The snowy madness has begun

Snow has arrived here in Moscow. Our first snow fall was October 26 during the Parent Teacher Conferences that were held at school. Needless to say, the snow didn't stick but I enjoyed watching it fall from the windows of my classroom. It was a blistering cold day. October 28 was the 'real' first snow day. I woke up to a beautiful white covered view from my windows of my apartment.
Not too many exciting things have happened since my last post, it actually has been a pretty hard month. I got a new student in Kindergarten, her name is Allison. Since Allison has arrived, the dynamics of my classroom have changed tremendously, and most not for the better. It has been a very crazy time in Kindergarten trying to get things back to 'normal.'
I did make it to the Russian Ballet and boy was that absolutely incredible. I have never any kind of ballet or dancing done so beautifully. The Russian Ballet consisted of, a Jewish wedding, Greek dance, Russian kick dance, Chinese dance, Japanese dance, a sailor dance, and many other things. Each dance was well performed and so fascinating! I cant even explain what I seen. I teared up watching the beauty of the dances being performed so perfect. I will definitely go see another one!
Twice this month I have had the privilege of going over to my bosses house on a Saturday to have dinner and play some games. This is always an exciting time because I dont have to cook! LOL My boss makes the best cornbread and she specially makes it for me every time I go over! :) I have had the opportunity to play some new games while over at her home as well as spending time with her family and making new friends! It is such a joy to have a wonderful family here that is so fun to be around and so uplifting.
I had the opportunity to go out around town yesterday with my bosses daughter and take photos of her for her senior year. We had such a blast together. I explored different things and starting with taking the brown, orange, red, green, and blue lines to get around town on the metro. We rode very steep escalators, walked thru metros, around a park, down Arbot street, and many other places. We also hiked up a huge hill, walked thru a watery mud hole, slipped on some ice, hopped over a small stream, walked by a river, and had so much fun doing it all. I also experienced a Russian Mcdonalds. Very different atmosphere, the inside of this mcdonalds was amazing and two stories. The 'drive thru' people were "walking thru" just absolutely different. Amazing to see how similar but different things like this are in another country!
I have started something new on Tuesdays after work with a small group of ladies that I work with. We now get together and do aerobics together! We had so much fun meeting for the first week but we all were so tired and sore for days following our workout. We will continue to do aerobics every Tuesday after work together, so please keep us in your prayers! Lol...
The first semester of school is done and grades are all finished. That was definitely a crazy week to get all of that finished on top of planning for our parent teacher conferences. But, I got it all done and on time! I do have a couple of funnies from the past couple of weeks from my lovely kindergartners. I asked all of my students, "What are some different kinds of people in the world?" I got some very expected answers like, boys, girls, black, brown, russians, americans... and then my youngest student yells out, "usual people- you know like the usual skin colored people." It was too cute! One more story and this has to do with my Russian student. At the end of each semester I will do an overall semester test to see what knowledge the child has gained, etc. On this test, I had to ask the child about, Top, Middle, and Bottom. I used a picture and asked the children to point to something on the top shelf, something on the bottom, and something in the middle. Well when I was testing my Russian, I asked, "Point to something on the bottom," but before I could finish my question, she pointed to the little girls "bottom" on the paper. I had to do everything I could to hold it together. Well she definitely knows what the body part "bottom" is and when I got around to finishing the question she could show me something on the bottom shelf as well! :) It was so funny and too cute. It made me very happy to see the progression that my russian speaking child has made so far in the first semester.
Our first semester as well as October has come to an end but the learning and making a difference in a child's life will continue. I look forward to all of the new adventures, stories, memories, and life lessons that the future here in Moscow will bring! 

The Sparks of Life

      September ended on a pretty good note. Fall has definitely settled in here in Moscow. Kindergarten has been moving forward and enjoying each day we have with each other. So many news things have come about in my class. Each and every day the children bring so much joy and laughter into the class and so much learning is happening among the students. I do have quite a few stories to share that definitely make me laugh every time I tell them.

The first story that many of you might be terrified to hear but to me it is truly a hilarious moment that I will never forget. Natalie and I were invited over to our bosses house, Karen. While we were over at Karens we  watched Robin Hood with the younger kids while Karen made a delicious dinner. We then ate Potato Soup and have Corn Bread, man it felt so nice to eat some southern corn bread! :) When we were finished we all sat around the table in the living room and played games. We laughed and had such a good time of fellowship with each other. Before we knew it it was late and we needed to get home. Natalie and I said goodnight and headed to the elevator. The elevators are very small here and its definitely an interesting experience. When we got to the elevator I climbed in and the doors immediately closed behind me with Natalie on the other side. I banged on the door and I could hear my roommate laughing on the other side. This was the moment I realized, "I am stuck in the elevator." One of the first things I was told when I got here in Moscow was not to be shocked if I get stuck in an elevator and that it happens to everyone at some point. So I started laughing hysterically. I am laughing so hard I am now hunched over holding my stomach because it hurts so bad and now I need to use the bathroom. The doors opened and my roommate is laughing so hard her face was red. We both finally made it to the bottom floor and out of the apartment complex, still cracking up laughing so hard we are both choking to the point of puking. I will never forget the day of being stuck in a very small Russian elevator by myself listening to my roommate cracking up on the other side. Oh what a night! 

A little dose of  what happens in my Kindergarten class every day. We got to chapel every Friday morning and I usually sit on the end of the row next to my class. Laurel wanted to sit by me one day so I allowed her to. Before chapel started all of the kids in the room were turned around and talking. I happened to look over right at the time that Laurel was starring at me and I couldn't figure out why, then all of a sudden she latched onto my arm and held on for dear life. I have no idea what is going on and then she leans over and whispers in my ear, "Miss Macomber I am so glad that you let me sit next to you in chapel because I love you." (As she leans in for a hug) Last week we were talking about Vowels in class. We have this vowels song that we sing every day before we move onto our next vowel and Evgeny, my very intelligent boy, stops singing and waits for me to acknowledge that he is not singing, and he shouts out, "Miss Macomber, I have no more oxygen in my mouth to sing this song, the vowels song is too much for my mouth." WOW! The things kids say, but wait it gets better. In science we have been talking about, Rocks, Sand, and Soil. On the first day we talked about Rocks and I asked my class who could tell me what a rock was, and my youngest, Sadie burst with excitement to tell me so I called on her. Her exact words were, "A rock is a hard thingy mabobber." I love he vocabulary that my class uses every single day, it's great. Also, yesterday morning when all of my kids came inside, I noticed Sadie's hair and I said to her, "Sadie your hair is a little wild this morning." Boy was that the wrong thing to say to a 4 year old because she had a come back. She starred at me and said very seriously, "Miss Macomber, my hair is still very sleepy and we need to give it time to wake up." Oh how I could not stop laughing after that comment was made. Oh boy, This is why I do what I do. The things that kids say definitely make teaching worth every second of my day for the rest of my life. 

Oh, this is so fun. As most of you know my roommate Diane from college, well she works at a christian school and the Kindergarten class at her school and my class are going to become Pen pals. I am so excited to see how the kids interact with each other through drawings, letters, videos, etc. My class is thrilled to be able to talk to people in the states. Some of them whom have never had this opportunity. What a wonderful experience for both classes! 

Here is another story from Natalie's third grade class that is very funny. You have to love teaching in an international school but using an american curriculum. What is a babushka? Well in America a babushka is a headscarf but in Russia it means grandmother. The third graders all know Babushka as a grandmother. Now picture yourself only knowing babushka as a grandmother and stay with me during this story. In third grade they are reading a story about a girl who went from Russia to America with nothing but her Babushka and her coat.In the story the girl swings her Babushka around and around as she dances with it. Then later in the story she takes her Babushka home and cuts it up and makes a quilt out of it. The kids at the end of the story were rolling they were laughing so hard. This is now the running joke in third grade! ;) 

 Well September is now over but October has definitely made its appearance here for me. My week of October has been an eventful one. It started out with us forgetting to pay our internet/phone bill so that got shut off and we weren't 100% sure how to pay it. Ha Ha. Then a very special necklace broke at work and I was devastated, BUT it may be able to get fixed. After this I went grocery shopping on the way home and decided I was going to make some dinner. I went to go plug in my microwave to use it and the outlet started sparking and smoking. I immediately unplugged it and it continued. I panicked mainly because I don't speak Russian  I'm home alone, I cant get a hold of my roommate, and my kitchen is sparking and smoking. I was able to get a hold of my boss and her husband had me go to the 7th floor and find someone to give my phone to them. I am very emotional at this point and this little old lady was able to help me. She came to my room and turned off all of the breakers and was able to give us a number for an electrician and stuff. My bosses husband came over as fast as he could. On his way he picked up dinner for me and he ran into my roommate. They both came to my rescue. We were able to figure out the problem and the next day another guy from work was able to come over and fix it for us. Praise God it wasn't something too serious and that I was able to find some one who could help me. Like I said, October has not been my month so far. Here is to hoping that it gets better for me! 

Other than all of the fun stories that have turned into such great stories of laughter, things have been coming together for me. I have had a lot of opportunities lately and a lot of decisions to make and I think I have come to some conclusions. I am very excited for all of the things that are happening in my life lately and I looking forward to many more so I can share them all with you! We also just celebrated the Korean Thanksgiving at my school. It was very different but totally amazing. What an experience to have had! Something fun that I am looking forward to, is this coming Thursday I have the opportunity to go to a Russian Ballet show and I am stoked! I can't wait to share that experience with you all! Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as we all try to get through this cold weather, the sicknesses that are going around Hinkson, and some other things that are going on with some staff and admin at my school. I would greatly appreciate everything! Thank you for being so awesome!!! I love you all!