10 Things I Have Learned Living in Russia

June 1, 2013, marked our one-year mark in Russia for me and the girls. (Shane is closer to a year and a half). If you recall our first trip over here, we actually left on May 29th, but due to missing our flight and being stuck in LA for 2 days, we didn't actually ARRIVE in Russia until June 1st. We've made the trip back and forth at least 3 times now, so I guess technically we didn't spend 365 days IN Russia, but for the sake of the pat on the back, I'm calling it a year. So there you have it, one year in Russia. And in commemoration of this, I am posting (Finally!) a SHORT (Wow!) post that lists 10 things that I have learned over the course of this past year.

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. It doesn’t matter where in the world I go, or how many times I have reset my sleep schedule, I am forever and eternally, a night owl.
2. You can live, and be happy, with only a hundredth of your current worldly possessions. You only need a smidgeon of items to make a comfortable, happy life for you and your family. Read: I have TOO much STUFF, even in Russia—even after I left most ALL my belongings in storage.
3. We did not use the library enough when we lived in the States. I have read our 2 dozen books, and the 4 issues of the Friend magazine more times than I would care to count. 
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the same, no matter where you go, or how small of a congregation you are. Some of my favorite Relief Society classes had 2 other sisters. It was wonderful.
5. I am not a preschool teacher. As much as I would like to do artsy, crafty, educational projects, I am juggling too many other things in order to plan it well enough and to execute it patiently. We just do our best and it is enough. 
6. I have learned to cook from scratch, even more than I had before. Tortillas, cream of chicken soup, chicken stock, alfredo sauce, gravy, biscuits, rolls, bread, cake, pizza, applesauce, jam, etc—I’m starting to get it down! I baked from scratch a lot in the US, but not EVERY. SINGLE. MEAL. This also includes changing all my recipes from cups, tsp, and Tbsps, to grams, and kilograms, and Fahrenheit to Celsius.
7. I can go an entire year without a blow dryer or curling iron—no sweat.
8. I can run a household with no AC, no dryer, no dishwasher, and somehow we all still survive. (That being said, we do get tired of cardboard towels, and shirts that have lost all shape and form, have stretched out necks and have clothes line creases across the middles).
9. It is more acceptable, and often the preferred method, to relieve yourself or your children OUTSIDE the store, than to ask the associates to use a restroom INSIDE the store.
10. Whenever you sit in a vehicle and choose to drive/ride to another destination, you will either develop nerves of steel or become a nail-biting, scream-suppressing, fist-clenching pile of nerves held in place by a seat belt. I won't tell you which one I am.
11. It doesn’t matter if you start putting your children to bed at 7:00PM or 10:00PM, they will NOT fall asleep before 10:30 PM because that is when it finally gets “dark” enough to convince the girls it is BEDTIME.
12. Yes, there are 12 things in my list of 10 Things I Have Learned Living in Russia. I have also learned you have to be flexible like that.