Video!

For our last post before we head off to the U.S, I bring you a video compilation of the past two years! :-) Enjoy!

Amusement!

Summer is here and we are, as we said before, busy with reading and getting ready to go back to the US.

About two weeks ago one of our friends here left for the U.S. as well and so we had a picnic! There was a very friendly squirrel that perched on a tree right next to Matthew and we walked around the island above ours. Half of that island is a park so there was a lot of space to walk! At the very end of the island there was a very unexpected bell tower!

There are stairs leading up to the top in the two legs and it just stands by itself on the end of this island. It was quite a surprise!

On the same island there is a small amusement park called Diva Ostrov. You can actually see the rides from the end of our island since they aren't too far apart. Since we went to Cedar Point for our honeymoon we decided to go to Diva Ostrov for our third anniversary! It is nice because since you pay per ride you can come and go as you please and you aren't trapped there. So here are some pictures of the awesome rides we tried out!

These swings go up a very tall central pole and you get a really nice view of the city! I was very glad that they were in benches!

These two small roller coasters were a lot of fun! The first one is called the Screaming Squirrel (in English, the Russian name was different) and has two inverted falls drops. This was scarier than it looked since you couldn't see the track and it looked like you were going to fall off! The other was a corkscrew.

One of the crazier rides we went on was called the Hoppla. It is shaped like an anchor and the whole thing spins while each car also spins. So you end up going headfirst toward the ground and then spinning around. We thought this one was a lot of fun! 

The very craziest ride we went on was something we had been eyeing for over a year. It is called the Rocket and it was very scary but a lot of fun! You sit in a rocket shaped car with just a shoulder harness. It lifts you up so high that you can see the city center and then it starts to swing you in a circle. Once that starts, the rocket car starts to barrel roll. Every time you go upside down you lift off of your seat so you are hanging by your shoulder harness! It was very cool but it gives me chills thinking about it!

You can see the teeny people on the ground for size comparison. We were amazed because the ride before us only had one woman all by herself; very brave! 

In less than a week we will be in the U.S.! It's been two years since we've been back so we are looking forward to seeing family and friends. Two prayer requests would be that we have safe and uneventful travels (we've both been under the weather the past few weeks) and that Matthew's visits to speak to different professors about grad programs give us a really clear sense of what to do to get ready for life after Russia!

Bittersweet Times

Our school year is officially at an end! It is stunning how quickly one year can go and what all can happen in one year! At the end of each year I've always had my classes answer various questions about the year and what we did. It's fun because when we talk about what books we've read the students are always amazed because the things we did at the beginning of the year feel very far away! 

While Matt did a post about the Senior banquet, some new pictures with him have surfaced and I loved them so much I decided you should see them as well! :-) 

The above picture is one that always makes me very happy. Matthew has a tendency to put his fingertips together when he teaches and it's become a trademark gesture that the students love to copy. 

Isn't he lovely? 

The last week of school was blessedly organized with finals and field trips abounding. For his final exam Matthew offered a bonus point for anyone who wanted to draw a whale on their exam (it's a long story!). Below are some of the most artistic renderings.

I always love the square little whales this student draws. Previously he has also drawn Matthew as a whale in a tank with a chalk board. 

This whale is graduating and even has a little commencement speech! 

And this has chibi versions of Matthew and I fishing for whales that look like us! 

Of course there was field day as well, and we had very nice weather this year! So nice that about half of us who were there got sunburned since we forgot the sun is so much more powerful this time of year! But it was worth it. :-)

I saw this and knew it needed to be photographed! It says "Caution, Squirrels!" The comma certainly adds ambiguity to what it could possibly be alerting everyone of!

Matt was the pitcher for the (very competitive!) elementary kickball competition. 

One of the relays included having to shuffle with two pieces of paper under your feet. It made me laugh that this team decided having two people hold the paper under the person's feet was a good strategy. 

I also loved that this shirt read "Feel Great. Piece of Lucky." and had a little monkey in the middle.

This game was very eventful in that it ended in stampeding. I had actually played this in youth group before and it ended exactly the same way. You tie everyone together and they have to make it around the cone and back. Two teams almost made it before someone tripped!

Graduation was Thursday and this year it included kindergarten graduation and awards day. 

The 2nd grade performing "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music

My lovely kindred spirit, Sveta, giving her awards. 

Me and my top English student!

The band played parts of national anthems and, of course, Pomp and Circumstance. 

Our two graduates, both Korean

We particularly appreciated that this senior said to us in his commencement speech that though our assignments could be hard we should keep doing them because he learned a lot from them. Very validating!

And singing our traditional end of the year song, "This is My Father's World."

It was a very bittersweet time of year for us, especially as it is a reminder that next year we will be saying our goodbyes. But while that is bitter, the sweetness comes from being able to look at the years we've had here and our amazing students. This has been a year of big changes and at times big challenges for us and for many of the families here, but God has blessed us and the school and we pray he will continue to do. 

One final surprise greeted us this past Friday. We got a call saying that we needed to take a surprise trip to Finland for a new migration card. While it was a very fixable problem, it did end with us spending our entire Saturday in a van, so that was an interesting and unexpected way to spend the first Saturday of our vacation! Fortunately, we had good travel companions and it all went fairly smoothly. 

Now Matthew and I are settling in for the summer and our plans. Matthew is working on Russian and various things for grad school, which he will apply for in the fall. I'm working on organizing for the coming year and on my own licensing since I'm hoping to move up to the next tier in my education license within the year. But we are of course taking plenty of time to relax and will be in the US for all of July!

Continue to pray for the school. We have been blessed so far and are hoping that everything can be put in order with the government relatively easily, but surprises do happen. Thank you for all of your prayers through this past year!