The beginning and st petes!

Email 08/30/2011

So at 5:00 am on Tuesday august 23 my mom and I headed to the airport so I could board a plane to Russia! My plane left at 7:30... And after checking luggage and going through security I was on my way! I went to the gate and the other ilp girls were there. It was pretty fun because I got to meet my head teacher and a bunch of other girls! We got on the plane and we were off to DC. Five ish hours later we were there.... But the captain circled around in the air for like 15 min! We were all pretty much sick by the time we landed! But come to find out we were basically in the air when the earthquake that hit that area hit! So that is why we were just flying around! Which I'm quit alright with! So we landed and had like an hour and a half wait... Which went by pretty fast! Then it was time to go to Russia! When we boarded I was suppose to sit by this Russian kid, but his mom came up to me and asked me to switch her seats... How could I resist! So instead I got to sit next to this guy who works for the government, but he is from india.... I still have mixed feelings about him because he was so nice but slightly creepy at the same time. He told me a lot about his "mormon" girlfriend, although he never gave her a name.  So yes interesting! 9 hours later  we got to Moscow! 10:35 local time! And i thought we would have to wait and wait for customs... But we basically breezed right on through! Then we got our luggage and went to find our person that would be taking us to were we are living. Which by the way.... She is a hott! Russian! Like super model hot! We basically call her the babe! Dont worry... I took pics! Then we got on the bus.... we were  only suppose to have an hour bus ride to the school.... But it turned into a six hour bus ride.... Which was just so much fun! :) Laura, one of the other teachers actually got sick. And we were all so tired and dirty and nasty and yeah... It was just not a Fun bus ride! 

So six hours later we got to the school. Had lunch  in the bowling alley.... Yes our school has a sweet bowling alley, also a gym and a pool with two water slides :) be jealous! The school I teach in is two years old so pretty much new... Every wall is a different color... And we leave in dorm rooms which are actually pretty nice... And we have hot water.... Most of the time... And the mall that is like five min away has prada, dolce and gobbana?, ferrari, mazzarati.... And many others that I can't even spell :) super ritzy. Which actually has down sides... We aren't really appreciated by the school. More on that later! But yes we live in a super high class part of Russia! The guard to the school was telling us that Audie's are the low end cars in the community.... What!  In our dorms there are three girls per room and each room has there own bathroom! We also have lots of space! :) 

So during that day we pretty much just walked around the school and then unpacked, had dinner, and went to bed.

The next morning we woke up... Went to red square.... Which was not as cool becaue they were setting up Moscow day so everything was pretty much blocked off. But we did get tickets to go see the nutcracker in the kremlin... So that's exciting. We didn't go in the kremlin though... Don't worry we are going back and I will write a longer post about that when it happens cause its actually a really cool place!

So after red we went back home.... Packed and headed to the train station to go to st. Petersburg! My Mom always told me to ride first class in a sleeper and now I understand why.... Russians that are sleeping don't smell so pretty... Also the mattresses are super sketchy! But I am grateful I was about to go! So we got to st petes at 4:30 in the morning. Super early right?

We then took the metro to the place where we were staying and walked around for a while before we found it because none of us had ever been there :).  Then we dropped stuff off took a metro to the city and walked around for about an hour and a half looking for food... We finally found some and our group of 17 split up into groups of just the schools you were teaching at. So there we were... Six girls in the middle of st petes not knowing where anything was or how to get there.... So we saw a cathedral in the distance and walked towards it... Which it turned out to be really cool because  we could go to the top of the bell tower and then we saw the whole city... The cathedral was actually also a convent it is called "smolny sobor" or just the smolny cathedral. It has an amazing history involving Catherine the Great... But I don't have all day ;) so we will leave that one at that. But it was absolutely amazing! Out side the convent there was an information desk, so we spent some time in there learning about all these places we could go and see!  Also while we were taking some pics of the convent we ran into this lady from Moscow who new a little bit of English and had been to st. Petes like every year and she told us to go on a canal boat ride.... Which we ended up doing because we wanted to save other things for other days and we were all super tired and just wanted to sit down, so it was absolutely fabulous! 

That was basically all we did that day, and by the end of the day we were so exhausted! So were staying at the st petes ilp school.... Which was just an interesting experience! We were sleeping on these awesome mattresses that smelled of urine and were to small.... But we were so grateful to have a place to sleep :) but we were basically hobos.... There was one shower that all 17 of us could use only at night. Also the school wanted us out of there by 7:30-8 every morning and we couldn't come back till about 9 every night... So we didn't shower a lot cause it got late, but that's all part of the experience right! 

The next couple of days were interesting... We didn't know our way around and  so we kinda just went random places... We went to peters fortress which is where Anastasia's family is buried.... It has a beach and there was a sand statue contest going on so that was cool! While we were there we saw a place to dress up in the old cloths... Like Catharine the Great clothes! So a few of us did that and it was just awesome! 

After that we went to the hermitage.... Which is also the winter palace, little did we know. They are not separate buildings as we may have thought :)Also it was AWESOME!!!! Back ground on the Hermitage. It is Catherine the Greats collection. And while collecting it she didn't get just one painting, but whole collections of paintings! We saw paintings from all the famous artist!!! Da Vince, Rafael, Michelangelo, Giovanni, Picasso, Rembrandt! And also there are 3 million items on display in the hermitage (not just painting but like Egyptian artifacts and such) but the crazy part is that there is 20 times that much in the vaults of the museum... Can I get a CARAZY! We read this in a book so I'm pretty sure it's pretty accurate!  It was basically the coolest experience ever! We were there for three hours and there was so much that we didn't see! We didn't even make it to Monet or the Japanese art! It was just truly amazing and I have such a greater appreciation for fine art! I'm becoming more and more like Neal Caffrey every day! Haha kidding! So thus ends the second day.

The third day, which was sunday, we decided to go to the cathedrals. Ok side note on sunday, while we were at peters fortress we actually didn't know at the time that that was were the Romanov family was burried! So we didn't go in that cathedral! So of course on Sunday we had to go back! So that we could see where Anastasia was burried! Also I'm not sure if it was Saturday or Sunday but while walking back from peters fortress we saw a live bear... Like a real live one!!! Just a baby... It was even drinking from a bottle! And monkeys!! I got Pics an will post don't worry!!!  

We then went to the cathedral of spilled blood which was sooooo awesome! The walls are all mosaic! All! It is sooo beautiful!  That is now the background of my iPad! And in took the photo! It is just such a miraculous place! Butnyou know... Little side note here! Even though the cathedrals an the mosques are absolutely amazing... I just didnt feel the spirit as strong as I do when I go to the temple or even to church. So it was a great testimony builder that our church is the true church! :)  

 We also went to the Romanov summer palace which was amazing! We didn't go inside we just walked around the grounds but it was so awesome! But the grounds are huge! And it's right on the gulf of Finland so we could even see Finland! But it was so fun! And absolutely amazing!

In Russia, when they get married, they have a small wedding and then go around and take pictures at all the famous places.... So we saw sooooooo Many brides every where we went...especially on Saturday because that is the most popular day to get married! And I mean a ton! 

When we got back from st petes we were all so beat that we didn't really want to do anything but take a good shower and sleep in a good bed! So basically that's what we did.... Well an we did some training an went and organized the supply room... After all we are here to teach!

So that was st. Petes... I still need to write about being back in Moscow, the first day of school, and the first day of teaching! So more soon!

Love love,
Hailey Dawn

I'm typing on iPad and so it's a little more complicated so I might have a few mistakes