The place: One of 20 some ethnic republics inside of Russia, this one with a history going back to the Khans and Turks. Chuvashia. Where even Russian isn’t the first language. A gentle, quiet people with deep hearts. I am visiting their schools, traveling with a staunch senior lady who is first in my eyes…
Category: russia
The Year of Living Domestically
I guess I was about 13 or so when the movie “The Year of Living Dangerously” came out. I watched it and at that point, I pretty much knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a foreign correspondent, a journalist in another country. Well, since I foolishly believed people…
Where did she go?
I have written about people who have touched my life in significant ways here on old Chez What, and today I am gonna tell about Jill. Jill and I were in Peace Corps together, in Western Russia. Well, aside from my parents getting a divorce when I was 13, Russia had to rank right up…
MF, likely will never know how much I appreciated her.
Last we left off I dragged MF and Olga out in the middle of downtown Vladimir, Russia in a snow storm in order to pick up a package sent from my parents. Olga was in the midst of mourning her lost dad and I in my single-minded focus on the package was oblivious. By the…
May Fray
I would blog alot more if my memory didn’t temporary erase itself. I started taking a sleeping aid and I think they are akin to stupid pills. Sometimes that isn’t so bad because I stop thinking so much and I go around smiling all the next day, plus I got regular sleep. Did I mention…
My Peace Corps experience, part one
Before I go on, let me say first off that Peace Corps is an amazing opportunity for Americans who have graduated college. I say that because those are the two most basic requirements, you must have graduated college and you must be an American citizen. I have heard people say they wanted to do it…
Teach
NEA Today magazine ran a special about teacher blogs. This is sort of a teacher blog except for the fact that I rarely talk about my teaching. Which is strange because it is really a huge part of my life. When I come home, stopping thinking about school is my first item of business. Sometimes…