Story of the day

This from one of my boys who will turn three in November and has Russian as his first language. The week before last, we baked cookies and he didn’t really participate but sort of circled around on the periphery and watched us. Last week while we were on the playground, he took some of the forms from the sandbox, filled them with sand and said, “Cookie”. When I asked him if I could taste one, he told me, “Wash your hands”.

Teachers’ Day conference

What a way to spend your Saturday! The entire staff got bused to a ski resort outside of town for an all-day teachers’ conference. Only a handful of teachers didn’t show up and it was exactly those, who are resisting change and actually doing things to subvert the international program. I keep telling the director that these are the people she has to get rid of if she really wants her school to meet the progressive goals she’s set for it. I hope she eventually has the cojones to do it. Sometimes they do exactly the opposite of what they are instructed to do and there are no consequences. In any case, the ski area is beautiful. The morning started with stand up coffee and tea in an area so narrow, you couldn’t get by anyone. Then the director opened the sessions with the obligatory rah-rah speech. It was the usual Russian pageantry of praising the great leaders and telling the common workers how much they mean to the organization. And it’s not all facetious. I’m convinced that this type of speech and behavior is so ingrained on the Russian soul that they are genuinely sincere when giving these speeches and pep talks. I find it such an interesting cultural phenomenon.  My workshop was scheduled for 11:30, so I signed up for a “communications” workshop in Russiain at 10. I only needed one or two words of translation. It was sort of a touchy-feely, getting-to-know-you type thing.  But I went with it and in the end it was worth it , because many Russians are afraid to say anything to us Englsih-speakers because they think their English isn’t adequate. The session made the point that you don’t need excessive language skills to communicate. I had about 20 people in my session at 11:30. All I did was a circle time, just as I would have done it with my children. I was really surprised how many of the people spoke very good English. Most of them lead groups on one of our other campuses. After a lunch which was slightly better than I ones we get a school, we had a chance to walk upside for a bit. The English -speaking crew basically held together and Svetlana, the Chinese teacher who speaks very good English, hung out with us. Jake, the new guy, is a stitch. He’s really into soccer and has a wicked sense of humor. We got to hear about all the bones he’s broken in his short life and how! Lordy, it’s amazing this kid can still stand up. If his team Liverpool gets into the play-offs, I’ve promised him to go to his favorite bar with him to watch the games. Things could get wild.
We could have spared the after-lunch session. It went from 2:30 to 6 and involved everyone at one . The theme was how to improve the school. It was totally useless and people just started dropping out, one at a time (including me) and doing their own thing. I got into some chats with the Russian colleagues again. It turned out to be a good day for networking. After this session, we all walked through the building to the restaurant in the ski lodge, where we got fed again. There was a tomato salad, followed by fish on a bed of veggies and a cake for dessert. It wasn’t bad.
We didn’t get on the bus for home until 7:30. We got back into Kazan at 8:15. Jen and I took the Metro straight home while Sonia and Matthew took Jake to Lake Kazan. I was home at 9 and the day was long enough for me!
Now I’m sitting here waiting for the guy to finally come and install my meter. Then I’m going to head out to see the new Melissa McCarthy movie with Anna. So, now it’s time to get my lesson plans  done . I’ll let you know how much of the movie I understood.

The school bike track

Ali is working hard to get the bike track painted before winter comes.

Moving on

I keep forgetting to mention that I love the peaches I get here because they have fuzz on them. I can’t stand peaches that have been so altered that they don’t even have fuzz anymore. Yesterday the Canadian hockey player brought in his wife and kid to check out the class. The little boy seemed to have a good time. So he will be starting next week. Meanwhile, we’re getting tickets for the hockey game on Friday, so he’ll have an English-speaking cheering section. I’m going to make my pizza dough tomorrow and make a real, honest to god pizza in my new oven. I was going to do it tonight and stopped in the store on the way home from work to get everything I need. Then I got home and realized I didn’t have enough flour. Screw it. Ok, pizza is on for tomorrow. Then I wanted to get my hair cut, but was too lazy to go back out. So, I guess I’ll just stay home and study.

The weekend

After the field trip, I went shopping and then came home and hung out. I knew my landlady would becoming Sunday to exchange a meter, so I had to make sure the apartment was clean enough for her specs. I got everything cleaned and I mopped Sunday morning. She and the electrician got her at 11. It was the first time I had met the lady. Not unpleasant, just a really tightass. They only stayed about 10 minutes because something broke while the electrician was trying to install the meter, so she has to get new parts and she will get I. Touch with with me before she comes again. she even tried to speak some English with me before she left. Seems she has a daughter living with her family in Florida. She said she had never visited, however. Then, at 4, the new English teachers in my building, Jake and Jennifer and I met everyone else downstairs to take the newbies on a tour of Kazan. Paul, from Belfast, lives one building over. The guys are very cool with great senses of humor and a good approach to teaching. We headed to the Metro station and went down to the pedestrian zone. We walked its entire length to the Kremlin. We looked around there for awhile and then went to TA dem Mall where we shot some pool before eating at Rubai, right next to the pool hall. The guys were really good. Sonia, Jen and I predictably stunk the place up. But the guys are really good. Dinar joined us right before dinner and he plays well, too. For dinner I had lamb in a tomato sauce served over noodles like German spaetzle. It was delicious. Everybody tried different stuff everybody enjoyed the meal. Paul and especially Jake were still suffering from jetlag. Know the feeling! We talked for a long time. I finally got up and left at 10. It was time for me. But it seems as if the new people will be a positive addition to the staff. So I have to head out now to see if I can find sticks to build a kite with. Wish me luck.

Pictures from the bike excursion

And the WINNER is....🌪✨⚡️🚴‍♀️🎈🇺🇸!!!!

My, oh my, oh my! Don’t mess with me and my bike program! It turned out the easiest problem to settle was where to park my bike. So, all of a sudden, it’s OK for me to park it in the hallway again. Geez, who would have thought! The second problem with the bike excursion got a little more heated. I had already sent some very pointed emails to the incompetent principal asking how a teacher can just schedule a science club meeting without running it by the school administration. Oh gee, Karen, come up and talk to me and we can arrange something different for a bike trip. Not on your life, buster. And of course I always copy in the directors, so that they see his response too. But Thursday I had to go up to the office and the director lady was there and said she wanted to talk to me about it. The vice principal was there, as was the liaison. I went into overdrive. Why wasn’t the bike trip immediately put on the calendar and and how can a science teacher just decide when to have a meeting without notifying the school? Other teachers were coming into the adjacent conference room and listening through the open door. I lit the place up for about 20 minutes. The end result was that they booked the area we had wanted to ride to and sent out and invitation to the parents. Of course two days before and event is too short a notice so lots of families already had other commitments, but we had about 40 parents and kids, plus about 10 staff members helping out and riding along. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time. The kids all enjoyed the treetop adventure and I even did the kids’ portion! I’ll post some pictures. The guys got a soccer game going and they even cooked hot dogs for the picnic. And who showed up at the very end? The inept principal. He knew he would look bad in the directors’ eyes if he didn’t show up at all. But he did not look like a happy camper.It turned out to be an excellent day. I just got back from shopping. Now I have to clean up because the landlady will be here tomorrow with a new meter which should reduce my heat costs. And nosy as she is, I know she’ll be looking for specks of dirt. In all the bicycle excitement, I forgot to mention that we baked sugar cookies with the kids Friday and had a great time. The cookies tasted excellent. It’s such a simple recipe. And I could transcribe the cups into grams so that the kitchen could give me the right amounts of flour, sugar and butter. My cold is actually quite a bit better, but it still sounds as if I’m hacking up hairballs. Oh, well. Maybe that’s the price of victory.

A storm’s a-brewing and the shit’s gonna hit the fan.

Going to work on Monday was a big mistake. I got home after work and went right to bed but couldn’t sleep well because it felt as if someone was tap dancing on my sinuses. Lordy, it was a bad night. Tuesday I could barely get out of bed. When I did get up, I’d stumble right back in again as soon as possible. Sonia was nice enough to text and offer to bring me a few things. When the concierge let her in downstairs, who do you think she ran into? My landlady. She’s back from her visit to her daughter. And what do you think she started questioning Sonia about? Where I park my bicycle! Sonia understood what she was getting at but couldn’t (didn’t want to) give her any answers. She just told her I was sick today and not in school. So she didn’t come up and check things out. I immediately notified the liaison about the situation. She evtually got back to me way later, told me she had been over to pay my rent and the landlady had told her the same thing. I told her she’d better get the director in on this. Quickly! What the hell, I’ve got a plastic bag, a shower curtain and bath mats under where I park my bike. It’s the only part of my apartment that won’t see dirt! I’m not moving that bike anywhere. I stayed home again today. I’m feeling a little better. I slept better last night but I’m still far from 100%. But I would like to go in tomorrow because we have a parent conference tomorrow at 6. So I’m lounging around all day and all of a sudden a get a text from the liaison asking me if we should cancel the bike trip this Saturday because a science teacher had also planned an outing. Hmmmm, let me see. This bike trip was suggested by the director. The date was set by the director. The rode bikes to the destination with the director’s family to help plan the event, and the incompetent principal, who is nothing more than a toady, just lets one of the Russian teachers plan an event on the same day? Even though I had a meeting with him and the liaison about the ride two weeks ago? I told the liaison in no uncertain terms that it was not my responsibility to cancel the ride because it was the directors’s idea. She should speak to her. Then I fired off an email to the principal, with copies to the director and her husband, asking the principal why the ride hadn’t been in the event calendar and why the Russian staff was always allowed to override the international staff. And a few other choice words (politely expressed). Can’t wait to hear his answer on this one. The problem is, the director is impressed with anyone who has/had a title. Because this guy used to work in the government (He was fired.), she’s impressed with his importance and she is scared to stand up to him. Although it’s her school. Although she hired him. I’m calling BS on this one. I’m sure the trip will be cancelled, but I’m going to make sure everyone knows why.

The big sneeze

A kid sneezed on me Thursday. My throat started to get scratchy on Friday and today, Sunday, I’m doing nothing but lying in bed and resting. But let me backtrack a little. The cake which looked so great when I took it out of the oven turned out to be a totally gooey mess. I even tried putting it back in the oven and it didn’t help. I’m just going to have to wait for American cup measures to arrive. Then Friday,the grandmother of my toe-jam-picking child came in along with his father to pick him up. Now remember, this kid started with no English skills and is now correcting me. He’s also a well-behaved little boy now. Well, grandma grabbed my TA and tried to explain to her that the class was making her grandson nervous. We should never discipline him and we should never ask him to sit down, because he has so much energy. Stuff it, lady! My TA was all nervous and asked my if she should get the psychologist to talk to the grandma. I said hell no. Both parents are in total support of how we are educating the kid and it’s none of the grandma’s business. She can go suck eggs. Then there was the conference in the afternoon where all the Russian-speaking teachers tried to get out of playground duty. They think it’s beneath them and they don’t want to take responsibility for an injured child. How’s that for collegiality? Then the other disappointment for Friday was that my TA told me she had seen Mama Mia 2 on Monday. Damn. I had wanted to see that when I was home this summer. She checked all the theaters for me and not one of them us playing the film any longer. Rats. But Friday night turned out to be good. Sonia and I studied together then we walked over to a little cafe we had seen close by which we had wanted to try. Ravil met us there and told us it wasn’t a cafe but a bar/ dive. What the hell, nothing else in my day went well so we decided to go in. It was the best food we have eaten since we’ve been here! The owner are of Caucasus ethnicity and the grilled the best chicken wings I’ve ever had. Ravil ordered ribs and Sonia had French fries. The were real French fries, freshly cut from the potatoes, not frozen. And they were fried nice and crispy, just the way I like them. The sauces wer great too. Ambience and atmosphere 0, food excellent. We will definitely hit that place again. Yesterday we had tickets to the soccer match. But the had fan day before the match so we said why not and went to get some autographs and eat some chak-chak, the Tatar funnel cake specialty. It was freshly made, cover in chocolate and good! The game stunk. We won because of a nice early goal, but the last 80 minutes looked like a bunch of 8-year-olds all running together to the spot on the field where the ball is.Hmm, I think they need to work more on team play. After the game, we met Anna downtown and since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to quickly climb up the old Nikolai tower and look around. This is the tower who’s openings at the top are basically only cover with chicken wire to prevent you from falling several hundred feet to your death. It’s hard to enjoy the view when you’re almost wetting your pants from fear, but the climb is worth it. We climbed down and went over to Brooklyn Pizza for a pleasant evening. On the way home, my throat really started getting sore, so we stopped at the pharmacy and I got some throat lozenges. Today I’ve just been lying in bed and drinking tea. No bike rides, no farmers’ Markets, no nothing. It was a good idea.

Rubin Kazan fan day

The cake

The bike lesson

Wow! Those kids were terrible! It was a group of first graders who showed up. The will not listen; they will not follow directions. So they will not ride a bike. All the other classes will be doing a ride in the woods on Friday and I told the aides, under no circumstance should the first graders be allowed to go. And on the next lesson on Tuesday they will get an earful. And nobody will be getting on a bike until I’m satisfied that that are following directions. Sonia came over after work and we studied Russsian together, it was great motivation for me. Tonight after work, I want and bought the ingredients for my chocolate cake. I’ll make it to,Oreos for when Sonia comes over to study again. Tomorrow In class we’re going to go “fossil” digging. we made stegosauruses today. This weekend it’s going to be a soccer game and a bike tour.

Oh, Canada 🇨🇦

So, Sonia and I went out yesterday, late in the afternoon. We went to the office supply store and got a few things for school. Then we ran into Dmitri and talked to him for awhile before we met Anna and Ravil for pizza. We went to a place we like callled “Under the Roof”. As the name implies, it’s on the top floor of a building and has a spectacular view of the pedestrian zone. We had lots of fun. Anna showed of pictures of places she’s been to that Sonia and I want to visit. One of them is REALLY way out there. I can imagine it would be the equivalent of a Russian visiting the US and thinking that everything looks like New York City and then going to Bismarck, North Dakota. These places may give us some culture shock. Today was a big news day in school. One student dropped out of my class so we took the next child on the waiting list. He’s an English-speaking Canadian!!! How great is that! Now my Russian-speakers will be forced to use their English when they talk to him. His dad is a hockey player on our local professional team. He has been a pro for 8 years and played all over the NHL. Now I can’t wait to go to a hockey game again! We started our dinosaur unit today. I’ve got one kid who knows the name of every dinosaur. I’m glad he does. That means I don’t have to look them all up. It was chilly today when we went outside and some of the kids didn’t have hats. How unusual for Russian parents not to have enough layers for their kids. I got home and cooked supper and then remembered that I had wanted to go to the post office. It was about 5:15 and I thought it might close at 6 so I hopped on my bike and took off. When I looked at the sign on the door, it said the post office was open until 8. I don’t think we get those kind of opening hours in the States! In any case, the place was packed but I only had to wait 14 minutes to get called up to the window. My Russian was very, very good and the lady understood exactly what I wanted. I even knew how to tell her that I did not want certified mail. Tomorrow will be the first bike lesson. Parents have already brought bikes in and parked them at our new bike racks. I hope this will go well and everyone will have a lot of fun. So now I’m going to correct a colleague’s English speech for her and then get my dishes done.

Treetop adventure park

So, this is what a treetop adventure park looks like, for those of you who can’t imagine it. (See picture in previous post.) It’s also called a sky park here. It happens to be right in the forest that borders on our school and is only about 10 minutes away by bike. I suggested to the directors that we make that the destination of our first bike tour. we decided to check it out yesterday. Both directors showed up with bikes along with two kids on bikes. The music teacher who rides also came along. Nobody was even aware that this place was here and so near the school. Of course, the two kids immediately wanted to try it. Dinar and Valeriya were also good to go. But there was no way Albina and I were going to climb up on that thing. I’ve tried them twice in Germany and couldn’t even complete them there. But Dinar and Valeriya loved it. Dinar was drenched with sweat when he finally got down and admitted it was scary. But he really hung in there and finished. Afterwards we pedaled around the park a little more, looking for safe, easy trails to take the kids on later. Afterwards we returned to school, where we ate the meat and potato pie that Albina had brought along. After eating and enjoying a long conversation, I headed over to Sonia’s with a frozen pizza and my iPad. She helped me transfer the pictures from my phone to my iPad. She has been sleeping poorly lately and waking up with back pain, so we went out to get her a new pillow. We took an hour-long bus ride past the football stadium all the way out to Parkhouse Shopping Mall. This is another luxurious place to spend money. And there is a specialty pillow/mattress shop here. We checked it out. She got to lie down on the bed there and try various pillows. The one she chose cost almost $100. Yikes. But it was worth it because she had a restful, pain-free night. This morning I got my lesson plans done right away. Then I headed over to Sonia’s again (No pizza this time!) and we changed my flight back from Edinburgh so that I can stay a little longer. I’m going there in the first week of November to attend the Bikeability Scotland conference and then spend a little time sightseeing. I know, I know. November is probably going to be a cold time to visit Scotland. But it can’t be any worse than a Russian winter! I’m going to do a little studying now, before the gang goes downtown to hang out again. The studies are really paying off. I understand a lot more and am able to communicate better. Next week the rest of the international staff should be showing up. I know two of the women will have apartments in my building. I hope the Russian residents won’t be overwhelmed if they hear so much English.

Saturday at the treetop adventure park

The Russian Step(pe)s

Sorry. I couldn't resist the terrible pun or the picture of the weird step/sidewalk connection.

Lots of the same

So, the hot water was turned off in the apartment buildings in the neighborhood for three days this week. Nope, I don’t know why, exactly. Something about checking the system. This certainly is a recurring theme here. And now the good news. I found a newspaper seller. (Stop me if I’ve told you this already.) There’s a little shop in the subway station where I can get newspapers and magazines, in Russian of course. I bought one last Sunday (7 cents. Eat your heart out, Democrat and Chronicle). I think I’ll get one once a week and see how much I improve. Classes have been going very well. The new kids are fitting right in. Even clean up time is easier for the new kids because they watch what the other kids are doing. But, in marched the director today with parents who were looking for an English class to put their kid in. I flat out told them that my class was already full and asked the director to put them on a waiting list. The parents understood and the director didn’t fire me, so I guess I’m still good to go. Sonia and I have had a busy week, socially. Wednesday we went out to dinner with our former liaison. It was so good to see him again. He’s just waiting to get his visa so that he can go to Germany to study international business. He’s a great guy with a dry sense of humor. He’s going to do really well. Then , last night, we went to “couch surfing”. It’s acutally just another group of people who get together to practice their language skills. It turned out to be a good experience because they spoke as much Russian as they did English, so I got to practice a little bit. It was a pleasant bunch of people, including one guy who played the tuba. He almost died when I told him I played the Sousaphone in high school. And one of the ladies put me In touch with a guy who does a lot of cycling. Oh my, oh my. Lots of new connections. And one lady wanted me to come to speak at her university. If she comes back with some concrete details, I think I’ll take her up on it. Today the principal and I sat down with the head of maintenance to finalize what the bike track will look like. Oh boy, it looks as if things are really getting into gear now. And Tuesday will be the first bike lesson. I’d better get a bunch of wrenches on Monday so that I can take all the pedals off the beginners’ bikes. Then Ainor and I are going to work with them on balancing. As soon as they feel confident, we’ll put the pedals back on and see how well they do. Let’s hope somebody shows up for the lessons! We also had a staff meeting today, in which I could make a comment in Russian. Wow, I’m moving right along. I’ll have to hit the books this weekend again. Right now I’m just waiting for the wash machine to get finished before I go to meet Sonia. It seems that some part of our program is 3 years old today and there will be a big celebration at some restaurant. The director of the kindergarten groups was handed a bouquet of roses and there was a speech of congratulations today at school. I think Russians would celebrate the recovery from a hang nail! Tomorrow I’m supposed to go into the woods with the director to set up the bike ride for the 22nd. I assume she’ll be at the celebration tonight so I’d better pin her down then. Ravil, Fouad, Sonia and I are already planning some of our outings. We want to get the bike rides and boat trips in before the snow hits! I’ll let you know how the weekend goes.

A good start to the school year

So, I officially have 18 kids in my class this year. But I have gained another TA, so that is good. Yesterday 12 of the kids showed up and four of the, were brand new. One little girl was shy, but everyone fit in very well and their were no tears. I came in at 7:30 just to make sure that everything went smoothly and wouldn’t you know it, one of the new kids walked in with me. Starting next week, the new TA will be there at 7:30 and I will come in shortly before 8. And wouldn’t you know it, the school year started with a pageant. There were people dressed as a fox, a cat and Paddington Bear. Oh, Lordy,Lordy. Circle time was strange to the new kids, but they are already getting the idea that they have to sit still and listen. They are all following commands, even if it’s just by watching what the other kids do when I say something. That’s a good start. Some of the kids from last year miss the intimacy of a smaller group, but now we have more girls and they have bonded well. The schedule has changed slightly and the best thing is that we eat a little later, so I have a great excuse for not eating supper with the kids because I leave just as they are done. After work, Sonia and I went shopping and to the bank. we checked out the new metro station from the inside but didn’t ride. Today we ended up with 13 kids, but nobody showed up at 7:30. We talked about the weather in circle time and the kids from last year knew that the month had recently changed and they could tell me what the weather was like. It won’t take them long to refresh their skills. Outside today I taught them how to play”What Time is it, Mr. Fox?” Lordy, they loved it. They get excited about all games where I have to run and catch them. we also had our music lesson today and everyone participated, at least most of the time. All the kids eat well. I don’t have any grandmothers who want to come in a feed their grandchildren this year. We made our name tags and put them on the board. And we three adults spend the kids’ nap time trying to get projects and information boards prepared for 18 kids. I just hope that all 18 don’t show up everyday! Sonia and I went downtown for tea tonight after work just because we finally wanted to get on the subway from the new station. It’s so bright and well lit. And it’s actually faster for us to walk there. The other success story for the day was that I met with the principal about the bike club. We are going to start next Tuesday and I will begin by teaching kids who don’t know how to ride a bike how to do it. Of course, the principal can’t find the plan anymore for the bike track around school. I think the guy just throws the stuff away because he’s not really interested and then doesn’t know what to do when he gets called on it. Oh, well. Too bad. I will hold his feet to the fire. Tomorrow Sonia and I are going to go out with our old liaison from school who nowcworks elsewhere. It will be good to see him again.

Check out the new subway station

Since the new station is near the state forest, the decor reflects that. Very attractive.

The search for elusive frozen spinach

So, the “welcome back to school” event was very pleasant. I got to meet some new parents and ate a couple of jam-filled crepes that the staff had prepared as refreshments. And the jazz combo was spectacular. I find it so interesting that every Tatar jazz group I’ve ever seen wears poorly-fitting suits and has bad haircuts. But they are some of the most talented musicians I ever heard. After I got home and ate lunch, I Skyped with Germany then started preparing my activities for school. At 4 o’clock the lady the director sent over to wash my windows knocked. She spent two hours and was hanging out the window, sitting on the sill of my 5th floor apartment. Nope, I don’t do windows. Actually, the director sent the lady over because she was embarsssed that the teacher from Moscow who used my apartment this summer left it such a mess. Since I had already cleaned and mopped, I told her to send someone to do the windows because I couldn’t reach them anyway. Turned out to be a good solution. Today was going to be the day I inaugurated my new oven. What better way to do it than with spinach lasagna. After I did a load of wash this morning, I decided to go buy everything I needed. First stop, bank, to make a deposit. Whoops - you forgot the key for your bike lock, idiot! Quick deposit- ride home again for the key because I can’t go shopping and leave the bike unlocked. First stop after that, the store where I can get a casserole dish. I picked up a nice casserole dish, a cheese grater(The parmigiana only comes in chunks, not grated.), an oven mitt and a pot holder. Next stop, the store where I will most likely find nutmeg, ricotta and mozzarella. I find the spice aisle and find a gazillion sorts of pepper, but not a whole lot of other things. I ask a lady for help in correct Russian. She comes over to the aisle with me, stands there for 5 seconds and says,”If it’s not on the shelf, we don’t have any." Thank you. That was very helpful. I’m just about to give up my search when I find it. Good for me. Now on to the cheeses. Yup, there they are. Now on to the cash register. Everything’s good. I go put everything in my bike basket and realize I can’t make spinach lasagna without spinach. Take things out of bike basket. Go back into store. Put packages in the locker while you go look for spinach. Hmmmmm, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, mixed veggies. No spinach. Leave store. Take packages out of locker. Put them on your bike. Stop at next store. Put packages in locker. Green beans, cauliflower,broccoli, mixed veggies. No spinach. Go to the store across the street. Leaves packages in locker at other store. Green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, mixed veggies. And noooooooo spinach. Screw it. Get packages. Put them in the bike basket. Ride home and put things away. Then think. Hmmmmm, why don’t I try Ashan down at Yuzhniy shopping center. You’re there on your bike in 30 minutes. It’s a nice ride to Ashan. Ashan has 20-minute lines at every cash register because everyone is doing last minute school shopping. Who cares? I AM going to make spinach lasagna! And damn, don’t I find frozen spinach. I find a cash register that only takes about 15 minutes and pedal home. After estimating the measurements because I don’t have American measuring utensils, I put together a very passable spinach lasagna. It cooked very quickly in the new oven and I enjoyed every bite of it. I have enough for about three more meals. That oven was the best thing I could have requested. What a good eating year this will be. Frozen pizzas instead of buckwheat. I’m delirious with joy! Now I’m just digesting and watching it get dark outside although it’s only 6:45. I’ll do some more messaging before I have to get a taxi to the airport. Sonia is coming in tonight and Ravil and I are going to help he get back to her apartment. From the sounds of it, she has had a good summer too. But now she has very little time to get back into the swing of things. We’re already thinking about where our first trip should be.

Welcome back to school day , 2

Staff photo op and me making a pitch for the bike club.

Welcome to the new school year!

New backpacks for the new first graders, a jazz combo, lots to eat and drink. This is how Russian children are welcomed back for the start of the school year. Not every school does the backpacks and jazz combo, but it's always ceremonial in every school.