June 29, 2007

Regional Palace of Culture in Vladimir.

Water Tower in Vladimir.

I started to feel a little better today so I went to the American Home.  We started out with language lessons on Russian ettiquette and nicknames.  Ron Pope did a nice PowerPoint on why the Soviet System failed and an overview of the current situation.  We ate lunch at the Golden Gates.

In the afternoon, we took a tour of the Water Tower or Old Vladimir Museum.  The view from the top of the Water Tower was beautiful – you can see the entire city of Vladimir!

Our next stop was the Regional Palace of Culture which is owned by a clock factory.  Dancing and music are performed here.  We went back to the American Home for another lesson on songs and folk music.

Our host families had a Pot Luck Dinner for us.  My host Dad, Andrei prepared a marinated pork dish that was really yummy!  Other families prepared traditional Russian foods as well. Unfortunately, it started to rain but that didn’t stop the Americans from having a fun time.  In the backyard, someone brought out some horseshoes and the Americans were off and running to play!  The losing team had to buy the winning team a round of beers! 🙂

To finish up the evening, we were all invited to the basement of the American Home to hear some traditional Russian music – a balalaika concert by Misha Logonov.  Misha played with such heart and soul!  Amazing!

The evening ended with all the Americans going back home with their host families.  I know that as I was drifting off to sleep, I still could hear the balalaika in my head.