Here it comes...

By "it" I mean snow.

                                     (photo taken from my 1st grade corridor window)

I knew it was coming. I knew it like I knew my mom would scold me back when I still lived in the Wagner nest 3 months ago and would shove clean clothes under my bed instead of hanging them up in my closest. (If anyone is teaching Language Arts, I allow you to use that last statement as an example of a run-on sentence. )
It was only a matter of time.
So here is the snow from today. It is all downhill from here. This is only the beginning!

I think snow like this would call for school cancellations in PA. In Moscow...I feel like everyone acted as if nothing was different. I still saw some ladies clomping through the slushy/icy/snowy sidewalks in their stiletto boots.

It is a good thing that I do not mind the snow...and I in fact, find the snow enjoyable.  Taking the 1st graders to recess suddenly became my favorite part of the day. The kids go out in this. They are all just these bundled/snow suited up little things.  I think they will go outside for recess until the snow is bigger than them.

I do not have favorite students, but if I did, these two would be my favorite 1st graders. They always try very hard...and are very bright.
....and they love the snow:

...after this video they made me play "tag"...where even when I caught both of them several times...I was always "it".

So, I forget when it gets dark in PA this time of year...but here right now it is dark by 5:30 (and not light out in the morning until about 9:30...it will get even worse). So my commute to and from work are both in the dark. The only time I am outside and have a chance at a glimpse of sunlight during the week...is during recess. And as you can tell, the sun is bashful in Russia, so even at recess my chances are slim.
"Farewell sunshine, it was nice knowing you."
 -me

 (images around the outside of my flat)

I am sure there will be a white Christmas here...and Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter...

Anyway. I like trying to learn some of the Russian language. To help myself, I went a little crazy at the book store and purchased about 50 (not 50, I'm joking) Russian children's picture books. I'm going to translate them..which will force me to learn a slew of new Russian vocabulary, some grammar, and syntax rules.

Though this activity is quite time consuming, I really enjoy it. Russian uses the cyrillic alphabet, which is very different than the English alphabet. I learned much of the cyrillic alphabet before coming to Moscow.  When I read Russian, I literally sound like a five year old sounding out the words phoneme by phoneme. These letters and their sounds are brand new to me...just like English letters are new to (English speaking) children who are learning to read.  I feel like I am learning to read all over again! By doing this, I am giving myself a better understanding of how frustrating learning to read can be for children.
So I can read almost anything in Russian...but 93% of the time I have no idea what in the world I am saying. That is what the Russian dictionary/google translate/Native Russian speaking colleagues are for!

  I'm starting simple. This is one of those "learn to read"/"my first independent read" type books for children.

I think this will be the next book I try to translate:

I can't wait. I am dying to know what a book with an onion head is about.

-Gina

Oh, and yes I celebrated Thanksgiving here.  I had a lovely dinner celebration with other American and non-American teachers/friends.
I contributed a cocktail to the dinner. I named it "Spiced Cranberry Sparkle Sauce".
It's my new holiday specialty.

Thanksgiving!

    So those of you who I talk to regularly hear all about how my students can totally and completely drive me insane.  And it is no lie that my third graders are hands down my favorite class.  BUT: at the very end of the day...I still do love all of (most of) my students.

    Recently I have been tweaking my classroom management plan to benefit my sanity.  I've been trying many different techniques to find something that works....and this past week, I finally discovered a strategy that is absolutely PERFECT. My students have turned into angels, and I am in HEAVEN when I teach them.  I can't believe it has taken me until mid-Novemeber to discover this idea that seemed to be in face all along. ANYWAY, I will not explain in detail exactly my plan because I just do not feel like typing it all out right now and you'd get bored reading it....but if you are interested in knowing what I discovered works with my barely English speaking 6-9 year olds...send me an e-mail.

    However I will tell you that a rule I added is "Absolutely NO Russian in my class. At all. Not even a whisper to your neighbor. You can only speak English in my class." All along I have encouraged them to speak English, of course. But, if a student seemed to be totally lost, I would allow another student who knows more English to translate what I said to the confused child in Russian.  I have decided, that really if the confused child would just pay more attention to me as I explained and modeled the already simple directions, he would not be confused. I pantomime ALL of my directions like a clown...if confused child would just wake up and smell the coffee, then there is no excuse to be confused. Period.
Many children were annoyed and angry with this "harsh" new rule. To those children I just think "well just cry me a river, build a bridge, and get the heck over it, you big baby."  Here is the thing (which I told them, and they understood about 50%) : If I can roam about Moscow every single day, not knowing much Russian and still get by, then they can try their best with English for my 45 minute class.  Harsh, I know...I'm such a meanie.

    With all of that said...I will be the first to tell you how much credit I give to those children! English is so hard!  It can be frustrating not understanding everything said to you (trust me, it's my daily life). So that 45 minutes in my class is brutal to some kids. But I hope that they are learning from me (like I am learning from them..and this whole country): PATIENCE.

   Watch this video on how English sounds to non-English speakers.  Must be what I sound like to many of my students!

....and my guess is that this video is about an unstable couple celebrating the fourth of July in Hawaii....? Dirty looks....pineapple cake....flirty looks....sparklers.....?

   In my third grade craft lesson, after the "No Russian" rule was explained, the room was pin drop silent as they were crafting.  I told them "You are allowed to talk! In English!" As they are learning names of rooms and objects in a house in conversation class...here is an example of an English conversation I heard from them:
Sasha: Hello, Alena.
Alena: Hello, Sasha.
Sasha: Do you have a house?
Alena: Yes!
Sasha: Do you have basement?
Alena: Yes! Do YOU have basement?
Sasha: I have basement. Do you have swimming room?
Alena: Yes!
Sasha: Do you have cinema room?

....so basically this went on until Sasha inquired about every room in Alena's house.
It is very difficult for me not to crack up as I eavesdrop on these oh so engaging discussions....but I am so pleased to hear them practice what they are learning! Ugh, they can be so gosh darn adorable!!!!

OK so here is the Thanksgiving part of the post...justifying the fact that I titled this post "Thanksgiving":
   As you know, Thanksgiving is on Thursday! Also as you know (hopefully)...Russia does not celebrate Thanksgiving, or really know much about it.  I decided to share some American culture with my third graders yesterday, and did a lesson on Thanksgiving.  I kept it simple and talked about traditional foods that we eat.  I showed pictures, and asked if they knew what any of them were. Here are some responses which I received. Enjoy:

"This is chicken!"

"This is popcorn"

"This is strawberry jam"

"This bread, and chicken, and tomato sauce"

.......?

"This is ice cream"

and

"This is brown sauce"

So if I did not correct them after each guess....Russian third graders would run around believing that Americans get together on the last Thursday of November to have a feast complete with: Chicken, popcorn, strawberry jam, some bread- chicken- ketchup concoction, and ice cream with brown sauce. 

Do you know what is a fun word to have my students say? 

Refrigerator.

I get "re-farge-a-dator". 

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!!!

-Gina

My Saint Petersburg Excursion

I hope you have a comfortable seat, this is a long post. 

Well...I LOVED Saint Petersburg. Compared to Moscow, it is cleaner, newer, smaller, classier, prettier, and friendlier! I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of English I heard. In Moscow, I am so used to having to try my best with the Russian language out in public. In St. Petersburg I would go to a restaurant, start ordering my meal in Russian...only to have the waiter look at me funny and respond in English!  This happened nearly everywhere in St. Petersburg...they are very tourist friendly.

We arrived in the city founded by Peter the Great (in 1703) on Monday evening after a 4 hour train ride, dropped our things off at our cozy centrally located hostel, and left for dinner and little walk to get the lay of the land.

 The Hermitage

The Alexandrine Theatre

 The Kazan Cathedral

I know, I know! You would rather see pictures than read my long-winded rambles....so I'll cut to the chase.

Tuesday: The Hermitage
The Hermitage is the largest museum in the world, and was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764. Here are about a million photos to view from my five hour tour of the joint:

 painting on the right is of Catherine the Great

 ...I think this was my favorite room. I want a library like this.

 ....my travel buddies; Jamie and Courtney!

 Picasso painting

....the next two photos were taken after the 4th hour of touring. I began to get silly. Four hours is my absolute limit for seriousness. 

A few photos from The Hermitage windows:

...just helping an old fella out.

 ...that horse and carriage forgot to pick me up after the Hermitage, silly them...

Wednesday October 31: St. Isaac's Cathedral and The Mariinsky Ballet

St. Isaac's was built between 1818-1858. It is about 330 feet high, and during WWII the gold dome was painted a darker color so to not be easily spotted by enemies. 

We did not go inside of the cathedral...however we climbed the 200 something twirly stairs to the top dome for a nice view:

...my little Texas friend, Courtney!

After St. Isaac's we checked out an outdoor market where I used my newfound haggling skills to completely rip off a couple of street vendors. I found a new hobby. 

Just before the market, this happened: A man holding two bundled up creatures, literally threw one into my arms and said "Maybe lady want picture with my monkey?" I ignored the man's chatter, and over expressively talked to this adorable little monkey in the same way I talk to my dog at home, Chandler. Then he threw the other monkey at me and said "Lady take picture, two monkey, 300 rubles". 300 rubles is about 10 dollars. I wasn't going to pay to take a photo with my own camera. So I just held the little things and half-heartedly returned them to their owner. So...I'm sorry, no photo...just the story! 

After being in the cold all day...it was time for nice warm coffee:

How's your bum? Is your seat still comfortable? I know this is a long post, but you've reached the halfway point. You might want to take a break just now and walk a couple laps around your room. Go ahead....maybe add a few jumping jacks, make a sandwich, then return for photos from the Mariinsky Theatre. 

The name of the show that we saw was "La Sylphide" and was about a young Scotsman who falls in love with a sylph. It was a beautiful performance, and quite a lovely and classy evening at the ballet:

 ...my favorite lad from Scotland, Jamie!

 ...wining and dining before the performance.

....easily my favorite Halloween night ever. 

Thursday November 1: The Cathedral of the Resurrection and The Peter and Paul Fortress

The Cathedral of the Resurrection is commonly referred to as "Our Saviour on the Spilt Blood", and reminds me of a muted St. Basil's.  Construction began in 1883 on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded by a terrorist bomb in 1881. It was completed in 1907...and in 2012, Gina the Great the First took her first tour of the architecturally astonishing creation. 

..literally every inch of this building is covered in gorgeous. 

The last major stop was the Peter and Paul Fortress. Inside the fortress, we toured through a prison, and the Peter and Paul Cathedral. 

 ...entering the prison...

....in my opinion a very odd statue of the Peter the Great. Has the cold made his head shrink? 

Here are photos from the cathedral:

...maybe you've noticed (if you're a regular reader)...I love cathedrals.

This cathedral holds the tombs of the tsars from Peter the Great to Nicholas II (Anastasia's father).

 In the back here is Catherine the Great...she is buried right next to her husband, Peter...who she loathed.

This is the tomb of Peter the Great on the right:

...I heard a woman giving a tour in English...so I stalked her. From creeping behind her, I learned that these medallions on Peter the Great's tomb were for doing things like starting the Russian navy.

Attached to St. Peter and Paul Cathedral is a room called the St. Catherine Chapel. This room holds the remains of Nicholas Romanov the II and his family. In 1918, Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their children; Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei, their doctor and three servants were murdered by the Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg. Their bones were discovered buried in the forest near where they were murdered...but they were not officially put in the tomb in Saint Petersburg until July 1998. Long story...I read a book on it this summer. It's in Pittsburg...call my parents and you can borrow it from them if you feel so inclined. 

It is interesting to me that the museum here is claiming that Anastasia's bones are here...but I have read many sources claiming that Anastasia's remains are missing.  There were many debates in the 90s over which family member's bones were missing...I do not think they ever completely figured it out. 

 The remains are in the tomb on the left, and the there is a plaque on the wall for each person murdered.

There were many sites in Saint Petersburg that I did not see..three full touring days was just not enough! My parents are planning to visit Russia in June, at which time I will return to this city with them! I look forward to more theatres, palaces, museums, cathedrals, and canal rides during the White Nights...which is when the city has maybe only a couple hours of darkness!

-Gina