Russian greeting at Russian Village Restaurant in Vladimir.

My host family and E.B.’s host Mom at the American Home in Vladimir – a final farewell dinner.

All trains go to Moscow???? 🙂

We are finally leaving Morum!  Had a nice breakfast with my host family.  They drove me to the Institute where all the American teachers waited for our bus for over an hour!

The bus from Vladimir finally arrived and we loaded up – I said my final good-byes to my family.  And off we went!

We had lunch at the Russian Village outside of Vladimir. (see photo above).  It was sorta a strange feeling for me as we drove through the city of Vladimir.  I felt like I was coming home.  It was a mixed happy and sad feeling.  Happy to be home but sad to be leaving too.  The American teachers would be leaving that evening on the overnight train to St. Petersburg.  And, I was no longer nervous or anxious since I knew my host family and the staff at the American Home.

We were dropped off at the American Home.  We had some time to unpack, repack, organize ourselves, do some laundry, check email, last minute shopping, etc.  I needed to purchase a new duffle bag.  My host family from Vladimir loaned me their duffle bag for my trip to Morum (for a four day trip, I didn’t want to carry my HUGE suitcase to Morum with me) but I needed to return the bag.  I had bought quite a bit of “stuff” and needed another bag.  A group of us gals also purchased a nice bouquet of flowers to give to Alexei and Galina to thank them for evreything they did for us.  Early in the week, I had all the American teachers sign a nice thank you card too.  We figured we could present them the flowers and the card at the farewell dinner that evening with our families.

We also would be seeing our host families in Vladimir for the last time.  The American Home had a farewell dinner for us all.  Yana, Natalia, and Andrei were able to spend a few hours with me before we left on the train (see photo above).  I’m really going to miss them! 🙂

We all had a lovely dinner.  Shots of vodka and glasses of wine were also present! 🙂  Afterwards, Dierdre and I did a quick speech and presentation of the cards and flowers to thank the American Home for everything. 

It was then time to leave for the overnight train to St. Petersburg.  Andrei helped us to load the truck with all the luggage.  My host family gave me a ride to the train station.  Andrei carried my luggage for me as all the American teachers waited for the train to arrive.  Again, I felt sad.  I had such a wonderful time with them.  Finally the train arrived (see photo above) and we said our tearful good-byes.  I hope they will be able to come to the United States soon.

There is a routine when you board a Russian train – you pass off the lugguage to each other like an assembly line.  Your lugguage stays with you in the sleeper car.  In the bottom bunk beds, you store your luggage.  There were four bunk beds with a table in the middle.  My roommates for the evening were Audrey, Kay, and Karen.  I slept on the top bunk – it was a little scary!  I felt like I was going to fall off! 🙂  The train rocks you to sleep but I kept waking up every two hours.

In the begininng of the evening, the four of us were acting silly and goofy!  We were acting like little children away from our parents for the first time.  We just kept laughing and giggling – good times! 🙂  We finally realized we should try and get some sleep.

I almost forgot  – Alexei and Galina gave us going-away gifts – a book on the history of Morum, a disk with all the photos from our trip to Vladimir, a map of Vladimir in Russian, and a poster of Vladimir.  They were also so wonderful and good to me.  I will always remember my special time in Vladimir. 🙂

Natalia (the Murom organizer) and some students from the Institute.

Today, we met with students from the Morum Institute (see photo above).  We heard about student projects, why the students picked their major, and the Youth Parliament.

After lunch, we were to have a roundtable discussion about education in Russia.  The American teachers pushed for a “true” roundtable discussion by hearing from the students.  I don’t think Russians understand the concept of roundtable or a student centered classroom.  The Russian adults kept interrupting or talking for the students during the morning session and the American teachers were getting frustrated since we want to HEAR what THEY have to say – not the adults!  You can tell that classes in Russia are more teacher centered than student centered.  And, they lack analysis (students).  We kept asking why and so what and the Russian students couldn’t respond.

At the end of the day, we heard a wonderful music performance from the Morum Philharmonic Society and enjoyed some wonderful classical music.

We walked back to the Canteen to have our last icky meal and farewell dinner. 🙂 We did have shots of vodka and a glass of wine!

All the American teachers went home with their host families for the last time.  My host family gave me some wonderful gifts – a magnet, wooden spoon (I’ve been wanted a traditional Russian painted spoon), a book in Russian about a local Murom artist, and old Soviet money!  They have been so kind and thoughtful to me.

I gave them my address and email – we hope to start a pen pal exchange between our students and will try to keep in touch.

I went back to my room to pack and organized myself for the morning.  We leave for Vladimir at 10:00 AM!

Bread and Salt Greeting at Culture Museum in Morum.

Russian Doll dancing at the Culture Museum in Morum.

Folk Performers at the Culture Museum in Morum.

The topics of the day at the Insititute included the epics of Ilya Murometz and Saint Peter and Fevronia of Murom.  We also had three guest speakers who discussed economic development in Morum.

We then traveled by bus to the “Dom Tvorchestra” (House of Creative Activity) where we greeted with Bread and Salt (see photo above).  We saw beautiful crafts and costumes of early Morum (see photo above).  We saw some dresses that weighed over 100 pounds – I can’t imagine trying to wear a dress that heavy!  The pottery was exquisite – very detailed.  We were able to purchase some of the crafts – I purchased a beautiful pot holder as a gift for my friend Joann for her birthday.  The best part of the Culture Museum was a performance by a male folk singing group called “Moruma” (see photo above).  The performance was amazing! 🙂  At the end, a bunch of us started to dance!  I think a good time was had by all! 🙂

Our last excursion of the day was a boat trip on the Oka River.  We lucked out with the weather – it was so beautiful!  Along the way, we saw a bridge for the Trans-Siberian Railway.  Our host families came long with us – I took a few photos but they didn’t really come out nice.

After our cruise, my host family wanted me to go home with them to eat dinner instead of going back with the group.  I was fine with that since the food at the University Canteen left much to be desired!

After dinner, my hot family and I stayed up late and chatted again about life in America and Russia.  I’ve learned so much by living with my host families – it’s a different experience living with a family verses staying in a hotel.  I will always treasure this wonderful experience. 🙂

Learning about the history in Morum.

Convent in Morum.

A busy day was planned for the American teachers today!  My host dad drove me to the Institute (he speaks no English so it was a little uncomfortable).

The American teachers met in the lobby of the Institute and we started to share stories about our host families.  Poor Karen – in her flat there was no hot water and the air quality was poor.  She had a difficult time breathing.  She almost had an asmtha attack.  There were other stories – one of the American teachers had to be moved to a different flat.  I truly lucked out with BOTH my host families.

We ate some breakfast at the Institute Canteen – it wasn’t that good. 😦  We then went upstairs to a cramped classroom to learn about Morum history.  There was a lecture (see photo above) and they showed us two video’s in English – one was made by a university student and the other was a professional video.  We were also given some handouts and souvenirs of Morum such as pins, keychains, magnets, postcards, etc.

We ate lunch in the canteen  – again, food was NOT good. Blah!

Toured historical Morum – my host daughter and Mom arrived to come on the tours with us (as did the other host families).  We visited a convent (see photo above), monastery, and a museum.

Went back to the Institute for dinner.  My host family picked me up and brought me back to the flat.  We had nice conversations – shared some pictures (I shared my photos and they shared their photos with me).  The husband was an officer in the Russian Air Force and got out in 1991.  Cool stuff!

Off to bed.

спокойной ночи (Good night in Russian).

According to a New York Times article, scientists may have found some of the remains of the Czar’s children in the Russian provincial capital called Yekaterinburg.  You can read about it here.

The above photo was taken at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.  This room houses the remains of the Romanov family in the Cathedral.  The remains were entombed in the Cathedral in 1998.

Housing in Morum.

Ilya the Warrior greeting the Americans at the University in Morum.

My host family in Morum.

I was able to sleep in a bit this morning.  We didn’t have to arrive at the American Home until 10:00 AM.  I packed most of my stuff the night before.  My host family loaned me a duffle bag to carry my belongings to Murom since it made no sense for me to lug my HUGE suitcase to Murom for a four day visit.  The American teachers were allowed to keep our suitcases and any other “stuff” we didn’t want to carry to Murom in Vladimir.  We would be coming back to Vladimir for the overnight train to St. Petersburg in a few days so it made sense to keep our stuff there.  My host family helped me carry all my stuff to car.  Oh, I had an interesting breakfast: cooked fish and rice?  🙂

We had our last language lesson with Tatiana – the topic was things that are surprising for foreigners.  Afterwards, there was a two-way press conference with local mass media representatives.  It was sorta cool because we could ask them questions too.

Ate lunch at the Traktir.  We went back to the American Home and Alexei prepared a nice slideshow with music of all the pictures that were taken during our stay in Vladimir.  Very nice! 🙂

Alexei and the rest of the American Home staff then did the traditional Russian good-bye – a toast with a shot of vodka! 🙂

And then we were off to Murom (see photo above)!  After a two hour bus ride – we arrived at the Morum Institute of Vladimir State University to be greeted by our host families (see photo above).  We also had a presentation of Ilya the Warrior (See photo above). Ilya Murometz is the most famous of the mighty warriors, said to have lived in the twelfth century. Ilya of Murom, a peasant’s son, has sat motionless for 33 years. One day two travelling pilgrims stir him and exclaim “Arise! Go forth! Thou shalt become a mighty warrior”. From that moment on he becomes a warrior of extraordinary powers and the defender of the Holy Russia. He procures a horse which flies through the air ‘above the motionless forest and a little below the clouds scudding across the sky’. Ilya follows the pilgrims’ advice and sets out to find the mightiest warrior of them all – Svatogor. 

First impressions of Murom:  much different than Vladimir – smaller.  More industrialized and run down.  Murom reminded me of the mill towns here in New England like Lowell and Lawrence.  Murom is trying to encourage tourism to boast the economy here. Hence, the legend of Ilya Murometz! 🙂

I met my new host family.  Elena is the mother – she is an English instructor at the University.  Liliya is the daughter and is studying at the University.  Juriy is the father – he owns the only car rental company in Murom.  They were very nice.  We went back to the their flat for dinner.  I unpacked a bit and organized myself.  My room is beautiful – I have a balcony that overlooks the Oka River and countryside.  I presented them with my gifts.  I think the baseball hat was popular!  After dinner, they took me to the local amusement park.  It seems that this amusement park was the HOT spot – there were other Americans there with their host families too.  The park is located on the Oka River – the  largest right tributary of the Volga River.

After a nice walk, we headed back to the flat for a good nights rest.  It’s so peaceful here.  As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep!

Paka (informal “Bye” in Russian) 🙂

Private dentist office in Vladimir.

Market in Vladimir.

We started out our day with a class on Russian food.  Since we had been eating the food since we arrived, the lesson was a tad bit late.  My suggestion would be to move the class to the beginning of the trip in order to educate folks on the food.

We left the American Home to visit a private dentist office, a market, and a photo shop.  The dentist office was very nice – the inside looked just like a dentist office in the United States.  I’d be curious to compare a state run dentist office to this private office.  We had to wear booties on our shoes since it was a sterile environment.  We then traveled to an open market where a Russian could purchase just about any food possible.  We were not allowed to take photos at first so I only took a picture from the beginning.  Galina was able to gain special permission for us to take photos but I didn’t know about it until the end.  Meat and fish were on display – no ice or refrigeration.  Milk, cheese, eggs, etc – all out on a table with no refrigeration.  Fruits and veggies were also available for purchase.  Our last stop was a photo shop.  We met with the owner and she shared some of her most famous pictures – local famous folks in Vladimir.

Our next task:  a scavenger hunt.  I really didn’t want to participate – it was pouring raining and just didn’t sound like a ton of fun.  I had Tom and Rick on my team.  We also had a Russian teacher with us n case we needed a translator but the objective was to purchase enough ingredients for “American sandwiches” for 5 people and find our way back to the American Home in  two hours.  We were given 600 rubles ($24.00) to purchase our ingredients, buy drinks, purchase tickets for our bus ride back, and buy one “inexpensive Vladimir” souvenir. At the same time, we had to take photos of signs in Russian – useful and helpful vocabulary words.  We also had to locate the Oblast Tourist Info Center and ask for airfare to a American city (our city was Washington DC).  We had to be back at the American Home with our sandwiches prepared no later than 2:00 pm (we started at Noon).  We bought bread, cheese, bologna, juice, our tickets for the bus, a cheap sovenir (a pen that said Vladimir) for 300 rubles!  In fact, our team got the award for being the cheapest!  Various awards were given:  the team that finished the fastest – the team that had the best sandwich, etc.  It was an interesting activity to end our visit in Vladimir.

 Got back to the AH and we prepared the sandwiches.  Some sandwiches were better than others. 🙂

After lunch, we heard from Percy Gurvitch, a professor of German – he’s also a survivor of the concentration camps in Poland and the Gulag labor camps in Russia.  He was an amazing speaker – he spoke to us about Putin.

We were supposed to have free time afterwards but since it was raining, I stayed at the AH to check email and tried to access my blog.  I was only able to do a quick post – WordPress won’t work here for some reason.

My host family picked me up and we went back to the flat for our last meal together.  I’m sad.  I’ve had such a lovely visit with them and will miss them.  I took their picture and Dusia the Cat too! 🙂

Our schedule was a little screwy today.  We had a quick lesson on Russian proverbs.  We also had informal discussions with Ron and Alexei.

At lunch at the Golden Gates Restaurant- our group had eaten here before.  The food was OK.

Had a panel discussion on the role of women in Russia.  Three women were on the panel:  Yelena Potapova, Dmitri Petrosyan, and Olga Usov.  Yelena spoke for most of the time so it really wasn’t a true panel discussion.

I took my host family out dinner tonight to thank them for everything they did for me while I was visiting Vladimir.  I asked them to pick a restaurant and they picked a Japanese restaurant.  The food was fantastic! Funny story – Yana, Natalia, and I ordered sushi for our meal but poor Andrei ordered cooked fish that took FOREVER to be served!  He waited and waited.  At one point, the waitress brings out – get this – a bottle of tobasco sauce that is made in Louisiana USA!  So, we had American tobasco sauce in a Japanese restuarant in Russia!  My host family thought it was so funny! 

My host family gave me a going away gift – a beautiful lacquer box with a Russian winter scene handpainted on it.  Yana noticed that I kept my jewelry on the dresser in her bedroom so she thought I would like a nice box to store my jewelry.  VERY thoughtful gift!  And, I received two Russian flags!  I’m going to hang them in my classroom.

I was so blessed to have such a wonderful host family during my stay in Vladimir – I will always remember my time here.  I hope to return for another visit someday.  I also hope that my host family will get the opportunity to travel to the United States and visit me too. 🙂

We went back to the flat for dessert – Yana made a wonderful berry pie with those berries she picked at the dacha over the weekend.  She also made kvas – a drink with berries in it.

We stayed up late and chatted about Russia and America.  Time to sleep – Dobroi nochi (Good night)!

Thanks to Audrey for emailing me the New York Times article on Russia.

Check out the article here.

Not having hot water in the summer – Moscow isn’t the only city!  When I was in Vladimir, there were a few days when we didn’t have hot water.  One of the American teachers in my group didn’t have hot water the entire time he lived in Vladimir (2 1/2 weeks)!  And, there were periods of time in Murom when there was no hot water.

Not a fun experience – don’t know how many folks out there have had to bath or shower in ice cold water.  Of course, as Americans, we are spoiled!  Most of us bath every day and have hot water at our convenience.  Makes ya think how good we really do have it here in America! 🙂

Fish on the grill at the Dacha.

The Dacha.

Natalia preparing veggies for our meal at the dacha.

Today is Sunday – a free day for the American teachers.  I slept in until 11:00 am!  My body must have needed the rest.

After Natalia prepared some wonderful blinis for breakfast, my host family and I headed to their dacha.  It’s very rustic (see photo above).  Andrei is working on the dacha so most of it isn’t finished.  The dacha has electricity but no running water.  If you had to go to the bathroom, go find your closest bush. 🙂  Most Russians that live in the cities own a dacha – it’s a nice home for city folks to visit on the weekends or vacations in the summer.  Most families grow fruits and veggies on their dachas so that in the winter time they have fruits and veggies that they don’t have to buy at the store (it’s more expensive to buy the food at the store than to grow it yourself).   Yana picked some berries with the idea that she would bake a pie using those berries later in the week (her pie was delicious by the way!!!).

As Andrei cooked our dinner – fish on an open fire (see photo above) – Yana, Natalia, and I took a walk around the village before dinner.  We walked to a pond and we discovered a group of women skinny dipping! 

We headed back to the dacha to eat our dinner – grilled fish, veggies, bread, and tea.  After dinner, Andrei and I played some basketball.  He installed a hoop on a tree and the two of us went back and forth “shooting hoops.”  He is MUCH better at making the basket than I!

Afterwards, Andrei wanted to go for a quick swim in the pond.  We all walked down to the pond with him.  I thought the water was a little too cold but not Andrei!  He jumped right in!  Brrrrrr!!! 🙂

We left the dacha around 9:30 to head home.  Since the dacha is in construction, it’s sorta difficult to sleep there.