Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Three of my favorite days. The weekend. Ahhh.
I love weekends not only because of the break that I get, but also the opportunities to go have fun! This past weekend specifically was wonderful! Check out these awesome places I went to!
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I love weekends not only because of the break that I get, but also the opportunities to go have fun! This past weekend specifically was wonderful! Check out these awesome places I went to!
"Miracle Island" Amusement Park
This place was awesome! It was a small amusement park with rides for all ages. What's great is that it was free to get in, you just pay if you want to go on a ride. I loved their landscaping; it was very nicely kept and they had magical fairytale decorations! I went on two rides in this park. One (pictured below) with swings that went way high up, and one called "The Booster" that was crazy fun!
Walking into the park
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I got myself a Russian boyfriend!
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The swings I went on
Ignore our shrills of excitement. We were high up and
had a great view! You can see the other ride I went on in this
video. It's the tall one next to the river.
Canal/river tour
Sunday afternoon I went out with my host family
on a canal/Neva river boat ride! I loved being out
on the water and taking pictures!
My host siblings and I.
Maxim, age 9. Tanya, age 3.
Tanya. Such a cutie!
My host parents, Sveta & Anton
Out on the river
A boat with a "G20" advertisement
Posing on the boat
Maxim, who is in one of my classes
Being silly
Beautiful views
So many canals!
Saint Isaac's Cathedral
It cost us 250 rubles (a little over $7.00) to get in.
Right as I entered into it, I gasped! My jaw was on the floor!
The whole place was so magnificent. I felt like I was always
looking at something new (some many paintings, details, ect.)
and that I couldn't capture the beauty on my camera.
The outside. You can see they were renovating
on the right side.
The columns outside
Adam & Eve
Wow!
Kindergarten
Along with this post I decided to show you some pics of the schools I teach at.
I teach at this Kindergarten four times a week! I do two beginner (Primary)
classes, and two Level 1 classes.
I just got these two shots of the outside, but I will get some
inside and with the kids soon. I would also love to snap some
pictures of the garden/playground area inside the fence. It's so fun
and pretty!
The front
The road next to the Kindergarten. I walk
up it and to the left to get to my host family.
Private 1
This school requires over an hour of travel time... which includes
hopping on the metro, changing lines, a bus ride, and a
brief walk. Whew! But this is my favorite school to teach at.
We have good students, and the lunch lady feeds us really great lunches!
This school is also the one located right next to the Gulf. Below
are pictures of us and the whole school at the park across the street
(and if you continue walking through this park you'd come to the ocean.)
After classes we go to the park for 30-40 minutes, then head back to eat lunch.
Be aware that only about 4 of these students are our English students, and
the rest just attend the Private school's Russian activities.
The school is located in the red building
At the park with all the kids and the schools
Russian directors
Vlad, me, and Motivey being silly
The pretty park
Onya and I. Her attention span is short in class!
And because she is so young, the Russian
directors at this school are flexible with her attendance
in our English classes.
Hanging out in the tree, like any normal teacher would.
Our classroom at Private 1
What we had for lunch today! Yum. I
love Russian food!
Random pictures
My walk on the way to the metro station
My keys. The ones on top are for my host family's
apartment. The ones on the bottom are for my
host grandparents. Plus one of those magnetic black keys
for the host teachers apartment building.
This is for you, Dad! Found this stand in a random spot
in a little shopping center! NAI in Russia, standing
tall and proud.
Hope you all enjoyed the pictures!
Talk to you soon.
-Maegan
Seeing your pics and blog post today brings tears to my eyes! *sniff*
ReplyDeleteIt's so wonderful to see you doing so many awesome things, not only for fun but the purpose of you going to volunteer with those kids! They look adorable even if a bit distracted sometimes. :) Keep it up, beautiful girl!! We love you!
And don't forget I still want to see pics of your host parents and grandparents...not just the back of their heads, lol!!
ReplyDeleteListen to 'yo mama! I got home from Moscow only to realize I didn't get pics of my host mom and dad when I processed all my prints (before this new fangled digital age;) I was so sad I don't have photo's of Olya and Sergei!!! Olya was missing three of her front teeth, and Sergei was someone you'd see from the movies...always with a bottle of vodka and a pack of tobacco, and smelled of garlic. Host daddy proposed to me while drunk one time. I'M even surprised I resisted. :D
ReplyDeleteHaha too funny. I will make sure to get some pictures! Luckily my host parents aren't quite that crazy ;)
DeleteGRANDDAUGHTER hello! You have shown three pictures of churches (Peter Paul cathedral, a picture, you named only as a famous cathedral, and a Peter Paul Cathedral that you toured through.) The Peter Paul Cathedral was beautiful; is it only a Museum now? Are the other Cathedrals active churches? What denominations are they? Glad to see you have a good relationship with your host family. Love Grandma Rogers
ReplyDeleteIn one of my past posts, I was able to go to the Peter Paul Fortress, and take a few photos of the Peter Paul Cathedral (the yellow building) of the outside. Above is the Saint Isaac's Cathedral, and as you can see, the inside was gorgeous. Saint Isaac's is used as a museum now, I believe. I do not know how active the cathedrals are, and am still confused what denomination they specifically are! We haven't gone with our Russian friend/tour guide to any of the churches, so we haven't been able to find out. I am very glad I get along with my host family and that they are decent people! Thank you for your comment!
DeleteMAEGAN: Listing the three cathedrals above I meant to say St. Isaac Cathedral as the third one. I had better read my preview more carefully before I send my post. I do make mistakes and my grammar is not perfect. Our missionaries are sent to Russia. Do you know if any of our churches or branches are close by? I am in the process of scanning all of my ancestral pictures, my mothers pictures, and all of my pictures I have ever taken. I am finding this is going to be a very big project. Working on it morning, afternoon, and evening. Talk to you later. Grandma Rogers.
ReplyDeleteI have gone to church once already, and I will be going this Sunday. :) It takes less than an hour to get there after riding on the metro. Your project sounds awesome, by the way! :)
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