Muppets Wizard of OZ

This is a funny movie. Our family just finished watching it this evening. It has Queen Latifah as Auntie Em, and Ashanti as Dorothy. We give it four thumbs up! The jokes are funny and the cameos are great. If you want some light entertainment this is a winner. Nathan liked Quentin Tarantino's and Kelly Osborne's cameos.

We also have Bewitched, Casa de Los Baby's, and Shopgirl. As soon as we get a chance to see each one we will let you know how we liked it.

At school Nathan, Spencer and I got a new lesson on remodeling! We are all to familiar with that topic. We got a very long Russian word and in Nathan's class he gave them a long English word.

Our Russian word is metala-plastik-ovwi. The English word that Nathan loves is antidisestablishmentarianism...."opposition to the disembling of the establishment"


Say that three times real fast!

Post office trip!

My box from Amazon.com finally arrived! I had a box sent to my Aunt's house and then she shipped it to us. She sent it Dec 12. by airmail and it just got here. The post office always has us guessing!

We have all new employees at the post office so it was safe for me to show my face there. Noone who was working today saw my fit that I had the last time I was there. I walked in stood in line for about three minutes... got my package and left! Simple.

Tom spent an extra day at home today. He actually got up and took a shower but he couldn't make it to school. I took in the jewelry that he had made for different people. Madina finally has her clip on earrings and she was very happily suprised. Tom called her to let her know he was not coming into school but didn't tell her he was sending the jewelry.

Nathan's class got their assessments back. None of the students were talking much about how they rated. Nathan is classified verbally as Intermediate Low and his comprehension is at Intermediate High. We are very proud of him. He is doing excellent work at school, church and home!

Day After the Wedding

Today I am playing around with the photos to make sure I only put the best ones on the gift CD.

Nathan is playing a video game in his room. Spencer is watching Spiderman 2 and Tom is napping on the couch.

Just another lazy day in Krasnodar!

Natasha & Dima

I got out of bed to go and photograph a wedding. I took over 800 photos and I am sure there are a few decent ones in the bunch.

Spencer and I left the apartment at 9:15 so that we could be there by 10. We helped decorate three of the four cars. We met the mothers and the grandmothers before we saw the bride and groom. Of course everthing was traditional Russian. Which means it was an EVENT!

It was a smaller wedding than Valentin and Sveta's. It was very elegant and intimate. Natasha is a translator for the BLTC. She has translated for Tom when he has spoken at church. Dima also speaks English. Natasha and Dima will take a week off from working this week and then will honeymoon in Europe this summer. She originally did not want to be a winter bride but Dima wanted a winter wedding. It was not easy photographing the white on white but it was a beautiful sight!

Customer Service

Nathan and I went out to find a second battery for my camera. I have another Russian wedding to photograph and I knew I could not make it through the entire day on just one battery.

We went downtown to Krasnaya Street to a store called Paparazzi. This store defined customer service for me today. I showed them my battery and told them what I wanted. The saleswoman looked at it and told the guy who was helping me to call the other store to see if they had the battery. He phoned and discovered that they had it.

They told me that I needed to go over to the Media Center. I simply said “I don’t know where that is”. The guy mentioned a marshutka that would take me there. But, the woman called a taxi instead and then PAID for it! She escorted Nathan and I to the taxi and thanked us! The taxi driver took us to the front of the Media Center and dropped us off. We walked right in and went straight to the store. Before the guy let me buy it he tried it out in my camera first.

Royal treatment over a 24-dollar purchase!

Jim & Lisa

Jim and Lisa have their kids! Nathan says that they are cute boys and are already calling Jim and Lisa mom & dad! Thanks for all who prayed for them. We are so thrilled for this new family.

holidays we never knew about!

The Army Day - Men's Day - February 23: This holiday is celebrated on the 23rd of February. It is our tribute of respect to all the generations of Russian soldiers from the ancient times till nowadays to those who defeated courageously our motherland from invaders. On this day all the masculine representatives from boys to old men receive congratulations and presents and the military men greet each other. Women have a happy opportunity to say the warmest and the sweetest words to their lovers and to please them with sings of attention.

The Pancake Day - February 27 till the beginning of March: It is a holiday of ancient Slavs in honor to east pagan God of fertility (Vles). It is a holiday of farewell to the winter and welcome to the spring. The Orthodox Church considers the Pancake Day to be a Christian holiday the so-called cheese week. It is previous to the Fast and it is celebrated 7 weeks before Easter. It is a merry folk holiday when old rubbish or hey scarecrow is burnt. Most people put on skins of animals and soil their faces with soot to drive away wicked spirits.

To see a full list of Holidays go here: http://www.flowers2moscow.com/Russian_Holidays.shtml

Yesterday Olya asked to be paid early so that she could get a gift for her husband today. There is no Mother's Day or Father's Day here. So Men's Day and Women's have to fill the gap!

bleh!

I am sick. Tom is sick and Nathan is sick. We have lots of juice and water and kleenex. We get to watch the Olympics on tv. But it is hard to hear the tv over the coughing and hacking going on. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day!

still sick...

Tom and Spencer made it out to school this morning. Nathan and I are still sick. We have not said much to each other this morning... he coughs and I cough back!

I stayed up late watching the Olympics and it has been fun to know things before you find out in America. Italy is only two hours ahead of us so we have seen some events live. I really enjoyed watching Shani Davis win his gold medal. Spencer was asking about being a speed skater... I wish there was a rink around for him to be able to skate again.

Thanks Joanie, for sending the paper. Tom was excited to take a new notebook to school today. We are so grateful for those of you who help us out in such practical ways!

Price of Staying Home

Spencer and Olya tackled his room today. He was not feeling well so he didn't go to school. Since he was home Olya started asking him "is this clean" " is this trash" and after about an hour of that his room was clean!

Nathan and I were allowed to sleep. My back was hurting and Nathan has a sore throat. Only Tom made it out the door this morning!

We are all waiting to find out what homework we have and if the results from our assessment are in.

Nathan entertaining!

Bill and Judi came over with their four kids to watch the Olimpics. Michael, four years old wanted to see SpiderMan. Michael LOVES SpiderMan! Nathan got his laptop out and showed the movie to Mikey. He was so excited. He barely finished his dinner cuz he wanted to get back to the movie. He told his mom the chili was too spicy... he did finish eventually. Nathan did good not starting the movie until Mikey was done with his dinner. Chili and french fries should not equal such torture!

When SpiderMan was over Nathan showed Fraggle Rock to the girls. Kaylynn and Becca had not ever seen it before. Nathan let them take it home. We gave Bill the movie Munich. It is an intense movie put out by Speilberg on the aftermath of the Isreali team being taken hostage and killed at the 1972 Olimpics.

Andrew came in when Judi and I were cleaning up my kitchen. He was trying to get us to tell him if we were going to make dessert or not! He finally just came out and told his mom what he wanted. So I made a batch of blonde brownies. They were a big hit. I am sure that my mother in law never dreamed that her brownies would become so famous!

The new family that we met have the same names as my Aunt and Uncle. They are Betty and Charles. Tom and I are going to have to work hard not to call him Chuck like my uncle... I just hope I don't start calling him Uncle Chuck!

Walking to Work

As we walked to work yesterday Nathan started teasing Lena. She and Spencer took off running and they waited for us behind the corner of a building. I told Nathan that I thought they were making snowballs. Yep! As soon as I came around the corner they let them fly. I ducked and they got me on the shoulder and Nathan was glad that I went first. Later after our short tramvai ride we were walking again and Spencer was teasing Nathan so I pulled him away and put him up near Lena. She grabbed him and shoved him in to a big hill of snow near the sidewalk. He came up laughing. Then Nathan was able to get Lena and Spencer in the snow. Spencer and Lena ended up with "white" jackets. I am glad that Lena grew up with 5 brothers and that she knows how to get in there and scrap with the boys!

Everyone has finished their assessments now. Tom came home and said that he did well answering all of Tania's questions and he only had to asked her once to repeat something. The interview is completely in Russian. She will introduce herself to you and pretend that she doesn't speak English. You have to answer her questions and tell her about yourself and your life here in Russia. She wants to know what level of comprehension and communication you are at. We each had our little flubs but that doesn't matter. I can tell on myself and say that when I was given the chance to ask her a question I was trying to ask if her mother had a country home. I added one letter to the beginning of the word so instead of saying country home (dacha) I said 'zdacha' which is change. I asked her if her mother had change! Oh well, she just smiled and answered my question.

Olya's mother had a birthday yesterday and Olya's present was to tell her mother that she was expecting another baby! We found out a full month ago but were not allowed to say anything until after the birthday! Olya is doing very well and is still going to work for us through the pregnancy.

Sveta, Valentin's wife, is also expecting. She has had a hard time with morning sickness and was hospitalised many times because she was not eating.

We have another wedding coming up next weekend and I will take pictures for them. We are excited for Natasha. She is the woman who translates for Tom when he speaks. Our family has been asked to come up with some skits to perform at the reception... I don't know if Krasnodar is ready for this!

Olya is showing him how to clean the rugs!

 

Winter Cleaning

Olya and Spencer cleaning his couch slipcover. 

First Assessment!

Miss New Mexico USA... mom and dad went to an event and she was there. I thought she was very pretty so I downloaded the photo to share today!


Spencer and I were able to get the written part of the assessment done today. I also did my interview. And like Nathan... she said I was amazing! When our family first met Tania, the school's director, most of us did not even know the alphabet.

From our group Spencer and Judi H. still need to do the interview. Tania had a crisis with a student and had to go attend to that. Please pray for our fellow classmates. There is a couple that is trying to adopt two children. They have invested thousands of dollars that were raised just for the adoption and there is a person here who is trying very hard to block the adoption. Our teachers and the Director of the School care about every aspect of our lives and they have been very supportive of the adoption. We are praying that the court will hear the people who are willing to speak up for this couple!

We are grateful for our language helper and to our teachers. We are grateful for our Russian friends who really want to communicate with us and want us to learn this language.

Tom is still sore from his fall yesterday but he is up and walking around. He is planning to go in to school tomorrow for his assessment.

ещё снег!

More Snow! Our current temperature is -6 degrees Celsius = 21.2 degrees Fahrenheit. We had to walk to school as the snow was coming down. Tom fell getting off the bus and injured his back. He was a trooper and finished school... but now he is lying down on the couch resting. He had a tutoring session with Lena and was able to hang in there for about 40 minutes.

After the rest of us finished our session with Lena we watched the DVD of me performing. Lena wanted to watch it so we talked about how many different languages I had to sing in and about Erin still performing. She asked me if I dreamed of singing professionally. And as always the answer is still no. I know how hard it is to keep a voice in shape and I have fun when I sing now and then but I would not want it to be a job.

Tomorrow, Spencer and I have our assessments. We have to be at school at 9am. Last week I was feeling nervous about it. This week I am just ready to get it over with. I am not competing against anyone but myself. If I am still speaking at the same level next year then that would be a problem! Last year when we got here we could only say "may I" and point at what we wanted. Now we can ask for specific items by name when we shop. Now we can translate simple things for our friends. Now we can spend an entire evening with Lena and Alexei and not need the dictionary! No matter whether the assessment shows that I am a novice or intermediate... I am still able to communicate with friends and keep our family fed!

Food for a gift?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since we come from Kansas we happen to love Sunflowers... however if you mentioned wanting some as a gift Russians will laugh at you. Sunflowers are food. Why would you ask for someone to buy you some food for Valentines Day or for your birthday?


Today we watched home movies of the boys with Lena. She actually understood some of the English. She enjoyed seeing the boys when they were little (my-len-kee) She was not having the best Valentine's Day. Her Valentine is in Moscow teaching at a Seminar.

Tom took jewelry to school yesterday and again today. He sold quite a bit. Someone bought bracelets to give to the teachers.

Some of the women picked out what they wanted and then their husbands had to ask "what did I give you?" Just like in America...

What does that word mean?

We have been enjoying watching the Olympics on TV. It is interesting to watch with Russian commentary. We are learning new phrases or other ways of using words we already know. Have you ever had one of those moments however when you hear a word used in a different way and think "what does that mean?"

Yesterday we kept hearing the commentator say "в этом году". This phrase is pronounced "V-etom Ga-doo". I kept hearing it as Vetom Gadoo. I couldn't find the word Vetom in the dictionary. I finally realised the context and it dawned on me what it meant. V=in, etom=that, and finally gadoo=year (in Accusative case). "In That Year!" Duh! you cannot find vetom in the dictionary because it is not a word...

We do this in English too. We often say things very fast and it is as if the words are one. For example how do you say "I can do that for you"? If you say it at a normal speaking pace "for you" sounds like one word. Just remember when you speak with someone for whom English is not their first language... you don't need to talk louder just slower! Our friends like the way Tom and I speak English. We speak slower and more distinctly when we have to use English here. We know that people are listening who are trying to learn.

As we watch the Olympics we find ourselves not knowing who to always route for... when the Russian women played the Canadian women we cheered for Canada. Mich (michelle) is Canadian and besides the score was 12-0! When Russia was against the Chinese in pairs figure skating we were cheering for Russia. But, when America was snowboarding it was America all the way!!!

Chronicles of Narnia

Spencer and I took the Narnia movie over to Bill & Judi's to watch it with them. Bill was in Moscow so we just spent the afternoon with Judi and the kids. Judi got the chance to be a translator during the movie. The movie was in English but not American English. The little kids were having a hard time understanding the British actors accents. So they kept asking "what did he say?" "what did she say?" At one point Michael (four years old) looked up at his mom and said "is this english?"

Judi got a call from Jim C. after the movie was over. He needed to stop by for a minute. Judi told him to come on over but also warned him that the kids were all out playing in the snow. The kids go from ages 4-15. Jim came over prepared... he showed up with snowballs already made and nailed Spencer (15) and Andrew (12) as he came around the corner! They kids came in laughing and soaking wet.... Andrew said Jim put snow down his clothes. I am thinking the biggest kid out there was Jim!

spencer in the snow!

Spencer walked me home from Bible Study. He picked me up at 9:30 pm so I didn't have to walk home in the dark alone. I brought my camera along because I know how much he enjoys taking pictures. I thought we might get some fun nighttime shots. Spencer had other things in mind... he chose a spot and fell back into the snow to make an angel. The only warning I had for him before he did it was " Don't make an angel in yellow snow!"