3.9: First day of teaching

9.3 Today was our first day of teaching. Our schedule is quite confusing because we’re trying to fit a three-hour routine into two hours with only three teachers, so I thought meeting with Guyla to organize things would help. However, the only time Guyla was available to sit down with my teachers and me and discuss a workable routine was an hour before teaching was scheduled to start, and she threw us several curve balls. We discovered no one knows for sure how many students will be in the program or what ages they will be, which makes lesson planning and progress charts complicated (nearly impossible); also, we learned that one class is too advanced for the Catch Up program and will have to start Basic Reading, an ILP method class that I’ve never been trained to teach, no less trained to teach someone to teach it. When the kids arrived, we realized that we had the advanced class with the seven-year-olds and a class with three-year-olds who hardly even speak Russian and a class of five-year-olds with minimal English skills. Although the youngest kids were absolutely adorable, I feel they’re too young for the program as their attention spans hardly exist and their motor skills are still undeveloped. Padima and Alysia are identical twins: they wore coordinated black and white dresses; there is also Sofa, Paul, and Felix. Felix, who is barely three, may be taken out of the program because he’s too young and can’t focus on the lesson. He’s cute, but a handful. Most of the children are very well behaved with only the typical child-like attention spans and energy. Today we had thirteen students; in total, since classes can have a maximum limit of eight per teacher, we will only have sixteen—Ally will be teaching Basic Reading instead of Catch-Up. In general, the day was chaotic and exhausting. We all came home totally spent, and I let the girls relax instead of holding yet another training meeting. I was feeling rather discouraged—the Lord has allowed everything before this to fall right into place, making these less stressful for me; I suppose I got comfortable and the Lord decided to remind me that I need Him to get through this. I definitely know that I can’t do this without Him; I feel very inadequate in this position, and oftentimes completely overwhelmed and confused; however, I know that if I put Him first in all I do, everything else will fit and work out. This is why I’m challenging myself to start my day with a heart-felt kneeling prayer and scripture study; I want to get to the point where I simply can start my day without doing so because it’s habitual and thenceforth a daily necessity in my mind and heart. I can’t fall asleep at night without praying, but for some reason I don’t have a habit of saying a real morning prayer except over my breakfast. My goal is to change that; I have faith that doing so will lighten my burdens and brighten my days. It makes sense to say a prayer in the morning: why not ask God for help during yet another opportunity to prove your allegiance to and faith in Him? When I feel discouraged, like I was today, praying and scripture study always brings comfort to my heart and mind.

1.9: Boat Trip and the Ballet

1.9: We met Guyla and Moscow 1 at the metro at 1PM. From there, we took the metro to the main station, right below Red Square. During the ride I perused my Russian phrasebook and began learning Cyrillic letters. I may not know what anything means, but I will eventually be able to pronounce any word in Russian. Moscow 1 teachers live in host families and April’s “host sister” tagged along for the ride; her name is Margorita, or Margo (mar-GO) for short. She’s eleven (though she’s as tall as me) and absolutely adorable; she is excited about everything, especially learning English. I think she basks in every moment she gets to spend with Americans/English speakers. I bonded with her almost immediately, and she spent most of the day with her arm linked with mine. I practiced my meager “pah-roo-ski” skills with her and she taught me new words and phrases, while I taught her some English. I do regret never living with a host family with ILP as I think that would have been an incomparable foreign experience, and one of my goals for Russia is to make native friends, so I am going to try to take advantage and not take for granted this opportunity to befriend Margo. Guyla took us on a boat trip around Moscow. The boat was a large, two-leveled ferry; we sat on the top floor in the open air. Providentially, the weather was decent: sunny at times with an inconsistent cool breeze; although it was chilly, we were grateful that it wasn’t raining. The ride took us by the Moscow soccer/football arena, the Seven Sisters (seven magnificent buildings built in the Stalin era (late 1920s to early 1950s) for various governmental and residential purposes), the Kremlin, St. Basil’s, the Kremlin Chapels, a gigantic metal ship monument dedicated to the Russian navy, the Chapel of our Lord and Savior (a magnificent cathedral we will tour someday), the University of Moscow, an apartment building where Stalin’s spies built secret passageways that enabled them to overhear the residents’ conversations and catch them in the act of insulting the government (Guyla explained that it’s a well-known tragic story), and other beautiful buildings. The architecture here is awe-inspiring; Moscow itself is an (surprisingly, considering its population) attractive city: the buildings are beautiful and the city is very green, with parks, gardens, and trees. I haven’t felt claustrophobic from the population, either: even during City Days, the city doesn’t seem extremely congested. Granted we take public transportation everywhere, but perhaps I’m simply comparing Moscow to Shang Hai and 14 million is nothing to 27. In any case, it’s a lovely city. On the boat trip, we met a Mormon from Sandy, UT. He’s going to our international branch tomorrow. What are the odds? It’s just proof that one must be a true example of Christ no matter where you are, as you never know who you’ll meet and who will be watching. We passed a couple on a bridal photo shoot; Guyla explained to us that people shout “Gorki! Gorki!” to newlyweds, and then the couple kisses to “make it sweet.” So we all shouted “Gorki” and the couple waved at us until the groom planted a wet one on his bride. It was incredibly sweet and a fun memory. I’ve noticed that even though Russians may be reserved and distant in public, couples are shamelessly affectionate. Once the boat docked for the final time, we rushed off toward the metro. Another thing I’ve noticed about the Russians is that the men, for the most part, are very chivalrous. On multiple occasions I’ve witnessed men sacrifice their seats for women of all ages (though it happens every time without fail for the elderly, the babushkas), offer to carry heavy bags for women, tote around their lady friend’s purse, etc. It’s an endearing characteristic of the people. Our next stop was the Kremlin Theatre. We waited in line, went through security, passed over a large stone bridge, and entered the Kremlin square walls. The Kremlin Theatre, located within the Kremlin, is apparently the largest in all of Russia. The inside is modern and simple: no ornate carvings or statues or intricate decorations. Yet, it’s sleek and beautiful. The ballet, by Pushkin, was exciting, humorous, visually stimulating, and sometimes shocking. I summarized the storyline earlier from what Guyla told me, and her description was quite accurate. The music, by live orchestra, was fantastic and I want to find the recording somehow. It’s moments like this where I just have to stand back and think, “Wow, I’m really doing this. How is this my life?” I just saw a ballet in the Kremlin Theatre in Moscow, Russia. My mind is blown.

The School, Food, and Shrinking Stomachs

31.8: Today was a more relaxing day. After a cheese and egg sandwich on this strange dense, dark brown bread breakfast, my teachers and I made the minute-long trip to the school. Galina, the director, once again wasn’t in her office but Alexander was; he speaks almost no English, so I called Guyla and she translated for us. Alexander showed us into the main part of the school and introduced us to Irina, the “grand teacher” of the school. She gave me a Kindergarten and Pre-Language schedule and took us on a tour of our teaching rooms. The school is small but clean and our rooms are spacious. Whenever we enter the school, we are required to wear these plastic foot covers, which are pretty much miniature trash bags with elastic for our feet. We feel rather ridiculous wearing them but their purpose is understandable. My teachers donated and organized the school and teaching supplies they brought with them from the States in our ILP Supply Closet, and then we went to lunch. The cook is a gruff, plump woman who always seems to be yelling at us (in Russian, of course), but she is genuine is purpose and cares that we’re fed and happy. I’ll learn her name eventually. Our meal consisted of a 4x2” fish patty, a scoop of mashed potatoes, green bean soup, and an uncooked tomato and cucumber salad. The drink was home-made fruit juice: various kinds of fruit rested at the bottom of the pitcher. Everything was quite tasty, and very filling: at the school, it appears that lunch is the biggest meal. Dinner that night was shredded carrot and apple salad, which was surprisingly delicious, but hardly filling. I know I’m going to lose weight while I’m here. Ironically, contracting strep throat days before I came to Russia may have been a partial blessing in disguise: my stomach is already accustomed to eating very little, and I believe it’s already shrunk. Even though I feel hungry enough to eat an entire pizza, I probably couldn’t (to anyone who really knows me, you know this is cause for alarm: I can usually eat like a fat kid—secretly, my appetite had grand dreams of being a fat kid). We did some more training that evening and I did some Head Teacher stuff; it was a quiet evening.

Kremlin, Lenin, and Jet Lag

So much has happened in the last couple days. 30.8.12 First, as the date states, in Russia the day comes before the month, followed by the year. Today, I woke up early despite jet lag and general exhaustion. I think I have so much on my mind and so many pressing matters that my body won't allow me to sleep in. However, it allowed me time to shower and finish up in the bathroom before the other girls needed it. We have one bathroom/mirror (which is located in the bathroom) between four girls; as yet, we haven't run into many problems and I think everything will work out smoothly. At 9AM, a van picked us up at the gate and drove us into town. Captains (my school) is about a thirty minute drive from the city, which makes shopping and site seeing somewhat inconvenient, but the environment where the school is located makes

up for that. I heard that we live in the “Beverly Hills” of Moscow. Our school rests within a gorgeous forest—I don’t know the breeds of many trees, but aspens are among them that surround us. When walking to the bus stop, which is about a quarter to a half mile away, I actually feel somewhat at home, like I’m walking through the mountains (but without the mountains), miles away from the city. The school and our apartment are located within a gated neighborhood; the grandeur of the houses is awe-inspiring; they’re probably worth several, several million. I should enjoy this, as I’m sure it’ll be the only time I’ll ever live in such a place. Our apartment is the top floor of the guesthouse to one of these mansions. The mansion and the guesthouse are located in their own private walled courtyard, complete with pond, trees, porches, and the three pooches. The owner of the mansion and our guesthouse also owns the school. I would assume our students are the children of the neighboring millionaires. No pressure, though, right? Needless to say, we live in a gorgeous, secluded, quiet area, except for the Mercedes and Porches that drive by every now and then. Tangent complete. When we arrived in the city, we met Guyla, the Foreign Affairs Director, and the Moscow 1 ILP group. Emily Carter is the Head Teacher of Moscow 1 and she has eight teachers under her supervision. Emily volunteered in Weihai, China, the semester before I did, so we had a lot to discuss and relate to each other. Guyla brought us to the store where we got pictures taken for our new Russian visas (the ones ILP issued are short term, and law requires us to get new ones now that we’re in the country), then we walked down the street to locate the inexpensive grocery store, the post office, the pharmacy, and the best Russian chocolate shop in Moscow; all very imperative to our stay here. Then we went to the metro and purchased passes, which we then used to ride the metro to downtown. The main metro stop is lavishly decorated with chrome molding, bronze statues, and intricate carvings. The Moscow metro is famous for having some of the longest escalators in the world, and this stop was proof of that. I felt almost dizzy riding it to the surface. Our first stop was the Kremlin Theatre box office. We purchased tickets to a ballet by Pushkin for this Saturday night. It’s a romantic story about a princess who is kidnapped by a monster and her father promises her hand in marriage to whoever saves her. The tickets, for relatively good seats (we’ll see how true that is on Saturday) were 350 rubles, or about 11 bucks. The ballet will be performed in the Kremlin Theatre, which is located within the Kremlin itself and is the largest theatre in all of Russia. I’d say we got a deal! I’m really excited for this experience. Next, we wandered through the Kremlin gardens. The flowers were bright and beautiful. Outside the wall is a monument to all those who died during the Great Patriotic War, or World World 2. It’s a continuously burning torch before a statue of a helmet and gun; two live guards stand, motionless, on the sides. The guards rotate every twenty minutes. The next thing we knew, Guyla was shoving us into a line and taking our bags. Her only explanation was, “Go see Lenin! No bags allowed.” We followed a group of Russians through a gate, down a pathway lined with plaques dedicated to past leaders, and into a large black mausoleum. The inside was marble as well, which made it extremely difficult to see but we tried to descend the invisible stairs as gracefully as possible. The stairs led to a large open room which housed Lenin’s preserved body. Lenin rested on a raised coffin-like pedestal, encased in a glass box. It was, in fact, Lenin’s body; he has become a scientific study to see how long his body can be preserved (he died in 1927). To me, he looked to be made of wax. Kinda really creepy, but it was a must-see tourist attraction as I’ve heard. Lenin’s tomb is on the side of Red Square, so that’s where we went next. Moscow is preparing for City Days, or Moscow’s birthday this weekend, and so Red Square was filled with a mini stadium, an equestrian arena, and theatre stages. We watched three Russian boys practicing their traditional Russian dance routine and other boys doing tricks while riding on horses and guards swinging around colored flags to music. We maneuvered our way around these sets until we reached St. Basil’s Cathedral; we didn’t have the time to tour it but Guyla explained its history and we took pictures in front of it. It’s beyond visually stunning—I’ve never seen anything like it. Unlike most cathedrals, St. Basils doesn’t open up into one grand room: it consists of nine small chapels, all of which have their own title and purpose. Basil was a beggar who apparently had special abilities: he could predict the future and heal ailments and diseases. Everyone knew of him and when he died they named one of the nine chapels after him. We saw the Kremlin clock tower, the GUM (a gigantic high-end mall), the history museum (the outside), and a couple of the cathedrals by the Kremlin. As it was about 2PM and we hadn’t eaten anything, we were all starving so Guyla took us to a café. We ordered what she called “ravioli” and I prepared myself to gorge myself as I haven’t eaten much in days (the portion sizes at the school are small). When my food came, I looked into my bowl to see about ten “ravioli” at the bottom. To best describe the ravioli, they were more like tiny dumplings. They tasted delicious, but I was definitely still hungry afterward. Russians simply don’t eat like Americans—the food hasn’t been too unusual, the portions are just…pathetic, really. My daddy didn’t raise me to eat like this. Nevertheless, it’s part of the culture and I’m going to embrace it! Actually, culture changes are my favorite thing about traveling. I love learning how people live, love, and thrive in various environments; our diversity is what makes society and the world interesting and beautiful. After lunch, we returned to the metro and then went our separate ways. My teachers and I ride to the “Mel-oh-dehz-neye-uh” metro station where we board the 121 bus that takes us the thirty minute ride to the bus stop by our school. We had a training meeting and then took the rest of the evening just to recuperate and relax. I have a lot of tasks and check lists to complete as Head Teacher, some of which I cannot complete without Guyla’s or the school’s assistance, and oftentimes communication is difficult. I haven’t been able to meet the school director, as she’s never in her office when I visit, and she hasn’t tried to contact me about teaching schedules so a lot is up in the air. As it appears now, we will be teaching a Pre-Language Class (pretty much babysitting 2-3 year olds), Kindergarten (ILP method with 4-8 year olds), and at the University of Moscow. Apparently, our visas claim that we are students at the university and we are therefore required by law to “attend” a class at the university this semester—otherwise we’ll be deported. Technically, we’ll be “teaching” this class: these university-aged students should have a basic understanding of the English language and we will be there simply to allow them an opportunity to practice their English skills on native English speakers, as opposed to their Russian English teachers. As Head Teacher, I won’t technically be teaching but supervising and assisting my teachers in their lessons. This should be an interesting and rewarding experience. The only time we’ll actually be teaching the ILP method will be with the Kindergarteners. That teaching schedule has been quite confusing, though. Usually, ILP uses a three hour teaching routine; Captains provides us with two hours. It’s been complicated figuring out a schedule that fits; plus, my boss hasn’t responded to my questions in a couple of days and so I’ve been forced to take the initiative. I suppose that’s what he’s paying me for, though! That night, I laid down in bed at 8:30PM and didn’t move until 7AM. Jet lag finally hit me head on.

Last Day in the States for Four Months!

Privet! (Hello!) Today is my last day in the United States for about four months. I fly out tomorrow morning at 7:40 from Salt Lake City. I'll have a layover in Houston, TX, a layover in Frankfurt, Germany, and then I'll land in Moscow at about 4:20PM on the 29th. Moscow is 10 hours ahead of MST. I'm a bit confused on how that plays into the timing, but I'll keep you updated as to when I arrive. It's crazy (mind blowing even) to think that I'll be in Russia in a couple of days! I'll let you know a little bit about what I'll be doing for the next four months. I'm a Head Teacher, so I will training and supervising three girls: Ally, Whitney, and Shelley. I will be training, coaching and evaluating them as teachers. I will write reports for the ILP office and work as a liaison/ambassador between ILP and the host school. As I've heard, we will be living in a guesthouse about a minute away from our school, the Captains school. As I only have three teachers, our school should be on the smaller side: ILP rules state that classes should have no more than eight students per teacher in the primary school. We will be working with the younger students, those with little to no English skills. It's the same age I taught in China, and my favorite age to teach! We will be eating most meals at the school, and we will receive money from the school for the other meals. I've received emails from local Church leaders, including the Bishop of the International Branch, and Brother and Sister Naegle, who are the CES missionaries in Moscow. The Naegles have offered to help us find the right metro stops to take to get to Church. It will be nice to be able to actually attend "real" Church, instead of over Skype like I did in China. I will return to the States on December 19th. I believe, to me it'll be the 20th but to you it will be the 19th. If you want to know what the future's like, feel free to ask. :P Today, I have a few tasks to complete and few things to purchase, but then I will be set for my next adventure! I would love to answer any questions you may have or anything like that! I love you all! Love always, Jillian

I am currently staying with the Escalantes, who are family friends of several years, in Orem, UT. Today, I completed my first day of Head Teacher training for ILP; last week, I attended volunteer training. It has all gone well and I’ve learned so much, which is why I feel like my head may explode from being so full. I will have so many new responsibilities as Head Teacher, such as acting as an administrator/liaison with the host school in Moscow, a training facilitator and advisor for the volunteer teachers, and administrator for the ILP office back in Orem. I’m kinda like the mama bear. I received the profiles of my three teachers: Whitney Priestley, Michelle Perkins, and Ally Sandoval. I’m quite relieved my group is so small, actually. It will be easier to take care of them and handle situations for and with them. Training has been very helpful in calming me. It’s a lot of responsibility, but I appreciate having an idea of what I’m actually supposed to be doing.

Latest on Russia

It's been a long time since I last posted, but I thought I should update you all on my latest adventure. If, for some reason, you aren't aware of it, I'm traveling to Moscow, Russia at the end of August to work as a Head Teacher for International Language Programs. It's the same program that took me to China, I've just been promoted. Yay! I recently received my flight itinerary. I fly out from Salt Lake City on August 28th to Houston, Texas, then from Houston to Frankfurt, Germany, and on to Moscow. I completed my first of four days of training today, and it went very well. I'm super excited yet super nervous for this adventure. I can't wait to go international again! Part of me simply wishes it wasn't to a mafia/communist-run country. But, such is my lot in life. Come what may, and love it!