Some days are better than others...

(Photo - Katie and Dylan posing on top of WWII memorial)

We are at the halfway point in our time here in Saratov. We have had some high points and some low points. Some of our favorite things have been exploring our new city, visiting our local pastry shop, getting to make new friends and learn about another culture. However, with the good also comes the difficult. We all miss easy conversations in English, we are weary of the constant need to pick of this and that at the market/store and I think some of the culture shock has set in. Today, I had a little temper tantrum and wished for home! I began cooking dinner in plenty of time to have it ready between 5:30/6:00. I went to turn off a burner but accidently turned off the stove. What’s the big deal you ask? Well, I went to turn the stove on and it was locked and would not turn on. This has happened before and if I waited a few minutes it would turn back on. Well, a few minutes turned into 2 hours. I ended up cooking our pork chops individually in our tiny microwave (no oven, remember???) So, in the grand scheme of things, this was a minor problem but today it was enough to push me over the edge!

Katie too, has had some bouts of wanting to go home. Tuesday was a rough day for her. She was missing the dogs, missing friends, missing her room and was having a rough time concentrating on schoolwork. In the evening we went to our weekly appointment with a class that is learning English. She really loves being with the other kids and she later told me that going there turned the day around for her. So, I am thankful for the teacher Nellie who has opened up her classroom to us!

Ken has been running here and there for various speaking engagements. Today, he was at a high school speaking to students. This evening he was invited to a local business to speak to an “English Club” there. The business turned out to be a tobacco processing plant. While thankful for all of these opportunities, Ken is going to be cutting back to focus on doing some research. He has plans on Friday to talk to a local pastor about visiting some local drug and alcohol treatment facilities. Addiction is a serious issue in Russia and AIDS is a growing epidemic. Addiction is of course, Ken’s area of expertise so the upcoming weeks should be interesting as he gets to tour some of these facilities.

Dylan is flying high from our recent visit to Victory Park. Victory Park is on the hillside in Saratov and is full of tanks, planes, and helicopters from WWII as well as more recent wars. Dylan was in his glory exploring all the military memorabilia. We are approaching Victory Day (the day they Russians celebrate winning WWII). It’s hard to understand the mentality here, but the war is deeply significant to Russians. We’ve been told that America lost approx. 1 million lives in the war. Russians lost approximately 40 million. A staggering number! There is a monument in Victory Park that is set on an immense mound of dirt. The story is that there was a pail of dirt brought to represent every soldier who died in the war. So Victory Day is approaching and we understand that this is a huge Russian holiday. There will be fireworks (set off quite near our flat) and celebrations. We are unsure if we will be here for Victory Day, it coincides with our planned trip to Nizhny. We will keep you posted! This is a picture of the monument. You can see the mound of earth that it was built upon. A sad reminder of the many, many Russian lives that were lost during WWII.

On the bright side – we were told that they are coming on Friday to install internet. We don’t know if the connection speed will be better than what we have now, but at least it won’t be pay as you go! We are all keeping our fingers crossed!

Daily Life

This picture kind of sums up life here - fun and a little bit crazy! (The real story is that Katie and Dylan were having a great time one day making and wearing masks - I love their creativity!)

I thought I would share a little bit about life on a daily basis for our family… The average day begins with Dylan rising and shining very early. I will confess that I have served Dylan only a few breakfasts in the time that we have been here. Ken gets up before me (big surprise) and usually feeds the kids and heads out for a run. I stumble out anywhere from 7-9. For most of our time here I have struggled with sleeping well. I think it is a combination of a different bed/pillow/ and perhaps even the time change. I usually find myself sinking into a deep sleep around 5 or 6 am (evening in OH time).

We start school around 9:30 in the morning, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Homeschooling has gone better than I expected but we have faced some difficulties. We were planning on utilizing the internet to enhance lessons, get books and find resources to add to the curriculum. Our internet has been expensive (pay as you go) so we use it when we need it but we have been much more limited than we originally planned. Katie and Dylan have worked very hard on their lessons. We have had very little time off (no spring break, no holidays) and so we are approaching the end of their lessons. We still have a few more weeks to go. Once we reach the end of the text books we are going to do some work on typing, study some of Russia’s history, and some other learning related activities – this will help to fill our days!

We break for lunch around noon – Katie has been very helpful in the kitchen. She is eager to prepare her own lunches and is cooking simple dinners like spaghetti. After lunch the kids finish up their lessons. They both have been working on their own power point presentations of our time here in Russia. It has been fun watching them put these together.

After school, we play games, go shopping for food, take a walk etc. Obtaining food feels like a sometimes daily endeavor. We usually buy fruit and snacks once a week, we go to the large supermarket every other week, and we have frequent trips to our corner market, Socialism (isn’t that a great name???) and the covered market throughout the week to pick up juice, chickens, cheese, milk, bread etc. We are limited to buying what we can carry. Ken has really come in handy due to his ability to carry much more than the rest of us!

We try to plan outings during the week (last week we visited City Park - Ken and the kids are playing on the equipment at City Park in this photo). This week we have tickets to the ballet. We also have had numerous engagements throughout the city to judge contests, visit classrooms and give talks.

So we are busy, but still suffer occasional bouts of homesickness. Many people ask us what we miss…Here are a few things (not including the obvious; family, friends, pets):
• Speaking English (we have many opportunities to speak English but are always trying to speak very clearly, hunting for synonyms, trying not to use idioms…)
• Fitted sheets – how do they not have these????
• Baking (for Amy)
• Chocolate Chip cookies (for Ken)
• I think we would all love a good steak (we can buy steak here, but try cooking it on a stove top – ugh)
• The kids both miss not having had a chance to play with/enjoy many of the gifts that they received for Christmas

Our hot water is still off but we have (ok, Ken has) conquered the hot water heater. We have hot water for dishes and scalding is rare! I often think of the many Russians who do not have hot water heaters and what this time must be like for them. We have been told that it will be off until the end of the month. Imagine being an average Russian and not having any hot water for 1/2 the month!

Thanks to all of you who take the time to read our blogs, email us, and help us to remain connected. Sometimes we feel very far away and your emails, Facebook posts and other communications help us to feel not so alone! If you have any topics you would like for me to address, please let me know, it would be fun to answer your questions!

Becoming A Celebrity

Ken has been doing some speaking at various groups in the city. There is a group that meets every other Monday at a nearby Library. This group is called the American Corner. They meet to discuss things about America – culture, current events etc. Ken has also given a talk for SELTA (Saratov English Language Teachers Association). As a result word has gotten out that there are Americans in town! We have been inundated with requests to judge various events. Ken judged a speech competition; I judged a singing competition and a skit/play competition. All of these took place in English and the organizers were excited to have native English speakers to judge the presentations.

The skit competition was in an elementary school in the city. Getting to and from the school was interesting. The person who invited us arranged for a car to get us to the school. We were driven by the son of the woman who is the “Minister of the Department of Education for all English Instruction.” That is not her exact title but hopefully you get the idea. Interestingly enough, despite being in charge of English Education, she doesn’t speak English. We arrived at the school and none of the roads around the school were paved. The dirt road was full of potholes large enough to swallow a small car. On the way home we shared a taxi with another woman. She called several times for a taxi but was having difficulty because they could not figure out where the school was. She informed us that the street name occurs in 2 other places in the city. We ended up waiting for the driver who brought her to the school as he knew where it was located.

The competition was wonderful! The children sang songs in English, and performed skits in English that reminded us of home. A few of our favorites were Peter Pan, The Jungle Book and The Wizard of Oz. At the end of the competition the Minister of Education was speaking (in Russian) and I confess to zoning out a bit. That is, until she handed the microphone to me. I looked to the women with me who explained that she would like me to make, “A few remarks.” Now, if you know me, you know that I do NOT enjoy public speaking, but I pulled it together, faced a sea of faces and made my remarks! Ken has been teasing me mercilessly about this! We also met Nellie at the competition. She was another judge who confided that she was not going to judge the competition until she learned that Americans would be there. She brought a Dr. Seuss book for the children, got our phone number and has already invited us to her school to speak.

This photo is from the skit Peter Pan, the girl holding the crocodile is Sveta. Her father is from OH and has been in Saratov for 13 years. We had the pleasure of meeting them. Katie was thrilled to spend some time with Sveta and we are really enjoying getting to know the family better!

The next day we were invited to a local English school. This is an elementary school that focuses heavily on teaching the English language. Ken walked with the kids and I to the school and then proceeded on to the University. I went to the door, buzzed to be let in, asked for the teacher I was supposed to meet and was met by a blank stare. I asked the woman if she spoke English, she responded, “Nyet” and slammed the door in my face. We tried another door and found someone a little more helpful. I gathered from her hand signals and my limited knowledge of Russian that we were at the wrong school. We continued down the street looking for the school we wanted. We had the address but not all of the buildings had numbers on them. We found another school on the next block and assumed that this was the correct school (how many schools could be on one street?). Unfortunately, we were again at the wrong school! We continued another block and found our destination. We entered the classroom and found that they had prepared tea for us. We had tea and cake and shared about life in America. The students had many questions for Katie and Dylan. We learned a bit about the Russian school system – they begin their school day around 8 and end at 1:30, however, they have school on Saturday and receive 4-5 hours of homework each night. There are not enough schools in Saratov for all of the children and some students go to a “second shift” of school and have school in the afternoon and into the evening.

Many people comment that we are the first Americans that they have ever met. They have many questions for us about America. We try to answer as truthfully as we can and share both the good and the bad about America. Many people are very surprised at our honesty in sharing some of the troubles our nation faces. These conversations have been some of the best moments that we have had while here in Saratov.

On another note:
• We are looking forward to a week that should be in the 50’s, however, we can still find piles of snow/ice on the ground.
• A special hello to Aunt Nancy, Dave and Dan (heard that you were keeping up with our adventures)!
• We have become huge fans of roasted chicken. These are similar to rotisserie chickens that we buy in our supermarkets in America. Here they are sold mainly by street vendors. They use a mystery seasoning that makes them slightly different, but much better than home!
• Our April 15th deadline has come and gone…the heat is off as is the hot water! Heat and hot water are centrally supplied. Every year, after the heat is turned off, they turn off the hot water for maintenance. We are unsure how long the hot water will be off. We are fortunate to have a hot water heater in our flat. It is very temperamental, sometimes we freeze, sometimes we scald ourselves but at least we aren’t boiling water for baths!

Birthdays and Easter - Russian Style

In the past few weeks we celebrated not only my birthday, but Easter as well. I thought that I would tell you a little bit about those days and some other highlights since my last posting.

My birthday (36th) fell on a Wednesday this year. I declared it a vacation from school. We have been very structured and have not had any days off from school since we came. The kids were thrilled to have a day off. I didn’t tell them that the day off was really for me! The kids gifted me with a quiet morning so that I could sleep in. When I finally wandered out everyone was very eager for presents. The kids had spent a lot of time making me cards and drawing me pictures. I received two very special gifts. The first was a Matryoshka doll. This one was unique because each doll had a “sight” from Saratov painted on it. The doll had all my very favorite Saratov sights – I can’t wait to show it to everyone when we get home! I also received a teapot. Russian’s are known for drinking tea. This teapot was made from Russian clay and is beautifully decorated. I was surprised by all the gifts (our friend Nick showed Ken a souvenir shop – they were very sneaky). We went for a walk to the Volga – saw that the ice was melting. We never did get to see the “riding the ice” spectacle, but seeing the thawing Volga made me very aware that spring is on its way! We went to a local café for dinner but the kids were not sure that they could find anything they would like, so we ended up at Papa John’s. We are still working on adventuresome eating with our kids. We ended the day with a lovely cake from our favorite pastry shop. I couldn’t have asked for a more memorable birthday. The only thing missing was being with family and friends!

Easter is an important holiday for Russians! We found kits to dye and wrap Easter eggs. We especially loved the plastic wrap for eggs. The egg slides inside a decorated piece of plastic. The egg is then dipped in hot water and the plastic seals to the egg. The designs were beautiful – Russian churches etc. Everyone was telling us about Kulich Cakes. They popped up in many of the grocery stores, in the market and on stands in the street. They looked like a giant cupcake. We have loved all Russian desserts so we eagerly went out and bought some Kulich for our Easter. While it was good, it doesn’t compare to the pastries. It was more like bread that had raisins and bits of dried fruit inside. We went to a house church and they had a meal after their service. We enjoyed talking with all of the members but had a very nice conversation with Max. We have really loved getting to know some Russians outside of the University and learning about their lives.

We also have had some changes to our plans as far as travel… We were planning to go to Europe (France/Switzerland) in early May. The University is on a bit of a break and it would have been a good time to travel. However, Ken was invited to speak at a University in Nizhny Novgorod. On the map Nizhny Novgorod does not look so far away but there is no direct train line from Saratov. We hear that it is a 20 hour train ride. We are realizing how remote we are! We discussed trying to do both but decided that all the train travel would be very stressful for the kids. We had a family conference to let everyone give their input and cast a vote. We were amazed that everyone agreed on going to Nizhny Novgorod! We all felt like we wanted see all that we could of Russia while we are here. So hopefully we will get to Western Europe at some other time in our life but for now we are looking forward to Nizhny Novgorod (which we hear is the most beautiful city in Russia). At the end of our time here we are also planning to see Moscow and hopefully St. Petersburg.

In closing, just a few highlights:
• We met an OH native who has been here for 13 years. We had a traditional Russian meal with his family. We finally tried beets and found that they were good!
• Bought tickets to the local ballet – looking forward to that in a few weeks.
• There is still ice on the sidewalk in places but it is rapidly disappearing.
• April 15 is not a tax deadline in Russia, it is the day that the heat gets turned off. We have been roasting all winter but I’m wondering how cold these spring nights will get?!