Banquets!

Hello again!

Our school year is almost at end so the last few weeks at IA have been filled with preparing final assignments and exams and grading papers and tests.  This coming week is the last week of the fourth quarter, and the week after will be our final exams.  Graduation is on May 30th and then our third year of teaching in St. Petersburg will have come to an end.  It's always crazy how fast the time goes and just how much can happen over the course of a year.  

In the midst of preparing for the end, we have also had the chance to celebrate and look back on this past year as well.  This past Friday was definitely a day of feasting at IA!  First, it was only a half day of school because in the afternoon we had our annual teacher's banquet.  Once again we went to Old Tbilisi, a wonderful Georgian restaurant not far from the school.  As always, the food did not disappoint as we feasted on delicious salads, khachapuri (a delicious baked cheese-filled bread), and shashlik.  It was a wonderful feast and once again we teachers felt very appreciated for our work this past year.  

While I had plenty to eat at the banquet, I deliberately paced myself better this year because I knew that the teacher's dinner would not be my only feast for the day.  That night I was a chaperone for IA's first senior banquet.  The senior banquet is something new this year that is taking the place of prom.  As part of the on-going changes at IA, we are working to make sure that the events we do have some sort of direct tie-in to the school and aren't just social occasions, so the decision was made to do things differently this year.

In the past, the parents have handled most of the details with prom and the teachers have not had to be involved.  This year the students were expected to do more of the planning and teachers were asked to help chaperone.  In an effort to make sure that the adults didn't crowd out the students, we decided to keep the number of teachers to a minimum so I joined our science teacher, academic principal, and one of our math teachers as the adult supervision.

For the senior banquet we rented a boat to take the students around the canals and rivers of St. Petersburg while they enjoyed their meal and had fun together.  It had rained for most of the afternoon, but thankfully the rain stopped while we cruised the canals so we could enjoy the deck area of the boat as well as the inside cabin.  We were treated to two and a half hours of traversing the water ways of St. Petersburg and more (at least for me!) delicious food.

The students seemed to have a good time, and I certainly enjoyed being able to be part of it.  We have a great group of students who consistently impress me with their creativity and sense of humor. It's always sad to come to the end of the year and see students who will be graduating or won't be returning the next year, but I am very thankful for the time we've had with these students and for the chance to see the ways they've grown and the ways that God is working in their lives.

Here are some pictures from the day's festivities:

Elementary teachers showing off their best banquet behavior:-)

A view looking down one of the tables.

Two of IA's finest teachers:-)

The boat that we rented for the senior banquet.

The cabin of the boat was beautifully decorated by one of the families from our school, along with help from the students.

We also had lovely candles on each table.

Here is my place.  The chaperones got to sit at the table with the seniors at the head of the boat.

Some of the food that we enjoyed at the banquet.  Shashlik and khachapuri were the main dishes, which meant that I got to enjoy it twice that day.

Our two seniors for 2013.  Our male senior looked quite a bit like Korean pop star Psy with his dashing blue jacket!

A shot of my table before dinner started.

A view looking towards the back of the boat.

The candles were especially nice for when we went under the many bridges of St. Petersburg.

There was a nice seating area at the back of the boat where the students could lounge around and act like superstars on a private yacht.

One of our 9th graders with the Peter and Paul fortress in the background.  I feel like this picture should be in a men's wear catalog.

Going under Trinity Bridge.

Another look at Trinity Bridge along with one of our 9th graders in a stylish hat.

Letting the good times roll!

On a final note, we want to say thank you for all of you who were praying for our need for a car next month. We have been generously offered a vehicle to use during most of our time in the States this summer!  We are very grateful for the friends who are letting us use their car and are also grateful for all of you who joined us in prayer. Also, we continue to ask for your prayers for the school as we go through more changes.  Most recently we have had some legal matters arise affecting our school that we would greatly appreciate prayers for as well.

It's exciting to be able to say that we will be able to see many of you in around a month!  It has been two years since we were last in the United States and we are looking forward to being able to reconnect with people:-)

Thanks for reading!

-Matt