Natalia gave me a nice short little haircut, but then I had to burn the extra hair (sorry Tom) because if it ends up in a bad place, like if a witch finds it and makes a voodoo doll of me, there could be some harsh consequences. Unfortunately, my American hair is too strong to burn. We buried it in the yard instead. This is me being all illumnati with a piece of irredescent metal I found at one of the abandoned houses. Pretty!
St. Basil's Cathedral... a sight for sore eyes after a long flight from JFK.
Beautiful sunset at the close of the Harvest Festival at the Polyana
Me and my injured ankle... its fine now! Just tooka little spill when I was exploring on my bike is all... it didn't hurt at the time but then I danced all night on it and it got pretty bad. I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to do the folk line dancing. It's basically dancing meets a game meets speed dating. Every man dances with every woman, but you are constantly reunited with your partner. Good for couples and swingin' singles alike! Fun!
Some familiar faces, no? Tania, Vasya, and Kolya.
Single rainbow partially across the sky
The old church! It's abandoned now, and there's no police in Blagodat' so you know what that means! No need to write letters to get me out of jail! I can explore to my little heart's desire. I found out Partner in Crime Peter also had a little looksie at this place... no surprise there. Buska the dog follows me everywhere even though I don't live at her house anymore. She also checked out the building with me and a certain Volodya. Not Vova, though I adore Vova and his wife Olga too! Everyone here has the same 5 names. Olga, Tania, Vladimir, Andre, or Nadia.
Galya and me and a Pereslavl' pond.
On a walk through the woods alone in the evening, I started collecting wildflowers. The path kept going and going and going and I had no clue when it was going to end but something told me to keep following it. I couldn't turn back! In my psychotic mind, I convinced myself the end of the road would surely lead me to Baba Yaga's house, and I became very glad that I had the bouquet with me to give her as a gift. But alas, it got too dark to continue on and the bugs began to bite so I turned around. It is still a mystery whether or not Baba waits for me at the end....
The church at the Pereslavl' art museum. I bought a keychain that seems to have an image from the same exact angle as the one that can be seen from up in the bell tower. See? two churches! One photo!
My Moscow friends Igor and Marta and I makin' clay pots outta mud. This was one of my favorite days. Awesome hilarious people.
Me and Katya! She has bought land in Blagodat' and is just starting to build her own house there with her friend. She wants to open up the first school here. And she showed me all kinds of wild flowers that grow around here you can use for tea :) We became friends so quickly! Hope to see her again when she returns from Moscow....
Me on the roof outside my room at Galya's
Andddd the inside of my room and the kitchen:
The line dancing I mentioned.... great entertainment! Oleg played the accordian the whole time we danced. He knows a LOT of folk songs.
Alesya, my wonderful first host, outside the bania.
Listening to songs around the fire
Sunset in the Russian countryside...
ГУМ, the oldest mall in Russia as I understand?
A painter painting another church in Pereslavl'. Again, two churches in one picture. Recursion?!
And one last thing. I had no idea how much Russians ACTUALLY eat borsht, but as it turns out, its all the time!
