Let the Teaching Begin...

Yes, I realize I haven't been updating you all on what is going on in my Russian life. BUT, I constantly THINK of updating my blog--does that count??

SOO, my friends! I have had my last week of training and my first week of real teaching...Wowza. Life gets overwhelming at times.

Our last week of training ended with a big celebration of sorts at the restaurant right next door to our school: Vokzal. We met all sorts of people at this exciting event, and the night was INTERESTING at the very least. Over the weekend, I spent lots of time with Sarah. We spent an hour trying to find a Georgian resaurant that didn't exist, and ended up eating at a general Caucasion restaurant--Shesh Besh. We had lovely soup, bread, chicken skewers and roasted veggies! We had our last sleepover at Sarah's flat, and on Sunday she moved away--at least TWO HOURS Southeast of me. BOOO.

On Sunday I met up with a friend and I finally saw many of the Moscow sights I've been wanting to see for a month: Pushkin Square, the Red Square, and St. Basil's Cathedral, plus Old Arbat. Now I don't feel like such a failure for being here so long and not seeing anything!!

So: Monday marked my first day of teaching my own classes. Holy moly, this is going to be rough! I have 7 classes total: 4 individuals, and 3 groups. The individuals are easier to plan and less stressful, but it's also way less exciting so the time tends to drag by. I have one 6 year-old, two teens, and an adult for indie lessons. My groups are: six 11 year-olds, eight 15 year-olds, and three 17 year-olds who are studying for an exam.

This all comes out to 28 hours per week, but each lesson plan has been taking me at least two hours to plan!! :( I'm sure I will get faster at planning, and things will continue to go more smoothly??

Pros:

• We live only 8 minutes by foot away from our school!
• My first class every day is 3:30pm!! So I have long, luxurious mornings (which mostly include lesson-planning...)
• I only have one class on Friday afternoon, so I have an almost-three day weekend!

Cons:

• Sarah lives far away.
• Three of my Seattle roommates plus three of my friend-o's are roadtripping down to California for our good friend Katie Brundie's WEDDING! And I'm missing it. :(

Tonight, after my flatmates are done teaching, we are going to head to the center of the city to hang out with some friends--we might end up dancing! Tomorrow, I'm off to my very first hockey game (sorry, I don't have any idea if it's professional or not!), and hanging out at our intern friend Shane's place. On Sunday, my flatmates and I are apparently shopping for cheap winter clothes! PLUS, I get to see Sarah on Saturday AND maybe Sunday!

Okay, enough for now.