Sunday, September 25, 2011

Wait... I've been here a month...

Greetings from Воронеж, Россия!!
I have officially been in Russia for a month and I am 25% done with teaching... THAT IS CRAZY TALK!
I heard a lot of things about Russia being ugly and dirty, and all those things. Sure I have seen some very bad roads and lots of trash, but there are many beautiful things about Russia!
For example: My view out my bedroom window!

  
I have such a beautiful view! The sunsets here are very beautiful. Also since I live right nearby the edge of the river, it is so beautiful to just look out and to be able to see the water!  Sometimes you can see sailboats or rowboats! :) It makes me smile!
Yes folks, that is the view from my window! :) (I'm surprised there is no spider in the pic ;) )

Well this week has been crazy with teaching! One of our kindergarten teachers got sick and one of our basic reading teachers also got sick so normally out head teacher would teach, but she was sick took- she probably had the worst of it! She was throwing up and not even feeling well enough to get up!! 
So there was a lot of covering and I seriously have the best group ever! Everyone was so willing to help and wanted to do everything and I just thought it was SO sweet that everyone was willing to help. I especially owe a huge thanks for Alix for her willing attitude and the BIGGEST thanks to Jallyn! The first shift is easy to split into 2 groups, but the 2nd group has SO MANY KIDS! If Jallyn wasn't there, we would have had classes of about 8 or 9 between me and Sami! Какой ужас!!!
But Jallyn stepped in after teaching 3 hours of her own classes and taught another 4. She went from teaching about 18 hours a week to probably about 26! I AM SO THANKFUL FOR HER!
Here she is! :) She was my angel!

So I needed flour for a kitchen activity- Bahahah check with bag out!
 weird-looking dude + Pie = Love!
Things you can learn from Russian flour....

 
Luckily on Friday things were back to normal! We were all pretty much restored back to health and Friday went normally, besides the fact that we were all certainly pooped! I was so done with teaching for the week! But we decided to go to volleyball at the church.
So like i said before, the church used to be an old movie theater that was run down and forgotten. The church bought it and turned it into a BEAUTIFUL building!
 here are 2 short little articles about the building and branch

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58110/Elder-Russell-M-Nelson-dedicates-meetinghouse-in-Voronezh-Russia.html

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58134/Growth-of-Voronezh-Branch-is-story-of-faith.html

So in Monday night we now attend FHE right after work and it was a lot of fun! We had an enjoyable time honestly! It is all the missionaries, a few Russian investigators, and then us ILP people. We had a lesson, games, and of course refreshments! The elders are so nice and they make us feel so welcome and include us, and then of course the Frosts are just a beacon of love and warmth! Basically the church and the branch makes me so happy!
But like i said, we went to Volleyball. Anyone that knows me well know that I am not good at any sports. Pretty sure I made my team do very bad! :( But everyone was very nice! There was this legit old guy in a blue sweatsuit that kept on trying to tell me tips because I was failing so bad, but remember that I don't speak nor understand much Russian, so it was pointless :( I felt so bad for him, because he really wanted to play and I was really really bad. But the experience was fun and I think we are going to try and go often, so practice is very good!

Me, Mikaela, and Alix chillin in the gym!
This is their cute little gym! The chapel in the building is in the room right next to it.

Then this Saturday we had another epic day!
It started off getting on a bus and heading across the river to the center of the city. 
WE WERE GOING TO THE CIRCUS!!! 
I have never been to the circus, so I was very excited! This is what the building looked like:
Nothing like an awesome circular building for a circus!
Both Mine and Tessa's first circus experience.
This is how I would summarize the entire event....
WEIRD! Probably one of the craziest events I have ever attended. The whole building smelled like animal poop haha but it is the circus! We were probably one of the few young adults there. It was pretty much all kids and their parents! Let me just show you some pics to let you experience the weirdness of it!
The awesome show ring!
The show started off with clowns (of course) and also cool jump roping stunts
We all really liked the monkey show. They are very talented at juggling and catching stuff!
There was also this incredible acrobat stunt done by a girl that was probably about 11 and a guy. She would do insane flips and stunts and he would hold her up by her feet. I swear she didn't have a backbone!
Then........
randomly spiderman comes out of nowhere! He was very talented and did cool acrobat tricks! But it was very random...
Then there was snakes, alligators, and dancers
Then it got very sad :( I didn't know I was an animal activist until I watched the crazy things they had animals do :( It made me so sad! I couldn't enjoy my time because it was so sad!
First they made this elephant balance on 1 foot while lifting a lady up and the elephant looked so miserable and it was so sad!!!!
Then they had all these bears and they played music

Yes this bear is on roller skates... Yes you understand why I feel bad.
They also had bears riding bikes and boxing each other. 
Then being the lame person I am, looked up online and in Russia there aren't really any animal laws, so I can only imagine what these animals go through and suffer. Especially their living conditions.
Okay enough of Debbie Downer--- the circus really was awesome and the magic was cool with all the doves and the dogs did cool tricks, but I just love animals and I hate to see them do stuff they don't like... that is all
Wow.... that was a depressing story...
On to something HAPPY :)
We then went to the mall and ate! :) I am getting better at ordering in Russian, but still give them the blank look when they ask me something I can't translate!
We then went shopping and browsing.
THEN TO THE BALLET SWAN LAKE!
A Russian Ballet in Russia..... doesn't get more Russian than that!


This is the beautiful building!
Waiting for it to start
So our seats were on the tippy tippy top of the theater, but nonetheless, it was very very cool to be there!
Here is the whole gang... expect unfortunately Alix is hiding behind Sami... :( And I look like a pasty ghost because the flash was on me haha) 
But I did enjoy the Ballet. They were very talented and the music was great. I didn't know the story previously though, so I was a but lost. But I absolutely loved it! :) And it was nice to not to have to worry about not understanding Russian-only music and dance! We are going to the nutcracker sometime later!
Then we all went back home! I am feeling a lot more confidant on the streets of Russia. I know very well where I live! I know the bus stop where I need to get off to walk home and how to get to the school. Also I am much better at riding the buses in Russia. You just all get on, and then you pay usually by passing your fare up, and then people will hand you change back.
I have been on empty buses 
I have been on packed full buses.
I have fallen over... (more then once!)
I have missed my stop  
I have had people talk to me in Russian and I have no idea what they are saying
I have paid a rubles worth of kopecs on the bus (They don't like that!)
I ride a bus to church every Sunday and now on Mondays and Fridays also
Buses, buses, buses!

So then on Sunday I went to church. It was "Stake Conference" but for a branch so the ward of Lipicks came as well. That ward consists of like 5 people and then an Armenian family of 5, and then the missionary is the Branch President!
Let me just say that Missionaries are so awesome!
Sami in our group got her call to the Russia Yekaterinburg Mission! She opened her call Via skype on Thursday! :) SOOOOOOOOO COOL!!!!
Anywho, the conference was very good! A member from the 5th quorum of the 70 came and spoke, He is from Salt Lake and so it was refreshing to have a talk in English translated into Russian! Instead of always the opposite, even though we have incredible translators in our branch. Like I mentioned, the lady to translated for the wife of the seventy, and also translates for us in Relief Society has been asked by the church to translate "Jesus the Christ" in Russian....only a little bit cool..... or AWESOME!!!!!
The branch presidency is very kind and we love everyone!

Here is me, Mikaela, and Ryan- it started raining when we left church, we were running to catch the bus!

Then I came home and ate delicious lunch (and snacked on my last Reeces!!! NOOO! haha)
I get in serious trouble is I don't wear socks on the "cold" floor, so this is me rockin' them in my Sunday outfit!
Oh and this is what I bought at the mall. I am sure it means nothing to any of you so let me quickly explain. Смешарики (pronounced Smishariki) is a Russian cartoon that is on television a lot. My family happens to love them and they are taped all over my room!
 This is one wall of my room!
This is another wall of my room!
Plus they are on the other wall too!
But they are everywhere! I think they have 1 form or another of all the Smishariki in stuffed animals! They also have figurines, and sometimes food with them on it! I have even watched the show! Sure I didn't understand most of it, but they have become a part of my life, since I see them everywhere and wake up to them in my room! Also they say that I am Нюшa (Nyusha)- which is the pig... interpret that how you want! Bahaha They say it is because I act like her haha -but it can have two meanings!
So that is me and her on the calendar. It will be my 2012 calendar!
Plus I know all their names! Bahaha (except I can never remember the hedgehog...)

The last thing I have to say is that I was talking to my host mom this morning (as well as we could... remember we speak the same level about) and we got on the subject of the Soviet Union because she said that she didn't like bananas. 
She used to love them when she was a kid, but if you wanted bananas, you had to go all the way to Moscow to buy them, and sometimes her parents would go and travel to Moscow and buy some and other fruits.She then said that now that they are everywhere, she doesn't like them...such is life! 
I asked her if it was hard living in the Soviet Union and she said it was very very difficult. 
If you wanted chicken, you would have to wait in line for 4 hours to buy some.
Also they only had clothing in drab colors and at the parks and places all the kids would look the same dressed in grey clothes with grey hats.
All clothing came in 1 color and 1 fit.
I then asked her is life was good now and she said that both times have pros and cons to them
the things she misses from the USSR
1. bread was only 10 kopeks (which is half a penny in America)
2. Education was free and now Ilena's college is very expensive
3. There were no beggars, everyone was equal
4. Everyone was equal
5. the roads were fixed every year compared to now where they are never fixed

I just thought that that was very interesting information coming from a true Russian. I would assume my host mom is about 40. So she born around the early 70's. Just something to think about.
Everything is Fantastic :)
Life is great! 

Miss you all!!
Lots and Lots of LOVE!
Kelsee

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