Chinese Lantern Festival
This is a little late… so, sorry to all of you people out there who love punctuality.
Being in Blagoveshchensk, we are VERY close to Heihe, China and I went to watch their celebration. They lit the sky with breathtaking firework displays, ghostly paper lanters, and very high tech laser displays.
Awesome Holiday!
Here is a link if you are a little more curious about the details of the celebration.
Russian Bear Hunting!
Russian Bear – (noun) A Russian man or woman who is dressed in large furry apparell that resembles a bear.
- mark sturtevant
my new goal is to now collect as much photgraphic evidence of Russian bears as possible.
- the queen bear
Hanging out @ a Russian School!
Today I had another opportunity to visit the school and speak with a class of seniors & it was such an amazing experience!
Their English was phenomenal!! It absolutely blew my mind when we started conversing!
I learned a lot about them and their interests/experiences. Many had actually studied abroad in the USA, UK, and Canada!!
At least I think someone said they studied in Cananda…. I could be wrong. : /
But anyway, today was GREAT!
The weather was relatively warm,
I got to know some really amazing new friends,
and I had some Russian pancakes!
Pretty sweet in my book 
My Day @ Russian School!
Today was AWESOME! I was invited to come speak during an English lesson at a Russian school today! This was without a doubt one of the coolest experiences I have ever had!
The first class I spoke with was mainly 9-10 year olds. I told them about myself, my life, hobbies, etc. and then they proceded to ask me questions. Then they sang me a song, did a dance, and presented me with a very generous gift of local chocolate!!! I was so impressed with these cute little kids and their knowledge of English!! Very smart group of kids!
After the class ended I went to another room to particpate in a lesson with some older students.
These were some really cool kids! They were a little shy at first but once we started talking they really opened up and it was tons of fun! I again talked a little about myself, and then they proceded to ask me questions about the United States, my studies, how I liked the city, etc.
this is definitely one of the best teachers I have ever had the pleasure of meeting! these students are very lucky.
Asya and I.
Really cool girl who loves Micheal Jackson!
She had FANTASTIC English, with flawless pronounciation!
I sadly didn’t get these guys name’s but they were really cool. Peace man
Meatballs ala Russia
Russian style meatballs / Тефтели
Ingredients
-
500 g of ground beef
-
2 carrots
-
1 onion
-
400 mg sour cream
-
70 g of rice
-
meat seasoning
Step 1
Take 70 grams of rice, and add 100 ml of boiling water and leave to steam for 10 minutes.
Step 2
While the rice is steaming, chop the carrots into thin slices, then dice the onions into medium to thick pieces, and then add all of the vegeatables into a large mixing bowl along with the ground beef.
Step 3
After the 10 minutes is up, add the rice, seasoning, and any remaining water to the bowl of ingrediants and mix them together thoroughly.
Step 4
Using your hands, grab a medium sized clump of the mixture and form it into a ball. Try to make the balls all relatively the same size so that they will have the same cooking time.
Step 5
Add oil into a deep pot, and then arrange the balls in the pot. Start to cook it on medium to high heat.
Step 6
Now while the stove is heating up, its time to preapre the sauce. Take 400 ml of water, and add it to a large mixing bowl. Then add in 400 ml of sour cream, add some more of your favorite seasoning, & mix them together.
Step 7
Add the sauce to the pot, and then close the pot and let it cook on high heat for 40 minutes, occasionally checking. Cooking time can vary depending on the type of rice.
This is our final result! Looks delicious right?
You can serve this dish with any side item that you like, but it goes really well with potatoes. We chose to use mashed potatoes with our dish and it turned out great! The sauce from the pot doubles as a tasty gravy!
Have a great meal!
L+M recipes
Chinese New Year in Russia!
This post is a little late…. But anyways, here goes.
Today we went walking around Blagoveshchensk on a whim, looking around the city center
and finally settling in a cafe….
for about 5 hours.
When we came out, as you may be able to guess, it was already dark & if you have read or even seen my last post you would see the implications… It was cold…
but when I say cold, I dont mean a chilling breeze that gave me goosebumps,
my eye lashes & hair froze!
It was about 8pm, and we walked by the Amur river to look at Heihe, China’s skyline.
Yeah… these two cities are that close to eachother,
and we noticed they had already begun their celebration.
Fireworks were going off in 3 different locations at once, and they had these green laser lights dancing around illuminating the night sky!
We tried to wait until the main display at 12:00am, but alas, it was too cold…
Even from home though, I could hear the firworks all through the night!
Happy Chinese New Year!
In Russia, everything freezes….
So, here is a photo from the morning. I am slowly freezing. My hair is frozen, my eyelashes are frozen, and my hat is starting to freeze a little. Just another day… I love my Russian life <3
This morning I woke up, and headed outside before the sun was up. Being outside before light is a rare occurence for me and today was actually my first time being up and out so early in Russia.
The days here are usually pretty mild,
think -25C - -30C and you wont really be far off,
but the mornings and nights are brutal…
It’s really funny how when I check the weather and it’s -20C I’m exstatic!
“Woo Hoo!! -20, it’s a good day for a walk.”
But back home, I remember once balking at going out because it was 40F.
Amazing what you can get used to….
