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. =)