I saw Lenin's body.... weeeeeird. They are so serious about that here in Russia. While you are looking at his body, you cannot talk, or stop to look (you must keep walking), your hats needs to be off. Half of the Russian population believe it is a fake wax figure, the others believe it is Lenin himself. I am deciding on what I think...I am leaning more on its fake. I can tell you this though, it was creeeeeeeeeeeeepy.
So, teaching is going great. Little 5 year old Misha hates my guts. It's pretty funny actually. He's this little little boy with a squeaky voice. He never sits in his seat and I always put him in it (of course he just gets right out of it and runs away). Last week when I told him to go sit down, he knocked his chair over, gave me a glare, and gave me the cold shoulder. I was kind of smiling, HAHA. Oh, then there was the one day that he was so mad at me because I made him go to class that he kept hitting me. with his little fists. He found paintbrushes and started whacking me with them. I pretended to cry and he LAUGHED!!! That's when I knew he was the devil's child, hahahahaha!
[EDIT:] Misha bit me on the shoulder.
Thanksgiving was great! Every Thursday we get to talk to a group of teenagers to help them practice their English. Their teacher made them look up the traditions and history of Thanksgiving. They asked me if dates and names were accurate. I replied, "Uhhh...yeah sure!". My favorite part of the conversation was, "Now students, what does a turkey say? A turkey, what does it say?". A student said, "Buck, buck!" and she replied, "Nooo, that's a chicken! What about a turkey?". I proudly raised my hand and said, "GOBBLE! GOBBLE!" Now THATS something I knew accurately, hahaha. That afternoon, I taught Russians how to polka! What a gooooooooooood time.
Random Fact: Guess how much a turkey costs at the GUM mall in Red Square?? OVER $200!!!!! YOU BETTER BE ENJOYING YOUR TURKEYS IN 'MERICA!
The real Thanksgiving was Saturday for us. On Thursday, our school fed us wiener-pickle soup (oh yum...), but a family from our church ward invited us over for their Thanksgiving and it was AWESOME...fruits, salad, vegetables, pies, cranberry, stuffing, turkey... mmmmmmm!!! I ate like 4 helpings. Best. Meal. Ever. We got back home really late that night. It was close to midnight and like usual, the gates outside the school were locked. We saw a security guard and we said, "Hey!!!" and in return he said, "Hi!". We just stared at him for several seconds and I piped up, "So...thinking about opening this gate?" He continued staring. I gave my coat and bookbag to Chelsea and got on the ground - whenever we get locked out, I squeeze my way under the fence since I'm small and get a guard to unlock the gate for the girls. We were scared for a second that I wasn't going to be able to fit because of that Thanksgiving dinner, hahahaha.
I want to spend a moment and share my testimony on the power of prayer. Brothers and sisters, God hears you. I have always known that, but I think this semester in Russia, I have taken the time to recognize God's hand in my life on a daily basis. That Thanksgiving night, it was very late in Moscow and the last bus to our area leaves at 10:30 pm. I had looked at a clock that read 10:45 and I was getting more nervous as time was ticking...6 American girls, stuck in Moscow at night while drunkards were roaming the streets was kind of scary. I said a silent prayer in my heart that our #549 bus would come and a few minutes later, it came around the corner and we hopped on and got home safely. I could tell you story after story after story about the miracles of God of just these past 3 months alone. Some of the things I pray for are not even life/death situations, BUT because it was important to me, it was important to the Lord. I challenge you guys to notice the daily miracles in your lives. I was thinking about this a lot for the past month and sometimes, maybe we get too caught up on the prayers that are not answered right away and that require time and perhaps we leave the daily confirmations of His love unnoticed. If something matters to you, it matters to your Heavenly Father. I know this is true. He answers prayers and if you praying to Him, have faith, your prayer WILL come in His own due timing. "Faith in God is faith in His timing".
So, teaching is going great. Little 5 year old Misha hates my guts. It's pretty funny actually. He's this little little boy with a squeaky voice. He never sits in his seat and I always put him in it (of course he just gets right out of it and runs away). Last week when I told him to go sit down, he knocked his chair over, gave me a glare, and gave me the cold shoulder. I was kind of smiling, HAHA. Oh, then there was the one day that he was so mad at me because I made him go to class that he kept hitting me. with his little fists. He found paintbrushes and started whacking me with them. I pretended to cry and he LAUGHED!!! That's when I knew he was the devil's child, hahahahaha!
[EDIT:] Misha bit me on the shoulder.
Thanksgiving was great! Every Thursday we get to talk to a group of teenagers to help them practice their English. Their teacher made them look up the traditions and history of Thanksgiving. They asked me if dates and names were accurate. I replied, "Uhhh...yeah sure!". My favorite part of the conversation was, "Now students, what does a turkey say? A turkey, what does it say?". A student said, "Buck, buck!" and she replied, "Nooo, that's a chicken! What about a turkey?". I proudly raised my hand and said, "GOBBLE! GOBBLE!" Now THATS something I knew accurately, hahaha. That afternoon, I taught Russians how to polka! What a gooooooooooood time.
Random Fact: Guess how much a turkey costs at the GUM mall in Red Square?? OVER $200!!!!! YOU BETTER BE ENJOYING YOUR TURKEYS IN 'MERICA!
The real Thanksgiving was Saturday for us. On Thursday, our school fed us wiener-pickle soup (oh yum...), but a family from our church ward invited us over for their Thanksgiving and it was AWESOME...fruits, salad, vegetables, pies, cranberry, stuffing, turkey... mmmmmmm!!! I ate like 4 helpings. Best. Meal. Ever. We got back home really late that night. It was close to midnight and like usual, the gates outside the school were locked. We saw a security guard and we said, "Hey!!!" and in return he said, "Hi!". We just stared at him for several seconds and I piped up, "So...thinking about opening this gate?" He continued staring. I gave my coat and bookbag to Chelsea and got on the ground - whenever we get locked out, I squeeze my way under the fence since I'm small and get a guard to unlock the gate for the girls. We were scared for a second that I wasn't going to be able to fit because of that Thanksgiving dinner, hahahaha.
I want to spend a moment and share my testimony on the power of prayer. Brothers and sisters, God hears you. I have always known that, but I think this semester in Russia, I have taken the time to recognize God's hand in my life on a daily basis. That Thanksgiving night, it was very late in Moscow and the last bus to our area leaves at 10:30 pm. I had looked at a clock that read 10:45 and I was getting more nervous as time was ticking...6 American girls, stuck in Moscow at night while drunkards were roaming the streets was kind of scary. I said a silent prayer in my heart that our #549 bus would come and a few minutes later, it came around the corner and we hopped on and got home safely. I could tell you story after story after story about the miracles of God of just these past 3 months alone. Some of the things I pray for are not even life/death situations, BUT because it was important to me, it was important to the Lord. I challenge you guys to notice the daily miracles in your lives. I was thinking about this a lot for the past month and sometimes, maybe we get too caught up on the prayers that are not answered right away and that require time and perhaps we leave the daily confirmations of His love unnoticed. If something matters to you, it matters to your Heavenly Father. I know this is true. He answers prayers and if you praying to Him, have faith, your prayer WILL come in His own due timing. "Faith in God is faith in His timing".
www.mormon.org - the reason why I am so happy.
