Well, obviously tons has happened in the last 3 months since I have posted last. I really have been bad about this, so for those who have bothered to read, thanks for keeping up with me, and I apologize for not doing a better job if you were interested in what was happening here.
Since I last posted, it has gotten significantly nicer outside (average maybe 70). Everything truely is green and beautiful. I have made much effort to take advantage of the parks here that are so refreshing to go to after being in the big city. My favorite is Tsaritsino Park. There are tulips all over the parks that range in all kinds of colors. There is also a huge fountain in the middle of the rather large grounds. The trails seemingly go on forever around a pretty lake where lately people have been sun bathing in speedos and their underwear. It's a lovely site, let me tell you! Anyways, there really are a lot of great attributes to this park, and I earnestly wish I could transport it back to where ever I end up in the States soon. Oh, and did I mention there's icecream galore there?! Yep :)
Another park that I have enjoyed is Victory Park. We have been there quite a few times, and we even went there during Victory Day, a day where the Russian celebrate their victory over ther Germans during WW2. This is a huge holiday in Moscow. They had a really big parade and people were just going crazy leading up to and especially on this day. The parade was really neat though. We made our way there an hour and a half early and luckily got a pretty good view of everything. Basically, it was just a procession of all kinds of military vehicles, such as tanks and the like. However, the most spectacular part was the planes and jets that flew overhead. One group of jets spelled out "65," and another group let out colored smoke that made the Russian flag. Oh! And I forgot to mention that this day is so huge that they spend millions of dollars to put something in the clouds so that it will not rain. Yep, you heard right!
Something else neat that recently has started to happen is the "second snow" in Moscow. Supposedly, back in the day there was a need for more trees in Moscow, so someone had the idea to plant cottonwoods trees all over the city becausethey grow fast. Unfortunately to most, this makes the city covered in white cottonwood seeds. They are literally floating around all over. They are often even found inside floating around. I, probably strangely, think it's really pretty though!
Despite nature however, school slowly has wound down in the last three months. As I write this now, we are actually in the middle of a two week long summer school. In the preschool where there were 24 students, we now have about 3 that consistently come. We've been going on a lot of field trips and having extended coffee breaks, which has been nice, but I am just getting to the point where I feel like it's silly for me to be here. I am trying to enjoy this last bit of time here though. It truely has been a nice change of pace.
Another highlight of that last few months has been going to Istanbul. After having come back from Egypt, a few of us decided that we just needed a little more traveling before we left to head back home, so we took a few days off of an already long weekend and looked for a place that would be cheap to travel to. None of us new too much about Istanbul but had heard that it was a really beautiful place. Going into it, I was excited to travel somewhere else but I really wasn't sure what to be looking forward to. Yet, the minute we stepped out of the airport, I understood why people love Istanbul. It truely is an amazing city, a gem.
As we drove from the airport to our hotel, we drove along the sea that was lit up with white sails and other large cargo boats in front of a small mountain skyline. Yet, that was just the back drop to green parks that were lined with all kinds of colorful tulips and other flowers. As we got closer to the hotel, we got more and more into the older part of Isanbul with cobblestone roads and little shops everywhere. My favorite shops were the ones with hanging lamps hanging everywhere. I loved them so much that I had to get a small one (Fingers crossed that it'll make it back)! After arriving to our family run hotel, we went for a stroll through some of the areas that we saw driving in and geared up for the next 3 full days that we would get to spend there.
For fear of boring you, I will just mention a few of the highlights. My favorite place that we visited was Hagya Sofia. It was very old and very huge. It started off as a church, then became a monastery, and now it's just a museum, but it was so neat inside. While it was kind of dark in there, there were windows that streamed in huge rays of light. The ceilings were huge and there was stain glass. There were emblems written in Arabic that were really pretty, and it had a balcony where one could go up and look down on everything. I can't really explain it to do it justice, so if you are curious about it, I suggest looking at my album on facebook :).
Another highlight was going to the Turkish bath. I will not go into detail except to say that I grew very close to Leah and Kristin during that time :) It was a really fun experience to "bathe" in such an old traditional bath with such good friends in a foreign country and then to sit all wrapped in towels and sip on the Turkish apple tea.
My final highlight of the trip was walking down to the Marmara sea and sitting on the rocks. This alone would have been absolutely seren, but we got treated to seeing dozens of dolphins playing not far from the shore. We sat and watched them for a good hour and even then had to tear ourselves away.
With experiences such as these, I am really going to miss my time here in Russia. While it's been a hard year, it's been one full of blessings. I don't know how I got to be able to do such neat things, but I sure am thankful, and I will never forget this year that I have had. And not only have got to experience great things, but I have made some really neat friends from Brits to Americans to Russians t0 Turks and Egyptians and Germans and Dutch.
So, now it's about 9 days till home. It's bittersweet, but I'm really excited to go home and be there a while with friends and family.
So, I guess that's about it for now. I'll write once more from the States!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
The days of Spring are near...
Well, much has happened since I've written last. I'm not sure why I decided to write tonight after all this time since it's late and we are leaving tomorrow for Spring Break except that I just can't seem to go to sleep right now. Maybe I'll regret it tomorrow, but as for now, here it goes. A new post finally...
So, as usual, I have been teaching my 5-6 year old kiddos, and they are doing well. We just got done doing a unit on toys, and if they don't have it by now, I just don't know... They've got to be toyed out for as long as we worked on it. It's just difficult to know how long to spend and expand on something when the kids are gone so much. On average, we probably are missing about 7-8 kids a day. It's so different than what we're used to in the States.
We had a Spring/women's day performance just recently. Unfortunately, the things we said about spring are not quite accurate...
March is busy as can be
shaking snow from bush and tree
March is busy night and day
Shooing wintertime away
and
The days of spring are here
Warm sunny days are near
Birds in trees, flowers and bees
The days of spring are here.
Yet, the kids did really well, and I even have a video and some pictures on facebook if anyone's interested in watching it. Oh, and the flowers... I love the tradition of flowers in Russia. They are so beautiful, and I feel like it's something that we don't do as much of in the US. For international women's day, celebrated on March 8th, I received so many flowers that I desperate enough to grab a water bottle I found by our apartment's community ash tray (aka jam jar on the window seal on 2nd floor) to use as a vase. I recieved and assortment of gorgeous tulips, roses, and orchids. Oh, and an interesting fact: In Russia, an even number of flowers is only used for sad occasions, so instead of receiving half a dozen or a dozen, I would receive 7, 9, or 13.
Some more news, I lost my wallet a few weeks ago on the train back from a little town outside of Moscow. Kristin, Leah, and I went out of Moscow to experience something new on a long weekend. We got lots of pretty snow pictures; I got a pleasant surprise from a pigeon on my glove; we jumped on a bus that we weren't quite sure where it led to; we saw a grave yard and pretty churches; and we met some really nice Russians. Yet, on my way back, my wallet either got lost or stolen on the train, and unfortunately, I did not realize it was missing until two days later when I was trying to buy lunch at school.
Once I realized my wallet was missing, I started panicking, so I know that the Russian teachers I work with that don't speak English were thinking I was crazy at first. However, once it was communicated to them what happened, they were sympathetic and Olga, my superivsor and one I don't know what I would do without, helped me block my bankcard. I also cancelled my US bank card.
Well, a few days passed, and someone called the school saying that they had my wallet at the train station. So, the next day Hannah and I went to the station and attempted to get it, not without accidently getting on the train without a ticket, which caused problems later when we needed to leave the station but couldn't scan out.. Luckily, there was a really nice woman that let us go out wither her VIP card :) Well, our attempt was a failure in finding it, so later on one of our Russian contacts, Yuri, went to the station and got what I thought would be my wallet, but when he called me to his room to get the wallet, all that was left was all my cards rubberbanded together. I guess someone was wanting a new wallet? It was strange, but at least I got my cards back, right? Oh, but now I have my new card and no money was taken from the account, so that's quite the blessing!
Another recent occurance is that for a few weeks, we thought we weren't going to get to go on Spring break after we had already bought plane tickets. It's a long story, but basically it has to do with new laws reguarding foreign teachers that are in the works and some miscommunications. Luckily, it got worked out, but it wasn't until three days before leaving that we learned that we could go... Needless to say, we are really excited now about going. Moscow takes a while to get warm, as I mentioned earlier, so we are really looking forward to getting some sun and seeing some locations of some pretty amazing Biblical history in Egypt.
The Lord's been teaching me a lot too. I knew He would when I came here, but it's of course not what I expected at all. Things haven't been as easy as I had hoped in being able to share my faith. Most of the time I think "God, I don't know what You wanted me here for. It's not at all like I expected. This language barrier is hard as ever. I miss my family and friends. I miss my comforts. I want to run more than 4 or 5 miles a week instead of doing The Biggest Loser Cardio Max workout on Youtube , etc. etc.:P." Ha, but then I think about all I have been through and all that I can already see He has done to change me, and even though some of it has been painful and eventhough I haven't always liked who I've been here in Moscow, I know that some of this stuff I have had to go through so that later He can show me more and by His grace use me. I realize that this is somewhat vague, especially since I have not been a very faithful updater, but I just wanted to stay that despite my shortcomings, the Lord's at work someway here. I ask you to keep praying for me and the other American teachers here and for the new relationships that we have made. I have three more months here, and I just can't bare the thought of simply coasting through the rest of it. I have met some people that I care too much about for that to be the case. I don't want to be the only one changed through my time in Moscow.
So I leave you with two quick stories...
One of my children does not quite get the concept of Mr. and Ms. Well, he had Jeff as a teacher before me, being that I moved to the preschool later in the year, so everytime he talks to me he calls me "Mr. Rebecca." I proceed to say, "Donya, Miss Rebecca." He follows by saying, "Mr. Rebecca" just about everytime... Maybe he'll learn someday :)
And one more story! One Russian custom is that if you step on someone's foot, they are to step on your foot so that there is no conflict betweenthe two of you. Well, Yana one of my little girls accidentally stepped on my foot, so she stuck out her foot for me to step on it. It's not always something that peple worry about, so it took me a second to realize what she was doing. Once I did, i lightly stepped on her foot and crouched down to hug her and tell her how sweet she is. After she gave me a huge hug, she gave me the sweetest litttle kiss on the cheek. I sure do have some sweet kids... It's times like this that I love teaching.
Okay, I guess that's about it!
Love you guys,
Becca
So, as usual, I have been teaching my 5-6 year old kiddos, and they are doing well. We just got done doing a unit on toys, and if they don't have it by now, I just don't know... They've got to be toyed out for as long as we worked on it. It's just difficult to know how long to spend and expand on something when the kids are gone so much. On average, we probably are missing about 7-8 kids a day. It's so different than what we're used to in the States.
We had a Spring/women's day performance just recently. Unfortunately, the things we said about spring are not quite accurate...
March is busy as can be
shaking snow from bush and tree
March is busy night and day
Shooing wintertime away
and
The days of spring are here
Warm sunny days are near
Birds in trees, flowers and bees
The days of spring are here.
Yet, the kids did really well, and I even have a video and some pictures on facebook if anyone's interested in watching it. Oh, and the flowers... I love the tradition of flowers in Russia. They are so beautiful, and I feel like it's something that we don't do as much of in the US. For international women's day, celebrated on March 8th, I received so many flowers that I desperate enough to grab a water bottle I found by our apartment's community ash tray (aka jam jar on the window seal on 2nd floor) to use as a vase. I recieved and assortment of gorgeous tulips, roses, and orchids. Oh, and an interesting fact: In Russia, an even number of flowers is only used for sad occasions, so instead of receiving half a dozen or a dozen, I would receive 7, 9, or 13.
Some more news, I lost my wallet a few weeks ago on the train back from a little town outside of Moscow. Kristin, Leah, and I went out of Moscow to experience something new on a long weekend. We got lots of pretty snow pictures; I got a pleasant surprise from a pigeon on my glove; we jumped on a bus that we weren't quite sure where it led to; we saw a grave yard and pretty churches; and we met some really nice Russians. Yet, on my way back, my wallet either got lost or stolen on the train, and unfortunately, I did not realize it was missing until two days later when I was trying to buy lunch at school.
Once I realized my wallet was missing, I started panicking, so I know that the Russian teachers I work with that don't speak English were thinking I was crazy at first. However, once it was communicated to them what happened, they were sympathetic and Olga, my superivsor and one I don't know what I would do without, helped me block my bankcard. I also cancelled my US bank card.
Well, a few days passed, and someone called the school saying that they had my wallet at the train station. So, the next day Hannah and I went to the station and attempted to get it, not without accidently getting on the train without a ticket, which caused problems later when we needed to leave the station but couldn't scan out.. Luckily, there was a really nice woman that let us go out wither her VIP card :) Well, our attempt was a failure in finding it, so later on one of our Russian contacts, Yuri, went to the station and got what I thought would be my wallet, but when he called me to his room to get the wallet, all that was left was all my cards rubberbanded together. I guess someone was wanting a new wallet? It was strange, but at least I got my cards back, right? Oh, but now I have my new card and no money was taken from the account, so that's quite the blessing!
Another recent occurance is that for a few weeks, we thought we weren't going to get to go on Spring break after we had already bought plane tickets. It's a long story, but basically it has to do with new laws reguarding foreign teachers that are in the works and some miscommunications. Luckily, it got worked out, but it wasn't until three days before leaving that we learned that we could go... Needless to say, we are really excited now about going. Moscow takes a while to get warm, as I mentioned earlier, so we are really looking forward to getting some sun and seeing some locations of some pretty amazing Biblical history in Egypt.
The Lord's been teaching me a lot too. I knew He would when I came here, but it's of course not what I expected at all. Things haven't been as easy as I had hoped in being able to share my faith. Most of the time I think "God, I don't know what You wanted me here for. It's not at all like I expected. This language barrier is hard as ever. I miss my family and friends. I miss my comforts. I want to run more than 4 or 5 miles a week instead of doing The Biggest Loser Cardio Max workout on Youtube , etc. etc.:P." Ha, but then I think about all I have been through and all that I can already see He has done to change me, and even though some of it has been painful and eventhough I haven't always liked who I've been here in Moscow, I know that some of this stuff I have had to go through so that later He can show me more and by His grace use me. I realize that this is somewhat vague, especially since I have not been a very faithful updater, but I just wanted to stay that despite my shortcomings, the Lord's at work someway here. I ask you to keep praying for me and the other American teachers here and for the new relationships that we have made. I have three more months here, and I just can't bare the thought of simply coasting through the rest of it. I have met some people that I care too much about for that to be the case. I don't want to be the only one changed through my time in Moscow.
So I leave you with two quick stories...
One of my children does not quite get the concept of Mr. and Ms. Well, he had Jeff as a teacher before me, being that I moved to the preschool later in the year, so everytime he talks to me he calls me "Mr. Rebecca." I proceed to say, "Donya, Miss Rebecca." He follows by saying, "Mr. Rebecca" just about everytime... Maybe he'll learn someday :)
And one more story! One Russian custom is that if you step on someone's foot, they are to step on your foot so that there is no conflict betweenthe two of you. Well, Yana one of my little girls accidentally stepped on my foot, so she stuck out her foot for me to step on it. It's not always something that peple worry about, so it took me a second to realize what she was doing. Once I did, i lightly stepped on her foot and crouched down to hug her and tell her how sweet she is. After she gave me a huge hug, she gave me the sweetest litttle kiss on the cheek. I sure do have some sweet kids... It's times like this that I love teaching.
Okay, I guess that's about it!
Love you guys,
Becca
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Start of the Second Half
So, it has been forever since I have written. I apologize to those of you who actually haven't given up checking for updates!
A lot has happened in the past 2 months... Two months, that seems unreal that I have been in Russia long enough for that to seem like a short amount of time. So, I wish I had lots of pictures to put up, but unfortunately I haven't taken many lately.. promise I'll put some up soon.
So, I have been working at the preschool for the last 2 months, minus the 3 weeks I had of break for Christmas, and I really like it so far. I do miss the kindergarten, but I am really falling in love with my new kids and enjoying the change of pace. The preschool is a class of 24 students, but I only teach half of them. I teach 6 lessons a week, and when I am not teaching, I take the kids around to their other classes such as dance, swimming, pe, music, and art; I help with meals; and I stay in the room with them during nap time. There are also classes in the classroom of course with the two Russian teachers that I teach with. Jeff, another American teacher, and I split the responsibility as English assistants. Really, my only complaint about working at the Zaitsevo campus is the hour commute there and hour back. It makes for a long day with little view of sunlight. Fortunately, the days ARE getting longer than what they have been though. Now, we just have to get through March, and the weather will stop being cold!
So, a little bit about Christmas break... I left for home on the 19th of December, but unfortunately due to the weather, i did not arrive in Tulsa till December 21. It was not ideal, but I guess one thing out of it was I now feel like a professional traveler, and I got over jetlag easier since I was exhausted by the time I was done with JFK airport.
Once I arrived in Tulsa, I was greeted by my parents, niece, aunt, and uncle. Unfortunately, I was not greeted by my bags. They in fact did not greet me until 11 days later after a lot of insistence and not much assistance from Delta. However, this wasn't as stressful as it could have been, because I was home, and that was sooo wonderful.
During my time home, I spent a lot of time traveling in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas seeing most of the people that I love. I also got to eat most of the foods that I miss, run, not wear tights under my jeans, relax, and much more! It really was a perfect bit of time to get refreshed for the last half of my time here in Moscow.
When I arrived back to Moscow, a day late because of more complications with weather and flights, Russia actually felt like home to me in some ways. It was weird to come back to a foreign country and for things to be familiar. I took the metro to our stop on the purple line. I went to our grocery store. I slept in my bed. Then, I went to work and have been working for two weeks now.
Some new things since I've been back... I'm attempting to work out a little more, because it is something that I enjoy way too much not to do. It's just difficult with the very cold weather and lack of sunlight. Also, Leah and I got a big variety of food at the grocery store the other day, and now we wonder why we hadn't done that before! :) No more palmini every other night... Then, Leah and I have been watching Lost (just got done with season 2), and I love it! Still, I have a few visits planned with some Russian friends in which I am really looking forward to. Finally, we have a new building for our church to meet at, and it really is great! We can even see one of the seven sisters right out of the window. From what I understand, it really is a blessing for us to have this place to meet.
So, it's not much but I at least saved it from being 2 whole months since updating last!
A lot has happened in the past 2 months... Two months, that seems unreal that I have been in Russia long enough for that to seem like a short amount of time. So, I wish I had lots of pictures to put up, but unfortunately I haven't taken many lately.. promise I'll put some up soon.
So, I have been working at the preschool for the last 2 months, minus the 3 weeks I had of break for Christmas, and I really like it so far. I do miss the kindergarten, but I am really falling in love with my new kids and enjoying the change of pace. The preschool is a class of 24 students, but I only teach half of them. I teach 6 lessons a week, and when I am not teaching, I take the kids around to their other classes such as dance, swimming, pe, music, and art; I help with meals; and I stay in the room with them during nap time. There are also classes in the classroom of course with the two Russian teachers that I teach with. Jeff, another American teacher, and I split the responsibility as English assistants. Really, my only complaint about working at the Zaitsevo campus is the hour commute there and hour back. It makes for a long day with little view of sunlight. Fortunately, the days ARE getting longer than what they have been though. Now, we just have to get through March, and the weather will stop being cold!
So, a little bit about Christmas break... I left for home on the 19th of December, but unfortunately due to the weather, i did not arrive in Tulsa till December 21. It was not ideal, but I guess one thing out of it was I now feel like a professional traveler, and I got over jetlag easier since I was exhausted by the time I was done with JFK airport.
Once I arrived in Tulsa, I was greeted by my parents, niece, aunt, and uncle. Unfortunately, I was not greeted by my bags. They in fact did not greet me until 11 days later after a lot of insistence and not much assistance from Delta. However, this wasn't as stressful as it could have been, because I was home, and that was sooo wonderful.
During my time home, I spent a lot of time traveling in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas seeing most of the people that I love. I also got to eat most of the foods that I miss, run, not wear tights under my jeans, relax, and much more! It really was a perfect bit of time to get refreshed for the last half of my time here in Moscow.
When I arrived back to Moscow, a day late because of more complications with weather and flights, Russia actually felt like home to me in some ways. It was weird to come back to a foreign country and for things to be familiar. I took the metro to our stop on the purple line. I went to our grocery store. I slept in my bed. Then, I went to work and have been working for two weeks now.
Some new things since I've been back... I'm attempting to work out a little more, because it is something that I enjoy way too much not to do. It's just difficult with the very cold weather and lack of sunlight. Also, Leah and I got a big variety of food at the grocery store the other day, and now we wonder why we hadn't done that before! :) No more palmini every other night... Then, Leah and I have been watching Lost (just got done with season 2), and I love it! Still, I have a few visits planned with some Russian friends in which I am really looking forward to. Finally, we have a new building for our church to meet at, and it really is great! We can even see one of the seven sisters right out of the window. From what I understand, it really is a blessing for us to have this place to meet.
So, it's not much but I at least saved it from being 2 whole months since updating last!
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