We are amazed when we think of our prayers this summer for Danya’s school experience. We are so grateful for how positive it has been.
There's been no bullying, little teasing, increasingly positive relationships with the kids in the class. Good relationships with parents—especially two families. We have been blessed largely through our need for help. When Eric has been travelling, or I have an unexpected delay, we need help getting Danya to school or picking him up. Three different families have helped on different days. And other mothers and grandmothers are very friendly. I’m looking for culturally appropriate ways to get to know them better. One family is Sasha’s (who was at the desk with Danya the first day). On the fall vacation, he and his mother came over one evening to play. And yesterday, he declared that Danya was his best friend. (Maybe because Danya brought him a present for his birthday?) Another is Elya, (Eleanor) a girl with a brother, Eric (Ernest) in the second grade. Strange names for Russian kids—their mother is ethnically German, and the father is a sailor who will leave this week for a six month trip to South America. They live in our building, and walk past our entrance, so it’s not difficult for them to help.
Cultural Differences
Russian schools value beauty and perfection. The first graders learn cursive letters by practicing, and practicing, and practicing. Special-lined graph paper teaches them the ‘slant’, and they are expected to make the letters well! This contrasts with our experience in American kindergarten, where kids were pretty much encouraged to write any way they could, with pretty poor results. One day, Danya filled a sheet of paper with random math problems—addition and subtraction. When I asked if it was for homework, he said he wanted to show his teacher that he could do math well. “She says that if I don’t make my numbers well, that I can’t do math. But I wanted to show her that even if I don’t make the little curl on the ‘2’ or ‘5’ t hat I can still do math.” We talked a little about cultural differences, and a lot about the fact that his worth is based on her opinion of him. We see that he internalizes the Russian appreciation for beauty and quality, and want him to learn to work hard to do well… but also understand that he doesn’t have to be perfect.
Mushroom Poem
One place where Danya’s intelligence is apparent is his ability to memorize. And that is highly valued in Russian schools. A few weeks ago, he recited his mushroom poem for the fall festival. He and two other kids memorized the same ‘Opyatka’ poem, and presented it together at an assembly. (Tima and Ella recite parts of it all the time, too!)
And now, each weekend, he is sent home with a poem to memorize—about eight lines, and not too easy by my standards. Even the first weekend, we only started it Sunday night. But after Eric talked him through it at dinner and breakfast the next morning, he had it down. A week later, he still knew it!
One of my favorite parts of life in St Pete is the number of athletes. Perhaps it's a local effect from the big forest-park across the streeet. Even in rain, snow or darkness, there are many runners and cyclists. And in the winter, of course a lot of cross-country skiiers. It makes me smile every time!
Could a Saturday morning be better? The boys decided to make their original lego kits, which involved a lot of sorting. (I like sorting legos.) Ella emptied the closet, tried on all her summer and fall clothes, shoes and eventually starting playing with legos, too.
