English Cafe, etc.

I want to post about my time at Red Square on Saturday, but I'll save that for another post. I'll tell you about English Cafe on Saturday night first.

It was so much fun! It was Open Mic night, so a lot of the Russians and a few Americans shared some of their stories, songs, poems, talents, etc. Some of them were hysterical, and some were just beautiful. Everyone who performed was genuinely talented! I also got to meet and talk to a first-timer to English Cafe. Her name is Kate (short for Yekaterina; she prefers Kate because she is a fan of the singer Kate Perry), and she is in high school. She's 14. I tried to make her feel welcome because I know how hard it is when everyone else around you is ten years older and you feel out of place because of the age difference. It's an unpleasant feeling. So, we chatted about stuff, and she wanted to know if I would be at Cafe next time. She seemed to indicate that she wouldn't come if I weren't there, and I was really happy that I talked with her because if no one had, she might not have come back. So, I hope to get to know her better.

To the left is Luke. He is a 5th grade teacher next door to me. To the right is Phil, my cooperating teacher, before he dyed his hair black. They were doing a rhyming game for their talent. :)
(Picture courtesy of Christiana)

Here Luke is dressed as Abraham Lincoln while reciting the Gettysburg Address for all everyone. An American experience for the Russians. He also gave a history lesson on the speech. How teacherish of him! :)
(again, pic courtesy of Christiana)

These guys were pretty cool. Their band was called Hook & Snow White. You can watch them play below...
(Pic courtesy of Christiana...)

Hook & Snow White here are singing "Breakfast at Tiffany's." They also sang "Kiss Me" (by Sixpence), and it was so funny because the girl would always sing"Kyeess Me." She didn't have an accent anywhere else in the song except then. In this video, you can hear a little bit of their accent because they pronounce "Tiffany's" as "Teefany's."

Here Anna taught everyone how to salsa dance. I am horrible at dancing, so I passed on this round even though I wanted to dance. I have great ambition, but little talent. Sigh. Anyway, it was really funny to see everyone dancing. They loved it! That was supposed to be the "talent" part...so that everyone could claim they shared something at Open Mic night. "Yes, I danced for my talent!"

And here we are all joining with Hook & Snow White, singing "I'm a Believer." They were so into it. The guitarist (sorry, you can't really see him in the video) is the first C&MA missionary ever to be sent out from Chile. So, that's pretty cool. He's been in Moscow doing missions longer than most people.

After English Cafe ended at 9ish, some of us went to a coffeehouse.

On the far-left back is Liza (pronounced Leeza), then me, then Andrea. (Can't really see Elvira on my side.) On the other side at the back is Marina, then Pasha, then Dima, and there is Nick/Nickolai on the front. Sasha was taking the picture.

Pasha and Dima GRILLED me and Andrea about everything...

What are the top universities in America?
How do colleges work in America?
If you get a degree, do people come and make you work at a specific place? (Don't know where that one came from!)
What do you think of your new president?
You think Obama is better than Bush, no?
What do you think about the Georgia/Russia conflict?
What do you think about the Ukraine/Russia conflict?
Do they teach world history in America?
The school you teach at here -- is it religious?
How is this constitutional? Is it not wrong to teach religion?
Do you go to church to pray?

So, I was pretty much mentally exhausted after that. I just wanted to ask, "Why do you even want to know my opinion? I am not anybody special. My opinions are meaningless and based on bits and pieces of things I hear or read." So, I wouldn't say going to the coffeehouse with them was a "fun" thing for me because I felt very pressured to say the right thing, and I don't know what I'm supposed to say and not say when discussing politics and religion with Russians. So, that was kind of stressful for me.

Last time at the skating rink, you know how that one guy asked me what I thought of their president? I said, "I have no opinion." (His question turned out to be some kind of joke going around Moscow.) Well, anyway, Carrie suggested that when I am asked what I think of Russia's president, I should reply "I have no opinion of Yelstin." Haha. I love that. How's that for an ignorant American?

Andrea wanted me to adapt it for when Pasha asked me what I thought of America's new president. She begged me to say, "I have no opinion of Reagan." Haha...I didn't.

I have been asked more than once about my political views, and I've decided that this will be my response. People expect too much from the president. No matter what political party a president is, he or she will not be able to fulfill all of the promises made. He cannot make everyone happy. He cannot bring about change like we expect. He cannot fix all of our nation's problems. And I don't think it's a political party issue; it's just the fact that he's human.

And Pasha and Dima seemed satisfied with that response.

Tomorrow night I go to Kazan with some co-workers. We're taking an overnight train. I am really excited! Kazan is interesting in that most of the people there are Muslim. It's also the capital city of the Republic of Tartarstan. I'll come back to Moscow on Monday morning. School resumes on Tuesday.

As always, I'll keep you all posted!

Much Love,
Meredith