Estonia and Finland

Since my last blog, summer has come and gone. Today it actually snowed for the first time. It was great. But as you know I haven't been idle just because it isn't summer. Todd and I played guide to his mother and her husband for a week in October. Then in November we took a trip to Estonia and Finland. Many of my students asked me why and all I could tell them was, why not. We got the time off work and we just wanted to see what those pesky Estonias and Fins were up to.

We left on a night train from Moscow to Tallinn. It took about 13 hours. And what was even better, Todd and I were not seated next to each other for the trip. We thought we could ask someone to exchange seats with us but turns out Todd sat next to a crabby old babushka who wouldn't budge. And the guy sitting next to me, literally couldn't budge because he was too big! So getting to Tallinn wasn't as romantic as it could have been. Nonetheless we arrived.

We booked a hotel close to the train station and when we arrived we saw that "close" was an understatement. It was right next to the train tracks! So it was easy finding the hotel. It had a great view of Tallinn as well. I guess that is what you get when you stop staying at youth hostels.

The "old town" of Tallinn is pretty cool. It has remained the same since the middle ages. So the streets are all windy and paved in bricks. It was very pictureque and relaxing but there wasn't much to do there. So we spent a day in the old town and then watched movies in English and shopped.

Helsinki Train Station

After two days we took the ferry to Helsinki. Todd was especially pumped to go to Finland because one of his favorite bands is from there, Lordi. Haven't heard of it? Don't investigate, really not worth your time. Anyway, we were expecting to buy Lordi Cola and all sorts of other stuff for Todd.

A candy bar we came to fondly call, racial slur bar!

Helsinki would be a great place to live but not such a great for tourists. There wasn't much to see or do that you wouldn't get in most big cities. They did, however, have H&M and reasonable prices even though they are on the euro. So we shopped! We also went to the aquarium and the reptile zoo place.



Then we took a train up to a town called Tampere. Apparently, this was the worker's capital of Finland and so Lenin had spent lots of time here trying to start a revolution. Needless to say Todd and I visited the Lenin museum and got a sweet photo of a couch Lenin slept on a for a few nights.




Eventually we made our way back to Moscow. Finland and Estonia were nice places to visit. And it turns out the Estonias were trying to speak Estonian or English but were overwhelmed with Russian. The Finnish weren't up to much because they had already mastered English! Now we know what they were up to!!

New York City - Part 3 of Holiday Home

The last part of my trip was to New York City. I have a couple of friends who live here and a few friends that just happened to be in town while I was here. This was more about seeing good friends than about seeing NYC but I still got to do tons of cool stuff.

We took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

My friend from University, Liz, moved to NYC two years ago. I flew from Ohio to NYC with her and she kindly let me stay at her place. I also have a friend that I met in Japan, Sara, and she put me up for a few days as well. Not to mention, Kate from the UK, flew in just to see Sara and I for the weekend. Jen and John happened to be in NYC for a friend's wedding and Janelle and Hugh were doing some sightseeing before embarking on a tour of Asia. And Emily ventured far from Poukeepsie (sp?) for the day to see us. It was a great time and can only be expressed in pictures.

A view of Manhatten from the boat.

Janelle giving those classic Japanese peace signs. A habit hard to shake.

Liz, Sara, Janelle, and Hugh.

Ellis Island.

Times Square. Commercial but nothing compared to Tokyo.The American Natural History Museum, aka, one of the greatest places in the world!

We saw a special exhibition on snakes and lizards and I think due to my glasses making me look smarter, one of the volunteers explaining stuff stuck to us like glue! (but so totally worth it!)

The shell of this turtle is huge. I wish they were still this size!

Sara, Kate, and I stood in line for the Colbert Report and got in!! We saw the legend in person! Fantastic.

Emily, Kate, and I took a stroll through Central Park. Because Kate is British, she was loving the sunshine, so we chilled in the park for some of the afternoon. Good times.

A lovely view of Central Park.

Home in Ohio - Part 1of Holiday Home

Once a year, every year, since I started living abroad, I have visited home and this year was no different. Of course, I was motivated to come by the prospects of being in my friend's wedding, getting to eat my way through New York City, and seeing my family.

Tyler and Me

I spent the first week back in good ol' Medway, Ohio with my Dad. It was as usual. I went shopping, visited the family, etc. I also went through all my old things in the back bedroom and thought of what it would be like to have this stuff out of boxes. And of course, I got to see one of my nephews, Tyler. He is my brother's son and two years old. He didn't know what to think of me but hopefully he had a fun few days of being spoiled!

Being in Ohio this year was like a breath of fresh air. The contrast of Ohio and Moscow are huge. I liked seeing all the green grass, the traffic moving quickly along, the friendly smiles, and excellent costumer service.

But being at home also makes me realize every year why I don't stay. Many people don't understand how wonderful their lives really are and don't appreciate the things around them. They live in excess and eat way, way too much food. I know that if you haven't left the United States then it is harder to understand why I am writing these things. I just don't want to get caught in that same trap. It appears that people in Ohio just sit and eat. The motivation/ambition factor is really very low. Don't people want to make their lives better? I understand there are obstacles and difficulties, but you gotta keep your eyes on the prize and look past that. And I won't accept that people's goals are to just live above poverty and shop at wal-mart, even if they aren't motivated by the same things as me. There are other kinds of motivation that lead to success. But I realize that my negative thoughts do not apply to everyone in Ohio, perhaps just to the people closest to me.

After that little rant, I would like to say there is no other place I would rather live than the US. But when I come back, I am going to bring back the things I have learned from Europe and Asia. Things like; don't waste your resources, there is never a reason to be impolite and rude, and taking an interest in things you don't understand can lead to amazing experiences.

The Wedding - Part 2 of Holiday Home

The mascot of my trip home, Bailey, the Wilder's dog. This is how I found him in the morning when I came downstairs!
So if you talked to me at all this summer you probably heard me mention that I was going to a wedding several times. I probably told you about the dress, what we were planning for her bachelorette party and etc. Needless to say I was excited! And finally the big day happened.


On August 30th, my friend Suzanne and her boyfriend Robb got married. The wedding was in Cincinnati at an old movie theatre. It was a great time. I knew that hanging out with the Wilders would be one of the best parts of my trip back to the states. So here is just small sample of the pictures taken at the wedding.

Liz, Suzanne, and Me before the bachelorette party. Liz was excited because she got to wear her beautiful beaded dress. And Liz and I picked out Suzanne's dress, surprise surprise! This is Liz, Suzanne, and Me dressed up for the rehearsal dinner. We ate tons of food and drank great wine at this restaurant called Bella Luna in Cincinnati.
The happy bride and groom.
The wedding party. Also, I got to see great people at the wedding. Andrea and Dave came and it was so nice to catch up after almost 4 years! And then I got to meet Cody's fiance Dana. They are such a lovely couple.

Dave , Me , and Andrea

Dana and Cody

Random Pictures of Parks

It has been PARK MANIA here in Moscow for me the this last month. I feel the call of mother earth and want to return to her natury goodness, so I have been visiting all the famous and close parks. Here are some of the ones I have been to.

This park is called Patriarch Ponds. It is famous because one of the scenes from Bulgakav's novel "Master and Margarita" takes place here. If you haven't read it, then you should. It is quite entertaining.

It so happened that the reason we went to Patriarch Ponds was because I wanted to feed some old bread to some ducks. Unfortuantly I learned that you can't feed the ducks here and that there in fact only one "ponds." There used to be two but the other was filled in and now has a building sitting on top of it.

In the quest to find ducks to feed on this particular day, Todd and I ventured to sokolniki park. At first we were put off by the fact that we had to pay to enter (60 Rubles!) but were delighted when we saw the form of transport depicted below. How unbelievable creepy is that train! All I can say is, "Yes, please!" The park is really quite nice. It has enough trees and open space to make you believe you have left the city. We plan on going back.

This park is called Pioneer Park. It was probably used for the young pioneers who endeavored to be like Lenin. Nowadays it is just a park. This park is neither famous or very nice but it is close to my house (25 minute walk away). I asked one of my Russian co-workers if she knew of a park within walking distance and this is what she recommended. It is a nice place to sit amoung the trees.This is Kuskovo park. A rich family used to live here and they collected porcelain and if you come before 6pm you can be the lucky guest of the porcelin museum! Lucky, indeed! Too bad for me, I arrived too late to see it. So one of my students and I walked around the pond.

And look! Ducks! And not just ducks but baby ducks! But alas, I had no bread on this day. :(

One of the most famous parksin Moscow is Park Pobedy. It was constructed to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany.

And like any good park in Russia, it has lots of fountains!

Tula

In June Todd and I took an excursion that our company organized to the town of Tula, south of Moscow. It is famous because this is where Tolstoy lived. He owned property a bit outside of town where he lived his ascetic lifestyle.

It was a great trip. Good weather, good company, and eventually, after we got the bus running again, a comfortable ride!

Our bus. We had a nice 3o minute break on a random street in Tula.

The first stop of our trip was Yasnaya Polyana, aka, Tolstoy's estate. Todd wanted to listen to what our tour guide was saying at this point but I made him pose for a picture, look how well he fakes a smile!

Here is Tolstoy's house. Since Tolstoy was an aristocrate he was obligated to provide money or troops whenever the Tsar went to war. Well once, when he didn't have either, he sold the house he was born in and it was disassembled and carried away brick by brick. The house in this picture was one of the wings off to either side of the main house. He lived here for most of his married life.

Tolstoy also maintained a farm and they have continued to keep it up. I was trying to get close to those geese but I was afraid they would chase me!

Tolstoy owned a huge piece of land. It is quite beautiful.

Next stop: Tula Kremlin. Here is the view of it from across the street of the main entrance. Even Peter the Great had visited this Kremlin!

A view of the walls inside the Kremlin. I think that tower was used as a place to torture people.


And a video. Listen to the quiet comments of our favorite four-eyed friend!