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.