Questions From My "Big" Sister

So my "big" sis stepped up with some questions to keep me busy, so I will try to answer them the best that I can.

1. Are you students interested in hearing about random things from the states?
Most of them are pretty interested in America in general. Of course, there are students of all different ages, abilities, and interests. Many of them are curious about traditions, holidays, culture, and many other things. In general, people here know a lot more about America than people in America know about Russia. That said, there are often big misconceptions about real life in America. I think this mostly comes from lack of information. During Soviet times the news about America was distorted and no one believed it. America was someplace mysterious. Now, people see American movies and TV all the time and I think some of them have a lot of misconceptions due to that. The most common misconception is that everyone in America is rich and they have a hard time believing that we don't have a lot of disposable income here.

2. Have any of them invited you to do anything outside of the school?
Yes, we have been to cafes and things like that with some students, althought not so much because we are still in the process of getting to know the students. We have gotten to know a few of Joanna's students that she knows from last year. If you look back to the post about our picnic, you will see Konstantine. He was one of Joanna's students from last year. He is still in one of the intermediate levels, but he is very fun to hang out with.

3. Are you meeting more Russian people outside of your students?
Not really, we spend practically all of our time here at the American home either teaching or preparing. I have briefly met a few other people, but not many. We have plenty of people to get to know here.


4. Is the heat on yet?
Yes, it came on last week for me. It is quite toasty at home, I sleep with my window cracked right now. Some of us aren't so lucky. Some don't have heat yet and Sara hasn't had water for two days. We are lucky: if our hot water fails at home, we can take hot showers here at the American Home.


5. Do your babushka's cats like you yet?
Actually they seem to have made peace with me. The female one isn't fixed and it freaks out meowing at everything every month, but the other one is calm and likes to sleep on top of my writing desk all day.

This week is going very quickly. We have all been pretty tired; struggling to recover from the trip to Yaroslavl'. If you want to read a little more about the trip, read Joanna's post about it.

Yesterday was Amanda's birthday, so I think tonight we will be celebrating a little. We are alooking forward to our five day break coming up at the beginning of November. I think that most or all of us will be going to St. Petersburg, which should be a fun time.