July 4, 2007 (Happy Birthday America!)

Glass sculptures at the Glass Factory in Gus-Khrustalny.

A woman making a scultpure at the Glass Factory.

Warner, Deirdre, and I at the American Home 15th Anniversary Party playing a drinking game – the Americans vs. the Russians.

Rick (Puk in Russian) from Tennessee at the 15th Anniversary Party of the American Home.

I started off the day with going on the bus for the first time by myself!  It’s a huge deal for me (and my host family since they worry about me). 🙂  The buses in Vladimir are very crowded and warm.  Riding the bus was not my favorite moment in Vladimir.

I made it to American Home and boarded a bus for an 1 1/2 hour ride to Gus Khrustalny.  We were going to take a tour of the Crystal Factory.  We first toured the museum where they had glass scultptures on display (see photo above).  It amazes me what someone can do with glass – it’s truly an artform!  Afterwards, we toured the factory.  Some general observations:  no protective glasses over the eyes of the employess or gloves to protect their hands (see photo above).  We interrupted the employees lunch time but they still came out into the factory to show us how they shape the glass.  It was very impressive!

After lunch, we toured a Glass Museum called the Museum of Artistic Glass ( a branch of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum of History, Architecture and Art ). Some of the glass had so much detail and was so ornate – they even had glass with Lenin and Stalin heads on it!  Unfortunately, my pictures of the glass don’t do it justice so I’m not posting it. 😦

After a long day of touring, we arrived back at the American Home for the 15th Anniversary of the Home (and, it was July 4th!).  The American Home celebrated it’s 15th anniversary in style!  The Vladimir media was present – I was interviewed by a local reporter.  I found out the next day that I made the evening news – a few American host families had seen me.  Too funny!  I get my 15 minutes of fame in Russia! 🙂 

The party began with a toast to the American Home and Ron Pope.  Ron is the founder and president of the American Home – and, he’s the guy that is in charge of us while we are here in Russia. 🙂  He had his hands full at times with our group.  Lots of awards were given to the American Home.  In between all the wonderful food and awards were games.  I somehow got “picked” for a drinking game.  Warner, Deirdre, and I were on a team (see photo above).  Three Russians were chosen for a second team.  We were also given aprons and hats to wear (again see photo above).  Each team was handed a mug of warm champaign and three spoons.  We were to “race” with the Russian team.  We had to “drink” the champaign with our spoons and the first team to finish their drink was declared the winner.  Well, guess what team won?  The Russians! The American team was laughing so hard during the race – it was fun but afterwards my head was feeling that champaign! 🙂

A band performed some American music and we danced like crazy, some folk dancers performed for the crowd (amazing costumes and voices), more games between Americans and Russians, and more awards and gifts to the American Home finished up the day in Vladimir.

By the way, the food served was NOT traditional 4th of July food (burgers, hot dogs, etc.).  The food served was Russian food.  They served these kababs with pork or chicken cooked on an open fire with veggies.  It was yummy since anything cooked on an open fire is delicious!  Stuffed tomatoes with tuna and mayo, cucumbers, and other types of veggies were served.

Oh, I guess I should mention the last photo above.  FUNNY story behind this picture.  Rick is a teacher from Tennessee.  His name, in Russian, spells Puk.  So for the rest of the trip, we called him Puk.  On one of our excursions, Rick aka Puk, enters the bus and yells out, “Puk is in the House!”  We all laughed our butts off!  Good times!!! 🙂