Another phone call - at 3:AM!

Bethany called home again! But at 3:00am!!! It was 2:00pm in Russia. All of the teachers were done with work, and no one else wanted to call home at that time to wake their parents up, so Beth called and we were able to talk for almost 2 hours!!!

She is doing great!!! She loves it, but said that it is really hard work. Unfortunately, the children are behind in their English because the previous group of teachers didn't put much effort into teaching the children. She also said that American kids are much better disciplined than Russian children.

She works Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 10:30am - 12 noon and Tues & Thursday 4:30pm - 6:pm teaching the younger kids, ages 5-7 with 3 other teachers. The children rotate to each teacher, so she does her lesson 4 times a day. Then on Monday & Wednesday nights from 5:00pm - 7:30pm she team teaches 16 & 17 year olds. They know English quite well, so it's mainly to help them with their grammar.

Bethany takes Russian language classes 2 times a week, on Tues & Thu mornings from 10am-12:30pm.

Bethany has been enjoying the food. But the Native Co-ordinator has called her 2 times, telling her first that the Grandma that she first stayed with, and now the family that she is staying with, have called to say that she is not eating enough and that she needs to eat more!!! Bethany said they are putting out big buffet type meals and she is trying to eat alot, but they want to 'fatten' her up! She told us that the food is very bland though. They serve meat and bread at every meal. She's had crepes for breakfast with 'some kind of meat', crepes with sweetened condensed milk on them (which she absolutely loves!) and always bread! She had cereal the other morning with fresh cow's milk. Bethany has never had fresh milk straight from the cow and she loves it!!! Her 'mom' found out that Bethany loves Nutella, so she bought Beth 2 big jars. Now Beth has Nutella every day on her bread. She eats lunch at the school, mostly soups. Dinners are usually some type of meat and noodles and bread.

Her clothes have been keeping her very warm. She was surprised at how warm she is even out in the snow! It's very humid so her hair is 'poofing' out everywhere! Bethany was the first teacher to "eat it" in the snow. This morning on her way to school, she slipped and fell into a 3 foot high snow drift, covering herself in snow! Of course, being Bethany, all she did was laugh!

Bethany said that if she has major health problems later on in life, we can blame Russia for them! When she gets lung cancer from second hand smoke...it's because 80% of the people smoke! And they smoke everywhere! There aren't any non-smoking places. She's been told not to drink the water unless it's bottled or filtered. Well, the filters have a 3 step process, first to filter out the dirt, 2nd to filter out the bacteria, and 3rd to filter out the radiation!!!! Beth said that when she goes bald in the next few years, that's why!!!

She absolutely loves her 'parents'. She said they are so nice and kind. They won't let her do anything, even take in her dishes to the sink when she is done eating. Her dad, Vova, drives her everywhere. He said he doesn't like walking or taking the Metro, so he won't let her do it either. She still hasn't met her 'brother' and 'sister'. They both come home this weekend, so she will finally get to meet them. She's excited about the brother, because he is fluent in English and she can ask him if they have the internet. She has taken a lot of pictures, and wants to post them for everyone to see, but can't until she gets online.

She told me to tell everyone that she loves and misses them.