September

We apologize for the long absence- it seems that the month(s) are quickly sliding by. Josh and I are both back at school and back to the grind of everyday life here in St. Petersburg. September was a beautiful month here and Josh and I took the opportunity to go sightseeing and take part in some Russian sporting events! I started the month off by running in the annual women’s 10k race. It is a fun event that helps raise money for women’s health. We had a huge turnout for the race and an absolutely beautiful course to run. We began and ended in palace square and running around the major bridges of the city.

Josh had been to a few Zenit soccer games here, but this was my first one. It was an interesting experience, the fans were crazy (even with the no alcohol rule) the seats are terribly uncomfortable, and as with all soccer games it wasn’t terribly exciting. Here are a few photos of the crazy fans- they were setting off flares in the stands to celebrate, no one but the foreigners seemed concerned, even as the smoke from the flares became so thick we couldn’t even see the field. I was happy to make it out of the stadium..

On a much more fun note- we also attended a SKA hockey game! SKA was playing an exhibition game against an American NHL team and we were lucky enough to get tickets! In my opinion it was twice the fun of the soccer games- I definitely see more hockey games in my future! On a cool note, one of my student's dads is the goalie for SKA, here he is making a great save. On a funny note, they even had cheerleaders!