Lights out!

Yikes! After I left school yesterday I went directly to the pool. I walked back home and thought my building and the surrounding areas looked a little strange. It turned out, we had no electricity in a very large portion of our apartment complex. Plus, I found out today that the school was also hit. The kids and my TA had to watch videos on the battery-operated computer until the parents could pick them up! When I walked into my building, the concierge immediately told me I would have to use the stairs. So I walked up the five flights, using the flashlight on my Russia.hone for illumination. I was so glad the battery had some juice in it because Sonia and I were able to text back and forth. She had already been out to buy candles, but asked me if I wanted to go out and she would go with me. What the hay. There was no sense in sitting in the apartment, so we trudged around town looking for candles and buying some groceries. By the time we got back at 9, the lights were on again. All in all, they must have been off about 4.5 hours. No damage done. All people could tell me was that there was an accident at the powere plant, but nobody had any idea what it was about. Last Saturday they showed some Germany documentaries at a local theater. I was so made that I couldn’t go because of that ticket I had to the Tatar language play. Oh, well. I’m sure there will be more things playing that I will get to see. Right now it looks as if Sonia and I will be going to a polar bear plunge in the Volga River on Thursday (as spectators, of course.) That means I have to make sure the apartment looks presentable already tomorrow, because meter reading day is Friday. No problem. Even my youngest ones in class are using more and more English words. They love to be read to now and will tell me all the colors and numbers. The love the word “fast” in a book about cars. I also notice that their fine motor skills are really improving. We colored shapes today and I was pleasantly surprised to see how the older kids can stay reasonably within the lines. And they love to sit and cut with scissors. If anyone, needs a ton of confetti, let me know. I can send you as much as you need!