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!

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

And Then There Were None

So as you all have been hearing over the past months, I volunteered for putting the high school play together this year. I have little to no experience with it but I figured everything should be okay if we just work at it long enough and hard enough. Mercifully, I was right on this one! 

There are definitely things I would do differently another time around but quite honestly, everything went as well as I ever felt it could have. The scariest things were things that were way out of our control like the majority of the cast getting sick in the month leading up to the play and our truck coming an hour late when we were supposed to set up for the dress rehearsal. But when all was said and done, the scary bits were small and the whole thing went very well! 

The play was in a "culture house" that's about 2 blocks from our apartment and about 4 from the school. We were all able to walk there and back which was a lifesaver when the truck didn't show up!

The "culture houses" (it's not a very graceful translation; sorry!) were built in the Soviet era and are like community centers. On the floor below us there was a large dance hall and the night of the dress rehearsal there were little ballet students running around on our floor. 

Our little theater. This picture actually makes it look bigger than it was.

Dress rehearsal! 

I made the call to have a little audience for the dress rehearsal partly because our space was small and I wanted to give more people the chance to come and partly to "acclimate" the kids to having an audience that isn't me. It was nice (in my opinion; I think they might argue with me on that point) because it gave them a chance to practice ad libbing , etc where things got stuck. 

Backstage

Leading up to the play, I tried to keep a "pretty good" lock on my nerves though it did show at times. Like the night before the play. I must admit that for several hours before (and even after) we went to bed I kept exclaiming at intervals "We are all going to die!" :-) 

And now for the play! :-) 

And Then There Were None is a murder mystery by Agatha Christie. I wanted to do a drama but tragedies are hard because if the emotion is off then the whole thing is just awkward. This was the very first play I read in my quest to find one and I was completely in love with it. 

It's based on her book of the same title (she authored the play herself) and it actually ends very differently. Both have the highest body count of any of her stories but the play has a much more hopeful ending while the book is darker. 

So here is the play in pictures! (Some are from the dress rehearsal but most are from the performance.)

Play opens with Mrs. Rogers (left) and Narracott (right). 

Ethel and Esther Rogers (right) explain that a party of 8 will be joining them at this house that is built on a completely isolated island. 

(Mrs. Rogers accidentally broke a glass later on in the play and so these sizable pieces of glass were lying around. Fortunately different kids collected them throughout the play and no one was hurt!)

First to arrive are Vera and Lombard. Vera has to serve as the hostess since Mr. and Mrs. Owen (the owners and hosts) have not arrived yet. Lombard is taken with Vera and stays close to her throughout. 

Blore arrives posing as a South African millionaire. Later it's revealed he's a hired detective. 

(This character is truly the worst detective ever!)

Antonia Marston arrives (front) followed by General MacKenzie (window) and  Emily Brent (blue dress). 

One of my favorite conversations in the play. :-) 

MacKenzie steals Judge Wargrave's chair because his chair at the club he goes to is in about the same spot and he doesn't like to sit anywhere else. 

Dr. Armstrong (left) arrives late and has a confrontation with Marston over her driving.

Lombard is a flirt. :-)

That evening when everyone is gathered together, a record is played that accuses everyone in the group of murder. (Of course this was voiced by Matthew!)

In a moment that I think will live in legend, Mrs. Rogers screams and faints after the record has stopped playing. The girl who played this part had been doing this since the very first practice and was pretty astounding to watch! 

Judge Wargrave takes charge of the room and questions everybody about how they came to be there and the accusations that were made against them.

The first victim is Marston, who is poisoned. Everyone assumes it was suicide until the next day. 

The next day, Armstrong tells the group that Mrs. Rogers died in her sleep the night before. This leads the group to realize they are trapped here and someone is out to kill them all. 

After talking to Wargrave, Lombard realizes that the rhyme "Ten Little Indians" is their warning and that the Indians on the fireplace disappear with each murder. 

General MacKenzie confesses to the murder of one of his officers. 

(This monologue was one of my very favorite parts of the play. The boy who played this part always made you feel so much empathy and pity for the character.)

Emily Brent then gives her own "confession" where she justifies herself by the idea that she was acting in a "moral" way. (Again, impressive because this girl is so sweet!)

The group then discovers that General MacKenzie has been killed and they realize that the murderer has to be one of them. 

The afternoon becomes stormy and Lombard and Rogers search for any help. Rogers offers to get a fire going and is later discovered, dead. 

Lombard points out that the next part of the rhyme has to do with a bee sting and they realize that Emily Brent has been dead for some time in the very same room as them. (Quite a display of endurance since she had to sit like that for at least 15 minutes!)

That night the lights are completely gone due to a power failure and the remaining five are distrustful and tense. 

Armstrong confesses to the murder he was accused of, an accidental death during a surgery that should have been easy. Vera leaves and moments later a scream brings the men out of the room. There is a gun shot and then the group slowly reassembles on stage. 

Wargrave is discovered dead and dressed in various stolen items to look like a judge. 

The next day three are left and they are sure Armstrong was the killer. 

Blore is killed by a booby trap after he rushes outside because he hears a boat. 

Then the remaining pair find Armstrong's body, revealing that they are the only two left and Armstrong is not the killer. 

Vera gets Lombard's gun from him and shoots him in panic.

Wargrave turns out to not be as dead as we thought! In a long (and fantastically performed) monologue he explains how he killed everyone and how he knew they were all guilty but since they had gotten away they had to be punished outside the law. 

Vera is left all alone with Wargrave and a noose. Luckily  Lombard was not killed and he takes out Wargrave just in time. (The" just in time" bit was always an interesting game of timing. :-P)

Lombard voices appreciation that women can't shoot straight (a line always good for a laugh!) and he explains the alternate ending of the rhyme is that the remaining two gets married. 

Ta da! :-) 

And this is my lovely cast and crew. I was very honestly impressed and bursting with pride by the time all was said and done. They put a ton of time into all of this and they were absolutely amazing. 

Next year we may have to go for some lighter fare! That was a ton of work! Luckily I had a group that rose to the occasion.