Wow, so much has happened since I last got to post. Just today I got a haircut and since we had the afternoon off, we went down to Nevski Prospekt to the House of Books and the church on Spilled Blood (see the picture down the page, it's the cathedral with the different colored onion domes). Very glad to be done with my first week of teaching. I have levels 3 and 5, with kids from the 9-14 years old. And some of them are a handful! My entire level 3 class, 6 kids, is rowdy boys. The other class, 8 kids total, is evenly split between boys and girls. I of course took pictures of them, and of everything else that's happening, but unfortunately we haven't gotten that far with the 'special' technology here. Teaching requires so much preparation, especially because we're not supposed to have quiet reading time or anything, we're supposed to talk as much as possible. I have no problems with that :) but sometimes the kids get a little carried away. The level 5 kids are on a point system and are earning a pizza party for good behavior, good English, not speaking Russian, etc, but the other class...I haven't come up with a way to simply keep them from spouting off in Russian every chance they get!
A few people have asked me about food. So far, the majority of it has been awesome. When the teachers get together for training and talking, or just hanging out, we snack on chips and bread with cheese and sausage. Every morning my host family feeds me a porridge made from oats, milk, and dried fruit, along with a fruity tea. It's wonderful! I've had all kinds of things for dinner, noodles, sausage, soups, etc, and it's all been good, expect for something I got last night that seemed to be slimy vegetables....didnt' work out to well for me! I've also gotten tons of tomatos and cucumbers, which I love, sometimes they are in a salad with parsley and goat cheese. We have lunch at the primary school (I teach at an elementary school a couple miles away, I ride a bus there, but the primary school is a five minute walk from home). So far it's been good bread, a really brothy soup, some kind of meat (usually it's been meatballs, today it was liver, of which I've discovered I'm not a fan) and either really good mashed potatoes or pasta. Not bad. My babushka feeds me tons! Every time I walk in the house I'm given something to eat, even if I just had breakfast two hours ago! Oh, Mandy, you would hate it, they have mayo on almost everything, in salads and all kinds of stuff. And Mutti you would be jealous, I can get good German yogurt and chocolate and jams at the store, about 15 min walk from my house! All the food is so good here, we go shopping and get awesome bread for really cheap (an 8-inch baguette is about 20 cents!), with sausage and spreads and cheeses and of course desserts :) Haven't found italian ice yet, but we really haven't gotten out much, too busy teaching! And we were at a blini place earlier and saw something along the lines of a mini doener, so we have to go back there.
I can't make any promises, but I'm gonna try my hardest to have pictures in my next post. SO MANY! Then you can see where I live, where I work, who I work with, etc. Until then, everyone stay safe! I miss you!
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