Critters and Climate

“Welcome to Florida!” said the fire ants as they bit my ankle.

On our first fuel stop after crossing the state line, I took our puppy to the grass on the side of the road. Suddenly the smallest ants I’d ever seen were causing great pain. I swatted the tiny creatures, slapping and crushing them under my sandal straps, while hopping on one foot and holding the leash for the urinating dog. A minor spectacle, I suppose. The gas station attendant was actually laughing at me!

We heard a lot about the climate of Orlando before we arrived. Many friends live here and warned us about the heat and humidity. But nobody mentioned the fauna! From fire ants to dollar-sized cockroaches, the bugs are definitely a force to be reckoned with. The nice thing about the heat is that we haven’t seen mosquitos much during the day. Beyond bugs, the animals are abundant. Lizards scatter away off the sidewalks wherever we walk. They can be as small as crickets; the bigger ones are about five inches long. Our first evening, we found a tiny frog clinging to our front door. (Some of our children were terrified it would jump on them.) We found more frogs on our bedroom window. (You know your screens aren’t effective when frogs can get inside!)

Occasionally, armadillos poke around the grassy areas of our parking lot. The one animal we had heard about is the alligator. As far as I know, the closest resident alligator is a half mile away, in a pond by the subdivision. Deer and their fawns wander the golf course across the street.

I was surprised that anyone would consider swimming in any natural body of water here!

Can you find the gator?

But the most surprising animal life is the birds. Thirty turkey vultures are usually perched ominously on our buildings and the nearby streetlights. Prettier birds are everywhere-- at least two types of graceful, white, long-necked birds, and today I saw a beautiful black one as well. Pelicans soar overhead.

However, the most unexpected to me are the large ones--Sandhill Cranes wander both the parking lot of the high school and grocery store, and many other places. Different long-legged, graceful birds appear near the ponds and lakes which abound.

Grocery store parking lot

feel free to identify for me...

comments?

Ella loves all kinds of birds, and she and I enjoy spotting them. Danya, though, had a different reaction. The first day I drove with him, he said, “Mom you don’t have to point out every bird.” When I stopped to photograph the Sandhill Cranes in his high school parking lot, he reacted negatively. I assumed he was embarrassed to seem like a tourist, but it turns out he just doesn’t understand why I would take pictures of what he sees as ‘disgusting’ creatures. (As of this writing, Danya says, "Disgusting isn't quite the right word for them, but they are ...blech." I’m not sure what caused the good-bad split in our family over the nature of birds, but it seems to be deep and abiding!

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As far as the climate, we have been pleasantly surprised by how livable it is, even in August. Though the temperatures reach the 90s most days, it is not too bad in the mornings. It’s not exactly cool, but not too hot. The temperature gets down to 76 degrees at night.  The heat index is usually above 90 degrees before 8:00 . The sun comes up later here than we are used to—around 7am. So, Eric and I have been able to exercise every morning, determined to get up early so we both have time. No matter the ‘cool’ temps, it is still so humid that we get quite sweaty. But I have been surprised by how much I enjoy exercising in the mornings. I love being outside when it's still dark, and watching the sky lighten. And it’s delightful to be done by 7am, which leaves me feeling accomplished all day. I’m not sure when I last had so much consistent running and biking! Getting up early has it's consequences, though, as I'm usually ready for a nap at 9:00!

Of course, on the beach an hour away there are abundant different creatures. Skittering birds, 'cute' crabs and even a dolphin in the distance!

Coe-Kid Report

I'll forgo any attempt at good writing and report on how we are all doing! It's been so hard to find the time and energy to get it written!

Danya is crazy busy - 6 advanced academic classes, and a 'select' choir. (His choices, not ours!) But the dominant part of his life is running on the cross country team. He has never run this much or this fast. He catches the school bus at 6:45am. We pick him up at after he runs intervals or long miles in the heat and is exhausted. Except for dinner and a shower, he does homework... and goes to bed hopefully before 10pm. He wants to do more and has volunteered to be on the leadership team and lead worship for the Cru high school group. This is in addition to the missionary kids group which has a meeting or bible study every week! I'm afraid he will crash, but so far he says he is happy to do it all.

Tim has been frustrated that there is no basketball hoop within 2 miles. (I have even taken on the American-parent practice of driving him to play at school a few times, since just shooting hoops for an hour in the heat is a lot, let alone biking there and back! But yesterday he tried out to be a goalie on the soccer team. He just wanted to see how he compared. He had a four-week mini-camp in SPb, and wanted to see how his goalie skills measured up against the kids here. (He didn't want to be on the team since his focus is to be ready for basketball season in January.) But he made the team. The coach says his skills are 'not overly developed' but when he saw him fielding balls, he knew he had his goalie. So the practices will be every day in the morning at 7:30, and we will need to drive him since the bus doesn't go till much later. (His school day goes from 9:30-16:00, almost 2 hours after Danya’s.)

Tim has been doing very well academically. He put in good work for the summer reading and writing, and made a great impression. He likes most of his teachers and they see great potential in him. He was shocked that he was placed in all 'advanced' classes--even math which he didn't have an A in last year. So he is with more academically oriented kids, with higher expectations, and seems to be responding well. However, he doesn't like the way kids act in theater and band classes, and in the halls. He only has 3 minutes between classes so at first he was focused on getting there. But he says that now he sees and hears more and doesn't like what he sees. He was very sad and mad the last few days, as he knows school is starting at IA, and he wishes he was there.

Ella has been missing Russia and her friends all summer. Academics have been hard for her here. I'd hoped she would discover she is good at math but the school is just as advanced in curriculum as IA. And she admitted that in the past when she was the only native English speaker in her class, she knew she would be the best at language arts. Now she knows there is competition for 'best'. There are so many good lessons as the pillars of where she places her are exposed, but it's hard, too, for all of us! She is enjoying PE, which she never liked before, even though it is outside in the heat. And she is happy to get access to a lot of library books. (Schools here don't have 'libraries' now -- they are called 'media centers'.)

In general, I think one hard thing for her is that there are all these terms for things at school that she doesn't know. Not academic language, but rather internal school systems. (The online systems we interact with as parents are the following: Progressbook, School Pay, Canvas, Launch Pad.... I still can't figure out which password is for which, and why I can't login to Danya's!) That's in addition to all the American school supply words which they have never heard before like, "Three-ring binder, spiral notebook, notebook paper, dividers, composition book, pronged folder..." It's amazing to think back to the days when our kids started Russian school and we had to research and translate every word on their list. (Russian friends, imagine us trying to figure out the various meanings of линейка for a first-year student!)

For the first week, before school started, Ella and Tim were so happy to have the apartment pool with our Lake Hart Stint friends. We went every day. (Danya was already jumping into his academic year-- desperately finishing the summer assignments for two classes, participating in 'Choir Camp' and running with the cross-country team.) After school started Ella has not wanted to go to the pool. She likes to stay home and have quiet time by herself instead.... the introvert emerging. Tim has also realized he likes smaller groups or one-on-one. At lunch, a boy came to sit with him the first day, and that was very encouraging--an answer to prayer in a grade with 300 kids who mostly were there last year. But now he brings his friends and Tim isn't so sure he likes the crowd. I still think it's amazing that he is not sitting alone and feeling isolated.

In general, I've been amazed at the lack of mean kids or any harassment or bullying. Everyone is reportedly very nice. The exception at both middle school and high school the boys are shocked at the pervasiveness of bad language.

Please, praying friends, pray for each of them. It has been so much better than we imagined, yet it is still hard for each child in their own way. They have to experience God's presence to sustain them through each day... and it is hard even when a lot is going well.

  

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