First From Russia...

Well, here comes the first post from Russia. The flight from Chicago on Wednesday wasn't too bad (i.e. I got an exit row!). After chilling in the airport in Warsaw for like four hours, reading a couple of magazines, having my carry-ons thouroughly searched by a Polish woman, and trying to figure out why all the flights to London were cancelled, I made it to the two hour flight to Moscow and the three hour drive after that. Let's just say I was wiped out by the time I got to my new home in Vladimir. My hostess is Nina Petrovna. She's retired and lives in a fairly large two bedroom apartment with two cats. She has hosted several other university students and English teachers before me, so it seems that she knows what to expect.

Friday morning we met up at the American home, where we will be working. There are seven teachers. Molly, the eighth, will hopefully be here soon. Her passport and visa were lost and she is waiting to get them replaced. We have a veteran teacher, Joanna, who was here last year, five who are straight from college, and one who just finished with the Air Force. We also took a short get aquainted tour of Vladimir. There are a few buldings and churches that date back to the 12th century, but most of it dates from the late 19th and 20th centuries. It's pretty small and has not been much of a force in Russia since the Mongols showed up in February of 1238 and burnt the place down. I'll try to get some pictures and a history lesson up pretty soon. The people here seem pretty typical for Russia and for the most part my memeries of people from Petersburg apply here pretty well. I do feel like I am seeing more Western and American stuff like clothes, shoes, cars and other goods, but mybe I am just noticing those sorts of things more.

Saturday, we took a short trip to Suzdal, an ancient Russian city that dates back at least to the early 11th century. There are many churches, a convent, a monastary and there are lots of little fields and streams. It's very pretty and picturesque. Also, they were celebrating the anniversary of the town's founding, so there was a carnival and lots of people out and about. There were also several weddings with all of the things that go along with Russian weddings (taking pictures at various sites and cheering the bride and groom.) In all it was a pretty fun day. On the way back to Vladimir, we all crashed from jet-lag, but we revived enough to go explore the big western style grocery store that's about a block from the American Home. It is a little more pricey than the local Russian stores, but it has more selection and is set up more like a Western supermarket.

Hopefully I will get some pictures up from Suzdal soon and a few updates on how things are going. These next couple of weeks are going to be spent doing orientation and teacher training stuff, so there might not be some much exciting stuff to write about, but I will do my best.

Update....As promised, a few pictures from Suzdal. First, the main cathedral of the town, Cathedral of the Nativity. A flower garden inside a working convent, the Convent of the Intercession. And finally, some of our grown up teachers...on teeter-totters.