That's Andrei with Ashley, his host student. One of the most amazing things about this exchange was that quite often, the Russian student and his/her host looked a lot alike. (All we knew about them when we picked who would be staying with us is a name and a birthdate. We did not know what they look like.) Lera and I, for example, had this hair thing going. Anyway, this picture's in here because Andrei and Ashley look so much alike that they could be brother and sister. If he knew I was putting this picture online, Andrei would probably kill me, since it's absolutely horrible. He's in some better pictures you'll see later. This picture really doesn't do justice to Ashley, either, which you'll also see...
We went on a tour of the "historic" city of Bowie, Maryland, and we stopped at this old place that used to be a railroad station. Here's Gloria playing with a toy train that was on display here. That's Tanya behind her looking really tired and bored...
I believe I'm laughing in each of those three pictures. (You really should know which one of these people is me by now, but in case you don't, I'm wearing this little gray tank top with a big white shirt. And I have short black hair and I'm laughing a lot.) There are a lot of Russian people in these pictures... they're all in there, but you can't really see Olga... her ear made it into one of the pictures. She's the thing in the white shirt hanging over the couch. (These were taken at my Russian teacher's house.) Anyway, they were taking pictures of us after we loudly used various profane Russian words, and I very much enjoyed that.
What a scary picture. Ten of us spent a month learning a Ukranian dance that we performed both at the farewell reception for the Russian students, and again at International Dinner. We felt absolutely ridiculous in those costumes...
We're still in the costumes, but some other host students have joined us, along with all of the Russians, and the Russian teachers, and my Russian teacher (who's at the far left and got cut off a little) and some parents... it's a big picture. Now, I insist on pointing out each of the Russians for you, since you mustn't go one with these pictures without knowing EXACTLY who's who. The girl in the orange shirt is Katya. The girl in the blue next to Katya is Natasha, and the girl [next to Natasha] in the Pooh shirt is Olga. The two blonde girls behind Katya are Zhenya and Tanya. (Zhenya's the one in the black shirt.) The woman in the pink next to Olga is Nina, she's their teacher. The woman in the black next to Nina (and behind the girl in the green jacket, Allie, my teacher's daughter) is Natalia, who's their principal. Behind Olga and next to Tanya is Lera. Behind Lera are Andrei (red hair) and Yuri (between Andrei and the guy in the costume). Behind Nina, you can barely see Misha. And that's all of them! :)
We went to New York, and this would be a lovely picture of me in front of the Statue of Liberty, except that I just *had* to blink... I thought it would have been interesting if, when we got to NY, they told us that they made a typo and we weren't really going to see the Statue of Liberty, we were going to see the Statute of Liberty, just some boring old document...
We didn't have time to go up to the top of the statue, but I did have to go right up to it, as you can obviously tell.
This was about Chem, so of course I had to take a picture of it. I altered this picture so that it appears as legible as possible, but just in case you still can't read it, it says: "Visitors to the Statue often ask why it is green. The answer is in the air. When copper is exposed to air, it undergoes chemical reactions that form layers of corrosion. This natural protective process, called patination, can be seen at work on the Statue's skin. It can also be observed on buildings where copper is used for roofing and ornamentation." In other words, the copper of the statue has been oxidized and if we got some copper polish, the green would go away.
On the walkway around the Statue of Liberty, a brick was missing. We stole the brick. This is because there were precious national secrets hidden inside. Anyway, I took a picture.
This is Brandi and Ricky on the bus... Brandi made Ricky wear a makeshift turban. :)
The Manhattan skyline. I took this picture from the ferry...
The view of Manhattan from the Observation Deck on floor 107 of the World Trade Center.
I first heard of Flushing Meadows, New York when reading The Great Gatsby. I thought it was hilarious; it sounds like a toilet factory! So, of course when I saw this at the World Trade Center, I had to immortalize it...
No, they're not real whores and firemen, just cutouts. It was fun posing for this, though, because an entire elevator full of people walked past me and gave me a look like I was crazy. I do look fat, though...
I would absolutely love to have wallpaper like this someday. This is me sitting with Lera in the lobby by the elevator in the World Trade Center. Who'd have thought that diplomats would be so cool as to have wallpaper like that?
We had an absolutely wonderful time with the Russians, and I can't believe they're gone now. It's amazing how similar people from opposite sides of the world are... but I suppose it's rather universal for fourteen year old girls to lust after every man they see, right, Katya? ;)