This week was exhausting. Let’s start with Wednesday. At lunchtime the boss went with me to a bank that offers services in English. He had called in advance to make sure setting up an account would be possible. We went in and got a number from the machine and waited. And waited. And waited. When we finally got to the counter, the first thing they asked for was my green card! The boss said he had spoken with management and that a green card wasn’t even necessary. That went back and forth for awhile, but finally we got rolling with the paperwork. After I filled out a gazillion forms and asked many, many questions, the nice lady took me to the ATM and showed me he commands in English and then went on the bank’s website with me so that I really understood every last thing. What a relief. And it only took 3.5 HOURS! We were both exhausted when I got out. I was even too tired to go to my old bank and withdraw that money to deposit in my new account. I came home and looked at old Bill Maher shows and then slept like a log.
Thursday all the kids seemed to be oppositional. Everyone was crabby and in a bad mood. It was the first time the kids did yoga. A couple of them really did very well. The teacher made it very entertaining, and I don’t even like yoga. After work I met my English student downtown at a Georgian (like the country on the Black Sea) Restaurant for a great meal and tutoring session. My friend at school loves this restaurant and suggested I order hinkhali. It’s a giant, ground meat-stuffed ravioli with a pointy top. You eat it by holding on to the pointy top, then biting a small hole in the side and sucking the broth out. Then you dip the rest in sauces of your choice and eat everything but the pointy top that you were holding on to. That wasn’t as great as I expected, but what was outstanding was a “boat” made of dough and filled with cheese which is very hot and covered with a raw egg. At the table, the waitress took a fork and slowly stirred the raw egg into the cheese. We had to wait several minutes for the egg to get cooked in the cheese, then we could eat it. Oh my God, this dish was absolutely amazing. I’m sorry I forgot to take a picture of it. But it gives me an excuse to go back and order it again. The flavor was absolutely marvelous. We had a good tutoring session right at the restaurant and then she drove me home and I called it a night.
This morning I got up early and met the guy from school at my old bank to withdraw my money. Of course there is a limit on how much I can withdraw at one time, so I will have to go back several times and finish the entire transaction. This bank story seems to be a never-ending saga. By the time I get everything straightened out, I will be heading home.
Today and tomorrow the school is hosting a conference for teachers who want to see how an international school functions. I was asked to give a demo science lesson to my three-year-olds. Since we are discussing farm animals this week, I decided to teach them where milk comes from and, using a plastic glove as an udder, we “milked” a cow. The kids had fun. Then we sang “Old MacDonald” and discussed the sounds the animals make. It turned out pretty well and everyone had a good time.
And the kids were super good and really participated and used a lot of English. Hooray.
This week I have a well-deserved vacation. I’m going to hang around Kazan for a few days and do some sightseeing here, then I’m going to fly to Moscow for a few days. I was originally thinking I would fly to Sochi on the Black Sea, but the plane ride would have been extremely long and I just didn’t want to mess with that again so soon after the long flight at the beginning of September. So, in any case, you will be getting some pictures of different scenery for a few days.
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