More Pictures

Well, we haven't been up to much. Just language study and more language study! We were able to go to a friend's village home for 2 days, so add in a bit of culture exposure, but that's really about it.

I've also been trying to have "school" with Steven every day working with colors, numbers, drawing, and the alphabet. He is the only kid I know who can read but not talk yet. Usually, when we do drawing/coloring he hands me the pencil or crayon because he loves to watch me do it but he won't do it himself (at least that is what I thought). I've never seen him do anything except a few lines and maybe a circle.

One day I went into the kitchen and let him do his coloring by himself. When I had come back I found this (he drew the one on the left, copying the clown we had been using to learn shapes). Although not perfect I was still amazed since I didn't even know he could do anything but scribble. YEAH!

The other news is that we are travelling back to the States soon for a bit. The tax documents we mentioned in the last post were accepted, so we're on schedule. We will be going through Moscow first, where Jesse will be helping out with some language consulting, and then on across the ocean. Steven will have a speech evaluation and then, if we get the go ahead from the therapist, we will take a few weeks to travel and see as many people as we can. So, if you want a visit from us hopefully you'll soon be getting your wish!

Here's some pics of the language study I was talking about earlier. I went in to work with Jesse the other day to take some pictures of him so we could show you. Here's his notebook, with a dialogue he's learning about a conversation at the immigration office:

This is his culture and language helper A. They spend a couple of hours together every morning talking in T.

This is the stolovaya in town (like a cafeteria-style restaurant). It makes Jesse sick every time he eats there, but I love it!

I mentioned that we went out to a nearby village recently to visit a friend. Her grandparents live out there, so she's staying with them for the summer and invited us to come for a weekend. I think the boys aren't quite made for apartment life; when they get out, they have a great (and dirty) time!

My friend's name is M, and you can be thinking about her. She's moving to Moscow soon, unfortunately, so we won't get to see her much, but we still really had a great time getting to know her.

A while ago some foreigners came in to work in this village. They built this giant "yurt" before they left, so we thought we'd get a picture of it. Definitely not something you see every day!

The river there was so beautiful! We tried to get a family picture there, but none of them really turned out. It was a pretty spot, though.

Here's Jesse playing with Steven in their yard. As you can see, most of the yard is a garden; there are potatoes on the right and raspberry bushes on the left.

I think my favorite thing from the time there was the real, fresh, unpasteurized cow's milk! Super delicious!

And that will do it for now. Looking forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks back in the US. Keep your eye out for a post from there in the near future, although we may post from Moscow first as we pass through.