The Cold Edition.
This last week it started getting really cold. It's around 20-25 degrees out right now and dropping by the minute. My normal outfit is one pair of regular socks, regular underwear, a thermal long sleeve shirt, collared shirt over it, a heavy jacket, mittens, ear muffs, and a bright red nose. So far it's doing the trick. Red noses are everywhere. However, oddly enough, yesterday there was Sunshine for the whole day which is pretty much the first time I've seen what the sun looks like since I've been here. I never knew how much I took the sun for granted. I was at the Hermitage again, this time with my other roommate, then we went to the top of the largest cathedral here and got a nice sunset view of the city. I also encountered my first American tourists in the cathedral and it was funny I could spot them a mile away. Baseball hats, athletic gear, Converse shoes, talking really loud. I loved it. I wish I saw more of them. Which reminds me I'm gonna watch Rocky tonight.
My kindergarten class put on its Xmas holiday performance this last week. I was in the audience with all the parents taking photos. The performance was half in Russian half in English. And by the end of it, Santa came out and led the class in a big conga line which devolved into a big chaotic fiasco with more than one of the students ending up face down crying and the rest of them trying to dogpile Santa. I was the only one laughing in the audience. Funny enough, one of the songs they performed was "Yankee Doodle Dandy". From what I've seen young Russian kids are not very different than American kids. They wear the same clothes, which basically consists of head to toe Spiderman gear, are interested in the same things, which means portable video game players, and they act the same way, which is to say out of control. These kids are awash in American culture and it will be interesting to see how Russia will become once these kids grow up, all of them speaking English and being raised on all things American.
Oh, and of course, the first time a kid asked me to help him cut something with scissors I ended up cutting myself instead and had to get a band-aid from the school nurse. It was terrific.
My one-on-one English class with the lawyer from a large cell phone company, which used to consist of conversations about politics, enconomics, and culture, has devolved into conversations about James Bond, The Terminator movies, how the Die Hard films are translated in Russian, and how it's possible that in American movies people are able to put someone upside down and flush the toilet on their head.
My students from the bank I teach at took me out on the town for Christmas day. We went to an Irish pub and basically discussed the same issues I mentioned above. For some reason Russians are infatuated with the American custom of turning people upside down and flushing the toilet on their head.
I am planning on cooking an American style New Years turkey with all the fixings in a couple days for my roommates and their friends. Has anyone ever seen that Mr. Bean episode where he's trying to cook a turkey but he ends up getting it stuck on his head and he walks around with a turkey on his head? I haven't either, but I heard about it, and there's a good possibility of that happening. Either way there's absolutely no chance that anything will taste like its supposed to. Russians don't have the tradition of eating turkey for celebrations and I can't imagine Russia having high quality turkeys either. Actually when I mentioned it to someone the other day they thought I meant we were going to Turkey instead of eating turkey.
I'm learning a little bit of Russian but my original plan of actually learning the language has flown out the window along with my plan going to a Russian barber. I can speak the basic phrases and basic words when I need to, but its actually kind of fun not knowing the language and going through the song and dance to be understood. Plus there's usually always someone there who can translate for me.
Oh, and last thing, yesterday as I was walking to work there was someone sitting on a park bench with an animal on a leash next to him on the bench. It wasn't a dog, it wasn't a cat, it wasn't a hamster, it was a small BEAR.
Happy New Year everyone!
This last week it started getting really cold. It's around 20-25 degrees out right now and dropping by the minute. My normal outfit is one pair of regular socks, regular underwear, a thermal long sleeve shirt, collared shirt over it, a heavy jacket, mittens, ear muffs, and a bright red nose. So far it's doing the trick. Red noses are everywhere. However, oddly enough, yesterday there was Sunshine for the whole day which is pretty much the first time I've seen what the sun looks like since I've been here. I never knew how much I took the sun for granted. I was at the Hermitage again, this time with my other roommate, then we went to the top of the largest cathedral here and got a nice sunset view of the city. I also encountered my first American tourists in the cathedral and it was funny I could spot them a mile away. Baseball hats, athletic gear, Converse shoes, talking really loud. I loved it. I wish I saw more of them. Which reminds me I'm gonna watch Rocky tonight.
My kindergarten class put on its Xmas holiday performance this last week. I was in the audience with all the parents taking photos. The performance was half in Russian half in English. And by the end of it, Santa came out and led the class in a big conga line which devolved into a big chaotic fiasco with more than one of the students ending up face down crying and the rest of them trying to dogpile Santa. I was the only one laughing in the audience. Funny enough, one of the songs they performed was "Yankee Doodle Dandy". From what I've seen young Russian kids are not very different than American kids. They wear the same clothes, which basically consists of head to toe Spiderman gear, are interested in the same things, which means portable video game players, and they act the same way, which is to say out of control. These kids are awash in American culture and it will be interesting to see how Russia will become once these kids grow up, all of them speaking English and being raised on all things American.
Oh, and of course, the first time a kid asked me to help him cut something with scissors I ended up cutting myself instead and had to get a band-aid from the school nurse. It was terrific.
My one-on-one English class with the lawyer from a large cell phone company, which used to consist of conversations about politics, enconomics, and culture, has devolved into conversations about James Bond, The Terminator movies, how the Die Hard films are translated in Russian, and how it's possible that in American movies people are able to put someone upside down and flush the toilet on their head.
My students from the bank I teach at took me out on the town for Christmas day. We went to an Irish pub and basically discussed the same issues I mentioned above. For some reason Russians are infatuated with the American custom of turning people upside down and flushing the toilet on their head.
I am planning on cooking an American style New Years turkey with all the fixings in a couple days for my roommates and their friends. Has anyone ever seen that Mr. Bean episode where he's trying to cook a turkey but he ends up getting it stuck on his head and he walks around with a turkey on his head? I haven't either, but I heard about it, and there's a good possibility of that happening. Either way there's absolutely no chance that anything will taste like its supposed to. Russians don't have the tradition of eating turkey for celebrations and I can't imagine Russia having high quality turkeys either. Actually when I mentioned it to someone the other day they thought I meant we were going to Turkey instead of eating turkey.
I'm learning a little bit of Russian but my original plan of actually learning the language has flown out the window along with my plan going to a Russian barber. I can speak the basic phrases and basic words when I need to, but its actually kind of fun not knowing the language and going through the song and dance to be understood. Plus there's usually always someone there who can translate for me.
Oh, and last thing, yesterday as I was walking to work there was someone sitting on a park bench with an animal on a leash next to him on the bench. It wasn't a dog, it wasn't a cat, it wasn't a hamster, it was a small BEAR.
Happy New Year everyone!
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