Victory and Defeat

May 9 was the celebration of Victory Day here in Russia. Victory Day is the day that the Russians celebrate winning The Great Patriotic War (WWII). There is a very strong feeling that Russians were responsible for winning the war and in fact their casualties in the war were staggering. I believe that around 28 million soldiers died with about 40 million soldiers and people killed during the war. Russians take great pride in the part that they played in WWII. This extends to the younger generation and is something that seems to bind them together. We spent Victory Day with a group of Russians that we have gotten to know through church (these are our firefighting friends)!

We gathered at our flat for a pot luck meal. It was a bit crazy with all of us gathered in one place but we had a lot of fun. We headed out in the evening for Lenin Square to watch the fireworks. It was a busy but very fun day. We have so enjoyed getting to know this wonderful group of people.

The Monday after Victory Day was a holiday and we walked down to the embankment in the evening. There are lights along the Volga and on the bridge and we have been wanting to see them lit up at night. While we were waiting for the lights to turn on we grabbed some ice cream and let the kids try the water balls. Along the embankment they have all kinds of activities: bikes to rent, inflateables and the WATER BALLS. They inflate the balls (with you inside of them) with an air blower, zipper you in, and seal the zipper with a strip of plastic that gets velcroed down. Then they push you and your ball into a pool of water. Both kids were a little nervous about this activity but decided to give it a try and had a lot of fun. They said that they felt like gerbils in a ball. I think that we had as much fun watching them as they had playing in the balls! After they were unzipped, the lights began to turn on and we walked along the embankment for a while before heading home.

So that's our story about Victory Day and now our story about Defeat... Ken and Dylan woke up at 5:30 to watch the last half of the Cav's game. Dylan is very bummed at their loss to Boston. If you know Dylan you understand his intensity and he is a passionate Cav's fan. He is not having the best morning...

We are gearing up for our trip to Nizhny. We are supposed to leave tomorrow but as with all things Russia, it is not going as planned. Masha, from the University, went to purchase our train tickets and learned that there are no 2nd class tickets available. We have heard that this train is "not as nice" as the train from Moscow, and were advised to travel 1st or 2nd class. Well, this train has no 1st class and the 2nd class was all booked. There is no other way to get to Nizhny - no flights, no cruise up the Volga... Masha is looking into 3rd class tickets. 3rd class is an open car (as opposed to a private 4 person room in 2nd). We are open to giving 3rd class a try but wonder how well we will sleep in a large group setting. We are also unsure if there are even 4 3rd class tickets available. So, it's the day before we are to leave and we aren't sure if there are tickets, not sure what time we leave, how we will get to the train station... We are trying to summon up our adventurer's spirit!