Carly at coffeehouse.
The girls and I bonded on the way to metro...
Carly, Rachel, & moi. Rachel is the kind of girl you meet, and you think, "What are her parents doing to make this girl so wonderful?" She's smart, well-behaved, sweet, funny, kind...
L to R: Hannah, Rachel, Chrissie, Masie, CarlyRandom facts: Hannah is moving to Prague next year.
Rachel's father is a pastor of an international church in Moscow.
Chrissie is adopted from Ukraine. She doesn't think I look Ukrainian. :)
Masie is extremely bright. Her mom is a genius too.
Carly is really funny. She tries to fight off the boys by being mean, but it doesn't work. Thankfully, the powers that be (me) move the boys away from her. She is very thankful for my protection. Haha.
Rachel's father is a pastor of an international church in Moscow.
Chrissie is adopted from Ukraine. She doesn't think I look Ukrainian. :)
Masie is extremely bright. Her mom is a genius too.
Carly is really funny. She tries to fight off the boys by being mean, but it doesn't work. Thankfully, the powers that be (me) move the boys away from her. She is very thankful for my protection. Haha.
David playing chess and drinking out of his Winnie the Pooh mug. :)
Matt is a gifted poet. Very corny, sensitive, smart, and funny.
Drew is a fellow southerner. Obsessed with NC football.
Beautiful girls....Chrissie, Hannah, Rachel, & Carly
David L., David C., and Mark.
Paul (8th grade) and Eun-Chung (7th grade) were cracking me up on Friday. They kept waiting by my laptop for my screensaver to pop up because it scrolls all of my pictures. They asked who every single person is. "Who ees thees?"
"That's my roommate."
"Roommate? OH...And who ees thees?"
"That's my grandmother."
"Grandmother! You steel have grandmother?"
"Two. And my great-grandmother is 99."
"99?!?!?!!?!" They wanted to see pictures of my family, so I showed them. They were fascinated.
Maybe it's just that Koreans are more family-oriented, but I think it's rare for young teenagers to even care about their teacher's family. Most teenagers are friends-focused, but I was surprised to see how interested Paul and Eun-Chung were. And this was after school too. They could have gone home, but they hung around, wanting to know about my family. So funny...
------
On Sunday we went to church. I've decided to not go to church with the family anymore. I need an English-speaking church. As fascinating as hearing Russian for an hour and a half is...I need to be at an English-speaking church. I am going to visit ICF next week.
After church we went to IKEA for lunch. The family pronounces it i-kay-uh. Russians pronounce it ee-kay-ah.
Then we went to the mega mall next door to look for a new cord for my laptop. Mine doesn't work anymore, so I have to borrow one of the girls' cord. Thankfully, it works with my laptop. The one I've decided to get is $50. Not too happy about that. It's that pricey because you can use it in a car too. So, that will be really useful to me here. Blah. Plus, it's going to have a European plug, so I'll have to get an American converter when I come back home. :/
After that we went to Ashan which is the busiest store in Moscow. Actually, the whole center (the mega mall, Ashan, and IKEA) constitutes the busiest shopping center in eastern Europe. It's not the biggest, but it is the busiest. Anyway, Ashan was insane. It was so busy. People were crammed in there like sardines.
Russians love Ashan. It's a French grocery store chain, but it's the closest thing to Wal-Mart. The Americans call it a Wal-Mart on steroids. Frankly, I think Wal-Mart has a wider selection, and Wal-Mart is more consistant. That's one thing about Russian stores. They are not consistant. They may have something this week, but not next week. They may have something for a month, and then they won't have it for six months. You can see how crowded it is here. Cathy said that it wasn't very busy when we went. Saturdays are the worst.
I think the most annoying thing about Russian stores is the way they organize things. For example, take the shampoo and conditioner aisle. One side is shampoo. The other side is conditioner. This annoys me because it forces me to look even harder for the corresponding brands and scents of the shampoo I choose. It may sound simple, but it's not...especially when there are a thousand people crammed into that aisle. Oh, and then they will mix different scents and types of shampoo and conditioner in the rows. So, you don't have the green Herbal Essences shampoo bottles lined up neatly next to the green Herbal Essences conditioner bottles. No, the row of Herbal Essences has different scents and types all mixed in every which way, and then you have to push your way through a thousand people to go to the other end where the Herbal Essences row has conditioner bottles for dyed hair, oily hair, normal hair, and frizzy hair all lined up in a scattered fashion. You have to sift throw the row, looking for the conditioner that matches your shampoo. It makes for a colorful display, but I prefer uniformity when I go shopping, where each row stands at attention in the same colored bottle. Haha.
I shouldn't complain. At least they have Herbal Essences....I sound really high-maintenance, don't I? haha
I have more to tell you. I just need to organize it all.
Much Love,
Meredith
"That's my roommate."
"Roommate? OH...And who ees thees?"
"That's my grandmother."
"Grandmother! You steel have grandmother?"
"Two. And my great-grandmother is 99."
"99?!?!?!!?!" They wanted to see pictures of my family, so I showed them. They were fascinated.
Maybe it's just that Koreans are more family-oriented, but I think it's rare for young teenagers to even care about their teacher's family. Most teenagers are friends-focused, but I was surprised to see how interested Paul and Eun-Chung were. And this was after school too. They could have gone home, but they hung around, wanting to know about my family. So funny...
------
On Sunday we went to church. I've decided to not go to church with the family anymore. I need an English-speaking church. As fascinating as hearing Russian for an hour and a half is...I need to be at an English-speaking church. I am going to visit ICF next week.
After church we went to IKEA for lunch. The family pronounces it i-kay-uh. Russians pronounce it ee-kay-ah.
Then we went to the mega mall next door to look for a new cord for my laptop. Mine doesn't work anymore, so I have to borrow one of the girls' cord. Thankfully, it works with my laptop. The one I've decided to get is $50. Not too happy about that. It's that pricey because you can use it in a car too. So, that will be really useful to me here. Blah. Plus, it's going to have a European plug, so I'll have to get an American converter when I come back home. :/
After that we went to Ashan which is the busiest store in Moscow. Actually, the whole center (the mega mall, Ashan, and IKEA) constitutes the busiest shopping center in eastern Europe. It's not the biggest, but it is the busiest. Anyway, Ashan was insane. It was so busy. People were crammed in there like sardines.
Russians love Ashan. It's a French grocery store chain, but it's the closest thing to Wal-Mart. The Americans call it a Wal-Mart on steroids. Frankly, I think Wal-Mart has a wider selection, and Wal-Mart is more consistant. That's one thing about Russian stores. They are not consistant. They may have something this week, but not next week. They may have something for a month, and then they won't have it for six months. You can see how crowded it is here. Cathy said that it wasn't very busy when we went. Saturdays are the worst.
I think the most annoying thing about Russian stores is the way they organize things. For example, take the shampoo and conditioner aisle. One side is shampoo. The other side is conditioner. This annoys me because it forces me to look even harder for the corresponding brands and scents of the shampoo I choose. It may sound simple, but it's not...especially when there are a thousand people crammed into that aisle. Oh, and then they will mix different scents and types of shampoo and conditioner in the rows. So, you don't have the green Herbal Essences shampoo bottles lined up neatly next to the green Herbal Essences conditioner bottles. No, the row of Herbal Essences has different scents and types all mixed in every which way, and then you have to push your way through a thousand people to go to the other end where the Herbal Essences row has conditioner bottles for dyed hair, oily hair, normal hair, and frizzy hair all lined up in a scattered fashion. You have to sift throw the row, looking for the conditioner that matches your shampoo. It makes for a colorful display, but I prefer uniformity when I go shopping, where each row stands at attention in the same colored bottle. Haha.
I shouldn't complain. At least they have Herbal Essences....I sound really high-maintenance, don't I? haha
I have more to tell you. I just need to organize it all.
Much Love,
Meredith
2 comments:
Your hair looks so shiny and pretty in these pictures!!! They must have good water in Russia! I remember in South Korea my hair looked extra silky/shiny! I always wished I could export the water to over here and shower in it all the time! Lol.
Some of the pictures didn't show up! SAD! Your kids are beautiful!!!! I think I would like them! I am glad you show them a picture of me! Lol.
That shopping center looks CRAZY! I think it's funny you ate at Ikea. Was it good? I remember in the Philippines that shopping for five things would literally take over an hour simply because there was no rhyme or reason to where they put things. It was always annoying! It was always crowded too, like that shopping center!
I hope you finally found your corresponding shampoos! Lol.
I really love the pictures of all your students. They are so full of life!!! You seem to be forming really good relationships with all of them. =)
And just knowing that Herbal Essence is sold in other countries makes me happy.When I was shopping overseas, they had these SM stores, the Filipino equivalent of Wal-mart. I liked them better personally.
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