Still more pictures from istanbul

Thursday in Istanbul

thursday started off with a good breakfast for me in the hotel. They offer olives, lots of dried fruits, cheeses, cold cut, cereal, hard boiled eggs, different breads (and a TOASTER), jam, and Turkish tea and coffee. It’s a good way for me to start the day. We slowly got ready, gathered our stuff and headed out.
It was cloudy, nasty and cold, but our plan was to take a short trip up one side of the Bosporus and down the other. It’s one of those typical tourist cruises for 1.5 hours.  But first we stopped at the tourist office to get more questions answered. Now we know how to go our respective airports using public transit. Sonia and I are headed back to Kazan but Fouad is headed out to Lebanon to visit family so we have to use two different airports.
We left the tourist office and got on the tram to go to the harbor. We bought our boat tickets but we still had 45 minutes, so we headed up into the spice bazaar. You can find everything here. Candy, cheese, pillows, kitchen utensils. It is an amazing sensory experience. The smells are wonderful, the sounds are exciting and confusing, and the crowds are overwhelming. I didn’t want to buy too much then because I didn’t want to drag a lot of stuff on the boat. But we did find a birthday present for Mathew, the head of the international department at school. He loved coffee, so we bought him the typical little canister that they cook Turkish coffee in.
It was spinning and cold when we got on the boat so I decided to sit in the enclosed part and Sonia and Fouad braved the elements. They lasted out there for about half the trip before they came in too. It wa foggy, so the trip was not extremely I,pressinve from the sightseeing point of few, but we did pass a fortress with a cemetery on a slope in front of it. This slope was steeper than anything you’ll ever see at Mt. Hope Cemetery!
After the boat ride, we took the tram and then the funicular up the hill to meet Sonia’s friend Serhat at the Taksim metro station. He loaded us in his car and drove us to the Asian portion of Istanbul. This was particularly exciting for Sonia, because it was her first time in Asia. It’s intersting that, although Kazan is hundreds of miles east of Istanbul, it is still considered part of European Russia because the city lies west of the Ural Mountains. But here, if you cross the Bosporus, you are in Asia.
Our first stop was a restaurant that served Kurdish food. Serhat ordered for us. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was so spicy and delicious and there was no porridge involved at all! There were all sorts of different meat dishes and salads, and the ever present bread. And everything was washed down with buttermilk. It is a very common beverage here and really does taste good after something spicy.
One thing I’ve noticed is that, unlike Russia where there is a playground for kids every 20 feet, you rarely see a playground in Turkey. Serhat confirmed this and also said that there are not green spaces in Istanbul. We walked around another area looking in store windows and eating pastries until we went into a cafe and had tea. We went back to the car and drove to Baghdad Street. This is THE exclusive shopping district in Istanbul. After walking, we stopped again for tea then sat there for two hours trying to download the IDs we needed to get into the soccer game on Saturday. It’s a complicated system because of politics. You must belong to the fan club before you can get tickets. You must submit a photo for the ID. You may only sit in the seat you have a ticket for.  Lots of very strict rules. After we joined the fan club, Serhat could transfer his tickets to us since he is going to be out of town for that day.  It finally worked and we finished just in time to walk to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. It wasn’t Tex-Mex and it wasn’t very spicy. It was the Turkish version of Mexican. Thecturkish food we had earlier in the day was much spicier.
We finish up our meal and our conversation and Sherhat starts to drive us home. We have to stop for a car which is stopped in front of us and, wouldn’t you know it, someone rear ended us. It wasn’t too bad. Not much damage to the car and my muscles were just a little stiff. Bu5 it took so long to do the paperwork so we got home really late again. Bed felt so good!

More pictures from Istanbul

Hanging with the guys at the fire department. The view on the island of Heyliada. The spice market.

Istanbul pictures

istanbul, day 1

We finally got into Istanbul about 7. We had pre-ordered transportation to the hotel. So we got our luggage and headed out the doors where the taxi service was waiting. Ataturk airport is also a long way out from the old city, so it was a long ride, at the end through windy old streets. But we finally stopped in Front of the Faros Hotel. It is a neat, old-fashioned place and the manager is a very kind man who let us leave our luggage there until our room was ready after noon.

So out we went to get money from the bank and start to explore. We are literally in the middle of the old city, five minutes away from Haifa Sofia, the Blue Mosque and other major attractions. We stopped at the tourist info office first. (Yes, We found it this time.)

The lady was very helpful and explained all about attractions and the multi-entry card we could get to see lots of museums cheaper. So we headed right over to Hagia Sofia and stood in line for about 20 minutes only to find out that they don’t have anymore of the discount cards. When are they going to be available again?  Nobody knows. So we bought individual tickets because we weren’t going to come and NOT see the sights. After that we walked over to Topkapi Palace and waited in line 45 minutes to buy tickets. In line we got into a conversation with a Dane and some Brazilians. The Dane and I put a body check on on a Turkish guy and his wife she were trying to cut ahead of us. You really thing I’m going to stand there for 45 minutes and let you go first?! The same thing happened in line for the ladies’room. A Turkish lady tried to cut ahead of me and about 10 Japanese. Man, they would have stuffed her head down the toilet. They were really mad.

 We spent about two hours in topkapi Palace then we headed back to the hotel and stopped at a restaurant on the way that the tourist lady had recommended. This place was not touristy. It wa good, spicy, typical Turkish. I had a salad and a lamb kebab which was excellent. And I also thank Turkish tea(chai) in those neat hour-glass shaped glasses. We went home full and rested up because the best was yet to come. Sonia’s old friend Sherhat lives in the Asian part of Istanbul and he was going to meet us after work. What a nice guy and great conversationalist. He knows so much about the city and explained it all as we walked through the old part of Time to a nice little restaurant. He ordered typical Turkish cuisine for us and it was nice and spicy. And they serve  spicy banana peppers with everything. Oh,joy! These beats russian food any day. After that Fouad wanted to smoke a hookah, so Sherhat walked us to another Restaurant where we sat for a long time with a great view of the Bosporus from the 6th floor. 

After talking for a long time, We finally just had to quit because we hadn’t slept at all last night. We tried to get a taxi but the driver was trying to cheat us so Sherhat told us we should get out. We were right by the subway station so we went in, bought a multi-use card and hopped in the funicular that took us down to our tram line . It stops just down the street from the hotel, so it was the perfect way to get home without a jerky taxi driver. Now I’m really ready for bed but just wanted to get caught up with the blog so I can  start fresh tomorrow. And tomorrow  I’ll have pictures of Istanbul.

Sochi, day 2

I sleep another 12 hours, until 8. We had to vacate the apartment at 10 so I got up and warmed up the rest of my pizza and had the rest of a Sprite. That sounds like a typical American breakfast. The other two were out until about 1, so they slept a little longer. We got everything cleaned up and packed for the landlady to check us out a 10. We headed back to the train station to deposit our luggage again. This time we went on foot. Since we walked right by the Turkish Airlines office. We went in to check that our online check-in was successful and that we had seats. Everything was OK so on to the train station.
We deposited our luggage and headed down towards the cable cars and, of course, it started to sprinkle. But we weren’t going to let that stop us. We got the bus to the cable car station, go to get in line...and it’s closed because of high winds! Oh, crap. But other people were waiting also so we decided not to move from the line. After about 10 minutes, we got to ride to the top of the Dendrarium. It’s a beautiful arboretum. When we got to the top we got out and took pictures from the tower and, Leo and behold, the sun even started to shine. I needed sunglasses.
After our picture-taking, we paid the entrance fee for the park and walked back down the hill. It is a very lovely park with all sorts of flowers and trees, little bridges, water falls, and statues. The walk was great and it was so warm I even had to take off my coat. I haven’t been able to go out without a coat since the end of October. While we were sitting in the park, we called the Dolpinarium to see when the shows started because we really wanted to catch one of them. It turned out there was one at 4 p.m. which was perfect for us, so we walked down to the road to catch a bus back into town. (In the little buses, people pay when the get OFF the bus!)
We got off at Riviera Park, the amusement park where the Dolphinarium is, and de die to get some lunch first. I saw a restaurant called Sinbad’s which was serving a “business lunch” for about $5. We decided to try it. This place was gorgeous. The cook was a Syrian who had lived in Beirut, the tables had couches next to the, to sit on instead of chairs and the decor was marvelous. We all went for the business lunch. It consisted of soup, a salad and the main course of a beef-green bean goulash served
with rice. They served all 3 courses to us at one time! But it all tasted to good. And the waitress treated us all to a piece of baklava for dessert. I washed it all down with green tea. We were stuffed.
We left the restaurant and walked across the road to Riviera Park. We bought the tickets to the show right away and then walked around the park. Fouad tried out a Dr. Fish spa. He inserted his feet into a fish tank for 5 minutes and let the fish chew the dead skin off his legs. After the first few seconds of being weirded out, he loved it.
We ambled over to the dolphin show and took our seats. It was actually pretty spectacular. The animals were extremely well-trained animals and the performance was really entertaining. But now that it 5 and the show was over, we still had time to kill before we had to pick up our luggage by midnight and then head to the airport for our 4 a.m. flight. So we de died to take the bus out to the big mall and hang around at the food court. Which we did, BUT  the mall closed at 10 and we had to get the last bUs before then. So at 9:15 we hopped on the bus back to the train station and walked over to the little restaurant that Sonia and Fouad had gone out to last night while I slept. It was a nice place and we sat out on the covered patio with lots of stray cats running around. We had the same waitress they had had the night before and she was so excited because I was the American she had ever talked to. She spoke very nice English and was very, very pleasant. We hung out there until 11:30 and then walked back to the train station, picked up the luggage before that office closed, and called a taxi.
The ride to the airport was long, all the way out by where the Olympic Games were held. It’s a beautiful, big, and very new-looking airport. Of course the counter wasn’t  open yet, so we sat down and charged our electronic equipment. At 1 a.m. we signed in and went through security. Fouad and I had trouble getting through passport control because the guys’ computers weren’t working right. Fouad’s guy  even came out of his booth and came after him, asking him again where he was going in why.
We were supposed to board at 3:40. We tried sleeping and texting, but it certainly wasn’t  very restful.  3:40 came and went. 4 a.m. came and went. We should have taken off then and that certainly wasn’t going to happen. We finally boarded at about 4:30. I was able to sleep on the plane again, but it definitely wasn’t enough.

Sinbad's and the business lunch

More Sochi pictures

Sochi pictures

Sochi, day 1

It was the train ride from hell. We got on the train at 11:45 and there was already a school class asleep in our car and one of them was in Fouad’s funk. The teachers kept trying to steer him to another bunk and finally he Fouad called the conductor. She kicked the girl out of his bunk. The class was noisy and rude. None of us got much sleep. I was glad when we finally got in at 6:05. We stored the luggage at the train station and walked across the street to MacDonald’s for breakfast. When we finished breakfast it was still only a little after 7 and we couldn’t get into the apartment until 10. And the tourist information office didn’t open until 10. So we walked along the Black Sea coast and through a park. We are talking big money in Sochi. Lots of yachts and beautiful, large buildings. The vegetation is gorgeous. Palm trees, bamboo, magnolias, tulips. It’s a pleasant climate, although it was a little cool and overcast. But we did not need to wear hats and mittens. That was already a good thing. 

We gathered our suitcases, got a taxi and went to the apartment. (Taxi ride for 3, with luggage, for maybe 1 mile - less than $1.) The apartment was great. I had a bedroom to Myself and a very comfortable foldout bed. But we just took the keys from the lady, got cleaned up, and headed back into town to find the tourist office. The walk took us into the pedestrian zone. This just isn’t a street blocked office like in Krasnodar, but a real pedestrian zone with a grassy median. There’s a bike path, but it’s not very clear that it’s s bike path and it was more used by pedestrians than by bikers. 

So we looked all over for the tourist office, we asked several people, and we STILL couldn’t find it. It would seem that a city would want to put it’s tourist information office in a more obvious place so that people could find it. We finally ended up going into a bookstore and buying a map of Sochi.

So, by the time we got done putting around there, we were hungry. We sat OUTSIDE at a cafe in the pedestrian zone.  The sun was even shining on and off and I had to wear sunglasses.  What a welcome relief from the snow in Kazan. The lunch was pleasant and relaxed. After lunch, we all agreed to go to Stalin’s summer home. It was one of the things I wanted to see. So we get a taxi after one other Uber driver cancels our ride, probably because it was too far for him, and our driver now is a guy who lived in NYC for 10 years. He was a real bullshitter but lots of fun. After a bit, he turned off the main road and we drove up a hill as steep as some of those in the Virgin Islands. We drove past apartment buildings where the condos were selling for $100,000,000.00. This part of Sochi is very, very exclusive. There’s a great few of the sea and lots of security.

We get to the summer home and the security guard tries to get us to hurry. We aren’t allowed to go into the house by ourselves, so we have to attach ourselves to a tour in Russian that has already started. That’s fine, because we just wonder around by ourselves and look. We follow the guide into one more building, then the tour is over! He complex itself is very large and my impression was that the rest is still being renovated. The guide spent a lot of time telling the Russian group about the Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt meeting in Sochi. In other accounts of Russian history that I’ve seen, Stalin is barely mentioned. He seems to still be an important part of Sochi’s history. The taxi driver told us that busloads of Japanese tourists come to the summer home every year.

When we left the house, we called two taxis, but neither of them wanted to come all that way out of town to pick us up so we walked down the hill and took a bus. 

We got off at a place near what the map said was an aquarium. We walked to the point on the map where it was supposed to be, and of course it wasn’t there. We stop at a hotel across the street and asked about it. They said there had never been an aquarium there. The only aquarium they New about was way the hell back in the direction from which we had just come. Forget that!

We walk back up to the Main Street and what do we see? A cable car. Let’s go for it. We’re 10 minutes too late. It closed a 4. Ok. We take the bus into town and swear we will do it first thing tomorrow. We head into the pedestrian zone again where we find a Subway. Sonia and Fouad both get a sub, but I’m really hungry for a pizza. So I wait and we walk to Dodo’s pizza after that, where Fouad orders another pizza. He was really hungry.

We take the pizzas back to the apartment where I eat mine and got ready for bed. I was asleep by 8 and didn’t wake up until the next morning at 8. Those two had enough energy to go out for the evening. I was glad to catch up on my sleep.

Krasnodar, day 2

Just slept 12 straight hours so now I can try to catch up a little bit on the blog. We got up Sunday and I had oatmeal and crepes for breakfast again at the hotel. We got ready and had to check out by 12, but the hotel let us leave our things there while we explored because our train didn’t leave until a little after midnight. Our first stop was the beautiful St. Katherine’s Cathedral behind our hotel. We couldn’t get into it so we just walked around it over to the part of the pedestrian zone that we didn’t see yesterday. (I told you. It’s a long pedestrian zone!) we start walking to the Alexander Nevsky cathedral and when we got to Katherine Square, we see a guy with a whole bunch of recumbent bikes, a draisine and a high-wheel bike. Let’s check this out. Turns out the guy’s name is Sergei Dashevsky. He set the Russian speed record on a bike in Reno, Nevada a while ago.the is an engineer by trade but gave it up years ago to concentrate on his hobby - bicycles. he also speaks excellent English. The had just got back from France where he did a 24 hour race. He did 840 km in 24 hours. Even if you don’t know how far a kilometer is, believe me, that’s a lot of riding. He’s ridden all over Europe and the States. (Google him and check out his videos.) of course, we talk with him for quite awhile. Fouad even rides the high-wheeler around the square. Meanwhile, there are 4 little ladies sitting on a bench, watching the whole thing. As Fouad is riding she says to me,”You understand that you have to pay him for this, right.” I told her that we were aware of that. She was trying to be so helpful and save us tourists. We talked a long time with Sergei and it turns out he has a bike museum in his heard. He invited us, but since he works the square on the weekends, we would only be able to visit him on Monday, and of course, we couldn’t. But I got his phone number and will keep in touch with him. He also told us about the bike museum in Kazan, which I didn’t even know existed. When we were finally ready to go, we put some money in the hat he had on the ground for that purpose. One of the little old ladies came back over and told us how there should be peace In The whole world. Older Russians still have horrible memories of World War II. One thing of seen here is a lot of stray dogs. While we were standing and talking with Sergei. A whole pack of stray dogs lay nearby. Whenever a bik3 or a motorcycle went by, two dogs would automatically get up and chase the vehicles. Yikes! I know that feeling. We walked down to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and looked around, then walked back and stopped at the Coffee Cult cafe in the pedestrian zone. This building was very attractive inside and out. The architecture here is so much more European and definitely better maintained than in Kazan. We saw very few of the Soviet-type high rise settlements that are so typical in Kazan. I had tea and a great eclair at Coffee Cult. We spent awhile there then continued down through the pedestrian zone, looking a different monuments. Krasnodar is probably the most bike friendly city I’ve seen in Russia so far. There are bike parking racks and bike paths and signage all over the place. After all the walking, we headed to the Czech restaurant we had seen the day before for a late lunch. Sonia and Fouad tried the goulash soup, among other things and I had a gigantic hammock and cabbage. Lordy, that thing was big. We had to walk our meal off so we swore we would find the water tower we missed the day before if it killed us. And it turned out to be righ5 behind the Galleria shopping mall. It’s really an impressive structure. I’m glad we made the effort. Then we got on the bus and went to find the kissing bridge. That was relatively easy. We crossed it into the large park and had a nice walk until it started to get dark and we headed back to the Galleria. We decided to just hang out there since our train didn’t leave until a little after midnight. So we texted and communicated until we took a taxi to our hotel, picked up our luggage and headed for the train station in another taxi. To be continued!

Krasnodar pictures

Water tower Alexander Nevsky cathedral skating/bmx park

Pictures of Krasnodar

Sneakers

There is no snow in Krasnodar! I’m wearing sneakers and not boots! It’s overcast and cold, but I don’t have to wrap a scarf around my neck and wear heavy mittens. Buds are even appearing on the trees and pansies are I. The flower beds. It’s a very attractive city with distinctive architecture. I don’t see all the big, Soviet-style high rises that I see in Kazan. It has a real Southern European flair about it with the architecture and the vegetation. The pedestrian zone extends about two miles along Krasnaya Street. There are removable flower planters and if I understand the signs correctly, they are placed at the cross streets to Krasnya on Friday nights and then removed for the weekdays. People were out in masses. There are lots of bike riders and lots of accommodations for bike riders. There are bike parking places all over and painted bike lanes. And, of course, Krasnodar has a much longer bike season than Kazan. After breakfast at the hotel, We stopped at the tourist office first thing, got maps of the city, and spent the whole morning walking in the pedestrian zone looking for the monuments and buildings. Trees were blossoming and pansies were growing. One place actually looked like Highland Park. There was a mall, Galleria, which was one block long and two city blocks wide. It has everything in it. We stopped in there on our travels just to use a bathroom. Then we walked farther until I needed to stop in MacDonald,s to use the bathroom. I never should have had three cups of coffee for breakfast. By the time we got to the end of the pedestrian zone, we were pretty much beat, so we stopped in a restaurant where both Sonia and I dozed off while waiting for out food to come. I had some nice, spicy Tom-Yom soup again, like in Nizhny Novgorod. We sat for a long time and just relaxed. Then we decided we should try the buses here in Krasnodar. We got on one of the little ones and wanted to get off to walk to a water tower we wanted to see which was supposed to be a really attractive engineering feat. We get on this little bus with about 20 other people and we’re decising where we should get off when one young lady who speaks English tells us the bus won’t stop unless you tell it to. He only stops when necessary. So I yell “next stop” and he stops all right, but I’m the third lane from the curb. He let us out and we had to cross two lanes of (stopped) traffic to get to the sidewalk. I was glad we were at a traffic light. So then we start off in search of this water tower. We can’t find it anywhere that we think it’s supposed to be. But we did find the eternal flame in honor of thevsoldie4s who died in the many wars and, even more interest8ng, behind it was a Soviet military cemetery. It was very moving. It was somewhat neglected, but obviously very important to the citizens here. We left the cemetery and decided we had searched for the water tower enough, so we started walking back through the pedestrian zone to the hotel. Naturally, there were all sorts of “special offers” from the restaurants and especially from Dodo Pizza. The line was almost out the door. And there were all sorts of street performers, two of whom had some monkeys and a falcon that they were getting people to take pictures with. Of course, Fouad jumps at the chance. To his credit, he asks for how much and the guy tells him 10 rubles a picture. But not with the guy’s camera, with Fouad’s own camera, taken by Sonia. The guy encourages Sonia to take or3 pictures and you can tell the poor little onley is scared to death. Finally we say, enough, and the guy tells Fouad he has to pay hi 1000 rubles. I stepped in, to,d Fouad to give the guys just 100 rubles and to let’s go. The guys were drunk and become aggressive and Fouad keeps arguing with them! Sonia tries to get him to shut up and she’s finally able to pull him away. The one guy starts following us down the street, still arguing with Fouad. I tell Fouad to call the police. Instead, the busker calls the police and complains that Fouad cheated him. After about four blocks in which the busker argued with the police the entire time, the police must have told him to go sit on it, because he hung up the phone, turned around, and walked back. Not a fun experience. I was glad to get back to the hotel. I ate a croissant and some chips and then just sacked out at 10. It was an exhausting day.

What a start to vacation!

I leave school at about 4:30 and rush home to clean up a little and get ready to roll. Sonia and I agree to meet out front at 6 to get a taxi. Sonia has an extra suitcase just for food. Taxi comes, starts for the airport, asks us if we want to pay with cash or credit, and Sonia realizes she has forgotten her wallet. She rushes back in l her apartmen5, finds it, and we get on our way again. We get to the airport and check in and wait for Fouad. He gets checked in and we head through security. Of course, the plane is late. When we finally take off at 9:20, I fall asleep immediately. But I did wake up for the sandwich. I have to give it to Aeroflot, they serve food on every flight. We get to the Moscow airport and don’t really have long to wait to board for our 12:05 a.m. flight to Krasnodar. I feel asleep right away again and slept for two hours. We get an Uber right away and give him the address. The first thing I notice about Krasnodar is that it’s raining! Not snow, rain. Then it occurs to me that the airport is right at the edge of town. And I also notice that the streets are lined with big, beautiful trees. No leaves yet, but there are trees. The taxi driver is from tadjikistan and he and Fouad have a pleasant conversation in Russian about the city as we drive in.he finally stops at the address we give him and it looks like a warehouse out of a Stephanie Plum novel where the bad guys take the victims to dismember their bodies. There are no signs and an iron gate across the courtyard. So we decide to call the number that Sonia has in her phone and Fouad gives it to the taxi driver to talk to the reception. Afte4 a few minutes, the driver gives the phone back to Fouad. He had accidentally dialed our rented apartment in Sochi. Oh Lordy. We woke the poor lady up at 4 a.m.! This will not leave a great impression for when we arrive there! We finally call the right hotel in the right city and get into the courtyard and first go to the wrong door. Finally the receptionist comes out of the right entrance and takes us upstairs to the 2nd floor hotel. I claimed a bed, get ready and went right back to sleep! It’s actually very nice. We have a small room with a nice shower. We’re now finishing up breakfast and getting ready to explore. And guess what! There’s no snow in Krasnodar!

Louise

And today Rochester says goodbye to Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. What an admirable, inspirational human being.

It’s vacation time!!!

After a little snow yesterday morning, the day turned out to be beautiful, weather-wise. But we have another nanny problem. She is used to spoon-feeding her little three-year-old darling and gets made when we don’t do the same. We don’t, have to because we’ve taugh5 the kid how to eat with utensils and she’s doing a good job. She’s a spoiled little snot, but we don’t give in and she is coming along just find. The nanny can’t stand it because she wants the kid to be dependent on her and we are teaching the kid to be independent. After I left yesterday, she tried to browbeat my TA into letting her come into the room and sitting with the kid. My TA told her flat out, no. Good woman! I was also pissed off the other day when some reported to me that our whacko psychologist is trying to convert a left-hande4 in his classroom to right with his right hand. I hit the roof and immediately called the head of the international department. He passed it on to the boss and I hope she says something to the psychologist. That’s something right out of the Dark Ages. I contacted Bikeability Scotland about our new bike program because Matthew had som materials from them. It turns out, the guy who answered m3 was someone I had met in Moscow at the Winter Cycling Conference. The are going to let me take the Cycling Trainer Assistant course long distance. It will give me a certificate which will help to legitimize our program and allow me to download all the materials for free. This will be a great excuse to visit Scotland on my fall vacation! so, I’ll start by reading the team o g manual I Downloaded, the. I will contact the guy again and we will set up a schedule of when I do the written and practical portions. I will have someone video my practical portions and then send them on. Boy, his is going to be a cool excuse to visit Scotland in the fall. They are excited about our program because they’ve never done training for anyone out of the country. After work I ran to the post office and the bank. I came home, packed my suitcase and got a few odds and ends done. Tardy the sun is shining like crazy. It really feels warm. And it was great for you he kids to play outside because we had discussed melTing and spring, so they saw it first-hand. One little girl stood there for a half and hour and collected water dripping from and icicle. There’s a meeting at 3:30 again this afternoon and then, when I get home, Sonia and I will take a taxi to the airport. It’s vacation time. And speaking of Sonia, she is also extending her contract for a year. HOORAY! More adventures are in store. She’s someone you could steal horses with! In any case, we fly to Krasnodar late tonight and get there at 4 in the morning. We’ll go right to the hotel and sleep for awhile before we get up and start exploring. Just hoping the weather stays pleasant. I’ll be blogging all about it, Of course. And we have to remember to congratulate Matthew for his birthday on Saturday.

The snow outside my entrance at school

The toilet is fixed and it was the no. 5 trolley, not the bus!

No wonder I couldn’t get to the bookstore on the number 5 bus. It didn’t go there! It’s the trolley, the thing that runs with electric wires, but not on a track. It was not clear to me when I checked on google maps, but now I see how to tell them apart. Yeah. I learned something new. The trolleys are colored blue on google maps. In any case, I took the 30 bus to the book store and asked the conductor if it was the right one, so I was fine. I want to give the kids a presne5 for the end of the year, so I decided to give the. Each a copy of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. They LOVE that book. So, of course, if I want 10 books, they will have to be ordered. Let’s see if it works and what it will cost me. If I can‘t get the, here, I’ll bring the, back from the States in September. Oh, and good news! Not only did they fix my toilet, they measured for my oven. I walked over to the apartment with the guy from school yesterday. This guy has to do everything from translations to airport pick-ups so he was the one I turned to when the toilet leaked. He checked it out and saw that the insulation rings were all rotten. So he had to call the handyman from school. They both worked on the thing for a couple of hours. Glad I didn’t havv3 to pay the plumbing bill. Parents and nannies have been whacko this week. One nanny told us that he4 little darling hadn’t eaten all weekend and I,plied that it was our fault because we don’t spoon feed he4 everyday. Screw her. When the kid’s hungry in our classroom she eats with her spoon all by herself. I think the nanny is fearful of losing control over the kid. Both kid and nanny are manipulating each other. Leave me out of it! Then We had the mom who yelled at my TA because she didn’t like the way we tied the kid’s scarf when we went outside. This is the mother of the biter who watches him bite other kids and the. Says, “Aw, sweetheart”. Give me a break, lady. This was all yesterday. Edward, Sonia and I quickly went shopping tonight. I was looking for pipe cleaners for projects and a few groceries. We went to the big store, and of course I didn’t find anything. Rats. Now I’m not going to bother until I get back from vacation. I still have to pack and get ready. More tomorrow.

We've still got snow.

Outside my window at school. This won't all melt until May!

Fun24 - a fun place to celebrate a birthday.

Yesterday was Fouad’s birthday. He wanted to celebrate at Fun24. I will tell you about that in a minute, but first let me tell you about yesterday morning. Work on my Moscow puzzle , mopped the floors and still had time before I had to be at Fun24. So I figured I would take the bus to the English-language book store and get some things. I check google maps and see that I can take bus 5 or bus 90 from my stop. I walk the 15 minutes and just as I get there the 5 pulls up and I hop in. But it doesn’t take the route I saw on google maps. I stay on for awhile thinking it might be a little different on sundays. Finally it’s getting to weird so I ask th3 conductor. Nope, sh3 says, this bus goes to the train station. I hope off at the next stop and catch the next bus back, got off at the closet stop to home and said, screw it, I’ll do this another day. I had about an hour before I had to leave for Fun24 but I wasn’t going to mess with a bus again so I called a taxi. It took about 30 minutes to get there through parts of town I’ve never seen before. Got there right a 4, and the others got there shortly afterwards. This place makes Adventure Landing look like a pre-school playground. It’s a 3-story warehouse filled with every activity you can imagine. We started with table tennis (right next to the billiard tables) then went to air hockey, fussball, darts, the mechanical bull, the roller coaster simulator and ended with bowling. And all for the price of about $12 entry fee. And we didn’t do a fourth of what they had in the four hours we were there. There were bumper cars, laser tag, a tree top parcour and, and, and. They lowere They lower the price after 10 p.m. to about $3 and the place fills up with students until the early hours of the morning. Lorene, Ravil and I took a taxi back to her place while Sonja and Fouad took another taxi to pick up his friend Mustafs, who is studying medicine here in Kazan. We all got to Lorene’s place and Ravil cooked us all a great pilaf. Sonia had baked another chocolate cake and we bought Fouad a backgammon game. He was super happy about that. It was great to have Mustafa join us because he fits in very well. I left a little before 11 because I had to get up early for work. Boy, I’m almost sorry I won’t to work today. The new American teacher and his TA ended up having a fight in front of the class on Friday so today I had to send my TA to Edward’s room and his TA came to mine until everything was sorted out. God, grow up, people, and be professional.

Spring has arrived again and my toilet leaks

I did nothing today except cleaning, a short shopping trip with lunch at MacDonald’s and some overseas conversations. It was fun to listen to Only a Game and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me in real time! I even spent a lot of time working on my newest puzzle of the chu4ch in Moscow and got two loads of wash done. The bad news is that my toilet is leaking. The guy who reads my meter will be here on Tuesday. I’ll make sure he comes in a time when I can walk over from school. It looks as if it’s not sealed properly around the base, but it’s still probably going to be a royal pain in the derrière. the sun was actually shining all day and, when I was out, people were chipping ice off of the sidewalks. Spring MUST be coming. Tomorrow is Fouad’s birthday so there will be a party at a bar and then dinner at Lorene’s.

Bala City Bicycle Club

Oh joy, oh joy. The school principal is totally behind a bicycle program here. I find it amazing (and refreshing) to find a school administration which isn’t resistant to change. We had another meeting Thursday at 1. I had done a provisional school of a bike track around the grounds, Matthew got the information about the Bikeability program that we’re going to model ourselves on, and Ildar, the principal, assigned people to start putting out posters to gather input from parents and students. He even said he wants the kids to make all of our traffic signs. The school is fully committed and that’s the exciting part. Now, if the damn snow would just start melting so that I can start biking to school again! We got about 4 inches of new snow overnight and it’s been snowing all day. I’m ready for it to be over now. I rushed home from work yesterday because I had tickets at the philharmonic hall for a jazz concert. I was going to meet Anna there at 6. The 74 bus stop was only 10 minutes away, the bus came every 12 minutes, according to google maps and I figured if I leav3 the house at 5, I’ll still be there in plenty of time. So I change my clothes and trudge down to the bus stop through the wind. A gazillion buses go by, but not the 74. And it was more than 12 minutes. So I asked a lady who checked on her phone app and said it was on its way and would be there soon. Hmmmmmm, that was not the case. By this time it’s 5:45 And really into rush hour and I’m sweating bricks. Ok, get out the unreliable Russian phone and try to call a taxi. Of course, when I’m in a panic it never works. So I do the next best thing and text Anna to call me one. that works! He picks me up and we start talking. He’s got a brother who’s teaching a Rutgers University and he’s on his cell phone the entire time, trying to find a picture of his brother to show me. Please, just stop it and drive. Please, just stop it and drive. But it works out well and I got there with Time to spare and we had great seats. It was a concert of the Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan. Guest singer was Cleve Jones. I was unfamiliar with him. So, the orchestra comes out late, as is usual at a play or concert here. It’s a bunch of middle-aged guys in I’ll-fitting suits and bad haircuts. I’m wondering what I le5 myself in for. But damn, these guys were good. The orchestra leader had a really great repartee with the audience and he played a great saxophone. They were tremendous. And Cleve Jones sang everything from “Fever” to “Yesterday”. He has a voice range of about 5 octaves and did Frank Sinatra hits as well as Whitney Houston and Billy Holiday. anna loved the concert too. I was so happy I got the tickets. My TA sub made it through the week! We worked very well together. She does a really good job and does not really share the conventional Russian thoughts on education. She’s a pleasure to work with. I love the toaster that the parents gav3 me for International Women’s Day but to make toast the way I love it (slightly burnt) I have to toast the bread twice. Even when I jack that baby up to full speed, it comes out way too light for me. This weekend there is nothing planned except for a possible birthday party on Sunday. Other than that, I’m staying home!

Nizhny Novgorod: the rest of the story

Friday we had a leisurely breakfast then got started. We headed down into the pedestrian zone and our first stop was at a souvenir vendor’s. The guy was really pleasant and we got into a conversation. When I asked him about foreign tourists In Nizhny, he said that there weren’t too many and he attributed that to fear of the current government. We continued on our way to the Kremlin to walk around because Fouad had not been with us the day before. We had also read that there was a cable car which went across the Volga. We said, if it’s running, we’re going to take a ride. and from where we were standing at the Chkalov steps, we could see the cars moving. So we grabbed the next bus in that direction. There was no signage at all so we had to ask for directions several times. After taking a windy, ice-covered path, we found it. The one-way ride cost,.....are you ready?....$1.40. We would have paid $25 in the States. And you couldn’t buy a round trip ticket. You had to buy a return ticket at the other end. It was a really nice ride in a cabin that could hold 8 if you squeezed together, but there were only 5 of us. It was amazing to see how wide the Volga was. When we got off on the other side, we headed for a little cafe for lunch. The place was called Chashka and does a bang-up business because of the cable cars. After lunch we headed back to the cable car station, bought our tickets and this time had to wait in line about 15 minutes before we got in. There were six of us in the car this time. We were talking English, of course. Fouad happened to look at the guy sitting next to him and the guy smiled. Fouad said later he Knew the guy wasn’t russian because Russians don’t smile. So Fouad asked him where he was from and it turned out he was Egyptian so they conversed in Arabic and when we got back on land, he gave us a ride in his car to the Kremlin. His name was Ihab and he Also spoke excellent English. He works for Catetpillar and the company had sent him To Nizhny where had been living for 5 months and still didn’t know a soul except with the people at work who weren’t extremely sociable. after he left us off at the Kremlin, we visited a couple of churches and then decided to call Ihab and ask him to join us for dinner. He came and picked us up at our place and we drive to a really nice restaurant wher we hung out for three hours. He had some really hair-raising stories to tell about when he was working in Iraq. It really brought home how dangerous the situation in the Middle East is. he sometimes has to come to Kazan on business, so we’re looking forward to meeting him again. We got back to the apartment and went to bed right away because we had to vacate the apartment at 12 on Saturday. I still didn’t sleep well. The place was too hot, the blanket too uncomfortable, and, and, and. I got up at 8 and ran to MacDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin and coffee and came back. We got the place all cleaned up and we still had a little time before the guy came to ch3 k us out, so w3 quickly ran to the post office to mail post cards. We also quickly went down to the nice souvenir man again and bought a few more things. He was as talkative as the day before. So, back at the apartment, the guy comes, makes sure we haven’t damaged anything and we leave. We dragged our suitcases through the pedestrian zone to the Museum of Equipment and Tools. And here’s where I got really ticked off. The day before we had stopped in to ask if would be ok to bring our suitcases and leave them in the cloakroom while we visited the museum. The very nice lady at the d3sk said of course, and there were discounts for students and seniors. “Great”, I say. “I’m a senior.” So, in we walk on Saturday and there’s an older guy at the desk. We deposit our suitcases and go to pay. I tell him I’m a senior and he responds that, I’m not a Russian senior so I can’t get the discount. ok. I’ve had this happen before. Fouad shows how ID and gets his student discount. Sonia tells m3 she’s not even going to try because she’s not a Russian student. And wouldn’t you know it, the jerk offers her a discount without even asking her. Screw him, that discriminating piece of crap. The exhibits themselves wer very interesting. Ther was a lot or technical stuff which Fouad particularly enjoyed and there were some great old Soviet bicycles. There was even an entire room devoted to the Soviet Union. It was worth the visit, but I’m still ticked. After the museum we walked up the street to the New York Restaurant. We walked in dragging our suitcases and you would have though we had just arrived from outer space. I’m not talking big suitcase. We each had one piece of carry-on luggage. The waiter just stared at us. I asked if we could eat. He asked if we wanted to eat downstairs in the Georgian restaurant or upstairs in the American restaurant. We saw American. He says he will go up and check. He doesn’t come back. meanwhile a waitress comes and asks us what we want. We want to eat in the American restaurant. Ok, she says go upstairs. As we are going up, the first waiter comes down and leads us upstairs. There’s not one damn customer up there. What was his problem that he couldn’t take us up right away?! The waitress finally comes and says they only accept cash. No problem. She finally takes our order. I had a great Thai soup and shared a pizza with Sonia. We finally left and took the bus to the House of Books, where I was looking for some Russian language textbooks for myself and ended up buying something in English. Oh well, I’ll try to order what I want online. We still had about four hours to kill before we had to get on the train so we headed to the mall across from the train station. First, we bought Ravil’s birthday present, because his birthday was on the Monday when we got back, then we hun* out in the food court until we had to catch the train. We had the same arrangement as last time. Two lowered bunks in the compartment and one in the aisle. And wouldn’t you know it, we had a group of 11-year -old boys in our wagon. I was already thinking they would be goofing off and loud all night, but by 11 all was quiet. I thought I slept well, but still you notice every little noise and every time the train stops. We got in to Kazan shortly after 6 and got a taxi back to our complex. I was back in bed at 7:30 and slept until 11:30. I had to be downtown at the language club at 1 because Guzel had wanted to see where it was and I told her I would go with here. Sonia, Fouad, Guzel and I, plus about four others. One Russian lady, instead of practicing her English, kept trying to get Guzel to translate for her. That wasn5vexactly the idea of how this club is supposed to work. Still feeling tired, our group left after about two hours. Sonia and I stopped for lunch at Aroma Kafe and then went shopping before heading home and trying to catch up on my sleep. Monday I started teaching my kids about spring, the calendar and the weather. They like to d3cid3 what weather we are having. And they are getting good at “the days of the week” song. Got through the day all right. Came home and took a nap before Sonia and I had to catch the bus to Ravil’s surprise party and Lorene’s really neat apartment downtown. It’s a great apartment, but the entranc3 is down a side street surrounded by a picket fence and it took us ages to ge5 in. Some nice Russian guy tried to help and w3 ended up calling Lorene to come downstairs and find us . It turned out noth to be much of a surprise, but we did have a great time. Lots of good music and laughs. And Lorene made raclette with French cheese to die for. Since we had to be a work early yesterday, Sonia and I got a taxi at midnight. School was fine on Tuesday. My TA is on vacation so I have a sub. she speaks excellent English and is doing a great job. She’s surprised how much English my little guys know. Today we celebrated Alex’s birthday in the party room. Spider-Man was even there, leading the games and making balloon figures fo4 us. It took a little time for the kids to get over being scared of Spider-Man but afte4 they warmed up, they had a good time. And now I’ve finally caught up on everything in the blog. Tomorrow Anna and I have tickets for a jazz concert. That should be fun. One last comment about Nizhny. The people were by-and-large very unfriendly and it mad3 me really appreciate Kazan.

More from Nizhny

We met Ihab from Egypt in Nizhny. The next is the park that our apartment looked out on. The third is the equipment and tool museum.

Nizhny Novgorod scenes

Scenes from Nizhny. There are statues all over the city that everyone takes his picture with.

On the train and on the bus

The train to Nizhny

After another great bike meeting at work where we convinced the 3-Time Russian mountain bike champion to come teach kids to ride a bike at our school once a week, I went home and relaxed until it was time to meet Sonia. While still at home, I noticed that my toilet was starting to leak. Oh joy. I immediately texted the guy from school to let him Know. He said he’d check on it this weekend. In any case, Sonia and I got a cab at 8:45 and got at the station at about 9:29, where Fouad was already waiting for us. We went through security and into the waiting room where we were promptly told we couldn’t sit in the massage chairs that we’re stsnding in the back row unless we were going to get a massage. Our train was announced and we went to our wagon where we had to line up and show our tickets and passports before we could in. So picture this. We booked third class. There are compartments with two lower beds, two upper beds and no door. Across the aisle are an upper and lower bed parallel to the side of the train. The lower bunk her can also be converted to a table with two sests.sonia and I had the two lower bunks in the compartment and Fouad had the aisle. Two middle-aged Russian men had the upper bunks. We had to get the sheets and blankets and make our own bunks up. The guy above Sonia got into his bunk immediately, fell asleep and snored.it was actually not uncomfortable. I woke up a couple of times because my blanket sleeper off the bed, but otherwise I slept well. Usually it only takes the train about 5 hours to Nizhny, but the night train moves much slower and takes longer stops. And it was actually very quiet. We got to Nizhny at 7 and decided to go across the street to MacDonald’s to get breakfast. I had a cholesterol-filled big breakfasted scrambled eggs, sausage and english muffin. They had helium balloons floating on the entire ceiling for International Women’s Day. It is really a big deal here. Since it was still early and we couldn’t get into our apartment until 2, we checked our luggage at a cloakroom by the train station and looked for a tourist office or a newspaper stand where we could by a map because we had forgotten to download one. Two women we tried to ask on the street walked right by us. Hmmmmm, these are not the friendly people of Kazan. The other thing that really surprised us was how old the public transportation vehicles were. Most of the buses had plastic or cardboard over the grill to keep the engines from freezing. And the subway stations are relatively new and very clean and well-lit, but the trains themselves looked like vintage 1960s. After wandering around a flea market selling things like old bicycle rims and lanterns,We finally went into a mall which opened at nine And asked a lady selling cosmetics where we could find a tourist map. She told us to go to the House of Books and explained how to get there on the bus. Since it was only one stop, we walked. We get to the House of Books and, of course, it’s closed for International Women’s Day. But this place is gigantic. I’m going to spend half a day there when we get done with sightseeing. But, what to do now? There happened to be a couple standing in front of the store drinking and they suggested we go around the corner to the hotel on Lenin Square. Brilliant suggestion. It was a really nice hotel and Ivan at the reception desk directed us to the gift shop, where we got a map of Nizhny. Then we sat down and used the hotel’s WiFi to plan our day and see where we had to go. We also used the bathrooms! Since it was still early, we walked down to the Alexander Nevsky cathedral, which was just one more bus stop away on the same side of the river. It is right next to the new stadium being constructed for the World Cup soccer matches and it’s directly across the Volga from the Kremlin and the Church of the Nativity. It was a sunny, cold day and the view was spectacular. And, wonder of wonders, the time-temperature display showed that it was above freezing! This is the first time in more than 3 months. Now we figured it would be good to get our luggage and head in the direction of the apartment. We figured we could find something to eat near there and then we would be on time. We just HAD to try one of those old buses, so we caught one back to the train station, got our luggage and took the subway into town. We walked around Gorky Square looking for a place to eat. We refused to go to macdonald’s And another place was closed because of the holiday. But we found Tanuki. It was a Japanese restaurant and it was jumping. It had a very lovely decor and the food was great. We decided we would do lunch again there on Saturday, when we have to leave the apartment. So, now we had to find the apartment. Sonia googled it and the entrance turned out to be in the alley right behind the restaurant. that’s the weird then about Russian apartments. The entrances and the stairwells all look like places where you’re going to get mugged, but inside the apartments themselves, they are very nice. This place is no exception and it looks out onto Gorky Square. The guy showed around, explained the TV and how to log in to the WiFi and then left. Of course, the WiFi did not work. So I called the guy. He would get back to us in 5 minutes. After 35 minutes I called again. He would take care of it. Meanwhile, Fouad had fallen asleep so Sonia and I took off to the Kremlin. It’s an easy 20-minute walk through a very attractive pedestrian zone. We found an Alyonka chocolate store and lots of other nice things. The Kremlin itself was very nice and of course there’d were people walking everywhere because of the holiday. from the heights we had a beautiful view of the Volga and the Church of the Nativity. As we are walking around, the guy calls about the password for the WiFi and Fouad calls that he is awake. We told Fouad we would met him at the Alyonka store for tea. After we relaxed there for awhile, we headed to a grocery store to buy things for our dinners and breakfasts. In the grocery store some drunk yelled at us for speaking English. “You’re in Russia. You should speak Russian.” If you haven’t personally had such an experience, you should never criticize non-English speaking people in the States until it has happened to you. Very, very unpleasant. After we got back to the apartment, Fouad cooked our supper, I cleaned up and we all cooked out. Tomorrow more of the same! I’ve found two things which really characterize Russia. Usually, half of the escalators are not working and the ones that do go very fast. Second, in winter, people tend to walk on the sunny side of the street because it’s about 10 degrees warmer.

Nizhny Novgorod

Pictures from the pedestrian zone in Nizhny.

It’s money in the bank

Oh my goodness. What a start to the week. Thursday is International Women’s Day and it is a very big deal here. We will have Thursday and Friday off, which why my buddies and I decided to get out of town for three days. But yesterday morning, one of the moms came in and gave me a toaster as a present from the parents for International Women’s Day. How nice of them. It tastes so good to have toast again. I also got a plant and bouquets of flowers. These parents are great. The next nice thing was that I grabbed the guy at school who helps the international staff and took him to the bank with me. This time I was armed and ready. I asked my good, good friend if I could deposit my money in her bank account and have her transfer it to my bank, because her bank has a SWIFT code. So, I went to the manager’s office, we sat down, he logged in and it worked. It didn’t take 5 minutes. So now I will do it this way each time. All because some numbskull of a bank official was afraid to sign off on a transfer through the intermediary bank. So, the money’s already in the States. I don’t have to smuggle high sums home in my underwear. So, get back from the bank and we have to go to the party room to celebrate the kindergarten director’s birthday. It contained the usual pageantry and speeches with lots of tea and food. It’s just so interesting how these long, involved congratulatory speeches are always required. This is definitely a cultural trait and I would love to understand where it originated. So it was a very positive day. I went to the post office after work and then met Sonia and Edward at MacDonald’s for a gab session, did a little shopping and then walked home. We all live in the same settlement near school, so it was nice to have company on the walk. Today started out well also. We let the kids start painting our house. They voted and chose green. Not only was the house green, but socks, sleeves and foreheads as well. I added a door handle so it’s easier to get in and out. They always knock on the door before they go in. They are hysterical. They will have a lot of fun with this thing before It eventually falls apart. Then the coolest thing was, I had asked the principal of the primary school for a meeting before the bicycle lady whom I met I. Moscow comes to offer us assistance In setting up a program. I told him we couldn’t meet with her if we didn’t even know what we wanted. So he, the school director, the head of the international department and I met at 1. I went in with a prepared wish list. Not only did I get everything I wanted, the others all added things and we came up with about 10 points. The principal is so e thusiastic about this. The great thing is that he and the director both have lots of good connections in high places, so I’m sure we will get the funding and the support we need. The principal wants to start a program where other kids and teachers come to our school and we train them in bike education. We will end up being the bike education center of Kazan. Cool. The next meetings g is already tomorrow with some guy who teaches mouth train biking. This is great because we have the forest right behind the school and we want to use it for phys ed biking classes. The director also wants to by balance bikes for the pre-schoolers. This is so exciting to have so much support for a biking program. Kazan is a city that needs to work on its infrastructure and we might as well start with our touch, because they will eventually be the ones who decide what the city will look like. So I ca e home right after work and immediately made toast the. Cleaned up a little bit before packing my suitcase for tomorrow’s trip to Nizhny Novgorod. The Russian colleagues are cracking up about this, because they all say there’s. Otho g to see there and what the hell are we going to do for three days. I just tell the. The snow in Nizhny is probably different than the snow in Kazan. Who cares? It will be an adventurous train ride with good friends. Oops, almost forgot. The kindergarten supervisor came in today and presented me with two tickets to the movies for International Women’s Day. The presentation was Accompanied by the appropriate speeches, of course. It’s just such an interesting system.

It’s snowing again

Today and went out to lunch downtown and got most of my communications done. Then I met Thomas at 1 and we went together to the language club. It’s actually a “Time cafe” which has a separate room where the English speakers meet. And today I learned what a “time cafe” is. You don’t pay for the cookies and coffee you consume, you pay for how long you stay. It’s an interesting concept. You’re not allowed to drink alcohol, smoke or use profanity there. They have a really neat room on the fourth floor of a building which theyv3 decorated with wood paneling. There’s a loft, there’s a swing hanging from a beam, they have a piano and three or four side rooms where you can meet quietly. The main room was occupied by Russian speakers while we were there and 6 of us went into the “English” room. What was neat was that Ravil and Adil were also there. They are always fun to talk to. Thomas and I stayed for about two hours before we broke off to go to the history exhibit again. It is just so extensive, you have to keep going back to comprehend it all. As I look out the window of the cafe I notice that it has started to snow. By the time Thomas and I left the exhibit a little after 6, it was blowing and snowing a lot. it’s a full-blown storm now and it is really blowing. It will be wonderfuL walking to work tomorrow. I was just thinking that spring was near and the snow would be starting to melt. Fat chance. Tomorrow I attack the bank again. I’ve asked the guy from school to go with me for moral support. And to argue in Russian. If necessary. I hope it will finally work this time.

Lots of news

I really admire how the Kazanis deal with the snow and the cold. When I walk home from the Metro station in the evenings, there are kids out on the swings on the playground and their parents are giving them pushes. And today when I walked to the store, two little kids were having a great time digging out the little merry-go-round which is buried under 3 feet of snow. Nothing tops the people here from going out to get fresh air. They bundle up their babies and take them for walks. And it’s been below freezing for 3 solid months now. More power to them. They don’t let the weather control their lives. So they big news is that I agreed to a one year contract extension yesterday. My intention had been to do a “one and done” deal. But I want to see this class successfully through to kindergarten. And now that I’ve hooked the school up with a government representative to start a bike program at the school, I’d like to see that get solidly established. The bosses have been after me for awhile to expand and it really was a tough decision. I do really want to really retire sometime and do some more serious riding. But I’m already thing about a bike trip through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania next year. And the bosses agreed to my terms, so I said OK to one more year. After our discussions, I went with the director to one of our other sites where a group of 5-year-olds put on a production of Thumbellina in English. They did a very nice job on it. Most of the lines were understandable and the costumes were cute. And again I got to see how important it is for the Russian psyche to dress up and perform. It’s really a major part of the school program. They often perform folklore or fairy tales which reflect the Russian culture, but whatever it is, it’s important for them to perform. I just find that so interesting. Today, terry getting stuff down around the apartment, I met Valeriya and Matthew and we went to see Black Panther. It was in Russian of course, but I was able to follow it pretty well. I liked that it combined the traditional and the futuristic. I especially liked that women played very strong roles. It was well done. I finished up my Amsterdam puzzle and started another one of St. Basil’s Cathedral. I’m making pretty good progress already. But some of the pieces are so close, they are almost interchangeable. I hate that. Tomorrow I’m headed for a leisurely lunch then Thomas and I are going to go to the language club and then the history exhibit. Next week is a short work week and lessons are already planned, so I don’t have much to do for school. All I have to do is mentally prepare myself for another fight with the bank on Monday. And on Wednesday I have to go back to the lab to get blood drawn. Then Wednesday night we take off on the train for Nizhny Novgorod. It will be nice to have another break.

It's not Frank Lloyd Wright. But it will do.

I salvaged two big pieces of cardboard and built a playhouse. They get to paint it next week.

Cookies

We had a great time baking cookies today. Even though the other school which was going to come and observe the class couldn’t make it, I figured it would be a fun thing to do. The kids loved it and the cookies really turned out well. we practiced out spring pageant songs one last time. That went relatively well except that they expect me to wear a chicken costume when we sing the 5 Little Ducks song. I will first see what it looks like before I decide where I will wear it or not. I got pissy at the bank guy again. This guy has no balls. Won’t even tell me that the bank will not do my transfer without a SWIFT number. Just keeps telling me he’s checking into it. I told him that I would be there Monday with a Russian/English speaker and an account number from a friend whose bank has a SWIFT code. I told him he was going to sit there and help me transfer my money electronically, and that it had better work. I’m really sick of this. I finished my 1000-piece puzzle of Amsterdam and have started a puzzle of the beautiful church in Red Square in Moscow. It will keep me occupied for awhile. It helps we work off my frustrations about the bank.

We baked cookies