One More Day!

Day 47! Wow, so I will have spent 48 days in Russia when I leave tomorrow. Okay anyways. So last night after using internet Steve and I came back to my place and we watched Hidalgo. It was a pretty good movie I enjoyed it.

It was around 6 and so I decided to start packing. It took an hour to pack everything, all of my souvenirs are neatly and safely within the layers of clothing so they're all safe and shouldn't be damaged at all.

I really didn't know what to do for the rest of the night. I borrowed the movie Click from Steve and decided to watch that while eating dinner. I've seen it before, but not in a long time.

Halfway through that Babushka (Grandmother) came back! I was happy about that. She cooked herself some dinner and I sat with her and then we had tea. It was a nice evening. We talked about my school plans and my family and boyfriend. She said being Nurse is very good and was very happy about it.

She herself had been a doctor for 46 years, her patients being small children. Now she receives a small pension. She then said that in Russia it is hard to find jobs and the pay is very small, it's hard to make a living. She doesn't have her own car now that she doesn't have a job and takes the bus to Novgorod when she comes.

It was only recently that I realized that her husband had died a long time ago, (I thought that the man at the village was her husband, that was her brother in law).
I asked her how her Husband died and from what I understood he had a heart attack, or something heart related. I think she said he was in his 50s, but either way it's been at least 20 years.

Other than that we talked about how I am leaving soon, she wishes me a good trip and all. I asked to take a picture with her and she said, certainly! She was soo happy and put her arms around me and kind of hugged me while I took the picture! She's so sweet! She's such a nice lady and I wish I had more time to hang out with her. Oh well, I am glad I've gotten to meet her and Olga. Such nice people.

After I finished watching Click I started reading new book, My Sister's Keeper. Should be good for the plane ride and the rest of the summer.

Other than that, Today is my last official day in Novgorod. I woke up and said goodbye to Babushka and soon after Olga came home from the village with Beesha right behind. Shira didn't want to come home apparently so Olga left her at the village.

Olga had to go to work and I have to meet with Stas to give him some papers and such. Steve and I are going to school to meet up with Stas and then I plan on just walking around the city a bit for the last time and perhaps getting some pictures developed and buying a card to write in and give to Olga as a gift!

Tonight I am going to just hang out with Olga for one last time. I am not sure what time I have to get going tomorrow, but I bet that as early as 5 or 6 would not be out of the question.

Myself and the others will be taking a bus to St. Petersburg. Our flight leaves around 11 or so, to Finland. Then from Finland to NYC. I have a 5 hour wait in NYC and then my flight to rochester is at 9. I won't be home until late.

Look forward to another update once I get home, I'll let you know how everything went.

So, in the last post I made a list of things I will miss.. here are more things I thought of..

- the banya
- the dacha
- Conversations over tea
- Techno Music, haha, it's all over the place, I've gotten quite used to it. It's fun.



So much more that I know I won't realize until I get home. Russia is certainly a wonderful place and I certainly plan on coming back at least once if not more. I am a mix of emotions ranging from sadness to excitement to disbelief to just a whole bunch of things.

I will leave you with a picture I took with Babushak!




Love, Sasha