City Day in Izhevsk

День Города в Ижевске

Tuesday, June 12th, was Izhevsk's city day, and they really went all out. Along with all sorts of concerts at the central square where I also saw Hare Krishna followers playing music, dressed in Indian clothing. And for the first time ever, since I’ve been in Izhevsk, I actually saw all the fountains at the central square working.


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In addition to the central square festivities, nearby at the “arsenal” the city also sponsored a special outdoor exhibition of sculptures made entirely of wood. The different things that artists made were really
interesting. Contributors to the exhibition were not just from Izhevsk but from other places in Russia; For sure I know there were contributors to the
exhibition from Moscow, Petersburg, Novosibirsk as well as from Udmurtia. There were even two men carving sculptures with chain saws right there as a part of the exhibition. One artist guy was


selling "Pinocchio-popcorn" for ten rubles a bag. inside the paper bag was only saw dust. I already had a heads up about that funny prank,but one of my friends didn't and she bought a nice looking brown paper bag of sawdust, thinking it was really filled with popcorn.

All of the pictures are from Izhevsk's city day, and all except the first are from the “Everything of wood” exhibition. Of course it’s not everything I saw at

the festivities, but just some of the best pictures.

Weekend in the village Kemul

About two weekends ago I went with my friend, Lera, to the village, Kemul, where her family lives. Saturday was a little chilly, but we had Shashlik anyway. Sunday we had incredibly nice hot weather. It was so much so that by Sunday evening I was sun burnt and very mosquito bitten. There’s something about being in a village that makes getting painfully sun burnt and itchy from insects entirely worth it. First of all it’s far away from any city. I mean, first we took a bus for two hours from Izhevsk to the city Tchaikovsky. Then we take another smaller bus for an hour to the last stop which is this village, Kemul. So, because of the distance from traffic, factories, etc., the air there is much cleaner, the stars much brighter, and the life much more relaxed. I think for some people, life in a viallge can be inspiring, living closely and more dependent on nature. However, my friend also pointed out that the lack of action in the village, influences many people to entertain themselves by drinking much of the time.
Of course no tip to the village would be complete without my favorite part: the banya (Russian sauna). That last picture of the door that has the word лаборитория/ laboratory is the entrance to This family’s banya. I think many Russians would agree that the only real banyas are the small family banyas in villages.

Sarah's Mom in Russia!

Here are some images from my mom's recent trip to visit me in Russia. Of course I took her to see Moscow and then St Petersburg, but we spent most of her three weeks in Izhevsk. The first picture is her first night n Russia at Red Square. On the right side is my mom looking at the ceiling in St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, then me at one of the canals in the city

(I don't remember which one now.)

The last two pictures are from the last two weeks in Udmurtia. In one were are at Sasha's parents place making pelmeni and in the last we are at the Kama river with my friend Katya and her family.

Week at English camp in Gubkin

These are pictures from last week in Gubkin (Belgorodskaya Oblast’) It’s the same place I was during three weeks of the summer for the English summer camp and I was doing almost the same thing as in the summer: helping with a spring break English day camp. It was just as overwhelming as before, getting so much attention, but it was really nice to see some of the same children again.

So in the pictures you can see some of the children. Then there is me with one of the city's animal plant sculptures...although since it's only early spring it was more like a dead plant dirt sculpture. I have to explain that last picture: ONe really clever older girl at the camp got that my last name was the same as the Ford Automobil company, and so she presented me with my very own "Sarah Ford" logo, which she made herself and I think is pretty darn cool!

To see more about my two week trip in Japan go to http://www.twoweeksjapan.blogspot.com/. I will continue this blog when I return to Izhevsk around the begining of February.