My Last Day in Russia

It's been a while since I looked at the photos I still have to edit, and when I opened Lightroom today I realized these are the last of my Russia photos. I could have sworn I had more, but I was mistaken. This realization came with a few tears but it had to end at some point. My last day in Russia was bittersweet. I was ready to be back in the USA for the first time in two years, but I didn't want to leave Russia for good. I woke up early, finished the last of the cleaning and packing, and waited for my landlady to arrive. A and I gave her the keys and I said good-bye to what was "home" for the last two years. Actually, I didn't have much of a chance to reminisce because every thing happened so fast that it felt like a blur getting into the taxi and driving away. A and I spent my last night at the Hilton Garden Inn Riverside. A said I could have just stayed at his apartment, but I decided to splurge as a going away present for him as well since he loves staying at hotels and I never really got him anything for his birthday.

After we checked in A had to leave to buy food because his friend was going to be staying with him the next day. I hung out a little bit, met a friend who had artwork she made for me, and then met Anton downstairs when he came back. We had lunch at Svoya Companya, and then walked around Ufa one last time. There was an area near our hotel with a lot of wooden houses that I wanted to take photos of so we wandered around the streets.

Anton bought this liquid stuff that apparently cats love, and every time we saw a street cat we tried to get it to come over and smell the liquid he bought. I swear it wasn't anything harmful, it was some natural medicine because Russians love natural remedies. Unfortunately, most of the cats we saw were pretty jittery and didn't want anything to do with us. Must have been that side of Ufa because the ones that were by our apartments were always friendly.

My memory seems to have failed me because I don't remember what we did when we got back to the hotel. I think we probably drank some tea. There was a street dog laying on the grass outside of the hotel and eventually Anton convinced me to go see it. For the end of June it was still really cold and I had changed into sweat pants and was not looking my best. I think the dog was deaf because we got really close to it. I warned Anton to be careful because I didn't want him spooking the dog. Eventually the dog got spooked and ran away and I only ended up with one photo of him walking away.

It rained a lot before I left and I was lucky enough to see a rainbow on my last day. We spent the rest of the light walking around, and we stopped in a store to buy more tea since we drank all the free stuff we got. We ended the evening sitting by the window of our hotel, drinking tea, and I talked to my mom on the phone for a little bit. Neither of us fell asleep early and I think we both got about 3 or 4 hours of sleep since I had to be up early the next morning. Funny story, we ordered a taxi and when we finally got downstairs it wasn't there. Another taxi driver asked if we were waiting for a taxi and we said we were but we weren't going to where he was going. Anton eventually called the driver and it turned out some girl got in the wrong taxi. We made it to the airport on time, and I was waved off by some of my friends as well.

This was a hard post to write. Russia seems like a dream. I never felt any reverse culture shock. Actually, I adjusted with no problem - but I miss Russia. Russia feels more like home than the US. It's also hard because A and I broke up (the distance was just too hard) and he actually moved from the apartment I knew him to live in. It just feels like things are so different now. I do plan on visiting Russia many more times in the future, but I don't think it'll ever fill the whole in my heart for the experience I had living there. I wish I could say I will move back, but I absolutely love my job here in the USA. It's hard when you hate living somewhere but you love the job. For now, I'm trying to enjoy my time in the USA. Who knows where I'll be in the future.

Spring is Here

Last week spring finally arrived in Ufa. It was the first time since September that I didn't have to wear a coat. I had the windows open (also because they still had the heat on in my apartment so it felt like 90F). It was glorious. Unfortunately, that didn't last long because its now in the 40s again as I write this. Let's not think about that though. A went with me to the bank to pay my bills, and then we walked around the center a little bit. It was so nice to be able to sit outside.

When we were walking home we spotted the guy in the last photo pushing the black jeep through the intersection. I tried to get a better photo but I was too slow. It was almost as good as the time my friend, Katherine, and I witnessed a car getting started with stereo speakers. I bet having your car break down isn't so bad when it's in the 70s.

How is your spring going?

Mail Time

Last week was a good week for me. Two friends of mine sent me packages! I love mail. It's probably one of my favorite things in the world. I got my first pen pal when I was around 10 or 12 from a J-14 magazine, which I embarrassingly filled out hoping I'd be paired with Aaron Carter. When I went to Florida in 5th grade I seriously think I sent about 20 postcards to friends because I couldn't leave anyone out. A few years ago my friend, Mackenzie, and I sent watercolor paintings to each other for fun, which we need to do again when I return. Finally, Remember this post from all the way back in 2012? Yeah, I go a little overboard with sending packages. I'm surprised how much of this I've documented.

The first package (pictured above) came from my friend, Katherine, at 8 Months in Ukraine. I don't really know how it came about, but I think I saw one of her posts where she received letters from friends and I thought, I should send her stuff from Russia, since she lived in Ukraine, has been to Russia, and studies Russian. She messaged me back saying we should be pen pals and a new friendship blossomed. She sent me such a cute assortment of stuff and, most importantly, Sour Patch Kids. I had intentions of saving a few for A to try, but that didn't happen.

The next package came from my friend, Ariana, who is currently living in South Korea, and blogging about her experiences at ArianaImnida. Ariana and I actually met in our TESOL courses at Cleveland State. She has the coolest style, and when I met her I thought, "I have to be friends with this girl!" but she seemed too cool for me. :) Since our CSU days we've stayed in touch, and I'm so glad she started a blog. A while back she wrote a post about her Korean beauty haul which inspired this post. I think after she saw that post she sent me a message saying she wanted to send me Korean beauty products. I realized that it was a great idea and that I should send her a package from Russia, minus beauty supplies because I would have no idea what to get. Plus, are there any Russian brands? Please comment below if you know of any.

A went with me to pick up the package since it was delivered to a different post office. I think he was more excited for it to come than I was. We weren't even a foot out the door when he made me stop to take pictures of the box. Then he kept begging me to open it while we were walking. We stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to try to open the darn thing, and I think Ariana knew that would happen because she had everything in the adorable bag below. I was able to leave the box in a garbage can and easily carry everything else.

I can't wait to try everything, especially the Clio Conceal-dation because I need a good concealer. My skin is absolutely terrible and nothing I've tried covers the imperfections well enough. Remember when my biggest problem was hating my freckles? Oh, I'd take back the days when I didn't break out like I'm 13. Maybe I'll do a post later on what products I like and didn't like. Not that it would really matter since I don't live in Korea, but maybe it'll be something when I lack inspiration for new posts.

I wish I had money to send everyone packages, but, unfortunately I don't. Do you like sending and receiving mail?