Au revoir!
First and foremost, I have an exciting new comic! (With this and the other pictures, click to make it larger)
After we finished doling out finals on Tuesday, we decided to celebrate the end of the semester (and Leonid Brezhnev’s 100th birthday) by going to the sauna. Russian sauna (not to be confused with banya) as now replaced Anastasia as my reason to study Russian language/culture. In America, most saunas that I’ve been in have been attached to some sports center or a public swimming pool. You sit in an absurdly hot room and sweat and that’s the end of the story.
In Russia, you (and a group of friends) generally rent out the private sauna area, which includes the sauna room, a changing area, a small pool, and a hanging-out room (usually with a large table and plastic shot glasses). The sauna we went to near Joanna’s also had karaoke. You hang out in the wonderfully hot sauna room for awhile to work up a sweat, then immediately run out of the room and jump into a cold pool that usually looks something like this:
Alternatively (and weather-permitting), you run past the night guard out the front door and roll around in the snow until you no longer feel your skin. Then you run back into the sauna to get warm again or take a break for snacks/drinks. Rinse, lather, repeat (in our case, for three solid hours). Probably the greatest feeling experience you can have.
In other news, the semester officially ends today. Next semester, I have four ZII classes (3 Mon/Fri 1 Tues/Fri) and a conversation class, so I’ll be leaving my current students, which for the most part is definitely a shame. Here’s some shots of my last class on Mon/Thurs at our class party.
Nearly all of my students passed, which was fantastic. In the second picture above, the guy (Dmitriy) got 100% and the girl on the far right (Sasha) got a 99%. I rock!
And of course, I’ll be losing my hooligans, which is actually pretty sad. They gave me a pig-themed snowglobe in honor of the upcoming Chinese Year of the Pig (most teachers have received a pig in some fashion). Here’s a picture from our Christmas party with Ann II (top) and Ira.
Even my notoriously difficult class was sad to lose me, as evidenced by their absolutely amazing gift- a pretty alcohol-serving set made of Russian crystal (a town near us is famous for its crystal-making factory)
And after today, most of the teachers will be parting for the first time in four months. Molly and Nicole (seen here before sauna) are headed off to Petersburg and Kiev.
While Joanna and Eric (in the marshrutka before the club) are two of the teachers headed home to the States for break.
This will likely be my last blog post until I return from my London/Paris adventure with my mom (I promise pictures and at least one entertaining story). And just to give you an idea of the high life I’m living out here in Vladimir, here’s a picture of my monthly salary. Somehow getting paid in cash is so much more gratifying.
Lest you think I’m livin’ it up, keep in mind that the 1000 ruble notes (in green) go to Nina Mikhailovna for putting up with me, and the resulting 7000 rubles adds up to a grand total of 250ish dollars and primarily goes to transportation and food (with occasional sauna trips, of course).
