My schedule is still up in the air, but I'm getting used to teaching and living here in Podolsk. My third week of working was extremely busy as it involved doing three English clubs, one of which took place at a public school. I don't know a lot about education in Russia but what I do know is that children aren't typically sent to school until they're seven years old, and the same building that teaches seven-year-olds also teaches 18-year-olds and everyone in between. Also, the years in school (grades in English) are more often referred to as forms (like in England I believe), but in Russian the word is "class". Which makes many things confusing.
Anyway, so two weeks ago I went to a public school and taught a class of 11 or 12 year olds for forty-five minutes. When I got there I discovered that most of my material would have to be scrapped because almost none of the students could even say a sentence. I managed to make it through the time but it was difficult. The school was pretty nice, in a formal kind of way.
My rodent friend is still alive and well despite several attempts to poison him. All three times the poison disappeared but he did not. He chewed a hole in my kitchen floor because I tried to block him out (or in). He leaves droppings everywhere (though mostly in the toilet, fortunately). I've accidentally left the trash in the kitchen three times and he has chewed through it and strewn trash everywhere. Sometimes (usually at night) he makes noises in the kitchen, pushes against doors, and gnaws at the floorboards. In an effort to make him seem more friendly and mischievous than evil, I've tried naming him Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov (the Russian Rodent) after my favorite protagonist (from Crime and Punishment), but it doesn't seem to have worked because I recently woke up yelling three times in one night because I was terrified that he had found a way to get into my bedroom. I'm going to talk to someone about him today.
Last week I did some level tests at Dannon (here Danone) the yogurt company. There was a large security office at the entrance of the plant with about eight guards. When we went into the office, we had to put on shoe covers. It was an interesting experience. Apparently I will be teaching there soon.
Monday was a national holiday, officially known as Unity day, which celebrates an uprising by the common people to throw Polish invaders out of Moscow in 1612. People seem rather dismissive of this holiday and if they are to be believed, everyone just sleeps on this day. I asked one of my adult classes about it and they said that in the past there was a holiday on November 7th in which there were communist demonstrations to celebrate the October revolution. They said that because the USSR became the Russian federation, the government thought that this holiday needed to be changed to reflect the difference. Maybe the USA has changed a holiday in my lifetime, but I don't remember it--I think it would be quite odd.
Anyway, so two weeks ago I went to a public school and taught a class of 11 or 12 year olds for forty-five minutes. When I got there I discovered that most of my material would have to be scrapped because almost none of the students could even say a sentence. I managed to make it through the time but it was difficult. The school was pretty nice, in a formal kind of way.
My rodent friend is still alive and well despite several attempts to poison him. All three times the poison disappeared but he did not. He chewed a hole in my kitchen floor because I tried to block him out (or in). He leaves droppings everywhere (though mostly in the toilet, fortunately). I've accidentally left the trash in the kitchen three times and he has chewed through it and strewn trash everywhere. Sometimes (usually at night) he makes noises in the kitchen, pushes against doors, and gnaws at the floorboards. In an effort to make him seem more friendly and mischievous than evil, I've tried naming him Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov (the Russian Rodent) after my favorite protagonist (from Crime and Punishment), but it doesn't seem to have worked because I recently woke up yelling three times in one night because I was terrified that he had found a way to get into my bedroom. I'm going to talk to someone about him today.
Last week I did some level tests at Dannon (here Danone) the yogurt company. There was a large security office at the entrance of the plant with about eight guards. When we went into the office, we had to put on shoe covers. It was an interesting experience. Apparently I will be teaching there soon.
Monday was a national holiday, officially known as Unity day, which celebrates an uprising by the common people to throw Polish invaders out of Moscow in 1612. People seem rather dismissive of this holiday and if they are to be believed, everyone just sleeps on this day. I asked one of my adult classes about it and they said that in the past there was a holiday on November 7th in which there were communist demonstrations to celebrate the October revolution. They said that because the USSR became the Russian federation, the government thought that this holiday needed to be changed to reflect the difference. Maybe the USA has changed a holiday in my lifetime, but I don't remember it--I think it would be quite odd.
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