10 day vacation

Sorry for the hiatus! I was enjoying my 10 day vacation by sleeping in late and doing tourist-y things with my friends. I didn't spend much time at my computer at all, which was nice. We happened to have wonderful weather here in Moscow, including five sunny days!

This is the first time I've had an actual vacation from work - when I was teaching figure skating, I would only have a few days off - and I would actually work more over the holidays because kids were off from school. This ten day break was quite nice, but it was VERY difficult to get back into the work mentality on Monday. Now I'm finally ready to work, and I leave in three days to return to America to get a new visa! I'll be there for two weeks. My grand total of working days in January is four... yes, four! It's nice on one hand, but on the other, how hard is it going to be to start working again in February?

I'm off to work now, actually - and I promise I'll post more regularly from now on! I'll update this later with some pictures and descriptions of the places I visited over the holidays.

Hello 2010!

For me, the new year began by watching fireworks over Red Square. My first moments of 2010 were spent surrounded by friends, looking at St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin, taking photos, and dancing to live music. For me, that's perfect. It was also snowing - an added bonus! It's all great, really. I'm living in Moscow and I got to start my new year in the center of the city. I've never done anything like that for New Year's before - I usually just go to a party and we all watch the ball drop on TV (a US tradition - it's a ball made of lights that is lowered down a pole to countdown to midnight). This was definitely something different - and it's my favorite New Years Eve to date.

My friends and I in front of Saint Basils - officially 2010!

Not a bad sight for the beginning of a new year, is it?

Sorry it's a bit blurry, but one more of St. Basil's, a bit of the Kremlin, and the concert stage.

I'm very ready for the new year, and I'm excited to see what is has in store for me. My only resolution this year is to find at least one way to be happy every day. I've found many things to be happy about today! Number one is the fact Moscow feels like home now, and that's truly a wonderful feeling. I know exactly where to buy good fruit and veggies, which store has good bread, good prices, plain yogurt, etc. Taking the metro is second nature now, and I even know which part of the train to get on depending on where I'm going most of the time. I don't mind the time I have to spend in the metro now either, as long as I have my iPod touch to play with or something to read, the time actually passes pretty quickly. All in all, I feel settled, and that's the best feeling in the world.

Tomorrow I'm going to Izmailovsky Market with some friends - it's rumored to be the best place to get souvenirs and traditional Russian stuff in Moscow. I'll get in some good Russian practice, which always makes me happy. I savor any opportunity I have to speak in Russian - teaching English doesn't really lend itself to much Russian speaking!