From Russia To Spain

Well, sorta.....

Today started with me getting all sorts of things crossed off my list. I almost called the post Medical Monday because I took care of a lot of appointments and medical related stuff for the family. I zipped through my to do list in a way that still brings a smile to my face many hours later. Gotta love a productive morning.

It was also great knowing I am out for the summer! Well, sorta..... see, there is a little problem with the paint job in the Pre-K classroom that will need to be resolved. We thought we were told the cement wall had to be painted with cement wall paint (makes sense) but apparently our director thought she told us to paint with a cement paint roller...well, yeah. So now we have created what feels like a sidewalk onto the wall and the paint doesn't look good at all. And we were sorta painting without permission from the church and planning on asking forgiveness later....Yikes. So another teacher and I are going to fix it. We're calling this little snafu the primer and that's our story and we're sticking with it. They'll love it when we're done. (I hope!)

So Mike and I celebrated his return to Home Base by going out to lunch today at a new restaurant down the street called Taste of Russia. A guy from Russia opened it. It was pretty good. The Russian accent of our waitress really added to the ambiance. I have always wondered why I tend to say "nyet, nyet, nyet!" when I want to say no, no, no! really fast. I have no explanation for this. I wonder if it's possible to have some kind of genetic language memory. I've There was an article in the newspaper all about the guy & his wife coming to America and how he got his chef degree in Russia before coming here. So, anyway, I had his signature dish - Chicken Kiev (stuffed with cheese and tomato), Mike had Zrazi...sounds yummmmeeeeee huh?! It was some kind of beef thingy with tomato sauce. Looked pretty good and he ate it all. My garlicky potatoes were delicious. Then we had cheese blintzes for dessert - it had farmers cheese inside and came with mixed berry preserves. Next luncheon I organize, I'm planning on going back and start working my way through the menu. Almost everything sounded like comfort food to me - except the Borscht. I tried that in 6th grade and NO WAY is there a genetic taste bud memory of liking that stuff.

Then this evening, Mike, Gib and I went to the high school to attend a Course Override meeting. We had to do this in order to get Gib into the Spanish II Honors class because his teacher did not recommend him for Honors, but we feel he can handle it (and he WILL). This is about the 3rd freaking hoop we've had to jump thru just to get the override. Seriously. So the teacher explained all about what he needs to know very well from Spanish I he took in middle school (which counts for high school) and what they will cover in Spanish II. She was concerned about what kind of support he would have should he struggle. She asked if anyone had familiarity with Spanish. Well, I had 7 yrs of Spanish in school (which is quite rusty and I'm pretty darn sure is not the same Spanish they are teaching these days!), and Taryn in Spanish III Honors, and there are several fluent friends & family members, so I think he will be O.K. Si? On the way home, we had a flash of parenting genious...Gib will be updating his Facebook status in Spanish at least once daily with 2 sentences using something on the sheet that the teacher gave us of the course expectations to keep him in practice - such as comparisons (mas o menos), telling time, proper use of pronouns, common vocabulary, verb tense, using tener, ir, venir, etc. And, he can only say "I'm tired" for his Facebook status in Spanish if he has done two others inbetween!

Hasta La Vista Baby!!