The cold also brings other hilarities, like when we tried to mop upstairs, the mop was frozen solid (they keep mops outside here). So we poured hot water over it until it had defrosted a bit.
On Saturday we had our mini party to celebrate a month to go til we return to the UK, so we watched Lost in Translation complete with the drinking game, which was a good film, although a bit ironic, since it’s about people being in a foreign country but missing home, and having communication problems…!
Sunday was pretty rubbish, everyone forgot about us, and Katya was away, so we had to fend for ourselves (we’re too British to go round asking people to have us over for meals…). This meant that we had to go to the shop, where we successfully found some pasta sauce and cheese, which was pretty good, although the sauce was ridiculously spicy after months of bland food here! (They use nothing except salt and pepper, no spices or herbs etc…) So we were feeling a bit down and homesick, especially as the sky was so grey. But we watched the Inbetweeners’ film, and that cheered us up.
Some really great cereal
On Monday, we had a lesson with the 1st form, which was successful, as they remembered the words for different colours, and we taught them some new colours, and they got to colour in, which they love. We then had karate. The first few exercises were pretty extreme, and Lois had to leave as she felt ill, so I was left to practice my blocks against a pillar (not joking..) Then, since most (if not all) the kids have passed to the next belt colour, Sasha taught them a new sequence of moves which were very confusing to me. She then got them to practice individually in the middle while everyone else watched. Since she’s never asked Lois and I to do this before, I assumed I’d be okay to just sit down and watch, but after the kids had their turns, she asked me to come up. Umm..?? That was pretty scary, since I had not mastered the new moves in any way!! Luckily all she wanted me to do was to practice how to stand properly with my ‘fingers’ (she meant ‘toes’, but I didn’t want to correct her, since she was helping me and all), towards the centre, and how to move backwards and forwards with my foot making the letter ‘C’ on the floor. It doesn’t sound particularly complicated but it kind of was.. But it was much less embarrassing than I was expecting, and I was proud of myself for staying in the class!
After lunch, we had our first ever Game Club. This was brought about after Max said in a meeting that he wanted to play more games, but no one had the time to watch the kids. So Lois proposed the idea that we take it on. It took quite a long time to get the okay, but finally it happened, and I hope they keep it going after we leave because then we will have left something really good in Orion! Unfortunately Lois was too ill to come with me, so, with Ira’s help, I ran the club. At first, I thought it was going to be the biggest failure ever, since when I arrived, only Ira and Zhenya (who was curled up on a sofa attempting to sleep) were there, and there were no games out. Luckily, Max soon arrived, and I got him to go and get his two favourite games (the Game of Thrones game, and The Settlers of Catan). Then Dima turned up, and started playing a game with the pack of cards I’d brought. Roma, Zhenya, Vanya and Petya also turned up, and started a game of Twister. Max attempted to teach me how to play The Settlers of Catan, and Ira joined in, but because some of her set of pieces were missing, she had to borrow some from the other set, which meant that only the three of us could play. This then meant that Dima had nothing to do, so I taught him to play Solitaire, but it was a bit complicated, as I was trying to teach him that while trying to learn to play a different game! In the end I understood basically what I was doing, so it was good, even though I lost magnificently…! At the end, Ira said thank you, so that was nice, and I was very grateful for her help! So overall I think the Game Club was a success!
That evening, we watched the Bridge to Terebithia, thinking it would be a nice heart-warming children’s film. We were so wrong. (Spoilers if you’re thinking of watching it!) Josh Hutcherson (looking sooo much younger than he does in The Hunger Games) plays a boy who makes friends with this creative girl, and then out of the blue, she dies, and he has to escape into the imaginary world they created together in order to escape his grief. Not exactly cheerful!
On Tuesday, we thought we didn’t have any lessons, but as usual plan change! So we had to plan a lesson for the 5th form at short notice. It wasn’t a bad lesson, but they had a lot of energy and weren’t exactly focused! But some of what we taught them did at least stick. We’ve had to correct the English textbooks before (the 6th form book, for example, stated that there were 6 continents – there are 7 - and that Australia is one. Which it isn’t), and this time it was trying to teach them ‘animal hospital’, so we changed it to ‘vet’, since no one calls it an ‘animal hospital’… Also, it taught the word for ‘greengrocer’, but that is pretty outdated now, so we taught them ‘supermarket’ as well. And today and dinner, Dima repeated this, and knew that ‘animal hospital’ was wrong, so we were very proud!
We then spent about 2 hours getting the White House ready for all the guests who will soon be arriving. Basically the whole village was in our house, cleaning and getting beds ready, fixing things, and sealing up one of the doors which is no longer in use. So now everything looks very clean and welcoming!
We also had a Russian lesson in the evening, which was really good, and for the first time, I think I understand verbs of motion and their prefixes properly! Lena is a very good teacher, and it helps that there are only the two of us, so she knows if we don’t understand something, and can help us easily.
My parents rang very late in the evening. Basically Russia is now four hours ahead of the UK, because, after a lot of confusion, we finally found out that they weren’t changing the clocks this year. I can’t believe how disorganised it was – no one knew, we asked people in the village, and Google etc! But it was really good to hear from them, and to hear some motivating and positive things! Plus I got to speak to Chris twice which was really good since I haven’t been able to speak to her for ages!
Today, we had just one lesson, as we were supposed to have one with the 4th form as well, but they were both ill! There is an illness going round the village, so every morning less and less people turn up for breakfast. I’m surprised that we haven’t got it yet (although Lois looks like she’s on the way to getting it, which means that I probably am too, but I came prepared with Lemsip and lozenges etc so it should be fine….) since we aren’t used to Russian illnesses…. Then we had two hours cleaning in the White House again, which involved hoovering up lots of flies from upstairs, and a lot of ironing.
On Friday, lots of people will be turning up to run this sort of wide game, where the kids have to defeat the ‘ogres’, and Katya is going to show us the film that this is based on, so that we understand and can take part too, so that should be pretty good! It lasts a few days, as it will be half term for all of the kids, except the 9th form, as they are preparing for their scary university entry exams. So we have a week off of teaching, so I don’t know what we’ll be doing instead…
Although the teaching can be hard at times, I do find it rewarding, especially when the kids finally get something, or are really enthusiastic.
And now we have just over three weeks left! I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone. Although I will be happy to go home, it will also be hard to leave this village with people who have been so kind to us (except maybe Galia….!!) for three months. And all the lovely kids!
Also, although today might be Halloween, we aren’t allowed to celebrate as it’s deemed to be ‘too evil’. So yeah. Bit odd not to do anything, but oh well! It will be strange not see any fireworks on Guy Fawkes night either!
Thanks for reading!
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