Wishing for Summer

As I write this post it is currently -5F, but feels like -18F. I much prefer winter over summer, but every time the end of winter rolls around I can't help but want warm weather again. Honestly, I think winter would be much more bearable if the sun were out longer. The increased hours of darkness kill me, and I think I throw a little party every day, in my mind, when I realize it doesn't get dark until after 6pm now. Soon it will be 7, then 8, then eventually 11! Anyways, this post came about because I went back through my archives to see when it got warm last year. It was the middle of April last year when I was wearing a dress without a jacket or sweater! We are only two months away!

While I was at Innopolis Elmira and I decided to have a photoshoot around the "city." City is in quotes because there wasn't much around. This was actually a two day affair, and I still have more pictures from inside the university, but they are much more difficult to go through and edit. Plus, who doesn't want a reminder of the warm weather? The city isn't big, so I know you've probably seen these views in previous posts. We thought we were going to have to cut this photoshoot early, but it never rained, despite the menacing clouds in the distance. A rainbow even came out to visit us (you can see it in the 5th photo).

Another Look at Innopolis

I've had the pictures in this post queued for a very long time. I, honestly, didn't know how to make it into a real post. I had already written this post in July about Innopolis, so I was at a loss for how to present these photos. As I was editing posts, I was taken back to my time there. It feels like it was years ago, and I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by! It's already December, and I'll be back in America (probably) in just seven months! I almost started crying the other day thinking about how I'll be leaving. I guess this is less about Innopolis and more about how time needs to slow down because I'm not ready to leave Russia.

The Hike to Vvedenskaya Sloboda

There really isn't much to do at Innopolis. Like there is one grocery store and that's it. If you want to do something other than work out or hang out on campus you either have you make sure you are able to find a seat on the bus to Kazan, pay an outrageous amount for a taxi which may not even come, or find some other alternative like hiking through nature. On our way to Innopolis from the airport we drove over the Volga River and from the bridge you could see sands and people laying on the beach. Elmira decided at that moment that she wanted to go to the beach. Unfortunately, we didn't know how to get there. Then, Zach told us he knew a way to another beach, we convinced Elmira to go through nature, and then on our day off we headed down to the river.

Can you see the Volga River in the distance?

Within five minutes my feet were already covered in dirt from the pile we had to climb over to get to the grass. The grass we walked through was up to my waist and I was continually covered in burrs. We had to watch our for holes and dead animals. I even experienced krapiva, the Russian name for stinging nettle. I don't think we have nettles in Ohio, if we do then we care more about poison ivy. All Russians know krapiva. It's not as horrific as poison ivy but it definitely leaves your skin with a burning sensation that lasts about 15 minutes. Are you familiar with Indian Rug Burns? When you twists the skin on someones arm to make it burn? Surely you did it to someone as a child. Well, in Russia they don't call it Indian rug burns they call it krapiva.
Zach had walked the path before so he kept pointing out landmarks he remembered last year when him and a group of guys decided to walk to the river after a fire drill. We came upon a dried up stream that he said had water in it last year. This summer has been HOT! Both in Kazan and Ufa it's been in the upper 80s to 90s, and it'll rain once every 2 weeks. I'd rather take this heat over Cleveland's though because there is a lot less humidity. My hair and humidity don't get along.

After the river we continued walking and eventually made it to a path made by car wheels. The path led us to a little village where we saw some chickens and you could even see Innopolis in the distance. We weren't exactly sure where to go from there so Elmira stopped to ask a boy directions to the river. He told us where to go, so naturally we took the complete opposite direction because Zach didn't want to walk on the asphalt.

We eventually made it to the road and took the road the rest of the way. In case you plan on walking on the road in Russia (which I don't recommend) you need to walk on the side of the road as the oncoming traffic. It's Russian law, just so you know. We met a goat along the way and I took way too many pictures of it because it was so cute and friendly. We stopped in a little store where we got some ice cream to give us energy and cool us down. Right before we got to the beach we walked past a natural spring where you could fill up your water bottles for free. I wish I had taken pictures of the building because it was pretty neat. It reminded me of this spring my mom used to take us to to fill up jugs of water for our water cooler until chemicals were found in the water and the stopped people from doing that.

Does that island in the picture below look familiar? Yep, that is Sviyazhsk Isand. It's pretty cool that the island is so close. There is also a ship near the island digging up sand from the river and it sounds like something out of Jurassic Park. I would not have been surprised if I saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex break out of the ship. When we settled down Elmira lay out in the sun while Zach and I stayed in the shade to relax. Elmira didn't understand why we walked all that way to act like we wanted to go back but we said the adventure was the best part! I enjoyed watching all the children swimming and reading my book. I didn't want to go in the water though because it seemed kind of dangerous to me, but I spent a lot of time at Lake Erie and I don't think it can get much worse than that.

We wanted to hitch hike back since we were all tired and hangry but our attempts to do so were unsuccessful. Eventually a taxi driver drove past us and Elmira flagged him down. He was kind of a jerk overcharging us when we were actually doing him a favor, but Elmira talked him down 50 rubles. The ride was still overpriced but split three ways it was definitely worth it. There is a way to the river that is much easier, but I'm kind of glad we took the path less traveled because I haven't experienced much Russian nature since being here almost a year! Has there been a time where you took the path less traveled either physically or metaphorically? How was it?

A Day at Innopolis Boot Camp

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Innopolis, but I didn't go into much detail about what I was doing there. Let me tell you, it was a lot. I worked at a bootcamp that prepared incoming students for the school year at Innopolis. Since Innopolis is built on the American university model many of the Russian students weren't prepared for how the university would function. Also, all classes are taught in English, so it was important that they practiced their English skills. I'm not really sure how the day functioned for the students but I know they were busy from 9-9. I'll just focus on what the bootcamp English teachers did.

Since I was still on Ufa time (2 hours ahead of Moscow time) I tried waking up around 7:00 am every day. I'm one of those people who feels really productive if I start my day early even though I like sleeping in until about 10. I'd go to breakfast around 8-8:15. Afterwards, I'd go to my dorm room and either hang out for a little bit or go right up to my classroom where I'd prepare what I needed for the day. We got our first groups from 11:50-1:20. We had an hour break for lunch and some of the English teachers would meet together for lunch in one of the university canteens. Then we got our second groups from 2:20-3:50. We would see the same two groups for one week then switch groups with our local Russian teachers for the second week. Twice a week the native teachers were required to teach a workshop which usually lasted from 4-5:30. Then the rest of the night was ours to hang out, go to the gym, or travel to Kazan.

The native teachers were told to focus on reading and speaking and the local teachers focused on listening and note-taking. Since Innopolis is an IT school we were supposed to focus on IT and technology. It was the first time I got to feel like a real teacher and I loved it. At my job in Ufa I only focus on speaking and it's so hard especially when you feel like a substitute. I finally got to put into practice what I learned back in Cincinnati. We did 4 corner debates, socratic seminars, jigsaw activities, presentations, and we even played Jeopardy the second week. Of course we did other things like learn how to annotate notes and summarize articles, but it was great being about to make lessons that scaffold off one another and feel like I had some real responsibility.

As I mentioned earlier twice a week the native teachers ran different workshops based on different themes. I didn't really know what to do, so I focused on American TV shows. I made a worksheet with previewing, viewing, and post-viewing questions. I had three shows prepared, but the discussions took more time than I thought so we really only focused on two shows. I chose The Office because I feel like it is a good example of American humor and because it isn't very popular in Russia. Russians love Friends, but I hate Friends, so I showed How I Met Your Mother because I love that show and I feel like it was a good alternative to Friends. Finally, I had an episode of The Simpson's entitle Simpson's Tide which I chose based solely on the fact that there is a scene where the United Nations realizes the Soviet Union never broke up. You can watch the clip here.

What are your favorite television shows?

Innopolis: The Silicon Valley of Russia

What do you think of when you here Silicon Valley? Do you picture endless IT specialists working at computers? Do you think innovation and technology? If you are like me then you think of a world you don't really know. Something you can't quite comprehend because you are terrible understanding and using anything related to technology. I'm getting off-track, so let me get us back on track and tell you the real reason I wrote this post. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you may have noticed I wasn't in Ufa. I spent the last two weeks working at a summer bootcamp at Innopolis University, a city about 50 minutes away from Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia.

Innopolis is Russia's newest city with construction starting in 2012 and having its foundation ceremony in June 2015. It is a new government-funded project meant to replicate Silicon Valley in the United States. It is a high-tech city focusing on IT related development. Currently, IT makes up 34% of GDP for the USA but only 3% of Russian GDP. I think this is a smart move for Russia since their economy is falling apart as world oil prices decrease. Plus, where do all those hackers live? To me it seems like they are always in Russia. I'm not knocking Russian hackers either. It's actually a compliment. Russian IT specialists are very talented. Heck, I'm even dating one - not a hacker, a Russian software engineer.

It's obvious as you walk around that the city is still being established. It's eerily quiet most times of the day and there are construction sites every where you look. The university is really the only part of the campus that constantly has something going on. Innopolis University is based on western/American universities, so to me I felt like I was back in the United States. All instruction is given in English, and their appeal is that students will not have to take useless classes like you'd see in most liberal arts schools in the USA. Russia offers free higher education, but Innopolis is a tuition-based school. Fortunately, most students receive scholarship money to attend school there. One of my students told me that students can get money for startup companies through the university. Obviously, Innopolis will get money back from the startup, but I think it's great that they are encouraging students to use their skills and offering a chance for them to do so. Students without money are now given opportunities to better themselves, and I think the USA could learn a thing or two from Innopolis.

While the university itself is a hotspot for activity the rest of the town looks like a scene out of The Walking Dead. As of right now the city can hold 5000 residents, but according to Wikipedia the city's population is only 96. Other than the sports complex - which features state-of-the-art equipment, a pool, two types of saunas, and different sports sites for soccer and tennis - there is literally nothing else except for one grocery store. In a later post I will have more photos which will show how barren the place is. Although it's still in the early stages of development I'm really excited to see what will become of Innopolis. If you are interested in seeing the future of Innopolis you can watch this video.

There are a lot of street dogs running around. I love any dog I see, and this one was so nice she even posed for a picture. One day I also saw a puppy running around and I was sad to learn it had lice. The dogs were so funny. The one day I was walking and saw it chasing some kids (not in a mean way) on bikes. As I was going in one of the tunnels to cross the street I heard the dog running behind me. It was so cute looking like it wanted to use the tunnel just like humans and he kept stopping to make sure I was following.

What are your impressions of Innopolis? Do you think it's a good idea?