I have so horribly and unbelievably ignored and neglected this blog. I'm sorry for the stragglers that still may check it to see if I've written anything. I really don't have an excuse. I would say that I'm super busy...but I've managed to watch the first whole season of Modern Family...so I can't be all that busy.
Life in Moscow is pretty much the same. Very soon there will be an election for president. Putin is running again. I honestly don't know any of the other candidates. But since November, there has been a sort of uprising. Many, many people here are unhappy with him and do not want to see him elected again. There have been huge protests with as many as 100,000 people (which is small in comparision to the 14 million that live here). The symbol of the movement has been a white ribbon. There have even been people with white flags on their cars driving around the city. The movement has been amazing to watch. If you would like to see some amazing pictures click
HERE. People are tired of the corruption and tired of their votes not counting. I have no evidence to back this up, but I would guess the majority of the people here do not support Putin. In Moscow, at least. I know it is different in the smaller towns that rely on Putin. They rely on him for their jobs. They are afraid that if another president is elected, factories that keep towns alive will be closed because it might be economically beneficial for Russia. ANYWAY, the election is on March 4th. The rallies have created a lot of awareness but I'm afraid that it will make no difference. We'll see what happens on the 4th. If you're praying people, pray for Russia and this upcoming election.
I'll do a quick update of my recent adventures:
October: I went on am amazing trip with my friend, Amber, to ITALY! We went to Rome and saw the Vatican, the Roman forum, the Colosseum, and the Mouth of Truth (as seen in Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn.) Then we travelled to Cinque Terre. If you ever go to Italy, do not miss this. It is beautiful little Italian villages along the cost. You can walk from one to the other. Amber and I hiked through three of them. The hike consisted of walking through orchards and groves and many many stairs. It was hard but worth it. After that, we made our way to Naples to meet up with a friend who was living there at the time. From here, Amber and I were able to travel to Capri and Pompei. Capri was BEAUTIFUL. If I were at home, I would upload pictures and a video. But I'm not. I'm actually at work. :) Pompei was not what I was expecting at all. It was SO huge. We ended up wandering around for a few hours. From some reason, I thought there would be a part that was underground where we could see lava?? I don't know. But it's basically just ruins that you would never know were made ruins by a volcano if someone hadn't told you. If that makes sense. It just looks like an old abandoned town. But amazing to be there and see something that you've heard about in history class.
December: I went home for Christmas. I took a week off and was able to spend 3 weeks in Minnesota. It was great just to be back and to drive my car and go to my little brother's swim meets. I got to spend time with my sister which was GREAT. I also got to spend time with friends from my childhood. One of them was pregnant at the time. She isn't anymore! His name is River.
Here he is. It was great to just spend time with friends and pick up right where we left off.
I hope to write more later. But for now...here is an update of my To-Do List! I'm so proud!
Here's a list of the things that I would like to accomplish this, my third, year in Moscow:
(in no particular order)
1. Horseback riding outside of Moscow
2. Hockey game
3. Spartak soccer game (a Moscow team who is notorious for fighting and being hooligan-y. :)
4. Shashlik outside of Moscow
5.
Buy a nice Russian doll for myself
6.
Go to the ZOO! (even though I've heard it's really depressing)
7. Tour the TV tower here in Moscow and go to the top!
8.
Spend as much time as I can with my Russian friends!
9. A Cafe crawl (much like a pub crawl minus the drunkenness)
10.
Go to a concert. (Skillet will be here in November. Totally going.) WENT!
11.
Go ice skating. (still haven't done that!)
12.
Musical: The Sound of Music. I will be in Russian but we are definitely going. Might wait until winter has set in.
13. Cirque Du Soleil (Going on Saturday..so I'm crossing it out!!)
WOW...i'm impressed.
