An incredibly busy day, with many lessons about my school and visitors from other classes joining in. Children doubled the class sizes and spilled over into the aisles-- changing lesson plans at the last minute and looking for electric cords, which are in short supply here. (Lyuda had to rent a projector screen and a television, whereas I supplied the laptop and projector brought from the states). Having rented the TV and DVD player, it took 20 minutes to get set up, with the remote difficult to work, but we could only show 10 minutes of the DVD about US National parks. That was frustrating and didn't go as well as we would have hoped. Nevertheless, we know everything isn't going to go perfectly as planned, and both Lyuda and I are flexible!
At the end of class with the 7th form, I handed out some Easter candy I'd brought (Peeps), which they seemed to enjoy. I wanted to bring something different than just chocolate. I felt pulled in all directions today--sent to eat lunch by myself when Lyuda had a teacher's meeting. She didn't get any lunch at all and has been so busy running around trying to get everything organized. She's worked so hard, I really appreciate all that she's done! Finally after lunch, we took the 7th formers to the "food products plant" where they make breakfast cereal (Kasha-- meusli)Once we were allowed in, it was very interesting, but when we first arrived they kept us standing outside in the cold for about 10 minutes while waiting for the appropriate approval or something. Beurocracy!It was quite cold and drizzly all day, and Lyudmila kept checking to see if I was chilled. The cold made me really wish for a convenient washroom-- if I could change one thing about this country it would be the availability of modern bathroom facilities!
After the tour, we went to Lyuda's home for a snack of smoked fish, kasha and tea. As we warmed up, we planned the parent meeting for this evening about a "Healthy Way of Life." I was to do a Powerpoint presentation about American food and eating habits and the students had some ideas to share. About 12 mothers came to the school, but it got off to a tense start when they began arguing about the school uniform. In their presentations, all of the students emphasized eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, though I haven't seen much of that in the meals I've eaten. Certainly the most common vegetable is the cabbage in the omnipresent Borsh soup. Also, students understand that fast food is not healthy, but they have no access to it here, only in the big cities, so it really is an exotic luxury they may only have a few times a year. Later we (Lyuda and I) met up with the Peace Corps volunteer Natalie at the restaurant (I think it's the only one in town)and had a lovely meal. Small world, Natalie is from the Portland/Vancouver area and knows Moscow.
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