Thursday, April 30, 2009

Russian Class Graduation Party.

The kids are proudly displaying their "Certificates of Achievement" for successful completion of "Russian Language, Level 1".

When you want to be polite you ask the hostess for a recipe of the dish you've tried at the party, regardless whether you liked it or not. Just to be polite. I don't do it, but I know that some people do that.

Well, today I was asked for a recipe a few times after our graduation pot luck lunch. And it was obvious that it was not due to the politeness factor! My borcsh was an instant hit! I am giving these kids and Moms a lot of credit for having the courage to try this very authentic soup that we cook almost weekly in Russia. As there was no one interested in seconds (besides my girls!), I still consider it a success! The sour cream part was not too much approved, though. Many of my "brave hearts" didn't want it in the soup.
I also made our traditional drink, kompot. It was gone before I could tell what the ingredients were and how I had cooked it. Someone suggested a great idea. Instead of a lemonade stand, we should sell this drink on a hot summer day. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for when we are homesteading and selling our freshly grown produce, homemade jams, and other yammies in the city! Back to the party...
For dessert I made blyny with strawberry jam and whipped cream on top. I wanted to cut some fresh strawberries for garnish, but didn't remember about it in time. As everybody was getting their desserts they were asked a question that they needed to know the answer for after completing the Russian course.

The first half of the class we reviewed a bit what we had learned with the kids, sang "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and "Wheels on the car", in Russian. The culmination of the program was to create a pen pal program with the kids in Siberia. So my students were asked to write a letter about themselves in English at home, and together in the class each of my students wrote a brief letter in Russian. I was so pleased with how the kids responded to my ideas and my ways of teaching. They have learned so much! I have ten envelopes ready to be mailed overseas. I just have to print our group picture and write up an introduction letter to the teacher in Russia.

After lunch we had part two of our finale. The students had to neat up their folders that we had been working on throughout the course and pass the test! The deal was if they would not manage to complete the test, they would not be able to graduate and would have to come to our house to do chores and learn more Russian. Guess what... I do not have anybody coming for chores next week, so that's a good thing for me as a teacher, not so good for me as a Mom :0)

The ceremony of handing in the certificates and goody bags with Russian candy and chocolates was bitter sweet as it meant that we would not be meeting on a weekly basis anymore and I am going to miss it.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

That's my MAMA.



My girls thought I was a good candidate for a portrait!
These days we are finding time to sit down to read together with the girls mostly in the evenings when the "younger generation" (here I mean the 2 yo and the baby) is snoozing away. And it has been such a great way to enjoy each others company and a good read towards the end of the day, to unwind before going to bed, and for the girls to draw.
We have been reading two books simultaneously. "The truth about bats", from the Magic School Bus series, and everybody's favorite, "On the Banks of the Plum Creek", by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It had been such a wonderful read-aloud!
We are looking forward to starting another book from the Little House Books collection.
And those two portrait of me are going to be framed!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Russian classes.


It's been going so well with me teaching a small group (10 in total) of local homeschooled kids (and their parents) some Russian language.
I have created a level 1 program, with 6 lessons once a week. With a few weeks being canceled due to the sicknesses and the program getting too streched out, we are finally approaching the finish line. We have the last class scheduled for next Thursday, with the graduation ceremony following the class and a potluck lunch with all Russian dishes!

The kids have been so awesome! I am enjoying teaching them a lot! The curiosity, the wonder and the excitement in their eyes, the willingness to figure out how to read those weird letters and not to make the tongue swell! I really think that some things will for sure get stuck in their little bright heads and hopefully I have sparked some interest and these kids' desire to explore more and learn more about our Russian culture and language will grow.

It was just so rewarding to hear one girl say, "Oh, we were watching a movie at home and then they mentioned Valentina Tereshkova! And I knew who she was!" Oh, another girl got so curious she had asked me to lend her a book in Russian so that she can try to copy some pages into her notebook.

And when I am reading them a poem about a birch tree or a fragment from Pushkin, they do not understand what it is about, but they are so quite, they concentrate, paying such attention and simply absorbing the sounds, I am in awe.

It is a pretty intense program, but we are having too much fun! Last time when we had revised the things we had learned from the previous class, learned numbers, sang a song "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" (in Russian, of course), I asked them if they'd like to take a mini break or if we should continue. What do you think the vote was? I was the ONLY one ready for a break! Now, isn't it awesome! There could be no better reward for a teacher!
We have made mini books about the body parts and animals, we have created a calendar and learned days of the week, we have played Russian games and sang Russian songs.

The last class was the most interesting for the kids and the parents as well. We were learning about the birch trees as the icon of our culture and what the bark is being used for. I had a few items crafted form the bark, talked about the "lapti", and explained the process of collecting the sap from the birch trees, which is very similar to maple tapping. But the culmination was sampling of the birch tree juice! With the vote 10:4 ("like it-don't like it") it was an instant hit with most of the kids! They wanted seconds! The best discription I can come up with for the taste of the juice is that it might remind a fresh spring rain water, mixed with melting snow, sweetened with some sugar. Mirek said it was disgusting. Not to the kids!

My students went home again with a homework. This time they have to not only practice what we had learned during the class, but to also write up a short letter about themselves (in English), telling a bit about their hobbies, families and life in the US. And during the class next week we are going to write short letters in Russian, as the idea is to send them to Siberia and establish a pen pal program.

Our girls are having a great time during those lessons as well. Even though most of the things I am teaching they know, but they told me it didn't matter as they had been having a lot of fun and are glad their friends were learning Russian!

One of the Moms told me that she's enjoying the classes so much and had never learned so much in such a short time. Another Mom had asked me if I was planning to continue with the classes, and I am happy to say that that was great news! I guess I should roll up my sleeves and get to work on "Level 2, Submurging into Russian language, for adventurous kids and adults".

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Pictures, not words...


Grandpa was saying I write too much. It's difficult for him to keep up with my posts. Here you go, a story in pictures...



Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Ottawa.




It was 10 pm on Saturday and we were debating if to go to Boston or try to drive to Ottawa. And now that old telephone book came in handy. What a thrill it was to try to contact long lost friends! The moment I heard my friend's voice on the phone, I knew I could care less about Boston, I needed to see my friend and visiting Ottawa was million times more exciting for us anyway.
It was settled and the morning didn't come soon enough. I could not wait, the anticipation was a bit too much to handle for a mother whose hormones were still going up and down. The drive was beautiful and we really enjoyed the scenery. However, the lunch outside as a picnic was out of the question! We were going even more north and it was quite noticeable.

We loooved Ottawa a lot and would like to go back yet again, since we got only a glimpse of it. Probably, when it is a bit warmer, though! It is a beautiful and seemed like a pretty laid back and calm city. Calm...ha. How about that demonstration we have witnessed! Nevertheless, no hard feelings, I hope the situation in Sri Lanka would stabilize soon enough.

But what draws us back to Ottawa stronger than a force of gravity is the wonderful friends we have there! It seemed that there were no 10 years that we haven't seen each other. The happiness of the meeting was in the air and I've been thinking about that moment ever since. It still feels almost surreal. Has we really met again, or was it just a very happy dream? The pictures are the proof that it was not a dream, and that miracles in life do happen, and friends like that do exist. This trip made me more rich. I am more rich because I know I have people I can call my second family!
Thank you so much for your hospitality, love, laughter, smiles, positive energy, delicious meals! My mouth is still watering at the thought of that homemade red caviar, and Mirek is getting ready to go fishing with the Master Fisherman! So, I guess we'll see you soon!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Our mini vacation. Going north...




We were DREAMING about repeating our last spring's family trip to the Florida Keys. Setting this kind of goal in the beginning of winter seemed to help to bare the long, freezing days and fight the winter blues.
But what so typical of our family is that we are very impulsive. Someone might look at it as a bad habit, but we are actually enjoying being out of whack, so to speak, because this kind attitude always brings more adventure.
Since we have Mirek's high school friend visiting us from Europe, we wanted to show him some of the nicest places on the East coast we had previously visited with Mirek. We planned on going to the Niagara Falls, heading towards Boston and coming back along the Atlantic shore and stopping by in Cape Cod. Then we checked out the map and saw that Toronto was very close from the border. I contacted a dear old friend of mine and we had a place to stay. So, instant change of plans.
We really liked Toronto. We went to the CN Tower, which is the tallest building in the world, and cruised for a couple of hours in Royal Ontario Museum , which is the largest museum in Canada. Two major attractions in one day! Not too bad, taking into consideration the " four little tales" we had with us.
Next stop... Boston. Apparently, not so much! After studying the map and calculating the distance it would make no sense to drive there at all. We needed a different plan. Thank goodness for my old address book I happened to throw into my bag the last moment!..

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Painting on the deck.

We are so delighted to see our the tulips and daffodils we have planted back in the fall coming up! We have cleaned the area from the dry leaves and put a bit of mulch to please the eye even more. In preparation for Easter and in order to bring some color before the flowers will bloom, we decorated a tree with rainbow plastic eggs. Looks vibrant! But the major highlight of today was spending our day on the deck. Since the weather is finally improving and it is getting warmer why to stay indoors if we can have it all, the arts and crafts, plus the fresh breeze?
Milana was working on mixing the colors, plus learning how to say them in English. The two older sisters were busy painting the bird houses. We have one hanging in the front porch, but they decided it is not enough. We have been learning a lot about the birds lately and watching the spring activity while having breakfast. They are the most active in the mornings, and Tufted Titmouse is a frequet visitor to our feeder. It is facsinating to observe the birds taking the sunflower seed from the feeder, fly away to the nearest tree and crack it open against he tree truck, and enjoy the treet.

We'll put the feeders up tomorrow, and hopefully more birds will be attracted by the bright colors and we can identify more species.
While I was taking a few pictures of Ivana and Leona working on their projects, Milana managed to give the baby her paintbrush. He is very good with grabing things already, so he definetely seemed to be enjoyjng it before I realized and took it away. Oh, yes, there was still plenty of paint on it. Thank goodness, he was munching on the other end!