Well another week has ended for us and another new milestone is accomplished: first semester grades are in! We have one more week before the actual end of the semester (and the start of our three week break! Hooray!), but grades have to be turned in the week before. Amanda and I have now officially completed our work as real teachers for a full semester. The semester has been a tremendous experience and has flown by so quickly- perhaps I'll do some sort of reflective retrospective on it later as I try to process my thoughts about being a first time teacher in Russia. But for now, I'm content to sit back and enjoy the slower pace.
As our thoughts are brightened by the prospect of Christmas and several weeks of recovery and relaxation, we are continuing to enjoy winter weather. We've gotten lots of snow in this past week and according to all weather accounts we are in no danger of losing it anytime soon. We will no doubt be blessed with a white Christmas this year:-) Having as much snow as we have right now is unusual for St. Petersburg at this time of the year. Last year was one of the coldest and snowiest winters ever for St. Petersburg and early indications suggest that this winter may give last year a run for its money. The amount of snow and the temperatures aren't that different from what we've experienced back in northern Indiana, but we get the added benefit of ice cold blasts of sea air coming down on us from the Gulf of Finland.
After church today, I went outside to take some pictures around our apartment building and courtyard to document our first taste of winter in Russia. If temperatures stay like this, we could be in for quite a bit of snow since January and February are usually the coldest and most wintry months for St. Petersburg. After getting to experience the hottest day ever recorded in August, we get to enjoy the opposite now. The days are continuing to get shorter and shorter as we approach the winter solstice in a little over a week. The sun barely gets up over the horizon on the days when its clear enough to be seen at all, and it remains dark until between 9:30-10 in the morning and is dark again by 4:30 in the afternoon. For some people the lack of sunlight can be very challenging, but we feel blessed that so far neither Amanda and I have been too bothered by it. We appreciate your prayers and know that they are helping us!
Here are some pictures of our winter wonderland to get everyone in the Christmas spirit! Click on the photos to enlarge and zoom in so you can appreciate the full rich detail:-)
Here is the view looking down Kanareechnaya Ulitsa, the little street that we live on. The trees make a lovely canopy of snow.
This is our apartment building from the front. We live on the second floor and our apartment faces the opposite side of the building. Our apartment is directly behind the one with the white balcony to the right of the red door.
I love when the snow falls in thick, sticky flakes because it means that it will stick to tree branches and form beautiful designs like the one on this tree that is in front of the school right across from our apartment.
This is our courtyard. I took this standing at the far end of our building looking down its length.
Falling icicles are a very real danger in St. Petersburg and occassional cause deaths. Our building has some of the biggest icicles of any of the surrounding buildings, at least on the backside of it. It's about time someone comes to shovel off our roof!
Here is our apartment! Its the one with the chair on the balcony and the open blinds with the light on. I took this photo standing on our playground.
Here is one more photo looking down the length of our building. You can see the snow and icicles bulging over the edge of the roof.
This photo isn't from today, but it shows some fun winter accessories for Russian children:-) The little child in this photo is pushing a sort of sled stroller that is very common here. I think its a great idea- you can still take your baby places in the winter thanks to the stroller sled!
And finally, one more photo that we took a while back but hadn't posted yet. This is to show you how bundled up all the small children get here. As Amanda likes to point out, babies and toddlers here all look like the Michelin Man:-)
Well, its a good thing that Amanda and I both love snow:-)
-Matt
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