Russia is Hard

Hello Everyone!

I am in Russia and am (sort of) safe. I spent the first few days in orientation in a resort town in Repino, Russia. There I saw the Gulf of Finland.

After that I made it to St. Petersburg to my homestay. I live in a very sad place. There are thousands and thousands of soviet style apartment buildings all over Russia. I live in one of those. The only businesses around are at the bottom of the apartment buildings. There are also not many sidewalks, only dirt and parking lots.

There are a lot of packs of dogs that have ringworm. I am not going to play with the dogs. No one here speaks English. No one. It is very difficult to get by not being able to understand a lot of Russian.

I have asked to move my homestay because it is so far from the city. It is a long ride on the metro and in order to get to school by 9:00 AM I will have to transfer two lines. Also, it is not safe to go home alone if you are a female. No other students live near me and someone tried to accost me the other night. Hopefully I will be in a safer place soon.

Last of all, my camera is broken. Of course. My computer has broken (don't even ask), my camera is broken, and my homestay is not working out. This only makes sense, of course. If I am in Russia, everything needs to not work. This is life. Also, my english has become very poor. After I leave, I will speak broken English and broken Russian. Please do not mind. Two languages (spoken poorly) is better than one. Right?

Until the next post ...

Goodbye Old, Hello New! ... Where's my something blue?

Today is my last day in the U.S.A. I had my last sauna in Michigan and swam in the lake for the last time. From now on, I will be taking my saunas naked with other Russian women in a city banya complex. Whatever gets you clean, right?

I packed up all of my suitcases today and I found the most wonderful invention on the planet! SPACE BAGS! You pack all of your clothes and then it sucks the air completely out and shrinks your clothes! Now I can have variety in clothing this year. I am very excited and impressed. I would recommend that everyone on the planet who is traveling get space bags. They rock.

I am 98% positive I will be over my weight limit at the airport as well. Lufthansa allows 100 lbs total, which is doable. However, St. Petersburg airport only allows 77 lbs. total. It's impossible to only bring 77 lbs. worth of things for an entire year. So it may be a very scary checkpoint at customs ... and expensive. Oh well, how I love my THINGS. I am American, right?

Speaking of being American, my Grandmother tied cut-up Target bag pom poms on my suitcase so I could recognize them. I think I will recognize my luggage alright, but so will every other person who hates America. Maybe that was a bad idea ...

Next time I write I will be in Russia! Or the airport if I am really bored.

Leaving on a Jet Plane with Aerosmith--Powee.

So here I am getting ready to go to Russia and I am realizing there are some very scary things I will encounter.

#1 - Corrupt police
-Don't look them in the eye
-Cross street if see the police
-They will beat and rob you ? ? ? OH NO!!!

#2 - Do not drink the tap water
-I love water. Water. Water. Water. I would love to drink water all day long. It cleans out the system and makes me feel so refreshed.
-How can I go ONE YEAR without water? IMPOSSIBLE.

#3 - No toilet paper in public places.
-Does this also mean I cannot buy toilet paper in stores?

#4 - Drug resistant TB.
-Hello Death.

#5 - Winter Walking.
-Women wear high heeled boots in the winter. I will definitely trip and break my leg/foot/ankle walking on the ice. Plus I have weak ankles.

#6 - Smoking is everywhere.
-My doctor gave me an inhaler after developing mild asthma after being around too much smoke. Now I will be the dork in the corner with the inhaler at a club.

#7 - No friends.
-See the above.

All in all, we will see how it goes. I'm going to be a Beast of Strength if I can survive all of the above!

Instruments

My Favorite Instrument:

HARP

Other Top Notch Instruments:
MELODICA


AUTOHARP

ACCORDIAN