November 23, 2009
Hello once again,
I imagine you are all getting ready for Thanksgiving. I wish you all a warm, blessing filled day with family and friends. I have to teach on Thanksgiving but Tom and I are gathering together to celebrate with other American teachers at the school after work. I'm in charge of mashed potatoes, gravy and apple crisp. Tom is in charge of hauling four chairs up 120 steps to the teacher's apartment who's hosting the gathering. Ron is in charge of the turkey and dressing. Should be fun!!! I can smell the turkey already. Ron had to travel quite a distance to pick up a turkey that had to be special ordered. All the stores have are turkey drumsticks, which would do in a pinch for sure. There would be no fighting over who got the drumsticks.
Yes! Tom arrived and we've been busy exploring the sights. I am so lucky to be living in the center of the city so navigating to the main attractions is pretty easy. We went on a drizzly rain walk with umbrellas on Saturday, his first day here, with a pit stop at the French Bakery for a cappuccino and treat, and then out to dinner at a wonderful Georgian Russian Restaurant close by and then on to the ballet. We saw a performance of La Sylphide which has a Scottish theme, a witch and a spirit. Evil winning over good is basically the theme. It was wonderful and the best part was that it was only 2 hours long instead of the usual 3-4 hours long. I only had to jab Tom once with my elbow when he started to nod off. I would have thought looking at those ballerinas with the binoculars would have kept his focus. Today we did our weekly grocery shopping. Tom and Ron had to drive to another store to find soy milk since Tom is off of dairy products. They
were successful. I think he enjoyed looking around a Russian store. He was impressed with the freshness and quality of the produce. We spent the rest of the day exploring a couple of churches with Tom talking many photos along the way. He's now down for a bit of a snooze to prepare him for coming to school with me tomorrow. The kids are very excited to meet him. One little boy refers to him as "your man Thomas!" Cute!!! I am so glad he's here to share this experience with me. He'll leave on Nov. 30 and fly to
It's already Monday afternoon so I'd better finish this missive and send it on soon before the kids get back from recess. Tom came into school this morning and talked to the kids about rocks and let them each choose 3 specimens to keep. One little boy said he wanted to be like Tom when he grows up and look for rocks. Tom brought me some Heritage coffee which I'm relishing. The Russian coffee tastes like hot brown water. Tom is at the Mineral and
I got to experience the metro here which was a real adventure. I felt like a sheep being herded through narrow gates and fast moving escalators descending way under ground. I had visions of Dante's Inferno. The doors on the metro shut so fast that people push to get in and then I was sandwiched between two men with raised armpits in my face. No need to go any further! I'd rather walk next time! Laurie got to experience this with me so we had some chuckles over it. Laurie and I also did a bit of Christmas shopping at a man named Ivar's apartment. It was interesting to see how small a Russian apartment really is. The housing for the teachers here is luxurious compared to a typical Russian dwelling. I sometimes feel like I'm really living in a bubble.
It's time to sign off. Happy Thanksgiving one and all!
Love,
Kathy
Monday, November 23, 2009
Ramblings from Russia
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