9/27/2010

137. We've been diagnosed with turrets. Not really, but if one walked in while our group was spastically spurting out random words, they would think otherwise. This game (called turrets) consists of calling out words that start with the letters on the face cards. Sounds easy but can get quite challenging when you are under pressure and most of the simple words have been used.

9/26/2010

136. These apple goodies actually turned out! I think I am slowly understanding how my oven works. This might be it: turn the timer on before turning on the oven, rotate the food every few minutes, make sure the shelf is on the lowest level and just keep checking the food because the oven has the reliability of a fisher price easy-bake.

9/25/2010

135. That's a good looking group at Petergof. Sveta whisked us around St. Peter's stunning villa filled with terraces, cascades, fountains, sculptures, palaces, cottages, gardens, and orchards! I enjoyed the French styled architecture but fell in love with the English styled groves with tall trees and autumn leaves. And the weather, oh the weather, was the perfect sunny crisp cool weather that makes me weak in the knees.

9/24/2010

134. An instant friend and our only friend; Anton! We finally met up with him. We've been trying since our first encounter a few weeks ago. He watched Audra and I gobble up balinis and desserts, while rationing his small dinner as we fired 1,000+ questions. I know Audra and I had a good time...

9/23/2010

133. Bless this woman's soul. Alla (aka. my saving grace). Alla receives, almost nightly, emails from me explaining all the questions, problems and concerns that occur daily as us teachers try and figure out this foreign country. We talk many times during the day and meet 2-3x a week for a few hours at a time. She does everything that I can't take care of and I feel eternally indebted to her. Today was a special day. She rushed me around to a few of her doctor friends to have my large mass on my leg assessed. Well, we had a lot of down time while waiting for doctors to show, so we were finally able to just talk. We laughed over lunch, looked through pictures, talked about our travels and our families. I have been craving to be personable with a local and I need to be more pro-active about seeking new friends because these people are wonderful once you get to know them.

9/22/2010

132. Narcoleptic or exhausted? Here is a picture of the teachers doing opening exercises for one of their classes. This about all I saw during the two hour observation. Apparently the students loved looking over at me asleep in my chair. But at least they got some language practice as they talked and laughed about my zzzzzs.

9/21/2010

131. This is Stephanee holding mini Pytor IIyich Tchaikovsky. Stephanee knows quite a bit more about classical music than I do (by quite a bit, I mean I know nothing). I asked her if she could teach me about classical artists during our time in Russia and she has held to it. She highlights an artist for one week; reading stories about their lives, explaining their music or shows, and of course listening to their masterpieces. Last week was Sergei Rachmaninoff and this week is Tchaikovsky. Both of these musicians are from St. Petersburg. I can't imagine a better place to learn about these two.