It's been a great couple of weeks and I'm very much back into the Russia routine and loving it. I went to Tula last weekend with Pasha. He was to take his driver's test and I to hang out and meet his grandmother. Tula is a small but historical town about 1.5 hours south of Moscow. Peter the Great built it specially, as he did Petersburg to be the capital, to be a center of arms production in the new, modern Russia. The problem was, there were no women. So he took all the most beautiful women from all over the country and settled them down in Tula. So they say that to this day, people from Tula, the descendants, should be beautiful. However, Pasha remarked that the best and brightest have probably already up and moved from there to Moscow. ;)
It is not uncommon for adults to take driver's tests. In the states our family teaches us, then we get our license when we are 16. But here, especially in a city where cars are not necessary, few people have their license. In Moscow, as in New York, a car is a luxury. It's an expense and because of traffic jams, not realistic to use it during the week. It would be just for groceries and weekend trips. If people want to get a driver's license here, they have to study in "auto-school," and this of course only happens sometimes and when they are all grown up, rather than while teenagers and almost as a matter of course in the U.S. He did well by the way - passed the theory without a single mistake, passed the course-driving, but failed the on-road city driving. He'll get it next time. Is he planning to buy a car when he gets it? No, just considering it.
Pasha's grandmother, Galina Semyonovna, is a retired soviet teacher. She told me some stories about different pupils she'd taught over the years and the way they reflected soviet culture. There was a Jehovah's Witness girl who was made to watch a film with the rest of the class.... she covered her face and sat there like that. It's not good to be different here, even now. One time she was called into court to testify against someone in who's house they had found forbidden literature... whether it was something religious or what I forget. Anyway, the visit was overall a success. I was left with the distinct impression that she doesn't like me.... or doesn't trust me anyway.
So we came back to Moscow by marshrutka, a van that picks up passengers and goes either around the city quicker than a bus, or inter-city like this one. I was to begin a new job the next Monday, teaching one of the little girls at school a private lesson in her home, but I was too sick! I had to cancel! I'm convinced it was something I ate in Tula. Perhaps the water I drank had not been boiled long enough. In any case, the bug only lasted 24 hours and I was able to go to work on Tuesday (I don't work on Mondays anyway, so I didn't end up missing any at P'tit Cref.)
I had that lesson only a week later, yesterday. It went well! How rich these people are! I could surmise that they are rich before this because they attend our school at all. Our prices are outrageous, which automatically filters the clientele to "new Russians" and rich ex-pats only. I also could have surmised how wealthy they are by the fact that they live in the center of town. Who lives in the center? Nobody! But I didn't really think about it, and when I walked in the door I was still shocked. The nanny greeted me, told me to wash my hands and led me to where I could take my coat and stuff off and gave me some slippers to put on. The slippers are standard Russian practice, but the hand washing, and the marble floors I walked on and fancy sink I washed in are far from normal.
The lesson went well. I was surprised to see how sterile the child's environment was. She's a baby! But there were toys, and we put them to good use. They had a coi pond in the middle of their house, by the way!! I wondered if she had ever fallen in.
In other news, I's started dance classes twice a week, Mondays and Wendesdays, and I like it. God bless y'all!!! Peace. -Beth
It is not uncommon for adults to take driver's tests. In the states our family teaches us, then we get our license when we are 16. But here, especially in a city where cars are not necessary, few people have their license. In Moscow, as in New York, a car is a luxury. It's an expense and because of traffic jams, not realistic to use it during the week. It would be just for groceries and weekend trips. If people want to get a driver's license here, they have to study in "auto-school," and this of course only happens sometimes and when they are all grown up, rather than while teenagers and almost as a matter of course in the U.S. He did well by the way - passed the theory without a single mistake, passed the course-driving, but failed the on-road city driving. He'll get it next time. Is he planning to buy a car when he gets it? No, just considering it.
Pasha's grandmother, Galina Semyonovna, is a retired soviet teacher. She told me some stories about different pupils she'd taught over the years and the way they reflected soviet culture. There was a Jehovah's Witness girl who was made to watch a film with the rest of the class.... she covered her face and sat there like that. It's not good to be different here, even now. One time she was called into court to testify against someone in who's house they had found forbidden literature... whether it was something religious or what I forget. Anyway, the visit was overall a success. I was left with the distinct impression that she doesn't like me.... or doesn't trust me anyway.
So we came back to Moscow by marshrutka, a van that picks up passengers and goes either around the city quicker than a bus, or inter-city like this one. I was to begin a new job the next Monday, teaching one of the little girls at school a private lesson in her home, but I was too sick! I had to cancel! I'm convinced it was something I ate in Tula. Perhaps the water I drank had not been boiled long enough. In any case, the bug only lasted 24 hours and I was able to go to work on Tuesday (I don't work on Mondays anyway, so I didn't end up missing any at P'tit Cref.)
I had that lesson only a week later, yesterday. It went well! How rich these people are! I could surmise that they are rich before this because they attend our school at all. Our prices are outrageous, which automatically filters the clientele to "new Russians" and rich ex-pats only. I also could have surmised how wealthy they are by the fact that they live in the center of town. Who lives in the center? Nobody! But I didn't really think about it, and when I walked in the door I was still shocked. The nanny greeted me, told me to wash my hands and led me to where I could take my coat and stuff off and gave me some slippers to put on. The slippers are standard Russian practice, but the hand washing, and the marble floors I walked on and fancy sink I washed in are far from normal.
The lesson went well. I was surprised to see how sterile the child's environment was. She's a baby! But there were toys, and we put them to good use. They had a coi pond in the middle of their house, by the way!! I wondered if she had ever fallen in.
In other news, I's started dance classes twice a week, Mondays and Wendesdays, and I like it. God bless y'all!!! Peace. -Beth
