Sosnoviy Bor

I've just returned from a week in the Russian countryside, where I was teaching English at a Russian camp for kids during their Spring Break. It was held at a former Soviet vacation complex located in the forest. It goes by the name of Sosnoviy Bor, which means Pine Forest. True to its name, there were a lot of pine trees in the forest – and they were massive! I've never seen trees so tall before. It was wonderful to see the green of the trees – it's been months since I've seen anything that's colored green here!

The complex itself was nice enough - it was basic lodging (which I'm pretty sure hasn't been updated since its Soviet days) but each room had it's own bathroom with a shower, which was nice. In true Russian form, the rooms were all over-heated, and lacked good ventilation. They all had balconies, but for safety reasons (kids can't be trusted not to fling themselves off the 8^th floor balcony, I suppose…) the doors and windows to said balconies were bolted shut. The only ventilation and relief from the heat was a small window above the door. After wrestling with mine a bit, I managed to get it open. It helped a bit, but I really would've liked to open the door and get some fresh, non Moscow polluted air in. Believe me, I tried everything to get that door to open, but judging by the coats of paint that were dried in the gap between the door and the doorframe, it hadn't been opened in a very long time, and wasn't going to be opened in an equally long time!

We got fed while we were there, which was both good and bad. It was nice not having to spend money on food, or cook and clean, but it was the same food every day. All meals were served buffet style. Breakfast options were blini (crepes), cottage cheese pancakes, porridge, and various greasy meat. Lunch options were pasta or watery mashed potatoes with too much butter, some type of kotleti (a ground meat patty), more various types of meat, and soup that started out pretty good in the beginning of the week, but got progressively watered down as the week went on. Dinner was an assortment of Russian salads (of which I only ate one, since the others were all meaty and mayonnaise-y), and the same choices as lunch, without the soup. We got a piece of fruit each day as well, and something sweet for a snack in the afternoon. There was always homemade kompot, a Russian drink made by stewing pieces of fruit and sugar in water. For lunch there was an apple and spice flavor, and for dinner it was some kind of berry flavor. The drinks were by far my favorite part of the meals!

I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat red meat or pork, and I'll only eat white meat skinless chicken. There certainly wasn't any of that at camp! I managed to force feed myself a few kotleti, as I figured the protein would do me good – but after a couple days I just couldn't do it anymore. So, I ate carbs with sugar for breakfast, carbs with carbs for lunch, and carbs with carbs plus a tiny bit of vegetable for dinner. That one piece of fruit a day didn't make up for the carbohydrate overload!

The teaching part of camp was quite enjoyable. I had three groups, 7-8 year olds, 11-12 year olds, and 14 year olds. The lessons were all based around different themes, and the kids seemed to enjoy all of the lessons, which was a plus! It was a lot of hard work, as we had to prepare all of the materials ourselves – but I was with a great group of teachers, so planning the lessons ended up being half the fun! We certainly had a lot of laughs during our planning sessions, which made all the time spent on it more than bearable. Plus, now I've got lots of ideas and things that I can use back here in Moscow!

The two best things about camp were the fresh air and the cats! There were probably about a dozen cats roaming the complex – half of them were afraid of humans, but the other half were just overjoyed to get attention. I had a couple favorites, but doled out love and petting to all of them who wanted it. I miss my Dascha kitty from home so, so, so much – all these kitties helped make up for my cat-lessness life in Moscow. The fresh air was just as enjoyable as the cats – we don't have fresh air in Moscow. It's all polluted by cars using diesel and leaded gasoline. All the cars, and the snow (which is almost gone now) are black from the pollution. Lovely, no?


*I'll add pictures later - I haven't had a chance to sort through all of them yet!*

The weather has ADD

Here in Russia it's been "spring" for three weeks now. Russian spring begins on March 1st - although I can't for the life of me figure out why! We've only had temperatures above freezing for 3 or 4 days, and just last week the temperature was back in the -15 to -10C (5-15F) range for a few days. Craziness - and COLD!

Currently, the weather can't seem to make up its mind about what it wants to do... and therefore every day is a surprise! Monday was a perfect example of this - when I woke up in the morning it was wonderfully sunny and the sky was a nice shade of blue... then a few hours later it was white and snowing.... then blue/sunny again... then grey and cloudy.... then snowing heavily... and finally by nightfall it stopped snowing and the sky was clear except for a few clouds! I've never experienced weather quite like that, with so many changes all in one day! On Sunday, I was out for a walk, and it had been a bit overcast for a few hours, but the sky certainly didn't look like it would snow soon. But the next thing I know, it's a blizzard! About 20 minutes later, not a single snowflake is falling from the sky! Today it decided to snow again - but it was a real snowfall this time - I think we ended up with about 8cm/3in in total!

Another very interesting thing for me is snow showers when it's sunny! This happened on two separate days, actually. It's sunny out, the sky is blue, there are some nice fluffy clouds in the sky... and it's snowing! Just flurries, but still...! I much prefer flurries to rain showers :) So there you have it - the beginning of "spring". At least today it was above freezing!

The new 'normal'

After being here for almost four months, a lot of things that were once new to me, are just ways of life now. Here's a list of the five biggest changes for me.

• The metro. Three months ago the metro was a brand new concept for me. I lived in the suburbs in America, and had a car since I was 17. Now, I go through the metro on autopilot. I know which part of the train to get on, and I don't even need to read the signs anymore to know where to go, as I take the same route every day. I don't need to hold onto anything anymore, although I tend to take my preferred place leaning against the doors. There's the most room back there, and you don't need to shuffle around any time people want to get on or off. I usually don't sit, because chances are I'll give up my seat for an older person 2 stops later, and by then my place by the doors is already taken!

• Having to go to three different shops to buy the foods I want. Yup, just another part of daily life now. It was annoying at first to have to stop at two or three stores just to get what I wanted, but now I'm used to it, and I plan accordingly (well, most of the time :-D) so that I don't have to go to the stores in the same day. The good thing is, they're all on my way as I walk to my apartment from the metro, so even when I need to stop, it's not such a big deal.

• Just because the food store has something one day, doesn't mean they'll have it the next time I'm there. This took a bit of getting used to, and it still frustrates me, especially when I'm really craving something, only to find that it's not there... Take note of the point above - it's not like I can just pop into another store, since they probably don't carry what I want. But for the most part, I've learned to just sigh and roll my eyes, remind myself that I'm in Russia, and then find something else to eat instead!

• Waste. Unfortunately, this has become a part of life. Everything is wasted here, there's no recycling or even re-using of anything. Everything goes into the trash - papers, glass, plastic, and cans. Glass bottles are at least salvaged by old or homeless people, as they get a tiny amount of money for turning it in somewhere, at least that's what I assume. They are always digging through the dumpsters to see what they can find. Many people (myself included) leave the bottles out of the dumpster so that can get to them easily. 

• Getting bumped into and/or pushed. This too, is just part of daily life now. You will get pushed, shoved, or bumped into at least once per day living in Moscow. And don't expect any words of remorse from the pusher/bumper - after all, you were apparently in their way, so it's your fault. The pushing tends to only happen in the metro, but the bumping happens everywhere - supermarkets, the street, and even art galleries and museums! I think that people forget that they're not still on the metro...

Yup, it's still winter...

Today's weather was really strange, and just proved to be a reminder that yes, it is still winter here in Moscow. While it started out beautiful and sunny, it ended up snowing! No accumulation other than a dusting, but still, it was snowing!

The weather right now seems to be a bit of a tease. About a week and a half ago, we had our first day above freezing since December (or perhaps November?)... it's been cold for so long that I just can't remember! It was wonderful and sunny, and some of the snow started to melt. That's fun, let me tell you... There are puddles everywhere, and half the time you have to tiptoe your way down the street to try to find the relatively dry patches, or in some cases, the shallowest puddles! Fast forward a few days, and we're back to temperatures well below freezing, in the -12C/+11F to -6C/+20F range. Guess what those puddles turned into?

The worst part about the change in temperature is that -6C/+20F actually feels cold now! When it was -15C/+7F, -6C felt nice and warm! Now however, it just feels cold, as I suppose       -6C probably should feel! On the plus side, -2C/28F feels fairly pleasant, and +2C/36F feels warm, especially in the sun! As a matter of fact, I just opened the window in my apartment, and as the breeze blew in, I thought to myself, "this feels quite mild, temperature wise." Then I looked at the thermometer and realized that it's only 0C/32F! How's that for acclimation?

How's this for a difference in scenery?
(click to enlarge)