Day 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55: The Tibetan Mastiff and a Graduation
Word of the Day(s): собака [sobaka]: dog
These next few weeks were pretty mellow, but still awesome because, well...we are in Russia! (there isn't a day that goes by where I don't have at least one cool thing to share).
Day 47 was the 29th of May. The day Max discovered he wanted a Tibetan Mastiff. He told me that we could get a dog right now if it was a Tibetan Mastiff. For those of you who don't know what this is, just imagine a bear and you pretty much got it down. This is what the dog looks like...
That was the highlight of our day.
Word of the Day(s): собака [sobaka]: dog
These next few weeks were pretty mellow, but still awesome because, well...we are in Russia! (there isn't a day that goes by where I don't have at least one cool thing to share).
Day 47 was the 29th of May. The day Max discovered he wanted a Tibetan Mastiff. He told me that we could get a dog right now if it was a Tibetan Mastiff. For those of you who don't know what this is, just imagine a bear and you pretty much got it down. This is what the dog looks like...
Needless to say, we never got a Tibetan Mastiff. ONLY because it wouldn't have fit into our tiny Moscow apartment. Maybe one day though...
Later that night, Max and I made popcorn, well I heated up the popcorn in the microwave and then Max added his own spices and flare to it over the stove. When the popcorn making process was complete, we watched Bruce Almighty. Such a funny movie. Max fell asleep, naturally, but I continued to watch and laugh by myself. No shame.
Day 48 was the 30th of May. I went to teach English to little Sonya. Our lesson went well. She has been repeating what I have said to her in English, but sometimes she doesn't want to talk to me in English so she will run to her mom and speak Russian with her. I have found that drawing pictures with her is the best way to teach her. I would draw a picture of an object, repeat the name of the object and as she colored I would tell her the color she was using. It was a good technique because she enjoyed what she was doing and I was able to expose her to English with more ease. It is best not to force the language on her, rather, let her direct the lesson. When the hour and a half came to a close, I said goodbye and headed back home. When I got home, I got lunch ready right away so that Max could come home and eat with me. When he came home, he rang our doorbell. We have this little screen in our apartment where we can see the person at the door and so I turned it on and sent him a message saying, "I see you!" Eventually, I opened the door.
After Max left to go back to work, I started on my homework. That was the gist of our Thursday.
Day 49 was the 31st of May. The last day of May! I did homework all day. I am trying to decide if I regret taking online classes while in Russia. I think I just have a hard time staring at a computer screen for hours on end, while Moscow is outside my apartment calling my name and saying, "come and explore me." By the end of the day my eyes feel fried and I feel like the computer screen is killing my brain cells while I am trying to learn. It feels a bit contradictory or backwards. I just miss the actual classroom and feel as if I am missing so many other opportunities. Well, I am in it, whether I like it or not. By the end of the year I will have my Associates and be that much closer to my Bachelors. Although it is frustrating to have to back track, I see the benefits of going to school at BYU-Idaho. It is an awesome university and I recommend it to anyone.
By the end of the day, I took a shower and waited for Max to get home.
When he got home, we ate dinner and went to sleep. Pretty exciting, I know ;)
Day 50 was the 1st of June and also Raquel's graduation day! Shout out to Raquel and all her hard work in high school. It really has paid off and we love you lots! We wish we could have gone to your graduation ceremony because you know we would have been the loud one's cheering you on as you walked across the stage ;) Here is Raquel, the beautiful graduate!
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| The family celebrating at Guadalajara (Jealous. I miss Mexican food) |
Day 51 was the 2nd of June. A day that consisted mostly of homework. I won't bore you with the details.
Day 52 was the 3rd of June. It was a sunny day, yet another boring day of homework. I wish I was a kid again.
Day 53 was the 4th of June. It was an exciting day. Remember Connie? I told you about him earlier in the blog. He is the guy that works for NOV (Max's company) that told me he would bring back some spicy food for me from Houston. Well, today he came back from Houston! He gave the spices to Max to give to me. He told Max that he even had to go into Fiesta (the authentic Mexican food store) to get the Tanjin seasoning. When Max showed me the spices, I lit up and have been using them on a regular basis. I love spicy food!
Day 54 was the 5th of June. Another day filled with homework.
Day 55 was the 6th of June. I went to teach Sonya again! A day I look forward to because I can take a break from homework and do something that I love, teach. Today went pretty well with her lesson. We focused on numbers and colors again. I also talked a little bit about animals. Sonya was repeating words more frequently and she seemed really happy. One thing that really impressed me today was that she counted to 6 pretty much all by herself. Natalya told me that her son had been helping Sonya learn how to count while I wasn't there to teach her. This made me so happy because I could really see the improvement. At the end of the lesson, I said goodbye and went home. On my way home, I saw this shirt and just had to take a picture. I have seen the funniest shirts here in Russia.
I taught a little bit later than usual today, so I wasn't able to fix Max any lunch. He was on his own. However, he has some type of luck in him because good things always happen to him! The day I don't cook lunch, they celebrate a bunch of birthday's in the office with pizza. His favorite food. I was a little bit jealous, I have to admit.
More to come ;)
It also snowed here in Russia! We call it the Spring snow, except it isn't cold snow, just fuzzy snow. This type of snow comes from a common tree found here in Russia called the balsam poplar tree. The Russian's call these fluffy seeds, pukh, meaning "tuft". They fall off the trees and fill the air. They are literally everywhere! They get up your nose, in your eyes, in your hair, like I said...everywhere!
(image from: http://freepresskashmir.com/russian-poplar-menace-kashmiri-lawmakers-step-in-for-solution190228/)
Day 55 was the 6th of June. I went to teach Sonya again! A day I look forward to because I can take a break from homework and do something that I love, teach. Today went pretty well with her lesson. We focused on numbers and colors again. I also talked a little bit about animals. Sonya was repeating words more frequently and she seemed really happy. One thing that really impressed me today was that she counted to 6 pretty much all by herself. Natalya told me that her son had been helping Sonya learn how to count while I wasn't there to teach her. This made me so happy because I could really see the improvement. At the end of the lesson, I said goodbye and went home. On my way home, I saw this shirt and just had to take a picture. I have seen the funniest shirts here in Russia.
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| It is a little blurry, but it says, "Bulletproof Edition" Ain't no bullets goin' through that shirt. That's fo sho. |
I taught a little bit later than usual today, so I wasn't able to fix Max any lunch. He was on his own. However, he has some type of luck in him because good things always happen to him! The day I don't cook lunch, they celebrate a bunch of birthday's in the office with pizza. His favorite food. I was a little bit jealous, I have to admit.
More to come ;)
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