We've moved!

You may have noticed that we haven't posted here in a while... it's because we've moved house! The ILP blog is now attached to our regular website. You can find it at:

http://info.ilp.org/blog/

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Russian Reunion - Britta's Babushka

It had been years since I had heard from my Russian grandma. After writing multiple times without a response, I finally figured I would probably never hear from her again. All that changed in March, when I was in Moscow. 

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Homemade Perogies - Courtesy of Heather!

One of the highlights while living in Russia was the lunches we shared at the school. Seriously, the food was A-mazing! We had perogies at least once a week, they’re like the Russian version of dumplings.

Left to Right: Anne, Meredith, Me, Wynter and Jade.

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Lithuania - All Saints Day

One of the stops for our week-long vacation during our semester in Russia was in Vilnius, Lithuania. Coincidentally we were there on the Day of the Dead, which is the day after Halloween.

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Voronezh loveliness from Mikaela ♥

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Quotes of Service

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

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BLINI

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. 

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Russia Recommendations

 

Going to St. Petersburg, Moscow, or Voronezh? Or even just dreaming of Россия? Here are some recommendations from iLP alums to get pumped and informed about Mother Russia.

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Say No to Homesickness!

It's nine weeks into the semester, and you are tired.

You've taken to stalking your home on Google Earth and find it hard to hang up that Skype call. What used to be novel now borders on irksome, and somehow, blini/baozi/burritos have lost their flavor. "What's the matter with me?" you ask yourself. "I'm in Russia/Ukraine/China/Mexico/Thailand! Why do I feel this way?"

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Russia in Black & White

Kiri • Moscow • 2010

 My metro stop

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Music Video Deathmatch!!!

IT'S ON.

Want to give your iLP country bragging rights? Want to share the motherland's musical talent with the rest of the world? Want to liven up the Tuesday of thousands?

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Feed the birds, kopecs a bag

*Allison was in Russia last semester. Here is a little gem from her blog.*

Pigeons are a big deal. I know that they’re in almost every big city, but it’s different here.

Pigeons got the people of Russia through tight spots when food was scarce, and the Russians have not forgotten it. There is a common respect for them, and you’ll see little bird houses made from milk cartons hanging from trees all over the city.

I was walking to work early one morning a couple weeks ago. Our little side street was deserted and quiet. Coming from the other direction was a little sweet babushka, scattering bread crumbs all along the street. She braved the cold and icy streets just to feed the birds. Her gratitude was striking, and I hope that I can learn to be a bit more grateful.

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Michelle's Russian Twin

While on vacation in Moscow, it was super windy and cold. We were walking as fast as we could to get down into the warm metro. Suddenly, Mike stopped in front of an advertisement and said to me, “Michelle, that looks like you!”

Freezing cold as I was, I glanced at it and said, “Not really,” and kept walking. The rest of my group insisted it looked like me as well, but the only thing I cared about right then was getting out of the cold.

A month later, we returned to Moscow for another weekend trip. We were walking down the same street, though it wasn’t quite so cold this time, and we passed the ad again. This time I got a good look at it and was a little freaked out—it didn’t just look a little like me, it looked EXACTLY like me! I had someone from my group take a picture of me with the poster, and as they were doing so, random people from the street started taking pictures of me! It was so crazy to find my doppelgänger on the opposite side of the world!

Michelle Peterson
Voronezh 2010

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Locks of Love

One of my favorite things about being in Russia was learning about all of the different traditions. My favorite tradition was the Lock and Key tradition. All over the city of Voronezh (and in other places in Russia as well) there would be bridges covered in different padlocks. Some were heart-shaped, some were house-shaped, some were just normal padlocks. We learned that when people get married one of their biggest traditions is "locking their love away." As a couple they would close their lock on a bridge and throw away the key. It’s symbolic of locking their love away, making it untouchable from everyone else.

Shannel Walker
Voronezh, Fall 2010

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Michelle • Voronezh • 2010

I loved teaching the kindergarten in Voronezh, Russia. My students were all just so cute and I was amazed to see how much they learned over the semester! I had one particular student, a tiny 4-year-old girl named Dasha, that I will never forget!

All semester long, we had the hardest time getting Dasha to focus. She would just lean back in her chair and her eyes would glaze over and she'd be off in outer space. Anytime we tried to get her to speak, she'd just shake her head and in her tiny little voice say, "No!" We were so frustrated that Dasha was our only student that didn't seem to be improving in the slightest, despite all of the attention we'd been giving her.

One day, when we had about one month left, we were going through our opening routine. We would start out every day with the calendar, doing the day of the week, the month, and what day it was that month. I held up our calendar chart and pointed to Tuesday and asked the kids, "Is it Tuesday?"

I had barely gotten the question out when Dasha suddenly shouts, "No, it's not Tuesday!" The other kindergarten teacher and I were shocked--it was as if a rock had spoken!

The rest of the semester, Dasha was still a little space cadet, but she was speaking so much more than before! It was so much fun to see her improve and it was so hard to leave at the end of the semester!

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Five minutes of hindsight

Whitney, the head teacher in St. Petersburg this fall, has made an absolutely lovely video about her semester. I'm so excited to share it.

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Disturbia (by Holly)

Russians don’t feel the same societal pressure to be friendly or happy towards strangers as we do here in the U.S.  We seem to be all about having a positive front no matter what, whereas the Russian will just tell you how it is.  If they had a bad day they are not going to tell you that everything is great.  Where Americans try to talk away awkwardness, Russians simply do not make eye contact, or hold your eyes until you feel you must look away.   

This is perhaps partly why in the metros and streets of St. Petersburg, there is limited eye contact and little random conversation with strangers.  My fellow volunteers and I were advised to be quiet on the metros so as not to be disturbers of the peace with our loud American ways.  One night on our way home my group was split so we were seated facing each other on the metro.  On those long, quiet rides home we would all put in our headphones, choose the same song and try to start it at the same time so we could rock out together.   

The choice of the evening (and many evenings before) was Rihanna’s Disturbia. 1, 2, 3, go. We started the song together and bobbed our heads to the “bum bum beedum bum bum beedum bum…”  A few shifty Russian eyes looked our way but they pretended like they weren’t paying attention.  

The song was just getting good when the Russian man sitting next to Kim violated the social norms we were trying so hard to fit!  He took an earphone out of her ear, stuck it in his own and began bobbing along to the bum bum beedum!  Rihanna is far too contagious to stay in your head and soon his feet were dancing along the metro floor!  We followed suit and rocked out to Disturbia the rest of the way home.  When we came to his stop, he returned the earphone and waved goodbye.  Dena looked up, and with music tuned far too loud for her to recognize the decibel of her own voice, shouted, “DASVEDANYA!!!!”  I owe gratitude to Rhianna for bridging the culture gap and helping us crack some Russian smiles.

Holly Sumsion  • St. Petersburg  • 2009

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Message from an ILP Alumna

First of all I am thankful for all who taught me. I have tried to find everyone on Facebook but I couldn’t. If they remember me, I would like to ask them to add me in their friends.
I don’t know why but I can’t live without English and I can’t imagine my life without the English language. (Now it is in my blood!)
Probably my love for this language began in my childhood.
 


When I was about 4 I have begun ILP classes. At first I hated them but then time went by fast and I grew up. I have understood all the benefits of these classes. They gave me a lot. I know more vocabulary than my peers in school. I can chat on any topic with anyone. And I also have more chances to find better jobs than others. So it is the best and it adds so much to my life.
Thanks for every one of you who took part in it. I hope this program lasts forever. I hope my children will also catch this!! =))) You are always welcome at my home. I will be glad to see you and to chat. Miss and love to everyone who knows me.
from Nika =))))) (Pika)

Veronika (Nika) Potapova recently graduated from the ILP program in Russia.

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Brrr! A St. Petersburg Icecapade by Theresa

We took a five day trip in February 2005 from Moscow to St. Petersburg to check out all the sights. Being the bright tourists we were, we decided it would be faster to walk across the frozen Neva river to get to the other side of the city, rather than walking all the way to the bridge. As we were walking, we saw a couple guys digging a hole in the ice. We thought to ourselves, "Oh hey! Ice fishing in the city! Cool!"

To our dismay, the river wasn't actually frozen ALL the way across, so we turned around to come back. And we were all surprised to see one of the ice diggers stripping his clothes off, getting ready for a swim.




Crazy? Yeah. I think so.

We tried taking some paparazzi style pictures of the event, but when he saw the cameras, he encouraged us to take as many as we wanted. So we stayed for the show.

I don't know what he was thinking, but I'm sure he's grateful for this publicity.

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