Russians Day 4

Took the girls to get pedicures. On the way we stopped by Xenias house to see their quilts - the girls were ecstatic when they saw them. Their reaction made her tear up a little bit - I'm guessing/hoping their enthusiasm made her feel better about spending hours and hours and hours quilting 8 quilts!
Svetlana tried out the long arm quilter.
Pedicures:
Oksana thought it tickled.
Alina soaked it all up.
And they all had very cute toes. And green flip-flops which they wore for the next several days, including to the ranch, and to church.


Then we walked around Roberts Craft Store. They had never seen a glue gun, and we got some for them to take back to the school in Russia.
Hamburgers for lunch - at Chadders.

Then to Costco: Free Samples

And lots of M&M's. When we took them to the candy counter at BYU on Monday we let them pick from the huge selection. They examined all of the candies and then four of them chose - - - - plain m&m's. We told them we would get those for them later. Good thing we did because they ate this huge bag in less than 24 hours.
Ola tried on my sunglasses and they totally dwarfed her. She's my favorite. Shh.

The Bishop's wife Jackie Whitlock came over to make cards with the girls.

And at night they watched The Devil Wears Prada in the theater room.

Russians Day 3

The girls spent the day at Girl's Camp with the ward in Alpine. I spent the day at work and got home just in time to see this: Ola came up the stairs and then dramatically dropped to her knees and crawled all the way from the stairs to her bedroom, stopping to "fall asleep" on the floor along the way, and saying "Spakonanoche" (goodnight). She chatters in Russian and acts everything out. It's so understandable I forget she's not speaking English. She's like one of those mimes at the circus only way way better.We were up until 2 in the morning one night watching her stories. She had us all in stitches. You listen to that husky voice and how she throws every ounce of that tiny scrappy body into acting things out how her eyes light up when she's telling you things, and how she makes you laugh because she's so clever and creative and you sort of fall in love with her. instantly.

Also tonight, Ben helped them all set up e-mail addresses so we can k.i.t.: They love Ben.

I seriously felt guilty being at work because I kept thinking about the girls and missing them, and thinking I should have just rescheduled the voice lessons for after they left. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Russians Day 2

On Tuesday we made 8 quilts in 5 hours. Marathon!






These girls are so focused. They were excited about the project and then stayed intent on it the entire day. They didn't want to take a break to go to the front of the room and grab a sandwich for lunch because they wanted to finish. Only 13-16 yrs old, and so determined.

This is my Aunt Kris. She teaches at a High School in Salt Lake and we went and made the quilts in the schools home-ec room. The girls hovered around her so they wouldn't miss a detail when she was giving directions.
Alina is so beautiful. She wore this cute dress and 3 inch heels to come quilting. Love her.
Some of Kris co-workers came and spent the day helping to make the quilts

Alina and Kelly
Sarah and Oksana
Nastia and Heather

Svetlana is the home ec teacher at the school in Russia. She was fascinated by the rotary cutters and wanted to take one back with her. She flitted around the room like she was in home ec heaven. Her quilt turned out beautifully.
Xenia, our very talented neighbor in Alpine, came up to help with the quilts. She took them home with her so that she could use her long-arm quilter to quilt all of them. So generous. She brought her neice-in-law Amy who spoke Russian with her.
Jennifer loves Ava. Ava is my Aunt Stephanie's mother, who as a child went to school where the orphanage is now. She came to help with the quilts. So did Ava's granddaughters Katie and Rachel.
We were expecting to have about 4 people to help with the quilts, and look at this roomful of generous women who spent the entire day helping.

Glad they can take those quilts back with them as a reminder of their time here. Thankful for art and self expression in any form, it uplifts the soul and gives something to be excited about, and a sense of self- accomplishment.

Ola is so artistic. She was going around the room showing people her quilt and talking about how she put the colors together and how she like the combination of dark and light colors. She drew a picture of Katie on the whiteboard:

Pretty good, huh?


After quilting we went Rock-Climbing:

Nastia was the best. She got all the way to the top, and kept doing climb after climb.
Ola was pretty good, too....

But the rest of us were so tired after one or two climbs we laid on the floor and watched Nastia, and talked to Stephanie when she called my cell. Stephanie is seriously a celebrity around here. I said hello, hi stephanie and there was a rousing chorus of "shtefaneee!" When I am driving around with these girls I listen to them chatter in russian and the one word I recognize and that gets repeated over and over is "shtefanee" which is followed only by "Jafe" (jeff) and Alaigsandra (alexandra, stephanie's daughter).
Then we went to Texas Road House for dinner. I can never predict what they'll like or not. I gave them a handful of peanuts in the shell out of the big bucket by the door and that brought a big round of excited "sank-you's" I thought they would love the chicken fingers with the dipping sauces, the bbq pork, the sweet potato with brown sugar and the mashed potatoes and gravy. They took a bite or two and then said they were "full". But when the plain roasted chicken breast got there, they devoured it. Same with the rolls.

The waiters had the girls get up and try country line dancing with them. It was Svetlanas b-day the week before, so the waiters did a round of happy birthday hee haws for her. They put her on the saddle and the entire restaurant shouted hee haw at her.
She is the most delightful person. Always pleasant, treats every new experience as an enchanting adventure she can't wait to try. That's probably why she looks like she's 25 even though she's 41. Hee-haw!

Russians day 1

This is Ola.

The Russians are here! We've waited a year for this.

Try as I might, I will never ever be able to communicate the nuances of the day in this blog - I am almost hesitant to write this because it won't even come close to telling the whole story, but here I go.

This is Jula.

I love having them here. I was nervous yesterday I wouldn't have anything to say to them for a week, and now I am just nervous they will have to leave before I am ready to say good-bye. I am trying to soak up every minute.

Toured BYU today. But first, we delivered their laundry to them that we had done the night before (after convincing them they did not need to wash their clothes out in the sink and that our washers would not damage their clothing). They asked for an iron this a.m. and I offered to do it so they could get ready faster. They handed me a stack of ironing consisting of t-shirts, jeans, and a pair of sweat pants. I got a kick out of this since there is no way I would iron my sweatpants, and I thought it was so cute that they wanted to look their very best and took such good care of their things.

So at BYU, we found a harpist in the basement of the HFAC,
Showed them the moving bookshelves and the part of the library where you can study and flirt,
Katie took us to the nursing building and introduced us to "sam" the ugly but expensive medical dummy
Ola went for a ride on the hospital bed and tried on a hip and neck brace.
We went to the RB and joined in on part of an aerobics class, saw my office and had one of my students, and me, sing for them, watched some swimming/diving, watched some ballroom dancers practice, watched a raquetball game, volleyball and basketball class,
Went to Jamba Juice, who offered to donate 7 jambas for them,
And they drank Jambas while they went bowling:
Which was a first time experience. Svetlana asked me if I went bowling often with the other teachers here and if I was competitive in bowling. lol.


Then we went to Hickory Kist Deli on Center Street. The owner, Clint, is a fantastic guy who was so nice to make it special for the girls. He gave them sandwiches and a bag of homemade caramels. He brought out a bottle of old fashioned root beer for each of them, and they all took one sip and decided they did not like it. Also, they did not like ice in their drinks. Nothing cold, nothing spicy. Including the cinnamon bears we bought at the bookstore. "nyet!"



Then we went to Haven Salon, where my friend Christie and three other stylists gave the girls haircuts. The girls, including the leaders, loved this experience and kept looking at themselves in the mirror and trying not to smile. They were giggling and giddy and it was actually very touching to see how enthusiastic and appreciative they were. Christie asked "who first?" and 3 girls shot their hands in the air. They all kept saying "sank-you, sank-you"

Here's the final product group shot. Sank-you so much Christie and friends.

Then we went to a BBQ at the Stirland's house. This was great because they invited several friends who speak Russian, and it was so fun to have more translators around and really get to speak with the girls!

Xenia Stirland outdid herself on the BBQ - brisket, baked beans, funeral potatoes, salad, homemade ice-cream,


But what the girls couldn't get enough of was the watermelon, they went back for heaping plate after heaping plate. Fruit is such a treat for them. They were surprised that we would put raspberries in our salad - mixing savory and sweet.

Here's Mike at dinner, who served his mission in Russia, he was darling with the girls. It was fun to just listen to them talk with each other and have him translate what they were saying!


Mike actually met his wife at the MTC - they both served in Russia and were both teaching there. Here's Svetlana with Mike's adorable baby. (she's 41 - can you believe it?)



Plugged my i-pod into my car so the girls driving with me in my car could have something fun to do since I can't exactly carry on a conversation with them. They love rap music. I know, because the past 2 nights they've asked to get on the internet and watch rap music videos. They know American music much better than I do. So today in the car I searched my i-pod for something resembling rap. Wondered if the Dreamgirls soundtrack would do the trick. Kept searching. Found a Beyonce song on there and a random Gwen Stefani album, don't know how that got there...Andrew???? Anyway, I was glad i had it because I don't think my show-tunes would'a been cutting it today.

Got the bright idea to unroll the sunroof and it was a hit, they stuck their hands up and said woooo and when we got close to home I drove slow and let them stand up with heads sticking out the sunroof and my one Beyonce song blasting. Don't ever question my 'cool-factor' again. I'M A SURVIVE WHAT. But I do think there is going to be some competition to ride in my car tomorrow. Although, I don't know, maybe my mom's been hiding some p-diddy on me or something.

Here are some pictures of playing in the Stirlands yard after the BBQ - they have this fun merry-go-round and a few dogs:









Something is wrong with my eye. Stopped by the doctors office with my 3 beyonce-lovin' Russians in tow, and the nurse told me to put a hot washcloth on it. The girls are curious what I am doing and they have all looked at my eye, and told me the word for it in Russian, and then, oh my gosh this is so good, get ready for this one, tonight Ola got the translator and told me that she knew a remedy for my eye - get some ear wax out of my ear and then put it on my eye. I said eew, and laughed, and then was afraid I made her feel bad, so told her I would try the hot washcloth first and then try the earwax if that didn't work. Start praying that the hot washcloth works.


Jula, Ola, Alina, Oxana. Nastia was still getting haircut.

Yesterday when they got here I thought I would never keep their names straight, and now about 24 hours later I not only know their names, but am starting to get to know their individual personalities.

Little Cameron came over this morning before the Russians had woken up and said "I'm here to play with the Russians. Why aren't they out of bed? " I think that's how we all feel. I'm so excited for them to get out of bed tomorrow

And I wish I could speak Russian!