English Club

Didn't get everyone in the picture but here is most of the group that came tonight. Only one of the students is one of our regulars so we got to meet many new Tuvans tonight. They spoke English too!!! Usually our English Club is full of people who could speak English if you forced them to but these ones actually did it with out forcing them! Our Tuvan language helper, Snegilya, is in the red shirt. We only speak in Tuvan and Russian with her during the week so it was fun to hear her speaking in English tonight- she's pretty good!!! They really were so excited to meet Neil and Jeff- I think we forget how rare it is for them to meet people from other countries. We had lots of great discussions about things that are different in our cultures- personal space, smiling, salt in tea instead of sugar, housing situation, colleges, jobs, opportunities. Looking forward to getting to know these college students better.

It was 30C today I think- hot anyway. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer so I'm glad we are going on a picnic with our co-workers and some of our Tuvan friends.

Friends from Home!!!

Our first visitors to Tuva from home!!! Neil and Jeff are on an amazing adventure across Asia. They started in St. Petersburg and will eventually end up in Hong Kong. They survived the train from Moscow to here but I wouldn't say they really enjoyed it...interesting though of course:) They are just out with David right now at the museum across the street from us while I make some goodies for English Club tonight. The last few weeks attendance has been low as they were finishing up exams etc. but I think if word gets around that there will be two unmarried Canadian men around here tonight we will have a good turnout:) We are having a great time with Neil and Jeff. So nice to be with fellow Canadians:) SO glad they made their way here!

My Littlest Language Helpers

When you first start learning a language it is so much easier to try it out on young ones:) These two little sisters have fun listening to me speaking Tuvan. On purpose, I've been only speaking in Tuvan with them. They are new friends to us so they don't already know that we can speak Russian so it works well. I did shout out "CAREFUL!" once in Russian though by accident when the littlest girl was going to walk in front of a car. They come out by themselves to play- the oldest sort of takes care of her baby sister but she is easily distracted by the other kids etc. I don't mind watching her though- she is sooooo cute. They live in a little house between our apartment building and next to the prison.

There are rumours that the hot water will be back on tomorrow.... I am craving a hot bath. and needing one. :)

Cold Week

We've had an interesting week so far- the weather went from super warm and sunny to rainy and cold...today we even had hail!!! the kids said it was weird having snow in the summer:) The hail was only on the ground for maybe 5 minutes but it was neat while it lasted...

Our electricity has been on and off and the hot water has been off for 2 days now- it is turned off for the yearly cleaning. In Moscow it would be shut off for up to two and a half weeks but here I think it should only be a few more days. I can't wait to have a nice warm bath though... getting tired off standing in the tub with a few teakettles.

We are glad it is getting warmer again as we have some friends from Calgary coming on Friday. The forcast for when Neil and Jeff are here ranges from 24-32C. perfect!!! hopefully they won't have rain here cause they had a very rainy time in Moscow. The two brothers are travelling on the train from St.Petersburg all the way east... very adventurous. We are so glad that they can come visit us- they are the first Canadians to visit us in Tuva.!!!! We are trying to plan some exciting things to do.

Water Pump

Unfortunately, the people who don't live in apartments in Kyzyl have no running water or indoor plumbing of any sort. We noticed this little girl trying her hardest to fill up her bottle of water and had to help her. The bottle was too heavy for her to hold up with one hand while she pumped with the other so she was trying to find the right spot on the ground so that when she pumped the water would go into the bottle. She wasn't succeeding. It is so hard to see the little kids and especially the elderly lugging water back to their houses sometimes 3 or 4 or even more blocks away. They use minimal water as a result- baths are not part of their daily routine. They go to the Banya once in a while or in the summer they wash in the river. We wish the city could just run the pipes to their houses- seems like it would be easy enough but we don't think it will happen anytime soon. I don't think they realize how strange it is to live in the city, right next to museums and stores and theatres and banks and not have running water or bathrooms.

Sandstorms

Spring in Kyzyl doesn't mean much rain unfortunately- we've had a little rain but what it does bring is sandstorms. Many days we can't go out in the afternoon to play because of the blowing sand- we try sometimes but since you have to keep your eyes shut it isn't too much fun playing out there:) A few days ago we had a pretty bad one- I didn't get a good shot of the thick sand splashing up on our windows- or one of the piles of sand in our house that crept in through our window cracks but I did get these of our caretaker for the building. She is amazing- she had raked up our whole yard getting all the bits of glass and cigarette butts etc. and so even though the sandstorm was getting really bad she was out there cleaning up the piles she had swept up. Now she is busy sweeping the sand back where it should be- it isn't easy trying to keep the area in order...

Graduation

I don't quite understand it because school isn't over for the year yet but today was sort of like graduation. Some from Grade 8 kinda thing and some from Highschool. Whatever it means it sure was fun watching them wander around town today in their graduation outfits. The guys just wear their finest suits or whatever but the girls wear the outfits they wore on their first day of school in Grade One (new sizes though:). It is like it signifies the beginning and the end. Remember those big white puffy bows Emma wore last year to kindergarten? Well those are an essential part of the outfit- even for the girls graduating from highschool- along with the aprons and white socks. They were all having a blast in the parks, getting their pictures taken everywhere, signing their sashes like we would in our yearbooks, getting icecreams, breakdancing, celebrating the end of school and start of summer. One boy was filling up on hellium and entertaining a big crowd- so funny. Everywhere we went today we saw them in huge numbers.

Evening Walk

This evening after supper we went for a walk and discovered a new park- amazing seeing as it is close to our house and I've wandered everywhere I thought... Emma recognized some of the Russian storybook characters like the farmer and the turnip- we'll have to see if we can figure out what stories the rest of them are from- especially the funny cross-eyed guy. It was rainy a bit today so it was good to get the kids out of the house before bed.

Beach Boys

Emma enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon...

It was much warmer than we thought it would be today- and even though the heat has finally been turned off in our apartment, it still was pretty warm. The beach was perfect- still hot but a little warm breeze and so much sand/air to ourselves. Perfect. Emma read, suntanned, read to David and played with the boys in the water/sand/mud. She loves living close to the beach!!!

Playgrounds

Older russian playgrounds like this one are kinda fun. at first we didn't really like them because there isn't really anything to do at first sight- just big wooden sculptures to look at...but maybe it's the age of our kids right now cause now they just like to imagine and pretend so they jump in with the storybook figures and have a great time. There is supposed to be two swings hanging from the Tuvan wrestler but like most playground equipment they have been gone/broken for a couple of years. The teeter totter doesn't really work either but it's cute:) The kids talk to the bear, give food to the fox and have a great time climbing on them. The playgrounds get a fresh coat of paint each spring too so they are looking pretty good right now.