Serendipity

   Well, my time as a Moskvitchka has officially ended. I'm sitting here in the schoolroom at home in Apex, North Carolina, U.S.A., where I have been now for a week, and it feels...weird. Of course, it is wonderful beyond words to be with my family again - sometimes I have to just stop and let it sink in that I'm actually home. But at the same time, it is strange not to be in Moscow, and to be so far away...not just physically, but mentally as well. It rather feels like I've been rafting on a rapid-filled river for the past year - lots of noise, excitement, fast movement, and yes, a good deal of stress - and suddenly I've turned onto a lazy, slow-moving side stream - it's relaxing, warm, full of the buzz of cicadas - but my brain and heart are still pumping to the rhythm of a different flow. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be home, and I know it was time to leave, and I was exhausted and needed a break - it's just going to take some time to adjust to life back in good old N.C.
     The last couple of weeks in Moscow were jam-packed. The second-to-last week was my last week of teaching, which meant saying goodbye to a lot of my students. Thankfully, it wasn't as emotionally charged as it might have been, since many of my classes ended in May - most of my June classes I'd only been teaching for a month, so I wasn't too close to many of my students. But I did have to say farewell to the Sorokinys and to my intermediate class. I was really pleasantly surprised, because my one trouble-student, who had complained earlier in the year that I was wasting her time, actually thanked me and said that I'd really helped her improve her English, which made me really happy. It was a bit hard to say goodbye to the administrators as well, particularly to Olga, who scared me on the first day but who turned out to be so sweet.
     Friday, which was a free day, I spent wandering around МГУ - a really neat university in a beautiful setting - built on one of the hills overlooking Moscow, so there's a really great view from the edge of the university grounds. Below the university there is a park running down to the banks of the river, so I wandered all over the grounds - except, unfortunately, through the university botanical gardens, which were closed - down through the park, and out onto the metro/pedestrian bridge crossing the river. It's cool because the bridge is actually a metro stop, all glassed in so you get a view of the river while you wait for your train.

 flowers in the grass outside МГУ

 Lomonosov and his university

 outside the botanical garden

 pretty peony on the boulevard in front of МГУ

 church near the university

 view of the city from the end of the boulevard

 the river from the metro bridge

 
     The last week I was determined to spend seeing everything I hadn't had time to see during the rest of my time in Moscow...I had quite an ambitious list, but of course I couldn't actually see everything I wanted too - just another reason that I will have to go back for a visit!
           I spent a day with Lena at ВДНХ, which was really interesting - it was sort of a mix of old Soviet-era monuments, a U.S. state fair, and a bunch of exhibition halls. It's difficult to describe the atmosphere, but it was very relaxing to just wander around and see things, and I tried plov, a rice dish with meat and vegetables and spices, and it was really good. Lena and I also walked around the butterfly exhibit in one of the halls, which was really beautiful. That night I met up with a different Lena - the Lena from my dance group - and we went to see the old circus on Tverskoy Boulevard, which was great fun - it's different from Barnum and Bailey because it is smaller and because they depend a lot more on actual tricks for entertainment instead of technology and special effects - I liked it a lot more! After the show we went for a stroll around part of the Boulevard Ring and stopped for milkshakes in the cafe next to the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

 walking into ВДНХ

fountain of the nations

 butterfly exhibit!!

 one intrepid venturer landed on Lena's head! :)

 my favorite

 and second-favorite

 the Ukrainian exhibition hall

     The next day I went to Mass for the last time in Russia, and then stopped to take some pictures of the flowers outside the church. I met up with dance-group Lena again that night to see Esmeralda at the Nemirovich-Danchenko theatre. It was beautiful - both the sets and the dancing, but the ending was so sad!  Afterwards we walked around some of the Boulevard Ring, stopped in a cafe for some yummy tiramisu, and chatted until almost midnight. It was wonderful.

 flowers outside the church

    Monday I went to Red Square and walked around inside the Historical Museum and St. Basil's - which is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside! It's not one church, but actually a number of little churches, all decorated with paint, tile, and gold - it looks small from the outside but it actually takes quite a while to wander through! From the Red Square I walked down the river - along the "Sophie Embankment"!- to get to the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer. It is so interesting to walk inside Russian Orthodox Churches - so different from old Catholic churches, but at the same time I feel like those two faiths are so close to each other. Anyway, the church was gorgeous - in the shape a cross with a huge domed ceiling in the center and an elaborate altar - again, full of gilt, paintings of saints, and marble. But I think I liked the downstairs section better - it was quieter, and the lights were dim, so the candles flickering before the icons seemed very bright. And it was neat because my patron saint, Tatiana, is recognized by both the Catholic and the Russian Orthodox church, so I found her in an icon showing many different saints. After I left the cathedral I walked along a part of the Boulevard Ring to the old Arbat. I was on a book-hunt - one thing I really wanted to bring back was some books so I could keep up my Russian. There are lots of used book stalls on the Arbat, and the fates were with me - I found Anna Karenina and an old copy of the Silmarillion for less than 100 rubles each!

 beautiful church near the Red Square

 strangely Petersburg-ish part of Moscow

 walking along the Kremlin Wall

 British Embassy across the river

 I (unintentionally) matched St. Basil's!

 approaching the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer

 crossing the bridge

 looking back towards the Kremlin

I can't take a level picture to save my life...

     Tuesday I mustered up my failing energy and made a trip to the Pushkin Museum, but it was short-lived: I barely made it through the rooms on the first floor before I realized that I was too exhausted to take in any more artwork! But the trip was not without its triumphs - the museum charges Russians 200 rubles for entry, but foreigners are charged 600 - luckily, my accent was good enough to fool the ticket lady, so I got in for the Russian price! Ha! And I stopped off at another bookstore and picked up the Chronicles of Narnia, the Inkheart Trilogy, and a Russian-Italian dictionary and Italian grammar workbook. I want to learn Italian next, but for a while I was afraid that if I learned Italian I would forget Russian, like I did with my high school French when I started studying Russian in college. But I'm hoping that if I learn Italian in Russian, then I won't forget anything - except maybe English! :)

 roses outside the Pushkin Museum

 Pushkin Museum!

    The last two days I didn't do much of anything except pack - it's really hard moving yourself out of an apartment by yourself! And I was so nervous because I just knew my bags would be overweight, even though I was carrying all of my books and my laptop in my carry-on. I was blessed, though, because my bags were just at the limit, so I didn't have to pay any extra! And even though I know my carry-on was way over the limit with all those books, I think it looked so innocent since it was a backpack that it passed muster. The trip home was fairly uneventful, although I had to make some really close connections! And it was so good to see my family waiting at the gate. For the past two weeks I've been luxuriating in just being  home, enjoying seeing my family, and making plans to see friends.
     When I look back, this entire trip at first glance seems to have been strangely serendipitous from start to finish. My initially being locked out of my flat led to my meeting the neighbors who turned out to be such wonderful friends; although my flatmates were constantly changing I never ended up with anyone awful; though I heard horror stories about other Language Link branches my school and administrators were wonderful; I never had any truly terrible students, and I seemed to get only students I could handle; my co-workers became some of my best friends and led me to make some other really good friends; the first dance studio I went to turned out to lead me to the wonderful dance group I spent such good times with and where I made more close friends, the Catholic church closest to my flat turned out to have such inspiring Masses and sermons and was such a good place to spend time with God; and my family and friends both in the U.S. and in Russia were so supportive and helped me to have so many good memories of my time there. And, of course, the chance suggestion of my dentist to start a blog turned into something so fun for me to write! Of course, so many lucky happenstances make it clear: it wasn't really serendipity at all, but rather God's blessing. I am so incredibly blessed, in my friends, family, and the experiences I had in Russia.
    As for what's next, well, there are any number of things I have before me! - dancing, learning Italian, PT school, learning to sail, hiking the Appalachian Trail, visiting with friends, seeing more of the world... the list goes on! But all of that will have to wait for another blog, because those are different adventures, and they would need a different title! For now, my ten months as a Moskvitchka have come to a close.