Final November Updates

End of November update: 17: Guyla told the ILP groups to the Kremlin Armoury, which holds some of the oldest, most significant royal regalia, armour, furniture, bibles, Faberge eggs, dinnerware, and carriages of Russian royalty throughout the past centuries. It was incredible; my favourite part was the carriage room, which holds several real carriages that Catherine the Great and others owned. There was even a child carriage that used to pulled by ponies and accompanied by dwarfs to create a “mini procession”—the Russians are so politically correct. Afterward, Captains met Vlad Tropi in Red Square and took more photos around St. Basil’s cathedral and then we went to the Moscow Ikea so I could fulfill my promise to Ally that we would go to a European Ikea. We ate Swedish meatballs and 10 ruble ice cream cones at the café; it was a successful, enjoyable day. I’m going to miss Vlad when I return to America. 24: Both ILP groups went to the Russian circus. There were acrobats, tight rope walkers, trapeze artists, divers, ice skating acrobats, camels, puppies, sea lions, cheetahs, a kangaroo (we saw a medieval clown get beat up by a kangaroo wearing a tutu—my life is average), polar bears, and other crazy things. It was shocking, terrifying, and hilarious—all together entertaining, though I think I liked the Chinese acrobatic shows better: those were shocking and awe-inspiring from beginning to end, with contortionists and all that, while the animal skits in the circus were entertaining for the first few minutes and then became monotonous. However, the two and a half hour show was definitely worth 200 rubles ($6). 26: Tonight, we had a Thanksgiving feast with Moscow 1 and Vlad in our apartment. Captains provided the chicken and the veggies, while Moscow provided the mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, bread, hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, pudding pie, cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, and potato salad. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out with everyone’s various cooking skills, but oh my lands it was delicious. It was nice to have an actual Thanksgiving feast and to spend time with Moscow 1 and Vlad; Vlad taught us phrases in Russian and we all went around in a circle and said things for which we were thankful. I look forward, however, to having a normal holiday season next year. This is my second one in a row to spend in a foreign country—with friends, but not family. Regardless, this night helped to make the season brighter.