Riga, Latvia!

Well, I'm the worst blogger in the world. My apologies! It's been awesome over here in the Motherland! I still never want to leave. Last week, we went on our week long vacation. Our first stop was in Riga, Latvia! Riga was probably my favorite place we went. We met a lot of really fun people through our hostel and it was such a beautiful town. 

 In front of a lovely statue.

Latvia!

Latvia! 

Jess, Sydney's eye, and I at the top of the St. Peter's Church Tower.

Inside St. Peter's Church Tower.

House of Blackhead's. Lovely name.

My girls. I sure do love these tards. :)

Their freedom monument!

We locked our love! This was on our bucket list of things to do. 

We went to the Ethnographic Open Air Museum. It was a bunch of really old buildings situated in a big park. I played How to Train Your Dragon while we walked through it. It felt just like a huge viking village.

Sydney doesn't know how to sit spider on a swing.

Obviously :) hahah 

House of Blackheads... At night. Ouch! I burned my hand! ... At night. :) 

Up next is, Lithuania! 

Big News...

So, I was in Russian class on Friday and I had to go to the bathroom. I was in the bathroom, washing my hands and looking in the mirror. As I looked in the mirror, I had an epiphany.  I thought, what am I going to do with my life when I get home? Just sit around? And feel lost again? That epiphany gave me a huge pit in my stomach. I went back into class and the pit stayed. I got two pieces of paper, one with YES! and one with NO! written on it. I mixed them up a little in my pocket and five times, I picked one out. Every time, I picked out YES! I looked at Sydney and said, "I think I should go to China." She looked at me and said, "I think you should too." And the pit was gone. I knew that I should go. So... I've decided to go to China next semester! YAHOO!

I'm SO excited!

Moscow!

Sorry, this post is a week late! Oh well. Last weekend, we went to Moscow! It was cold and rainy the whole time, Syd and I got lost a little, and I was tired out of my mind the first day but it was fun! We got to see Red Square, the Kremlin (Guess what? It isn't blown up! Hooray!), and lots of other cool things. Moscow was a lot of fun and all that but I'm glad to be back in St. Petersburg. It feels like home now.

Marci's hair is fabulous. 

We found a Mexican restaurant! We were in heaven.

Katie and I choreographed this move.

St. Basil's!

This is in front of our hostel we stayed at. It was called Za Za Zoo's! 

Inside the GUM. This really swanky mall right next door to Red Square.

St. Basil's!

Photobombed by Syd. 

(Most of these pictures I stole from Sydney. She's really great) All right, well, see ya later!

Happy.

I haven't been this happy in a long time. Today, I had a while to think. I threw up this morning because of dehydration :( Oops. So I didn't teach today. I slept for a while and then I just kind of had a string of epiphanies. I realized how completely happy I am here. How much I needed this. How much I love these kids. How I was wasting my time before. I was living day to day, not doing anything spectacular. Working, day dreaming, and, in a way, wasting away. Now, I'm living my day dreams. I'm making a difference in these kids lives. I'm living across the world. I'm making a difference. I'm doing something that matters. This trip is exactly what I needed. I'm so glad I made this decision.

Will I like it? Yes.

Yesterday was such a fun day. We made some delicious apple pie with Sveta, took some naps, took a canal boat ride tour of St. Petersburg, got some delicious dinner, and some divine cheesecake. The boat ride was freezing!They had blankets sitting out for you to use and I was still frigid. But it was worth it. Something about being out on this huge river, looking at these historical sights that I've seen in books and history classes just really touched me. I felt so content, so happy with my decision. This is exactly where I need to be right now. And I am loving every minute of it. When I was first thinking about going to Russia, I was so scared. Will I like it? Will there be cool people going with me? Will 4 months be too long? Well, if I could go back in time and answer those questions for myself, I would say. Yes, you will absolutely love it. You will meet some people in Russia who you will adore. They'll make your face hurt from laughing every day and you won't ever be lonely with them around. And no, four months is not too long. If anything, it isn't long enough. I'm starting out the fourth week here and it still feels like I just stepped off the plane. When I was home, it felt kind of like I was stuck. Not moving forward, not moving backwards, just stuck. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. But this trip is helping me so much. It has given me meaning. And I love that I still have 3ish months left of this. This is where I belong right now. This is where I need to be.
I love me some Russia :)

I love these fools. 

Pros and Cons of the Motherland.

Здравствуйте Everybody! Well, so far I am loving Russia! Here's a little pro's and con's list about it so far!

Pros:

1. It's very green and it reminds me of Alaska. 

2. I love all of the historical sites and the stories behind them. 

3. I love the Metro. It kind of lulls me to sleep when I'm on it. And it's so conveniently close to our apartment!

4. I love my apartment and the girls I share it with. They're so much fun to be around! The other night, we had a dance party in our kitchen. I may or may not have pulled a muscle and walloped my elbow hard while krumping around. Was it worth it? Yes. Yes it was.

5. These girls I came with are the BEST. One of my biggest worries about coming on this trip was that I would have to be stuck with a bunch of jerks for 4 months. Well, I'm happy to report that they're all pretty fly!

6. We walk everywhere. I thought I would hate that but I actually really like it. It's a little bit therapeutic. And my pants feel looser! Hurrah. 

7. The food is delicious! We eat lunch at the schools we teach at and every time, it's divine. We had this milk soup with carrots and meat. It sounds weird but I loved it.

8. The kids are adorable! Today, a little girl names Laura kept kissing my cheek and wouldn't stop holding my hand. It reminded me how worth it it is to be here. 

Cons:

1. Russians are mean. Well, they look mean. They never smile in public. I've gotten the stank, death stare at least 100 times. 

2. There are so many inconveniences. Like if you use big bills, you get yelled at. We got banished from a grocery store because we used big bills. 

3. It's going to get cold... 

4. I hate not being able to understand anything. I feel like the world's biggest idiot when people try to talk to me. Especially when I'm paying for something. They always start laughing at me! One day, I'm just going to bust out some Russian and they're going to feel dumb for making me feel dumb... Haha Probably not. 

5. We never have food... We suck at grocery shopping, so we're always either starving or making weird food. 

The Traveling Cow.

I feel like I should introduce a very important traveling partner I have on this trip. His name is The Traveling Cow. I got the The Traveling Cow from my good friend Josh Warhurst. Josh got the Traveling Cow (let's shorten it to TTC for the sake of my fingers) from some friends in Washington who told him to take TTC with him on his travels. Well, he, so graciously, bequeathed TTC to me on my travels. So, now you know. The TTC has had a pretty good trip so far! He's been in my bag everywhere we've gone and he's got a couple good pictures in with his traveling partner, Finn. Marci, my head teacher, loves Adventure Time. So Finn is her traveling partner. Here's a couple good shots of the TTC being the world traveler that he is. 

On the plane, ready for lift-off!

Posing with his best buddy Finn.

                

Finn and TTC with their Mama's. 

 Finn was tired, so he fell asleep on TTC. 

TTC and I at the Peterhof Gardens.

There will be many more TTC pictures. He's a gem.