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.