Family and friends...we are still alive and kicking in Moscow, I've just been caught up in the end of the academic year lessons and life which is the reason for the lack of blogging. I even missed our 5th Moscowversary which was last week Saturday! Some days it's really difficult to believe that we've been here for five months already and other days it feels like we've been here for years.
This week, we have all been on holiday which has been fantastic! We managed to get some sleep, do some shopping, relaxing, bonding and generally being able to do things that we don't usually get to do when we're metro-ing between clients and playing outside with the kiddies.
The other night, we sat around our kitchen table, drank wine and reflected on the last couple of months.
The three girls that stepped off that plane, slipped in the snow and shivered into Moscow have been replaced with woman who glide and layer up (or down, in the heat we've been experiencing lately). We spoke about things that each one of us has had to overcome, learn, accept and change within ourselves and our life here. It is one thing when other people notice the difference in you and a completely different one when you recognise it to be true...and then later learn to be proud of it. I think that it is near impossible to not become a more refined person when living abroad, but most importantly when you grow up. I refused to believe I would one day stop loving 2 minute noodles and that I would like being able to pay my own rent. It's safe to say that we've definitely grown up.
What contributed to all these realisations probably had a lot to do with Rose going back home. She's spent her time here with us and is now moving on to her greener pastures and studying her Masters degree in Holland from September. Casually.
When Rose arrived, we were all apprehensive, learning things and getting things wrong time after time. When we bid her farewell, we did so knowing that she walked away being someone that can as opposed to someone who maybe could of.
As our friend quite literally ran away from us last Sunday, we stood there with a rather surreal feeling remembering how anxious and scared we first felt when we first entered that very station that freezing night.
So Rosie's chapter in Moscow has come to an end. It was filled with many laughs (mostly at her expense), fun adventures, discussions about books/series, practice at her being a psychologist person and priceless lessons.
We still have a couple of chapters left, but if all that can happen in one, imagine what can happen in the rest.
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