June 30, 2013

Slept relatively well and got up at six to get ready as Cate was coming by at eight to take me to visit the cemetery and the Osh bazaar. Coffee tasted better than ever as I sat at my computer to read emails and FB postings.

Cate was on time and I quickly finished eating my toast with the Nutella spread before heading out to Manas Avenue. We waited for the right marshrutka to come by and when it didn’t, Cate suggested we get a cab since she wasn’t sure about the marshrutka number anymore.

It was a long ride, past the U. S. Embassy, thus as far as I’d gone before, until we reached a turn off. The approach to the cemetery had been lined with flower vendors and lapidary stores. The street in itself was another pockmarked narrow lane where the asphalt had disappeared under the weight of the years.

We were dropped off at a specific point and Cate led the way to the grave sites she thought would be of interest to me because of their headstones, extensive ironwork fences or crosses when the deceased was of a Christian Orthodox background.

I learned that Russians of the Christian Orthodox faith allow three days for the viewing of the body after it has been embalmed. Friends and relatives gather for a meal after the burial, just like our wakes, and then return nine days later for another celebration as that day marks the day relatives believe the soul leaves the body for good.

I was sad to see how many young people were buried at this cemetery, mostly in their early twenties, and the extent to which their relatives had gone to give them an almost opulent grave. I wondered how many had died due to a drug overdose or car accidents.

We had a good walk with my climbing over brambles and weeds to get a better view and photo of some of the grave sites. We bought some cold water on the way out and boarded a marshrutka to get to the Osh bazaar.

I only had rubles left in my wallet and thus it was necessary to get to an exchange place where the clerk refused to take any of my coins. I had noticed that they round out the sum to their benefit to avoid handling any coins whatsoever.

I was hungry by then, so we stopped right next door and ordered a couple bowls of lagman soup. Cate turned down the flat bread, but I had a small piece since I hadn’t eaten any since leaving Bishkek for Russia.

It was then on to find the fly zapper we had seen at the Vanilla Sky place, and we quickly found it for 300 som or about $6.25. I still need to get an adapter to be able to charge it in the States, but I was happy with my purchase.

We happened to be very close to the place selling souvenirs and I headed that way immediately to get some felt earrings and additional silk scarves for my friends back home. The price for the scarves had already gone up, 400 som instead of the original 350 just a few weeks ago, and bought three more.

Cate was looking for shampoo, but I told her to please accept the set of shampoo and conditioner I still had at home and which I’d have no chance to use at all. She seemed reluctant at first, but then agreed to the deal.

We went across the street so I could buy a few vegetables to cook at home this week. Carrots, cabbage, onions, cilantro, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers quickly filled up several small bags and then I came across a beautiful yellow melon and had to have one along with one piece of flat bread.

The #35 bus came by a few minutes later and deposited us in front of my building. Cate came upstairs to help me with my bags and then took the bottles of shampoo and conditioner. There’s still another park she wants for me to see before my departure and will arrange for it later on this week.

I got to take a long shower, did my hair and changed into one of my favorite short night gowns to be completely relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I then set out to update my application for the EFL program to keep it active just in case something comes up that would right up my alley.

I sent requests for letters of recommendation from both Gulnaras and from Willoughby as well. I notified Jennifer of my intentions hoping she’ll second my application by confirming I had done a decent job while working under her supervision. It’s now out of my hands what ultimately happens.

June 29, 2013

I had agreed to meet with Ekatarina for coffee today, and she chose 11:00 am as the right time for her. We settled on Vanilla Sky so I could continue to work on updating my blog entries until she got there.

We sat in the glassed-in terrace which features a cascade of water falling quietly over the glass windows. I have no idea what feat of engineering allowed that to happen. She had brought me a gorgeous pair of earrings to match the garnet ring I got in Nepal years ago. We both ordered latte, and then I decided to peruse the selection of pastries inside and settled for one covered with coconut flakes.

I was told it was 60 som and that was reasonable, but when I asked the clerk to send it to my table in the terrace she told me that was the price if I wanted the pastry to go, but to eat it in the restaurant, it would cost me 100 som. I turned it down simply refusing to go along with such an idiotic notion.

Cate, as Ekaterina prefers to be called, was a participant in the workshops I offered at the Russian Slavonic University back in November. She’s currently teaching test preparation classes for the American University of Central Asia. She’d been the only participant at that university to ever show any interest in receiving additional materials and to have kept in touch until now.

After talking for a couple of hours, we discovered we’re truly kindred souls. We constantly strive to become better professionals at what we do, we like to stay informed and think critically about the issues facing humanity, love to read and watch films that portrait life as it really is while generously offering our knowledge and resources to anyone who can benefit from it.

In addition, we’re feisty women who refuse to be cowered when we see an injustice being committed anywhere and against anyone. Clearly, such posture can bring negative repercussions, which we’re willing to deal with instead of becoming just another “Yes” person.

I noticed a server going around with an object that looked like a small racquetball, but which was being used to zap flies inside the terrace. When I inquired about it, Cate told me it was a product made in China that can be charged overnight and then used to kill flies, something like a taser.

I immediately demanded to know where I could buy one for my mom as I know she goes berserk when flies get inside her house. Cate offered to go with me to the Osh bazaar tomorrow since I still want to buy a few felt earrings for my friends in Florida and she reassured me I could find the fly taser there as well. 

We took a walk in the park behind my building, the one I hadn’t had time to explore yet and sat in bench to talk for hours. We now have plans to visit a Christian Orthodox cemetery early tomorrow morning, as she’s learned about my obsession with cemeteries, and then later on to the Osh bazaar.

Cate accompanied me to the convenience store across the street so I could buy some take out items for dinner and then I showed her the apartment.  We ran into the cleaning lady on the stairs and she informed Cate that I was behind on the payment for such services.

Cate promised to send me some links to movies she’s seen online that dealt with the issues of corruption, government lying campaigns, the big business religion is and others. I’m so fortunate to have found someone like her just a few days before my departure.

My landlady came around five to inform me she’d be out of town until the 14 of July. I, in turn, informed her I needed to keep the apartment beyond the original July 1 date since I’d now be leaving earlier than planned and would not be making the trip to Dushanbe that I’d dreamed about so long.

She agreed to my paying on a day-to-day basis and designated her girlfriend to come and pick up the payment and the key on the 11^th of July. She reassured me the girlfriend still wanted to buy both my sleeping bag and backpack. I was surprised as to how easy going she was about the whole thing. She, in turn, remarked as to how cool the apartment was with only the one A/C unit on.

June 28, 2013

Up at the usual time still fuming about the incident the previous night. Went down to the dining room for breakfast hoping that Jennifer might have left already for Astana and I would not have to face her again. A few minutes after I sat at the table, Jennifer came down with Natalia and sat at the table next to ours.

Salads graced the table, but no coffee. When asked about it, the server brought a small quantity in a tea bowl and acted surprised when we asked for cups. He indicated the kitchen had no cups that morning. I had another meltdown and asked him how it was possible that the kitchen had had over 200 cups the previous afternoon, but now expected their guests to drink coffee from a tea bowl.

He gave me a blank look and I just stormed out of the room. Willoughby called me from the hallway and asked why I had left her behind and I apologized profusely to her. I had a few pieces of pastries to eat and Willoughby offered another envelope of 3-in-1 to go with it until we could have lunch.

The bus was expected to pick us up at 1:00, but at 12:20 the dining room was still no ready for us to eat. When the food did arrive, it was buckwheat, something I also detest. The vegetarian plate: buckwheat with slices of tomatoes and cucumbers.

I saw someone with a plate of salad and found out a variety of salads had been laid out near the kitchen door and headed there to fill my stomach with at least some greens. Corrie, Annah, Sarah and Asia shared the table with me and we all talked about life after our stint in Central Asia. I mentioned I had no plans beyond getting to Florida as soon as possible.

Willoughby left the table to secure the two front seats for us as soon as the bus arrived. We had packed before lunch and were ready to go. The tourist bus, the big one with wide windows, was designated for the delegates from other countries and the ones for Kyrgyzstan were sent to the marshrutkas. We ended up in a pretty new one with plenty of elbow room.

Elvira sat behind us never uttering a sentence. I guess she’d decided that as long as Willoughby sticks around me, neither one of us exists. The driver chose to drive through the old road heading to Tokmok since some of the teachers wanted to be dropped us along the way. The drive was long and tedious as we got into heavy rush hour traffic as we reached Bishkek.

Willoughby and I shared a taxi to our respective places. I was simply delighted to be back at my place and hopeful I could get a full night sleep.

June 27, 2013

Willoughby knocked on my door by 7:30 so we could go together to have breakfast. More salads were on display on the table, but no coffee or cream. There were some cold cuts and bread so I made another sandwich while David joked around the table.

The first presentation I attended had to do with teacher training and critical thinking, but I can’t remember a whole lot about it. The presenter ran through her slides extremely fast and was done in less than the forty minutes allotted. Since there was another presentation going on right behind her, I sidled up to it and caught the tail end of a workshop on teaching proverbs.

I asked the presenter if I could have her email it to me and she referred me to her FB link to the “Shaping the Way we Teach English” website where her group in Kazakhstan had uploaded other materials as well. I got lost in the maze of corridors looking for the next presenter only to find out she had been moved to the same room I had just left.

Here we did an exercise writing a poem about our origins which reminded me of the ones my students had done when I taught secondary school. Ann McAllen returned with a workshop on global issues ELF teachers should engage their students in and was mesmerized by all the different possibilities and websites she mentioned. I added the “Upcycle” website to her list of ideas for recycling, reusing and remaking.

It was time for Willoughby to present and she had been given a tiny room with no laptop or PowerPoint. Willoughby, who had never put together a presentation had done so this time, but was told she not requested any equipment on her original application and there would be none available now.

In spite of that, and using notes in the old-fashioned way, she conducted a thrilling workshop on how to write rubrics that matched the objectives of the lesson. I helped my group write a rubric for speaking activities and got it done within the time allotted. She received effusive comments from the participants and requests for additional information as well.

Lunch was just slightly better with the same salad as the day before, but lamb and potatoes for the main course. I sat with a group of Tajik teachers and learned they taught at the same university as the teacher with whom I had conducted the Access summer camp last year in Khorog. They all knew Mabluda and best of all, knew all about the vocabulary I’d given her and the fly swatters to play games.

They couldn’t believe they were sitting in front of the same trainer Mabluda had spoken about so often. They also mentioned that they still play the games I had taught her but couldn’t say if she continued to work for the Access program.

Willoughby and I attended two sessions on critical thinking and reading from university professors who taught in both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Both presentations were quite engaging and each teacher allowed me to copy it to my flashdrive for possible use in the future.

During the coffee break, Jennifer called for a short meeting of all the EFLs to say how glad she'd been to have had a chance to work with all of us and that none of us would be returning to our respective posts. Toni decided to gush about Jennifer's skills as a RELO while I only asked about her policy regarding letters of recommendation. She was firm in saying she'd not issue general letters, but would reply to individual requests for specific jobs.

After the coffee break, we listened to another plenary speaker on the subject of the state of the profession and its professional development. Jennifer said a few words of closing and then handed out certificates of appreciation to all the English language coordinators at the respective embassies in Central Asia.

Tahmina, from Tajikistan, hadn’t been able to come to the conference and I was glad to have been spared her presence during this event. The staff at Lingua was called in and given a certificate for their efforts in coordinating the entire event and even Anna was called to the stage. My name never came up.

The weather was a bit more agreeable, so a walk on the lake shore was in order. I convince Willoughby to take off her shoes and sandals as I knew that walking on the sand is the best exercise for the legs. We ran into quite a few other attendees doing the same and talked to them along the way. I had brought my tablet and took some photos as well.

On the way back, we saw Holly and three other female EFLs practicing the Kazak dance for the cultural night event happening after dinner. I had turned down the opportunity to participate as had already seen it in Shymkent and found it extremely boring.

Willoughby decided to go back to the restaurant in the lobby while I went to the dining room hoping the hotel would offer something special for our last night there. There was a somewhat spicy salad on the table and I sat next to Umed, from Tajikistan. Asel came by later on and sat next to me.

A DJ was playing music and soon a woman and another man started singing songs that everyone seemed to know for most of the audience could sing along with it. The main dish came and it was another disappointment: two lumps of beef with no color or flavor and chunks of potatoes. I passed the beef on to Umed and ate the potatoes along with Asel’s salad.

The cultural night was due to start at 8:30 and Willoughby was nowhere to be seen. I went up to her room and convinced her to come and join us as Asel had asked me to bring my flashdrive with Latin music so I could dance a bit for the crowd.

Tables were cleared and a center stage was set for each country, starting with Tajikistan, to sing or dance as they pleased. I loved listening to Tajik music again and seeing the graceful dancer from the Khorog region in her traditional garb. The male dancers from Uzbekistan left me breathless for their speed and agility. The Turkwomen sang a song in a manner I’d never seen and would find difficult to explain.

Kazakhstan followed with a dance by a woman with a tea pot apparently trying to woo a male. The floor was then yielded to the American contingent and Jennifer took the mike. I asked her quickly if she could allow two minutes for me to play a merengue song and she nodded her assent.

ELFs and Peace Corps volunteers played a variety of instruments and country songs I had never heard before Holly and the other ELFs took to the floor to do the Kazakh dance. The audience erupted in applause as they usually do when Americans make fools of themselves.

Holly then instructed the DJ to play the “Cotton-eye Joe” song we had listened to while learning line dancing in Almaty last January. She asked everyone who had been at the mid-year conference to stand up and join her, but I pretended not to hear for I hate line dancing.

Jennifer looked at me and said I needed to join the group despite my protest that I didn’t remember any of the steps. She replied she didn’t either and it was something to be done to demonstrate group spirit or some other kind of drivel to the same effect. I felt I had no choice but to jump and slide as best I could while the crow laughed uproariously.

Holly had yet another performance in which she and two other girls played the role of cheerleaders and had Bill lift them sequentially into each other’s backs to then jump forward. All of this was done to the most god-awful music at ear-splitting levels that you can possibly fathom. When Holly was done, Jennifer put the microphone down and whispered to me that the Americans were out of time even though no signal had been sent to that effect.

I knew deep within me that the slight had not been unplanned. She certainly doesn’t see me as an American, never has, and was not about to let me play music she certainly doesn’t think reflect what the United States is. As soon as the Kyrgyz representatives finished their performance, I went to my room red in face with embarrassment and a deep sense of hate.

June 26, 2013

As it is usual for me, I could hardly sleep thinking about my presentation on barriers to critical thinking. I got up early and looked through the slides one more time and inserted the answers to the warm up questions to save time.

I wore my long Tajik dress and got a lot of stares and looks of confusion from many of the participants who couldn’t understand why an African-looking woman was wearing an Uzbek/Tajik dress. Breakfast was the usual rice porridge I detest, but small plates of salad had been placed on the table along with slices of bread, salami and cheese.

I made a sandwich with those three items and had to request coffee from one of the servers as none had been offered so far. Rich didn’t even know coffee was on the menu for us. He related how he had stayed at the Aurora Sanatorium twenty years ago while traveling with his son in the region.

We moved on to the cinema hall where the plenary was to take place and listened to speeches from Gulnara from Lingua, Jennifer and the ambassador. They yielded the floor to Ann McAllen who gave the plenary speech about critical thinking and the mixed ability classroom which resonated with me as she outlined many of the same strategies I use in my classroom.

I went to listen to the presentation on sideline coaching which Chris had demonstrated at the mid-year conference in Almaty hoping to hear how the teachers in Khorog had reacted to it. He’d brought his counterpart with him and Nigina testified as to the usefulness of the technique and how much it had benefited her in her professional development.

The next presentation was intended to demonstrate the use of critical thinking in the teaching of vocabulary, but the presenter’s flashdrive didn’t open up and the PowerPoint presentation was not available. She read from her notes, but that was pretty lifeless and boring. It was also her first time presenting and she appeared very nervous.

It was then my turn and unfortunately they had placed me in a large room that had been divided into two by a series of flimsy screens. I could clearly hear the presenter in the other room and I’m sure he could hear me, too. I had 33 attendees, a good number I’d say, and the warm up went very well with some groups getting as high as six out of ten of the barriers to critical thinking.

Natalia, from the embassy, came in a few minutes after I’d started and sat at the back. The time just flew and forty minutes later I was handing out my business card telling the teachers that the presentation would be available to them via email. Willoughby took a couple of photos and congratulated me at the end stating that the material had been very instructive.

We had enough time to catch part of Asia’s presentation on teaching debate in the classroom and we really enjoy her bantering with the teachers and her acting skills. It was then time for lunch, which Willoughby turned down and went to her room to rest, while I appropriated an entire platter of salad for my own.

Asia had told she had said she was vegetarian and the food for vegetarians was usually of higher quality and fresher than otherwise. I played that card and got a bowl of soup with some noodles and not even salt in it. The main dish could not even be described, but David thought it might have been bread dipped in egg and then fried. I took a bite and spit it back into a napkin as it was simply vile.

After lunch, I went to see Sarah’s presentation on alternative ways of assessing students. She has a background in public school teaching and does an amazing job of demonstrating exactly what to do in specific situations. Willoughby went to listen to David’s presentation on critical thinking activities, which I had already seen.

The last presentation I attended was led by an Uzbek teacher who spoke English so fluently he could have almost passed for an American. He teaches EAP and spoke about the uses of authentic texts. We spoke at the end and I learned his university is accredited by the Westminster University in the UK and that’s why they offered EAP classes. We exchanged business cards and promised to stay in touch.

I changed clothes so Willoughby and I could take a walk along the lake even though the skies had turned black and rain threatened to start falling anytime. The temperature had dropped considerably and I was wearing my beige shawl for protection. I thought I heard thunder in the distance and then the rain started. We had to turn back to the hotel without even seen the lake.

It was dinner time by then and Willoughby refused to entertain the notion of having another awful meal in the dining room and asked me to accompany her to one of the restaurants located near the lobby. I wasn’t so keen on the idea for I knew it would be rather expensive, but caved in and headed in that direction.

No one spoke English, so we were having a tough time making sense of the menu when a group of attendees, all women, walked in and greeted us. They had pre-ordered their meals and were ready to eat. They all commented on how unpalatable the food had been for conference attendees. With their help, we managed to order steak for Willoughby and salmon for me with French fries and some kind of vegetable on the side.

It took over an hour for these two dishes to arrive as apparently the restaurant was also supplying meals to the bar next door and couldn’t cope with so many diners at once. The salmon was all right, the French fries lukewarm only and no vegetables at all. When we inquired about it, they told us to wait six minutes and then brought a medley of tomatoes, onions and turnips that was quite delicious.

As we were making our way to the elevator, we ran into Gulnara from Lingua and another woman and Gulnara asked if we were coming along to the mingle activity. I said I needed to drop some stuff at my room, but instead of going there, I took my other Tajik outfit to the ironing room on the second floor to get it ready for the next day.

I went to bed full as a tick and happy to have spent the money on a good meal.

June 25, 2013

I had set up my alarm for 6:30 just in case, but it wasn’t necessary as I was up at five when light started to filter through my curtains. I had packed almost everything I needed except for the laptop and a few snack to bring along the way.

Willoughby showed up at 8:00 and we immediately grabbed a taxi parked in front of the complex to take us to the terminal where a young man brusquely grabbed our bags and took us to a marshrutka parked across the street. I insisted we could only go with him if we got the two front seats. He agreed and placed the our backpacks in his minivan and went out to search for more passengers.

We don’t know what happened, but all of a sudden, everyone in the marshrutka exited it, picked up their bags and ran across the street. We did the same and found a newer vehicle with the two front seats still available which quickly filled in allowing us to be on the road at exactly nine o’clock.

We had a pit stop at a new roadside restaurant where the bathroom was spotless and odor-free. Why can’t other places imitate it? Sure, the building was new, but the other places are also charging a fee that they could invest into building toilets such as this one that don’t make you feel like losing your lunch during your visit.

                       View of the landscape taken with my tablet camera at a pit stop

When we got into Cholponata, the driver indicated he’d continue further down the road to deliver other passengers, so we were able to get to the Green Pub without having to hire a taxi. We ordered a beer and the pork steak with barbecue sauce as it was listed on the menu. It was as divine as the first time with the fries being delivered piping hot as I like them.

The waitress called a taxi for us to take us directly into the Aurora Sanatorium as neither one of us wanted to walk from the main road carrying our luggage. It cost 300 soms and I agreed to pay it from my allowance for the trip. The place is showing its age with the gray buildings losing some of its concrete chunks in some places.

The pre-conference event was just breaking for coffee when we walked into the lobby. Both Gulnaras, Jennifer, Natalia and others greeted us until I said I needed to get to my room and get rid of my heavy shoulder bag. Jennifer said: “Go, Ercilia. We don’t need you now.” To which I replied tongue-in-cheek: “have you ever?” Jennifer didn’t find it funny at all.

Natasha, from Lingua, pulled me aside to say she really needed for me to chair the meeting with the Peace Corps volunteers who were going to organize the evening entertainment on Wednesday. I felt I had no choice, but to say yes.

                                               View from my window

                                   View of the lake from my window

Willoughby and I got rooms on the fourth floor facing the lake. We each had a double bed, a night table, a piece of furniture that could double as a desk, a small fridge and a teakettle and bowls to brew tea.

Wi-Fi access was to be had only in the lobby unless I was willing to pay 100 soms a day for access in my room. The day was clear and the waters placid. I knew the water would still be too cold for me, but could see guests at the hotel coming back with towels over their shoulders.

We went down for dinner at 7:00 and sat with a couple of other Peace Corps volunteers. I wasn’t particularly hungry and had thought that a bowl of soup or a salad could do for dinner. There was a mound of something on a small plate at each seat, but for the life of me, I couldn’t tell what it was. A local teacher said it was shredded chicken with melted cheese on top. And that was supposed to be our salad!

The second course, if you can believe this, was a cornmeal porridge. We were all looking around puzzled while trying to decipher whether the kitchen staff had confused the times of day and thought they were cooking breakfast instead of dinner. The porridge wasn’t bad once I tasted it.

The main course was another mystery dish, as we started labeling them, and even the Peace Corps volunteer who had offered to eat my salad, couldn’t tell what it was, but said it tasted like meatloaf somewhat. Willoughby ate nothing and I had the porridge just in case I could get the munchies later on.

The Peace Corps volunteer’s counterpart didn’t take lightly to our derisive comments about the meal and asked me if I had tried beshbarmak, a dish I’d come to loathe for its limp noodles, greasy flavor and excessive quantify of meat. I said yes, three times in fact, and still didn’t like it. They both felt I needed to visit the Naryn region to have a different experience, but I thought to myself, spare me, please.

Once dinner was over, I approached Natasha to find out where our meeting to plan the evening entertainment was going to take place. I was surprised to find both Gulnara from Lingua and Amanda present for it since I’d thought no one but me was available. Gulnara spoke most of the time until we agreed to just have a “Find someone…” form of mingle activity prior to the raffle that Chynara had been assigned to carry out.

I really couldn’t see the purpose of my presence, and Willoughby’s, at that meeting. 

June 24, 2013

I got up at six feeling so groggy and disoriented that it took me a few minutes to realize I was finally at home and could make coffee my way. What a thrill!

I set out to email the e-book after doing a final spell check and composing a somewhat lengthy email to accompany it mentioning its origins and asking for the recipients to pass it on to their colleagues and acquaintances. It was quite a relief to see the email being transmitted and knowing it was off my hands at last.

Willoughby was the first one to write to congratulate me on getting this task off my desk. That reminded me to forward the file to Bill Perry, at the Peace Corps office here in Kyrgyzstan, as he had helped with it initially, and for him to distribute it to the new volunteers. He wrote back to say the file was too large for the volunteers’ email, but he was going to make sure that Nurkys, the TEFL coordinator, arranged for them to bring a flashdrive and copy it into them.

Johanna wrote to approve my early leave request and indicated she was going through a similar situation at home as well. I wrote reminding her that I was still waiting her approval of my expenses related to the trip I took to attend the conference Holly had organized in Shymkent and which I had submitted last April. This time, she wrote back immediately and approved the expense report.

Willoughby and I agreed to travel to Issyk-Kul on our own instead of waiting until 1:30 pm to travel with the rest of the participants from the Bishkek/Chuy area as we wanted to stop for lunch in Cholponata where we had had some delicious pork chops last month.

I notified Georgetown of my change in travel itinerary and Alisa replied immediately by sending me a tentative flight schedule that would have taken me from Istanbul-New York City-Atlanta-Palm beach with another six hour layover in Turkey, something I had vehemently requested they avoided.

I wrote to say I knew other fellows had gone home through London and also knew I could fly directly to Palm Beach from either NYC or Newark, NJ and couldn’t see the need to route me through that infamous airport in Atlanta, Georgia.

At first, Alisa denied that flying through London was an option, but later on sent me a revised itinerary where I’ll fly London-NYC-Palm Beach getting into Florida at 9:06 pm instead of on the 13^th after midnight. I thanked her for her efforts and immediately notified my sister, so she can make arrangements to pick me up that night.

Ekaterina, one of the teachers who attended my teacher training sessions at the Russian Slavonic University, sent a heartwarming message indicating how useful the book was going to be for her classes since the tables were so easy to follow and the exercises had answer keys to them. She wanted to get together before my departure, and we agreed to do so next Saturday after my return from CATEC.

I sent Gulnara at Lingua a message notifying her of my early departure and asking to confirm that my participation in her summer seminar could take place between the 8 and 10^th of July so as not conflict with my new schedule of departure.

It was great to have had a full day to myself, without any interruptions, to catch up with so many tasks.