Dasvidanya Russia!

Wow! 4 months have never gone by so fast in my whole life. I am so sad to be leaving Russia, however, I'm happy to be able to see my family and be home for Christmas! So many mixed emotions!

I had an amazing last few days here in Russia though! I went to Red Square on Saturday and Monday. On Saturday we went inside St. Basil's and got to see all of Red Square lit up. It was beautiful. It was so sad to look at St. Basil's and know it was the last time I might see it. 

We made sure we did all our favorite thinks before leaving. Kremlin, check. Blinis, duhhhh. Made a wish at Kremlin, check. 

It was hilarious too, cause there was a Bobushka that was waiting around there and she would go and pick up all the coins that people would throw on the ground. Hahaha, homegirl is making a killing off all these tourists. People line up to stand in this circle and make a wish on Kremlin grounds. 

However, today, was a very difficult day! It was the very last time I got to see all my little students ): It was hard to give them all hugs and tell them goodbye. I will never forget them, they will always have a very special place in my heart. They alone have made this whole experience 100% worth it. They are the reason why I came to Russia and the reason why I'm heart broken to leave. 

I know that they'll probably forget about us as their next group of teachers come in, but I hope that what we taught them will be able to resonate with them for the rest of their lives; if it does, then I have accomplished my job! 

If I had to write a thank you note to Russia, it would be this: 

Dear Russia, 

Thank you so much for being a great country. I have truly enjoyed all the beautiful sites that I have seen , the Kremlin, St. Basils, Vladimir, Suzdel, and St. Petersburg. Thank you for being very different from what EVERYONE has said. The people here are not all mean and cold hearted; I have met some of the most kind hearted and genuine people here in Russia. The people of Russia don't drink vodka like it's water. Everyone I have met here has been sober....for the most part (; I am so glad that I got to experience all the craziness as well, the homeless people, the drunk guy that won't stop talking to me, being crammed in a bus for 2 hours, have Russians yell at me and not know what they're saying....and the list goes on and on. 

Thank you for showing me that the world is an interesting place and that there's good in the world no matter where you go. I also want to say thanks for not killing me. I'm glad that I've made it in one piece thus far. I am grateful to be coming back to America alive! 

Thank you for being sooooo much better than what everyone said you were gonna be like. Okay, but forreal I'll stop being creepy and pretending like Russia is an actual person. 

PS. I LOVE RUSSIA! 

I want to hold onto every single experience that I have made here. 

Now, to thank real people. Thank you to everyone again who donated to International Language Programs, helping me to make this trip possible. I wouldn't have been able to have these wonderful things to say if it wasn't for you! So thank you, thank you, thank you! I literally cannot tell you how grateful I am for all the kindness I've received. Well, that's it. Stay tune for my next adventure, because I assure you that there will be more to come; it's addicting and I definitely have the travel bug, I want to see more of the world. Russia was the perfect place to start and wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere else! 

Dasvidanya Russia!!!

Thanksgiving, Clowns and Robberies

Oh boy, sounds strange, right? I have so many things to say but first I need to talk about Thanksgiving in Russia!

It was quite awesome, the director at one of the schools that we teach at insisted on cooking us a turkey for Thanksgiving day. On Thanksgiving we arrived at the school and gave a presentation about Thanksgiving in America to the 6th graders at the school. It was way sweet and afterwards many of the kids stood up and thanked us for our presentation. After that we grubbed on some Turkey!

It was delicious! And we were very grateful that we got to celebrate it. There are about 13 Americans that are in Moscow with me that are apart of the same program. We decided to all get together and do a sort of pot luck Thanksgiving dinner the follow Sunday and it turned out great! It really felt like the food at home. Mash potatoes, stuffing, and pie? You can't get more American than that.

It was the most full I've ever been while in Russia! I don't think I've ever gone into detail my diet here in Russia, but I've lost about 15 pounds while being here! We are fed at the school that we teach at twice a day, for lunch and "dinner," for breakfast and the weekends they give us money so we provide our own meals then.

My typical day of food is this:
oatmeal in the morning at about 9AM. At 1:30PM lunch at the school consists of a small plate of veggies, a bowl of soup, and some sort of meat and starch (this is our biggest meal of the day). Then there's "dinner" and I put these in parenthesis for a very good reason....cause it's NOT really dinner! It's more like a semi-meal and a joke. It's the meal that they actually give to the kids before they go home, however, we found out from our coordinator that the school isn't technically allowed to feed the kids dinner, so it's really just a snack, which is served at 5:15PM. Then all the children go home and eat an actual dinner at about 8PM. For "dinner" we usually get some sort of small plate of a salad, and then something sweet, for example a pastry. And that's it! These 5 year olds eat more a day than I do! I sort of have a love-hate relationship with my diet, cause I'm definitely loosing weight, which has never been a complaint, but I'm also hungry most of the time! Hahaha, the fat Americans need more food than this.

We also got to go to the world famous Russian circus! It was amazing, we got to see some cool animals that I have never seen in person, such as polar bears, camels, and kangaroos! It was very random but interesting at the same time. They pretty much had all the works; my favorite act was the tight rope walkers, talk about intense and stressful!

The weekend after the circus the group of teachers took a trip to Ukraine. Sadly, it was not one of my most favorite experiences. Within 20 minutes of being in the country I was robbed! I got onto the metro from the train station, got off only after two stops, looked down at my purse and no wallet is in there ): Oh boy, and did the tears start coming! Hahaha, I was a complete hot mess all the way to the hostel. Everyone in the metro, streets, and hostel got to witness an original Whitney Meltdown. I had money, atm cards, drivers license, social security card, and the list really goes on, pretty much my whole life! Luckily I got cards cancelled quickly and no money was taken out of my cards. Then a few hours later we were forced to bribe these bus thugs to let us off at our stop! It kinda put a damper on my whole experience there, but I did enjoy the rest of the time I spent in Kiev.

There was definitely some beautiful sites to see. Another upside to Ukraine was how cheap it was to eat out! I also got to taste the best hot chocolate in the world, and I'm being serious. We went to this famous chocolate shop/cafe in Kiev and it was amazing. Their specialty hot chocolate was the best and you sipped it through a cinnamon stick.

Another great part of the trip was the people that we met in our hostel. You really do meet the most interesting people in hostels. We met guys from Sri Lanka, Spain, Russia, and the UK. They all had cool stories to share. There were these two guys from the UK, way cool guys by the way, and they are borderwalk, they are travelling from England to Austrailia....all on FOOT and it's all for charity! It's insane. They're stuck in Ukraine right now because their visas for Russia are being slow. If you want to know more about them, follow their story, it's really amazing what they're doing. http://theborderwalk.wordpress.com

So, it's coming down to my last week here in Russia and it is really starting to sink in! I am definitely going to miss everything about Russia, especially the little ones that I teach. I'm pretty sure they're getting so sick of me taking tons of pictures of them these last couple of days (:

How can you not take a million pictures when they're this cute?! This is Dajik, he is a slobbering mess of cuteness! I absolutely adore him and the few things that he does say in English. He is our youngest student at 3 years old and is constantly gibbering in Russian. I'll miss this little guy and the rest of them.

Thanks for following and reading! I'll at least post one more time before I go home (: Dasvidanya!

Never Thought it Would Happen, but I've Fallen in Love!

For 10 days I traveled through Russia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark! It is one of the most amazing experiences I've had in my life. I have a new found love of adventure and I can feel the addiction creeping into my head; TRAVEL TRAVEL TRAVEL. I know this is a time I will never forget.

St. Petersburg, Russia 

For the first couple of days of my trip we stayed in Russia, but visited the next biggest city which is St. Petes! It was a good time, filled with cathedrals, palaces, hot chocolate, and shwarma (: Shwarma is this amazing Turkey pita dish. It was very good. My favorite part was going to the cathedral of Spilt Blood. It is my favorite cathedral from the outside. 

I dare you to look me in the eye and tell me this isn't beautiful! (: All the detail and colors just come together into this cohesive piece of art. There is actually a small section of the cathedral that they preserved from when they were invaded by the Polish. This little area has bullet holes and is beat. They obviously restored much of the cathedral after they gained control back. 

I got to also go inside of The Hermitage! One of the top museums in the world and I can definitely see why. If you have a museum inside a palace, it's going to be amazing and it was. My favorite part was see the interior parts of the palace. They had certain areas that were preserved from when the royalty of Russia lived in the palace. Here's a picture of me in one of the many ballrooms they had in the palace. 

I can't imagine actually living in a place like this! I got lost and I had a map in my hands. I'm glad I my group decided to go! There was also a ton of art as well and that was awesome. They had original pieces from Van Gogh, DaVinci and Monet. I liked this part of Russia because it was more European.

Tallin, Estonia 

Who the heck goes to Estonia?! Uhhh, ME! I had never even heard of this country before I visited it and I can't believe how underrated this country is. Tallin was a quaint cobbled stoned town with the cutest shops all around. This is one of the cities that has the most preserved medeval architecture! It was so awesome, I have never seen buildings quite like these. 

Isn't that just beautiful? Although it is a small town, there was so much exploring to do. We went to a couple of platforms that overlooked the "new" city and the old town. My group and I also went to the world famous authentic medeval restaurant called Olde Hansa. It was one of the funnest experiences I've had. There are no lights, everything is candle lit, all the waiters and waitresses speak in the medeval accent, the girls don't wear make up and they all wear medeval outfits! It was a crack up. There are four of us in my group, we all got a little something and shared. We had boar soup, rose pudding, smoked meat salad, and a cheese and bread platter. It was very good! 

Helsinki, Finland 

I have to admit, Finland was not my favorite. However, I think this is because we had limited time in the country and didn't know too well where the best spots were. It was still a neat experience though! We got to walk around the city and see all the different shops. We also explored around city hall. 

They did have a pretty good pizza buffet in Helsinki! Hahaha, of course the only good things I have to say is about the food. I can't help it. 

Stockholm, Sweden 

(This is where I start really falling in love) 

I LOVED Stockholm! It is such a beautifully kept up city and the all the people we ran into were super sweet and helpful. It's definitely an interesting culture and I enjoyed getting to know more about the country. We arrived very early in Stockholm and got to watch the light from the sunrise spill into the city and over the water. It was breathtaking. 

This picture barely does this sight justice! I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was. Like I said earlier people were always helpful and nice. We met a lady in a shop and she just started talking to us about EVERYTHING haha, I loved it. She went on about how she loved America and wants to go back to Miami and to sit on the beach. It was a nice to hear some one rant about how great America is! You don't find that too often while traveling. She then continued to tell us about the Princess and her husband and showed us pictures. It's so neat how much she seemed to really love them and just the government in general. *Cough cough, unlike an American who was upset about the recent election (; We won't get into that though. 

Oslo, Norway 

(At this point I'm absolutely sold) 

Just so you all know, I'm going to live here! Norway was so beautiful; one of my favorite parts of the whole trip was when we were able to see the view of the sea from the Norway coastline. I could've sat there and just stared forever. 

I just felt so peaceful as I looked out at the calm waters and the beautiful skyline. It's an experience that I'll hopefully never forget. We also went to a famous park in Oslo; as you can see in the picture there was a bit of snow on the ground, this was obviously the same for the park and added to the overall beauty of it. It was a statue park where all their famous statues are in the city. There's also a huge garden of roses that were still alive! How is that even naturally possible?! Oslo is a magical place. The sight of the snow resting upon the roses was stunning.

What I loved most about this town was not only the beauty of it but the actual city, it is a small city but still feels big and it's just a very happening place. People walking all around, coffee shops and cute bakeries on every corner. I enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the town. This place has stolen my heart. And I haven't been looking at jobs in this city or anything crazy like that...

Copenhagen, Denmark 

(I can just stay in the Scandinavian countries, right? Who needs to go back to their job in Russia?) 

It's my homeland! Of course I loved every minute of it. Copenhagen is such a cool town filled with old architecture along with the new. My favorite part was probably the boat ride that we went on; we were able to see all these different sites of the city as the sun was setting. The colorful buildings and small boats on the canal was oozing with charm! 

Can I also say how much I love the Danish accents they had! We had a this waitress on the night ferry to Copenhagen and I just wanted her to just recite a monologue or something, I thought her accent was so sweet. My group and I were trying to figure out ways to get her to say different words hahaha! It was funny. 

I also really enjoyed just sitting by the canal at night and watching the city lights. 

By this point I was really sad that it was time to start heading back to Russia (This chick, so spoiled, right?). I have been ruined! I feel as though nothing will quite compare to my experience in these countries. It has really changed me. I'm not sure if I could just stay in America for the rest of my life! My parents are probably freaking out about right now (: Speaking of which, THANK YOU MOM AND DAD! They have funded the best time of my life and I thank you guys for that. I'm so lucky to have parents that are able to help me out and allow me to have these experiences. I love you both more than I can say! 

To everyone else, thank you! If it weren't for the kindness of family and friends I wouldn't have probably ever had this opportunity. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you all and will post again soon! 

October Festivities

Hello! It has been way too long since I've last posted. This past month has been filled with absolute craziness and business! However, the longer I'm here the more I am enjoying my experience and loving teaching.

At the end of September, beginning of October, we went to two cities called Vladimir and Suzdel. Vladimir was the country's capital back in the 9th and 10th century before St. Petersburg and Moscow were founded. The city is deeply embedded with the history that comes along with it. It is about 4 hours outside of Moscow in the beautiful country sides of Russia.

We went to the Church of Intercession where we had to follow this cobble stoned road:

There was some amazing architecture in the city as well. This is The Vladimir Bell Tower:

It was such an amazing experience to see the quaint and quiet side of Russia verses the business of Moscow. Everyone now tells us that we have seen the "real" Russia!


About mid October we went to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. It is a foreign museum where we were able to see tons of art from Egypt, Greece, and England.

My favorite thing that we did was going into the Egypt section they had artifacts that dated to 24 BC! Crazy, huh? They also had some mummies there.

That same day we also went to the most famous Cathedral in Moscow, Christ the Savior. The cathedral was originally torn down in the early 1900's but was rebuilt in the early 90's. It is an exact replica of the original and is absolutely beautiful! Definitely the biggest and prettiest cathedral yet. This is also the cathedral where recently a girl punk group band started singing. They were arrested and it's been huge news not only in Russia but worldwide. It seems as though the people in Russia have a constant struggle with their government. Nothing like what the U.S. has to deal with.

Christ the Savior Cathedral:

Last but not least, my group and I celebrated Halloween! It was a great Halloween this year. We all taught classes in our costumes and the kids absolutely loved it! I was dressed as a fairy and all the little girls were in awe, it was pretty funny. They would not let go of me and all wanted the wand that I had.

This is a picture of Sofi, the blonde, and Nina. They are best friends and just adorable. Nina is more of a goof she always makes funny faces and loves to laugh non stop. Her little giggles just crack me up.

Funny story about Nina, she likes to run up to me with open arms and say "Mommmmmmy!" and she'll come up and nestle her head in my stomach and hug me. I have to constantly remind her that's not my name and that I'm "Teacher, not Mommy." And one day she said, "okay, Teacher Mommy!!!" Hahahaha, made me laugh so hard I couldn't help but let her call me that.

Teaching has been so much fun for me! The kids are great and constantly make me laugh. There are some bad days, but the good days make up for those and then some. The teaching method is coming more natural for me and I really feel like I am teaching them something. Such a great feeling! 

Once again, I'm sorry this is all so late. I am currently on my long vacation I have travelled to St. Petersburg, Russia and Tallin, Estonia. As of right now, I am on my way to Sweden! It has been so fun and I will update everyone the next time I get internet access! 

Thanks for all the love and support, I really do appreciate everything that everyone has done to help me! 

"нет русскии!"

What the heck does that mean?! Well, I shall tell you; it is probably the phrase that I've used the most since being here in Russia. It means "No Russian!" I am thoroughly surprised by the number of Russians that try to speak to me, because I've been told by a Russian that I definitely do not look like I belong here! And I thought practicing my Russian scowl was helping me blend in, I guess not. (: We always have to try to tell everyone that we don't speak their language in our broken/non-existent Russian. Although language is often a barrier, it has not stopped me from meeting some truly amazing people. Most of my preconceived Russian stereotypes have been absolutely shattered!

But, first, think of the children! I have now completed two full weeks of teaching, meaning that I'm pretty much a pro now. Actually not at all, but I think I might be getting there. My roommates and I teach at a Kindergarden school, meaning we teach kids between the ages of 3-6. The older kids that are about 6, just started the basic reading program, while all the other kids that are all young are in the trusted hands of Shelley and I! We have a couple older one's in our group, but for the most part we have very young kids. It's a good thing that these kids are absolutely adorable cause they make me want to pull out my hair! But in a good way (: If that's even possible. As I mentioned earlier, we teach in a very rich area, therefore we have the little angels of the wealthy who get EVERYTHING they want. They are catered to at home and by most of the Russian teachers; they will do about anything to make them stop crying. So that makes my job a little difficult because we have rules and when broken, the students receive consequences; something that I don't think they're very familiar with! Must be nice, huh?!

These are the twins in our classes; they are cutest, and most mischief children you will ever meet! Their names are Paulina (blue) and Alisa (pink); I can finally tell them apart! 

Yesterday, Sunday, I got to work with kids as well! Just can't get enough of the little buggers. I go to church every Sunday here in Moscow. It's an International Latter-Day Saint church that takes 2 hours to get there and then 2 hours back, making it a 4 hour round trip (just in case your math skills need a little help); it has definitely made me appreciate the states and the availability of wards that are so close by! I already have a calling in the church and it's to be a Nursery teacher. In other words, I just play toys with people's children while the parents attend the 2nd and 3rd hour of church! And I have to say, that I love it! They are so stinkin' cute. 

The kids of the Nursery; they LOVE bubbles! I seriously blew bubbles for a total of 30 minutes! 

The only day I was not surrounded by little munchkins was Saturday and it was such a fun day! I can say that I've gone to a soccer game in Europe and that it was crazy. There was this little section of the stadium were devout fans were either chanting or clapping the ENTIRE time! It was nuts! I couldn't believe how much energy they had. It was such a blast though and fun to attend a sporting event. 

It looks like they are hailing the soccer team, but actually they were just doing this fist pump sort of thing! They are a dedicated people! Red, Green, and White all the way! 

After the soccer game we met up with a new friend named Vlad! One of my roommates had a Seminary teacher who is currently serving a mission in Russia, Vlad was one of the missionaries that served in the same area. So her teacher gave Vlad our local cell phone number here and he is such a great guy! He showed us around The Old Russian Exhibition Center; it was built when Stalin was the leader, after the war. It contains buildings with the names of the different countries that allied them in the war. It is also centered around this fountain called the friendship fountain. 

All the statues represent different countries; it was a beautiful area and fountain. 

I think probably one of my favorite parts about this week was hearing Vlad's conversion story to the Mormon church! I have to tell you about it; When Vlad was 18 he left his home that was very far away from Moscow, on the northern tip of Russia. While in Moscow he got into the party scene and woke up one day with a hangover and thought to himself, "What am I doing with my life?" That same day, he was watching South Park and the episode about the Mormons came on! He thought to himself that it was very interesting and wanted to know more and that's how he found the missionaries was through his research. He found many bad articles about the church but wanted to really find out, which lead him to inviting the missionaries over. Vlad told us that he was really excited for the missionaries to come over because he thought they were gonna do some sort of cool hypnosis on him! Haha, but he was in for something different; he said that he thought the lesson was so boring and the Elder's Russian was absolutely terrible. Then, the Elder began to talk about the first vision of Joseph Smith and Vlad said that he felt something really strange inside of him, as if his insides were melting and he looked all around him trying to figure out if he was finally being hypnotized. He came to learn and realize that it was the promptings of the spirit that were melting his insides (; just kidding, I mean allowing him to feel the Lord's love. Three months later he was baptized and all because of South Park! Makes me laugh! Who would've thought?! 

It was so nice of him to share all his stories and time with us! Here's a picture of all of us in front of the fountain. (From left to right; Shelley, Ally, Vlad, Jillian, Me!)

There is so much more to say, but not enough time! I wish I could tell you more, but don't worry, you got all the highlights of my trip thus far (: I would like to acknowledge all the people who have supported me in my endeavor! This literally wouldn't have been impossible without you. I get to enjoy this amazing experience because of the generosity of others. пасиба! Look it up (; 

If you would like to see more pictures you can visit my facebook! 

Flying into Tomorrow and a Beautiful Place Called Moscow

Wow! It has been an absolutely crazy past couple of days. Early Tuesday morning at about 3:30 AM, I left my home to go to the LAX airport; my flight left at 6:30 AM. Fast forward 16 hours later and it's 9 AM on a Wednesday morning in Moscow, Russia! Talk about the absolute and literal longest day of my life. We were flying right into tomorrow morning with only a couple hours of actual night time. Staying up that whole day I arrived is probably one of the more difficult things I've done recently. However, so far it has been completely worth it! Russia has been treating me well, and jet lag hasn't gotten the best of me!

Where I'm actually living at is very nice! It's the beverly hills of Moscow, even the President lives in this area. I live in a double gated community! I don't think I've ever seen anything like this in the U.S. You're probably wondering, "double gated?! Isnt' one enough?" Noway. Not when you're a millionaire in Russia, cause apparently you can never have too much privacy and safety. So the whole community is gated within itself and then you walk down the roads there are huge mansions after huge mansions that have about 12 ft. gates surrounded each house. You can hardly see how nice the house is. How fun is that? Not at all. I live in a guest house of one of these gated mansions with three other girls (this is the group I'll be teaching with). The man who owns the mansion is also the owner of the school that we volunteer at, which is also within this gated community. It's a very nice school, and I'll let you know how teaching goes when I start Monday! I feel very lucky to be in this part of Moscow because of the safety I feel.

Here's what the roads look like within the gated community. I wasn't expecting it to be so green!

However, not all of Moscow is so lucky. On Thursday we did some traveling into the city and as we take the bus to get there you see skyscraper looking buildings that are used strictly for residential purposes. They are very run down and look ghetto. There's about 11 million people in Russia and I'm convinced that most of them live in these battered buildings.

When my group and I got off the bus we met with our coordinator Goulya, a very sweet Russian lady who speaks fluent English. She took us through the metro and into downtown Moscow where we visited Red Square; the heart of the city and where the country's history is embedded with cathedrals and memorials.

The Kremlin; the formal royal citadel:

St. Basil's Cathedral; the legend here is that the man who build and designed this was asked if he could build something more beautiful than this building when he said that he could, his eyes were taken out and he was blinded. If I wasn't sure I was in Russia before, I definitely can feel it now (:

This is the memorial dedicated to the unknown soldiers of WWII: Yes, those are real life military men standing in those glass arches!

It's truly a beautiful city and the history is so intriguing to me! Just by the short amount of time that I've been here I have gained an appreciation for the proudness that the Russians hold for their country. From their history to present time, they are proud of it all and if anyone voices their opinions otherwise, are subject to the police. Eeeek! I'll try to keep my big fat mouth shut (;  The police run the city around here whether it's against the law or not. Americans have to be careful in many different ways to not attract attention to ourselves and to keep our purses and money right in front of us. But I have to admit that trying to attract the attention of the police is a little difficult; Russian officers aren't terrible looking people (: I try my best not to make eye contact though! (Don't worry mom and dad, I won't be running away with any Russian men, this is a joke...kinda) Apparently making eye contact and smiling at a Russian man is an invitation. Makes Americans sound the most forward people on this planet! It's very difficult not to smile and make eye contact when walking the streets; however, fear is a very good motivator! Our coordinator says that if a guy tries talking to us to pretend to be deaf hahaha! She's a very funny lady.

There's sooo much more I could talk about and say but I'll have to save it for the next post so stay close by! I just want to give another huge thank you to all of those who donated and helped me make this trip possible; I am filled with gratitude by the hearts of all the generous donors. Thank you so much!!

PS. THEY HAVE DIET COKE! (I'm definitely not an addict)

Uhhh, not sure what ingredients are in here or if it's exactly diet, I guess I'll never know! But it taste pretty good to me and does the job to ease my withdrawals. 

The Finishing Touches

I'm getting closer and closer everyday now! I've completed most of my training and I only have $225 more to go. The donations that I've gotten have been sooo helpful and generous. The kindness of others has filled me with gratitude and inspiration. The responses that I've gotten have made me even more excited to make my trip; it's so comforting to know that so many people are rooting for me!

And it's official! I'm going to be staying in Moscow and I'm assigned to the school named Captain that is filled with only elementary kids. I'll be staying in an apartment within walking distance of the school with three other girls. It should be an exciting experience!

Right now I am currently working on completing all of my training, getting in the last bit of money and getting supplies that I can teach with. We have a whole list of supplies that we have to bring as volunteers. I'm also currently working full time so that I can travel and have a little bit of spending money for when I get there. It's getting closer and closer and feels so surreal. Thanks for all the help and support!

Almost There!

I can't put into words how grateful I am for all the donations that I've gotten thus far! People have been so generous in helping me to be a volunteer in Russia.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about and want to know more!

I have decided to go to Russia this fall, which means I will be gone at the end of August until December. I am doing this through a program called The International Language Programs; their objective is to help children around the world learn the English language, hoping to open up opportunities in their futures. This is a non profit organization meaning that I am not getting paid and working strictly as a volunteer. Every weekday I will spend at a school teaching during the day and preparing lesson plans.

The total cost of my trip is 2,520. From generous donations from many people I've accumulated 1,650 meaning I need $915 more. My last payment is due July 15th! If anyone is interesting in donating, contact me! It's non-profit, therefore, making it tax-duductible. If anyone has any questions or want to know more just comment or contact me. I will keep everyone updated (: