Reading Russian

Kathy and I got together again today to work on our paperwork and expense reports from our trip to Russia.  We have to turn in the expense report and summary of our project by the end of Sept.  Thought we'd get a jump on it (ie. our mtg last week), and today we had to redo what we had already done because this kid didn't read the directions carefully.  Oops.....
Needless to say that means I've been able to stare at paperwork and reciepts in Russian allllll over again! The bonus is I'm actually reading words in Russian...not sure of the pronuciation of some of them, but recgonizing words none the less.  For example, I can read water, salad, chicken, total, change, various restaurant's names, soda, etc.... Who knew it would all click after I was home?! It's actually making me miss Russia, well St. Petersburg. I keep picturing the buildings and streets in my head, and I'm replaying everything (partially because we are going through the days' receipts) and loving it.
I can't wait to write our summary and to tell so many others how infulential our trip was on us.  I can't wait to teach my kids about everything I learned.  I can't wait to show my kids and coworkers pictures and materials from our trip.  And I can't wait to someday take a trip back there with my husband.  He would love it! We will have to rearrange our list-o-trips for sure. Hopefully by then I'll still remember how to "read" Russian.

St. Petersburg is Beautiful!

Well, today we spent practically our whole day inside the Hermitage Museum/Palace.  It was an amazing collection of paintings, sculptures, antiquities, furniture, and the rooms were all gorgeous as most of the museum was a palace originally.  The original building is the Winter Palace, and after it came the Small Hermitage to it's left and was connected to the palace.  Lastly came the New Hermitage which was constructed originally as a public museum, so it still serves it's original purpose and is not nearly as detailed in the decor.  It has since been connected to the Small Hermitage and the Winter Palace to make one VERY LARGE museum.  Our guide Olga is amazing and I got some great resources at the shop inside the museum.  Kathy picked up a Children's Guide to the Hermitage Museum, and I picked up Pushkin's Fairytales as well as a book that overviews the rooms, the people that live in the Palace, and the artwork that is part of their permanent collections. Can't forget on the way back we stopped at the building were Tchaikovsky died, pretty cool considering part of our trip is to visit dead composers LOL!  We plan to head to the monastery were he is buried along with other composers tomorrow afternoon.
Tonite we have tickets to "Feel Me Russian"...silly name, yes, great informational show about the folk music in Russia.  It will be very entertaining (so we are told) and we plan to get lots from the show, information and cultural experience both.

As for my Russian...it's not good.  I keep forgetting how to say some of the phrases I have "learned," so basically I say "yes" and "no" and "thank you."  I've got "thank you" down like nobody's business. LOL! =) It's been ok though, I'm cute and I just smile and say..."you speak English please."  Seems to be working fine...the people of St. Petersburg are much more helpful than those in Moscow...VERY different vibe/outlook/attitude/everything.

We are having a wonderful time, but of course miss home.  We can't believe it's only one more full day in St. Petersburg and then we head home.  Hopefully, we have seen/done/gathered everything we need to enrich our students, co/workers, and families' lives.

Do svidanja.