International Language Programs

Voronezh loveliness from Mikaela ♥

2012-03-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

I loved This beautiful theater! We're going back to see The Nutcracker this weekend and I'm really excited. :)

Lika's sweet hair

My real live Russian babushka making me the best blini I've ever had! She filled it with curds and raisins, and even though that sounds gross it was really good. :)

The sign says, "Love you, Voronezh!" And yes I surely do! I'm going to miss this place. :(

Vanya (my host brother) and I watching "Masha e "Medvyed" (Masha and Bear) one of his favorite cartoons. :)

Just a portion of the VERY long sausage aisle

One of the many old apartment buildings

The beautiful monastery! I loved this place.

I love this place.

Mayhem! How many Spidermen can you find? ;)

Dima wrote me this note today. :) "Лавю" is "love you" spelled phonetically in Russian.

Snow!

Greetings from Bengbu (and Lexi)

2012-02-23T13:11:00.001-07:00

Thanks Lexi!

Introducing... LITHUANIA!

2012-02-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

*iLP has a school in Lithuania! Auvi is the head teacher there, and she has the report from the first semester...*

Lithuania? Where’s that?

It’s right here…

And you’ll love it!

Looking for a beautiful, European-feeling city? Vilnius is the place.

Cute, cuddly and adorable children to love and teach? Vilnius is the place AGAIN!

Whoa, you like chocolate? Amazing chocolate can be found here! Creepy apartment elevators? Got em’! New food. (yum!)

New friends. Fun culture.

New and exciting experiences every day? Definitely.

You might not want to leave….

YouTube

2012-02-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

If you haven't checked out our YouTube channel, you should do so! Here are some additional video gems from brucenkt and DesiMoore14...

Happy Friday, everyone!

Trapped on a Tehuacan Roof

2012-02-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

*Sara is in Tehuacan AS WE SPEAK. She details her adventures meeting an iLP director, consuming a mountain of meat, and being rescued from a laundry-laden rooftop.*

These past few days have been crazy busy between our four day vacation and our mid-semester visit. A director from ILP came to visit our teaching group on Tuesday to check up on us, interview us and just spend some American time together.

After teaching, we all got to go out to dinner with the director Jared and his wife. What a blast! We got to eat out and didn't have to pay, that was a good deal. We went to this place between the park and the school. It is known as Teo's Tacos because it is his favorite place to go, so we were all really excited.

By now, we have become pretty good at ordering food from a menu, but we still love to call our BFF Edwin. Edwin, our Mexican friend, speaks amazing English, loves to hang out with us, and of course be our body guard/tour guide/translator. We always like to know what he is eating first so we can decide for ourselves. Of course, we had to call him and find out what was best to eat...hahah...little did we know his selection was meant for a Mexican man, not six puny white girls.

Bonnie, the bravest of us all managed to order whatever Edwin suggested, and we were a little afraid looking at the price tag. We have come to learn, that in Mexico the amount of food correlates to the amount of money you pay directly. The less you pay the less you get, so you can pretty much gage your plate size before you even get your food. This is nice because we aren't always starved for twenty tacos. But Bonnie should have known that 95 pesos, or about $9 is quite a wad of money for a meal in Mexico.

Yes this mountain of meat and cheese came with four forks and twelve tortillas! Yikes. I am glad I didn't listen to Edwin this time, my three tacos were enough.

We had a wonderful time visiting with the ILP director, but all day today, we still felt those tacos from last night. I actually had quite an eventful morning, want to hear?

I felt so full from the night before, that I decided to go running for an hour today and then go to my Zumba class for another hour. Afterwards, I came home and all of my family was gone at school, church and work.

All alone, I decided to go hang up the laundry on the roof so that it could be dry when my mom returned later that day. Since the family dog lives on the roof, I was sure to close the door behind me, so Croqueta couldn't get loose inside. I hung up all the wet clothes, and then it hit me... I HAD LOCKED MYSELF ON THE ROOF!!!!!!

Yes, it can happen. The door just shuts, and there is no getting in. I locked myself on top of my three story house. Awesome. I must be gifted or something. Not panicking yet, I decided I could probably repel down the side of the house to the next floor down, into a window or something. I even considered roof-hopping to another house, but all that tin looked so shady, I would surely land in someone's living room.

Now in a more serious panic, I decided to yell for help...but I am in Mexico...so of course shouting "Ayuda Me" is the best option. Screaming HELP ME in Spanish wasn't working because I must have sounded more ridiculous that believable. I seriously yelled for help for a good ten minutes. No one came.

Even more afraid, I was SO glad to see my cousin walking down the alley that I flagged him down with the best 'Necesito ayuda' I could give. For some reason, whenever I am in a sticky situation, ALL of my spanish language flies WAY out the window. Crap. I am pretty sure my cousin thought I was joking because the white girl was shouting for help from the roof. I begged him to break into my house and come save me from this predicament like I was in a Disney movie.

Luckily he is smarter than I am, and climbed up to the third floor of his house, out on the roof, and then helped me jump over to his house so I could get down through their door. I must have thanked him a thousand times, and I also told him he was my best friend, and that I would bring him cookies or something...I don't think he knew what I was yapping about, but he said 'No pasa nada' a hundred times telling me it was not big deal, so I felt better.

Did I really get stuck on my roof today? Yes.

Am I still feeling taco pains? Yes.

Do I love Mexico? Yes.

Quotes of Service

2012-02-07T12:33:00.003-07:00

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
~Muhammad Ali

The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.
~Leo Rosten

The willingness to share does not make one charitable; it makes one free.
~Robert Brault

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
~Horace Mann

There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more dying for a little love.
~Mother Teresa

Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.
~Albert Einstein

Men are rich only as they give. He who gives great service gets great rewards.
~Elbert Hubbard

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
~Rabindranath Tagore

There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.
~Walter Reuther

The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
~Winston Churchill

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
~Mohandas Gandhi

(Photo credits: here, here, and here.)

BLINI

2012-02-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

I learned how to make blini (also known as blinchiki) the first time I went to Russia when my family was adopting three of my younger siblings. I loved making it for my group in Voronezh this past fall! Just be sure to make enough because they are addicting.

Ludmilla's Blinchiki

Single batch:
3 cups of lukewarm milk
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups flour
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Double batch:
6 cups lukewarm milk
4 eggs, beaten
6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons cooking oil

Triple batch:
9 cups lukewarm milk
6 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons salt
4 ½ cups flour
3 tablespoons cooking oil

Add sugar and salt to lukewarm milk. Add beaten egg and mix well. Make sure sugar is dissolved and add flour until it looks right. Add oil and mix well. The batter should be quite thin, much thinner than pancake batter.

Heat a non-stick skillet on high. Before you start cooking the blini, decrease the heat to medium high. Grease pan with half of a peeled potato dipped in oil. Spoon in about a quarter cup of batter (depending on pan size you may need more or less) and swish it around for an even layer. Cook it on medium high until golden brown, turning once. Stir the batter often while cooking.

When cooked, place them on a plate, smear a little butter on top, and eat it with your favorite filling! :) Some of my favorite fillings are nutella, berries, bananas, apples, fruit syrup, chicken, ham and cheese, curds and rasins, and peanut butter. The beauty of blini is that it is delicious with pretty much everything (except not all of us were fans of the caviar :P). Enjoy!