My last post from Russia

[This post is cross-posted with From Russia With Blog]

Wow. This is really hard to comprehend. It's not really sinking in that tomorrow I'll be in Waycross, GA. Weird. This won't be my final post on From Russia With Blog, although it will be my final post from Russia, at least for the forseeable future. I will continue to blog over here at Jane's Daily Blah, and I hope that those of you who have followed my adventures across Russia will continue to follow me through the Georgia swamplands and across the Pacific to the Land of the Morning Calm (that being South Korea). I figured it up, and between the fact that I'll be leaving Vladimir tomorrow at 4:30 in the morning and the fact that it takes about four hours to get from Atlanta to Waycross, I'm going to be traveling for approximately 26 hours or so. That means I'm going to be essentially unconscious for several days upon my arrival. I will blog as soon as I can, although I can't promise exactly *when* that's going to be. In the meanwhile, here are some pictures from yesterday's final party with all of the AH teachers and staff.

The party was held in the backyard under red, white and blue umbrellas.
(Keep in mind, these are the colors of the Russian flag, too.
The US doesn't have a monopoly on the red, white and blue.)


There were lots of toasts.


Galya gives a speech while Vanya and Tatiana laugh.


No, there's nothing wrong with your monitor...
the salad really was this color.


It was delicious though. I'm going to miss Russian salads.


Glen, Jane and Misha
We always sat together at AH parties.


Brooke, Alyona and Britt


Misha the Dog

(I realized that while I have *tons* of Gosha the Cat pics, I had no shots of Misha the Dog. Misha's a stray to whom the AH feeds generous portions of scraps on a daily basis. He did quite well at yesterday's party, as he got the bulk of the leftovers.)

Britt and Alyona brought their young son, Alex.
While we had all seen photos of Alex,
this was the first time we saw him in the flesh :-)

A Great American Home Tradition

[This post is cross-posted with From Russia With Blog]

Today was hot. Now, I know there are a lot of uninformed people out there who think that all of Russia is covered by many feet of snow all year round... In case you're one of them, let me just go ahead and kill off that myth. Granted, only a few short months ago the streets were covered in mountains of snow, and the temperature dropped to -40. But it's June folks, almost July... and today it was in the 90s. None of us really had any plans (except for Brooke, who is off on an adventure with her host mom this weekend), so as per usual we all gravitated towards the American Home. And, as the AH is one of the few airconditioned places in the city, we stayed here for the remainder of the day. Around 4:00 the sky suddenly grew dark and the wind began to blow... We scurried to Grossmart for provisions and raced back to the AH. Of course once we returned, we realized that we should have gotten the goods to make garlic bread. Misha and Youngmee raced off to the store, but almost as soon as they left a whopping thunderstorm (of the sort frequently seen in the southeastern US) whipped up and poured out. Kelli, Asya and I were glad to have stayed inside the AH. Misha and Youngmee got drenched, but it was worth it as we roasted a baguette stuffed with butter and garlic to accompany the fresh veggies we stir-fried up to top off some pasta. Yes the Great American Home Tradition is that of eating well.

Misha did most of the cooking


Doesn't it look scrumptious?


Before popping it into the oven,
Kelli stuffed the cracks with butter and pressed garlic.


Gosha the carnivore had his own feast.

Randomness

[This post is cross posted with From Russia With Blog]

Last night after administering final exams (always somewhat frustrating, given the blatant and rampant cheating attempts of our students) we went to one of the many beer tents that have sprung up across the city with the arrival of summer, where we consumed yummy shashlik and even yummier beer. I'm going to miss the land of the beer tent.

Youngmee, Layla, me, Asya


Misha, Glen, Brooke, Vova

I would just like to mention that this new haircut of mine rocks. See, my hair is notoriously uncooperative. After most nice (or not so nice...) haircuts, the hairdresser fixes my hair and it looks great, but then when I try and fix it myself, it takes a lot of effort not to look like ass. I must say that this is the first short haircut I've had that requires almost no work whatsoever. I get up and I brush it and it does what it's supposed to do. I'm quite impressed. (For anyone who might be interested in such a magical haircut, it was done by Sveta who works at the Vasilisa hair salon on Bolshaya Moscovskaya, Vladimir)

For those of you who enjoy reading mysteries and/or for those of you who are interested in Tibet, I have a book recommendation for you. As you may or may not know, I've been slowly working my way through the rather large collection of paperback mysteries in the AH library. There's one that's been sitting there for a while that I'd been ignoring due to its horribly cheezy title. I finally picked it up the other day and read the back of the book and decided to give it a try. The book is The Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison. It's too bad that it has such a cheezy name (although after reading it, I discovered that there's a legitimate reason for this absurd title) because the book is fabulous. Not only is it a well written and engaging mystery, but it gives a clear and fascinating look into life in Tibet, life in the Tibetan prison systems, and Tibetan Buddhism. Now granted, I know remarkably little about Tibet or Tibetan Buddhism, so I have no way of knowing whether or not Pattison's depictions are accurate; however, while reading it I felt such a strong sense of place - so beautiful and magical - that I now find myself wanting to learn more about both Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. The description on the back of the book says that it "will change the way you think about Tibet - and freedom - forever." I read that and thought what a crock of shit... but whaddyaknow. You should all definitely check it out.

And the last bit of randomness that I have for you today comes in the form of an email from my mom: I have bought you a lime-green (sort of) 1950ish couch. Sorry, but it's not fuzzy -- it's vinyl. YES!!!!!!! And I'll get to sit on it in five days :-)

the end of the [virtual] world as we know it?

[Cross-posted with From Russia With Blog]

A while back I posted an article about the dangers to the equal-access Internet of today that we know and love. Thanks to my friend Stephanie, I have some more info for you on the topic... and sadly, it's not looking particularly great. Alas, the idea of Net Neutrality has been shut down by the House. Is this getting much coverage in the States?