Things I will not miss about Russia…….. smoking (it smells, irritates my asthma, and those cigarette butts litter the ground everywhere and it does not look pretty), having to air dry all my clothes ( I want a soft warm towel gosh darn it!), seeing beer everywhere (teenagers drinking on the streets in the middle of the day, beer being sold at food courts in the mall and everywhere else too, broken bottles on the ground), mystery meat at lunch, dodging puddles and mud holes, snow, stray dogs everywhere, litter on the ground everywhere, having to wear a million layers of clothes because it is freezing outside, riding the bus (especially when it is a 30 minute bumpy lurching ride and you can’t sit), incredibly and painfully slow internet, eating soup 3 times a day (that is a slight exaggeration, but still), not having air conditioning, people freaking out and thinking that they are going to die because the air conditioning is turned on, missing America and my family, trying to work out the logistics of coming home (finding an apartment, renewing car insurance, renewing drivers license, renewing car tabs, et.) from Russia, not being able to call and text my friends and family whenever I want, the fish sections at the grocery stores, all the stress caused by teaching, etc...................
Things I will miss about Russia……………juice ( I really, really will miss Russian juice, it is sooooo good!), Russian candy (especially chocolate, we did a blind taste test and Russian snickers totally taste better than American snickers), this mystery berry jam that our host mom bought that was delicious, the indoor pool at our host family, being around the other teachers we were privileged to be here with, our host family, buying awesome movies for under 5 dollars each, the cute little kids in kindergarten and their smiling faces, ice cream (they have some good ice cream and it is soooo cheap!), banana milk (I LOVE this stuff!), having most all of our meals made for us, making dreams come true by feeding Russians taco’s, the public transportation system (this one I will and won’t miss, but sometimes it is amazingly nice, especially the metro in Moscow and Saint Petersburg), taking girl pictures with Jasmyn and Amy, awesome sunsets from the high stories of the block apartment buildings, being able to walk 20 feet to go to a grocery store from home, seeing awesome old buildings/palaces/orthodox cathedrals/etc., beautiful parks with fountains, war memorials, how easy it was to go to the ballet, reniks, banya, chilverous men (ones who get up for grandmas and children on public transportation, men who help out when they see a woman in distress), Bonjours (super yummy goodness), super nice shopping malls, not being able to go a block without seeing 2 or 3 shoe and purse stores, healthy lifestyle where we walked everywhere, eating yummy cucumbers with every meal (they just taste better here), MCdonalds will never taste so good again, craving American food (now that I am home I don’t even crave half the things I was craving before), the interesting Russian fashion, seeing everyone’s Russian twin and thinking what the heck I know them, getting to spend all my time with Philip (I seriously don’t know how I will get used to being apart from him for school and work)..........
My beloved banana milk that I miss!!!
Just ridiculous, only in Russia….. Army girls in their uniforms with pencil skirts and stiletto boots, little kids still bundled up in their winter clothing when it is 50 – 60 degrees outside (they were sweating, poor kids!), win tall glass of alcohol when you get a strike at the bowling ally (I got two strikes, and they just couldn’t believe that none of us wanted the free booze), the reasons why Russians think you get sick (eating ice cream when its cold outside, not wearing a hat when it is cold, being in a drafty place, being in a room when the air conditioning is turned on [seriously, this is true, they WILL NOT let you have the air conditioning turned on if anyone is in the room because they really think that you will get sick from it… this means most places don’t have AC and you just sweat a lot everywhere]), random Russians on the train who want us Americans to come and drink with them and then when we say no come back and recite poetry to us after they've had a few drinks, shirtless chubby Russian men (these pot belly Russians seem to really oppose wearing shirts for some reason), the hundreds of super tall apartment block buildings that exist in like all cities no matter the size of the city (I don’t even think half of them are stable, it's a good thing Russia doesn't have a lot of earthquakes)…….
I have learned……to be more patient (you have to be patient with this internet and also in getting to places), to be on time more (if we were even 2 minutes late getting to the bus stop we were suddenly really a half an hour late), how to be a better teacher, how to continue and try to find happiness even when you feel like you can’t stand doing what you are doing for another second, how to force feed myself things I don’t want to eat, how to be more grateful for everything I have and everyone I love, and so many other things I just can't think of right now.
