"You're not our teacher, you're our friend!"

One of my resolutions this year is to keep up with my blogging and so far so good:) I am in the middle of my third week of teaching since returning from America. I have officially decided not to return to Russia next year and since I have made this revelation, I am a new woman. I feel anxiety free while teaching my classes because I don't have to deal with the repercussions next year....hahaha. I know that sounds bad but I am actually a better teacher when I am more relaxed. I am still trying to do a good job because it is in my nature and I am working toward some raises. But I realized that during my experimental year of teaching that I have created some behavior problems in my classes and I am not as resolved to fix them now that I know I won't be returning. My students think of me more as a friend than a teacher and I am at the acceptance stage of this problem.

Yesterday, when I was laying down the law in my English in Mind 2 class, which is filled with 13 year olds, I told them that they have to listen to me because I am the teacher. They said to me, "You are not our teacher, you're our friend!". My heart sank at these words and I put my head on my desk and sulked. I felt like a failure as a professional. After some time though, I realized that I am okay with this. These students go to Russian school all day and their teachers are very strict. Then they have to come to English after school because their parents make them. The nature of English class is to speak, so I do talk to them like friends and I make them talk about what is happening in their lives and their hopes and dreams. And I can see how this "theory" of theirs developed. The bottom line is that I want them to enjoy themselves so that they enjoy English and will continue learning it in the future. I am trying to instill passion in them and to give them a different perspective on life from my American point of view. The American POV and the Russian POV are vastly different when it comes to hopes and dreams. In Russia, before they attend University they must take a test like our SAT or ACT. Their score on this test determines what occupations they are eligible for. It all comes down to one test! And once they are in University they complete two years of generals, which are the same for everybody--no choices. Then they must choose a path that they were eligible for via taking the University entrance test. So there is not a lot of room for exploring knowledge and having hopes and dreams. Everything is very practical and that is why when I ask my University students what they are going to be, they all say, "engineer". It is not there dream to be an engineer, but it is there 'lot in life'. So although, I would not necessarily teach exactly the same in an American classroom, I think my teaching style suits an EFL classroom.

I had a relatively good week. I found out that I will be getting my old class back of FCE level teenagers. They were given away because a teacher left and I had to take her classes. But now we will have a new teacher and he will take that class, which is not my favorite, and I will get my favorite class back. It was one of their birthdays on Friday and the girl told her teacher that she had to go to take a phone call and she snuck out to see me in the teacher's room. This is the third time that she has done this in the middle of class. She told me that it would be the best birthday present if I could be their teacher again. They were forming a conspiracy and were preparing to raise arms against the administration if they wouldn't give me back to them. I really feel like I am not just a teacher, but that I slightly impact these students' lives and that is what gets me through the day. Russia is not the easiest country to mentally handle. I am isolated linguistically, socially, and remotely. It is depressing to not see the sun for days, to watch how many people are drunk in the middle of the day, and to hear blatant racism talked about like it is the weather. It wears on your heart and soul. So when I tell these stories about how much my students love me, it isn't to brag, but rather, to preserve memories that keep me going. Sometimes I compare Greece and Russia. Greece was very inconvenient but I was always a happy camper, whereas Russia is very convenient, but it is very depressing at times. I can easily see why the people drink so much. To see how the drinking has destroyed the people makes one sad and to never want to drink for fear of ending up like them. Sorry this has taken a depressing turn.

So to counter those depressing words, let's talk about my exciting weekend! On Saturday I hung out with my Russian friends. Their names are Alla, Rita, Julia, and Katia. Alla's parents were at their dacha (country house) and so she invited us all over to her flat. Other Russians were there too and we all made pizza and played Mafia. Not everyone spoke English so I got to practice and expand my limited Russian, especially while playing Mafia because you need to discuss who is in the Mafia. Mafia is such a popular game in Russia and it will always be near and dear to my heart. We also tried to watch a movie. I told them to play it in Russian because everyone spoke Russian except me and a couple of people didn't speak English and those that did had limited English knowledge. So in the end, they couldn't decide and we gave up and played more Mafia with "The Holiday" playing in English in the background. They were all amazed at the sound of the actors' and actresses' real voices. In Russia, all the voices are dubbed. They also gave me a Christmas present! They gave me a Zelenograd T-shirt and a Matryoshka doll; they are so sweet. I will really miss them and I hope to return their kindness and hospitality if they come to America.

On Sunday guess what I did? That's right, I went to Starbucks with Abby and walked around Moscow! It never gets old. Sometimes I am amazed that Abby and I don't run out of things to talk about because we call each other during the week and talk for a couple of hours when needed and then we talk constantly for hours every Sunday. And we are pretty much the only people we talk to....hahaha....I told you socially limited by choice. Well that is pretty much it and I better go to get ready for work.

Out With the Old and In With the New!

Wow, I can’t believe that it has been over a month since my last blog entry. This clearly shows how much I hate blogging even though so much has happened? I went home for the holidays and had quite an adventure getting there. I flew out of Moscow on Dec. 26th and had short connections in D.C. and Chicago. Needless to say it was a harrowing journey because of the extra security measures due to the terrorist attack in Detroit on Christmas Day. After having gone through security in Moscow, they cleared everyone out of the gate and rechecked everyone by hand, including our shoes and carry-ons. Because of this and extra security paper work my flight was delayed three hours. So I therefore would theoretically miss my connecting flights. Well, the pilot made up an hour of flying in the air but it was still a tight squeeze. I had anticipated these difficulties and I had brought only a carry on so that I could quickly go through customs in D.C. and not re-check baggage and thus make my connecting flight. In the end I had about 15 mins to run to my next flight and I SO would have made it but as I was running to find my gate I saw it was cancelled. This is probably why they called my name out as one of the unlucky ones who would be put up in a hotel for the night in D.C. I thought I would still try for the sake of trying, so instead of going the custom service line, which was a 4 hour wait, I went to the next gate bound for Chi-town. I got on stand-by and was second on a list of what would eventually be sixty. Despite my efforts United airlines insisted that I would be staying the night in D.C. or Chicago and to basically stop fighting my fate. Wow, I just realized this story sounds a lot like my favorite classical tale, the Aeneid! So anyways, I got on the Chicago flight and thought I would still try to make it to Minneapolis. I arrived in Chicago at 9:45pm and saw that my original Minneapolis flight had been delayed several hours and was leaving at 10pm so I still had a chance! I ran through the airport and made it just has they were making the last call. In the end I arrived at 1am and I hadn’t even had enough time to tell my parents to come pick up in between airports because of all my scurrying. So I called them up when I was in Minneapolis after I had told them hours before that there was probably no way that I would make it home and would be staying the night in D.C. The moral of the story is never give up at an airport and never let those airlines tell you what to do!

Once I had finally made it home, I had a delightful holiday. I slept at my parent’s hotel and then in the morning my immediate family had Christmas together. I saw my brother and sister and gave everyone their presents. Then it was off to Grandma’s! This is why I had to get home on time, I had a schedule to keep. My extended family usually meets at my Grandparent’s house in MN and this year they waited until Dec. 27th to have Christmas because of me. It was really nice to catch up with everybody again and to talk about my experiences. I saw my cousins and I can’t believe how much they have grown up and I am so proud of the little adults that they have become. I realize that I have done a lot during the past few years and I have had my share of growing up as well. It felt good to pass on my wisdom to them. After Christmas, I had some quality Gran time and we played Rummy Cube (Granny’s favorite game). I stayed the night and then the next day I drove up to the Cities to stay with my good friends Andy and Kelly…..for writing’s sake let’s call them Kandy.

I was so excited to see them and to hang out with them and other friends in the area. One of my besties, Sarah, came and stayed at Kandy’s the whole 3 nights I was there too. The first day we went to Mall of America and got our fill of shopping. Oh how I missed Gap and Old Navy! It was great and we ate Subway! I had missed that as well. Then we went and hung out at the apt and played Tie One On….I pretty much dominate at the game and so I always want to play it….hehehe. The next day Kelly had a dentist appointment so Sarah had to babysit me and we bonded at Starbucks for a couple of hours. Then the three of us resumed our shopping habit and girl talk. I didn’t care what we did as long as we were together and it was so great to see them. You would think that I am used to long distance relationships so I would be good at them….but I’m not. I love talking face-to-face, I am not the same via Skype or AIM. So these were great days that I could spend with my girls. They have been so supportive of my travels and even though it is a friendship strain, I know that they will always be there like nothing has changed. On the third day I dragged them to the Minneapolis Institute of Art because I wanted a little culture. We had a good time looking around and we all got a little nostalgic around the Egyptian collection. I love just looking at beautiful and interesting things. After this we went to Chipotle, because that was also on my to-do list. I missed my Mexican food! After three nights with my friends, I thought that I had better head back to Wisconsin to see my family.

I had only seen my family for a few hours on Sunday so I was looking forward to catching up with them for a longer time. I played games on New Year’s day with my family and I went to a movie with my high school friend, Sarah. We saw Sherlock Holmes and caught up on each other’s lives. I hung out with her again a few days later and I realized that it is nice to just sit and do nothing. For the rest of my week home I caught up on sleep, TV, and my family. I flew back on Thursday Jan 7th, and I had a similar experience going home as was my arrival. I had to completely change flight paths which led to the loss of my baggage. I can talk about all this very calmly now, but surprisingly very little English is spoken in a Russian airport and filling out lost baggage forms for people who you can’t communicate with is interesting. After a very frustrating two days I made it home to Zelenograd and slept for 19 hours straight. Next I am just going to foot the bill and fly direct! My bags were returned to me in the middle of the night four days later when I was awoken by a Russian man who I couldn’t understand and who couldn’t understand me ……..but somehow we figured it out….hahaha.

I had to weekend to adjust to Russia again and then it was off to work on Monday. In the beginning, I was really depressed to be back because America was so awesome and I felt trapped like I was in prison or something and couldn’t get out. But then I realized that Russia is amazing and I might as well enjoy the experience while I could. I was nervous for work to start because I figured that they would have changed my work schedule again. Lo and behold they did? They got rid of my favorite class and gave me some new classes in an effort to even out the teachers’ hours. I was sad and my class was sad. They are trying to get me back as their teacher but I don’t know if their efforts will prove fruitful. On Tuesday, my administrator informed me that my roommate and I will be moving at the beginning of February because my land lord no longer wants to rent to my company. So that was a shock because I had finally gotten internet set up and I had a washing machine and life was grand. I don’t like sudden change like this, not after I had finally gotten used to my apt. So who know where I will end up now but life is an adventure, right? What will be, will be and all that jazz. So I think I have gotten you all caught up on my life and I can go to bed now…yay!