"First Day Forecast"

So, you may be wondering, how my first day teaching in Moscow went? Well, it goes a little something like this.....
I woke up around 6:30 and I am so cold, I can't remove myself from under my covers but I knew I needed to get moving before I would be late. I rolled out of bed and grabbed my jacket before I even found my clothes to wear. I went and checked the temperature and much to my surprise, a whopping 46 degrees! No sun and mega winds!! WHAT?! I am not ready for this just yet.. "a couple more days, a couple more days!" I picked my jaw up off the ground and finished getting ready. Off to school I went. When I made it to school, I had a red nose and wind burnt cheeks! I got settled in and made sure my last minute things were done before the children started to show up. I was getting excited and a little nervous.
Finally, the moment I had been waiting for all this time. And there they were, my little anxious Kindergartners. I only had one child cry at the beginning when mom left but she clinged to me for a little and adjusted very quickly! PTL!!! I also received flowers from one of my Russian students today. This is actually a tradition here, on the first day of school, the Russian students bring their teacher flowers. How precious?! But of course, I was unprepared for this action and I had to scramble around to find something to put them in so they did not die the first day! Thank you Natalie for saving my flowers! When we made it to the classroom, we immediately jumped into the name game so we could all get acquainted farely quick. All of my students picked up my name, "Miss Macomber" very well, I was impressed! I had six of my seven show up. Two boys and four girls. (Polina, Sadie, HaRin, Laurel, Evgeny, and Andrei) (Umida was missing today)! Polina, Evgeny, and Umida are all of my Russian children. Evgeny speaks pretty decent English but Umida and Polina do not speak English at all. That definitely made for an interesting day today! ;) I had to do a lot of pointing, signing, and acting for Polina today, but we made it together!!  Andrei is my dual child, Russian and American, so he speaks very good in both languages! HaRin is my only Korean student and she went to a English speaking Pre-K so she knows English very well. Last but not least is Sadie and Laurel. These two little girls are my American children.
As many of you know me, you know how much of a planner and timely person I am. Well I do have to admit that my class was not only the last to make it to, "Beginning of the School Year Assembly" but we were also late!! I was so involved with getting to know my students, I completely lost track of time and was escorted to the cafe by another teacher, whom had to come and get me from my room. (Whoops)During Assembly, the Elementary Principal, Karen, gave the children a word to remember this school year and it was the word, "FIT". Each letter stands for something that she wants the students to be this year and she was asking the children what they thought each letter stood for. "F" is for friendly. When she got to the letter 'I' she asked, what do you think 'I' stands for and my little Laurel yells out, "IGLOO". It was too precious! I couldn't help but giggle in the corner. Well, "I" did not stand for Igloo, it stands for inquisitive and "T" stands for teachable!
Shortly after assembly was over, it was time for my students to split up from me and go to either Russian class (if they dont know Russian) or ESL (if they need help with English). During this time, it was my break time. I proceeded to move towards the stairs (which there are three stairwells in our school and all are three flights of stairs) Most of you are thinking, "oh no" and you would be right! Miss Macomber, in a dress might I add, tripped up the stairs and about went face first into the ground. A Russian staff member and tried to grab me but I jumped up and continued to laugh hysterically at myself. I looked at the lady and said, "Its ok, Im clumsy, and I do this often." She responded with, "Oh girl, it is only the first day." We both laughed and kept on moving in our own direction!
The day flew by from this point on. We did some math and Bible, and we played in our centers and on the playground. By the time I had the chance to really sit, it was time to get the children and all their belongings together and head for outside until it was time for dismissal. I think all the children got out their first day jitter bugs and are excited to come back tomorrow! I actually had 3 students who kept informing me that they were not ready to go home. Am I that much fun to be around? (I thought to myself- surely not) LOL
With all of this being said, my first day as a "Kindergarten Teacher" in Moscow was a success! I have a lot of memories already and I am excited to see what all this school year will bring me!

The Adventure has begun

For the last month I have been so emotional but I still looked forward to the adventures I would have when I made it to Russia. As August 9th finally approached, I was so exhausted, anxious, and emotional drained to actually be heading out of Jacksonville. My wonderful friends, Terry, Stan, Ray, Patty, and Lauren all came to the airport to give me hugs and wish me a farewell! Good memories from that day will always remain close to my heart, especially "Nemo."
 I made it from Jacksonville to NC to DC. Now was the time to start getting fidgety because the real step was about to happen. When I made it to DC, we were at gate Z and I had to make my way to gate A so I could pick up my ticket and then proceed to find food and a bathroom before I needed to board my last plane. The line grew extremely long and I made my way to the end of the line to only stand there for about an hour before we could board. Our plane was supposed to leave at 7:45pm, we did not take off until about 8:15. Some where in the air we lost some more time, so instead of the plane ride taking 9 hours it took us 10. On the long plane ride, there was screaming babies, snoring men, squishy seats, loud music, and other unfortunate events going on around me. I decided my earplugs were a great fix and I laid my head on my pillow. The ladies in Orange (flight attendants) served us dinner around 10:45pm, it consisted of: salad, beans, chicken, Potato, mixed vegetables, wheat roll, and cheesecake! It was delicious. The next morning, around 3:30 am they served us breakfast, I was not hungry so I passed and went back to bed. Needless to say the plane ride took forever and my legs and rear were screaming at me.
We FINALLY made it to Moscow and from here I was lost. The airport was huge, I don't speak Russian, I have no friends, and I don't know where to go. I followed the crowds of people and made it to the passport control station, where I needed to be, and the lady at the desk laughed at me because I didn't speak Russian. Ha, ok! Then after I finally managed to find my luggage, which took about 45 mins, I was able to leave the place. I found the girl, Caitlin, holding the HCA sign and we made our way through the garage to our driver. When we finally got into the car and drove away, I felt so at peace about making it all the here with no problems! That was a God thing!! Then we got stuck in traffic for almost 3 hours. I was scared for my life on this trip to where I was staying. The people I seen on the roads made me so nervous. They swerved and weaved terribly, they didn't use blinkers or horns, they made their own lanes, and just about every couple miles someone was broke down and it didn't matter which lane you broke down in you just stayed there and got out of your car, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY! WHAT??? No big deal! LOL...
I then made it to the apartment of the director of the school and his family. I will be staying with them until the end of August unless I decide not to move into my own apt, then I will stay here for the next 10 months. That will be determined soon! The family is very sweet and welcoming. The apt is super cute and nothing like I was expecting at all. There is a bathroom and a toilet room. They both are very small but they make me giggle every time I use one of them. The toilet paper is super thin and definitely NOT Charmin. ;)
On my first whole day in Moscow, I did not do too much. I slept in until 7:30. (haha) Eventually I finally decided to venture out around where I am living. But before I could do such things, I had to go out 4 different doors and needless to say, I couldn't figure out how to open one of them. Took me about 10 minutes to figure out I needed to push! :)  I didn't want to go too far because I didn't want to get lost so I stayed on the four roads surrounding the apt complex. There was a lot to see and explore just on those four roads! I walked into a convienant shop, (super cute), walked past a gas station, seen a couple churches,  stared at a couple huge buildings (that I couldn't read what they were), came across a pair of shoes on the sidewalk, and even talked to a Russian. Then it started to rain and I needed to make my way back to the apt. I was successful at getting back into all 4 of the doors with the 3 different keys I had to use.
One small giggle, I got on google on my computer and everything was in Russian and at the top of the screen it said, "would you like to translate into english?" I chuckled and talked to my computer and said, "yes please!" Our high today was 67 and by dinner time it was down to 62, it feels GREAT!!!
Well,  svidaniya Do!!