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!

New apartment!

      Yes, yes, I know I JUST moved to Moscow 2 weeks and 1 day ago.  However, there was an opportunity for me to move to an apartment in a more convenient location with one of my roommates; Ashley.  So we took it! In our old apartment, here was our trek to work: Leave the flat at 7:15 am, stand at the bus stop right outside for anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes.  Catch the bus, ride it for abut 15 minutes. Get off the bus.  Walk 15 minutes to our school's campus in the city. Get on a bus provided to the teachers by the school. Ride that bus for 45 minutes outside of Moscow to our school. The ride home was even longer because of Moscow traffic (by the way, it is the absolute craziest, most unorganized traffic I have ever seen.) BUT NOW, I walk about 15 minutes to the city school where I catch the bus to my school. Living at my new apartment saves me about 30 minutes in the morning. Another perk to my new apartment is that Ashely and I have our own rooms, we no longer are separated in a wall-less room by a curtain.  I do miss all the mirrors though.

     I like to name the places where I live. Silly, I know.  I do not know what to name my new flat! Maybe all of you readers can give suggestions. Look at these pictures:

This is the entrance hallway. The door to the right is the entrance, the doors to the left are to my room. That chair/couch thing ahead folds down to a bed. 

 Here is the other end of the hall, and the entrance to Ashley's room....and a coat rack that will get a whole lot of use.

This is the hallway to the kitchen. That door is to the bathroom.

This is the bathroom. Notice the shower head that is not attached to the wall. It is removable, and I have to hold it to clean myself.

Kitchen. See that stove? It is gas, and it needs to be started with matches. I'm terrified of matches. I'm not sure how I will eat if my roommate is not home.

We have a washing machine in the kitchen. Just a washing machine, no dryer.

Here are the doors to my room. There really is no privacy in Russia.

This is my room. In the back there is a door to my balcony!

Another view of my room.

This is bed. I know you are thinking it looks like a couch. That is because it is.  It folds down, but I will leave it like this because, quite frankly I do not feel like pushing it down. I believe in Soviet times, families would always sleep on these things. Some whole families would live in one room, and fold the bed(s) up during the day, and down at night.  No, it is not a futon..it is different, trust me. I do not think we have these in the states.  Oh, and yes I still sleep with stuffed animals...I bet you do too, admit it! 

View from my balcony.

Another view from my balcony.

A view from my balcony at night (I know, I know, I NEED a better camera...)

   We live on the 9th floor, this is our elevator. Yes, it is as creepy as it looks.  It is tiny, you can hear the ropes and pulley things click all the way up. The lights are dim, and there is nothing inside the elevator to tell you which floor you are on.

   So that is the new flat! What should we name it? We think it sort of looks like a hotel suite, and we might  like the work "sunset" in its name because we get a really nice view of the sun setting in the evening.  Get creative, people! :)

   Today my roommate and I went a store that it like Walmart, but less organized and way more crowded.  I would be happy if I never went there again.  We needed supplies for our new flat.  Times like these I wish I had a car here, and that traffic did not exist.  We each had big tote bags filled with essential kitchen, and lesson items, Ashley carried a drying rack, and I carried this seemingly enormous mattress squishy cover (for my bed...to make it more comfortable) all through the city back to our flat. Imagine squeezing onto a crowded metro with all this stuff...everyone staring at you more than usual.

    Speaking of metro, when we stepped on a train this afternoon with all of our stuff, we saw a man lying right there, face down on the floor in the middle. I wasn't sure if he was intoxicated, dead, or thought that was the most appropriate place to take a nap. A guard came on the train and tried to wake him up. He sort of moved ( he was breathing), but seemed unconscious. So a few other passengers helped the guard to drag him off of the train. It was interesting to me that no one on the train seemed to budge, flinch, or react in anyway to this man...it was completely silent on the train until I entered, saw this sleeping floor man, and blurted out in confusion "WHAT?!" People had to be asked to help move him, no one seemed to jump up and do so without being prompted.

    I am finding that I might be too short for this city.  I have trouble reaching my cabinets (in my new and old apartment), and the the bars on the metro (up above to hold onto). I just have to practice good balance, thats all.

-Gina

Oh, children....

      Oh my goodness.  This is about to be the craziest, coolest, weirdest, hardest, most entertaining teaching experience ever.  Today was my third day with the students.  They are something else.  As I mentioned before, I teach a craft and a conversation class (in English) to two different groups in 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade. As I share a few stories about my classes, keep in mind that my 1st graders know minimal English, the 2nd graders know a little more, and the 3rd graders know a little more than the 2nd.  (They are supposed to read and write in English by the time they are in 4th grade.) Do you know how some kids say the darndest things? Well picture that but only with a child who has a limited English vocabulary, and thick Russian accent.
    I will start with the 1st graders.  They are quite the handful.  They have difficulty listening to their Russian teachers, so imagine the work that will go into classroom management for me! Whoever said teaching is 90% classroom management or whatever, was not lying.  I introduced to them a management system that I believe will take a few more lessons to catch on with some of the children.  This is what I do: Each child has a "behavior card". Their name, and a number is on it.  (I wanted to make these cards with actual notecards..but my conclusion from hunting around the city is that Russia does not have notecards...or most of my classroom needs for that matter. There is a lot of improvising going on here.)  I made the behavior cards out of plastic folders that I found.  I rounded the edges so they are not a poking hazard for the wiggly little ones.  At the beginning of class I pass out the behavior cards.  (I color coded them too...green for 1st grade, red for 2nd grade, and yellow for 3rd).  As I see that the students are following my rules, trying really hard, etc...I give them a paperclip.  They place the paper clip on their behavior card.  I see each group of children twice a week, so they have until the end of the week to get 5 paperclips on their behavior card.  If they have 5...they get a Dr. Seuss sticker in their planners for their parents to see! The idea of stickers makes them very excited. Like winning the lotto.  At the end of the week, I clear the cards and each student starts fresh on Monday. I can tell which students understand the system, and which ones do not. The student who continues to get out of his seat   , babble at me in Russian, and with zero paperclips on his card by the end of class, does not understand yet.  The girl who comes up to me after class with 2 paperclips on her card asking "Prize? Prize? Meese Zhena! Prize?"..she thinks she understands. This job takes more patience than anything I have ever experienced.  I cannot get upset if they do not follow directions to a "T"...well because frankly they do not know 50% of what I say!  I need to speak very slowly, and clearly, use pictures, examples, models, and basically play charades.   On the surface it may appear that the children are misbehaving or not listening, but really they might be trying hard.  I need to get used to hearing a constant echo in the classroom. What I mean is it feels like my classrooms are filled with parrots. What I mean is the children repeat random words I say as I am addressing the whole class.  In the US if I heard English speaking children repeating my every other word...I would need to put an end to that pronto before I pulled all of my hair out. But here, they are learning the language and are trying out these words!  I have found that I often times need to show/explain to students what simple words mean, so my brain feels mushy by the end of the day.

   Yesterday at recess (which they call "a walk" here) one little fella kept kicking the other children. So I held his hand and shook my head "no", and kicked my foot into the air as I said very seriously "No kicking.  No kicking".  He responded with "Sank you. Yes." I highly doubt he was genuinely thanking me for correcting his behavior. This must just be the easiest phrase for him to remember.

     Here, instead of lunch, they call it dinner. I always want to laugh when the other teachers say "time for deeenner, Zhena". I usually say to myself really fast under breathe "butreallytheymeanlunch".  So at breakfast and "dinner" when I pour tea for the children, I make them say first "May I please have some tea?" Here is how it goes when they repeat me:
Gina: Say "may I.."
Child :Say may I

  Some children are downright frightened by me. I mean I can't blame them. If some lady approached me saying "khdjgjshd suhfkshv i iusefius fjhj oiesh kjdh!!!!!" when I was little, I'd look like a deer in headlights too.

    My second and third graders are adorable! Their English is better than 1st grade, so communicating with them is a lot of fun.  Some of the students know more English than others, so they are always trying to help each other. They are also very quick to tell me if someone in the room does not understand what I say: "MEEESE ZHENA! Sasha not understand what you say this soccer.  Can I tell him...translate?" we were on the topic of soccer because when I asked the class "How is your day?" one guy responded "Bad, very not good. I loser in football on walk."   He had a bad day because he lost a soccer game during recess. :(

   Speaking of recess, thank goodness I am not on recess duty alone.  That would be dangerous.  It would make me really uncomfortable to be out there by myself, with dozens of children who do not understand everything I say. What if i had an urgent warning!?

    Yesterday a slew of little boys were playing "football". I could tell by watching that one specifically was being outcasted from the game.  He suddenly burst into tears and came running at me rapidly speaking in Russian.  A tattle most likely. The only thing I understood in his rant was "MEEEESE MEEEEEEESE!!! MEEEEEESSSE!" (short for Miss Gina) I felt so bad! I wish I knew exactly what he was saying.  I took his hand and we went back to the field, and I said "Boys, you need to let everyone play". I repeated this a few times slowly.  One of the "football" players just shook his head "no".  I countered that with a head nod "yes". I'm not sure what words were exchanged after that, but the game resumed without tears.

This photo is backwards, but I had my second graders draw and color a picture of what they did over summer break.  One little girl gave me hers after class saying "These eeees prize for Meeeese Zhena!" Look, I got a prize.  This little girl went to a beach with a smiling sun this summer.

    You know those bells that you ring in a store if the cashier is not at the register? It goes "DING!" Well I have one and use it to get students attention.  After I rang it today, a third grader shouts "LIKE RECEPTION HOTEL! RECEPTION HOTEL!!"

    One of the school guards at recess approached me and tried in his best English to say "Excuse me...where are you from?" Gina: "United States". Guard: "Here present, apple, from Russia." He pulled the smallest little apple from his coat pocket and gave it to me. I don't know what it is here with apples, but that was the third one I received today.  One of my team teachers kept feeding me apples from her fathers orchard (or something like that).