Today, we visited the Kindergarten school associated with our Lyceum. They refer to the Kindergarten as any age from 2 months old until 7 years of age. These children attend this school free of charge or for a minimal price, but the school is entirely funded by the city and state. I would relate this school similarly to our preschools in the US, although many of our preschools are business owned. The students were once again exceptionally sweet and personable. As we handed them stickers as gifts, their eyes glowed with excitement. They were just so excited to see someone from a different country and so innocent in their thoughts. They each wanted to give us something and just touch us. To finish our visit, the students performed for us with songs and different dances. At the end they all dressed in their country colors and had an Olympic bear and Olympic bunny. I couldn't get enough of the bear! It was awesome!!
From there, we came back to the school for a lesson in Family Consumer Studies. The students made crepes with us and we dined for lunch on dishes that they made. Their cooking class was adorable. There were two old stoves, many ironing boards, four dresses they had sewn, and many examples of their cross stiching. In questioning what students can take this class, they mentioned only girls. Boys have their own family studies course, but do not cook. Wow! I couldn't believe my ears, but it is true. Such a sweet class.
Next, we had a short break in which we walked around the city looking for a bank in which we could buy some coins for our students. After stopping by six different banks, we finally found one that had a few coins. Here, coins are so worthless that they hardly even have them in circulation. The have absolutely no, to little value.
We then met with a city TV crew interviewing us about our stay in Krasnoyarsk and the formality of the program. It was quite an experience that I will never forget.
Next in our busy, busy schedule came "Master Classes". They sprung on us that they wanted us to teach a lesson. Lisa had come prepared for a different city, so she was ready with lessons. Emily and I chose to talk to the students about what we do with our own students and showed examples of student work and student created websites. They were extremely interested and have never seen just online complexity at school.
Our "Mask" making class was next. They have an entire class devoted to making theater masks, the decorative theatrical masks you may have seen in year's past. The class was in a very small room with the teacher being a professional prop/set maker. He had paper mache masks all ready for us to paint. The Russian students said they knew I would pick the cat mask as I am happy like a cat. Who knows what that means? I love how our masks turned out and had fun sporting them for the photos. Not really sure how I'm supposed to transport it home safely in the suitcase, but I'll give it a shot.
From there, they squeezed in another museum tour in their city, this time being of a famous painter. Not being fond of art or surprise additions to our agenda, I was reluctant to go to the museum, but after attending, I'm glad I did. The painter did great outdoor scenes of local tourist attractions we have been to. I also liked how close you could get to the painting, close enough to tough.
Next was a trip to their newest mall "Planet, Planet, Planet". It didn't look like a mall from the outside, but from the inside I was really impressed. I joked that they could have dropped me off here on Saturday instead of mountain climbing and I would have been happy. Some of the stores and eateries were similar to names we have in the US, including Cinnabon, Sbarra, KFC, United Colors of Bennetton, Nike, Adidas, and Zara. Many of the stores were very high fashion. If I had more room in my suitcase I would have loved to shop around. Instead, I headed straight for the toy store to buy gifts for my girls. It was really hard to find a toy uniquely to Russia as most of the toys were exactly the same as the US. Boy do I love shopping and malls. It's a common language that I can speak all around the world.
We ended the night with dinner at Munchin, a Germany brewery, but Russian style.
Tomorrow is our last day in Krasnoyarsk. It will be bitter sweet as we have made some really good friends, but we look forward to slowing down a bit and seeing our families. I'm just amazed at how generous all have been and the amount of gifts they like to give us. It's something that I have never experienced before in my life. I will always be grateful to these people.
From there, we came back to the school for a lesson in Family Consumer Studies. The students made crepes with us and we dined for lunch on dishes that they made. Their cooking class was adorable. There were two old stoves, many ironing boards, four dresses they had sewn, and many examples of their cross stiching. In questioning what students can take this class, they mentioned only girls. Boys have their own family studies course, but do not cook. Wow! I couldn't believe my ears, but it is true. Such a sweet class.
Next, we had a short break in which we walked around the city looking for a bank in which we could buy some coins for our students. After stopping by six different banks, we finally found one that had a few coins. Here, coins are so worthless that they hardly even have them in circulation. The have absolutely no, to little value.
We then met with a city TV crew interviewing us about our stay in Krasnoyarsk and the formality of the program. It was quite an experience that I will never forget.
Next in our busy, busy schedule came "Master Classes". They sprung on us that they wanted us to teach a lesson. Lisa had come prepared for a different city, so she was ready with lessons. Emily and I chose to talk to the students about what we do with our own students and showed examples of student work and student created websites. They were extremely interested and have never seen just online complexity at school.
Our "Mask" making class was next. They have an entire class devoted to making theater masks, the decorative theatrical masks you may have seen in year's past. The class was in a very small room with the teacher being a professional prop/set maker. He had paper mache masks all ready for us to paint. The Russian students said they knew I would pick the cat mask as I am happy like a cat. Who knows what that means? I love how our masks turned out and had fun sporting them for the photos. Not really sure how I'm supposed to transport it home safely in the suitcase, but I'll give it a shot.
From there, they squeezed in another museum tour in their city, this time being of a famous painter. Not being fond of art or surprise additions to our agenda, I was reluctant to go to the museum, but after attending, I'm glad I did. The painter did great outdoor scenes of local tourist attractions we have been to. I also liked how close you could get to the painting, close enough to tough.
Next was a trip to their newest mall "Planet, Planet, Planet". It didn't look like a mall from the outside, but from the inside I was really impressed. I joked that they could have dropped me off here on Saturday instead of mountain climbing and I would have been happy. Some of the stores and eateries were similar to names we have in the US, including Cinnabon, Sbarra, KFC, United Colors of Bennetton, Nike, Adidas, and Zara. Many of the stores were very high fashion. If I had more room in my suitcase I would have loved to shop around. Instead, I headed straight for the toy store to buy gifts for my girls. It was really hard to find a toy uniquely to Russia as most of the toys were exactly the same as the US. Boy do I love shopping and malls. It's a common language that I can speak all around the world.
We ended the night with dinner at Munchin, a Germany brewery, but Russian style.
Tomorrow is our last day in Krasnoyarsk. It will be bitter sweet as we have made some really good friends, but we look forward to slowing down a bit and seeing our families. I'm just amazed at how generous all have been and the amount of gifts they like to give us. It's something that I have never experienced before in my life. I will always be grateful to these people.