Jake got a puppy and I had a bike conference

Jake, all of 25, has been talking about getting a dog since shortly after he arrived in Kazan a couple of weeks ago. So Saturday, He finally went out and did it. He’s named it Teya and it is a mongrel. It’s really a cute little thing and he’s dedicating every free minute to it. He got some flack about it from the head of the department, but why should the department head care? He’s got a cat! If Jake’s willing to take care of her, leave him alone about it. He really thought it through very carefully and was able to picture all possible scenarios. I think it will be difficult, but he wants to make it work and he will.
Meanwhile, I took the afternoon off yesterday to attend the bike conference downtown. There were presentations In Russian ,Chinese (with English sub-titles), German and English so I understood a large portion of what was going on. I learned a couple of new things and also ran into some cycling friends from Kazan. These are the movers and shakers who are getting a lot of changes made concerning the infrastructure in the city. It was supposed to go from 2-5, but by 5:30 it was still only half over because everybody dragged out his/her speech. So I just got up and left. I had had to go all the way to the back of the building to chain up my bike and when I turned the corner, the wind was blowing so hard, it almost knocked me off my feet. Riding back to the subway station was actually a little scary. I was always glad when I was past the intersections because the buildings kept the wind off me. I’ve never experienced wind this bad in Kazan.
 But I made it home all right and this morning I did a bike lesson with the first graders again. It was sunny and the leaves were beautiful. So we decided to take them on a bike excursion in the woods since their behavior has improved so much. They had a good time and it was nice for them to be able to ride somewhere besides around the school.
Tomorrow I’ll be doing my private English lesson with the little girl whose dad lives in the States. Thursday, Sonia and I are going to meet up with the lady who used to sell the cottage cheese at the public market place. She got a new job and hasn’t been there for months. But we were able to get In Touch with her and we’ll meet for a cup of coffee. She was such a nice lady. I’m glad we’ll get to see her again.