Love/Kind of Dislike Relationship

   I have a love/kind of dislike relationship with Russia, if I’m being honest here.  I would just call it a “love/hate” relationship, but hate is too strong. I do not hate. To make this simple, I will make a list and alternate things that I love, with things that I kind of dislike. 

1.    I love that I am experiencing a foreign country and learning so many things that I would never experience in the states.

2.     I kind of dislike that I feel like the loudest one in public. On the bus, metro, etc…everyone seems to keep completely to themselves, and stare with zero expression on their faces.  Even when I don’t talk, I feel like the loudest.

3.   I love that I have a lot of prep time at school. So much in fact, that I am able to plan nearly ALL of my lessons right there in the school!  Leave at 5pm, and have my evenings free!

4.    I kind of dislike that I do not have a dryer, and need to dry my clothing like this:

5.    I love that I have a nice view of some of the city from my balcony.

 The building on the left with yellow letters on top is the World Trade Center here. 

6.      I kind of dislike my forced jog workouts through the city in my teaching clothes when I am running late for work in the morning. I always make it on time though.

7.    I love most of my students!  Even though they barely understand me!

Ok, a couple side stories on this one. Who here has ever heard of, or read the book “Where the Wild Things Are”? Well, until me…not my 1^st graders.  Everyday, from 3:30-4:45, they have playtime (not recess) until their parents or nannies pick them up. During that playtime, it is my job to interact and play with them, while obviously speaking English.  My favorite thing to do is read to the children stories that I brought from home. I introduced “Where the Wild Things Are” this week.  When I first showed it to them, their reaction was “MON-STER!” I try to tell them that the wild things are called “wild things”…but they seem to insist on calling them “MON-STERS”.  Sometimes they will point to one wild thing and say “parrot”, or “lion”, or try counting the wild things’ teeth in Russian (and if I’m lucky I can get the squirrely little things to count them in English). Even though my 1^st graders barely know English, some of them still find a way to communicate to me. For example when one wants me to read “Where the Wild Things Are” to them, they will come to me with some other random book, say “MON-STER” and point to the book in their hand. I then make them repeat “book”. (The first time this happened, it took me a moment to understand…my thought was “What are you talking about, kid? There aren’t monsters in that Russian children’s atlas you are holding!”) Almost always, I just have to let things like that go. I need to accept that it is no longer called ‘Where the Wild Things Are”, and it has been renamed “MON-STER book”. If they remember “book”, we are getting somewhere!  

    Many times I need to change my lesson plans on the spot, depending on how the children understand the directions. On Tuesday the plan for my 2nd graders was to have them act out going to a public place we had learned (theatre, restaurant, hospital, post office), while classmates guess the public place. Well they got lost somewhere in translation. Even though when I told them to “ACT out…” as I placed the back of my hand to forehead and threw my back in an overly “dramatic” way, they decided that I meant for them to draw pictures on the board of objects or people going to said public places when it was there turn. So I thought “Ok, whatever kiddos. Not at all what I intended for you to do, but as long as you’re understanding the association between the objects your classmates are drawing, and can say the public place it goes with, Miss Gina is happy.” By the way, my 2^nd graders are ridiculously good artists.

    I have a 1^st grade student who I think knows more English than he leads on.  Yesterday we had an “excursion” (field trip) to the forest. On the little hike there, this little boy kept repeating this: “I super duper BIG boy! Miss Zhena super duper small girl!” Then he would laugh hysterically, and say it again. Obviously, as I am at least a foot taller than this child, he was terribly mistaken.

    Another little boy only says the word “yes”. I ask him questions all the time such as: Are you going to behave today? Do you love English? Is Miss Gina really cool?

8.   I kind of dislike that a 1^st grade student was misbehaving in a way that was so terribly distracting during a lesson that I was forced to kick him out of the classroom, where he was reprimanded in Russian by the Russian teachers on my team.

9.     But I love that this same student came back in the room to apologize to me, and was much better behaved for the rest of the lesson!  

10.  I kind of dislike that I woke up Thursday morning feeling nauseated.  Guess what was the first thing to happen when I arrived to work that morning? One of my little 1^st graders decided it would be best to throw up his breakfast right in front of me all over the hallway. Obviously, my ill feeling did not go away after that.  After school, I ventured out to find the only food in all of Russia that didn’t make me gag when thinking about it…which was British crackers/Philadelphia cream cheese, and vitamin C.

11.  I love the old security guard at my school that continues to give me apples on a daily basis. Yesterday I got not one, not two, but a bag of 3 apples! I never have to buy produce as long as this guy is around.

 

12.  I kind of dislike that I have yet to figure out exactly how to grocery shop here. Things that I THINK I know will turn out good… actually turn out totally gross.  For example: One time I bought this meat that looked like salami (which there is a lot of here), but when I opened it, it had the strangest and most disgusting odor to it that I was forced to throw it out. Likewise, another time I bought what looked to be normal hotdogs. Well, they were not. They were mushy and totally unappetizing. Again…sent to the trash. Grocery shopping for me is trial and error. Things that I know are safe to buy: pistachios, frozen veggies, bottled water, grape juice, pineapple juice, and wine. I’m still working on it…

13. I love that I've met some swell folks:

14.  I kind of dislike that it is an incredible chore to get important things like Internet. Since I have been in Moscow, I have not had real Internet of my own in either of my flats. However, after jumping through some hoops of fire with my roommate, we finally had our non-English speaking landlady come today to assist us with setting it up.  FINALLY!!  However we do not have wifi at the moment…we are forced to plug in our computers the old fashioned way with an Ethernet cord. BUT, with the help of a Russian/English dictionary we are (I think), getting the landlady to come back Friday for help with wifi.  PS...they keep referring to the guy who comes to set up internet as the “internet mechanic”.  Mechanic? 

15. I love that I do not have to worry about a car and filling it with gasoline here.  I also do enjoy the beautiful metro stations underground:

16. I love/kind of dislike that there are only a couple teachers that I work with who can speak English. I like it because since there is no one to talk to…I can get a lot of work done! I dislike it because there is no one to talk to and easily bounce lesson ideas off of.  I’m on my own. It also is amusing to have “conversations” with the other teachers. One lady I work with who knows as much English as I do Russian usually says things like: “Uhhh…Zhina…the childs….mmhmmm…” nods her head, smiles, and walks away. Yes, I totally understand...? I usually just smile and nod too and say something like “Ok, great!” Another teacher tries really hard to speak English, and he is not bad! It just takes simple words, my Russian/English dictionary, a good sense of humor, and patience to communicate. You should have seen me trying to explain to him that a child had just thrown up.  

    

I     17.  I love my 9 flights of stairs I can use as a Saturday morning workout. Good old Rocky style.

18.  I love my landlady and the treats she brings us. Today she brought us some lemony pastries!

 Check back tomorrow for a post and pictures on Red Square, which is where I went today!