6th Grade Sledding Party!

Hello! Today we had the 6th grade sledding/movie party. We went to a hill by the Profsayuznaya metro, and we sledded down a fairly steep hill for about an hour and a half. I have discovered that my camera battery freezes and dies within ten minutes when I am outside. I think I am going to start using my hand warmers to keep my camera warm so that the battery won't die down so quickly.

Anyway, the sledding/movie party was so much fun! My first trip down the hill sent me tumbling, and I made a few painful turns until I landed hard on the ground. I am going to have some bruises. After that I got the hang of it and managed to play without getting TOO hurt. We were all absolutely FREEZING though after awhile. Every time I took a picture, my kids would say, "I....can't...smile." It was so cold (around 14 F); it really did physically hurt to smile, but we did it anyway. :)

Here Phil took a shot of me about to go down the hill. This is not my normal smile. This is my "I'm in pain, but I'll give it a try" smile.

I'm really glad I went. I was able to bond with my 6th graders, and a few of my students took this opportunity to chase and throw snowballs at me. My girls are less violent and wanted me to just ride down the hill with them.

Walking to the hill...The boys couldn't wait. They were making snowballs and throwing them as we walked.

In the following video, you can see us trudging through some snow. David is showing me a piece of ice he found underneath the heavy snow. David loves talking about all sorts of interesting things. He loves to learn. I think he will be a good teacher someday because kids always ask him questions, and he always explains things so thoroughly. I have more about David written below...

Here below is Robert going down the hill. In his words, "AWEEEESOME!" (I love this video.)

And here below Mark and Hanna take a fall:

Some pictures are below...

The hill. It's much steeper than it looks here...

Emma & me.

Ho-Jin. I wish you could see his mullet here!

Sledding down...

Some of the boys.

Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet girls. L to R: Haesl, Glory, & Hanna

A close-up of Glory & Haesl (pronounced just like Hazel). They are precious. Glory isn't actually in my any of my classes except for study hall. She's an ESL student, but really she's an ETL (English as a Third Language) student in my opinion. She's fluent in Korean (naturally) and Russian. She reads Russian books in study hall all the time. Her English isn't as good as the other students, but eventually it will be. I am so jealous of her -- being fluent in three languages. Haesl also speaks Korean and English, but I think she's pretty good in Russian too. I have Haesl's older sister, Dasl (Dah-suhl), in 7th grade.

Adorable boys. L to R: Kang Wook, David, & Ho-Jin. They are so smart. David's English isn't as good as it could be, but it makes him all the more hilarious. He'll act stuff out to me and say, "How you say...how you say...ummmm....?" all the time. He often raises his hand, and then when I call on him, he thinks for about 30 seconds about how he should say what he wants to say. You can tell he's translating in his mind first. Ho-Jin is really good at vocabulary, and Kang Wook knows the location of every country in the world. I feel like they are so much smarter than I will ever be!

This is David, the one in the video. (I have three Davids in the 6th grade.) David is small, cute, and innocent in class, but outside of class he is a fighting warrior! He tackles you, jumps on you, chases you, and mercilessly throws snowballs at you. David tried to teach me how to make the perfect snowball, but he informed me that I don't have the right kind of mittens for them. I will have to remedy this soon if I am ever to get revenge. Haha.

David's parents are C&MA missionaries, so David's mom was really excited when she found out I was from TFC. She is a Nyack alum though.

Jesse & Mark. Mark was trying to do bunny ears, but his hand didn't quite reach that far...

Mark's parents are long-time missionaries and started a growing international church here in Moscow years and years ago. I have his older brother Drew in the 7th grade. They are from North Carolina and were really excited when they found out I was from Georgia. They said, "We're neighbors! Southern pride, yeaaaah!" haha

Eating hot dogs, drinking hot chocolate, watching Princess Bride.
During the movie, the character Westley says, "Death cannot stop true love..."
Mark rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, it can."
...love it, love it, love it!!!