So I can't honestly say this will be my last time in Russia. Nor can I say that I have any intention of moving here permanently, which I do not. For the moment I'm going to enjoy the ride. My flights out to London and Moscow were very smooth, I do love and will continue to support British Airways (they've always been very decent to me). I was VERY pleasantly surprised by the relative efficiency of passport control. I only had to wait about 15 minutes (SAY WHAT?!, you may think-I know, right?!). Of course, I knew afterwards that I had arrived in Russia when it took me about 4 hours to get to my new flat, having sat in traffic for pretty much the entire duration of my journey. That was the second worst traffic jam I've ever sat it, the first of course being the time it took us five hours to get to the Cape from Winthrop (we were in a blizzard at the time, but C'MON MAN!)
Anyways, after a weekend in which I got on one day two hours of sleep, the next day 11, the first week teaching went by pretty well. It was definitely an adjustment on many levels, but I think I did all right my first week. I have two groups on my own, two intermediate groups (one teenagers, one adults), plus a bunch of groups which I share with other Russian speakers. Lesson planning has never been an issue for me; I always allot a ton of time to planning my lesson; the more I plan, the better the lesson will be. I do have a few chatty children, but no real discipline issues...yet. I have survived my first week.
On the social front, I'm back singing in choir. We're singing Rossini's Petite Messe Solenelle and Christmas Carols today. I listened it the mass a couple of times and it is FANTASTIC. There are a lot of fugal passages and beautiful harmonies, I look forward to singing the entire Mass (we rehearsed the Credo today). No major Sergeisms yet to report, other than him telling the tenors that we sound like an electric piano...should be another wonderful season. I'm also excited to be singing a solo at church during the Carols service on Dec. 14 (Sunday evening, 18:30 at St. Andrew's)...will send out dates and times for the International Choir concerts when I know then. In the meantime, stay tuned for further updates and incredible Russian adventures.
Funny ESL moment of the week: on Wednesday night, a lesson on irregular verbs/past participles turned into a story about Superman, Captain America and a pirate named Roger. I now no longer have any reason to hate participles in English.
Talk soon, stay warm (we've already seen our first snowfall of the season a couple of days ago!!!), and if you run into Roger the pirate, tell him Ilya says privyet. Peace out my friends!
Love and blessings to all,
Comrade Jon
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