150 Days of Adventures and Lessons

Looking back on my first 150 days...

I arrived at Domodedovo airport on Saturday, August 27th, 2011, after a very crowded and uncomfortable flight over on United!  Thank goodness for my bouts of narcolepsy, I was asleep before the plane ever left the gate and slept for the entire flight across the pond, only to wake up and have to sprint to my connecting flight in Frankfurt where I flew Lufthansa into Moscow.  I highly recommend this carrier...free alcohol, real silverware, real glasses, real food and I wasn't even flying first:) I definitely took advantage of the FREE CHAMPAGNE!!!     



BEAUTIFUL sunrise, somewhere over the Atlantic...TOUCHDOWN MOSCOW:)

 When my plane first landed, I couldn't help but smile...my year-long work/travel adventure was now officially underway!  Obviously, the next thing I had to do was make my way through customs and locate my luggage, how hard could it possibly be???  Unfortunately, if it wasn't for the universal luggage pictures and arrows pointing me in the right direction, I would probably still be sitting at the airport trying to figure out the Cyrillic signs (the letters and symbols that make up the Cyrillic Alphabet are a combination of the Greek, Roman and Latin Alphabets all combined into one giant pot!  Talk about confusing:))  I eventually made it to the overcrowded, extremely chaotic, very HOT, and somewhat smelly baggage claim and was successful in locating all but 1 of my 4 checked pieces...WTF was I supposed to do now?,  with everyone around me pushing and elbowing like they were playing a championship basketball game, and not a "Help/Info desk" sign/symbol in sight, I could feel the panic setting in!  It also didn't help, that I couldn't find a trolley to put my bags on and had to maneuver 3 giant overstuffed suitcases through a crowd...LESSON LEARNED:  FIND TROLLEY BEFORE GETTING LUGGAGE!!  Eventually, I found a table that looked somewhat comparable to where one might find/locate lost luggage.  However, there was no sign and there was no line, so I patiently waited my turn, as numerous people (probably 15+) pushed me out of the way/cut in front of me and asserted themselves at the counter by talking over me in Russian…it even happened after I already started talking to the woman behind the counter, talk about RUDE!  It was then, that I realized, that I was no longer in Kansas, and if I was ever going to find my bag, I needed to wipe the  "I'm so happy to be in Russia smile off my face," put my elbows out, start throwing out dirty looks and demand someone help me.  Though I felt quite rude, once I did that, my bag magically appeared an hour later on the next flight in from Frankfurt...apparently smiles and politeness were not going to get me what I needed in this situation...ANOTHER LESSON LEARNED!!!

After the luggage ordeal, I was able to locate the dad of the little boy I moved here to work with...I have to say, it was very refreshing to see a familiar and smiling face!  It took about an hour to get to the Embassy from the airport an though I don't remember much of the ride in, I did manage to get in a few pics!!




Domodedova Airport

 

White House=Russian Parliment Building



Sunset over the Moscow River



Welcome to Moscow

 

Hotel Moscow~Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel & Business Center

 My next few days were filled with meetings between the new school, the Behavior Consultant, (who was hired out of the U.K.) and getting acquainted with the little boy that I was going to be teaching over the next year.  From my initial observations he was unlike any of the children that I had recently been working with.  He could talk and he wasn't aggressive, though he does do this annoying whine when he doesn't get his way, but, honestly, what five-year-old child doesn't ?  Those first couple of days and weeks he wasn't too hard to engage; though he really had no appropriate spontaneous verbal or non-verbal initiations, his play skills/leisure skills were barely existent or appropriate for his age, and other than his few very scripted or piecemeal phrases, he didn't really talk.  I quickly realized that he was capable of talking and echoing me, which has proved to be his biggest assest in his ability to acquire skills/language and has made my job that much easier:)   After a few short weeks, he started to respond to my high-affect and child-like determination to make everything seem "fun and cool"...I also introduced him to Peanut M&Ms, so obviously, I became his new best friend:) 

Looking back on how far he's come in the past few months is truly gratifying and an amazing thing to witness and be apart of!  I believe wholeheartedly that, "when we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -

This quote couldn't be more fitting, for the work that I do, but more importantly for the families of the children I work with...getting parents to believe that their child is capable of more than they ever imagined is just another reason, why I love my job, but in turn is definitely the hardest part! 



E and Me
Before the Xmas Play at  School

 GROCERY SHOPPING an ADVENTURE unlike anything else: 

My first trip to a grocery store here in Moscow was completely overwhelming...it was a store very similar to any of the big supermarket chains at home, (they are called Hypermarkets here). With everything being in Russian, it was extremely overwhelming and I couldn't help but laugh...how was I ever going to learn how to cook this year???? Not that I was expecting English descriptions, because that would have totally made me 'The Ultimate American Tourist' it merely would have been nice and made my first shopping experience here a lot easier and less overwhelming...thank goodness for pictures/symbols, and fruit! 




I was/am still hoping to make/take this year as an opportunity to advance my cooking repertoire beyond Cereal, PB&J, Mac & Cheese, soup and pancakes, although, 120 days in and I am still wondering that same question:)  It is now day 140 and I am happy to report that I have successfully made, Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon, poached a few chickens with steamed vegetables and baked Eggplant Lasagna...all of which were delicious for first time attempts!!  Perhaps, I can and will learn how to cook here after all:)   

 
 

My Grocery Store (Ahz-booka-koo-sa)

I've since found a smaller, more intimate, albeit a tad more expensive (depending on what you want) grocery store (it sells, Giant Pink Lady Apples and Semi-Green Chiquitas (my favorites):) that I frequent at least once or twice a week on my walk home from school.  Let me tell you, that carrying groceries in the snow and cold for a mile completely sucks!  I hate it, but at the same time love it, because I no longer buy things I don't need and my belly/body are returning to my pre-college days...so I can't complain too much!!   I try to only fit what will fit into my backpack as to avoid looking like a bag lady, and also because as previously mentioned walking a mile in the freezing cold is not a very fun experience and my biceps hate me afterwards!  I don't necessarily pay attention to the prices of the food I put in my basket, because at the end of the day, I need to eat, and why not eat well and eat the things that are good for me:)  I do take note of and pass by the $25.00 imported strawberries and $15.00 clementines and raspberries and hope that their prices will decline soon!!!

I LOVE READING MAPS...not!!!

Learning how to read a map again has been an overwhelming and a challenging experience, not to mention trying to read signs in different scripts and having to match the letters/symbols before proceeding to find my location, only to realize I've walked 20 minutes in the wrong direction...needless to say, it has left me wanting to scream and cry many times, especially when I am trying to find something or someone!  I realized shortly after arriving, how much I truly depended and relied upon my iPhone to locate me on GPS and limit my chances of ever getting truly lost.  I miss having my iPhone everyday and everything that came along with it, mostly because it made life so much easier...I might be splurging soon and buying myself one that will work here and in other parts of Europe!!!  Dear MOM & DAD...please send $$money$$!!!!       

HOPEFULLY ALL DOGS/CATS GO TO HEAVEN: 

 

Waiting for the Metro:)

 

The one and only thing I truly hate about being here, and the thing that I will probably struggle with until I leave  here, is the number of stray animals that are just running around the city.  Never in my life, have I seen so many stray dogs or cats...and I truly hate it and my heart breaks every time I see one.  Now that it has turned cold, I haven't seen as many, so I am left wondering what happened to all of them...perhaps they are making their Hollywood debut staring in their own version of, All Dogs Go To Heaven!  It goes without saying, that these stray dogs and cats make me miss my Maggie, Ellie, Coopie, Chole, and Mr. Cat, so much, but, they especially make me miss my Dad!  His heart and love for man's best friend is something I truly love and cherish about him, and always will!

IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT I HAVE ALMOST HIT THE HALF WAY PART OF MY YEAR AWAY!!!  Though I miss home (A LOT) and everyone there and everything that I left behind, I am slowly settling into my new life here in Moscow.  With Western Europe on my doorstep, I am having a great time planning trips and weekend getaways to all the places that I've dreamed about visiting for so long!  

As I look back on my first 150 days here in Moscow, I am realizing just how lucky I am to be living here and living out this amazing dream, that is actually my life.  I won't lie and say that every day is easy and that I truly love it here, because I don't!  In all honesty, like everything else in life, some days are better than others...it is just how I choose to look at and embrace my current surroundings and situation, that instantly changes my perspective on life here in Moscow.   I have definitely cried a tear or two after talking to people from back home, or after stalking FB and realizing what I am missing out on, or seeing my Mags on Skype going crazy at the window because she hears my voice!  So instead of getting sad, I realize that this is exactly what I signed up for!  I don't regret my decision to quit or leave everything and everyone behind, though I do miss everyone terribly!  This experience is teaching me a lot about myself and has also introduced me to some wonderful people and places that if I would have stayed at home, I would never ever have had the opportunity to meet or see! It is also allowing me to catch up with old friends from past travels, which has been absolutely wonderful, and definitely given me reason to smile and appreciate everything that I am living and experiencing right now!!!  

I can only hope, that my next 150 days here in Moscow are filled with as much happiness and exciting adventures as the first 150! 

As always, stay tuned and smile!!!  xoxoxo

   


  

St. Basils



New Friends~Teachers from EIS



Happy Thanksgiving:)

 

We are all from Chicago and now living in Moscow,
and visiting new friends in Amsterdam:)