Nine Months of Pure Bliss

Its 23:07. I sit here in a friends apartment. I just finished eating a big chocolate bar. I need some milk to satisfy that sugar high that I am experiencing. I drink some milk. It goes down my throat as satisfying as it ever could be. Milk, I love it. I read an interesting story today by Turgenev called "A Living Relic". I highly recomend it. It will take you about 15 minutes to read. 

As you all know, I have decided to come back next year. However with the current situation with incoming teachers, and housing issues, I will be moved to another city. I will be living in the quiet little city of Vologda. I have already begun to move my stuff there. I will greatly miss all the friends that I have grown to love here in St. Pete, and hope to visit them on numerous occasions throughout the year. My stay here in St. Pete has been fantastic. For those of you who might ask my apartment and living situation was great. More than I ever needed. Rarely too cold - usually too hot. Cozy bed with a big bedroom. A good kitchen in which I always entertained myself trying to make new creations. The water system has a mind of its own, with a personal vendetta to burn you or freeze you. You must always watch for the ocasional mosquito coming out of the toilet as you might be itching your butt the rest of the night. The fascinating fights, bands, and traffic jams out your window always provide the perfect amount of laughter and a good view for those sleepless nights. I loved living there. The center of the city - not to far - not to close. I wish you all could have visited. I must now hand the fort over to new teachers. I have visited Vologda many times now, and I love it. It is a 12 hour train ride east of St. Petersburg with a total population of about 300,000 people. I really look forward to it! My students here have blessed me beyond belief! I hang out with them 90% percent of the time, and will miss them all so much! As far as eating here it has been an interesting experience. I receive about 8000 rubles a month from the school for food. As a bare minimum I need about 600 rubles a week for food. Plenty left over. However, I soon found out, that this wasn't very fun. I now live comfortably with a good balance of comfort and frugality. I pray that next year will be similiar. For those of you who I won't see this summer and want to know more, just shoot me an email or drop me a line. 

These last two months have truely been fantastic! I have had a chance to go to the Russian museum. WOW! That was great. I have never seen such beautful and perfectly painted pieces of art! So big and full of power and emotion. I highly recomend it!

As usual, the subway has the most interesting happenings. I have been stopped by the police now about 12 times, and never with many problems. Just a few laughs. 

Just a two weeks ago, a quite large man hit me across the face for not getting out of his way. haha. Life never without its excitment!

May 9th - Victory day for Russia over Germany. Similiar to our 4th of July in celebration. I watched the parades on tv, as they paraded their ballistic missles and tanks down the roads. Really cool! Why doesn't America do this? haha. It would never happen! Thats just a national security issue waiting to happen! :) But it was truely a beautiful parade! I have been walking around alot in the city as I have only a few weeks left! I have one more week left of school. I am so excited to see my family again! I miss them so much! I had the chance to teach and play baseball with my students last week! It was a great experience for not only them, but for me also. They all had doubts at first with fears of failure, but after about 10 minutes - they loved it! I was so happy! What a great day! Life is good! 

Most of the same students had a school conference today. It was all about American culture. It lasted about 3 hours and covered many interesting aspects of our life. It made me so proud of my country, and miss home! 

Oh! Just a few weeks ago I went to Vologda, and visited various monastaries and churches. These weren't just any monastary or church, they were built in the 14th century! The monastary was like a huge castle. And some churches in the mountains were made of wood, and were still standing as if they were made 30 years ago. Great engineering! I loved it! 

I love Russia! It has such a rich and deep culture with a fascinating people group. Their knowledge base is quite different than ours. However I am convinced, as any Russian might say the same, that they are very lazy. If it wasn't for this Achiles heel of a trait, Russia would, without a doubt, be the greatest nation the world has ever seen. They are a great nation now, but I pity them for being so lazy. Its a nation full of potential with no one at the reins. In spite of everything I am deeply in love with this country, and hope to spend many a years here in the future. I hope this summer to build more support for what I am doing, and that you may see the love I have for the Russian people. I leave here June 5, 2009 and return August 22, 2009 for the next year of teaching. I will probably write one more blog after this for this semester, and start a new one begining this summer. I thank you all for all your support and prayers. Hopefully we get to catch up on old times this summer! I love and miss you all!

petya