Cabantui- A Tartar Holiday

Today, the we were invited to teach some kids how to play baseball at this school. It was a Tartar holiday called Cabantui, which is sort of a field day. It celebrates health and all that. Before the children began playing sports, there was a presentation, which included the Mayor of Ivanovo and some other important people. These are a few of the many pics I took during the presentation:

these girls are in a traditional dress. they are sharing a traditional food with the audience that included a bread and what looked me like a Kix/Lucky charms/ marshmallow treat (which I KNOW that it wasn't... I didn't get any of it, so I don't know!).

these girls are performing a tradional dance... i LOVED this part!

the guys and the girls doing the dance...

these little girls were definitely little performers! there voices were AMAZING for their ages! they were harmonizing and everything!

I enjoyed attending this event... I love these little tradional things! :)

Springtime in the Country... Russian Style!

Our team decided to take a one-day mini-retreat to the dacha! Though it was a little chilly, the day COULD NOT have been more beautiful!

the dacha... i just noticed that place where there used to be a door... interesting...

the yard behind the backyard fence... all those dandilions that you see are no longer there... i mowed them down ;)

the pond... there are so many cat-tails in it... how serene is this! kind of reminds me of home...

jill said these were some kind of flowers... some kind of pansies... so cute! i think i mowed them down, too... oops! ;)

After living in the city for a year, constantly hearing cars outside my window and never seeing the stars at night, I have come to appreciate the sereness, the beauty, and the nature of the countryside... until it's HOT anyway ;)

Spravka... A Medical Scavenger Hunt

Upon our arrival back to Ivanovo, we (Sarah, Tracy, Lesa, and myself) began working on our medical exams needed in order to receive a work visa. Two weeks, 4 clinics, 3 takings of blood, 2 urine tests, many hours of waiting in lines, and approximately a billion stamps later, we are finished! :) The last time that I gave blood, I passed out. Then they ended up taking the blood from my hand... that's the pic above with the gauze around my hand... The one with Tracy and I holding a jar (that's not Mt. Dew, people!) was our 2nd time to give urine! And yes, we had to parade it around with us! GROSS!!!! And the other pic is one of some hospital equipment... TINA (This is not America, folks!)! But, it was a GREAT time for team bonding :)

Well, what was supposed to be a 5-day visa run to Kiev, turned into a 20-day stay... We were thankful for the little vacation He provided us, but we are VERY glad to be back in Ivanovo. So... while we were there we visited a few places:

This is a statue at the end of a major street in Kiev. I forgot what it is called :/ Sorry! However, there is a HUGE mall underneath it. That seemed to have been the trend in Kiev: underground malls. and, yes, OF COURSE, we visited them!

Kiev was the first city of what is now Russian Orthodoxy. This is a very large, working monastery and seminary of Russian Orthodoxy. It had many very beautiful churches. It sits high on a hill, beside the Dniper river, overlooking Kiev. It is a very beautiful place!

One of the churches at the monastery...

This stature is nicknamed "The Metal Mama"... It is HUGE!!!!!!!!! It towers over the city, and is a memorial of WWII... There is a WWII museum there, as well, but we didn't go inside. They have tanks, helicopters, other monuments, etc. located all over the grounds at the memorial site. That was interesting :)

Train to Kiev...

We took the train between Kiev and Moscow (both ways). We were able to get a coupee for the 3 of us (that way, we didn't share with someone we didn't know.) It was quite an experience... and if you ask me, sort of like a time warp! It was a 12 hour trainride, and we were woken up at 12am and 5am to have our documents checked (once at the Russian border and again at the Ukrainian). Needless to say, I didn't sleep that well...

I had never been on a train before... or even close to a passenger train. We had no idea what to expect!!! We weren't able to go on those grand adventures, running from wagon to wagon, singing about snow in the dining cart, or anything that cool... So, we talked, laughed, etc, as each of us became very sleepy from the constant rocking... I think now I know what a baby feels like when they are in a swing... and when it stops, I know why they wake up! That's how I felt each time the train stopped!

Yep, this is all three of us... in our coupee... that is really all the room we had for 12 hours! ... but we survived, afterall ;)

Spring in Russia!

Two weeks ago, EXACTLY, we woke to a foot of snow, weighing the trees down, and everything!!!!


Today, there is VERY little snow left on the ground! YAY! A lot of the mud has dried, and the sun has never been so welcomed! People are walking, riding bikes, and EVEN laughing again...

I am so glad that it's FINALLY spring! :)

COFFEE BEAN!!!

When Sarah and I arrived last May, there was sign in front of a building downtown Ivanovo that said "Coffee Bean: OPENING SOON!" We were so excited! It looked like a real, western-style coffeehouse... OH, the possibilities! By August, the sign was still there and we decided to forget about it! It was hopeless! But after Christmas, we got this glorious, smoke-free, alcohol-free, comfy-cozy coffeehouse... ahhhh... it was worth the wait!!!
On April 22, we hope to host an 'Open Mic Night' here... It's a new concept in Russia, but we hope that the community enjoys it!

The inside of the CoffeeBean... how clean and neat and nice!

My friend, Sveta, and I... it's our favorite place to meet ;)

One of the big windows that give a great view of downtown! No snow and ice= many Russians taking walks!! :)