The Lowdown

Hmm...not sure how that's written. Anyway, update for the last little while:

Thursday: Walked miles and miles around Moscow, just looking for something new to see. Ended up at a random mall that was constructed to look like a building in the capital of Armenia. The evening ended with a pretty cool boat tour of Moscow.

Friday: Off to Novidevichy Convent in the rain, back to the Ukrainian restaraunt Taras Bulba for some borscht and meat pelmeni, off to Tyler's apartment where we hung our heads upside down at the window of his 9th story apartment building, country dance moves, and Meet Joe Black. Oh, and did I mention a hilariously awkward conversation with my parents over gmail? Or those really awkward, completely transparent genie pants Svetlana somehow talked me into wearing? I wouldn't suggest standing really close to a sunny, open window in those. Wrap up in a blanket instead!

Saturday: Finally find the right stop to meet up with the study abroad students to go to Victory Park (how I confused park culturi with park pobedi, I'm not sure--but let me say, had I gone to the right stop the first time I would have been 10 minutes early instead of 30 minutes late. Thank goodness I ran into Eric on his way to meet up with everyone). Took a tour around the museum, where there were lots of great paintings depicting WWII, or The Great Patriotic War as they say here. Then we wandered the grounds, stuck our feet in a fountain, and skipped around on our way to McDonalds where I got a MacFresh and an ice cream with chocolate sauce. Then we all took off for the mall, but after about two stores, Tyler and I decided we were done shopping and would be better off taking a nap or reading. So I cuddled up with some Atlas Shrugged before heading off to check email at my office, as I somehow hadn't made it to work Friday.

Sunday: I'm sitting in sacramaent meeting when I hear someone say, "Kim DeGroff!" I turn around, and there is Andrey Rybin, one of my friends from BYU! I tell you, Moscow is the crossroads of the world! I went up to sing before the meeting started, and he held up his hand and pointed to his wedding ring. I know, I mouthed to him, congratulations! I couldn't decide if he was just excited to tell me, or felt like he needed to clue me in on this before I got any ideas. He and I had gone on a date about two years ago--he was actually the first Russian I ever went out with. haha Turns out he and his wife, who I was also able to meet, were married two weeks ago. They left for their honeymoon today and will be apart for 5 months as she will be in Lithuania finishing up school while he finishes up at LDS Business College. Then I sang in Relief Society with Ashley and Lindsey, and Tyler played for us. We sang Lead Kindly Light. I had the alto part. It actually went really well and we've been asked to sing in sacrament meeting next week. Also saw my favorite Russian girls. Additionally, I got my leg groped by an old man at church. That was startling. Then off to Tyler's where we took a personality test that pegged both of us. Him as a realist, me as a provider apparently. It even told me I like to tell people stories from my life, which made both of us laugh, cuz I pretty much do that all the time. Then we helped Svetlana make Vereniki, and I was so proud of myself--I learned how to do this cute braided design in the edge of the dough. I might just be a homemaker yet! haha I have decided I would really like cooking if I did it more often and am looking to take classes this fall when I return to the states.
That's all for now. I'm sure there will be much more to come.