icebox issues in the motherland

Before moving to Russia,  I never had any issues with my refrigerator or freezer. I mean, okay...... Sometimes there would be a leak here or there, but I've never had an issue of there being too much ice build up in my freezer. So much that it became more of a nice box than a freezer. But in Russia, anything is possible :)

When I first came to Russia to study, I had a similar issue in my dorms. My freezer had completely frozen over and then began leaking everywhere. There was a woman who worked in the building who hated me, but she was the only one there, so I asked her to come look at my fridge. She then taught me that I needed to boil some water in a pot, and place that pot in the freezer. After we did that, everything began melting and we had to quickly remove all the food from the fridge, and then wipe down the floor, and then put the stuff back into the fridge. It's crazy though, because that moment.... that little "struggle" we had together brought us close together and after that moment, she actually started being nice to me. This situation made me realize that maybe sometimes, in
order for seemingly "mean" Russians to like you, they need to go through some kind of struggle with them. At least for "true" friends or people who will have your back. Because the instant friends or people who like you, are more interested in ya for your language skills or having someone to party with or whatever.

Anyways, when I came back to russia this second time, I thought it was funny that in my lease for my flat, it stated that as part of the agreement of living here, I needed to thaw my freezer once a month. Really????  Ain't nobody got time for that! Lol!

       Anyways, my freezer recently got to the point where the ice buildup was so bad that I had to use box tap to keep the door from opening up on its own. Ghetto, I know. But I don't wanna deal with going through that long process. 

((Here's my freezer after stabbing the crap outta it with a butter knife in my attempts to fix the situation))

The taping down of the fridge was working for a couple of weeks, until a few days ago. I had returned home and the fridge door was wide open. The ice had gotten so bad that even the tape couldn't hold it. I finally realized what I had to do- I had to thaw my freezer :(

But, I'm a lazy person by nature, so instead of trying the method I once used, I decided to try something new. So I took out a stick lighter and began to melt the ice. 

At first, I thought it was working because the ice was melting. But then the ice just started turning a bit black. And I think I even started burning some of the plastic from the fridge because it started smelling funky. Then if course, I started thinking the worst, thinking maybe I was inhaling something cancerous. Since I don't want cancer, I stopped lol! 

I then went back to the old way I was originally showed. 

And it worked.....

It's Friday

My second post in the same month? Whoa- can this really be?
Well, I know I have been super lazy, but I'm naturally lazy, so that's no surprise :)

Anyways, I am currently sitting in a cafe, eating pizza and reading The Moscow Times, while also listening to NPR via an app on my phone. The whole situation going on in Crimea is constantly in my face. It's all I hear and see when I turn on the t.v., and people that I meet are always wanting to know what my opinion on the whole situation is. And they also are sure to give me their take, even if I don't care to hear it because I have heard about it a million times. Actually, if this opinion is coming out of the mouth of an intelligent person, or someone I'd actually care to hear the opinion about, then that's fine. It's just annoying when strangers I meet try to get in my face and bark their opinions at me, before even asking me what I think because, maybe I agree with them, but they never even take a second to ask.
This is definitely an interesting time for me to be living in Russia. I guess trouble follows me everywhere after all lol!
    My mom keeps telling me that I should come home, but she knows how stubborn I am, and knows that I'm going to stay. Well, I'm going home next month but only for like 2 weeks. Then I'll be back here.... I hope the situation doesn't worsen while I'm away. I feel that the relationship between Russia an America is changing every single day and there are increasingly more sanctions happening. I'm kind of worried of something happening like me not being able to get back into Russia once I leave. Like, what if while I'm gone Putin does something crazy and denies entry of Americans into Russia? I mean, I doubt that will happen, but you can never be too sure. When the Jews were sent to concentration camps, I'm sure at first they didn't know they'd be off to a death camp or gas chambers. Just because something seems unlikely doesn't mean it's not possible and won't happen. Especially when we're dealing with someone like Putin. He has this kind of personality that wants to show that he won't be pushed around. The US and the EU are handing out sanctions like free candy to Russia, and the Russian government is just shrugging them off. This is pretty scary to me because I feel like, how far is russia going to let the West push before it fights back. Of course Russia has been also issuing sanctions, but I feel like those are Putin's light swings, as he's lightly swatting away a butterfly. Im worried about what will it be that breaks this camels back. Or actually, in this case, the bear's back? When there's a kid getting bullied and being cornered, yeah, at first he may not be putting up much of a fight. But there are also some if these bullied kids who then go home, and begin planning an attack to get revenge. And then one day, this kid shows up to school with his guns a blazin. This bullied kid who has everyone against him should be feared the most because there's no telling the amount of crazy behind those calm eyes. And you never know if this kid has an arsenal of weapons waiting for you in his bedroom for that day he finally has had enough. I'm pretty sure Putin has the resources and a pretty big arsenal in his bedroom.

Anyways.... more importantly, hope that the value of the ruble doesn't continue to fall or else I won't have much spending  money when I go home. I really need to buy new clothes. And bras- it's hard to find larger bras here, and then when I DO, they're ridiculously expensive, and are of crap quality.

Well, time to leave and get to work. Time to teach some Russian kids how to speak English!! :)

I'm a pretty Disgusting creature....

Well, the reason I gave the title of this post is because...well... I am. It's not like I'm prancing around the truth, making myself out to be this cute little princess. No, I am a dirty birdie. I knew I was quite messy, but tonight takes the cake. The only reason I am even writing this post rightnow is because I walked into my kitchen, saw how fucking gross it was, and decided....eff that.... I am not gonna start cleaning at 4AM. You see, the problem with this then becomes that the dishes pile up even more, and so does the trash.

 Here, we have a shit ton of dishes piled up...and some flowers because i started watering 'em, but didnt realize until afterwards that there were some little holes on the bottom of the flower pot.

and here....well... you can see a frickin clusterfuck of all KINDS of stuff going on..

and here we have---- trash. a big ass pile of trash. that is all.

Well....I know these pictures are pretty graphic. BUT, what may come as more surprising is that all of this stuff, is the collection of over about 3-4 days. yup. I know this looks so disgusting, but this is also the nastiest I have ever had my apartment, and I dont know why I let it get this way. If someone didnt know me, they might have seen this and though that maybe someone very close to me died, and that I was going through a depression, and was just letting everything fall to shit. But no, that's not the case. Anyone who meets me would know that I am a happy girl. Well, besides the fact that I gotta work for a shitty ass company. But other than that, I'm a happy person :) do not let the depressing pctures fool ya :)

I'm pretty confident that one day, when I finally move in with a guy OR get a roommate, I'll be clean again. Actually, I can be clean alone, but this week has consisted of me sleeping like 4 hours a day, and then coming home exhausted after work....after dealing with stupid shit.

Anyways, I wanna write more, especially about the whole ongoing crisis in Ukraine, but right now, it's 4am, and I just need to go to sleep. That way, I can wake up early tomorow to actually clean up this nasty mess I got going on in here. 

Until next time!!!! <3 

I'm a shitty blogger....but I think I've come to terms with that now.

Damn...has it really been that long since my last post? craziness.....

anyways, i will try to do an update on everything since i've been gone forever.
Where am I now? I'm STILL in freakin Balashikha. What?? yep...this is correct. Accoording to my boss, I was supposed to be getting transferred to Moscow in January, but wtf? Is it Already FEBRUARY and I'm still in this place? Yep. It's Russia. It happens I guess. I'm glad now that I never mentioned the company I worked for, because now I can say shit about it without having to worry about getting in trouble for slander and whatnot. Anyways, the company isn't so bad, just unorganized if you are placed to work in a school outside of central Moscow- that's when things turn to shit. Actually, it's more of  a 50/50 thing.... You will either get an admistrator who's nice to you, or a freakin cunt who is just out to make your life a living hell. With my luck, I got the latter. lucky me!!!

most days, this is what i'd like to say to her:

but then I dont.....because I wanna keep my job for now, I guess...

On to other news....last month I went to Latvia. It was a spur of the moment type of thing. The thought came into my head at like midnight.....By 3am, I had my train and hostel tickets booked. and by 5pm that same day, I was on the road, alone. So yeah...that was fun and esciting- met a lot of cool people, and saw a bunch of nice things. Only went for a few days, but still, it was fun, and it inspired me to do another trip in the summer. So yeah.. now in the summer, I want to go backpacking through Europe. Again, alone. Not because I'm a loser and have no friends or anything, but for the indepence, and i dont know..maybe find something within myself. And if I dont discover something in me, at least I can fill myself with beer from around the world :)

ANYways...here are some pictures from my travels to Riga, Latvia :)

a latvian man I met on the train who slept below me. We had a smoke together in between carts.

my tea cup in the train. LOVE these old soviet cup holders :)

me...no makeup :(

me with my black balsam- a drink of Riga, Latvia

a pear cider drink i fell in love with 

my reflection :) was raining....

me--- i think this building is called like blackhead or something. i forgot at the moment....

the day I got there, the currency had just switched from Lats to Euros 4 days before. So its crazy to know that the euros i have from there are probably the first printed...pretty cool :)

some Latvian beers and black balsam I brought back :)

Anyways...i'm gonna pass out since its like past 3am.... but i'm seriously gonna try to be a better blogger. Ive been a bad Bree, lol! 

I was M.I.A. for 2 months....whoops! :(

So yeah...I'm a bit late to posting a blog on here. I've been so busy lately with the whole teaching thing. Speaking of the teaching thing....I kinda hate it. I mean, I love it, but I hate it. I love my students, but I hate my administrator at my school. She is so mean to me, every single day. I have been emailing my main director for the longest about my situation, and have FINALLY got some results. In January, I will finally be departing my bully, as I will be transferred to Central Moscow :) The thing that sucks, though, is that I'll be leaving my students. Since I will now be working "In-Company", I will mainly be working with businessmen and adults. I know I'm going to miss teaching little kids, because...no matter how mean my administrator was to me, my motivation for coming to work was always the children, and other awesome adult students.

I just can't handle it here in Balashikha.....I mean, it's cool out here (kinda), but I hate working here. I hate that I cannot hang my American flag outside MY patio, because my admin is anti-American, and ...according to her, me hanging my flag up makes not only ME look bad, but also the company I work for.

I have been complaining about my shitty bed situation for the longest, and now that it is almost time for me to leave, my administrator FINALLY came over yesterday to measure my mattress. A little on my bed history: it was shitty when I first got here, and springs were sticking out all over the place. Little by little afterwards, my bed fell apart more and more. Not even a month later, my entire bed fell apart. After a few weeks, a repair man finally came over and even HE was shocked at the condition of my bed. Anyways, after that, my administrator told me I'd have a bed within the week. The only thing is...a few days later is when my admin saw my American flag and started threatening me to have me arrested, calling me a nationalist, and reminding me that I was in the Moscow Oblast. Since I refused to take down my flag...I never got a bed.

This is what I'm sleeping on tonight. As I am typing this right now, I am laying on the floor because I feel like sleeping on this mattress has TOTALLY messed up my back, and I'm worrying that it's gonna permanently mess up my back :( 

Anyways...it's like almost 3:30, so that's gonna be it for now. Will try to post again soon.

My first week back

Tomorrow it will be my first week back here. It's crazy because it feels like I never left since everything seems exactly the same to me. I mean, of course not everything is the same, because I don't feel like the same person...but everything HERE is the same, lol! I'm in a different flat now in Balashikha, so THAT's something different.

 

 

my apartment.....it's pretty old and shitty. I mean, my room's big, and I have my own patio connected to my room, so I like that. but I hate how soviet my apartment is. I have visited other flats that friends have here who are working for the same company, and theirs are super modern and nice. mine, on the other hand....I have crappy paper on my wall, probably from the 60s or 70s, and it's all peeling off. the toilet seat was all disgusting, and I couldn't even sit on it, without risking falling into the water.

 good thing Slava went out and got my roomie and I a new seat. and the first day I was here, the shower head broke off, so we could only take baths, which sucked because the water would come out sooooooo super slow. and to rinse my hair, I kinda had to have my head against the wall, which sucked. but this one guy finally came yesterday to fix that.so yeah...im happy that I now have a toilet seat, and can take showers.

I hate how tiny our kitchen is. seriously. If two people are standing in there, that's way too many people. so if two people are gonna be in there, one has to be seated. so yes...I hate this because I like to cook and have people over, and this is super inconvenient :(
and we have a stove, so that's good. BUT I cannot even tell what temperature my food would be at if I need to use the oven, since the numbers have all been worn out. and the tray inside of the oven doesn't open out fully because it's stuck or something. the oven doesn't even close all the way, so in order for it to close when ur baking or something, you would have to lock it with a latch so that it remains closed, lol1 this is crazy....but it's Russia.


oh, and rather than having a clothes hanger outside, ours is inside, so as soon as guests walk in, they get to see my undies, if they so happen to be hanging, lol!

one thing I am fortunate to have here though is a washer. omg, I was so happy to see I had one. in the States, people take 'em for granted, but I knew that here it would be such an amazing thing to have so I wouldn't need to wash everything by hand, so I'm glad I have that, lol!

well-off to unpack. yes, ive been here almost a week and STILL haven't unpacked, lol!

Sittin in the airport.

So, here I am.... Sitting and waiting to board the plane at almost 6am, when I've been here since 3am. It's crazy how there are so many people here this early, but then again, it's LAX. My next stop is Chicago for about an hour and a half. Then Germany for another hour and a half, then I am off to Moscow. I really wish someone was flying with me because I really have to pee and don't wanna take all my stuff to the bathroom again, cuz that sucked :( anyways, just hoping no luggage gets lost this time. Especially since I have 5 checked ones. :(