Friday turned out to be a good day. The mother who wanted to send the nanny with her kid out the kid (with the nanny) in another class when I sai no to the nanny idea. OK by me. The kids are understanding and saying more and more everyday. But one little girl came in with a snotty nose and I just knew I was going to get something because my immune system is still down from my sold from3 weeks ago. I was out and about yesterday, but then my nose started running, so, except for getting the defective pedal on my bike replaced and going to the pharmacy for some meds, I'm laying low today.
Here are some things I learned on Friday. Little kids are not allowed to converse when they are eating. They are told to be quiet and eat. Here I'm trying to speak some English to them and they look at me like I'm crazy.
I also learned how to get a taxi with my mew phone. I downloaded the uber app. I just put in the address where I'm at, where I want to go and it sends me the number and color of the cab, a picture of the driver and how much the trip will cost. And i can do it in our script. I don't have to use the Russian alphabet. While probably try it the first time next week when I go to the theater with the teachers.
So yesterday, the first thing I did after breakfast and cleaning up was go and get a haircut. I found the place with no problem. I asked very nicely in Russian and she told me I had to wait 7 minutes. She was right. I told her I wanted it short and she really made it short. I kept saying good, good, and she kept saying wait a minute, wait a minute! So it's shorter than I'm used to, but doesn't look bad and it will grow out quickly.
I came back home, then took the bike on the subway to see what I could see. My first stop was the tourist office. I got lots of info about boat trips to monasteries and city bus tours. It turns out that they have very little tourist info in English because they don't get that many visitors from English-speaking nations. The lady told me that most of the tourists are from Germany and France. Boy, what a missed opportunity if you have the chance but don't visit Kazan. It is an amazing city.
So then I just sort of troodled around again taking pictures and found "the house of books". It's a very nice little bookstore with lots of material about Kazan, none of which is in English. But I bought a great 500 piece puzzle of the Kul Sharif, the beautiful mosque at the Kremlin. I already started it this morning. I asked if they had an section of English language books. They did, but it's mostly classics like Treasure Island. After that I went to the Internet cafe and my young English colleague Emma met me there for a cup of coffee. She's already been at the school for a year so she caught me up on all the gossip. She also told me where to find a book store with a lot of English language books.
We parted and I headed for the subway to go to a mall which had an art supply store. I'm looking for google eyes for a project and nobody at school had any idea what I'm talking about. It's interesting that none of the elevators at the subway and tram stations meant for wheelchair users and children's strollers seem to work. I either have to hold on to the bike with the brakes on engaged on an escalator or carry it up and down the stairs. One nice young man asked me yesterday if I needed help. By now I've got the hang of it and it's a lightweight aluminum bike. Also interesting is, that the security guard at my subway station now knows who I am. She is so excited that someone who speaks English wants to live and work in Kazan.
Besides her, many people speak to me on the street because I'm wearing a bike helmet. I don't understand all that they are telling me, but it's obvious they think the helmet is a good idea. When they hear my struggling Russian, then they start asking all sorts of personal questions. Where am I from? Do I live alone? Do I make a lot of money? That's when I don't "understand" Russian. One guy even wanted to know how much my bike cost!
Forgot to mention that, at the subway station underground there are lots of stores and cafes.(Except for the fact that the elevators don't work, they are gorgeous.) I found a great pair of new sneakers at one of the stores and grabbed them. Even sneaker prices here are less than in the States.
OK. So I make it to this beautiful shopping mall with the arts and crafts store. I found string, scotch tape and cupcake papers, but no google eyes. At least they und erstood what I was talking about. And it's always interesting how two or three salespeople and a couple customers will gather around to try and help out. This is such a hospitable city.
Did I mention that the haircut cost $4.30.
Got home at about 6:30' just in time to hear the 2nd half of Wait,Wait, Don't Tell Me and just spent the evening communicating electronically. Not all good news. A dear, dear friend passed away . I will miss her very much.
As the evening went on, my nose started running, so I knew the green snot had had an affect. I decided that I would just lay low today. I did my exercises and started doing the puzzle. I'll take a pictuecwnen I'm done. I also made a list of import words I need to know, like the numbers and the days of the week. I need to know how much I need to pay and when. I taped them to my bathroom wall with my new scotch tape that i got at the arts and crafts store.I did, however, ride to my bike store. My right pedal was defective. They fixed it immediately. I stopped at a coffee shop and had an interesting piece of pizza and a cappuccino while I watched the end of a British soccer game on TV .
On the way home I stopped at a pharmacy to get something to make my nose stop running.
And now it's nothing but rest for the rest of the day.
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