Giving my brother, Jed, the privacy he longed for throughout his entire battle with cancer, I will share simply that he had surgery on April 6th where he was successfully declared cancer free... but due to heart failure from the chemotherapy, he passed away on April 8th. I won't fill this blog post up with what I think or how I feel--I could write a novel and it still would only be an insignificant piece of what is really rolling around inside of me. I was blessed with an incredible little boy in my life with an even more mind blowing relationship with him--we packed in a lifetime of memories, good times, and love in just those 19 years he had on this Earth. I feel broken, lost, and alone... but I'm slowly finding my footing again and learning to stand up and face the world again and I know he's right next to me, holding my hand, and guiding me through this time.
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After coming home in the winter from China, Adam and I needed to figure out what we wanted to do amidst the tornado of life flying around us at the time. We ended up getting hired by EF--English First--in Novosibirsk, Russia. Where is Novosibirsk, you ask? Well, if you look at a map of the country, look right smack dab in the middle of the country along the southern border and that's where we are... Oh! And did I mention it's the capitol of Siberia?
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| Surprisingly it isn't very far north... Siberia is just the eastern part of the country. |
Don't ask about the 15 hour layover in Moscow where we had no money, there was no way out into the city, and how I tried to exit through security only to get man handled by an officer. Welcome to Russia!
After 46 hours of travel, we arrived at our new flat! Now for those of you who have been reading my blog over the past two years (yes! This blog is over two years old!) or if you've ever asked me about my apartment in China, you'll know how much I hated it. We basically had two dorm rooms to use as our apartment--one had a bed and the other had a fridge--though, of course, they weren't connected n any way... you had to actually go out into the roofless hallway to go back and forth. But enough of that! I have a real apartment now! And it's all connected.
The view from our apartment and our bedroom
Our kitchen (we have a kitchen!!), our living room (hi, Adam!), and our balcony
Now the city of Novosibirsk is nothing like how I imagined it to be. The furthest east I've ever gotten in Europe is Riga, Latvia which was once a part of the USSR, so in my mind I thought I knew what Novosibirsk would look like. Well, you know what happens when you make assumptions... St. Petersburg is the beautifully opulent European Russian city and Novosibirsk is the very industrial, functional city. There are very few beautiful buildings (although at Lenin Square there is an opera house which is quite beautiful... though it's under construction right now), no onion dome churches, and it actually looks a lot like China with the concrete, square buildings (but the blue sky is a nice upgrade!).
We're still trying to navigate our way through the city; trying to find things to see and do. We wandered down to Lenin Square a few days ago (apparently there is a Lenin Square/statue in almost every Russian city) and we know there's a zoo and we're hoping to catch a ballet once the theatre season starts. All in all, I think I'm adapting much faster to life in Russia than when I was in China. I've explored the metro by myself (and didn't die!) and I've gone grocery shopping alone... Now I just need to find the nerve to get in a cab or go to a restaurant.
School has slowly been starting with a few promotional programs and demo lessons but my classes don't begin until next week.
It was 83 degrees yesterday... Certainly not the Siberia I packed for! But I'm sure I'll regret that statement in a few months...
Our apartment is slowly becoming a home as we buy flowers, a hamper, cereal, and hangers.
All in all, life is pretty fine here in Novosibirsk. A few bouts of homesickness in the beginning but now that I'm finding my way (and learning the alphabet so I can actually read things now), I'm feeling a little better about following my new husband to Siberia for a year! Again, that statement might change when winter comes...
So, welcome back, my beloved readers! It's been far too long and I know a lot of us have gone through the ringer this first half of 2015 but we're here, we're together (on the cyberwebs), and I hope that you will, once again, follow me on this crazy adventure in Russia with the Wide Eyed Wanderer.
Until Next Time,
Amanda
