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.