Saying goodbye to Russia...

We were stuck over in our side of town for the entire weekend. For those who haven't heard, Russia held their presidential elections a couple of Sundays ago. Vladimir Putin had won and apparently, there had been some rigging and frauds in the election. There was a protest the day right after the election that resulted hundreds being arrested. Last Saturday, we were going to go out to a sauna, but that very morning, we were instructed by our director that we couldn't travel until further notice. In Moscow, there was a protest of 30,000+ people (but there has been reports that it was even bigger than that) and Putin accused "America for encouraging the protests", so it wasn't safe for us to travel. We are now "Canadians", in case anyone asks ;) hahahha. BUT if I had to be stuck at home for a weekend, okay... at least it was a "COOL" reason...am I right? I can now say, "Yeah, when I was in Russia, there were protests going on!!!" - everything was fine. The protests were reported to have gone down "peacefully" with no violence. Also, we had a good weekend! We went on a walk near the kindergarten buildings we teach at and we saw people RUNNING ACROSS THE LAKE!!! IT WAS FROZZZEN!!! Oh... NO WAY!!!!! We went and ran across it, "ice skating" and sliding on our knees, and there were dozens of people ice fishing. I have always wanted to go ice fishing and I touched some of the people's fish that they caught, hahaha.

WHAT A CRAZY WEEK... the way I love them :)
I walked out into our hallway and I wanted to puke. It smelled....AWFUL.  To me, it was a combination of fish and vomit. Hailey and Selina asked the cleaning lady what that smell was....oh, don't worry - it was just a rotting fish. I think one of the students put it there, hah.

Goofy Nastya :)

Big Kindergarten...story of the week: So Hailey was making an arts and crafts with the kiddos making Christmas trees. They were about to put on the star and she joked (or at least I hope, hahaha jk), "Okay kids! Instead of using glue, lets put our fingers up our noses and get out a sticky booger!" AND ONE OF THE KID DID IT!!!!!!! I DIED! died. died!!!!! Also because it was NASTYA who did it! She's like the "princess" of the class! HAHAHHHA!!!

Little Kindergarten - I spend most of my time at Little K because of the craziness of these little 3-4 year olds. Misha *sigh*...that child, he had his ups and downs. After receiving a prize that one day, the next day he was being so bad, so no prize. I went up the stairs to check on my teacher and her lesson and Misha came up to me and hit me. I was like, "HEY!" - what the heck, I'm not even your teacher! He was pretty upset that he didn't get a prize that day, so he took it out on me! Haha. We think he has a crush on me, hahaaha. Yesterday, he lined himself up for class and Selina asked him, "Misha, you want to come to my class today?" He shook his head no. She asked, "Oh, are you going to go with Teacher Laura?" and he shook his head no. I exclaimed, "Mish, do you want to go with ME?!" and he nodded his head and got a little sly smile on his face, hahahahha!! I laughed so hard when I heard all the English he would say at home was, "SIT DOWN! SIT DOWN!" - maybe because thats what we're always saying to these kids, hahahhahah!!!!

Vova ....oh Vova :)

That same day, Velizar came up to me and he was whimpering and by the way he was dancing about, I could tell he needed to go to the bathroom. So I told him, "Yeah, go right ahead" (I don't even know why he was asking;  they usually get up and leave the class themselves!), but Velizar was still pleading with me still and I was like, "Go Velizar! Go dude! It's okay!" and he just started crying his eyes out and going to the bathroom right then and there...and then there is Vova. Looking over at him and of course he isn't sitting in his chair, but instead he is dragging his TONGUE across the CARPET.

Yesterday, they were convinced there was a "monstro" (monster) in the closet and Kirill pretended to be a zombie while Misha was fighting him off.

Oh Little Kindergarten is my favorite :)

Yesterday was the last day of teaching. We leave on Tuesday morning for America. When I walked up the stairs at Little K and saw all craziness, I couldn't help but smile. As psycho as these kids were, I loved them... you never had a boring day there. All the kids that we teach, they seriously know how to put an instant smile on your face and you are reminded how the past 4 months were worth it. I went over to Big K and sat in Chelsea's class. Nastya was hugging Hailey and when she looked at me, I saw her little eyes filled up with tears. I couldn't help but tear up myself. Nastya came over to me and jumped unto my lap. As I cradled her back and forth, I couldn't help but start crying. Nastya looked at me and asked, "Why sad?". She wiped my tears away with her little fingers continually since they kept flowing from my eyes. I couldn't help it. She asked, "May I go to the toilet?" and when she returned, she gave all of us tissues.

Nastya couldn't stop crying and neither could I. It was sad because only 6 kids were there that day. Usually we have 25 kids, but attendance has been low for the past couple of weeks due to an outbreak of the chicken pox... it makes me so sad knowing that I never had a chance to say goodbye to the others...

I love the Russian people. I am going to miss them. The Russians that I am friends with, they are the kindest! You really just have to get to know them and once you do, they are so loving back! Once you enter a Russian's heart, you stay there always. You know, I am so grateful for the time I had with the Russian people for these 4 months. There are many stereotypes about people in this world. When my friends found out that I was coming here, they would say to me, "Ohhh...Russians never smile. They're bitter and mean people. They're depressing," - but now I know..Russians are DELIGHTS and when a Russian smiles, they smile with most of sincerity :) It's never easy saying goodbye to people you love. Your heart will always be with them. I am so lucky to get to meet all these people from around the world that I'll reunite with as a big family in the next life. Time is strange. The days can feel like weeks and the weeks can feel like days. It goes by in a flash and you won't be able to believe it when it passes.... especially when you find yourself saying goodbye to your dear friends or family for a time... people are so precious and its of no wonder why souls are great, glorious, and beautiful in God's eyes. They are in mine too.

D&C 18:10: "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God"

Misha, Babushkas, and Drunks...OH MY!

You guys... Misha is becoming one of my favorites. YES, the kid who BIT me a couple of weeks ago has been pretty good lately!!! What is going on??! Today, he got a prize for his good behavior and speaking. He picked out a little pink hair dryer toy, but I think he thinks its a gun cause he was shooting everyone with it, hahaha. I cannot believe we only have 2 weeks left with this kids... today, little Lera was bawling her eyes out because we were going to be leaving. It made me tear up...oh man!!!!

I had a goal before I was going to leave Russia. A couple of weeks ago, it was early in the morning while we were traveling and I was very tired. I was sitting next to a babushka on the bus and she was out of it too. She was kind of bigger and kind of leaning on me. I wanted to just lay my head on her shoulder, but thought that I'd better not. Oh why! I totally should have!! Cause how nice would it be to take a little doze on a babushka??? Yeah maybe they'd tap me awake, but what if they smiled and let me rest until they had to get off at their stop. I'll just pull the little number where I smile and emphasize my tired state, closing the eyes, add a little head bopping, and then lay back, slowly getting closer to their shoulder...

When I realized how much thinking I put into it, I thought: I am doing it. Everyone travels early in the morning on Monday to get to their jobs. When I got on the #549 bus, there were a few empty seats (rare), but I spotted a seat next to a babushka!!! WELL TODAY WAS THE DAY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!! I went over and sat next to her. She started talking to me, but I said "Niet puruski" (I don't speak Russian/No Russian) and I think she understood, but not sure. I just gave her a big smile and laid my head on her shoulder. She started laughing and I just snuggled to her. It was a nice rest too because she was a bigger babushka...not the little ones that seem if I leaned on them, they would break. It was the BEST nap I ever had!!!! I miss her!

I had the best weekend ever ever ever ever. One of the missionaries us if we would sing a musical number at one of the African brother's baptism on Saturday. We were only able to practice it for a night, but I knew we would do okay because it was for a good cause in CELEBRATION!!!! His name is Segun and I am telling you, when he came forth out of the baptism water, my heart grew. It called me upon reflection of my baptism day and of our very purpose here on earth. I have the key to happiness because I have the gospel in my life! There are millions without and there are so many searching for it...whether they realize it or not. Segun was someone who was searching and he FOUND IT! It was a wonderful day :) Later that day, I got to go to Olga's to teach little 5 year old Masha and Maxism an English lesson. I am going to miss those kiddos and I wish I was able to spend more time with them. Right when I walked into the flat, they exclaimed, "Nusly, I love you very much!" - awwweeee and they said, "Nusly! Nusly! CRA-SI-VAYA!!!" (beautiful in Russian). Oh yes, if you remember Olga she is my librarian that belly dances. Her and her friend taught me some more belly dancing skillzzzzz, hahahhaha! Belly dancing is HARD - they are way good at it. I am going to miss Olga so much when I leave...

On my way home, I jumped on the metro. I was sitting next to a woman who was trying to tell me something, but I had no idea what she was telling me. She was pointing across to the seats, but the metro was very crowded and there were people standing in front of us. I couldn't see anything. As people were filing out to get off at their stops, I think I saw what she was talking about. There was a man sprawled out in his seat, his arms dangling over the railing and his legs taking up all the space in the aisle. He was passed out. I looked at her and imitated drinking and she said, "da" (yes) and I said, "ohhhhhhh,". Everyone was trying to keep a good distance from him while trying to hold on to something as the metro was operating. He was fidgeting in his sleep - must have been having a nightmare because he was kicking his legs and moving his arms. A young woman came in listening to her Ipod. She was standing next to the man, oblivious to him until (he is still sleeping) he reached out and grabbed her hand. She freaked out and jumped away. Her and I made eye contact and started laughing! There was a man who knew his stop was coming up, but he was on the other side of the doors...he would have to step over the man to get to them. I could tell he was struggling to figure out his strategy as he had one leg up in the air trying to figure out where to place it as the passed out drunk was fidgetting. We were all giggling at his attempt. He finally got over the him in time as his stop came up, but the drunk kicked his leg (yes, he is still sleeping) and we all BURSTED out in laughter!!!! That made the guy wake up and he quickly adjusted himself and sat up straight. As he was becoming aware of the situtation, he got a smile on his face, gave a little laugh, and crossed himself - HAHAHAHHHAHA!!!! For me, that was an unforgettable experience because that is the most I ever laughed with Russians :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I saw Lenin's body.... weeeeeird. They are so serious about that here in Russia. While you are looking at his body, you cannot talk, or stop to look (you must keep walking), your hats needs to be off. Half of the Russian population believe it is a fake wax figure, the others believe it is Lenin himself. I am deciding on what I think...I am leaning more on its fake. I can tell you this though, it was creeeeeeeeeeeeepy.

So, teaching is going great. Little 5 year old Misha hates my guts. It's pretty funny actually. He's this little little boy with a squeaky voice. He never sits in his seat and I always put him in it (of course he just gets right out of it and runs away). Last week when I told him to go sit down, he knocked his chair over, gave me a glare, and gave me the cold shoulder. I was kind of smiling, HAHA. Oh, then there was the one day that he was so mad at me because I made him go to class that he kept hitting me. with his little fists. He found paintbrushes and started whacking me with them. I pretended to cry and he LAUGHED!!! That's when I knew he was the devil's child, hahahahaha!

[EDIT:] Misha bit me on the shoulder.

Thanksgiving was great! Every Thursday we get to talk to a group of teenagers to help them practice their English. Their teacher made them look up the traditions and history of Thanksgiving. They asked me if dates and names were accurate. I replied, "Uhhh...yeah sure!". My favorite part of the conversation was, "Now students, what does a turkey say? A turkey, what does it say?". A student said, "Buck, buck!" and she replied, "Nooo, that's a chicken! What about a turkey?". I proudly raised my hand and said, "GOBBLE! GOBBLE!" Now THATS something I knew accurately, hahaha. That afternoon, I taught Russians how to polka! What a gooooooooooood time.

Random Fact: Guess how much a turkey costs at the GUM mall in Red Square?? OVER $200!!!!! YOU BETTER BE ENJOYING YOUR TURKEYS IN 'MERICA!

The real Thanksgiving was Saturday for us. On Thursday, our school fed us wiener-pickle soup (oh yum...), but a family from our church ward invited us over for their Thanksgiving and it was AWESOME...fruits, salad, vegetables, pies, cranberry, stuffing, turkey... mmmmmmm!!! I ate like 4 helpings. Best. Meal. Ever. We got back home really late that night. It was close to midnight and like usual, the gates outside the school were locked. We saw a security guard and we said, "Hey!!!" and in return he said, "Hi!". We just stared at him for several seconds and I piped up, "So...thinking about opening this gate?" He continued staring. I gave my coat and bookbag to Chelsea and got on the ground - whenever we get locked out, I squeeze my way under the fence since I'm small and get a guard to unlock the gate for the girls. We were scared for a second that I wasn't going to be able to fit because of that Thanksgiving dinner, hahahaha.

I want to spend a moment and share my testimony on the power of prayer. Brothers and sisters, God hears you. I have always known that, but I think this semester in Russia, I have taken the time to recognize God's hand in my life on a daily basis. That Thanksgiving night, it was very late in Moscow and the last bus to our area leaves at 10:30 pm. I had looked at a clock that read 10:45 and I was getting more nervous as time was ticking...6 American girls, stuck in Moscow at night while drunkards were roaming the streets was kind of scary. I said a silent prayer in my heart that our #549 bus would come and a few minutes later, it came around the corner and we hopped on and got home safely. I could tell you story after story after story about the miracles of God of just these past 3 months alone. Some of the things I pray for are not even life/death situations, BUT because it was important to me, it was important to the Lord. I challenge you guys to notice the daily miracles in your lives. I was thinking about this a lot for the past month and sometimes, maybe we get too caught up on the prayers that are not answered right away and that require time and perhaps we leave the daily confirmations of His love unnoticed. If something matters to you, it matters to your Heavenly Father. I know this is true. He answers prayers and if you praying to Him, have faith, your prayer WILL come in His own due timing. "Faith in God is faith in His timing".

www.mormon.org - the reason why I am so happy.

THA BALTICS BABY!!!!

We went on a "Baltics Cruise" for our vacation and what made me laugh was how right when we stepped off the ship into the 3 different countries, my first thought was, "What is this??? People... SMILING???!" and then when I re-entered Russia - FROWNS, hahaha. You gotta love it!

To get to the train, we had to use a micro-van to the metro. We got picked up by a maniac! Us 6 were the only ones in the van and he kept blabbing off in Russian to us. As he drove, he was swerving like a drunk man...I was scared for my life for a second!!! But then right when he picked up another Russian, he stopped talking and drove straight.

We didn't get to spend much time in Finland - just a couple of hours, but I liked the feeling that Finland gave. It was really relaxed and felt fresh. My favorite thing we did was as we were passing the Helsinki cathedral, we explored the inside cause it was FREE (yesssss!!!) and just our perfect timing! We got to sit through one of their prayer services and it was really beautiful. Finland and Sweden are both MOOSE COUNTRIES!!! Seriously obsessed... they had moose magnets, pencils, aprons, mittens, hats, shirts, notebooks, name it and there was a moose somewhere on it. I felt appreciated, haha. I liked each country for its own reasons. Like I said, Finland was relaxed and I loveddd Estonia's city of Tallin! It was SO cool and one of the most beautiful places I've been. It was like stepping into the medieval time period!!! There were castles, fortresses, and towers all over the city.

This is one of the MANY
candy shops in Sweden.

Sweden was probably my favorite stop (social wise). It was the most full of LIFE! Everyone was smiling, singing and dancing down the streets of Stockholm (I naturally joined in of course!). My dad (THOMAS WALDO..BEST PADRE EVER!) is actually jealous of me...YESSSS!!! (we're Swedish). Let me tell you about my favorite moment: me and Brea took a break from walking. We had been trying to find the Swedish Royal Palace for a little bit and just our luck, the 1 o'clock guard ceremony was taking place across the street. The crowd parted like the Red Sea and traffic was stopped because you weren't allowed to drive past the soldiers.  I thought to myself, "ohhhh my goodness! I SHOULD MARCH WITH THEM!!!" and I pushed my way through the crowd and marched right alongside the Swedish soldiers. I waved to the Swedish people and they were smiling and waving back. Where we were going? I had no idea :) We were marching up streets, turning corners, going through alley ways...I followed them for a pretty good 15 minutes and we arrived at the Royal Palace!!! Sweet, my destination! That's when I decided to dash off into the crowd...I couldn't really follow them beyond this point (well, maybe I could have; possibly resulting arrest, hahaha). My father would be so proud of me :')

Best way to end the last night on a cruise ship? Go dancing at one in the morning. Dance like crazy, completely sober of course, with a good bunch of hammered Russians. The old man that is dancing the night away with a big fat smile across his face is the best. He likes to push you into the middle of the dance floor for you to do a solo dance, hahahaha!!!

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I really am so blessed for the amazing opportunities that I get to have in my life.. the things I get to see, the people I get to meet, the things I am able to do and experience. God is so good. If you ever doubt, don't. Just look outside and there is your evidence right there... the sun alone shining. The clouds going by. Snowflakes falling... everyone, enjoy the moments that matter the most. Something unfortunate that happened on my trip was losing my wallet, but I couldn't even dwell on that while I was looking at the sun setting in Finland, dancing with the people of Sweden, or looking at the tall towers in Estonia... count your many blessings (www.mormon.org)  

Happy Halloween!!!

Saturday, Melissa and I went and checked out Victory Park. It had a huge monument dedicated to the second world war. It was really impressive. We wished we got to go inside the museum to see this room that had this ceiling covered in crystals. They look like tear drops and each chandelier piece represented 10,000 people who died in the war - we're going to try another time. As we were walking, I could hear music and we decided to go check it out. We stumbled upon an abandoned carnival park... you guys, it was the CREEPIEST thing ever; all the lights were on and this eerie music was playing but there were seriously NO people. Me and Melissa were laughing...so creepy. We thought it would be funny if we rode one of the rides but FREAKING RUSSIA!!! It was like $8 for bumper cars...are you kidding me!!!!!?!

That night, I was coming out of my room mate's room and Sasha and his friend were right outside the door. It scared me and I was like, "Oh hello!" Sasha handed me a chocolate bar and the friend said, "We sorry for..." and he tried using his hands to motion backwards. I think they were trying to apologize for the few weekends ago when they were drunk; singing and knocking on my door at 1 in the morning. I laughed cause seriously it was just really funny. I replied, "Oh really, don't worry about it." I tried getting around them, but they had something else to say, "Can you sing with us Hotel California?" uhhhhhh-ohhhhh...I could smell the booze off their breathe - well, I knew they wouldn't leave me alone so I did. I joined them as they played the piano and I sang it with them, hahahha. That night was just filled with other little random moments: 1.) Sasha handed me plum jam 2.) Sasha brought out his pet hamster and cracked open the other girls' room and let it loose in their dorm 3.) I thought I was finally going to get some rest, but then I heard a knock on my door and "Nuuuuuusly....Chelseaaaaaa...." - before we could go to bed, Sasha and his friend insisted on singing a song to us. They played the guitar and piano and sang to us a traditional Russian folk song while me and Chelsea swayed back and forth. Awesome.

Yup, so those are my neighbors!

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In church, guess who I got to teach???! THE SUNBEAMS!!!! (the little 4 year olds!) Last Sunday, Sister Snow came up to me and Melissa and asked us if we would teach for her since she as going to be out of town. Okay, well, I LOVED it! I hope she asks me again!

Me: "Whose example do we follow?"

Little Keegan: "Jesus!"

Me: What can we pray for?"

Little James: "Water!"

Little Christopher: "The people who are sick."

Me: "What can we do to be like Jesus?"

Little Anna: "Plant flowers!"

Little Avvie: "Play with others."

Little Christopher *while praying*: "Thank you for letting us all be friends"

So simple, but so true. I mean, am I right? :)

On my way home from the metro, me and an elderly man were staring at each other. I gave him thee CHEESIEST smile ever and he continued frowning and he shook his head. I said, "What? No? No smiling?" and I widened my smile even more (...if that was possible) and he continued shaking his head. Basically I have staring contests with the Russians on the metros. I always win.

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Here is a little Halloween for you guys: In Russia, they don't celebrate Halloween...such a bummer man because Halloween is AWESOME. My group decided we were going to have our own party (SOOO FUNNNN...I just wish I could put it into words for you guys!!!) but Sasha caught on what we were celebrating. I come out and I see this (picture to your left) and he goes "BOOOOOO!!!", scared the CRAP out of Hailey, but hahahha, this is where I lost it: I followed Sasha because I knew he was going to go scare the Russian teachers that lived on our floor. Once he got up to their door, he busted it open and he scared them BADDDD...curling screams I tell ya! One teacher had a knife in her hand and it looked like she was about to kill him.

We also played truth or dare and we made Selina dress up as a ghost and go get Hailey's laundry from the other side of the school building. She had to wail like a ghost the entire way. The guard was laughing so hard and clapping...we feel successful when we bring a smile to a Russian's face :)

Now off to Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and back to St. Petersburg for the next two weeks! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! YEAH BABY!

Librarian's bellydance?!

At a souvenir market in Moscow.

A couple of weeks ago I was in the school's library and Olga, the librarian, came up to me and asked me if I would teach her 6 year old daughter, Masha, English. On Saturday, me and my friend Melissa went over to Olga's friend's flat. It was a little modest home - very small and crowded up on a few floors of an apartment building, but that is all they needed and are happy with it.

Masha and Maxism eating dinner

We met her friend named Yulia and she had a son named Maxsim. They were the cutest little kids! They wouldn't stop smiling or staring at us. Olga said, "They are so curious. They have never seen foreigners before,". I did a little lesson with them and it was FUN! They are better than some of the kids I teach at the school, hah! Afterwards, we all had dinner together. There were 9 of us in the little kitchen, but it couldn't have felt more comfortable. The food was so good and filling! We had traditional Russian food: noodles, chicken, pig, tomatoes with cottage cheese, stuffed eggs, and for dessert some apple pie with a milky-hot drink. Mmm...   After dinner, Olga asked me, "Would you like to do some belly dancing with us?" - WHAT? My librarian BELLYDANCES??! YEAH! Olga and Yulia were legit at it too! They were teaching us proper techniques and wrapped bells around our waists. The kids were going crazy and having fun...Maxism even took his clothes off except for his underwear. Olga told me he was being an "American Indian", hahahaha &Yulia was even multi-tasking: breastfeeding and bellydancing! Now that's how its done! Hahaha.

After church on Sunday, there was a brother there sitting in a chair waiting. I went over to him and found out he was from Nigeria and his name was Collins. I  asked him, "Collins, could you give me some good advice about life in general?" and he said, "Dear sister, everyone you meet, make sure to treat them with kindness," - well said, Collins, well said. He then asked me for some advice as well and this is for Collins, but also for all of you out there, "Collins, make sure that you take everyday of your life and LOVE IT! Embrace every opportunity, every person, every lesson, every thing...even down to the food you eat and sidewalk you walk on. Be happy!" - we both continued talking and I was so blessed to hear from this young man. As we were saying our goodbyes, what he said made me smile, "Oh Nusly, you have no idea how much you made my day," - and he said it over and over again. My friends, if the Spirit prompts you to go to talk to someone, don't shrug the thought away. Do it. You never know what new friend you'll make. You'll never know how much you'll touch them. You never know how you could have possibly made someone feel...significant and special. You never know how much they'll touch you. You never know what you will learn. I encourage you all to go out and make a new friend - or maybe you'll even realize that as you talk to someone, it was a friend who was just waiting for you to finally meet up with again in this life.

I'm beautiful and maybe fat?

I saw the Nutcracker Ballet at the Kremlin (also known as the former hall of Congress of the Communist Party)on Saturday and it was pretty awesome! Afterwards, we went to a mall in Red Square. As the girls went into a store to shop, I stayed outside to people watch. A guy came up to me and started speaking to me, but I replied, "Sorry, no Russian. English Only," and he said, "Ohhh.... you are very beautiful!" and just walked away. AWWW...well that was really nice! But then seriously like 5 minutes later, that compliment totally got WIPED because this man pointed to my belly and demonstrated a pregnant belly and I was like, "What? ME?! No! No!" and he said, "Da! Da!" (Yes! Yes!) and I kept telling him no, but he wasn't asking me if I was pregnant, he was telling me I was, hahahahha. It's funny just because I know I'm such a skinny thing. I did have on this dress that kind of bunches up and poofs in the mid-section....or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better, hahahah.

Yesterday, I heard someone knocking on my door and them coming in and I was in the middle of putting on some pants so I quickly pulled them up and it was only Svetta. She asked, "Nusly, could I ask you a question? Please come out to the hall." - so I did and do you guys remember Sasha (the drunk guy knocking on my door and singing to me two weekends ago)? Svetta said to me, "Sasha would like to know if he could draw a portrait of you if it would be alright," - of course! haha! So Sasha and his friend Natalie first drew me as I was reading my scriptures. It was funny cause eventually Natalie said to me, "Smile," and so I did, but I felt weird smiling as I was reading in the Old Testament of 70 men getting their heads cut off and the heads being put into baskets. After that, Natalie came and handed me a guitar to pose with. Sasha left and came back 5 minutes later with a hat. Once he put the hat on me, Natalie exclaimed, "AH! Very good! Perfect" and continued drawing, hahahha. They said I had an "interesting" face. I like Natalie - I would see her every now and then always going into Sasha's apartment, but I never officially met her until Sunday. She came into the library as I was skyping a friend and she handed me a book and said, "This is for you. Happy birthday!" and I said, "Wow! Thank you! That is so nice! but, it's not my birthday," and she said, "Well, I still want you to have it" - sweeeeeet....I finally have a map of the metro. I love unbirthdays!

Sofa, Nastya, & Stesha

Kindergarten is going so great. I LOVE OUR KIDS!!! They are so fun and crazy! I always look forward to going to the schools everyday. You guys, I so badly want one of my own Vovas!!! I want a son like him so bad!! hahahahha. So last week, Selina and Hailey were teaching Basic Reading and one day, Vova said his name was Cleopatra and the next day, he was Sheeva (the 6 armed Hindu god) and he would only answer to those names. Well, Seroja and Vova were whispering to each other and drawing on paper and Selina finally took it away from them and they yelled, "NOOOO! DON'T LOOK! GIVE THE PAPER BACK!". The paper had the classroom set up drawn and arrows pointing to the door and to the hallway....it was an ESCAPE plan! hahahahha!!!

I have been here for 2 months already... cannot believe it. After next week, I go on VACATION BABY!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! We're going to Sweden, Finland, and Estonia! I'm WAY excited!

Random stories put together :)

 Here are some random stories from my past couple of weeks!!!


STORY #1: I live more out in the country. I don't technically live in "Moscow" - I live 20 minutes away from it. I live in a little countryside called Petrovo Dalyene. I went on a walk down by a river to think and read my scriptures when this elderly man came up to me and we had a conversation....well kind of. I was speaking in English and he was speaking in Russian, hahaha.

Me: "Wow, you smell of booze!"

Old Man: "Da" (yes in Russian)

Me: "You know alcohol is bad for you?"

Old Man: "Da"

He then started making shooting noises and demonstrating shooting a gun. So our conversation got unto WWII. 

Me: "World War II huh? Must have been rough."

Old Man: *replies in Russian*

Me: "Yeah, it was rough for everyone. My grandpa fought in the war. He was in Japan."

Old Man: *still speaking good ole Russian!*

Me: "Yeah he even got shot! He received the purple heart."

Old Man: *....and he still just keeps replying in Russian hahaha*

This went on for about 30 minutes...and I loved every single minute, haha!

Eventually I told him I needed to go, so I got up and waved goodbye. I was really cut off guard cause he came in and gave me a hug and then kissed me on the cheek (not in a creepy way - its a way to say hello/goodbye to a friend). Can I tell you guys that talking to this old man made my day? :)

STORY #2: SOOOO...between 2-3:45 pm, we teach 7-8 year olds at the main school and two days in a row, none of them showed up. I ran into Svetta and asked her what was up with that and she told me all the kids dropped. What???! Hahahha, ok was anyone going to let me know about this? Anyways, I told my coordinator about it and she called me later that day and informed me that all the kids decided to drop because their Russian teacher decided to give them the option to either go to English class OR go play outside....what kid is going to choose class?! And then also parents found out that we were Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and didn't like that. It "scared" them (well, look at me. I am pretty scary... haha) We still have our kindergarten and basic reading class....just no more 1st grade.  I teach adorable kids at the kindergarten and I am loving it :) So, 1st grade class..all I have to say is I LOVE BEING A LATTER-DAY SAINT and THANK YOU for less teaching hours! Hey, gotta look at the bright side, right? :)

ps. WE ARE STILL TEACHING VOVA!!! so no worries!!! more Vova stories will be coming your way soon! Vova is AWESOME cause he DIDN'T DROP! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

STORY #3: Well, on Friday there was a huge teacher celebration and of course, being Russians, the teachers were drinking. We live on a floor of mostly empty dorms. We occupy 2 rooms and then next door to us lives the handy-man/custodian of the school named Sasha. He's pretty cool and very nice, but on Friday, he was HAMMERED. I really wanted to go to bed, but it was almost 1 AM and Sasha and his friend were singing really loud out in the hallway. We had to lock our doors because one came in and told us, "Go home Americans!" - hahhaha. I was so tired.... they kept knocking on our door and trying to sing to us. It was funny cause the next day I saw him and he was like, "HELLO!!!!" 

Volva got mad at me this week... he brought his model airplane to school and he was really getting distracted by it, so I slid it to the side and he FREAKED out! He got up and yelled, "DON'T TOUCH! DON'T TOUCH!" ....wooooooah buddy. Apparently this model airplane is named "British" and British doesn't like me anymore. He (British)  is mad at me that I touched him. Volva motioned to Selina and I to be quiet and he whispered, "British is sleeping. We have to be quiet," and he tiptoed his model plane to a bookshelf to let him "sleep" and tiptoed back to his seat. For the rest of the 45 minutes, the whole class was in a whisper because British...the airplane... was sleeping. A few days later I asked Volva if British was still mad at me & he replied, "I don't know. He's in Tokyo" - ok, ok.... making progress here!! Hahahaha.


Volva got mad at me... British?? got mad at me.... and then a Russian lady got mad at me! THE RUSSIANS HATE ME!!!!! hahahha. Me and my group went down to the cafeteria to eat lunch and I was asking Chelsea some questions to help me figure out my schedule for next winter and I wasn't even being that loud (ok fine...maybe I was, I don't know! I was just talking in my opinion hahah) and one of the ladies at the lunch room stopped me and said, "Excuse me, but you are being too loud," and I said, "Oh I am very sorry-" and she stopped me again and said, "You are just too loud. I having been in lessons all day," and I said, "I'm sorry. I'll be quie-" and before I could end my sentence she starts again, "We just want to come down and eat and you are being so loud" - OKAY LADY! Hahahha I was trying to apologize, but I think thats just how Russians are. I see now why Latinos probably shouldn't come to Russia, hahahha.


Well, not all Russians hate me I suppose, hahaha, because there is one teacher at the school who is my faaaaaaaaaaaaaavorite!! I don't even know her name, but I just remember she became my favorite when we all went down to get our dinner at the school's cafeteria and a strong smell of booze was in the air. There were teachers drinking and doing karaoke and this one lady was SMASHED. She was singing at the top of her lungs and getting up to dance...she made my dinner enjoyable :) They saw us watching them, so one came up to us and tried offering us a bottle of alcohol, but we politely declined. Russians think we are strange because we don't drink or go to the "disco", haha. Ever since that night, every time my favorite would see us, she'd walk past and would say the same thing to us, "Good morning! Good day! Good evening!" no matter what time of day it was. I like her!


JUNE 21st IS MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY IN RUSSIA!! hahahahha. This is what happens: first, all week you get pancakes! There are picnics all the time! Second, they believe that this is the time when witches go out flying naked on their broom sticks (why naked? I don't know. Also, I guess this day is like their version of "Halloween") - on the weekend, you can find out your fortune. Girls like to go to a place they have never been before and say "I'm in a new place and I want to see my husband" and "their husband will be shown unto them". Another way, you can pick a book - have one person tell you the page and line number and whatever it says is your fortune. But to really know your fortune, this is your best bet - get chickens in your house and if they get along, you will have a good life. If they fight, you will have misfortunes and a hard life. Third, young people will jump over fires! Fourth, they encourage the elderly to be sexually active on this day on the ground so the ground will be good and fertile. This is just the most random holiday! YEAH, GO RUSSIA!!! WOOOOOO!!! Now my fellow Americans, let us take upon this tradition! Remember June 21st, 2012!

A little about my school...

Let me tell you about a kid named Volva. He is 8 years old and he is wicked smart! He already knows how to talk, read, and spell in English. Of course, it's not perfect. He just needs practice, but for his age, he rocks at English! He is seriously my favorite!!! I remember when I walked into class, he said I could only stay if I paid him $15 USD and another time, I was like, "Hey Volva!" and he squealed, "No! I'm WHITNEY HUDSON!" and he started singing, "and I will always looooooove youuuuuu" - so I joined him and we had a pretty awesome duet going on there. I'll never forget when I walked into one of the lssons and he was the only kid who showed up for class that day, so Selina (one of my girls whose teaching) was just staring at Volva and he was up at the chalkboard and I was like what the??? and Selina said, "Right now he's reciting word for word the airplane procedures and safety regulations," so I sat in and listened. It was seriously word.for.word. The kids we teach are sooo cute (they didn't start off that way at first though! they were HORRIBLE and so I emphasised discipline to my teachers and now they are WAY better...thats right, laying down the LAW BABY! hahaha). They are between the ages of 4-8. I think little Gleb is in love with me...everytime he sees me, he attacks me and starts like... making out with my cheek and doesn't let go until someone pulls him off me!!!!

So it had been 3 weeks and we have been FINALLY shown our kitchen, where to do our laundry, and where to put our trash. Also, trash had been building up in our rooms and I've been asking Svetta (the babe/model I work with here at the school) over and over and over again what to do with our trash and she just kept telling me, "I don't know. I will find out,". I even tried finding some sort of dumpster outside, but nothing. It was a problem...especially the first week we got here. The school gave us raw chicken for the weekend and I tried telling them that we didn't want it because we didn't have a kitchen to cook it in nor did we have a fridge to put it in, but they didn't understand. The cafeteria ladies don't speak a lick of English and Svetta (my translator) left to go home for the weekend. It started smelling in our room, so I threw it in a waste basket and put it in the hall, BUT THEN the hall started smelling and I thought, "OH MAN!!! What the heck do I do with this chicken???!", so I went to a different floor of the school (we live in dorms at the school) that wasn't occupied and left it up there. I would just dispose it when they will finally show me where to put my trash. Well, then the day came and I tried retriving the spoiling chicken and the door to the floor was locked... uh ohhh... what happened to that chicken? Did someone else find the chicken? Do they know IT WAS ME?!?!?!!?!?! - who knows, but I just think its funny. (but seriously, tell me what I was supposed to do!)

oh.... and then theres the laundry. We had 3 weeks worth of laundry to do between 5 girls. There are no dryers in Russia, so we have to hang up our clothes. On our floor, there are a ton of empty bedrooms, so we hung them up there. Well, apparently the principal of the school was showing some people (business-like men) the new additions to the school and one of those additions were these dorms we were living in. They went up our floor and to one of the "empty" dorms and saw all of our underwear, bras, and other clothing everywhere!!! bahahahhaha, OOPS! So.... spoiling chicken and underwear... Americans!!! hahaha

 Did you know it is bad to whistle indoors in Russia?? I had noooo idea! I was getting my food in the cafeteria and some song was stuck in my head, so I was whistling it and the lunch lady looked at me with a serious face, put her finger up to my face and waved it bacxk and forth motioning me to stop. I thought it was weird... maybe she didn't the song or something. I went over to my girls and was like, "Hey guys, so the lunch lady got mad at me for whistling," and they informed me that nobody whistles indoors because the Russians believe it is bad luck and that all your money will be taken away from you. Also, I give my leftover foods to people all the time and this is also bad!!! whaaaat? yeah! When you let others eat your food, they take your "power" from you. Well, I was thinking of getting some of the cafeteria ladies flowers and its good to know that in Russia, you want to give an odd number of flowers - if you give an even number of flowers to someone, that is bad. Even number of flowers mean death/funeral. Hahahha, can you imagine me coming in whistling and handing 2 flowers to one of the lunch ladies? I would be having good intentions and its just something would SOOOO happen to me!!!

I really do love the people I work with at the school! I have noticed that if you are total strangers with Russians (example: at the metros, streets, stores, etc), yeah, not very friendly...pretty rude BUT when you are part of their life, they care for you so mcuh! The lunch ladies at first, I thought they didn't like us....but they love us now! I know they do. I remmeber when we first gave them hugs and it was freaky for them, hahahah. A couple of nights ago, I gave Lena a hug and she hugged me back and squeezed me sooooooo tight :) :) and AWWW listen to this! I went outside on Friday night around midnight to make sure that the gate was unlocked (that's a long story haha) and one of the guards that works at the school was with me and I didn't grab a jacket cause I'd be outside for just a few minutes, but he pointed to his coat cause I had a short-sleeve shirt and I toldhim that I was alright, but he just off his coat and put it on me. Awww... they are so nice here!!!

There is a cereal here in Europe called "Muesli" (pronounced like "moose-ly"), so when anyone hears my name here, they get really excited and say, "OH MOOSELY! Like cereal!" - My name in Russian is Nusly + moose = Moosely :) 


That is Volva writing my name on the board :)

Sergiev Posad

Last weekend we went to Sergiev Posad - it had a beautiful monastery that is still used today! It's beautiful to see the passion of people of their beliefs. We caught a train and it was jammed packed, so the only place I could find to sit was between these two Russians. I was like, "well, hope you two don't mind if I sit in between you two!" and I squished in and they just looked at me and tried scooting over a little, haha. Me and Melissa were talking to each other and this 20 year old boy across from me handed me a rose he made from a napkin. I started laughing and thanked him and I thought CRAP!!! hahahha, you are NOT supposed to smile to a male because that is considered flirting here in Russia and it just eggs them on!! But it was just so unexpected that I laughed (and ugh! You know how natural it is for me to smile!!!) and then took out a pen and starting writing notes to us asking for our skype and what our names were. We gave him Melissa friend's Aren Muse skype :D

He wrote on the napkin, "I'm a good boy"

and I was like, "Haha...umm...sorry I...have a boyfriend." 

and he wrote, "I like girls with boyfriends"

and I was like, "WHAT!!!! You aren't a good boy! You are BAD!"

He wrote, "I'm a very very (not just once, but twice hahaha) beautiful boy!"

This is one of my favorite things he wrote, "Barack O'bama"

and I said, "Yes....President of the U.S."

and he wrote back, "Black man"         - hahahhahah!!!

and then he tried giving me beer and I told him how beer was bad haha and he then was like, "Jack Daniels?" and I was like NOOOO hahahha. So he got up and grabbed a baby tomato and tried feeding it to me and I was like, "No no, thank you", he grabbed my hand and put the tomato in it. He wanted a picture with me and I was like, "Sorry, no. I have a boyfriend" - hahhahaha I was trying to be a good example to my girls that I'm a head teacher over because HHAHAHA the night before, I was talking to them and giving them advise to NOT flirt with the men and be smiling and laughing with them.. and here I was!!! (worst head teacher EVER! hahaha) and he just shrugged and sat right next to me and got super close and took a picture. He asked for my email and I just wrote down "www.mormon.org" and told him to go to it and before he got off, he grabbed my notebook and put, "I love you!" - hahahha I was SOOOO glad he got off at a different spot! He was nice though.

On Sunday, we went to church at the International Branch and I loved it! Around 20 of us made the congregation, haha and there were around...maybe 70 put total or so. They were from the U.S, Nigeria, Congo, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, etc. Our bishop is the coolest...I love him so much already! He's from Germany and HE KNOWS BROTHER WAHLQUIST!!! (one of my FAVORITE professors at BYU-Idaho) Everyone is so nice and it felt like home away from home. I think its amazing how the church is the same everywhere on this earth and the Spirit can be so strong with our brothers and sisters of different cultures and backgrounds....but EVERYTHING is in common when your foundation is on Jesus Christ :) We are hoping to be able to go three baptismal services tomorrow of converts from Africa! 

My Russian word count: 2

"Spa-cee-ba" = Thank you

"Paul-ja-sta" = You're welcome

...maybe I'll learn a 3rd word by next week (it looks like I learn 1 word a week??? hahahha RUSSIAN IS HARD!!!)

Saint Petersburg!

So I'm in Russia right now! MIRA WOW! Crazy right?! So far, I am loving it!!! I mean it is completely different from China (but duh!), so I like Russia for its own reasons. I just appreciate everything about it so far! The people are not as mean and rude as I thought they would be! They're pretty rude at the metros and streets, but haha whatever. It just makes me laugh. I LOVE THE BABUSHKAS HERE!!!! Seriously, I'm obsessed with the little old ladies here. It's my goal to get yelled at by one of them! One of the girls from the other group got yelled by one for some reason and when they told me, I was sooooo jealous!!!! The old men here are really nice too. They give flowers to their women, awe :) If I were to describe Russia's smell.... lets add some booze + BO + cigarettes and BOOM! There's Russia for you!. 

So I went to Saint Petersburg my first weekend! It was AWESOME!!! I think you know how much I am in loooooooooove with the early 1900 period/Imperial time in Russia with the Romanov's!! GUESS WHAT I GOT TO SEE BABYYYYY!!!! I saw their gravesite and their summer and winter palace!!! Wow...they were unbelievable! Absolutely breath-taking!  I also got to see Church on Spilled Blood Cathedral and inside is GORGEOUS! Every single wall is filled with pictures of Christ and his life....stories of him....I loved it. It's one of my most favorite buildings in the whole world. The winter palace had all these collections from around the world SO Nusly Phillips was a very happy happy HAPPY girl when she got to see the EXHIBITION OF ANCIENT EGYPT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SAW A MUMMIFIED MUMMY!!! and oh my goodness....you know how I love Ancient Egypt! It was hilarious cause we thought we would just spend an hour or so in the museum, but we stayed for close to 4 hours!!! We stayed there until it closed and we were kicked out! hahahaha! But I saw paintings by Rambrant (my favorite, Prodigal Son painting!!! A man from North Carolina was there and he said what brought him to Russia was to see that very painting, AWE!), Da Vinci, Monet (actually, at least I was in the same building as Monet! I didn't get to see it cause the museum closed...I almost cried haahah), Picasso, Van Gogh (loooooove), and there were just thousands of paintings and sculptures and I couldn't believe other things I didn't get to see in that museum. It's HUGE!!! I cannot believe a family lived in that place...I love trying to picture it being used as a home.

I saw some pretty interesting things walking along the streets...#1. a baby bear drinking what looked like strawberry milk (???) from a bottle #2. Clothed monkeys...a Russian man instructed me to put out my arms and he just put his monkey in my arms and it was a FREAKY MONKEY!!! it was twitching and started hissing and had a tight grasp on my shirt (Chelsea got a HILARIOUS picture of it) #3. A zombie ...on a leash? Yeah this bike-compact chick had a leash around this living dead creature. It was running after pigeons and people. It saw me from far away and tried getting to me, but its "owner" pulled him back... Hahahaha, oh St. Petersburg! It feels good to be home though because we have been on the GO GO GO since we got here and even though I have so much to do for my head teacher training, I feel like at least I can take a little bit of a breather now. When we were getting ready to go back to Moscow, our train didn't leave until 12:40 AM, so we were so exhausted cause we were out in the city from 7:30 am til 9 pm  (the school in the area let us sleep there for the night, but we had to be out every morning by 8 or 9 and couldn't come back til 8 or 9 at night....so it was super exhausting and my feet killed, but it was SO fun! I was thinking how missionaries are amazing cause they do that everyday and their feet must HURT - you missionaries rock) and it was super late in the evening - at the train station, its very crowded, so our group couldn't find chairs to sit/sleep in while we waited. So theres this group of us Americans sleeping on the ground of the station cause it wasn't that gross or anything like that and I did NOT care cause I was exhausted, so I slept there waiting for my train and all these Russians walking past us were getting mad and were disgusted (no one sits on the ground, and if they do, they all put newspaper down) and even took pictures of us, hahahaha.

By the way, Russian women are BABES....at least so far all the ones I've been around. They all dress super nice and are beautiful! There is this one named Svetta that I work with at the school....sometimes I have trouble saying her name because I swear someone says it differently each time, but anyways, when I'm referring to her to someone, I just call her "the babe" because she is this tall, skinny, blonde model (well, not really, but she looks like it!!)...I look at myself and say TRASH hahaha