On my way

Yesterday Jake, Paul, Adam and Jake’s friend Jamie did our goodbye dinner at a great steakhouse I’d never been to. It was great. But since I’m trying to cut back on meat, I went for the Camembert and pear salad. Delicious it was a fun conversation because, as always, it centered on school and all the crazy things that go on there. Paul and I left together and I was home a little after 10. I put my last wash in and waited for it to get done. Then I had to spread it out on all the free spaces in my bathroom because I sold my drying rack. No problem.
This morning I got up and headed for my last day in the classroom. It wasn’t anything too different. We talked about it being my last day, but I didn’t want to make too big a deal about it with the kids. I just wanted them to understand. We had an assembly today and the lady told them the story of Mogli with a laser light show. It wasn’t bad. Then , because it was raining hard, we spent the next hour running around in the gym. That they loved!
After lunch, we put the kids down for their naps and who came in but the liaison with my passport and new visa. So my return to Kazan for two months in October and November as a consultant is a sure thing.
And to my surprise, they threw a little goodbye reception for me. There were only two small speeches, thank god. I would have shot myself in the head if they had drawn that out. But they gave me the neatest book of pictures that people had taken of me over the last two years. Russians LOVE taking pictures with their phones. The book is very, very nice and it’s so interesting to see how much the kids have grown in those two years.
At 4 o’clock I just gave everyone a hug and that was it. No tears, no protests. The kids just accepted it because we’d been talking about it for so long now.
I went home, cleaned the apartment a little, finished packing my suitcases and waited for Ravil to come by and pick me up. He’s been a super friend for the time I’ve been here and he’s really the last person I wanted to see before I left. I gave him the keys to my apartment and he will take the few things that are left that he would like to have.
We got a taxi and headed for the airport and when we got there, would you believe it, I run into the parents of one of my students! They were on their way to Portugal. We were way early, so we sat and talked until check in opened up. I was a little worried because both bags were several ounces overweight, even though I was so careful about packing and getting rid of things. When I come back in October, it’s going to be with a half empty suitcase. Damn, I hate dragging so much weight around.
So now I’m through customs and immigration and just waiting for my flight to start boarding.  I’ll be dead tired when I get there, but I’ll be glad to get there.

9 pounds to go

So, I pushed my full suitcase all the way to work today so that I could weigh it on the scales at the nurse’s office. I’ve got room for nine more pounds, which is a good thing because I think I’m going to be right at the limit. It turned out to be a fun exercise for the kids because we weighed them all too.  Unfortunately, I’ve gained a few pounds. Yikes. And tomorrow we take a field trip to the theater. It will be the first time we will have had them in the school van. We practiced our partner walking again today so they know what’s expected of them.
 Monday evening was my last coffee hour with Dmitry. But he’s someone I’ll definitely keep in touch with and see when I get back October (providing my visa really gets extended on time). Then, Tuesday evening Paul and I went out to a great place we like just down the road. It turns out we had a lot to discuss about school. They had offered him a contract extension with certain conditions and he accepted. Now they’re trying to change the conditions and he’s saying no way. If they don’t come back with a decent offer by the end of the week, he will hand in his resignation. That means the entire English-speaking staff, except for Jake and the head of the department, who is more administrator than teacher, will be the only holdovers as teachers. They have to find 13 new English-speaking faculty members. Good luck with that. This school should learn how to retain good staff.
Tonight was the last table tennis playing in Kazan for me until October. I definitely have to find a club when I get back to the States. I’ve really enjoyed playing. There were 5 of us tonight. When Marat left, Paul and I played doubles against Narzullo and Ramil. We even managed to win a game!
Friday Adam leaves for Bulgaria, where he will teach English in summer camp before going on to the Ukraine for the school year. In any case, a bunch of us will go out tomorrow as a going away party for all those going. Time is drawing near.
And the boss is in the States at the moment with his kids. Both boys are attending a summer camp. In English! The little one was in my class and he is really holding his own with the language.

The last weekend

This is it. No more Saturday and Sunday activities in Kazan for awhile! I got rid of just about everything I wanted to sell at my flea market sale. In the late afternoon on Saturday Claudia, Sven, Anna and I went out for Chinese. We had a great table in front of the picture window overlooking the city (and a parking lot!) and the food was great. Afterwards we all headed over to Gorky Park for the couch surfing meeting, which was a picnic on the lawn. There wasn’t too much conversation this time. Everyone was playing card games. When the mosquitoes came out, we left. I was able to get the number of the Algerian guy I talked to last time so that we can stay in touch.
Today it was lazy day. I did a lot of research on the internet and read. Then Anna came over at about 1 and she took the rest of the stuff I wanted to get rid of. Then I went back with her to her place with my bike. She’s going to keep it in her storeroom for me while I’m gone. We got to her place and I immediately folded it In All the  right places and we stuck it in the carrying case that came with it. It will be safe and sound there until I come back in October.
And it was so insufferably hot today. I’ve been sweating out as much water as I’ve been drinking. After taking a short break at her place to cool down, we walked downtown to a restaurant I had heard about but hadn’t had a chance to eat at yet. We decided that would be a good place to say our last goodbyes.
We walk into the place and, wouldn’t you know it, there’s one of my students and her family. So, of course I chatted with them for a few minutes. Then we had a nice, leisurely meal of Caesar salads and fruit. It was refreshing in the heat. We walked back the subway station and parted ways. When I got off the subway train at my end, I started walking back to my building and I could see dark smoke billowing up. There was a tremendous fire on a side street not far from my building. It looked nasty. Tomorrow I’m going to check it out. It seems to have been in the kindergarten just up the road from me. I hope there isn’t too much damage.
And, of course, as I’m then walking down the street where my Building is, I run Into another student with his grandpa. I should only be seeing these kids in the classroom!

News of the week

this was my second to last week teaching. Class size has been small because a lot of kids are already on vacation. We finished up talking about orchestra instruments and now we are talking about birds. We did the old plastic egg and nor dryer experiment to understand how birds’ wings work and how they fly. We’ve been having fun. And no tears yet.
Monday night was great. The guy who rode his bike around the world did a book presentation and I went to it. I took my book along and had him sign it. And, of course, not only he talked about the trip but there were the obligatory, overly-long speeches of praise for him by others. It started at 5 and I had to meet Dmitry at 6:30. So I cut out at 6:15, just before the coffee and cookies part. Rats.
I was going to meet Dmitry at the park about 10 minutes down the street. On the way down, I passed a pizza place and grabbed a slice before I found Dmitry waiting at the monument for me. We had a cup of coffee at a cafe in the park and then just took a walk because the weather was beautiful.
Tuesday was just sort of clean up the place day. Some people are coming over tomorrow morning to see if there’s anything of mine they can use, so I started getting the stuff I want to get rid of in some sort of order.
Wednesday was table tennis again. I hadn’t been for three weeks and it was good to get a little exercise other than on the bike. It felt really good and I can’t wait to find a place to play in Rochester.
Thursday was the hit so far. A bunch of us went out to the dive with the excellent food that Sonia and I discovered right at the beginning of our stay in Kazan. I had a piece of grilled fish (No idea what kind. All the menus says is “fish”.) which was excellent, along with a Greek salad and a bunch of French fries, all washed down with tea. We sat and laughed and talked for three solid hours. I had eaten so much, I could barely ride my bike home. It was good for all of us to get together for one last time.
Today is another take it easy anD clean up a little night before the guys come over tomorrow for my flea market tomorrow morning. Tomorrow night I’ll probably go to the couch surfing meeting in the park and on Sunday, I’ll take my bike over to Anna's to store it, then we’ll go out for lunch.
Why am I storing my bike, you might ask. OK, here’s the deal. The school asked me to extend my teaching contract and I said absolutely not. Then they offered me a contract for an administrative position and I said definitely not. Then they came up with the idea that I should do consulting for  them. That means they would fly me over for a couple of months each year, give me an apartment and a salary and I would do teacher trainings, observations with feedback and continue working on the bike program. I’m up to a trip back to Kazan every year. There’s so much I like about
this place. And, I wouldn’t be a classroom of my own 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
The one hitch? Of course they putzed around about getting my visa, so now it looks as if it will be ready next Friday at 3 p.m. I’m supposed to leave the country 11 hours later. I made it very clear that if my visa wasn’t stamped in my passport, and my passport wasn’t in my hand at 4 p.m., I’d have someone’s cojones in a vice and I WOULD NOT return to Kazan. There is no way I’m taking the trip back to the visa center in NYC. I told them to start working on my visa at the beginning of May. They started at the beginning of June. What is wrong with these people? They why they lose a lot of good staff. And, if I come back, when I’ve had enough, I’ve had enough and it’s over.
Let’s see how this plays out.

The lazy weekend

So, yesterday was the big picnic that Claudia, Sonia and Marina got together. We had it right here in our forest In one of the shelters. Everybody invited everybody and we ended up being about 30 people. I made cheese and fruit appetizers and took some grapes along. The weather was a little cool, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The whole afternoon was very pleasant. I got to talk with a lot of people that I was probably seeing for the last time. Claudia brought her guitar and we got some songs going, but most of them were from groups that I was unfamiliar with. Claudia knows a lot of Russian hit songs. Nobody knew Peter, Paul and Mary.
Then, just before Paul left the party, he suggested that a bunch of us go back to that bar/dive where we’d been a couple of times and had such good barbecued lamb. Paul lives right across from the place now in his new apartment and he laughs that he sees drunks throwing up outside there almost every night now! We’re going on Thursday and this will be a hoot.
Today has been a cleaning and packing day. I’m trying to get everything organized so that I only need to check one bag. But I’m guessing that’s not going to work. Ok, I can deal with paying for an extra bag because all my other fees have been paid for.
My bicycle I’m going to store at Anna’s place. I may or may not have already mentioned that the school offered me a consulting contract. I told them I would do it if my visa was extended before I left Kazan. Of course they puzted around and only submitted the paperwork at the beginning of June. If the visa’s not stamped in my passport by June 28, I will not be back . If they have it ready, I will come back in October and November to do teacher trading seminars and observations. We’ See what happens.
The good thing is that a  German cycling buddy is moving back to Kazan and will probably be taking over the school’s bicycle program. Then I know it will be in good hands and it will be carried on.
Tomorrow, the Kazan guy I know who rode around the world last year is giving a book talk down at the Central Library. Of course I’m going to go down. In fact, I’m Going to take my copy of the book and have him sign it. Afterwards, I’ll head on over to the cafe and meet Dmitry.
My time is winding down.

Couch surfing last night

There was a couch surfing meeting last night which I’m glad I went to. There weren’t many people there, but the ones who were, were really remarkable. I ended up in a discussion with a small group, included one Uzbeki, two Algerians, two Russians and myself. We went two and a half hours, non-stop. The remarkable thing was that this group of young men in their twenties was one of the most aware and politically knowledgeable group of young people I had every meet. There was no comparison to the bunch of drunken airheads we ran into on the beach on Wednesday. These guys really understood politics and sociology, and the mixture of such diverse cultural experiences entering into the conversation was really refreshing.  Sometimes, just when you think there’s no hope for the future, you have an experience like this one.
Today it’s, cold and nasty.  I’ve  been doing orchestra instruments with the kids this week. We made little “harmonicas” out of tongue depressors and paper today, so we’ve maintained a high level of noise.
Tomorrow we’re going to have a picnic in the woods with just about everyone we know. I’m glad we’re renting a shelter because I bet it’s going to pour.

The holiday bike trip

Today was a holiday celebrating the end of the Soviet Union. The weather was beautiful and 5 of us planned a bike trip to the lakes just to the northwest of the city. According to Dmitry, the great thing was that there were sidewalks and then bike paths the entire way there. Sounded like a plan!
I didn’t really want to ride my bike with no gears on unfamiliar bike paths, so Ravil, Albert and I met at 10 at our favorite bike shop and we rented bikes with gears. The shop owner remembered me from last year because I think I was the only one who ever checked the tires before I took a bike and made him put air in it. Plus, I’m probably the only American who has ever rented from him.
It didn’t take us 10 minutes to get three good bikes and we were on the way. I had already bought cheese and rolls for the picnic but Albert and Ravil had to stop at the store to pick up some fruit and munchies. And we ALL remember to go the the bathroom at the shopping center before we really started out.
We got on our way then and everyone was at the meeting point right on time. Besides us three, Claudia and Dmitry came along. After maybe 2 miles of sidewalk riding, we did actually arrive at a bike path. Keep in mind, Kazan is not as bicycle friendly as much of Europe,  but the bike path until we got to Lake District was certainly adequate.
At the Lake District itself, they are working on improving the infrastructure of the recreational area. So first we hit a travel covered with sand, then 100 feet of boardwalk, followed by sand, flowed by boardwalk all the way down one side of the first lake. We cross over a sandbar to ride down the side of the other lake. Almost at the end of that lake, we look across and see a beach where we want to have our picnic. We think maybe we should just go back and across the sandbar to the other side but Dmitry wants to show us a path through the woods which will get us there. It takes a little longer but it’s scenic. Ok, we’re game.
Accept that Dmitry couldn’t find it and had to stop and ask people two times. Once we got one the path, it was up and downhill on sand 3 inches deep!  Ravil took a header going done one incline. When he fell, his leg got caught between the handlebar and the frame. If the angle had Been 5 degrees sharper, it would have snapped his leg. I pushed most of the rest of the way.
We finally found a pleasant spot on a beach at the old gravel pit lake. The only problem here was we had to push the bikes down a steep incline of nothing but sand for 100 feet. (It was a real bitch getting them back up!)  We found a little shade, Claudia spread out her Lufthansa blanket and we dug in to all the food everyone had brought along. Then the others went swimming but since my bathing suit is already back in the States, the most I could do is get my feet wet.
The picnic was fun and everything tasted so good, even though the sand blew onto everything. The Camembert cheese liked as if it had freckles! It was so nice and relaxing until a group of students who had just finished there exams decided that this was the beach they were going to celebrate on. We had a great time observing them and commenting on there behavior for a couple of hours. And, as we were such a multigenerational group (Ravil is 27.), it was really interesting to here the varying viewpoints and opinions.
We finally left there about 3:00 p.m. because it was starting to cloud over. Dmitry said he knew shortcuts through the woods. Right! After struggling through lots of sand again, some guy finally pointed us in the right direction. When Dmitry suggested still another shortcut, we all said no and finally got back to where the trail back to town starts.
When we got back to town, everybody headed in his own direction, and we took the bikes back to the bike shop just as it was starting to sprinkle. I caught the subway then and was home at 6. I even had sand in my ears. I jumped immediately into the shower and it was one of the most refreshing I’ve ever had.

The bike trip to Lake Lebyazhe

The Russian eye chart

I went to the doctor’s today, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Saturday started with a nice breakfast with Ravil. We yakked again for a long time, then we decided to walk down to the lake, since I was going to meet Sonia for lunch and we still had some time. The weather was beautiful, the day was perfect, and we decided to take a rent a paddle boat and paddle around the lake. It was good for the bicycle muscles and afforded us some nice views of some of the architecture around the lake. Everybody was required to wear a life jacket, which was very wise. This lake is supposed to be very deep.
We walked back into town where I met Sonia and Ravil was going to meet a childhood friend. Sonia and I went for some lasagna at Basilico’s and then went out to an amusement park near the river which was sponsoring a colorfest. Fouad met us there.
It turned out to be an event where about 300 people could buy bags of colored powder and throw the contents at each other. Of course there was an MC on the stage who got people to come up and dance or do other things. They had a trick bicycle rider who jumped his bike over people. But the main thing people were interested in was buying (Yes, buying!) these bags of color and throwing them at each other. There were some pretty messy people running around. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, so I watch from a distance for a bit, then I went home. The day was long enough without having to take a two- hour shower before I went to bed.
Sunday Anna had suggested one of the fast-boat rides out to Sviazhsk monastery. I know, I was just there on Tuesday, but that was with the slow boat. Besides Anna is a big museum-goer, so I figured it would be a great opportunity to spend time in that new archaeological museum. And it turn Ed out to be a wonderful museum. All the exhibits were labeled in English! That’s unusual for museums in Kazan. The displays were very well done and the museum is somewhat built into the side of a hill. It was a modern, refreshing building where nothing was falling apart!
We got back into town and went over to Black Lake, where the were  holding a Swiss festival. We listened to an Alphorn conference and then went for a pizza at Agafredo’s . And that’s how a pleasant day ended.
So, now to the eye chart. I’ve had a cold since Wednesday. Some of the kids have been sick, so I probably got it from them. It started with a sore throat, then my nose started running an eventually it went to my chest. But I had been sucking on throat lozenges and wad feeling slightly improved, but my eyes were itchy. I figured it was caused by pollen in the air.
When I came in this morning, one of my moms, who is a doctor, looked at me and told me I had conjunctivitis. Oh joy. She made a call to her clinic and got me an appointment for 1 p.m., which is when the kids are napping.
My great TA Rimma went with me to help translate. We got there, signed in, paid up front, and the doctor took us in immediately. Since it has to do with my eyes, he makes me read an eye chart. With and without my glasses.  When I got to something I could read, I said so. ThenRimma pipes up to the doctor in Russian, “Maybe she can’t read it because it’s in Russian.” I answered slightly insulted, “Are you nuts? Of course I can read Russian letters!” My god, I’ve been here two years . I should have learned something by this time.
In any case, he prescribed nose drops and eye drops. As soon as we got back to school I started taking them. This will go on for a week. Then I hope it’s the last illness in Kazan.

The news of the day.

I told the people here that I would not teach another year.  Then they tried to convince me to come back in an office position. No, that ain’t gonna happen. But they really wanted me back so they offered me a consulting job. I should come back for a couple of months each year and give teacher trainings and seminars, and do classroom observations. I should come back for two months in the fall at the beginning of school and then again for two months in spring, to evaluate progress. And I’ve accepted the offer.
I will be home most of the year but still connected to the people here that a like. And there’s always the opportunity to stop off in Germany on the way home. I’ll come back for October and November. When I get tired of the whole deal, I’ll just chuck it. But I would like to see how some of these kids
develop.
But right now, I’m just anxious to get back home at the end of July. I’ll be spending July in Germany. But the first thing I do when I get back to the States and get settled is take a long bike ride.

Events of the week

Let’s go back to Sunday. I was invited to Claudia’s for dinner because her parents were coming from Germany for a visit. They were going to bring two kilos of asparagus with them and we were going to have a great sparkle dinner. The parents arrived late Saturday night....the suitcases didn’t. The asparagus was in one of the suitcases. We ended up having a homemade thistle soup which was delicious. We broke up early because Claudia had to run back out to the airport and get the suitcases which were supposed to be on a late plane. She drove out...and got one of the two suitcases. Aeroflot had no idea were the other one was. So her dad had his meds and things, her mom had to go clothes shopping because she still had nothing.
Monday Dmitry and I had coffee as usual and walked through the park. Tuesday was a holiday. I took  a boat ride with Claudia and her parents up the Volga to Sviazhsk monastery.  I had been there in winter and fall before, but never in summer and never by boat. They have built a. Ew archaeological museum on the island which is absolutely wonderful . It was very informative and info was even given in English. This is something I would visit again. It was so interesting.
But the best part was the boat ride back. The tables on the boat were already filling up when we got on. There was a table with only one lady at it and we asked if we could join her. It turns out she was a tour guide who had just given a tour on the island. She started talking to us and gave us a 2.5 hour lecture on the history of Sviazhsk and Kazan. This lady was amazing. I learned so much about Kazan’s history on that trip.
We got back at 5:30 and I headed straight over to Paul’s because we wanted to do a movie night. We ended up watching “Snowden”. That was an interesting and disturbing film.
Today we had our end of year picnic with the parents and kids. Everyone had a good time. We tried to get the kids to sing a couple of songs but they were so excited that they were bouncing off the walls. Kazym’s mom did a science experiment for us at the end and the kids loved that. When it was over, we 4 adults from the class just had to chill out with a cup of tea. We were all exhausted.
Now I’m home and started to get sick again. We had two kids sick to day with fevers and more than one has a runny. One. Now I’m fighting off a cold.

Another storm

Friday night Sonia and I went out with some other friends to see the new Aladdin movie, which is well worth it, by the way. Will Smith does a great genie. In any case, when we left the theater the others wanted to get something to eat but I headed straight home because the school had graduation on Saturday morning. I went to bed and woke up at about 1:30 to one of the worst thunderstorms I’d ever experienced. I got up to close my window and the rain was just coming down in sheets.
Saturday  morning at graduation, Sonia showed me a video of the rainstorm. The others had been driving home from downtown at that time and the streets were absolutely flooded. Her videos are really frightening. We both were wondering if it caused any flooding in the subway stations as well, because it just did not stop.
But let’s go back to Monday. We talked about America all week in school so the kids will get the point that I won’t be returning and they can see what my life is like in Rochester. They are having trouble grasping the concept because all of them go on vacation and all of them have been in airplanes so hasn’t really sunk in yet. After supper I went downtown for my cup of coffee with Dmitry. We walked through the park and on the way, that’s when I got that beautiful picture of the sunset.
Tuesday was a bike ride through town. Claudia let me know about it. She saw it on one of the websites about things to do in Kazan. It was a great ride with about 50 people on some streets where I previously had not been. The weather was gorgeous and I ran into Aigul from couch surfing, who was also riding along. The only negative was a teenager who thought he was Bobby Badass and had to try to weave through the other bikes and between pedestrians at unsafe speeds. He rode in front of a car and fishtailed. I thought he was a goner. He’s the kind of jerk who gives cyclists a bad name. We did about 13 miles and then Claudia and I split off. She headed for home and I caught the subway back home.
Wednesday night was table tennis and I was soundly beaten by the other three. My only consolation is that I can see my improvement and really want to find a group to play with when I get back.
Thursday evening was stay home an get things done evening.  Then we did the movie on Friday and Saturday morning was graduation morning.
They got lucky because the bad storms stopped in the early morning and it was pure sunshine for the ceremony. The event was the usual pomp and circumstance with the usual Russian pageantry thrown in. The kids had to practice songs and dance routines for two months and the drill sergeant of a dance teacher was yelling commands from the sidelines. For my tastes, it’s all a little overblown, but this is the style of Russian celebrations. Sonia, Matthew and I stuck around until about 1:30 talking with people and eating the great pilaf the guy always cooks over a wood fire for these events.  I went home and putzed around then rode quickly to the subway station to add more money to my transportation. I met Jennifer and Jake on the way.  Jennifer had been shopping and Jake had been at the dog park with Teya.
When I got back home, I changed and headed to the bus stop because I was meeting Anna for dinner. We went to a really posh place called  Marusovka. I’d been there before and loved it and had wanted to go back. I figured this was the perfect opportunity because I had to be downtown at the sports bar for the Champions League game at 9:30 so I wanted to enjoy an nice, leisurely meal beforehand.  We both had a seafood salad which was exquisite. The food was just so tasty and enjoyable. We sat there for more than two hours.
Then we walked back to the main square in town and I headed over to the sports bar where Jake, Sonia and a bunch of others had reserved a table. Jake is a rabid Liverpool fan who never lets a game go by. He was three sheets to the wind by the time I got there. It was an intimate little bar which was packed with soccer fans. The atmosphere was great for watching a game with lots of singing and slogan shouting. But the game itself was nothing spectacular. Liverpool won, to Jake’s relief, but it was a very poorly played game. Oh well.
I took a cab home because it was so late, left my jacket in the car and Ravil had to call the cabbie for me and have her bring my jacket back. Oh well again. And I didn’t even have anything to drink!
Today the sun is shining again after some rainy threats last night. I’ll be headed out for shopping in a few minutes and this evening I’ll be headed over to Claudia’s. Here parents are here for a visit and some of us will be going over to meet them.
This coming Wednesday the parents have planned an end of year picnic. We’ll sing things like “She’ Be Coming Around the Mountain” and “I bought Me a Cat”. The kids have been so funny. They love it when we do science experiments. The other day one boy’s little sister, who always brings him to class with mom, was picking up chewing gum off the ground and putting it in her mouth. when her mom asked her what she was doing she replied, “It’s and Experiment.”

Bike ride through Kazan

The rat

Damn! Today I saw a rat walk down the sidewalk in the middle of the city. Boy, those things are ugly suckers. And this one was right across from a pizzeria. Oh joy.
But let’s back up. The guy from Kazan who rode his bike around the world last year wrote a book about it. I ordered it and the lady from the bike club told me she’d meet with me Saturday afternoon to give it to me. So first I spent Saturday morning cleaning, then I took off for downtown. I meet Aigul at the coffee shop and after she gave me the book, she asked me to to say a few words about it in Russian so she could post the video of my book review on the website. I told her I needed a chance to look at the book first! I told her I’d look at it over the weekend and have someone at school record it.
The book is actually very good. I understand a lot of it and the pictures are beautiful. I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know here. So I wrote a little blurb in English and had our foreign liaison guy at school translate it into Russian. Then I practiced it for a few minutes, he recorded me and I sent it off to Aigul. What was really neat was that the guy crossed the US along the Southern Tier route, which was the way I rode. So I recognized a lot of things that he wrote about.
Sunday we had an enjoyable breakfast with the gang at Beanheart’s downtown. We had some really interesting conversation. Claudia and Ravil assured Sonia and me that it’s not just our school that has a messed up bureaucracy. They too had tells of horror to tell about totally arbitrary decisions, unreasonable waiting times and rude clerks. Ravil even had to spend a couple of hours in a jail cell when a policeman stopped him and he wasn’t carrying his passport with him.
After breakfast we split up. Sonia and Claudia headed for the flea market and Ravil and I met Anna and we walked all the way down to the Kremlin. Ravil left is there and headed home, while Anna and I co tinted along the promenade by the river. The weather was sunny and pleasant and we walked until we found an empty  recliner bench and just really relaxed for an hour. Then, wouldn’t you know it, the clouds started rolling In. So we headed back into town and stopped at our Favorite Italian restaurant for a salad before we headed home.
Today I started talking to the kids about the US. At the end of the week I will let them know that I will not be their teacher next year. I figured this would be a good way to edge into the news, by talking about where I live. Then one of the boys celebrated his birthday today. Mom sent an entertainer into the classroom so we had a lot of excitement in the afternoon.
After work I went downtown for coffee with Dmitry. We’re planning a bike trip for the holiday on June 12.

Sunset on Kremlin Street in Kazan

Called on account of rain

Granted, it doesn’t rain that often in Kazan, but this one really blows my mind. We had a thunderstorm on Thursday and rain throughout the day. And Sonia’s Russian lesson got cancelled because of the rain! This is a city that has snow 5 months out of the year, but they can’t handle a little rain. That is really shocking to me!
But let’s start with last Sunday. Anna and I went out for breakfast and then ended up spending three hours at an art gallery. There was a whole hall just full of pictures painted by Shishkin. He happened to be born in that little town of Yelebuga that I visited lasted Friday and we visited his home there. It was a really pleasant afternoon.
On Monday several parents and kids from the class went to the professional soccer game together. The dad of one of my kids plays on the team and got us tickets in the really exclusive section. We got served snacks and tea! This was really classy. I was disappointed that some parents ordered tickets but then never showed up. The kid’s mom went out of her way to get them for us and then they just don’t bother to show. Pretty rude, as far as I’m concerned.
Tuesday was German night! Claudia had some guests from Germany so she invited a couple of us German speakers from Kazan over. We had a nice dinner, we sang some songs with guitar accompaniment and got into some great discussions. I got on the wrong bus going home and had to jump off a couple of stops later and catch one going in the other direction. I was afraid I wasn’t going to get to the metro in time before it stopped running. But I made it.
Wednesday was table tennis with Ravil and Paul. Paul taught me a new serve and I’m getting better and better. I really have to find a table tennis club to practice at when I get back.
Thursday was the rainy day so Sonia’s Russian lesson was cancelled. So instead, I went with her downtown to complete the paperwork she needs done to get her Mongolian visa. She and her friend are taking the Transsiberian Railroad this summer.  This sounds as if it’s going to be a real adventure.
It was raining lightly when we went downtown. We got things down at the visa bureau and left. Then she realized she hadn’t asked them to make a copy of her passport. The passport had to be sent with the paperwork to Moscow. But you don’t dare walk around in Russia as a foreigner without your
passport. So we turned around and went back to get the passport copied. This time, when we left the bureau it was really pouring. Sonia had to go on to  a meeting with friends and I wanted to get back home. So I caught a quick bus to the metro station. But then I decided to run up to the English book store and pick something up because I had just finished my last unpacked book. I didn’t find anything that interested me, so I walked downstairs to the metro and headed home. And I was nice and wet. Sonia said that she was drenched when she got home.
Tonight is cleaning night, tomorrow I meet with a lady who’s going to deliver a book that I ordered to me. It’s written by the guy here in Kazan who rode his bike around the world. I know it’s in Russian so it should motivate me to keep learning so that I can eventually get through it.
Sunday the group is going to get together for breakfast and then will see what the day brings.
On the school side of things, it was the last day today for the little boy whose dad plays soccer. Then next week I’m going to talk about the US and break it too the kids that I won’t be their teacher after this year. There are also some birthday parties coming up and we will be throwing a going away party for all the kids who are leaving. So this next month will go by quickly.
It’s time to go.

Today’s bike festival

I’ve never seen a school that throws events together at the last minute like this one. So, a month ago the bos lady decided that this would be the Saturday we would do our spring bike festival. Great. Whoops, it’s  also the same day as the robotics competition. Nope, it’s ok. Robotics is I. The afternoon and we will do it in the morning. We will go back to the treetop adventure park where the kids had so much fun. And in addition, I will create a scavenger hunt with questions in English on the way to the park to make it more interesting. Whoops. Nobody called and reserved a cabin at the treetop adventure park . Now there are none available. Ok. We will grill on the playground at school. Good solution.
Ok, now that we are not going to climb through the treetop adventure, we will start the morning with laser tag, then the bike ride/scavenger hunt, then the grill party. I texted the designated “organizer” the night before and asked if he need help putting up the signs. He had pushed that responsibility off on the new lady because he had to grill the hot dogs. Ok. Tell her to SMS me if she needs help. No message comes. I think she’s got it under control.
I’m not going to show up at 9 for laser tag. I’ll go right before the bike ride. Whoops. I get an SMS from the new lady asking me where I am. Oh Lordy. This means the signs aren’t up and it’s 9:45. I’m on my way. As I arrive, the “organizer” asks me what guests are coming. I told him I had given him the names of the people he should officially invite two weeks ago. Oh, he answers, I thought you were going to invite them. So, no honored guests.
In any case, New lady and I walk the course through the woods and put up signs at 10 different stations. It’s now 10:30, we’re almost back at school, and boss lady is texting to know where we are. In the two years that I’ve been here, this school has NEVER had an event start on time. Why today?
Ok. Back in the courtyard there are only about 20 kids and 10 parents. It turns out, the school has so many WhatsApp threads it posted the bike fest information on none of the ones that most parents and teachers would see. (Russian use their phones too damn much. They live and die for the social media sites.) I told the boss later we should get rid of all the WhatsApp threads except one in Russian and one in English which is available to all.  Do we really need a WhatsApp for left-handed, blue-eyed Tatar speakers?
Ok. Be that as it may, I started off with a few words, then gave the kids a bike lesson on the bike path on our courtyard because the police had donated some traffic lights to us and we practiced with them before we took off into the woods.      
Once we got into the woods, we stopped at each station, the kids read the signs out loud and we answered the questions. We had varying riding abilities so we always had to wait awhile until
everyone caught up. At the last sign I collected all the answers, we took the signs off the trees, and headed back to the picnic.
There were hot dogs, fruits, tomatoes, actually a nice spread. I grab a hot dog and go inside with new lady and all the quiz answers. We go through them all and I ask her where the prizes are. She doesn’t know. She has to call “organizer”. Organizer tells her I was supposed to organize them. Let’s be clear about something. I create these events for them and give them ideas they never even heard of. My Russian isn’t adequate enough to interact on a business level with people. So I ain’t doing the leg work for these projects that THEY request. Get your act together and find someone who can organize. And boss lady, follow up to make sure they do it!
But new lady saved the day but finding enough Bala City School pens and notebooks for everyone. We presented the prizes and called it a day. We were lucky with the weather, the kids who were there had fun and used their English, but it’s so frustrating and exhausting to get them to organize something that doesn’t involve dancing and ball gowns! And impressing rich parents.

This week in entertainment

It was another busy week and very fulfilling. Monday was coffee with Dmitry. Tuesday after school, I went with Sonia to the visa center. She is traveling across Russia on the Transsiberian Railroad this summer and needs a visa to get through Mongolia. Holy crow! They’re making her jump through hoops. She had to so all her reserved tickets and hotel rooms. Then she had to pay a bucketload of money. Now they’re telling her she has to go to the Mongolian Embassy in Moscow to pick it up. They won’t mail it. But here’s the catch 22. They have to send the passport in with her application papers. But she can to travel on trains or planes in Russia without showing a passport. So how’s she supposed to get to Moscow to pick up her passport with the visa, without having a passport to travel with? This is truly a sticky wicket!
Wednesday was table tennis. This time it was Paul, Ravil and me. Same old, same old. They kill me every time, but it’s good practice and good exercise.
Thursday was couch surfing. I met a couple new people, one of whom is very interested in anime. I stayed for about two hours because Friday the bosses had organized a trip to Yelebuga.
Yelebuga is a small city with a population of about 74,000 in the east of Tatarstan. I would label it a company town, like the old coal mining regions had in the States years ago. The companies owned the houses, the stores and the mines. In the case of Yelebuga, it’s a group of high tech companies (some of them foreign) and they have created a campus with a school, a kindergarten and lots of very modern homes for school staff and employees of the companies who send their kids to the school. The campus also has a camping area, bike and walking paths, grill huts and a traditional Russian bathhouse.
The school is a multilingual school which concentrates on science, technology, engineering and math. Much of the subject matter is taught in English. Our delegation (8 of us) was sent to see what ideas we might be able to transfer from Yelebuga school to ours. We spent the entire morning touring the school and then had a nice lunch there. Because it is Ramadan now, some of our staff members couldn’t eat so they had a walk around the campus. Then we took a quick bus ride around campus before we rode into town and picked up a tour guide who gave us a tour of the city and the home of the great Russian landscape painter Ivan Shiskin. For a small city, it has a big history. And it was so beautifully green. Every time I’ve driven in this direction before, it’s been in cold weather when the snow has been up to my eyebrows. It was really refreshing to see it in green!
Our overall impression was that the school doesn’t do enough to educate a well-rounded child because it concentrates so much on the sciences and tech. But it’s undedstandable that they do so because this is a “company town” which is educating for the express purpose of leading this kids into these companies. When I asked a question about the liberal arts portion, or lack thereof, they said they teach emotional education and social skills. Ok. I guess my point would be, if you teach a kid about art, music, languages and different cultures along with science and tech, you probably would need emotional education.
The older classes spoke English well. The kindergarten kids answered in Russian when while the teachers spoke in English. Not one of them asked the kids to try to say it in English. It certainly is an interesting concept and serves the purpose for which it is intended. I’m just not sure if it’s the right education for every child. Even in the States we wait at least until the end of elementary school before a kids decides whether he wants to go to a School of the Arts, or a STEM school or just a regular high school. I’d love to see this school again in five years and look at the success rate. They at least had a 10-year plan and didn’t seem to do things as piecemeal as our school.

What a week

It was interesting in school this week. We started talking about what you can buy in different stores. We learned vocabulary like groceries, furniture and sports equipment. Then we “bought” things and they all had to come up to me at the toy cash register and decide whether it was “cash or charge” and “Do you need a bag for that?” This all led to the subject of what happens if you lose your credit card. We decided we had to notify the bank and tell them our names. Which led us to the fact that many kids did not know their last names because the way the Russian naming system. So we learned all our last names and learned that, if you are a girl, your last name will always end with an “a”. The kids all went home and fold their parents who were all surprised that the kids were asking them what their last names were.
I think I’ll talk about the US and Rochester next week and ease them into the idea that I will not be back as their teacher next year.

Yelabuga in pictures

The clean bicycle

After 3 days of school, we got another vacation. This time it was for the Russian version of Memorial Day. We had a ceremony at school on Wednesday to commemorate the event. My kids don’t get too much out of it, of course, because they’re just too far removed from historical events.
Yesterday was the big parade downtown. Streets were already blocked off Wednesday night when I went down to play table tennis. (It was only Claudia and me, so it was essentially pure training for me. I’m definitely going to pursue the sport when I get back.) I had originally planned to go to the parade but Claudia suggested a two-hour boat ride down the Volga to a little town called Tashkivo. Geologically it looked a lot like Chimney Bluff on Lake Ontario by Sodus Point. It is a really old farming village with lovely old wooden houses. Meanwhile some of the younger residents have built summer dachas there. It’s basically an escape from the big city. There is one major road which runs along the mountain ridge from Kazan parallel to the Volga and there are turnoffs for little towns like Tashkivo along the way.
The twin still has dirt roads. There’s one little store in the back of a semi which serves the community’s needs. There’s no pier for the boat to land at. The board just pulls up close to shore bow first and let’s down a set of steps for passengers to get on and off. And the boat was full going down. It made several stops before we got to  Tashkivo and all the villages were similar; Stoney beaches, old, rickety steps going up the embankments to the old wooden houses, and dirt roads. This was really countryside.
There were some day trippers like us, but many of the passengers on the boat were older people with bags of plants and gardening tools. They were obviously headed to their dachas for the long weekend to work in the garden.
When we got off at Tashkivo, we first walked up through town, past the goats and through a very interesting and colorful old cemetery in the woods. After looking at some of the graves we walked down a set of metal stairs to the stony beach where we spread out our blanket and had a picnic. It was just nice to sit and relax and look at the Volga......until the fishermen came. It seems we had settled down in an area which the men felt should be reserved for them. We got the evil eye more than once. They made it seem as if we were intruding on private property. Nope. We weren’t.
But it was getting late in the afternoon and the last boat would leave at 5:20 p.m. so we figured it was time to wander on downtown where the boat would land. We practiced skipping stones there and just generally watched the people. It was definitely a different side to Russia that I hadn’t experienced before.
Then today, I decided it wad time to clean my bike because I hadn’t done it since buying it. Where to do it? Hmmmmm. Ok, outside my building there’s a little patch of grass right behind the garbage containers. It was in the shade, so I figured, Why not? I took out my oil and my cleaning rags,  turned the bike upside down and got to work. You can’t imagine how many people had to “throw away their garbage” just to check out what I was doing. One young father with a little boy and a baby came by and struck up a conversation but the others just seemed to be weirded out. I told Ravil about it and he says people here don’t sit on the lawn and they NEVER clean their bikes. Oh well, it was a new experience for the Russians then.
I also got my haircut, went to the post office and rode to school to water or little garden. It was a very productive day.

Faberge Museum

Story, continued.

Thank God the bus driver made an announcement so I was able to jump off in time and go stand at the correct bus stop.
Everything else ran without incident. Except that the stupid airline charged me for my hand luggage this time! When I got back to Kazan,Sonia had a cab waiting for me and other than that the cabby was really snotty, nothing else went wrong. I got home, went to the store and now I’m getting ready to really call it a day. I’ve got school tomorrow.

Ok. St. Petersburg is history now. And this was a terrible pun.

Yesterday everything finally went according to plan and this morning almost everything did too. But first I have to mention myroom in the hostel, because it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced in a hostel. The staff in the place was great. Very helpful and nice. But nobody in the room spoke to each other. I don’t mean that I wanted a deep conversation with anyone, but these people had trouble even saying hello when I greeted them upon entering. That is certainly preferable to sharing a room with a noisy school class that stays up all night. It was only that it was the first time every I encounter total silence in a hostel. It was a pleasant change.
So, now for my good day yesterday. Up early, down to the Ermitage and get in line an hour early. I read and talked with some of the people. Ate a banana and cookies. The gates open to get in line for the ticket office and the ticket online terminals at time. I’m the first one at my terminal! It doesn’t activities until 10:30! I guarded hat sucker with my life. Meanwhile, a million people come by and ask if there’s an advantage to buying tickets at the terminal. I get to tell them my sad story from yesterday. They even understand me. At 10:30 the terminal switches in, I put in my credit card and.....it’s reject. Again. Rejected. Crap! I was glad I had enough cash in my wallet. It worked! I got a ticket and got to skip right past the line into the museum. That as neat. I spent 3 hours walking around and lookin* at all the art and historical treasures. I was so glad I made it in.
By 2 o’clock I’d had enough and left. I went into the park and had a hot dog before I walked across the river to Peter-Paul Fortress. First I walked down to the beach on the rive4vin front of the fortress and then memories of 52 years ago came flooding back. I can remember being her with my study group, I can remember the faces and the conversations. This was the only time that I actually remember that I was there. What a feeling that was.
I walked around inside the first rtress for awhile after that, but then it was just too much and I caught the bus home. The day had been cold, but not rainy and I did a lot of walking. When I got off at m bus stop I realize I needed some cash for the taxi tomorrow and wanted to go to the ATM at the train  station . The only problem is, you have to walk the entire way around the traffic circle to get to it.      
You can’t cross the road on this side of the street to get to it. Screw that. I’ll go later.
I stopped at at Subway sandwich shop (Yes. THAT subway!) right next to the hostel and got a take out sandwich to eat in the room. Fortified and rested, I put my shoes and coat back on and went to he train station. It turned out to be a pleasant walk. There were a gazillion people there but it had an excited and exciting atmosphere about it. I asked a security guy for directions to my bank’s ATM and even understood his directions. So I got enough cash to make my trip back manageable, went back and settled in for the night.
By this time, a noisy family had moved into the room next door and was making a lot of noise in the hallways. And the little girl was freaking out because I was using an electric toothbrush at the communal sinks.
I set my alarm to make sure I woke up before 8, but didn’t need it. I was up, ready and had the bed torn down a little after 8 and was on my way.  The game plan was to grab a coffee to go at Burger King and get in line for the Faberge Museum, which was just down the street.
When I got to the top of the street where the museum is, I saw that a line of about 30 people had already formed. Oh, crap again. But when I got to the door, it had miraculously disappeared. The doors opened at exactly 9:30 to let people into the ticket counters.
Not only did they have an exhibit of the exquisite Easter Eggs that Faberge made for the czar every year, there were tons of silver settings that belonged to various czars and aristocrats. It’s beautiful, but  who really needs it. There was also a visiting exhibit of Frida Kahl land Diego Rivera works.
When I got done there, I walked down the street to the Russian Museum just to take a quick look at paintings by one of my favorite Russian painters. Unfortunately, the lady at information told me most of them were on loan to museums in Moscow.
So, change of plans. I only had about an hour so I ran around the corner to St. Michael’s Castle and looked at some paintings of the early czars. Boy, these guys just had too much money and flaunted it. It doesn’t surprise me at all that the Russian revolution took place.
So, I start walking back to the hostel to pick up my suitcase and hop on the subway to get to the bus that takes you to the airport, when I suddenly remember that they didn5 give me my registration yet! Every time I leave Kazan, I have to be registered by the police in the new city. Oh Lordy, how could I have forgotten to pick it up when I left my suitcase at the desk?!  I was almost panicking when I rang the doorbell to get in. But I went to the desk and they checked through their papers and still had it. Relief!
I grab that and my suitcase and get to my bus stop. I promptly get in a bus going in the wrong direction!

The Ermitage

Friday, and what can go wrong with a plan of action

Ok, so I’m up at 8 and out the door shortly before 9, which is when the pastry shop next door opens. Grab a cup of tea and some croissants to go and take the bus to the Ermitage. I get there at 9:15. It doesn’t open until 10:30 and the line is already 500 feet deep. I get in line and read my book. It snows, it blows, I freeze. Then finally let us start moving into the courtyard at about 10. There are ticket machines right at the beginning of the courtyard that say if you buy tour tickets here, you can go to the head of the line. But I’m pretty much at the head of the line, because no there are hundreds of people behind me so I figure I’m good. What can go wrong with that? Well, it was 11:30 and they still wouldn’t let us in the the ticket offices because the people who bought their tickets at the machines got to go in first! aaargh! And it snow again and I froze again. Screw it. I’m leaving and will try again tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’m so cold, my blood pressure tanked. I was feeling dizzy whe. I got to St. Isaac’s but only had to stand in for about 15 minutes. So they first thing I did when I got inside wa sit down on a bench and read to warm up.
And I saw a funny thing on the way over to St. Isaac’s. There’s a car parked near a crosswalk. A policeman is standing ther3 with a measuring tape, checking if he is parked too close. He is!!! The policeman takes a picture of his license plate. I’d love to see that driver’s face when that surprise comes in the mail.
In any case, I’d warmed up enough inside to start milling around and taking pictures. The opulence in many historical churches is just overwhelming. And, boy, I think Jesus would have beat the crap out of some of this people. There was just one “gift store”. At every pillar there was a stand selling some sort of religious relict. Talk about Jesus throwing the money changers out of the temple! Some things don’t seem to change at all. Yes, I understand it’s a tourist attraction now. It just seems to have lost touch with its original mission.
I was done inside and I had also bought a ticket to climb up the colonnade but I decided to go back to that Indian restaurant I had seen yesterday and have a nice lunch first since I was hungry still a little cold and I didn’t want to feel dizzy when I climbed. I was glad I did. The food was great and I took a long leasurely lunch read.
I headed back to St. Isaac’s and went through the entrance to the colonnade and started climbing. At first it was inside a circular tower, then you had to climb another 50 or so steps outside to the platform. And the wind was blowing. Hard. I made it up and held tight to the railing for a quick walk all the way around, glanced out over the city and came back down again.
I caught the bus back home and crawled under the covers for a couple of hours to warm up. Then I took a walk around a lesser frequented part of the city before calling it a day. Tomorrow I’d like to see the Ermitage and the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Faberge Museum. Wish me luck.

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Fast food delivery a la Russia

Fast food in every sense of the word. People call in their orders to restaurants and fast food chains through this company. They go pick the order up for you and deliver it. How bad does it have to be when you can't even get your own MacDonald's takeout? It's MacD's, Burger King, KFC and pizza and sushi.

Pictures from today.

Thursday and a plan of action for Friday

Sorry. I can’t explain what happened to the previous pictures. I was up and about early because it’s a long ride out to Peterhof, or Petergof. That’s the way the Russian languages transcribes the “h”sound in Russian, like a “g”. So you you see it written both ways when it’s written in English.
I was just going to stop in the bakery next door for a pastry and a cup of tea to go, but they didn’t open until 9 and it was 20 of. So I ended up sitting down for a bowl of oatmeal and a croissant at another place. Food is starting to taste good again.
I then took the subway to the stop with the bus connections to Peterhof Palace. I caught the minibus going out and it was packed with people. And it doesn’t stop often. One nice lady let me know that I should pay when I get off.
This was a neat ride. Surprising to me was that, on both sides of this major, four-Lane highway, therewas green space almost the entire way out. Sometimes it’s was a couple of hundred feet deep with only occasional stores and several of what were probable mansions earlier. There were bike paths and walking paths and people were using them.
The bus stopped right in front of Peterhof and I walked through the very, very large courtyard garden to get to the ticket counter. There were at least 10 ticket windows with lines at each of them. I think I had to wait about a quarter of an hour and people buying tickets were required to show passports. I never encountered that before!
I didn’t buy tickets to any of the museums, just the lower garden. It is gigantic and beautiful. But the weather was cool and it sprinkled on and off. I walked around and took pictures for about two hours then went back out on the Main Street to catch a bus back. This time I caught the regular bus which made all the regular stops. No zippy ride this time. And there was a couple on the bus with it’s cat in a cat carrier. That poor thing protested the entire way! But the children were entertained.
I got to the subway stop and took my train to my place. I went into the bakery right next door first and got a pastry  and tea, then came in, rested up and checked out some opening times of things. I took off again and tried the Ermitage. The lines were enormous. Nope, ain’t going there today. But there was a bike race starting right on the square in front of it so I watched that for awhile then walked over to St. Isaaac’s Cathedral. (I happened to pass an Indian restaurant which I kept in mind for today.) The lines were enormous. Nope, ain’t going there.
So I walked down to a section called New Holland to see what it looked like. It took me out of the main tourist area. The architecture there was still stunning but considerably run down. It would be a shame if this old buildings couldn’t be preserved but I know it takes a lot of money and resources. The beautiful buildings are my favorite thing about the city.
So I come back home and figure out a new plan of action. I will get up early, stand in line for a big museum in the morning and hit a lesser known museum off the beaten path in the afternoon. Now that I’ve got everything figured out, I head out to a cafeteria near the subway station for a good, cheap supper. Tomorrow it’s supposed to snow. I’m glad I went to Peterhof today.

The youth hostel

The hallway and the room. Behind each curtain is a bunk.

St. Peterburg, day 1.

I did manage to doze on the plane a little bit. When I  landed I took a bus and the subway and got to the hostel at about 5:45 this morning. It was too early to check in but they let me park my suitcase. Then I sat in the common room for awhile and texted because I knew nothing was open yet.
 My hostel is right off of Nevsky Prospekt, the main drag here, commercially and otherwise. There are 8 of us in the room. I’m glad I have a lower bunk. They all have curtains for privacy and their own lights and electrical sockets. The bathrooms and showers are close and we have lockers to store our stuff in. They also have bikes to rent. I’ll post pictures tomorrow. Across the room from me is a nice lady from China who speaks good Russian.
When I fInally went outside at about 8, Nevsky Prospekt was already like with police and military because to day is Labor Day for just about all the of the world except the US. There are always big parades here for it. One policeman told me it wasn’t going to start until 11 so first I went for breakfast and had a big bowl of oatmeal, then I walked around for awhile. I was still tired from the flight, so I went to a park and nodded off on a bench for about a half an hour. I’m glad all the policemen were busy at the parade so the couldn’t pick me up for vagrancy. The. I slowly mossed on back to the parade route and sat on a bench at the post stop with some older Russian ladies who chases people away with their canes of the came and stood in front of us. Good friends to have at that point.
The parade itself was interesting. It was sectioned off into regions, like our counties and then there was a large section for different unions. There were so great marching bands and there were several drum corps that were only made up of women. And they were excellent.  Also intending for me was that there were several people there with flags from the Soviet Union, there were lots of pictures of Lenin and even a group who carried pictures of Stalin. I guess he’s not as out of favor as he used to be.
I watched the parade for an hour and then decided to take a scenic boat ride. I didn’t want to be too active today because I was still exhausted from the ride and still feeling a little weak from being sick yesterday. Of course I sat up on top of the boat and, although the sun was shining, the wind coming off the water was chilly. I was glad I had my winter jacket on.
After the boat trip, I went to a little cafeteria right across the street and had mashed potatoes and a chicken shashlik for $2.00! Although transportation is more expensive here than in Kazan, food is still very reasonably priced. And there are many more varieties of restaurants here; Greek, Chinese, Italian, French, you name it.
After I ate, I walked back to the hostel, signed him, took a shower and rested for a couple of hours. Since I was starting to get hungry again, I decided to go explore one cathedral and afterward have supper. Now the streets were absolutely packed. Bike rides weave in and out of traffic and are also all over the sidewalks, as are roller bladers and scooter riders. Since it stays light so long here, I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of late night partying on this holiday night.
I went to the Greek restaurant just down the street. I had grilled veggies and pita bread. It was just enough. And now I’m in for the night. I feel the tiredness creeping up on me. So I’m going to brush my Teach and go to sleep. Tomorrow I’m going to take the bus to the beautiful castle Petersgof.

Beautiful St. Peterburg

It’s snowing!

Damn, after a beautiful day yesterday , I wake up to mixed rain and snow this morning. Man, and I was just gloating over my friends in the Rochester area who got snow yesterday. That will teach me!
But I forgot to mention my hectic Friday, which got lost in the excitement of the anticipated meeting with the transportation guy.
Friday, one of the boys came in with his mom and asked me to come to his house for dinner. Since I didn’t know whether the transportation man wanted to meet with me Friday or Saturday, I told him I could only let him know later in the day. And I didn’t hear. And I didn’t hear. Then, in the afternoon I had a meeting with the bosses. I told them I was still waiting to hear from the guy, and Dinar immediately got on the phone and called the guy and told him to let me know. That’s how to make it work!
So when the guy told me Saturday afternoon, I told the little boy I would come to dinner. When the mom picked him up, I rode home with them and had a great piece of marinated beef, salad, potatoes, some great cheese and even  drank some red wine. It was a pleasant even with lots of good discussion. This family will be moving to Spain in August, so the little boy will go to an English-speaking school there. His early English lessons have paid off.
So, let’s cut to today. Ravil and I went to breakfast this morning. We tried a different place than usual and it wasn’t particularly good, so we not not to go there again. I came home and made a pizza for lunch,then went out to see the movie White Crow with Anna. Great dancing, great music, ok script. We still want to see Code Red with Judy Dench but that won’t happen until we get back from May Vacation.

Bingo!

This weekend is a total frenzy. I had to change my plans a couple of times when I found out that the Ministry of Transportation guy could meet me at 5 today. But first the morning turned out to be a big surprise. The former student of mine who recommended me for this job is in Kazan visiting her mother. My boss, who is her good friend, asked if I had time to meet with her this morning. So we spent the morning together. It was great seeing her. Her daughter was also with her. I had her in my preschool class in the States when she was 3. Now she’s 14!
Then I came back home, made lunch and tried a Skype call to Germany. It didn’t work on the other end so I just basically relaxed until I had to go downtown again the meet the M of T guy. I knew I had seen him at one meeting before, but it turns out we attended two meetings together without knowing who each other was. I mean, to him it was obvious that I wasn’t from Kazan so he recognized me more quickly.
We met at an Internet cafe and spent an hour going over different ideas. I learned a lot about how things function in Kazan and he was very receptive to my ideas. And he had already had some of the same ideas. The discussion was very positive and hopefully he’ll be able to help implement some of the ideas.
All in all, it was a successful day. Tomorrow will be another breakfast in the morning with Ravil and a moviein the afternoon with Anna. We want to see the bio documentary about Rudolf Nureyev.

Oh wonder of wonders, I’ve got a bicycle meeting with the Tatarstan Department of Transportation

Be still, my beating heart! I’ve caught the ear of someone in the Tatarstan government! Now I’ll be able to lay out all my ideas for bicycle projects in Kazan.
But let’s start with Monday. I met Dmitry for coffe again at Coffee Bean cafe. This guy knows a tremendous amount about the architecture in Kazan and also knows who gets away without paying taxes. Of course, it mostly the rich people who could afford to pay the taxes.
Then came Tuesday. Sonia and I had to go to the immigration office with Linar in the morning because Linar was sure we had to extend our immigration cards even though our visas had already been extended. I had asked Ravil about it since, being from Uzbekistan, he faces the same situation. He said it wasn’t true. His immigration cards often expire but as long as the visa has the right dates, everything is cool. Linar and Sonia were of another opinion, so off we trundled Tuesday morning to the immigration office across town. We were a little early, which was a good thing. We were third in line and by the time the doors were unlocked, there were about 20 people behind us. We were the first ones in the office responsible for us. Linar explained the situation, the guy looked at our papers and said.....it doesn’t matter what date is one the immigration form as long as the date on the visa is correct!! So we got a taxi back to school and life went on as usual.
But the absolute BEST thing about Tuesday was this. A couple of my dads hold high positions in the government. One family in particular is very supportive of my bike ideas. The wife came in that morning with a phone number and told me to call Mrs. Fishman that evening. She wanted to hear my proposals. Now, I’ve been hearing about the legendary Mrs. Fishman for two years. She’s responsible for the parks in Kazan and created a lovely bike trail with a pump track in the newest park in Kazan not far from me. You BET I’ll call Mrs. Fishman. Her English was great. She referred me directly to a guy in the Ministry of Transportation who is responsible for bike lanes and amenities. You BET I’ll call Mr. Kadyrov.
So I get Mr. Kadyrov on the phone, we talk a little bit (His English is also excellent!) and then he says, “Don’t I know you?” I replied that, if he was the man who gave a talk about bicycle infrastructure in Kazan to the Rotary Club a few months ago, then yes, he knew me. Yup, one and the same guy. So he wants to meet up with me tomorrow or Saturday. It’s going to be a very short notice thing, depending on when he has time. This is amazing. How many other countries take the time to listen to what their immigrants say? America, take notice. Everyone’s a foreigner somewhere and we’re not all bad people! It took me a long to fall asleep after that because I kept making notes about what I wanted to talk to him about.
Wednesday was table tennis day. It was Paul, Marat, Ravil and me. I’m still not smoking anybody, but I certainly have improved. I work on my backhand serve last night.
Today in school I asked the science teacher upstairs to help us with a science experiment we tried that failed. We had taken sugar and baking soda and put it on sand that had been saturated with lighter fluid. Then we tried to light it to make a carbon snake. The only problem was, when we tried to light it last week with simple matches, we couldn’t maintain a flame. She came out with a damned propane torch! That did the trick. Of course the kids loved it. They got to wear safety goggles and set stuff on fire. It couldn’t  have worked out better.
Coming home from school this evening, I ran into Jenn at our little store. We decided to walk to McDonald’s for some ice cream after supper. It was a nice walk on a pleasant evening. But it also showed me that I have to get some sort of ice pack for my foot because, after I’ve been on my feet all day, the ankle that I injured in Almetyevsk is still very sore at night. I have a pack of ice cubes on it now.

Ugly houses of the nouveau riche

I almost went blind looking at this monstrosity!