Christmas in Paris

Christmas Eve:
Went to the Louvre. The Mona Lisa crowd was very intense. Tried to see Venus, but the woman closed the hall just as we tried to enter.

In the evening we couldn't find any food because everything was closed. So we went to a grocery store and ate some crackers and juice and watched French TV in the hotel room.

Christmas:
Went to church at the Cathedral of the Notre Dame. Not as big as I had expected.

Then went up the top of the Eiffel Tower. French people act so funny in the cold! Nothing is cold compared to Russia now.

Went to a McDonald's for wi-fi to call our families. Was a little creepy and dirty.

Praha in Pictures

Praha

Prague, Czech Republic

I was very excited just to get out of Russia, even though there are still many Russians in the Czech Republic.

When I arrived, it was a monster of a day. I had to wake up at 2:00 AM to leave my horrible host mother (who was complaining the entire time) and sit next to a huge group of 60 Chinese men blasting music from their stereo in the airport.

I arrived in Prague and found my way to the city, but couldn't find the hostel. I have an excessive amount of things (due to my four months in Russia) so lugging it around is very heavy. So, my body tired and weak, had to take a break from the wandering of the streets.

Then a car did a u-turn and a woman rolled down her window and gave me the finger. I must have looked like a jerky, tired, fat, lazy American.

Then I finally found the hostel, but had to wait outside for 45 minutes for the desk man to come. There was a number to call, but of course my phone doesn't work in the Czech Republic and I had just arrived (so how could I make it to a cell phone store if I wanted).

Then, to top it all off, while sitting on my luggage, hungry, waiting outside the hostel, a dog runs up to me and pees all over my luggage.

Thank you Prague.

More Travels Galore!

So I am finally leaving Russia! This Saturday morning at 2:00 in the AM I leave Russia.

From there I begin a big trip which is as follow:

Prague, Czech Republic

Paris, France for Christmas

Geneva, Switzerland

Madrid, Spain for New Year's Eve!

Barcelona, Spain

Then to Detroit, Michigan and then Chicago, Illinois for school.

Missing Russia?

I will soon be leaving Russia so I have thought about what I will miss and what I will not miss.

MISS:
Tea
-Russians drink tea with every meal and I have found it to be so delicious and warming on a cold day.

Crazy things happen all the time that could never happen in America.

Russian music.
-Russian folk music/roma music has some of the most interesting harmonies I have ever heard. Also, playing the balalaika has been a delight and my balalaika teacher was so wonderful.

Blinis.
-Blinis are the most delicious (and only delicious) food in Russia. They are a cross between pancakes and crepes. They can be filled with any number of delicious fillings. My favorites are mushrooms, cheese, and potatoes.

Being close to Finland.


NOT MISS:
No free water.
-You can not drink the water in Russia. It will poison you. Therefore I am CONSTANTLY thirsty and water is always ridiculously expensive at any normal produce store. I am always thirsty in Russia.

Pushing.
- I just can not get used to riding the metro with people physically fighting all the time just to get on a train. Today a babyshka literally injured me to get on a train.

Inefficient Transportation.
-It is really a pain having to walk for 2 hours a day outside just to get to the metro, especially in the old.

Mean People.
- Russians are just so mean in daily life to strangers. Service clerks are so cruel to people and if you don't have correct change, they often refuse selling you products.

The Way Russian Ladies Dress
- Some ladies here dress elegantly and nicely. But the majority of them just wear extremely revealing clothing that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. I'm talking a leather mini skirt, 4 inch heels with boots that go over the knee, some kind of fur on the top, 5 pounds of makeup.... and so it continues. I can't wait to be in America when I will be seen as strange if I wear 5 pounds of makeup.

Horrible Host Mother Pt. 17

So I think I officially live in the most uncomfortable situation with the meanest person in Russia.

Last night, I stayed up late to write a paper. I stayed in my room the whole night and closed the door and was very quiet, making no noise (other than the noise of thinking).

Then it came time for me to go to sleep and I was thirsty and had to go to the bathroom. So I creeped into the kitchen and tried to fill my glass of water up. But because it was pitch black, I couldn't see and therefore spilled some water on the floor. Not a large amount, but just a little bit.

Now, Irina Victorevna (host mother) ALWAYS sleeps with her door open. So she of course heard the water spill and within seconds her light was on and she was in the kitchen screaming.

"WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU ARE SUCH A FOOL! YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS" and she continued to yell things that I didn't understand.

I tried to get a towel to clean it up but she would not allow it.

Then she said "EVERY NIGHT YOU HAVE PROBLEMS. ALL NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT YOU HAVE PROBLEMS. TOILET, WATER, TOILET, WATER!"

Maybe I am an oddity, but I don't consider the bodily function of needing water to be a problem. Also, why doesn't she close her door? This woman is someone that I will never understand but will always be afraid of.


Also, guess what she was wearing .... nothing.

Art Exhibition

I will be having my first ever art exhibition and it's in Russia!

It will be a collection of watercolors inspired by people's favorite's words in Russian.

They will be installing it in a room inside of my school.

The Worst Meal Ever, Pt. II

So these past few days, the Worst Meal Ever has come back again. But this time, it's even more disgusting! I have no idea how it is possible for this meal to get even more un-tasty, but it happened.

Now, in addition to the nasty vegetables there is some sort of seaweed green vegetable. you can see with the photo just how disgusting this food is. It is so slimy and chewy. It seems like she doused it with vinegar and added some onions and maybe some dill.

I realized I need to eat this seaweed because if I don't, she will get extremely upset (another story). So I tried to take one bite and just swallow it really quickly without chewing. By the second bite, I realized that I just could not continue to eat this. I was ready to throw up. So the first night I took a napkin and threw it in the trash and tried to hide it. But this is not a good method, because she looks in our trash can and can see what I throw away.

The next night I get the same meal again and this time she is not home. So I know what I will do this time--it's out the window again for the nasty seaweed! The seaweed unfortunately landed on the window sill again. But this time I don't care, because it's so dark outside that the chances of her seeing the seaweed on the window sill when it is actually light outside are really slim.

However, when I was throwing the last bit of seaweed out of the window, I accidentally tugged on the curtain and the curtain fell down on me. So then I had to stand up on her stool and try to put the curtain back up and hope she doesn't walk in on me throwing the seaweed out the window and putting the curtain up at the same time.

Then it's time for the tea. And she used to have delicious tea, but now there is a new variation of some kind of green tea that suspiciously tastes like cigarettes .... so I bought my own tea to drink instead of the cigarette tea. However, she had already put one of the cigarette tea bags in my tea cup. So I switched my tea bag with the cigarette tea bag. But I realized that I can put the cigarette tea back in the box because she would realize the supply is not diminishing and get suspicious. So I had to throw the cigarette tea away also. But I had to make it look like it had been used first, so I had to get it wet in the sink and then throw it away.

You may be wondering why I just don't tell her that I dislike some of the food she cooks. The reason is that the last time I didn't want to eat something she made, she became extremely irate. She told me it was an absolute shame and that I was a wasteful person (may be true). Then she followed me into my room and made me look in my dictionary words for "horrible person". I'm not quite ready to experience that again, so for the time being I'm stuck with the window sill.

Helsinki

After I left Seinäjoki I headed over to Helsinki. Helsinki is somewhat like Ann Arbor, Michigan in that it is a clean, intellectual, environmentally friendly city but different because it is 100 times better.

First I went to the museum Ateneum and saw some works by great Finnish artists such as Hugo Simberg, Helene Schjerfbeck and some interesting ideas from Jaakko Karhunen and Pilvari Pirtola.

Then my uncle Matti picked me up and we went out for a nice dinner. He is a really interesting man; he has travelled the world and had many different careers (pastor, accountant, professor).

The next day my cousin Harri showed me some sights around Helsinki. Harri is a student of economics in Helsinki. He explained to me how the education system works: first you take an exam to get into a specific university. Then if you are accepted, you get a monthly stipend of around 400 - 800 Euro a month to live and free on campus housing. Also, did I mention, schooling is free? Ahh, Finland.

Then I met up with my Aunt Eeva to go to a pre-Christmas party for her gym club at which the Scandinavian Hunks performed. The Hunks are akin to Chippendales. So it was pretty funny and a little uncomfortable feeling. Here's the link if you want to see some of the photos and videos of the Hunks: http://www.scandinavianhunks.com/

Afterwards I went out with Jyri and his friends. I went over to one of his friend's parent's penthouse on the Gulf of Finland which was decorated really modern. The view was quite beautiful. Then we went to his friend's dad's office in downtown Helsinki. The office was outfitted with everything possible a person could need: a grand piano, a bedroom, a sauna, a kitchen, karaoke, the works!

On Sunday Aunt Eeva took me to her work. She works in fashion and took me to the Helsinki House of Fashion and showed me the designer showroom she works in! That would be a dream job for me. Later I went out to lunch with Aunt Eeva and her sister and then I sadly departed back to Russia. When I was in the airport, I thought a lot about not getting on the plane. In the middle of the flight, I was ready to stand up and shout to all of the Finnish businessmen "do you know what you are getting yourselves into! Don't go to Russia!"

But alas, I made the flight and am back in Russia.

Photos of Finland