Au pair Russia

Week off in Novosibirsk

week-off-in-novosibirsk

On Sunday my host dad dropped me off at the flat of Tanya. It was already past midnight so I went straight to bed. The next morning we discussed everything. She gave me key to her flat. We went together to the city centre on metro, where we met her daughter Dasa. I’ve already met her twice, so she wasn’t a complete stranger.

We discovered the city together without her mum. Where would 2 young girls first in a city? That’s right, we headed to the cinema. We watched 2 Guns starring Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington. It was pretty good. i noticed that I understand American movies and series quite well. I can improve a lot from them.

Then we went and did some sightseeing. Dasa took at least a million pictures of me. 😀

My room
My room
Alexandre Nevsky Cathedral
Alexandre Nevsky Cathedral
Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre
Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre

As we walked we talked about ballet. It’s very widespread in Russia and I’ve never seen one in my life. So we had this idea to buy tickets for a play. We went to the ticket office, but they haven’t opened yet. It was still early in the summer. So we tried another theater. We managed to buy tickets for a show, but it wasn’t a ballet. I didn’t mind it. I like going to theater and I was glad I got the chance to go in Russia. They ticket cost 500 rubel. We didn’t have time for me to go home and get dressed – not like I packed anything elegant for these few days…- so I went to the theater in boots, jeans and a T-shirt with Mickey mouse on it. Yeah… I felt really uncomfortable. It wasn’t a fancy theater, but still… The musical was really good. I didn’t understand most of it, but I liked the songs and dance. 😀

Globe Academic Youth Theater
Globe Academic Youth Theater

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After the play we went to Dasa’s flat. I met her 2 year old daughter. She’s really cute. Also I really liked her flat. It’s in the city centre and it’s really modern.

The next day I went to Dasa’s flat alone. I remembered the way. Ok… so I might have got lost at some point, but nothing a nice Russian lady couldn’t have solved for me… 😀
The weather wasn’t very nice, so we mainly just sat in the flat, because Dasa didn’t want to go out. I ate some borsch soup. It’s my new favorite meal. Then I managed to convince her to get out of the room. We walked on the river side.

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After our short walk I went home. I checked my e-mail and I got really excited because an American family contacted me. It was the first family after 3 months in the programme. I checked their profile. They were from CA, where I wanted to go so bad. I’ll write more about them in another post. 😛

I wanted to clear my head, so I went walking in the area. It was really refreshing. I couldn’t have been more happier.

Glory monument
Glory monument

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The next day I discussed Dasa to go over her place. I felt quite awkward there. It seemed like they don’t want me there. They didn’t take me out anywhere, they just sat on the couch and cooked in the kitchen.To be honest I would have preferred to go out alone. I like being and discovering alone. I really don’t need a babysitter. On the other hand it would have been weird to just bail. A bit later a friends came over, who completely ignored me. We ate lunch, but no one said a word to me. I mean my Russian is not that good, I know, but I’m capable of communicating if someone makes an effort.

Anyway later I went with Dasa. She showed me a park and a church. Then she though for long what to de with me. At this point I told her I can do something alone too, I don’t mind. In the end we decided to visit one of her friends who has a 2 year old daughter. We spent there about an hour. We drunk tea. Again I was not included in the conversation.

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Then we left and Dasa dropped me off at the metro station. At home Tanya told me that my host dad will come for me today. I was really surprised, because I didn’t know anything about it. I was quite mad, because of this change. I discussed with the American family to skype with them, so know I had to cancel, as I don’t have Internet in Barnaul and wasn’t sure about my host parents’s plan.

Anyway they arrived at 3 AM. Tanya woke me up.

In summery: I’m not saying I regretted coming to Novosibirsk. I experienced a lot and met new people, which is a good thing. On the other hand I didn’t really bond with anyone. I felt uncomfortable most of the time. It was probably also my fault, but sometimes people just don’t have that much in common. Dasa is really rich. There are nice rich people, but in many cases I though like they were snobs. Dasa’s husband is a poker player, that’s how they make money. It’s interesting that you can earn so much with that. Anyway I prefer simpler people, who doesn’t mind walking in the city even if the weather was bad.

3 Comments

Enikő

Hey, I'm Enikő! I'm currently an au pair and I want to share my experiences with you. I've travelled a lot in the past years. I'm gonna teach you how to settle in to a new country and get free accommodation anywhere in the world. Circle Enikő on Google+!

3 Comments

  1. The best Russian Souvenir – Cheburashka | Travel Hacker Girl - A blog for travellers.
    March 6, 2018 at 11:49 am

    […] The Ushanka hat kept me warm in my last few days that I spent exploring Moscow, the cat figures Matryoshka dolls went to my toy cat collection, all the food and alcohol was consumed by me and my family within a few days. And what about Cheburashka? Well, it became my travel buddy. We’ve been travelling the world together for the last 4 years! I love having it with me. It looks great on all my travel photos! It also reminds me of one of the best decisions of my life, which was going to Russia after high school. It was my first solo trip. Most of my friends went to university and I decided I wanted to travel, experience new things and learn to speak Russian. So hence I decided to go to Russia and teach English to children. Many of my friends thought I was crazy to just go and spend 3 months in Siberia with a family I have never met before. I must admit Russia has a bad reputation in Europe. However, it is a beautiful country and I really enjoyed my stay there! […]

  2. Raj Kasaudhan
    July 22, 2019 at 10:01 am

    MBBS in Novosibirsk State University : https://www.prologueabroad.com/novosibirsk-state-university

  3. Sunny Sharma
    July 28, 2022 at 4:48 am

    Novosibirsk is indeed a great city. For info about studying MBBS in Russia (Including Novosibirsk), visit : https://www.pacificeducation.in/mbbs-fees-in-russia/

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