Spring Break and NYC Preparation

Finally! Spring Break is here, and with it Snow...again.I think I jinxed myself with this whole spring thing, there's a good 4-6 of snow on the ground outside. I hope and pray it's the last of it! I'm kind of finished with winter, especially my experience with Russia's.

 I went again to the 3 book stores that I have knowledge of, and searched through the insurmountable amount of events, people and stories. Fed my mind and soul with its unending fantasies, books. I purchased with what little money I had, The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. The English language is such a comfort to me, and seeing it anywhere excites me, a bit of familiarity. And of course, Middle Earth is such an in depth story, so I will be returning soon to purchase The Lord of the Rings.

 I'm hard at work preparing for NYC, checking my flight information, packing, scheduling, checking and stressing. Of course, a bit of stress is good before a competition! It will be a lot easier this year, as I have gone before and know how to do everything. I'm also much more comfortable with international traveling and public transportation, although, believe it or not I personally think that the Moscow Metro is more organized and clean then the NYC Metro. Just Putining it out there! (Pun intended.)

 I'm all alone in my dorm room for the next few days, Kaito has returned to Japan and Janos is out and about with his parents. At least I'm not in the snow! Ah, I love spring break.

Kaito

Kaito's last day.

Kaito, my good friend and ex-roommate has just left for Japan. We have the high scores on all of our video games thanks to him. It was nice to meet him, and if I ever go to Japan he'll be the first person I contact. Bye Kaito! さようなら！

Just Kidding

Spring is a miraculous experience. The whole world comes alive after the winter in which it seemed that everything was dead. The world comes filled with color and the scent of delicious greenery. The world that seemed so dull and cold has come alive once again. Little did we know that beneath the cold hard ground the plants and trees were preparing for rebirth. Spring gives us hope for rejuvenation in our own lives as well. Spring is a time to renew the excitement and zest for life that lives inside.

...Funny Joke Russia...

Dorm Happenings

With spring here, we decided it was time for some change. We wiped every surface in the room down, washed the laundry and sheets, opened the window for some fresh air and mopped the floor. Following deep cleaning everything, we started moving the furniture. The room is very small however we still wanted some change. We started moving things around and all of the sudden one of the closets fell apart and crumbled to the ground. With some bent nails we found from the closet and a character shoe, we were able to put it back together.

Janos hard at work.

After some bruised fingers and a long evening, we had everything perfect the way we wanted it. Just another day in Russia.

Spring Coming

This month spring has been coming to Moscow, it's very nice to have the warmth and light of the sun back in this cold city. As I was going about the city, I realized what a great life I had in Moscow. Yes, things have been extremely difficult but I also have so much freedom. I've learned to speak another language, use the public transportation system, shop for my needs etc. We've also had a bit of fun this month :)

Janos and I in the park, we decided it was time to play.

Kaito with statues.

Me with statues.

 I've found some book stores that have english books, my Russian friend took me and we had a fun time looking at all of the books. He speaks fairly good English and I was able to recommend some good books for him to read. You wouldn't believe the price of all of the classic books! $2-4 For almost any classic you could think of, The Secret Garden, Treasure Island, Alice in Wonderland, etc.  To my shame, classics haven't really been a strong part of my reading repertoire, so I bought a few since they were so much cheaper then you can get anywhere in the USA.

Since the weather has been so nice, my friends and I decided we would go for a walk. We walked 2 blocks and found the Moscow River and a bridge with a better view

We went with some japanese friends so as you can imagine, us speaking japanese and english we looked like such tourists, Janos wasn't helping that image.

 Thank you everyone for your donations, support and friendship. I know that none of this would be possible without you so THANK YOU!

Giselle

Last weekend after La Fille Mal Gardee, I had the opportunity to watch Giselle. Oh my gosh...so beautiful.

Got the ticket after 4 hours of waiting. Much better then 12!

Traditional Hot Dog dinner.

Bolshoi Theatre looking spectacular as usual.

Yours truly just before Act I.

No words can describe how it felt. Beautifully performed.

We enjoyed it so much! David Hallberg and Svetlana Zakhorva are very well paired together.

Afterwards we had the opportunity to meet them. So awesome!

Signing autographs.

Wonderful inspiring people. I hope we can someday be something like them!

La Fille Mal Gardee

Last weekend was the school's production of La Fille Mal Gardee. It was quite a wonderful performance and everyone did a fantastic job! It was amazing to be in the theatre and experience the performance.

Before the performance.

Just before the curtain opens...

Everyone did a wonderful job! Tomorrow, Giselle from the audience at the Bolshoi.

A New Beginning!

Hello Everyone!

I have officially been here for 2 weeks now and am back into the swing of things. My body and brain hurt everyday, and I'm loving it.

This semester has been such a nice new start because I knew how to better prepare myself for it (food, clothes, etc.). It's an exciting time, many ballet performances coming up including: Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Flames of Paris. Also, the school is performing La Fille Mal Gardee, so I will get to go see that. Unfortunately, I've been here for too short a time to perform with the school but it's completely normal. I've also discovered a new routine this semester which is nice. More sleep, better eating habits, study time, etc. On top of that, I fell better fed this semester as I consumed 4 lbs of Peanut Butter, a family size container of Cocoa and a pack of Oreos. I must say that the Russian Language is one of the hardest things I've had to learn academically speaking; it just never seems to make sense. But, I'm working on it and I'm getting better everyday.

Ballet Classes have been brutal, as usual. My legs, arms, neck, back, feet, toes, calves, thighs, hips, and anything else you can think of hurt. There's something so addicting about torturing the body to do beautiful things. However, I feel very lucky to be able to be here. The knowledge I am gaining about ballet is of the purist form and I treasure it more then anything else.

The sun is coming back to Moscow, which makes me very happy because the amount of general light there is has a great influence on my mood. By the time we've finished barre, there's a sun in the sky. Before, it was dark until the class was over. I can't wait until there's sun to wake up to. Because waking up, showering, going to breakfast, stretching and warming up is hard to do in the dark. Especially when I just want to go back to sleep.

Mom's View: Off Again!

He is off and on his way back to Russia.

Despite our very best intentions, we were up late into the night getting him ready.

Since this was a return trip, he knew the things he most needed to bring with him.  The list included a few random things like Clorox wipes (Scores of teenage boys in a dorm setting?  I mean, ew.) and a book light.
But, based on meals like this,

Actual dinner at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.
Mystery meat and, what is that, a tablespoon of corn, iceberg lettuce and two dices of tomato?

we knew the thing he needed most was food.  Come on, Russia.  These boys are hungry!
Food, even dehydrated or freeze-dried food is heavy.
All night, we arranged and rearranged his luggage to try and make the weight requirements.
As it was, he had to leave home some precious peanut butter--heartbreaking!

As we drove him into the airport this morning, we knew our luggage scale still had him 5 pounds over weight.  We decided to leave the five pounds and see if the airport scale was a little different.

It was.  In fact it was so different that it felt dishonorable to accept the weight.  I nearly disputed their claim, but Isaac reminded me that it was their scale and that we should view it as divine intervention so he would have enough to eat.

Six months is a long time.  A long, long time.

We watched him go through security, (I was afraid the 25 bags of popcorn stuffed in random places in his carry-on luggage would look suspicious) and waited for him to tie his shoes.  

He stood up and looked for us.

I don't have a digital picture of it, but the next moment is ingrained in my memory forever and ever.

As he tugged his luggage down the terminal, he waved and smiled.

That smile and wave seemed to say, 

I don't want to let you out of my sight so I'm going to look at you as long as possible.  

But it also said, Don't worry too much, Mom;  

I am doing what I love.