It's the Russian in me.

Hello again, my lovelies, and welcome back to my blog! Before I get into the core of this post, let me just make one thing clear once and for all: I have very specific views on gay rights and I stand my ground VERY solidly regarding them, so with all due respect, NOTHING you say will change my opinion. Ever. If you don't like that and don't agree with me- I'm sorry, I don't care. Please just know that there is no point in trying to convince me that what you believe is right and what I believe is wrong. Okay, great. Good talk. Let's start with a little throwback to about four years ago. A Russian person comes to the US to study and, literally within the first week, hears things like "Oh yeah, so and so is totally gay" or "I'm straight, so...". Hint: that person was me, of course. And just so you have an idea- I kinda knew what gay was, but I was absolutely clueless as far as what that meant or, for example, what the word "straight...

Hello, lovelies, and welcome back to my blog! :)  The subject of vulnerability has always been very close to my heart. May be because us, Russians, are very much a "let me do it all" kind of nation. Meaning we rarely ask for help or share our deepest pain and struggles with people. (At lest from my experience. Every Russia is different, of course.) Or may be I am so passionate about vulnerability because I just know a whole lot of people who feel like opening up and letting themselves be helped is a sign of weakness. That can be applied to anything, really: something as little as needing a quick ride somewhere or something a bit more serious like sharing about physical or mental health issues and other personal matters that can really affect one's life.  So often I see people I love put this face on and try their hardest to pretend like they are just fine when in reality they are not. And as someone who is BIG on compassion AND who tries to "play tough" al...

"How do you feel?"- I used to get this question a LOT as I was getting ready to leave the US for an undetermined amount of time and come back home. In response, I used to say it then and I still say it now, having been in Russia for more than a week- it's all the feels. And I am going to try and explain those to you and may be help myself sort everything out in my mind and heart. FYI: this blog is going to be pretty raw and honest mainly because the Russian in me pretty much never sugarcoats things, as you know. So let's go. Imagine being 18 years old, leaving everything and everyone you knew and loved, and moving to a new country. Not only that, but doing this school thing while also fully emerging yourself to a totally new language, learning and teaching environment, culture, and so on. A lot? Yeah, I'd say it was. But years went on, things got easier, foreign language got progressively more internalized and my own, new people became more and more like second ...