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!