Death of a Hippo

Well, I haven't had a new blog post in over a week, and I've got 3 hours until I have to teach again so here we go:

Well today is Wednesday, and I can't decide if I actually like my schedule. I teach from 2:15-3:15, then I have a break until 6:15 when I have to teach the open class. The open class is coming close to becoming the bane of my existence, it's easy...but I hate it.

What is an open class you ask? Well it's an open house for Language Link, anywhere from 1-10 people interested in taking EFL classes comes for a demo lesson. So I get to teach a cookie cutter lesson, we do a silly conversation exercise, then another silly talking exercise "I went to the supermarket to......" it's brutal, and after that we play "Who am I". This takes anywhere from 30-45 minutes. Afterwards I administer a placement test to everyone that came to the open class. The class is generally filled with students in the beginner and elementary level of English. I'm a firm believer a native speaker is far less effective teaching lower level classes than a Russian teacher. Plus I don't have any low level classes, so I don't ever get into the mindset of dumbing down my language to that level. Either way I hate it.

To alleviate my hatred of the open lesson, which has been steadily dropping in attendance with each consecutive week. I suggested today that we should do the open lesson every other week, to keep up attendance. In the off weeks, LL would host an English movie night. After all I'd much rather get paid to sit and watch a movie, and maybe explain a few vocab points.

Onto the weather, on Saturday it was beautiful and in the 60's, Sunday also was beautiful and in the 40's, Monday was beautiful...and in the 20's. Tuesday wasn't too bad either, but it was also in the 20's. Today, it's in the low 30's and raining...Fall died a quick and brutal death. 

As to the title of the blog, I went to the zoo Sunday. I have a some pictures at my apartment, which I can put into their own zoo related post. However the zoo had one hippo, and I found out yesterday that (s)he tragically died in a horrific hippo accident.

I'll write another blog post or two tonight, and they will have some pictures. So in the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

You would figure....

There is something synonymous about Russians and waiting in line. When you think Soviet Union, one of the things that pops into your mind, is little old ladies waiting in line for hours to get their bread ration.

 Well, turns out despite what you may think Russians SUCK at waiting in line. (I'm going to be on the lookout for picture opportunities of Russians waiting in line since I don't have any.) After being part of a culture where, for 90 years you had to spend multiple hours everyday of your life in line, just to get food, you should be really, really good at standing in line. From the moment Americans go to preschool, we're taught how to stand in a straight, orderly line to wait for our turn.  In Russia, it's just a free for all, here's an example:

Yesterday, I was waiting in line to get some tokens for the metro, it wasn't a long line, maybe five or six people. Well I got up to the window, asked for my tokens. While I was getting the money out of my wallet, a man pushes me aside, and asks the cashier for metro tokens. I was absolutely aghast. I was coming down with a cold, ready to be home, and not in a mood for shenanigans. So, I did what any good American would do, I turned to the man and let off a long angry string of expletives that I won't repeat here. When I was finished yelling, he just stared at me like I was Jesus coming back for the rapture. He  leapt back to the wall about ten feet away. The cashier was in total disbelief of what had just happened, her jaw must have dropped three feet. To get her out of her stupor, I said "Three please!" angrily in English, she gave me my tokens and change... Off I went. I didn't see the man on the platform, he was probably still shaking up by the ticket window. The best part about this is, that since Yekaterinburg was closed to foreigners until 1991, and it is a city of 1.4 million containing no more than two dozen Americans...There is a huge number of people here that have never heard or seen an American. So, this man's first interaction with an American was me yelling at him. Great for diplomatic relations, it's a good thing he probably can't tell the difference between an American and a Brit.

I'll be on the lookout for some great Russian line pictures.