On vacation in our "fancy" western (sort of) style flat in Moscow.... 

Chilling in Red Square with Lindsay. She's a teacher in Vologda.  

Thanksgiving in Mosow

Still amazed by the fact that the Russians have Lenin embalmed and in a clear glass case. My theory is that the Russian Space program has gone to pot because they're investing all those funds into bringing Lenin back to life...seriously...it's possible. Weird...I mean...who embalms one of their former leaders and puts them in glass so that tourists can gawk at them?  

Man...I am just not very good at this whole blog thing yet

So, about 2 months later I decide to give this blog thing another shot. Here goes. I think I was reminded that I need to be trying to do this...at least trying...because my friend Jane emailed me and asked about my blog. Hmm..blog...right...I have one of those. Anyway, I think I'm just overwhelmed with where to truly begin. Do I talk about all the millions of things that I've been learning since I moved to Russia? Do I talk about the promising relationships that I have with some of my students? Do I tell you that my roommates are in the other room watching Napoleon Dynamite right now while I'm in my room stressed out about lesson plans and grading? (Well...I was working until I took some time off to try this blog thing again.) Or do I write about the hilariousness of my first trip to the Banya? My favorite Russian sayings and customs? Oh my goodness...I just need to make myself start somewhere so I guess first I should write about my trip to Moscow last week since it's freshest in my mind.

So last week was our ESI teacher retreat in Moscow. It was great in so many ways. All of the teachers spent the week together...studying 1 peter, eating, sleeping, and doing a little sightseeing. So, the sightseeing involved a trip to Red Square, the Kremlin, and St. Basils...of course. All of these things were things that I expected to see. One thing, however, was a complete suprise. The suprise was seeing LENIN...yes, LENIN...his cold, waxy, dead body in a clear glass case. Some skeptics say that it's not really him but I'm pretty sure it was. They won't let you stop to get a really good look though. There are guards on every corner inside the mausleum and they supposedly will shoot you if you stop or if you try to put your hands into your pockets. I was FREAKED OUT...I mean this was Lenin and Stalin was buried just a few feet away. Another freaky thing was that of all the graves of former Soviet and Russian leaders...Stalin had the most flowers on his grave. That really was strange to see in person. Who does this? Putting flowers on a psychotic dictator's grave. It's kind of disturbing if you really start to think about it. Anyway...it's definitely not something that everyone has seen so I LOVED that part of it.

OK...time to get back to the lesson planning so that I can take a break and watch the dance scene in Napoleon Dynamite with my roomies! :) Yeah...

Seriously--check out the weird machines in the back of my classroom. Everything is so strange here...

With my students! I love them! Of course, I'm not smiling because normally Russians DO NOT smile in photos and I didn't want to be the only one smiling...but of course...nearly everyone is smiling but me. Well, except for Kirill on the back right. Oh and he's very sweet though you wouldn't be able to tell by the photo!