4-dacha day.

 Garden-fresh food...banya...family...friends...flower pickin'...beautiful landscapes...fresh air...afternoon showers...sunshine...clouds...apple trees...cooking...eating...toasting...singing...fellowshipping...a four dacha day.

Makaryev.

View of the monastery from the boat.

Ostrich farm...1km.

"Skazka" House Museum.

Natasha feeding the dvor dog some derevenskii baton.

Деревня.

Yuri Andreivich's chickens that tried to follow us to the boat.  Бог с ними!

Nizhny Novgorod.

Welcome to Nizhny. 

Church of the Nativity of Our Lady=probably one of the most beautiful iconstases  ever. 

Mo' fox gloves.

Caption--не нужно.

Big bankin'.

Ulitsa Pokrovskaya.  Дети play ball here.

Motha Rossiya.

Oh, hey.

Blinchikia+sushi=my fave combo.

Russkaya Co'Cola. 

Ey, Rebyata.

Kremlin.

Kozmodemyansk or That Time I Almost Missed the Boat.

Next stop on our river adventure was the little town of Kozmodemyansk, which is located in the Republic of Mari El.  As our boat pulled into port and everyone woke up from their post-lunch naps, it was quickly realized that the weather was less than opportune for an excursion: rain and lots of it.  Everyone gathered in the lobby, but as the prospect of treading through rainy weather to see a little town that is not really known for anything special was realized, one by one people turned back to their rooms and their (somewhat) cozy (bunk) beds, everyone except me and one other brave soul, Andrew, that is.  Since I have an affinity for rainstorms/could care less about getting wet/was already somewhat stir-crazy, I was ready to get out and do anything but sit on the boat until the next morning when we docked in Nizhny.  Andrew and I donned our rain-gear, grabbed our cameras, and set out on our little adventure.  Not really knowing anything about Kozmodemyansk at all, I asked one of the staff on the boat what we could see in Kozmodemyansk as we disembarked, to which she replied, "Um...not really sure if there is anything to see here."  At this point I knew we were off to a good start.  Our afternoon turned into us wading ankle-deep through rivers of water in soaking wet Sperry's while trying not to get hit by cars or too lost to find our way back to the boat, but all the same this little walk through a very small but quaint town was one of my favorite parts of our time on the Volga.  We didn't see much more than some chickens, a Lenin statue, and the Museum of Satire and Humor, but for a little while I found some unexpected peace walking through that made the whole trip worth it.

The few, the proud, the сумасшедшие.

Raining on our parade.

Rivers and (on) roads.

Bread.

60 years.

Market no more.

Foxy gloves.

Dacha+satellite.

Please, take a seat.

Uncle Lenin.

Museum Satire and Humor.

Victory.

(MУ)ССР/МУСОР

I♥Kozmodemyansk.

Bon voyage.

I'd love to end this post on the sweet note of finding inner peace (blah, blah, blah), however, the story of Kozmodemyansk does not end there.  As Andrew and I walked back to the ship, the rain stopped and three other friends came out wanting to take advantage of our last hour at port while the weather was a little more friendly.  I agreed to go with them back out to 'show them around' the village.  As we walked along the shore, I asked the others if they confirmed what time we were leaving.  They assured me that, yes, they had checked and that the boat would leave at 7 o'clock.  It was only a little after 6 o'clock.  We had plenty of time left to explore and get back to the boat.  We kept walking along the shore when Connor turned around and said, "Wait, guys, is that our boat leaving?" We all quickly turned around to see that not our boat but the other boat docked alongside us was leaving.  After a breath of relief, we all gave Connor a hard time for being so paranoid, again reminding ourselves that the boat will not leave until 7.  That's what Sofya, the cruise receptionist said.  Down the shore we continued to stroll, laughing and joking.  I turned around to take a look out across the Volga and at our boat parked neatly along the dock.  But as I looked longer and closer, I realized that maybe it wasn't parked as neatly as I thought.  "Uh, is our boat moving?" I asked my friends hesitantly.  As I was being ridiculed for being paranoid like Connor, Eric, our resident sailor and student at the Naval Academy stopped us all to say, "Oh man, she's right.  Yeah, that boat's leaving!"  We all began running along the riverbank, cursing Sofya and exclaiming, "But it's only 6:15!"  Sara whips out her phone and starts calling Natasha, the director of our program, exclaiming to her in Russian that we weren't on the boat.  After a few minutes of confusion, the addition of this statement in English, and a dropped call, Natasha finally says to Sara in the first (and only) English words we've heard her use, "Don't worry! Don't worry! We come back. Five, ten minutes, maximum."  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.  We weren't stranded in Kozmodemyansk after all but instead were fooled by the ridiculous and illogical parking system for the boats that required our boat to make a loop in the water to allow another boat to leave (Why they couldn't have coordinated their departures is beyond me.).  The whole time that this panic among us was occurring, I was dying laughing because I figured that if our boat was leaving us then it was too late to do anything about it.  In retrospect we all agreed that it would have been pretty entertaining to get left behind in Kozmodemyansk (except for the fact that we would have to explain it to the State Department, which wouldn't have been too fun).  We could have easily made it to Nizhny Novgorod to meet the rest of the group the next day.  All the same, it was definitely for the better that we didn't actually miss the boat.  As we finally boarded the boat again, Natasha and Margarita, our professors (as predicted) were waiting for us in the lobby to make sure that their zaichiki (little bunnies) were okay, showering us with hugs and kisses.  What a happy ending!  And that, my friends, is how we almost missed the boat and why Kozmodemyansk will be one of the most memorable places I've visited in Russia.

Stranded...almost.

living local.

Cheboksary

First stop, Cheboksary.

A welcome to Cheboksary with traditional Chuvash dress and entertainment.

A weird Cherburashka with a purse. 

Mother Patroness (Мать–Покровительница)

Eternal flame. 

Volga River Cruisin'

Lack of internet+busyness+a cruise down the Volga+the overwhelming sense that nothing I write about Russia is good enough+an ultimate frisbee injury+lots of lame excuses=almost two weeks without blogging.  So...sorry about that.  Now I will commence making up for my silence with an overwhelming string of blog posts and pictures (maybe I need to apologize for that too?)

This week the monotony of class was broken up by a four day cruise down the Volga River from Kazan to Nizhny Novgorod, and to be honest it couldn't have come at a better, more needed time.  Russia was wearing on us, and we needed some R&R.  As someone who has never been on a cruise before, my expectations were pretty low.  I mean, this is Russia after all, and we're cruising the Volga not the Caribbean.  That being said, the experience was quite lovely.  After I got past the mayonnaise salads at every meal, which I up to this point in Russia had very successfully and skillfully avoided, and the evening entertainment, which resembled an 80's variety show+cheesy, gaudy Russians, it was all pretty classy.  We made several stops along the way: Kazan>Cheboksary>Kozmodemyansk>Nizhny Novgorod>Makaryev>Kazan, which allowed us to get a snapshot view of life on the Volga River and a snapshot of life in different republics with different ethnic minorities and cultures (Tatarstan, Chuvashiya, and Mari El).

Our faithful boat, the Semyon Budyonny (Семён Будённый).

Even though our main stop was in Nizhny, the fifth largest city in Russia, I really enjoyed the smaller stops along the way a lot more.  Maybe it's my Mississippi roots, but I'm always attracted to the small town, rural, slow way of life, so I loved the chance to explore some of these villages where people are just living their lives without the pretension of putting on a show for tourists.  There is a striking reality about these places that is both very beautiful and very sad.  I've got lots to say about this, so I'll tell a few stories about my adventures in these villages in another post.

I love watching/being with Russian tourists, especially in Russia.  They are really hilarious.  I'm not sure if this is a Soviet Union leftover or not, but the majority of Russians love being herded around in big groups on excursions with a very specific schedule.  As we disembarked the boat at every stop, various guides stood with numbered signs waiting to lead their group around for the duration of the stop.  They wait for someone else to tell them where to go and what they should see.  Wandering aimlessly is not in the plans for them.  Every morning we received a schedule on the boat that included all of the entertainment and activities for the day, which could occupy your every moment if you so chose.  Another funny cultural observance is the dress code for tourists.  Russians, in general, have a very strict dress code that basically means dressing nicely at all times.  But on a tour, that dress code breaks down entirely.  Comfortable clothes that are not usually appropriate to wear in public are suddenly okay on a cruise.  After walking alongside women in short skirts and stilettos every day, this trend really cracks me up.  I love Russians, and I especially love observing the nuances of the culture and the people.

I'll leave it here for now.  More pics and stories to come:)

Rollin' on the river.