Reflections on relationships

Been fairly quiet on the home blog-front lately, didn't figure anything was really worth posting, but I guess I was wrong. Dad has mentioned a couple times he was curious what I was thinking with the whole marriage thing (not in a bad way, mind you!), and I guess now that it's coming to a close, it's as good a time as any to reflect on it.

In short, when I met dude (now ex), we really seemed to have a lot in common. We agreed that relationships took work, life was worth living every moment of to its fullest, and there was no point in sitting on the side and letting it pass you by. He expressed interest in picking up Russian to help me out, and I admit, I'm a sucker for someone who's willing to play along with my love of languages. We went hiking with the puppy in Garden of the Gods, we would spend hours talking about things, even difficult topics like money, kids, the future, etc. I was very happy, and felt I'd really connected with someone.

Pictures!

Ok guys, it took me a while, but I finally got all of the pictures uploaded and commented. Some of them are re-posts, as they are what I used for this blog, so you wouldn't have to wait 2 months to see what I was doing on the other side of the world, but there are upward of 400 pictures there, so there's bound to be some new ones! Here's the first one- the comments are underneath, and the next/ previous buttons are on the top right. I tried to make it a pretty slideshow, but there were too many pictures, and you wouldn't have gotten the trademark Lyssa comments. Go check 'em out!

On a slightly different topic: my post-travel thoughts. Looking back from the vantage point of having slept and eaten well for a week, I think I can take a more rational look at the trip overall, instead of being mired in the feelings of it. To start with: Yes, I am very, very glad I went. The things that I learned instinctively are invaluable- there is no way I could have memorized or studied the sensations and reactions to everyday Russian life in a classroom. For example, I will never be able to use the word for "next" (следующая), without remembering being in the metro on the way to/from school, and hearing "Next stop, Chkolovskaya" (следующая станция, Чкловская) - the station where school was. Nor will I ever forget sitting in the kitchen of an old apartment with ridiculously high ceilings, and having a German guy and his Russian girlfriend insisting I eat a billion blini and a bowl full of strawberries while we fumble and mime our way through three languages to explain how our days went. In terms of experience and keeping your mind open and flexible, I couldn't ask for more.

Home again, home again.

Just a quick update to let everyone knwo I'm alive and well at home. Did have that taco dinner with fresh fruit salad, and my friend and her beau made me laugh so hard I cried, so I am in a great mood. Just touching base with a few things and then a shower and bed- I've been awake now for over 50 hours. Sleepytime!

Final countdown

This is the (backside of the) Summer Palace! Apparently, most of it was as gilded as the towers in the background at one point, but one of the queens got annoyed at the constant glittering, and asked that it be toned down, so now it's just accents and a few cupolas that are quite so gaudy. From what we were told, there are more than 800 rooms in the main palace (the multi-story area in the back), and goodness knows how many in the servants' quarters (one-story area in the foreground). We were going to go inside, but a number of cruise ships had docked and unloaded just as we got there, and the line was upward of two hours to get in, so we passed over it and just wandered the gardens. Fine with me!

   This is an example of the "english gardens" in front of the palace itself. Perhaps it's just my long association with the book/ play The Secret Garden, but I associate english gardens with fountains of roses, not laid-out gravel. Meh. Regardless, it was pretty impressive, though apparently one of the many strays about the place thought the black circle at the bottom needed some spreading out. I can't imagine how much work it takes to keep all this looking this orderly, but I suppose after 300 years, you've probably gotten most of the weeds cleared out. :)

  I have no idea what these flowers are, they were all over the Italian gardens, in a huge bush-type plant (think lilac bush size), and they smelled heavenly. If anyone can identify them, I would happily grow about 6 billion of them, just to sit in the middle and back in the scent. The rest of the Italian gardens were also wonderful, well-laid-out, with statuary and vine-covered arches. We missed the lilacs, poppies and irises, but the begonias and petunias were just coming out, so it was still quite lovely.

Revisit after some sleep

Having gotten some sleep and a little bit more food than a candy bar (the ubiquitous ham and cheese sandwich...), I'd like to give a slightly more upbeat update. Well, the ending is more upbeat at least. :) Imagine the following being told in true Lyssa fashion, complete with gestures and facial expressions, it'll be so much more entertaining.

   Class yesterday was certainly trying, but at least the teachers had been notified as to our circumstances (and I'm sure the fact that even Artemi was sick and exhausted helped!), so they accepted that we were falling asleep in class and stumbling over english, much less russian. Grammar class was a brief lesson, then word games- she gave us long words in russian and we had to find words within them. I think the longest word found (out of a 20-letter word, mind you!) was 6 letters, so we're not going to be invited to russian mensa (if it exists) anytime soon, but it was quite fun and hilarious as some people couldn't count how many of each letter were in a word, and sometimes just added letters that weren't there at all!