Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Yellow Blue Bus



Здравствует!

I’m sorry it has taken so long to write to you and at the same time I’m not. It’s been quite the experience so far and I’ve enjoyed being immersed in it all.

My flights from Canada went off without a hitch. Nearly all my flights were early to arrive and on time to leave. I managed to get a decentish sleep throughout and thus arrived at the Sochi airport tired but not exhausted. My plane landed at 4:30am and I was quickly informed that the buses were not running this early in the morning and in fact one of my bus routes did not yet exist. Not a problem. I’m a well-rested, travel savvy, slightly Russian speaking Canadian. I can do this. And do it, I did. It took me 8 hours to get from the airport to my beautiful new home but I made it intact. I was assisted by some really great Russians along the way who went above and beyond to ensure that I was safe and arrived at my destination.

So now I am here. I’m all settled into my abode with 3 other lovely girls. I believe we have the most multinational room in the accommodation complex. One of my roommates is Canadian (from Toronto naturally), one is Australian (I try not to be disappointed she isn’t a Kiwi – just kidding dear I love you), and the other is French (finally a true Frenchie). We are getting along famously.

We haven’t been working much yet (I’ll explain that in a second) so we’ve had plenty of time to gallivant around Sochi and area. We discovered and mastered the bus, train, cable car, and walking routes. We can now get around Sochi, Adler, Olympic Park, Rosa Khutor and Vesoloe without any issue. Yesterday we discovered the largest dolphinarium in Eastern Europe and watched a pretty impressive dolphin show. We also found a small amusement park nestled into the hillside and I got to hold an adorable monkey clothed in the tiniest Adidas gear I’ve ever seen. Describing our walk-abouts is tiresome and would be full of a ton of you-had-to-be-there moments so I’ll spare you all of that. But I guess, for those of you that were there with me, I would just like to say “Yellow Blue Bus”.

Speaking of speaking Russian – I’m definitely improving. I have been told that my Russian sounds quite good and that I am a quick learner. I’m pretty stoked. I was actually able to speak enough Russian to purchase a Russian phone and SIM card without a translator. Our volunteer village (aka accommodation complex) houses mostly Russians and a few international volunteers that all work in the mountain area in some capacity. The Russian volunteers have been hand-picked because of their English skills and personalities. Each day I make new Russian friends and each day they try to teach me a few more words.

The best way I’ve found to make new Russian friends is to pull out a deck of cards. Cards truly are the international symbol for “I want to meet new people and have fun”. This trip I tried something different too. I brought Dutch Blitz. The first night here I taught the other international volunteers to play. They loved it. The next night I accosted a Russian boy and his friend and in my ever impressive Russian (haha) I asked them to play. They hesitantly agreed. It was a hoot trying to use my Russian to explain the game. I surprised myself with how much I was actually able to communicate with my extremely limited vocabulary. Needless to say, they loved the game too. I mean who in their right mind doesn’t like Dutch Blitz. The next night I taught a few more Russians. Now word has spread throughout the village and I have people asking to play every evening. New volunteers are arriving every day as well and they are often drawn to the commotion in the corner and are soon slapping cards on the table, yelling in frustration or triumph, and generally having a good time. The only bad this is that I only have one deck. I really need to figure out how to get a couple more over here ASAP.

My roommate has just reminded me that we have been here for just over a week now. Time has really flown by. For the most part we have been adventuring but I’ve also had a couple volunteer shifts. I am working in the mountain area in the athlete’s village. Right now we are still preparing for the arrival of the athletes so there isn’t a huge amount to do. Once everyone arrives things will get crazy! I can’t wait to greet athletes from around the world and to create an incredibly positive, fun atmosphere where personal bests, friendships, and the joy of the Olympics can be shared.

This truly is a life changing period of time for so many people. I am thrilled to be a part of it.

I’m so thrilled that while I love updating you all back home, I also just want to be out and about. So with that in mind I’m going to forego the prose and hit you with a list of other things I’d like you to know but am simply not committed to expounding fully.
1.       
      There are the cutest, kindest, most adorable stray dogs everywhere. We have about 10 living on/around our complex. You can’t go more than a block without running into a new pack of strays.
2.      We live on the 5th floor so I do about 15 sets of 5 stairs per day. We also do a ton of walking. I suspect between 10-25km per day.
3.      Russian food is very similar to Canadian food just cooked with few spices. I enjoy it. Also Russian have this super tasty ice cream bar that tastes like cream cheese and yogurt and is coated in chocolate. They are 3 bite sized and cost about 30 cents. I’m going to miss them.
4.      Our uniforms are sweet.
5.      About 50% of the Russians I meet say I look Russian, the other 50% say I don’t look remotely Russian.
6.      I will definitely come back to this country.
7.      The weather in Vesoloe where I live ranges between 5-15 degrees. On the mountain it has been ranging between -10 and 10 degrees.
8.      I was given a beautiful deck of cards with the 55 best views of Saint Petersburg by a Russian volunteer. She’s basically my favourite person. I forgot a regular set of cards at home. Now I have a much cooler deck to take with me on the rest of my travels.
9.      I can’t wait to watch Canada play Finland but have discovered that I forgot to bring any Canadian gear… L I’m going to try to mooch some off other Canadian volunteers.
10.  I love all of you guys. I want to send specific love to my family. I love you Mommy dearest. Faja, you’re pretty cool too. Berly Face, Tiger Lily, Kimbly, love love love. Stevo. You’re killin’ it in Brazil. Rock on.
I suppose that’s good for now. I haven’t got my pictures sorted out yet. I’ll try to post those in the next week or so… Don’t rush me… Haha.
From Russia with Love,
Julia

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

A Trip of Olympic Proportions

Welcome everyone to another round of "Julia's Most Epic Travel Blogging".

This trip promises to be eventful. I'm hitting up the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the Turkish baths in Istanbul, the birth place of the Olympics in Greece, the everything in Italy, the friends and family in Germany, and the photographic genius of that dude in the Netherlands.

Like last time, the blogs will be sporadic and jumbled. It's how I roll so get ready to tumble haphazardly with me through this great adventure.

And so it begins... again...