(b)log update

I've been bad at updating the (b)log lately, because I've been busy with school and adventuring. I apologize.

Saturday was День Города which means "City Day", also known as the city's birthday! It's strange to think that Krasnoyarsk is over 100 years older than the entire U.S. Just one little (big) city in Siberia. On that note, I really like Siberia. It's so beautiful here, and when we look at maps of Russia I feel so small in comparison.. I think I've mentioned how the city is built a lot like Salt Lake with the surrounding mountains, creating an inversion. TJ, another student in my group, asked if when it rained the air became clean because it was quite dirty. I said yes, and I should have asked how to beat the humidity because I am not used to it and TJ is from Missouri.. aka, misery. ;)

So on Saturday I went to the parade with Andrew, and after that we wandered around for several hours with our group, got lunch, looked at local sites and went up to the river. The parade was really.. Russian and by that I mean slightly strange and extremely sexy.

I went to the beginning of the festival with my classmates, it was called, the "Aht" festival, almost like a snobby person would say art and it gave all of us a laugh. There was a lot of really neat music and people from all over the world that poured water from their local streams, lakes, oceans, etc into a big fountain that when full, symbolized the unity of the cultures. There were some really neat drummers from Japan that I watched on Saturday night with my family. I enjoyed many of the performances. 

Part of the parade-- It's a whale fish! This is significant because in my Russian studies class we sing a song called Whale Fish. I like singing more than I should.. The people on top of the whale fish are native people from far north in Siberia. Their traditional dress looks a lot like the inuits to me, and they even performed throat singing at their introduction, which was really cool. I had a great seat at the opening because I was sitting next to the head of our program, Tatyana Petrovna, and she narrated everything in understandable Russian. 

Seriously, Poseidon. He looks like he should be starring in Magic Mike or something. He wasn't wearing a shirt, either. That's not a costume, that's disturbingly real. And he was rockin' out. 

In our group's wanderings, we went underneath Komunalny Most (bridge). It was really neat seeing it up close. 

Look how enthused I am.. also notice my "friends" leaving me.. Andrew. 

I found this mural which seemed entirely appropriate for my blog. I really like that it says "NASA" while still having the USSR written on it in Russian (СССР).

I went to dinner with my family at a restaurant the other day-- a real one. Food here has been really fascinating, and it's interesting to take in why Russians seem to eat out versus why Americans do. however, this place was great, the soup was cream of garlic and it came in this giant rye bread bowl. 

My host dad saw me taking pictures, and put this sugar cube on top of my finished soup. He said to put in online and tell my family that it's Russian cake. I wonder how many people would believe it?

And then, they gave me a giant bowl of Soviet Ice Cream with chocolate shavings and a comically tiny spoon to eat it with. It was delicious. Most of the food here is, it's just really different from home.  What I like best is the conversation; at tea, breakfast and dinner, I get a lot of conversation in with my family and sometimes we watch tv in Russian, which is interesting in it's own way. 

I'm having a great time over here and am shocked that it's already July! On Wednesday we are celebrating both the 4th and Sho's Birthday! Sho is half Japanese and half American, and has been studying at the U, but it returning home indefinitely after his trip. Hopefully we can find an American bar like he wants. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to see "Brave" (it's called "Braveheart" here!) all in Russian. Hopefully because it's a cartoon it'll be easier to understand! 

Until next contact, 

Kelli