9382 Steps
2.96 Miles
Okay... it's always hot in Moscow in June. It just is. That's weather. But man, it has felt just SWELTERING these last couple of days. I can't seem to not be sweating. And this is not a city that really embraces the creature comfort of air conditioning all that much. Certainly not to the level we do in the US. So I walk to class... and I sweat. I watch the ballet class... and I sweat. I sing... and I sweat. I eat buckwheat and vegetables...and I sweat. I observe acting class... and I sweat. I walk home... and I damn sure sweat! But hey... I also learn a lot. So stop whining, self! Geez!
This morning we had ballet again. I was pleased to see how much the students retained from the first class. It always makes Renat crazy when we don't retain what he teaches us. I have faith in this group. They're working hard! Then we hopped over to singing class where we started out with our crazy trio... and frankly, for our first time singing it through with accompaniment... we may have been just a little awesome. I'm very proud of us. Actually, I'm proud of everyone. It's so much fun to sing with Marina. And she has brought a lot of different songs into the mix this year than in the past three. The biggest surprise, however, was at the end of the class when one of the students started working on a new piece she had been given... and it quickly turned into a group number. All That Jazz is now some of the most organic singing fun I have ever had! Go team!
Lunch was uneventful, until the very end when JT swung by to take me over to the administration building to meet the ladies in the offices. Larissa and Lilina are names I have always seen in email chains, but somehow I managed never to meet them in all my times here. So it was nice to get a chance to put faces with the names. And they were very sweet about my Russian - praising me for being able to speak any at all. And let's face it... who doesn't like a little praise here and there?
Then it was back for acting class, which was a lot of fun today. They did some activities that are old favorites of mine, as well as an etude in which they had to check a list to see if they got into the university of their choice - and it was up to them whether their name was there or not. It was interesting to watch the ways in which they dealt with the good/bad news. The most fun, however, was an etude in which they had to be a bunch of actors waiting to find out which of them had been cast in a film. It was deliciously awkward! Then they finished up by drawing pictures of each other and making up stories about them. Misha does a lot of exercises designed to open up the imagination, and man, are they a lot of fun. I really look forward to trying some of them with my own students one of these days. But first I need a job... and before that I need to write the damn dissertation...
Yeah... it always comes back to that.
Anyway, it was a quiet evening around the dorm, and I have been determined to keep myself awake instead of drifting off like I want to. I feel like tonight will be the one that truly tips the scales into Moscow's time zone. I just need another hour of consciousness... that's all... I can do that... er... maybe.
2.96 Miles
Okay... it's always hot in Moscow in June. It just is. That's weather. But man, it has felt just SWELTERING these last couple of days. I can't seem to not be sweating. And this is not a city that really embraces the creature comfort of air conditioning all that much. Certainly not to the level we do in the US. So I walk to class... and I sweat. I watch the ballet class... and I sweat. I sing... and I sweat. I eat buckwheat and vegetables...and I sweat. I observe acting class... and I sweat. I walk home... and I damn sure sweat! But hey... I also learn a lot. So stop whining, self! Geez!
This morning we had ballet again. I was pleased to see how much the students retained from the first class. It always makes Renat crazy when we don't retain what he teaches us. I have faith in this group. They're working hard! Then we hopped over to singing class where we started out with our crazy trio... and frankly, for our first time singing it through with accompaniment... we may have been just a little awesome. I'm very proud of us. Actually, I'm proud of everyone. It's so much fun to sing with Marina. And she has brought a lot of different songs into the mix this year than in the past three. The biggest surprise, however, was at the end of the class when one of the students started working on a new piece she had been given... and it quickly turned into a group number. All That Jazz is now some of the most organic singing fun I have ever had! Go team!
Lunch was uneventful, until the very end when JT swung by to take me over to the administration building to meet the ladies in the offices. Larissa and Lilina are names I have always seen in email chains, but somehow I managed never to meet them in all my times here. So it was nice to get a chance to put faces with the names. And they were very sweet about my Russian - praising me for being able to speak any at all. And let's face it... who doesn't like a little praise here and there?
Then it was back for acting class, which was a lot of fun today. They did some activities that are old favorites of mine, as well as an etude in which they had to check a list to see if they got into the university of their choice - and it was up to them whether their name was there or not. It was interesting to watch the ways in which they dealt with the good/bad news. The most fun, however, was an etude in which they had to be a bunch of actors waiting to find out which of them had been cast in a film. It was deliciously awkward! Then they finished up by drawing pictures of each other and making up stories about them. Misha does a lot of exercises designed to open up the imagination, and man, are they a lot of fun. I really look forward to trying some of them with my own students one of these days. But first I need a job... and before that I need to write the damn dissertation...
Yeah... it always comes back to that.
Anyway, it was a quiet evening around the dorm, and I have been determined to keep myself awake instead of drifting off like I want to. I feel like tonight will be the one that truly tips the scales into Moscow's time zone. I just need another hour of consciousness... that's all... I can do that... er... maybe.
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