Russia: The Middle and a Half

So I was going to try and keep my blabbing about Russia to a three part story, hence "Russia: the beginning," "Russia: The middle" and "Russian: The end". But......(I'm assuming if you have a brain you've already figure out that I've decided to add another part)- I'm adding a few more details to the story by special request!

And just so you don't get bored (since I currently have no more lame/creative "scavenger hunt" ideas like last time) I will simply state that whether you are entertained or not, you will know more about Russia by the end!

Ok, so where to begin again? Well, my "special requester" (*cough, Dima*) suggested I mention our trip to the woods on our last full day in Tolyatti.

It was actually quite a lovely morning, as the sun that had been hiding for a few days, finally came out! Nevertheless, I think the weather was just trying to trick us, because the previous day the high had been 1 degree Celsius (33F) and this sunny day it was -25 C (-11F).

WHAT?! ATexas girl going out in this kind of weather?! Well, obviously I didn't own the kind of clothes that I needed for this day, but I was fortunate to borrow some pants, a sweater and a coat from Dima's mom. So, with leggings, snow pants, long sleeve shirt, sweater, coat, scarf, two pairs of socks, really thick mittens, ear muffs, hat, and pink snow boots, I was off!

*Side observation: Even though it's really cold in Russia, they know how to dress properly! So I can honestly say that I really only was cold ONE time. (And that's when I was in Moscow with Dima and didn't have a mom to remind me to put my warm clothes on ;)

Once to the wooded area, all 5 of us got out and headed towards the path with our three little plastic sleds and found a great spot right away. To the right, one could go down a slow smooth path, and to the left was a more steep and quite bumpy fall. This being my first time sledding, I went with the easy option, and quickly found that my inability to keep myself moving means I am not going to have a career in sledding. After I saw Dima completely fall off his sled and slide down on his butt on the bumpy hill, I was reasonably hesitant to try. So, they convinced me to go down with Dima, and with the added stability, it was great! Later we even got a 3 person train going with his mom, and each time was quite an adventure. Nevertheless, our butts were a little sore the next day. ;)

We also walked a little bit, made a fun snowman out of some previously existing snowballs and experimented with many ways of using the sleds while standing, pulling, and running. Lots of hilarious videos were created while doing this, but unfortunately, technology momentarily failed humanity, and only two or three very short videos actually saved :( But feel free to watch Dima fall here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHIU-1Iq4O8

:D

And see more pictures from the day here: http://picasaweb.google.com/violamad/RUSSIA0910#

Once again, I am very grateful that I was able to participate in all these fun events, accompanied by great people like the Volkovs to further the fun!

Fun Russian Fact for the day:

Snow= снег (sneg)

And I think the word pronounced sounds just like the sound your shoes make when walking on the snow!

:)

Love,

Violamad