Long Time, No Write!

Sorry that it has taken me so long to update everybody. My Internet was gone for about about a week because they thought I didn't pay my bill but I did so I sure showed them, ha! About three weeks ago I went to one of the palaces of Catherine the Great. It is called Tsaritsyno and is in Moscow. That is what I love about Moscow, everywhere you go there is another palace or cathedral to explore. I have decided that I want to try to see something new every weekend. Tsaritsyno was beautiful and the snow had just fallen so it was a special experience. I enjoyed watching the ducks swim across the half frozen pond, they would swim up to the ice and then hop and walk on the ice until they hit water again.....needless to say I have a plethora of duck pictures. I always enjoy going into the city and exploring on the weekends with my friend Abby. We always end the day with a typical cup of coffee and usually go back to her place and hang out. This particularly weekend we watched The Princess Bride...my favorite.

Abby and I are getting excited to go home on Dec. 26th. Our flight happens to be the same because it was the cheapest and we will endure the journey together. It is officially one month away, how exciting! The time will pass quickly I am sure. I am busy with school and I have a new schedule now. I teach Monday through Saturday because of a special case VIP client. My boss asked me to do them a favor and test drive this 13 year old advanced student. She wanted to see if he would like me as a teacher and vice versa. He had previously been through 4 other teachers that weren't to his liking. So I was really nervous to see if I would pass the test. Well he really did like me and told me I was the best teacher he had had so they gave him to me permanently. So now I teach him 6 hours a week. This meant that I was working too many hours so they had to take away two of my classes, which was really sad. I said goodbye to my students in these classes and they were pretend crying and I love them for that. The good news is that since I work an extra day I get paid more. Also this 13 year old boy, his name is Yura, wants extra lessons with me and he wants to pay me to tutor him privately for about the equivalent of $33.oo an hour. This is the going rate for English lessons and is more than I get paid for at Language Link so I said heck yes! He is a very strange boy though and there is a reason that he has been through so many teachers. He makes shocking and inappropriate comments to see how I will react and I just don't give him the satisfaction.....a problem my predecessors had. So now that I know how to handle him I actually enjoy teaching him, he is very smart and studying for the CAE exam, which is very difficult and many native speakers wouldn't pass it. He is also a typical spoiled rich kid and I thoroughly enjoy giving him some tough love. I have created this environment so that he really likes me and we joke around and when he is bad I simply tell him that I won't be his teacher anymore and he pretends to cry and he gets all whiny and we laugh.....so I can tell he likes me and I feel good that I succeeded where others failed. It was a big deal to keep him as a client because he is so rich and has so many individual hours......he pays about $100 an hour to study with me through Language Link.

My other classes are still hilarious. I just think they are so funny and I really want to take them home with me. One of my students in my English in Mind 2 class is a total smart-Alec and I asked him what his favorite film was and he said the Telepusiki film.....which is Teletubbies in Russian. So this has become a class joke and I make fun of him all the time about it. He is one of my regular trouble-makers as well. His name is Artyom and when his friend, Nikita, is there too the class is pretty hard to manage. So a week ago I explained to them how I couldn't hit them in school because I would get in trouble, but that if I ever saw them on the streets of Zelenograd that they'd better watch out! They proceeded to throw some gang signs at me (because they think they are gangstas) and they said that all their friends would be with them to beat me up. So I pounded my chest and challenged them to a fight in the parking lot at 4:00 pm on Saturday. They accepted and the whole class thought it was hilarious. These boys brought it up for the next few days in class about how I better watch out on Saturday.....I just told them that I could take them. When I would yell at them in class they would just say, "four o'clock!" and I would laugh......they are so funny. So needless to say I didn't show up....but I think they did because on Monday they were really upset that I didn't show up....hahahaha. I think this little stunt has endeared them to me forever. Today I threatened to give them to another teacher and they begged me not to so I think I have won them over.....even though it is unconventional to challenge your students to parking lot fights, it is effective! I really think that my little trouble-makers are my favorite students because they provide me with banter to entertain the whole class and the key to management is to get the leaders on your side. I also love Andre and Roma in my English in Mind 4 class. They are like 15 years old and I still have to send them to the corner and I am of course and laughing the whole time and so is the class because it is so ridiculous.....I love it when they beg for mercy....mwahahahaha.

So now my life has settled down again and I am getting into a regular routine. My Thanksgiving was sadly lack-luster though. It was another typical day, but I did talk to my family which was nice. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday I think....the meaning behind it is so pure and untainted. I also love how it is just about love and family. I have great memories of my Thanksgiving last year in Greece when all the study abroad students banded together and made a potluck Thanksgiving! There was no topping that so I just made potatoes and fiesta eggs and ate by myself in my room....hahaha....it sounds so pathetic.

This weekend I think I should relax and not do any sight seeing. I followed this advice a couple of weekends ago and I layed in bed watching Xena Warrior Princess all weekend long....it was the best. But last weekend I went to a beautiful park and convent called Novodevichy in Moscow. I just enjoy walking around and catching up with Abby on our weeks and our wonderful children. It was so funny, when we went to Starbucks, the cashier guy was making fun of me because I didn't speak Russian, but luckily Starbucks is an international language.....hahaha, so anyways, I was going to buy a drink and this really cool travel mug in the shape of a Matryoshka doll, but the guy told me that I could have it for free! It was like a $10 mug and I didn't understand why I got it for free......I think it is because he was making fun of me and he felt bad. I have had him before as my cashier and he always makes fun of me in Russian and I can understand enough Russian to know when I am being made fun of.....hahaha....I will go back this weekend and see what I can get for free! Maybe I won't have to buy Christmas presents after all....hehehehe.

Having Fun and Gettin' R Done!

I am loving teaching more and more. My babies have been great to work with lately.....it's like they finally get me, the REAL Shayla....hehehe. We have a lot of fun together and we can joke around and have a good time. One tiny problem with all this mutual love is RESPECT. They respect my authority and do what I say but they don't view me as their authoritative teacher, more as their mentor and friend. They are constantly bombarding me with questions about my personal life and they always want to know what adult things I did on the weekend. One of my thirteen year old students, whom I call Punk Rock Polina, asked if she could go to a Halloween party with me! And when I am sick, my babies send me get-well e-mails. I can't decide if I like this or not. I like it that they get my humor and that they think I am funny, but I feel like maybe my classroom should be more professional and less casual. Then again, it is more fun for them to learn in an environment like this.....I can't decide, I just know that right now I am not conforming to the "norms" of teaching. Regardless, I find solace in the fact that any one of my classes would break out in tears if they found out that I wasn't going to be their teacher anymore.....hahaha...I'm serious, I really think they would chain themselves to the door and have a sit-in protest. Makes a girl feel good:) Next week I will be observed by my boss and I warned my class that they have to be good so that they can make me look good. I told them to cringe and quiver with fear when I speak and to act like they fear me. They just laughed and said that I wasn't scary......that I was a good and funny teacher.....so I am still working on the instilling fear part.....I have a week to whip them into shape. I really hate being observed because I can't be myself or funny, I have to be serious.....blah. Normally in my classes I am candid and I tease my students and they love it, when I am observed I feel like I am doing something wrong so I have to go "by the book" and can't "off-road it", if you will, as I usually do.

Last week we did Halloween themed activities. I taught my little babies about a good traditional American Halloween and they had lots of fun. We had a Halloween party and they came to class dressed up as witches, pirates, and jack-o-lanterns! One girl brought in her keyboard and played some Halloween songs and we all sang with her. They wanted to go trick-or-treating around to the different classrooms but the other teachers were not on board so I just gave them candy....hehehe. They don't really celebrate Halloween in Russia. Some people dress up because it is fun, but they don't go trick-or-treating or carve pumpkins. So this was a fun treat for the kids.

On the weekend I went to a Halloween party in Mytischi, hosted by an Irishman. He never lets us poor, lowly Americans forget that the origins of Halloween came from the great nation of Ireland. I have personally developed a distaste for this country due to his imperialism for it and because he is constantly raving about the Americanization of Ireland and how the Americans are ruining the world....the usual. Anyways he had jack-o-lanterns so I was there! Abby and I met lots of Russians and some very strange people, some of whom came in costume. We stayed up really late and waited for the bus to take us home, but we didn't know what time it came. So a Russian man, who was at the party dressed as a pirate, suggested we get the train instead. Abby, the pirate, a gopnik (Russian mafia), a guy-who-is-a-little-out-there, and I journeyed to the station. Pirate drew a map on a napkin and had a compass so we trusted him.....and he was Russian. Alas, he got us lost and we were all turned around but we enjoyed a delightful 6am walk through Mytischi anyways. When we finally did arrive at the train station, we had to wait for the train. A woman walked by and refused to sit by us because of the kid who was dressed as a gopnik. This made the gopnik feel like his costume was a success. He did look pretty great, he was wearing a full on tracksuit, a beanie, an over-sized coat, and a silver bullet around his neck....pretty legit. Anywho, we get on the train and Pirate realizes that it is going the wrong direction.......oh boy. So this has now become an official adventure. We get off at the next stop and we couldn't go the other direction without having to pay again, so the station guards suggest we jump the platform. The platform is about 5ft high and no stairs and no footholes.....so it was a team effort. Everyone got up and I helped push Abby's butt up and then I was left alone. So the gopnik had to push my butt up onto the platform.....it was quite an ordeal. So finally we make it on the correct train to Moscow. Once in Moscow I had to get on another train to Zelenograd.....all in all Mytischi is about a 2 and half hour journey for me if nothing goes wrong. Needless to say it was an interesting weekend.

This week was so exciting because we got Wednesday off for a Russian holiday and I journeyed into Moscow to enjoy the day with Abbeford. I was feeling so inspired that I translated some Latin Harrius Potter on the train. When I arrived in Moscow, I met Abby and we went for our usual cup of coffee at Starbucks. This is what we do....we walk around and take pictures and go to different coffee shops......I really never get sick of it. After coffee we walked around the Kremlin walls and into Red Square, which was closed off for the holiday. It was great and I was in a great mood because I was having a really good hair day. My mood is directly affected by the weather and my hair. We explored some more and went for another coffee...hehehe. I didn't stay in Moscow long because it takes so long to go back to Z-grad and I had to teach the next day, but it was a fun break in the middle of the week. This weekend, I hope to do more sight-seeing....weather permitting of course. So update completed for now!