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.

Oktyabrya Prospekt

Throwing it back to Russia for the moment in this post. Right before I left, A and I went for a walk up Oktyabrya Prospekt. It's almost like we went full circle because it's actually what we did on our first "date." We walked so far we almost made it to Chernikovka! If you live in Ufa, then you know that it's a pretty far walk. I had a list of things I wanted to see and do before I left and the marten statue was one of them. I was definitely drawn to its 70s look. I also wanted to take photos of the street in general to remind myself of it since I used to walk it a lot. I'm glad I did, but it's pretty hard to write this post because I truly miss Ufa.

I had never walked further than Gorsovet Park, so there were a lot of new landmarks that I'd never noticed before while riding the marshrutka. The building above is supposedly going to be the tallest skyscraper in Ufa. A was really interested in it, so the only reason I took a picture was because we were standing there for too long and I had nothing better to do. On another note, you can probably guess how excited I was when I saw the puppet theater and the castle playground as we continued walking north. The puppet theater fountain was in rough shape, but I wish I could have taken the fish to display in my house. The fountain was actually a nice size, but there was no water in it at that time. I'm sure it looked better in it's former Soviet glory.

Since we walked up one side of the street I was hoping we'd pass the street art on our way back. I had been wanting to take pictures of it for a long time but just never made it that far with my camera. My feet were killing me, so we ended taking the bus back home when we were finished. It rained a lot the last few months before I left so my long list of places to visit never got finished.  We managed to make it back up Prospekt one last time, though, and I was able to take pictures of the art.

I've been pretty "homesick" for Russia the last few months. I absolutely love my job here in the USA, but I can't help but wish I was back in Ufa. Anyone else ever feel this way? What's the best cure for this "homesickness?"