Moscow!!!

I got to spend the day in Moscow with our group yesterday!!! It was FANTASTIC after an awful week of mock lessons. Mine was...not spectacular.

It is really hard planning for low levels because there are a VERY limited number of games, etc. that are easy enough for them, and it's hard to make it funny because no one knows any silly vocabulary at that level. Anyway, after my lesson I was pretty sure that I didn't want to be a teacher anymore :S But it turns out that I will be teaching two Z2 classes (lowest level of our 10 options) and 3 A3 classes (one level up). So I'm actually overloading, because a full time week is 4 classes, but at least I'll get about an extra $50 a month for that lol Oh, and every class meets twice a week for 90 minutes.

Anyway, Moscow was soooo cool, we took the "express" train in in the morning and spent the whole day there. I was really pumped to see Red Square, but it was CLOSED when we got there for concert set up or something. Anyway, it just made it even more epic when we went back later and found it OPEN!!!! It was basically raining ice by then and we have some pretty kick ass photos of us in front of St. Basil's Cathedral.

We also went to the World War 2 museum in Victory Park and basically just hung around the city watching all the wedding parties run inside because of the weather. The metro was fun and cool and confusing, and the escalators there were EPIC. So much better than the ones in New York even, just really steep and fast and disorienting. The handrails there also move a lot faster than the steps, which Alex pointed out gives everyone a good chance to make a move on the person in front of them, which made me laugh for about 20 minues (VERY uncool in the metro where everyone should just be scowling).

Ok, next two colleague introductions: Ann who is super funny and crazy badass and has a blister on her foot that has basically become gangrenous. She crawled under the sink, unscrewed the plumbing, and rescued my bracelet from Africa last week after I dropped it down the drain, so you know she's cool. And Adam, the guy who I talked to the most beforе I came here and had high hopes for. The good news is he is just as cool in person as he is online, and I'm planning on making a habit of bullying him into playing sax for us at lunchtime every day. His host family is also still out of control crazy (see the karaoke post).

Having a blast!

Interviews!

Things are going great here! We get to work around 9:30 every morning and have some sort of Russian class or excursion (for example, to the grocery store or post office). After that we have English grammar lessons and teacher training until about 2 or 3pm, and then a break. Sometimes our evenings are free, other times we have activities, such as meeting students or (!!!) conducting placement tests! We worked in pairs, which was really fun, and for the most part everything went really well. One of the girls that Adam and I were working with had 0 comprehension and 0 interest in English as far as we could tell, so that was pretty awkward. But other than that, everyone who we have met is REALLY EXCITED about the school, our classes, us, America, and so on. I'm still not sure what level I will be teaching, but probably the "Z2" level, which means one class up from absolute beginners. So, I might actually start using Russian...to explain English grammar.... :P It should be cool.

We also visited Suzdal today, which is about 45 minutes away. It is this really cute, really small Russian town with a lot of really beautiful old architecture and churches. I absolutely love our group. The Russians we work with here are the young, hilarious, fun, friendly, extremely fashionable Lena and Olya! They basically run the show at the AH (American House).

I'll introduce my group a couple at a time. Today it's Alex and Alli. Alex seemed pretty quiet at first, but he is HILARIOUS. He ran a mock class for intermediate level students and I thought I would die laughing. He also lives in a mansion in the middle of the city here, so we all tease him about being the rich kid. Alli is basically my double. She studied linguistics and Spanish, lived in Spain, switched hosts with me at the last minute, also spells poorly, and other random little coincidences. In general it is just really awesome to have someone else here who gets the frustrations of looking at grammar from a teacher's point of view instead of a linguist's.

That's it for now! So far I still haven't been homesick, and I feel like I can kick this year's butt! Three more weeks til classes start....

I'm here!! The place I'm living in in really pretty, too, though the buildings always look really run down on the outside.

I'm living with a girl named Kamila. She is about three years older
than me and she is GREAT! "Vegetarain" in that she doesn't eat
chicken and fish, but totally fine with what I want to eat, just
concerned that she doesn't already know. She is short, long dark
curly hair, totally gorgeous, really fun and smiley. Her parents
immigrated from Uzbekistan and her parents and brother live in the
city. Her sister and niece live in Moscow. Yesterday she got about
15 phone calls in my first two hours there, everyone wanting to know
how things were going and when they could meet me. I'm excited to
meet her friends, but probably wont until Sunday because my friend Ben
is in Vladimir for the next two days only. I was out walking with
Kamila last night and just randomly found him on the street, so that
was really exciting, and fortunate, since I don't have a cell yet.

By the way, don't worry at all about the weather here. The air is
super clear and the heat is a lot less than it was; even in Moscow a
mask wasn't necessary at all.

I also love my the other teachers and the people at the American Home. (We went bowling today, and it surprisingly wasn't awful.) They take care of everything for us, which is really nice.

I'll end with a few random observations:
1. The toilet paper here is the quality of cheap paper towels (at best)
2. Russian bus drivers are not the most chatty people. I asked if the bus when to the golden gate this morning, and his face either twitched or he was saying yes. :P
3. I think I'm really going to like switching back and forth from Russian to English multiple times a day :)

Just kidding...

So I'm actually going to be living with a 26-year-old vegetarian. Read on:

My name is Kamila. I’m 26. I grew up in Vladimir. It’s an ancient Russian town, not far from Moscow. There are many places of interest here.

I’ve got a big family: a mother, a father, a brother end a sister. My mother is an old-age pensioner. Now she keeps house. My father is an engineer. My brother is a manager. He has his own business. My sister is a lawyer. I also have a niece. She is the copy of her mother (my sister). My family gets on well. We are deeply attached. Unfortunately we live far from each other. But we’d like to spend weekend together as often as possible.

As for me I’ve got my first higher education as a journalist . Now I continue my education. I learn English at the University. It’s interesting enough. Beside I work on a trade firm. Actually during the weekday I’m quite busy. I’m an early riser. I go to a swimming-pool every the morning. Then I should be at work at 9 a.m. After work I usually have my English classes. So I come home late in the evening. Then I can enjoy my free time at home.

I live in a four-storied block of flats not far from the Centre of our city. There is a big book market on the ground floor and it’s very convenient to buy books sometimes. My flat is on the third floor. There are two rooms there. The flats three large windows face North. So I can enjoy a lovely view of Gorky Street. When it’s sunset the horizon’s line is as red as cherry and the sky’s colors like in the picture this is a wonderful landscape.

By the way I have a lot of friends. I like to spend my free time with them. We can go to the cinema, to our favorite café or just for a walk. Occasionally we organize BBQ.

Letter from my 16-year-old host sister!!

Hi. My name is Tamara. I want to tell you about my and my family.

First of all some words about my family. She is a small: mother, sister, grandmother and me. Only girlsJ

My mother is called by Natasha. She is a worker. She work in Administration of Vladimir city. She is a nice, kind and clever woman. My sister is worker, too. Her name Irina. She now works abroad. She is funny. (Tamara is now visiting her in Thailand) And my granny. Oh… She is a great woman. She lived in the years of war, for what I always will respected she and love. It very difficultly – to protect the country. She worker a doctor – treated soldiers. Now she is a pensionary. And me. I’m a smallest people in our family. I’m 16 years old, I’m a student of aviamechannical college; I’m professional dancer and I finished dancing school. As for me I like to dance, to travel, to listen to music, to sing in the soul, to read in bus or underground, to drive on snowboard. And I do not love: rag in the subway, to get up early, meals, boring companies, low IQ. That’s all.



Apparently, she was a student at the school where I will be teaching and her mom is about 50 years old, very sociable and talkative, but "without much English skills". HOORAY!!