Alfred 6 (July 7th. “I don’t think i’m in Kansas anymore…”)

July 7th
Okay, so I have been In Russia for a week now, which went by very quickly. I began teaching on Monday. None of the students have ever met an American, and most of the town hasn’t either, even the English teachers. They are so happy that we have come to the middle of nowhere, Russia, to learn about “the real Russia.”
The English teachers are using this opportunity to improve their English skills and learn some slang ^_^ One of the teachers, Dasha (who is also the program coordinator), is training to take the English teaching exam. Brett and I looked at the stories in the book of practice exams and began to laugh. There were so many grammatical errors that we told Dasha not to use it. The stories were saying things like “I dropped Sarah” instead of “I ignored Sarah,” and did stupid things like begin sentences with “and” or capitalized “WhErE thEY Were nOT sUPPoSeD TO.”
Today was also the Russian holiday of Ivan Koopala (Translated as Ivan swam… its supposed to be in reference to Ivan the Terrible). The townspeople throw water at each other to celebrate, so I preemptively stored everything electronic away before entering the street. At school the kids SOAKED us, and to incorporate some American traditions, we had a water balloon fight (good thing I brought them!). The principal of the school thought it was hysterical, and he took pictures of us in the classroom, then outside during the water fight, and then after he was done taking photos he sent two of his students after us armed with a 2 liter soda bottle and a bucket of water. One of the girls in my class, Angelina, was screaming bloody murder. It was great, especially because it was so hot today (which meant I had a warm shower!).
I need to plan for my lesson tomorrow. Two of the newspapers are coming to my school to interview us for the papers. They think it’s great that we’re here and they’re fighting for the opportunity to report on it. After all, it’s not like much happens here!
What else….hmmm…. OH! I met the cow today whose milk I drink every morning! Its so weird to have the milk not processed right there. I learned that in addition to the cream that forms on the top of the jar when you have fresh milk, сметана (sour cream), is also formed! Talking about milk, it was difficult to explain to my host family that my father drives a milk truck. They didn’t understand why we process milk, or the concept of distribution. If you can’t grow it yourself or get it from a neighbor, then you shouldn’t have it. Everyone should have a cow nearby, according to them. However, I really can’t picture a cow being kept in a NYC apartment. We have a whole other concept… convenience! They don’t understand this though, only that they have a наторалны продукт (natural product)!
Gotta go, hope to write soon!

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