Today I will accomplish something that I will be very proud of. I'm going to finish blogging about Russia. I figured it's appropriate, seeing as how I'm in Mexico now.... so here goes! Our last day was probably the best that we could have asked for. Mostly, because we got to spend it with one of my all-time favorite missionary couples: the Hazlewoods. The day of our departure was Miss Allison's birthday, so we started the day off with a scavenger hunt around the area that we lived in. I was lucky enough to get to hide in the vodka store, in the middle of all the vodka, and hide a spoon in the vodka. It was great.
After that we headed to the IKEA mall with the Hazlewoods to cash in our semester stash of kopeks we found on the street, get 10 ruble ice cream and ride a mechanical bull. Why not ride a bull in Russia? Elder Hazlewood used to be a bull rider, so he was our coach. It was a wonderful day.
We made some dangerous maneuvers on escalators and through giant crowds of people to get all of these coins.
Stupid blurry picture. but I still like it.
Honestly, I'm a little ashamed to post this video... but I decided to suck up my pride and do it anyways. Turns out, I really suck at bull riding. I was pretty much a disgrace to Montana, but I figure I can make up for it in other ways. Like my awesomeness at shooting guns. So here it is...
After about 2 minutes, we were surrounded by Russians that apparently found us really entertaining. There were even a couple that did it after we finished! 'Mericans. Always setting the example for how to have a good time.
After that we went back to our apartment to finish packing up. Clarie decided it was a good idea to let in a strange man that followed her. He tried to sell us knives. Needless to say, we were all a little concerned. I really don't know what she was thinking.
And after that we stayed up all night long to try and prevent the jet lag that would most definitely hit us when we got home. Personally, I don't know if it helped much, but what can you do. We would have had to get up at like 4 or 5 anyways, so there was really no point in sleeping. We got to the airport and everything was fine. Except that we couldn't get our boarding passes printed out, because all the stupid kiosks were broken. Then we had to go to a separate floor to pay for our luggage. And then we thought we were gonna miss our flight. And then all of our flights were delayed. And one of our gates was changed and we had no idea. And I finally fell asleep on my plane out of Denver, and when I woke up I told the girl next to me that I'd had a nightmare that we hadn't even left yet.... turned out we hadn't. I really just wanted to be home. I think my head finally hit my pillow at about 3 am. But all the tired and lack of sleep was worth it to see that beautiful American flag, drink out of a water fountain, and use a free AND clean public restroom, and of course, to see my family again for the first time in 4 months. It was a great day :)
And this concludes the adventure that was St. Petersburg, Russia- somewhere that will always hold a special place in my heart <3
After that we headed to the IKEA mall with the Hazlewoods to cash in our semester stash of kopeks we found on the street, get 10 ruble ice cream and ride a mechanical bull. Why not ride a bull in Russia? Elder Hazlewood used to be a bull rider, so he was our coach. It was a wonderful day.
Honestly, I'm a little ashamed to post this video... but I decided to suck up my pride and do it anyways. Turns out, I really suck at bull riding. I was pretty much a disgrace to Montana, but I figure I can make up for it in other ways. Like my awesomeness at shooting guns. So here it is...
After that we went back to our apartment to finish packing up. Clarie decided it was a good idea to let in a strange man that followed her. He tried to sell us knives. Needless to say, we were all a little concerned. I really don't know what she was thinking.
And after that we stayed up all night long to try and prevent the jet lag that would most definitely hit us when we got home. Personally, I don't know if it helped much, but what can you do. We would have had to get up at like 4 or 5 anyways, so there was really no point in sleeping. We got to the airport and everything was fine. Except that we couldn't get our boarding passes printed out, because all the stupid kiosks were broken. Then we had to go to a separate floor to pay for our luggage. And then we thought we were gonna miss our flight. And then all of our flights were delayed. And one of our gates was changed and we had no idea. And I finally fell asleep on my plane out of Denver, and when I woke up I told the girl next to me that I'd had a nightmare that we hadn't even left yet.... turned out we hadn't. I really just wanted to be home. I think my head finally hit my pillow at about 3 am. But all the tired and lack of sleep was worth it to see that beautiful American flag, drink out of a water fountain, and use a free AND clean public restroom, and of course, to see my family again for the first time in 4 months. It was a great day :)
And this concludes the adventure that was St. Petersburg, Russia- somewhere that will always hold a special place in my heart <3
