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.

Gettin' Together!

Kathy and I have had a fews weeks to recover from our trip, so we're getting together this week to go over the items we need to put together for Fund for Teachers.  I'm excited to see her...seeing as it's summer we have our own busy non-school lives to keep up with. (Did bump into each other last Thursday nite @ 5th nite @ Utica however, which was fun!)

We have to sit down and go through receipts, and start discussing what we want our reflection of our trip to look like.  I'm excited to put that together and really start placing all my ideas in one spot, which then means I should place my ideas for my classroom/school in one spot too....like written on paper, so I don't forget them!  Maybe I'll get to that this week too. =)

PS. If you love that Kathy and I were able to experience a trip and a culture like this to share with our children it was made possible through donors of Fund for Teachers.  You too can donate....think about it.

So good to be home!

Well, so a week or more after we are home, I finally have time/the energy to post about our trip again!
We had such a wonderful time, and we both learned so much to bring back to our classroom. 

We are truly blessed to have had such a wonderful experience!

Moscow was tough for both of us because we are such outgoing, smiley people, and it was hard to not have those kinds of feelings while in Moscow.  The opera we saw in Moscow was wonderful, and the theatre was of course gorgeous. But Moscow just isn't my kind of place.  It is definately somewhere that you reflect on the history and politics of the country of Russia, and somewhere that you are thankful for your country and your life.  But none the less it was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world.

St. Petersburg was more our speed.  It was a city for culture. Every building we past (it seemed) was an old palace now used as some kind of museum. The people were very different from Moscow, everyone was smiling and seemed to be enjoying their day.  The museums were AMAZING, and the shows we saw will soooo benefit our students!

Overall, we brought back some great resources from both cities, and I can't wait to share them with my new students! And we are both very glad to have had the trip and experiences, but we are glad to be back home with our families...we missed them so.

Maybe someday we will take our families to Russia to share those wonderful experiences.

Picture yourself in Russia

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.

St. Petersburg!

Well we made it to St. Petersburg via overnite train this morning.  We had a city tour with our guide Olga and visited several locations in the city, and got a good lay of the land.  Kathy and I really like the atmosphere of the city....I think it's like Florence and Venice combined into one, because of all the museums and canals.  I shall write more over the next few days as we have more time and once pics are loaded onto Flickr they should start to appear on the slideshow at the top, so stay tuned!!!! Love to you all!

Moscow

Well we r here and we've spent last nite @ an Italian opera, Tosca. Today we toured the city. We saw several cathedrals as well as the Kremlin. We explored the Moscow Metro system & it's galleries. It has been an overwhelming and very enriching experience so far. Kathy is taking in a ballet tonite after we eat a quick dinner. I am going to rest up & do some reading in my Russia book. :-) Tomorrow we will see Red Square (b/c it was closed today for some motocross event...yes I said motocross). Then the afternoon is ours to look about and probably shop. Then our train to St. Petersburg leaves around 11pm and we will wake up to a different city. Love to you all back home.

Bags are packed?

Raise your hand if you think my bags are completely packed for Russia......anyone, anyone....
Yeah, you're right they aren't completely done...I'd say 90%.  It's the last minute bathroom stuff that drives me crazy....have to use it the mng you leave, but then you're screwed if you forget to put it in your bag.  Here's hoping I WON"T do that tomorrow mng. Yep, that's right, you heard me...tomorrow mng.  Kathy and I will be on a 6:40am flight to Denver, then off to Dulles in D.C., and finally a loooooonnnng flight to Moscow. 
I should go double checking my packing....

4...3...2...1...fly away!

We are 4 days away from leaving for Russia, and thankfully we received our passports/visas last Friday via FedEx.  I've never been so happy to see a FedEx package in all my life.  It is really stressful to not have your passport in your possession!  They arrived with our printed intinerary and various other paperwork. 
This evening will be spent doing laundry and starting to pack...I've tried to think ahead and get a headstart but that hasn't happened really.  So....might as well get started! HAHA! Well, I will keep you posted on anything else before we go, but my next post will probably be from an airport somewhere or Russia. =)

Officially Two Weeks Out

Well, today we are officially two weeks from the day we head off to Russia.  Do I have my passport/visa in had you ask...? No, no I do not. Does this scare the bejesus out of me...? Yes, yes it does.
I don't think this whole experience will feel real til I have that piece of important info about who I am back in my possession.
We are going to try to coordinate picking our seats on the plane this weekend before Kathy jets off to San Fran.  Oh, we didn't mention that...? She is going to San Fran Tuesday-Sunday this coming week for Keeping Score.  By Mid July she will be a lady of many bags...errr...I mean travels.
Well, that's all I have for now.  Talk later.

20 days and counting...

Well as of today Kathy and I have 20 days left til our trip!  We are super excited and getting anxious to leave. Kathy has been counting down daily on her Facebook!
  I can't believe the many blessings God has given us to be able to get to this point and have this oppurtunity in our career. 
I must do some more research about what to pack...is 20 days out too early to pack!?!? =)
The reality of the situation is really setting in now that school is out for summer and our classrooms are being packed up.  We are actually travelling to Russia to have a wonderful cultural experience that we can then share with our teamates at Grissom.  We can't wait to share resources & our new founded knowledge with everyone!

Visas are APPROVED!

We heard this week that our visas were approved by the Russian government!  Wahoo!!! Now we just need them FedExed back to us....I'm excited we are approved but I'll be much happier when it's in my hot little hand again!
That's all for now, not much else to update. =)

Oh....

where? oh, where? has my passport gone?  oh, where? oh, where could it be?
We hate waiting...."hurry up and wait" syndrome is not good for these two ladies!
(That and I have nothing new the blog about till I receive them!)

Visa's are in progress...

Kathy and I sent off our Russian visa paperwork this week.  I about had a heart attack when Christina 'I can't pronounce or type her last name because it's Russian' asked for our passports to be sent too...!
Me: "You mean a copy right?" C: "No the ORIGINAL passport." Me: "What?!?! Why?!?! I don't just mail my passport." C: "This is a requirement for Russian visa. It is glued into your passport and its impossible take it out without tearing page out. You can check this requirement at Russian consulate website at:
http://www.russianembassy.org/" Me: "Ok, fine I'll mail it today...."
Needless to say, it was a bit stressful. Oh and then Kathy also finds out of school pic won't work for the visa pic b/c it isn't the "all white background" like a passport pic....so off we went after school like mad women to Drug Warehouse to get passport pics taken.  That way my passport, which has my pic, can have my Russian visa glued in with the new pic...hmmm two pics in one passport...ok...
So basically they are molesting my passport as we speak, gluing in Russian paper and a pic of me which was with a ponytail....so DOES NOT look like my passport pic.  They'll probably keep me forever because they don't match...LOL!
But honestly, I AM EXCITED to go! Just don't like paperwork and other shenanagins!

Russian Visa

Hmmm...there are questions on this Russian Visa paperwork that are really making me think.  And then there are questions that I'm thinking 'how is important?' or 'i don't even have an answer for that.'  Such as 'List your last two places of work, excluding the current one,' well........that would be a college/hs job like being a carhop or a babysitter. LOL! Do they really need that information for me to enter their country?!?!?! So I guess I should continue with the ridiculous paperwork rather than complaining about it on here...............

Payment Required

Kathy received notice of the final bits and pieces of our tour and tickets this past Friday, so obviously payment is required.  So Kathy already sent her online check in and today's the day I must send mine.  It's making it all feel rather final, which I'm excited and also a little anxious about. 
I mean we're going to Russia....this is crazy...think it just hit me...like a ton of bricks...
So I guess we really are off on our adventure in t-53 days.  It's probably time for me to go get that Rick Steves' book I've been procrastinating....

Almost booked

Kathy and I are almost booked for our trip!  We received final plans for hotel, tours, and flights a day or so ago, and just yesterday received the info about theatre tickets available for the shows we want to see.  All that is left now is to hear back from one folk music event we'd like to attend on the availablity of tickets, and after that we will send our info to the Travel All Russia along with a big fat payment! Here is the link to the private tour we will be taking... http://www.travelallrussia.com/tours-to-moscow/treasures-of-two-capitals-moscow-and-st-petersburg3-tour40.html WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!!! Hopefully, I can post tomorrow that travel plans are confirmed!

Waiting..........

Kathy and I are supposed to find out today the total cost of our flight and tour package...well we were supposed to find out by last Friday but apparently it's today.  We are super anxious/excited so we called to bother them lol!  They- the Travel All Russia people -said they would email us the info they had come up with this afternoon....so is it the afternoon YET!? We can't wait to get everything booked and start to get the visa process going.  Oh and I most definitely need to go get a Rick Steves' book about Moscow and St. Petersburg, gotta love Rick Steves'.  His travel books are amazing, and he also has a fabulous show that airs on OETA.  Anyone traveling to Europe should check out his stuff!
I will keep you posted on our travel plans...hopefully this afternoon we will be planned!

We are going to Russia!

Kathy and I found out a while ago, well ok a while ago for her- a very short time ago for me, that we are going to RUSSIA!  We are going to study the cultural aspects of Russia and how that among other things have influenced music and dance from there.  We will be gathering information on composers, theatres, different types of dance and performance, as well as cultural experiences. 

We are so excited to start planning our trip.  Tonite we are going to the Fund for Teacher Orientation to receive our grant money as well as some final info.  I am so grateful for this opportunity with Kathy, but sad that my friend and coworker Clydia won't be able to go-that's why I'm going.  I am so blessed to work with people that are so passionate about their jobs, and for them to have written the proposal for the grant, that was given to them but I so graciously get to attend. 

Kathy and I will both be updating this blog as we prepare for Russia, while we are traveling through Russia, and after we return and utilize what we've learning about the culture, music, and dancing in our classrooms.