We've been asked how our Russian language studies are coming along. Recent food purchases illustrate our language prowess.
Last night, we purchased potato pancakes, except when we got home we discovered in a taste test that we'd really bought fried liver patties. We were hungry after a hard winter's day, and suffered no ill effects from eating them.
Sasha is now enrolled in a school at the JCC. She has been attending for a week and a half. She is one of three Sashas in her class (one boy, two girls). They call her Sashenka to distinguish her.
One of the more intriguing aspects is she has a weekly chess class. The graying, bearded chess master explains (in Russian), moves to the students via a giant felt chessboard on the wall. Students get poker chits for the right answer. Alison, the chess player in the family, thinks he was describing various strategies for protecting the king. Or maybe it was the best use of the bishop, but it was a little hard to tell what exactly his point was as the kids called out moves. Our Sasha said it is boring. A few days later, however, she asked Alison to teach her how to play chess, and they have been playing at night.
The school is 45 minutes away, and it involves lots of walking and transferring of crowded subway trains. But Russians on the trains almost always get up and give Sasha a seat.
The walking part of the journey to school often comes to a halt when Sasha hears music from a loudspeaker, because it means it is time to do an impromptu dance in the middle of the sidewalk. Russians don't smile much, but they smile at Sasha and her antics.
Sasha takes her academic subjects in the morning and the electives in the afternoon. She is served two lunches a day (we don't understand this, it's sort of like the Hobbits'second breakfast) and a snack, including a cup of tea for each child. Some of her classmates and a few teachers speak English, but mostly she hears Russian all day. In school, Sasha struts around in ballet slippers. On the way home, she wears her heavy duty boots so she can splash in as many puddles as possible.
What are her parents doing with all their time now that Sasha is in school? Besides buying fried liver disguised as potato pancakes, we are exploring Moscow, seeing interesting neighborhoods, and visiting museums. Yesterday, we went to the Pushkin Museum, a storehouse of incredible impressionist masterpieces. We thought we'd seen the best stuff at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, but the Pushkin was comparable. Rooms full of Matisses, Renoirs, Chagalls, Degas, and Cezannes. Plus a few Goyas and Dutch masters.
Alison went to her first meeting today of the American Women's Organization, Moscow chapter. Most of the expats she met are from Texas, and have husbands who work in the oil, gas and mineral industries. They immediately embraced Alison, and took her to an
out-of-the way, chic French restaurant for lunch. The menus were in English, and she did not order liver. They have invited us to a Saturday night Daring Dining group, which tries new restaurants.
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