Christmas is in the air!

Hello everyone! 

We've gotten a fair bit of snow since our last update which has been very exciting. Matthew and I both love the snow and it brightens things up during the very dark winter days here. 

We put up our Christmas tree soon after Thanksgiving and this year we even have presents to put under it since my wonderful mother mailed us two huge packages. 

The school also got in on the festivities. The Korean mothers at the school spent several straight days decorating every inch of the school building. The third floor got the royal treatment as well this year. 

We have very Asian inspired Santa and deer covering the main walls and doors that open onto the third floor. In the background you can see the wreaths and garlands they hung along the center beam as well.

Matt's personal favorite are these huge cherub that are on the inside windows of his and my own classrooms. Again, very Asian and very cute. They were made by the mother of one of our 7th graders and she used to teach art in Korea. Above you have Matt with the Cherub and the Christmas tree for our floor. 

The nail saga continues. I did nails for A Wrinkle in Time and forgot to take pictures *sigh* but below are the nails for Jane Eyre. It's one of my very favorite novels because she is such a strong female and Rochester is such a compelling match for her. His secret is so crazy and sad and the book is an excellent Victorian Gothic Romance. My 10 - 12 class seemed to like it as well, which is always great. 

On the ends: fire

Top: a tree split by lightening

Bottom: Helen's grave, a bird. Thornfield

We just thought it was so funny that this guy was wearing a small hat with a hug pompom and looking so serious while doing it. :-)

If you were reading last spring you probably saw the soap sculptures form The Odyssey. We did them again this year and some of them were very good! 

Odysseus with a bowl

Odysseus dressed as a beggar 

Athena and Odysseus

This picture does not even capture the size. The Athena figure was made with two bars of soap and was quite tall! 

Today we went to a bookmarket in the city on a quest to find a carved Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost). My dad got one over the summer and we really wanted one as well. He is similar to Santa but there are a good number of differences. 

For one, he delivers presents in person on New Year. He has a granddaughter called  Snegurochka (Snow Maiden) who delivers presents with him. She often has a blue furry robe and a crown with a snowflake. He carries a magical staff and rides either a troika with reindeer or a polar bear. He lives in  Veliky Ustyug (which is odd because it is a very small city and not particularly important). 

Here is the one we bought. We wanted one with a staff and ideally a bear. :-)

We also bought a children's book. I found it and thought the illustrations were amazing and saw it was a book with different poems about sleeping. Books are also really cheap here which is nice. 

Our friends thought the Koala page was one of the cutest. 

The sleeping zoo was also a group favorite. 

Next week at school we have final exams. We have never done semester finals in all classes so this will be the first year for it. Hopefully everything will go well and the students will not feel overwhelmed. Then Wednesday we have a half day and we are free!

Then Matthew and I leave for Tallinn, Estonia on Friday and will be there through Christmas! So the next time we post we will be showing pictures from our lovely vacation!