Livin' On a Prayer.

It just felt appropriate. The title, I mean. To use the lyrics of Living On a Prayer. Because, WHOOAH, I'm half way there. Yes. People, I am half way done with my program. Which is crazy. Because it is just going to get more intense from here on out.

I have to start and finish my research project. Yahoo. Actually I'm really excited. If I could just choose concretely my subject.Well. I kind of had. It just seems really vague, as of right now. But, hopefully as I talk to people a less abstract topic will materialize. Wanna hear about my research? Okay! I am really excited about it. So, I'm sorry if you find it less than entertaining.

Meet President Putin:

 Ideally, I would give you a good background lesson on Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. However, I doubt you wanna hear it. So, here is the central idea to my project. I am venturing to find out what people think about him. Many believed he stabilized Russia during its crisis after it's first president. However, others believe him to be the next dictator. So, I have about 25 questions to ask the natives of Russia about what they think about this man. Then I will write an ethnographic research project. Meaning, it doesn't matter if Putin really is unjustly ruling. I am just writing the paper on how the people of Nizhniy perceive him.

Anyways. About my week.

 On Thursday [i dont remember the beginning of the week] I volunteered at an orphanage. Which was very cool. And heart breaking. The actual building itself was happier than I ever imagined a Russian orphanage to look like. But it was sad to see the children. A lot of them had special needs. They loved us. But their teachers were less than thrilled at how excited they got to play with us. I am excited to go back next Thursday! I hope that we can spend more time with them.
After the orphanage....
 I went to a Jazz concert. It was wonderful. I really love jazz music. There I met a Sensai for Japanese Samurai Fighting. Cool.

Friday: I went to a ward Barbe-cue. That was cool. I ate true American food. Too bad I'm not craving a hamburger. [More like a good spicy curry.] Then we played some games. Unfortunately, I had donned a skirt in the morning. So playing volleyball was really hard. But! Across the fence there was a child's care center. I sat at the fence and made acquaintances. Nikita was my favorite. He was 5. And his birthday was the next day. He loves the color yellow. And is excited because on his birthday he is allowed to play on the computer for  an hour. He loves to play games. And likes to use the word that means "sweet."

After this I was able to go with Miss Maggie to play soccer. Which was interesting. I don't know where she gets all of these old men friends. But, nevertheless, I did play soccer with men who were from thirty to fifty years older than me. Luckily, I was able to outrun them. But, many of them were trickier with the ball than I. So, that was slightly embarrassing. They kept asking me why I didn't know how to play...

One of the men we played with is named Sasha. He is a professional photographer. He took a lot of pictures of me, and by a lot i mean he took about  50 at a time. And some of them were really good, and I actually liked them. They were pictures of me laughing. However, he printed two of the very worst pictures of me. Wanna see them? You can't make fun of me. Because in Russia girls try to look real...sultry. And "expressive" with their eyes.

This one isn't even half as bad as the next one.... That is Maggie, by the way. But, all of the Russians said I looked so expressive. I think I look like I have no idea what is going on. But, they all insisted that this was one of the best pictures of me...

K. Look at this. I look like I am on drugs. And fat. But Sasha insisted that it was his very favorite. I hate it. But it is really funny at the same time. Which is why I am sharing the unfortunate event with you. Did I mention Sasha printed it and gave it to me? Did I mention I have it in 8x13? Oh, now you know.

Saturday. I went on a trip on the river. The Volga. The longest river in all of Europe. It was the best time I've had since I've been in Russia. It was seriously a dance party the whole time. I danced away my anxiety. And, I had about 11 girls following everything I did. It was like teaching tap again! It was so much fun. And it was fun to practice Russian with little people.

 This is Chiara, a girl in my group, and me on the river. Those stairs behind me that look like an 8? Yeah I run those occasionally. And once, for a game we had to count how many stairs are on them. And guess what? There are 517. Or something like that.

As I have previously said, the thing in Russia is to pretend you are a model. Kelsi [the blonde next to me] and I are really trying to develop our Russian culture. We try to get all of the girls into it. But Kelsi is the only one who succeeds.

Sadly, this picture was poorly done. But these are all of the girls and boys that danced with me and Becky. They are so great.

Soon I will load a video of our awesome dancing.
But this is it for now!
I hope everything is going well at home! I love you all. And, guess what? I've been gone from home for 5 weeks. Crazy.

With Love,
Kylie Anne Bills