or cameras. You have to go through a scanner before! Then you walk in, and it is dark and cold, and red. There are gaurds on every corner watching you, and they do not talk-only point, and they DO NOT SMILE! You can’t have your hands in your pockets, you can’t talk, you can’t stop, it is just a 20 second walk around his preserved body! It was so creepy and gave me the heebie-jeebies! But I am so happy to say that I saw Lenin! It was quite the experience! There are so many people that love Lenin and so many that hate him- it was very interesting!

Here are some pics from the internet:

 

 

 

So our Moscow trip was awesome, we were all homesick for Voronezh and I think the vacation was probably too soon, because we didn’t need a vacation because we hadn’t started working, but it was very fun and the group is great and I got to see a lot of things I wanted too.

Me and Tessa became masters of the metro! We only got off at the wrong stop once, and that was because we were just talking about how smart we were and how we had never done that- sometimes a taste of humility is good for you! :)

Here is what the metro map looks like:

At first I was disappointed I was going to Voronezh because it wasn’t big like St. Petersburg or Moscow, but having been to Moscow- I LOVE VORONEZH! (It is like the size of Salt Lake-ish) It is not as intimidating and it is where my wonderful host family it! I love them! :) 

 Beautiful view from my apartment!

 I have 5 huge pet spiders outside my window (and about 10,000 little ones!) THis one is the biggest one and her name is Olga!

So we got on a bus Saturday night and rode it till morning. Got on a smaller bus in Voronezh to home, and then showered, and went to church! I love the humble saints of Voronezh. The missionaries were translating for us and they are so awesome! I played the piano for sacrament and for relief society, I am glad that I got to share my talents! And then we practiced praying in Russian in Sunday school, and because I had done it so much in Russian class at BYU-Idaho, it was awesome to be able to pray without having to look at the board!

Then me and Mikayla attended choir practice (also thank you BYU-Idaho for singing Russian hymns in Russian class because I can pronounce almost all the words!)

Teaching starts tomorrow and I am scared but I am ready to get into a regular schedule!

I know this seems long, but it doesn’t even begin to cover my adventures here! Just know I am so so so happy! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR B-DAY WISHES. I had brought my ipod touch to Moscow and there was free wi-fi in our hostel for 8 people shared my ipod touch when we were there! Haha but it was so comforting to see all the love and b-day wishes- so THANK YOU SO MUCH! Thank you dad for the card too, it was so fun to open a gift on my birthday!!

Random pics:

 Yes I am in Russia!

 Pigeons rule Russia- They are eerywhere (and I lot of one footed ones too :(  )

 There were amazing preformers in the metro!

 chillin at the Kremlin in my Erda shirt! :)

 FRIENDS!!! I love these girls!

ALl you people in America...

never take a drinking fountain for granted! this is a pic of Luke's water for part fo the trip... we bought so much water! YOu can't drink out of the tap, so you have to buy all your water and seriosuly it is so so so so expensive! I miss drinking fountains!!! :) That is all!!

LIFE IS AWESOME!!!