Halloween party

Hello all, sorry it's been a while - been so busy enjoying my week off and planning a party.  Pictures at the end of the blog entry!!  Check 'em out.

Here's how I spent the week: Monday - routine day, grocery shopping, etc.  Most museums are closed on Monday anyway, so I planned to make maximum use of the other days off. 

Tuesday - the old Tretyakov gallery.  This is a museum where you can find "old" (pre-20th century) Russian art.  They have an exquisite collection and periodic temporary exhibits.  I have been here before but of course you can't see everything in one visit.  I stayed for about 3 hours and explored the second floor.  It was cold!  Russian winter is on the way.    www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/ 

Wednesday - the new Tretyakov gallery.  This is the 20th and 21st century collection.  There was an exhibit by Nikolai Ghe www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Ge into which I walked without paying, looked around for an hour and loved, and then on the way out realized I should have bought a special ticket for that.  Oh well.  Then I looked at 6 rooms of art of the permanent collection, out of about 50.  After that I had to go home.  Have to come back soon when I have the chance.

I also went to the Lenin Library (their library of congress) and read Anna Karennina both these days.  What good days!

Thursday - IKEA.  Yes, Shakara and I went to Ikea.  That's it.  But it was an all-day adventure.  It took over 8 hours from the time I left my home to when I came back.  We met in the metro, went to the last stop on the green line, from there took a bus to a MegaMall.  Man, it was so mega!  We shopped and ate and had some fun before going to Ikea.  I needed some sort of cheap furniture for my room and a full-length mirror.  She needed a blanket, pillows, etc.  We both ended up getting what we need and it was a very successful trip - and a fun day!  She sticks out like a sore thumb here because she's black, and I was wearing a dot on my forehead for fun.  And we were speaking English.  So we were a little noticeable.  But that's ok.  Most of the time, if I'm not talking, I blend in.

Friday - the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushkin_Museum  Pasha met me after work as we tried for a second time to get into this Dali exhibit.  Last time we waited for an hour and they cut the line off just ahead of us.  This time as I was off work I was already standing in line, and he met me there as soon as he could, at like 5:30.  The ticket office closes at 6.  It was gunna be close.  But we got in!!!!!  It was a very inspiring - and very interesting exhibit.  Well worth the wait. 
After that, we went to the supermarket to buy things for the party on Saturday night.  We were there until they closed at 11.  And we ended up having to go back again the next day anyway!  But more about the party later.  For now, just look at the pics :)  Blessings and love to you all.  It seems i'll be in the states over Christmas, so see you then if I see you.
-Beth

aliens rocked the planet

Hi.  Let me tell you about the concert on Sunday (VocaPeople: http://voca-people.com/).  It blew me away. I was gobstopped.  I was flabbergasted.  I was enthralled non-stop.  The hour and a half went by like 5 minutes and left me wanting more.  It was hilarious.  They made the audience participate constantly and never let you stop laughing.  I'm so glad I went!
There was a bit of a plot - their spaceship crashed and they need energy to go back home.  They sang many medleys - history of "earth" music, popular movie soundtracks, etc., which were amazing, but they also performed in an acting, dancing, and beatboxing way.  They introduced themselves and their vocal talents - bass, baritone, tenor, alto, mezzo, soprano, and two more guys, beat boxer and scratcher.  Before the performance, they announced that all the sounds we were about to hear were made from natural human vocals only.  Pretty sweet, very quirky.

Only one more week of work before vacation - we have a week off for the fall holidays.  Actually, I have two more days of the "week of taste" to go, and then I'm off for ten!  Woopie!

Vomit and parents

What a day!  Friday!  I lived through this day!  And it wasn't actually that bad.  Only, I got thrown up on.  Yep.  A right of passage, you might say.  A kid puked on me, right on my white pants.  My white pants that I only wear when I want to look my best at work, part of my most professional and also beautiful outfit, white pants that made it through painting in the morning without a spot, that I was planning to wear to our photo exhibit in the evening, when we had to shmooz the parents.  In the morning, I got dressed, put pants on as any normal person should do, and went to work.  When I got to work, I took them off.  What was I to do?  That puke didn't smell pretty.  Thank the Lord I had black stretch pants on underneath, for warmth.  I worked all day in just those.  They are worn in the crotch and not really "outer" clothes; usually I just wear them as pajamas and underclothes.  But today I wore them at work.  I washed my pants and hung them to dry; by the time the photo exhibit rolled around, they were dry.  And the exhibit went fine.  So all's well that ends well.  Another time, I came home with blood all over my blouse.  It's just my line of work.  Blood, vomit ... can you imagine what's next?

Happy to have reached the weekend.  Did I tell you I went to Canadian Thanksgiving at my new Canadian friend's house?  A real feast: really fun and also yummy.  That was last weekend I think.  About ten people at her apartment and it was a blast.  People from all over, speaking different languages.  I like that a lot.  It's one of my favorite aspects of church.  I'm planning to host a halloween party with my roommates at the end of this month.  I hope it goes well!  Parties are so much fun.

live music on arbat and in space

Hi guys – so sorry it's been so long. Wow – life in Russia. What a shtuka! That means “what a thing,” but in a kinda slang-ish way. Ups and downs of the past couple weeks... well October 3-7 was a really busy week work-wise. I got observed on the 5^th and man, was I stressing about it for a couple days. If it were toddlers, I'd love being observed so I could show off my skills. I really have fun with that class. Today, for instance, we did the rhyme “five little pumpkins.” It was a big hit! I had the assistant turn off the light at just the right moment and they were all not scared but intrigued and fascinated and amused. But it was not toddlers or even the baby group, it was EFL (English as a Foreign language.) And she didn't even come at the beginning of the class, when I have routines and rituals, but at the end, after the break. I had three activities: two of them flopped. On top of that, we had a section meeting, got ready to think about halloween and Thanksgiving. This week's busy too: we have a photo exhibit coming up this Friday (which required a lot of planning and preparation) after that is the “week of taste,” a week featuring special lesson plans involving red and green foods, guests, special menus, decorations in the school, etc. After that, vacation! So I'm glad to have gotten all the deadlines figured out and made sure I won't forget anything. Plans were due earlier than usual, and I've been trying to get my hands on a buttload of little pumpkins for a while now – not so easy in Moscow without a car. But I finally got them – some were not actually pumpkins but a strange disc-shaped vegetable called patission, but who cares – and this week we painted them. They loved it!! I even had my older, EFL kids paint the big pumpkin because it was starting to go bad, lol.

I was walking on Arbat from work to the metro and I came across of group of two young people playing music, a guy with a guitar and a girl with a drum. I stood and listened for a while. I think they were playing Kino. I had just sold my old phone for 500 roubles, so I had some “extra” cash. I gave them the 500 and headed for the metro, but just behind me I heard the exclamation – of course they weren't used to getting that much. I was really delighted. Reminds me of the time mom and I made a cake and put it in my friend's refrigerator when she wasn't there.

I sat at home and played my music for Lena and Pasha (roommates) and sang along loudly and unabashedly. Then I went to do the dishes, and Pasha had managed to find the one song out of hundreds where I'm the one singing. It was the russian alphabet, made last year for my middle schoolers. Actually, no, it was made in grad school as a podcast assignment, but I used it with my middle schoolers. They could not hear that. I quickly slammed the computer shut.

Another concert coming up this weekend – the “VocaPeople.” They're all dressed in white like the blue man group, but not blue. And they have red mouths. They are aliens who travel the galaxy in a ship powered by music. They beatbox and cover popular songs a capella. Seems a little corny, but I like corny things. I'm going to wear a dress, yay! First time in Moscow. But it's going to be 38 degrees. Darnit! And we're going to have snow this week. :(

Here are some of the most recommended Russian musicians:

Чиж и Co

Nautilus Pompilius

Мельница

Кино

Смысловые галлюцинации

Чичерина

Би-2

Игорь Тальков