Hellloooo Followers
I'm leaving in approximately an hour to go to a English teaching camp for three weeks. I will have to pretend to be a character from Alice in Wonderland for the said three weeks. My name is no longer Danielle, but White Rabbit and yes, I do have to dress like a rabbit every day. I will have no breaks and I am expected to lead my own English classes, my own class on puppetry, and another one on Astrology. So, we'll see what my sanity is like in a month.
When I get back, I will finish up my blog on my experience. Expect pictures of my living situation (like apartment and camp), fashion in Russia (club wear= business wear, you can see people at 10 am looking like they are going to Turtle or some other delicious bar), camp, and Moscow.
Much Love.
d.marie.hise
When I get back, I will finish up my blog on my experience. Expect pictures of my living situation (like apartment and camp), fashion in Russia (club wear= business wear, you can see people at 10 am looking like they are going to Turtle or some other delicious bar), camp, and Moscow.
Much Love.
d.marie.hise
Wednesday 07.21.10
At the river the other day we met this really awesome guy named Alexsay and he invited us to this Anarchy compound located on the other side of town. So we met up with him at Lenin Square and took the thirty minute commute by a sauna/bus.
This house is really awesome. It's a place where people can get together with like-minded people, share ideas, and possibly carry out some action. Also, they offer their home to hitchhikers passing through Voronezh. We met an Estonian guy who was staying their for a while as he hitchhikes through Russia.
Only one person there could really speak English, but, still, we all just chilled, talking about a variety of things, especially the attitudes of the Russian and American government and people on animal cruelty, food production, alternative social groups, homosexuality, etc.
They also prepared tea for us! It was extremely cute, there were cookies and tea set up on a make shift table.
After tea we moved inside where it's a little cooler.
This is Liza, she was the one who basically did all the translating. She's extremely cool and vegetarian. I don't know how she does it because it's really hard to be vegetarian in Russia.
Interesting discoveries!
-Most people believe that they have never seen or met a homosexual.
-People love their circuses here.
-Anarchists are often labeled or seen as terrorists.
-It is difficult to help people out. People often don't trust others to deliver the charity items to the appropriate place and people need to jump through so many hoops for permits (if they give it to you) to even give things away.
This house is really awesome. It's a place where people can get together with like-minded people, share ideas, and possibly carry out some action. Also, they offer their home to hitchhikers passing through Voronezh. We met an Estonian guy who was staying their for a while as he hitchhikes through Russia.
Only one person there could really speak English, but, still, we all just chilled, talking about a variety of things, especially the attitudes of the Russian and American government and people on animal cruelty, food production, alternative social groups, homosexuality, etc.
They also prepared tea for us! It was extremely cute, there were cookies and tea set up on a make shift table.
After tea we moved inside where it's a little cooler.
This is Liza, she was the one who basically did all the translating. She's extremely cool and vegetarian. I don't know how she does it because it's really hard to be vegetarian in Russia.
Interesting discoveries!
-Most people believe that they have never seen or met a homosexual.
-People love their circuses here.
-Anarchists are often labeled or seen as terrorists.
-It is difficult to help people out. People often don't trust others to deliver the charity items to the appropriate place and people need to jump through so many hoops for permits (if they give it to you) to even give things away.
Tuesday 07.20.10
Today was great.
Sadly, it was our last Russian class, so we went over to Natalia's house to hang out with her granddaughter, Nika, and make some blinchiki, which are basically crepes.
While Natalia and Sam were cooking, I was running around with Nika. She is super adorable and so much fun. At one point she was just running back and forth from one wall to the other. We naturally became best friends.
Then lunch was ready. We had a copious amount of filling options. There were sauteed mushrooms and cabbage, nutella, bananas, raspberries, tvorok, yogurt, and other things I can't rememver. All served with tea, of course.
This combo was def my favorite. Nutella forever.
While Nika was taking her nap, we all calmed our full bellys by watching Sherlock Holmes dubbed in Russian. I've seen that movie four times and only in Russian. I still don't fully understand what's going on.
Then Nika woke up and we had to say good-bye. I wanted to take her with me.
Later that night, after our camp meeting, Sam's family and mine got together at a cafe to smoke hookah. My lungs cannot handle smoke anymore, but it was a fun and delicious treat nonetheless.
I love hot chocolate and have been craving it for a while, so when I saw it on the menu I ordered it.
Russian hot chocolate is weeeiiirrrddd. It's basically fudge, a shot of warm, straight, thick, sweet fudge. But it came with water and water is so valuable since the drinking water here is tainted by polution and other unknown parasites. Also, the chocolate tasted delicious with the cherry flavored hookah.
Sadly, it was our last Russian class, so we went over to Natalia's house to hang out with her granddaughter, Nika, and make some blinchiki, which are basically crepes.
While Natalia and Sam were cooking, I was running around with Nika. She is super adorable and so much fun. At one point she was just running back and forth from one wall to the other. We naturally became best friends.
Then lunch was ready. We had a copious amount of filling options. There were sauteed mushrooms and cabbage, nutella, bananas, raspberries, tvorok, yogurt, and other things I can't rememver. All served with tea, of course.
This combo was def my favorite. Nutella forever.
While Nika was taking her nap, we all calmed our full bellys by watching Sherlock Holmes dubbed in Russian. I've seen that movie four times and only in Russian. I still don't fully understand what's going on.
Then Nika woke up and we had to say good-bye. I wanted to take her with me.
Later that night, after our camp meeting, Sam's family and mine got together at a cafe to smoke hookah. My lungs cannot handle smoke anymore, but it was a fun and delicious treat nonetheless.
I love hot chocolate and have been craving it for a while, so when I saw it on the menu I ordered it.
Russian hot chocolate is weeeiiirrrddd. It's basically fudge, a shot of warm, straight, thick, sweet fudge. But it came with water and water is so valuable since the drinking water here is tainted by polution and other unknown parasites. Also, the chocolate tasted delicious with the cherry flavored hookah.
Sunday 07.18.10
I'll keep this post short since I didn't take any pictures this day. We went to another river today. People from Voronezh sure love their rivers.
Anyways, this one was really awesome. There was a rope swing, rocks to jump off of, ice cream for sale, and if you were brave enough and swam accross the river (it was quite deep and wide) you can walk through amazing "beach" dachas- they were beautiful. One babushka invited us in for lunch, jokingly of course. And a nice family let us jump off of there dock, probably because they knew we were Americans- people are super intriguied by us.
After that I took a nap. Lena took a photo of me and Daniel napping. Cute!
After I awoke, Sam and I went swimming around. I love people who are willing to have sandball fights with me. She's great.
I ate sooooo many mushrooms that day.
Anyways, this one was really awesome. There was a rope swing, rocks to jump off of, ice cream for sale, and if you were brave enough and swam accross the river (it was quite deep and wide) you can walk through amazing "beach" dachas- they were beautiful. One babushka invited us in for lunch, jokingly of course. And a nice family let us jump off of there dock, probably because they knew we were Americans- people are super intriguied by us.
After that I took a nap. Lena took a photo of me and Daniel napping. Cute!
After I awoke, Sam and I went swimming around. I love people who are willing to have sandball fights with me. She's great.
I ate sooooo many mushrooms that day.
Saturday 07.17.10
Today I was going to stay home and mope around in my underwear, but then I was invited to go to the river with everyone, and the idea of cool water was too good to pass up. So I went. We drove for an hour, a bunch of us crammed in each car, which was fine until we turned into the woods. Okay, so there aren't really roads to this river, you just kind of drive through the woods. Luckily, this area consists of planted trees, so the distance between trees is uniform, it's actually quite strange. So, we finally arrived and made camp.
Sam made mexican food, which was amazing. It was the first time I had beans in like weeks and it was great. I can't wait to get a Chipotle burrito.
Then we went into the water. It was pretty unusual because it was so shallow and the forest was located so much higher, but it was perfect for playing games and apparently canoeing through.
Here, Vlad is running away with the "football" in an intense game of tackle football. Look at his perfect form!
And naturally when we see water, we think chicken. So we played a couple rounds of chicken. Daniel and I teamed up and called ourselves team danielli (which is basically the plural form of Daniel in Russian). We won one glorious round.
Team Abby and Daniel vs. Sam and Michal
Team Abby and Daniel vs. Sergay and Colya
Then, as I was napping, everyone played a serious game of Red Rover, Red Rover.
Michal and Daniel holding hands. I swear every Russian, or in this case Polish boy, is in love with Daniel. It's cute.
And here's Abra attempting to break through... quite unsuccessfully.
Sam made mexican food, which was amazing. It was the first time I had beans in like weeks and it was great. I can't wait to get a Chipotle burrito.
Then we went into the water. It was pretty unusual because it was so shallow and the forest was located so much higher, but it was perfect for playing games and apparently canoeing through.
Here, Vlad is running away with the "football" in an intense game of tackle football. Look at his perfect form!
And naturally when we see water, we think chicken. So we played a couple rounds of chicken. Daniel and I teamed up and called ourselves team danielli (which is basically the plural form of Daniel in Russian). We won one glorious round.
Team Abby and Daniel vs. Sam and Michal
Team Abby and Daniel vs. Sergay and Colya
Then, as I was napping, everyone played a serious game of Red Rover, Red Rover.
Michal and Daniel holding hands. I swear every Russian, or in this case Polish boy, is in love with Daniel. It's cute.
And here's Abra attempting to break through... quite unsuccessfully.
Tuesday 07.13.10
Instead of having our traditional Russian class with Natalia Stepanovna, we went to her apartment to make some piroshki. Since Sam and I are vegetarian, we stuffed them with potato and mushrooms. I lack folding skills, so I made about two and left the rest to Sam and Natalia.
Here you can see Sam in action- some piroshki are already stuffed, but raw and some are frying away in the covered pan.
Here is the finished product! And since we are in Russia, our wonderful host offered us fresh hot tea on this scorching day. I'm starting to really love tea.
And this is what it looks like on the inside. So it's basically a filled doughnut, usually stuffed with meat. You can find a stand that sells these almost anywhere in Russia.
I ate about eight of these that day. I nearly died.
Here you can see Sam in action- some piroshki are already stuffed, but raw and some are frying away in the covered pan.
Here is the finished product! And since we are in Russia, our wonderful host offered us fresh hot tea on this scorching day. I'm starting to really love tea.
And this is what it looks like on the inside. So it's basically a filled doughnut, usually stuffed with meat. You can find a stand that sells these almost anywhere in Russia.
I ate about eight of these that day. I nearly died.
Sunday 07.11.10
So while, the rest of the world was enjoying a free slurpee from 7 11 (curse you), we went on a day trip to a town about an hour away called Eletz. The town felt extremely deserted, which was a nice change from Voronezh. We ended up going to three beautiful churches. This one was the largest and quite remarkable on the outside and inside.
I wish I could have gotten better photos on the inside, but I didn't pay for a blessing that will allow me not to burn in hell for taking said desired photos, so I had to try to secretly snap photos. I was unsuccessful. But this place was tall and beautifully decorated and painted from head to toe.
I did get a blurry photo of my friend, Sam, dressed in church gear (which means her head's covered, shoulders are covered, knees are covered). Oh and she loves to play the penis game in churches, which is always a bad idea.
Then we walked to another church place. Apparently, most church services are like three hours long and extremely boring.
Our polish friend, Michal, found a street called the Red Square. Funny.
And this is Daniel, probably lecturing about History. He basically knows everything.
Then we walked to another church. This one I made a donation, so I got to take photos.
My friend Abby is in the background.
Then we went to this art museum, it was endearing, since the pieces weren't all that special or great, but it did have a photo exhibit of a photojournalist's work between the 60s and 70s. It was really cute.
Three adorable girls playing on a stage in the main square.
Then we climbed up this fire tower and took a look over the city. Apparently, before technology, firefighters would stand up there, keeping an eye out for smoke. If they spotted some, they would send out firefighters to the site to fight the fire. Oh, and here is another photo of the main church taken from the tower.
On this trip, like usual, we are accompanied by a bunch of random people who want to practice their English and what not. This trip, we met a really eccentric man who brought a lot of instruments. Well, as we were waiting around, we naturally started jamming in the park. This is my friend Abby, playing one of the tamer instruments.
I wish I could have gotten better photos on the inside, but I didn't pay for a blessing that will allow me not to burn in hell for taking said desired photos, so I had to try to secretly snap photos. I was unsuccessful. But this place was tall and beautifully decorated and painted from head to toe.
I did get a blurry photo of my friend, Sam, dressed in church gear (which means her head's covered, shoulders are covered, knees are covered). Oh and she loves to play the penis game in churches, which is always a bad idea.
Then we walked to another church place. Apparently, most church services are like three hours long and extremely boring.
Our polish friend, Michal, found a street called the Red Square. Funny.
And this is Daniel, probably lecturing about History. He basically knows everything.
Then we walked to another church. This one I made a donation, so I got to take photos.
My friend Abby is in the background.
Then we went to this art museum, it was endearing, since the pieces weren't all that special or great, but it did have a photo exhibit of a photojournalist's work between the 60s and 70s. It was really cute.
Three adorable girls playing on a stage in the main square.
Then we climbed up this fire tower and took a look over the city. Apparently, before technology, firefighters would stand up there, keeping an eye out for smoke. If they spotted some, they would send out firefighters to the site to fight the fire. Oh, and here is another photo of the main church taken from the tower.
On this trip, like usual, we are accompanied by a bunch of random people who want to practice their English and what not. This trip, we met a really eccentric man who brought a lot of instruments. Well, as we were waiting around, we naturally started jamming in the park. This is my friend Abby, playing one of the tamer instruments.
Walking the Streets
Despite it being a thousand degrees, I really do love walking around.
Some graffiti- "No one like us and we don't care"
A beautiful building covered in ivy.
As a small group of us were standing around chit-chatting in English, one sixty year old russian man stopped us to tell (in Russian) how he was born in the house we were standing in front of. Then we walked around the house and found this cute one tucked away in the greenery.
And now for some American influences!!!
This is a new cafe that just opened called Bar(ak) O'mama and the colors are red, white, and blue and there is an obvious American flag in the background. Despite the name, Barak Obama is not the face of this cafe, instead Monique is. Hahaha.
Obviously, this is Abe Lincoln and the text says "Open your eyes! Clean your ears! We have better concrete!" I'm not sure if this concrete company is trying to compete with the marble greatness that sits Abe, but good try.
Some graffiti- "No one like us and we don't care"
A beautiful building covered in ivy.
As a small group of us were standing around chit-chatting in English, one sixty year old russian man stopped us to tell (in Russian) how he was born in the house we were standing in front of. Then we walked around the house and found this cute one tucked away in the greenery.
And now for some American influences!!!
This is a new cafe that just opened called Bar(ak) O'mama and the colors are red, white, and blue and there is an obvious American flag in the background. Despite the name, Barak Obama is not the face of this cafe, instead Monique is. Hahaha.
Obviously, this is Abe Lincoln and the text says "Open your eyes! Clean your ears! We have better concrete!" I'm not sure if this concrete company is trying to compete with the marble greatness that sits Abe, but good try.
Weddings
I don't know too much about Russian weddings, so don't take my word as fact.
Russians usually marry on Fridays or Saturdays so you often see cars decorated with two wedding rings, flowers, etc driving around, honking their horns. If it wasn't for a cute reason, it would be obnoxious.
These cars aren't just driving around to spread the cheer and joy of two people coming together, no, they have things to do. It's almost like a scavenger hunt- they drive around from one place to another, taking photos at each spot, bringing along a whole party. Everyone sits back and watches the happy couple take photos, directing them where to stand, and sometimes enjoying a drink (not sure if I already said this, but people are allowed to drink in public).
Also, it is traditional to take photos at a WWII monument, yay happy memories!
They great part is, there are many wedding parties going around doing this, so you can easily see three wedding parties at the same moment.
More interesting facts!
Russians generally marry at a young age, like early twenties.
Short and often scandalous dresses are acceptable for weddings,
so think homecoming, junior year of highschool = wedding wear.
Russians usually marry on Fridays or Saturdays so you often see cars decorated with two wedding rings, flowers, etc driving around, honking their horns. If it wasn't for a cute reason, it would be obnoxious.
These cars aren't just driving around to spread the cheer and joy of two people coming together, no, they have things to do. It's almost like a scavenger hunt- they drive around from one place to another, taking photos at each spot, bringing along a whole party. Everyone sits back and watches the happy couple take photos, directing them where to stand, and sometimes enjoying a drink (not sure if I already said this, but people are allowed to drink in public).
Also, it is traditional to take photos at a WWII monument, yay happy memories!
They great part is, there are many wedding parties going around doing this, so you can easily see three wedding parties at the same moment.
More interesting facts!
Russians generally marry at a young age, like early twenties.
Short and often scandalous dresses are acceptable for weddings,
so think homecoming, junior year of highschool = wedding wear.
Thursday 07.08.10
I unfortunately didn't get to hang out with these kids all too much, but they are all totally awesome. The dynamics of the group is hilarious. Like there is this one bully who I find secretly hilarious and he kind of owns the class. There is this one pudgy boy who is always made fun of. And all the girls just hang out and color and paint, while the boys crack jokes and color ninja turtle coloring pages.
But here they are, sitting in class.
After they start to get too rowdy, we go to the park. On my last day with them, we played dodgeball and I still rock that game like the champ I was in third grade.
Two girls, who decided to sit out of playing dodgeball. Smart, it was beyond hot.
She was my favorite.
This is our group leader, Vlad, playing on the jungle gym, by himself.
One boy showed me his ipod nano, so I showed him my ipod touch and a game I had on it. Soon, all the boys were taking turns playing, including Vlad. They pretty much deemed me the coolest person, yay to buying friendships.
Hahah, also on my way to class, I happened to be the only one on the little van/buses called mashootkas. The man tried talking to me. I assumed he was asking where I was going so I quickly said I don't speak Russian and tried to tell him over the bridge. It came out like- Bridge, Church, There- and I gestured to it being far away. I think he understood. But as we were going over the bridge, he stopped and said one minute. He walked out, kept the mashootkas running, while he peed behind a tree into the reservoir (this is one of the many reasons why we're not allowed to drink from the tap). Then we went on our way.
Russia, keeping it classy.
But here they are, sitting in class.
After they start to get too rowdy, we go to the park. On my last day with them, we played dodgeball and I still rock that game like the champ I was in third grade.
Two girls, who decided to sit out of playing dodgeball. Smart, it was beyond hot.
She was my favorite.
This is our group leader, Vlad, playing on the jungle gym, by himself.
One boy showed me his ipod nano, so I showed him my ipod touch and a game I had on it. Soon, all the boys were taking turns playing, including Vlad. They pretty much deemed me the coolest person, yay to buying friendships.
Hahah, also on my way to class, I happened to be the only one on the little van/buses called mashootkas. The man tried talking to me. I assumed he was asking where I was going so I quickly said I don't speak Russian and tried to tell him over the bridge. It came out like- Bridge, Church, There- and I gestured to it being far away. I think he understood. But as we were going over the bridge, he stopped and said one minute. He walked out, kept the mashootkas running, while he peed behind a tree into the reservoir (this is one of the many reasons why we're not allowed to drink from the tap). Then we went on our way.
Russia, keeping it classy.
Thursday 07.01.10
We've been trying to have a picnic for a while, so finally we decided to have one on this hill with some of my host family's friends and watch the sun set. They said we were going to a park near our house, but really it was a hill with lots of bugs and wild flowers- totally my new fave spot. We just sat, ate, drank. Good times.
And they all thought my peanut butter and banana sandwich was hilarious. They just don't know any better.
And they all thought my peanut butter and banana sandwich was hilarious. They just don't know any better.
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