Hello all,
Pictures - Almira on her new bike. She's doing great riding. I just had to add this picture of Salem. Sarah had a cat toy and Almira had the camera. Almira was so proud that she caught Salem in mid-leap. She just loves these cats and is always hugging them and speaking Russian to them. I'll have to post a photo of Snowball now. Almira has been running around taking cat pictures every day. This is Snowball in the back yard laying next to Sarahs' bed of sunflowers we planted just days before going to Kazakhstan to pick up Almira.
Sorry for not keeping everyone up to date. We have been so busy. Last Thursday we met with Svetlana, a nice lady that lives here and is Russian. Her husband works here at CenturyTel in the computer information department. We met last Thursday morning for about 2 1/2 hours. She has a book on English with a CD for Almira to listen to. We sat at a coffee shop and they worked on the first 2 lessons. Then we just talked and discussed things for the next hour or so. It was wonderful that they met and good for Almira. Almira had a lot she needed to tell me and I was able to tell her some things as well. Svetlana came to the U.S. from Russian when she was 19 years old and gave me a lot of insight on her experiences coming to America and how she felt. She said she was fluent in English and felt very prepared for starting college in America, but it was extremely overwhelming for her. She also told me that she did not have the support structure around her that Almira does. Almira told her that she is happiest when it is just the 4 of us and we are staying home or riding in Jon's truck laughing and talking.
Thursday night I wasn't sure what to cook for supper and Jon said he would pick up some steaks and I would cook some baked potatoes and make a salad for supper. Almira loves steak! She is hooked.
We did Vacation Bible school last week and it was just a bit too much for her. So, I told her she did not have to go on Friday morning and could stay with my Mom and Dad. I had to go and finish up my volunteer project with the 6th grade. Friday afternoon I met up with a friend of a friend that is an ESL teacher with our city school system. We met at the high school that afternoon and she spent about an hour with Almira working on the computer doing ESL exercises. Almira did very well and scored 95 % on the pretest and then continued to do well and went through many levels, all the way up to conversation level. Kathy is her name and she told me that she believes Almira knows a lot of English, but is just not using it yet. She knows the name of alot of items in English too. Almira really seemed to like doing the ESL on the computer and I think it helped that it gave her a score instantly and she saw how well she was doing. I hope we can go back this week.
On Saturday morning we headed over to Shreveport, which is about 2 hours away from here. We went to an art museum that I had heard alot of good things about, then on to Sci-port. Sarah has always loved Sci-port and it is a children's science museum. At first Almira seemed kind of bored, but then they girls found some fun things to do. We went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Superiors and she wanted steak. I ordered her a small lunch steak and she said it was okay, but not as good as Daddy's. We then took the girls to Bass Pro Shop and then walking at the outdoor shopping. We took the girls to Build-a-Bear Workshop and Sarah and I helped Almira make her first animal. She picked a pink teddy bear and asked me to record the sound for her. She then picked out clothes, shoes and accessories for her bear. She and Sarah had a blast. When it came time to make the birth certificate on the computer, I checked the menu under languages and was shocked to see that there was a choice for Russian. So Almira was able to go through the birth certificate for her bear in Russian. She named her bear Katya after her best friend still in Kazakhstan.
Almira was adamant that she wanted to come home Saturday night and not stay at a hotel. I had the girls pack a little bag with a swimsuit just in case we decided to stay. I'm not sure what the deal is with a hotel, other than she is just so comfortable in our house, where everything is familiar to her. Besides the hotel in Almaty was not that nice or that much fun. She and Sarah took turns sleeping on a roll away bed. Sarah told her that she didn't know yet how nice American hotels are with swimming pools.
We stayed home from church Sunday since I know she was overwhelmed with everything. On Monday the girls went to a camp at the college. Sarah went last year and had so much fun. It is called TAG camp and is for gifted and talented children. They agreed to take Almira even though I didn't have any school records for her. The first day Almira came home and said she didn't like it because it was in English and boring. I told her I was sorry but that I had to work some this week and she would just have to go. This started our first real unhappiness from her. She stayed in her room most of the afternoon and refused to speak any English to me when I would go check on her. I also took her to get her glasses Monday afternoon, but she is refusing to wear them. I can understand her not wanting to wear glasses all the time, but I was shocked with just how bad her vision is. She tested at about 20/100, with 20/20 being perfect vision. Jon said her eyes are as bad as his and he can't see the TV from the couch without his glasses. He is suprised she can even see to ride her bike without them on. This is one battle I'm going to have to deal with in Russian, from someone other than me.
By bedtime Monday evening she seemed to be alright and on Tuesday morning I didn't hear anything else about not liking camp. In fact when I went to get the girls on Tuesday afternoon, they were outside with disposable cameras snapping pictures for a project on Wednesday. The camp counselors said she is doing really well and seems to be having fun. This is a very small camp with only 8 kids and then she and Sarah, so 10 total. They get lots of hands-on personal time. They said she has not had any problem doing the projects and can follow instructions.
So I'm working this week just until 3 every afternoon so I can go get the girls. Svetlana is supposed to be coming to the house this afternoon at 5:00 for another English lesson with Almira. I think these are really good for her, not only is she speaking more English, but it also gives her someone to speak to in total Russian, without having to think about words so hard. I'll keep you posted and let you know how it goes.
Sorry for not keeping everyone up to date. We have been so busy. Last Thursday we met with Svetlana, a nice lady that lives here and is Russian. Her husband works here at CenturyTel in the computer information department. We met last Thursday morning for about 2 1/2 hours. She has a book on English with a CD for Almira to listen to. We sat at a coffee shop and they worked on the first 2 lessons. Then we just talked and discussed things for the next hour or so. It was wonderful that they met and good for Almira. Almira had a lot she needed to tell me and I was able to tell her some things as well. Svetlana came to the U.S. from Russian when she was 19 years old and gave me a lot of insight on her experiences coming to America and how she felt. She said she was fluent in English and felt very prepared for starting college in America, but it was extremely overwhelming for her. She also told me that she did not have the support structure around her that Almira does. Almira told her that she is happiest when it is just the 4 of us and we are staying home or riding in Jon's truck laughing and talking.
Thursday night I wasn't sure what to cook for supper and Jon said he would pick up some steaks and I would cook some baked potatoes and make a salad for supper. Almira loves steak! She is hooked.
We did Vacation Bible school last week and it was just a bit too much for her. So, I told her she did not have to go on Friday morning and could stay with my Mom and Dad. I had to go and finish up my volunteer project with the 6th grade. Friday afternoon I met up with a friend of a friend that is an ESL teacher with our city school system. We met at the high school that afternoon and she spent about an hour with Almira working on the computer doing ESL exercises. Almira did very well and scored 95 % on the pretest and then continued to do well and went through many levels, all the way up to conversation level. Kathy is her name and she told me that she believes Almira knows a lot of English, but is just not using it yet. She knows the name of alot of items in English too. Almira really seemed to like doing the ESL on the computer and I think it helped that it gave her a score instantly and she saw how well she was doing. I hope we can go back this week.
On Saturday morning we headed over to Shreveport, which is about 2 hours away from here. We went to an art museum that I had heard alot of good things about, then on to Sci-port. Sarah has always loved Sci-port and it is a children's science museum. At first Almira seemed kind of bored, but then they girls found some fun things to do. We went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Superiors and she wanted steak. I ordered her a small lunch steak and she said it was okay, but not as good as Daddy's. We then took the girls to Bass Pro Shop and then walking at the outdoor shopping. We took the girls to Build-a-Bear Workshop and Sarah and I helped Almira make her first animal. She picked a pink teddy bear and asked me to record the sound for her. She then picked out clothes, shoes and accessories for her bear. She and Sarah had a blast. When it came time to make the birth certificate on the computer, I checked the menu under languages and was shocked to see that there was a choice for Russian. So Almira was able to go through the birth certificate for her bear in Russian. She named her bear Katya after her best friend still in Kazakhstan.
Almira was adamant that she wanted to come home Saturday night and not stay at a hotel. I had the girls pack a little bag with a swimsuit just in case we decided to stay. I'm not sure what the deal is with a hotel, other than she is just so comfortable in our house, where everything is familiar to her. Besides the hotel in Almaty was not that nice or that much fun. She and Sarah took turns sleeping on a roll away bed. Sarah told her that she didn't know yet how nice American hotels are with swimming pools.
We stayed home from church Sunday since I know she was overwhelmed with everything. On Monday the girls went to a camp at the college. Sarah went last year and had so much fun. It is called TAG camp and is for gifted and talented children. They agreed to take Almira even though I didn't have any school records for her. The first day Almira came home and said she didn't like it because it was in English and boring. I told her I was sorry but that I had to work some this week and she would just have to go. This started our first real unhappiness from her. She stayed in her room most of the afternoon and refused to speak any English to me when I would go check on her. I also took her to get her glasses Monday afternoon, but she is refusing to wear them. I can understand her not wanting to wear glasses all the time, but I was shocked with just how bad her vision is. She tested at about 20/100, with 20/20 being perfect vision. Jon said her eyes are as bad as his and he can't see the TV from the couch without his glasses. He is suprised she can even see to ride her bike without them on. This is one battle I'm going to have to deal with in Russian, from someone other than me.
By bedtime Monday evening she seemed to be alright and on Tuesday morning I didn't hear anything else about not liking camp. In fact when I went to get the girls on Tuesday afternoon, they were outside with disposable cameras snapping pictures for a project on Wednesday. The camp counselors said she is doing really well and seems to be having fun. This is a very small camp with only 8 kids and then she and Sarah, so 10 total. They get lots of hands-on personal time. They said she has not had any problem doing the projects and can follow instructions.
So I'm working this week just until 3 every afternoon so I can go get the girls. Svetlana is supposed to be coming to the house this afternoon at 5:00 for another English lesson with Almira. I think these are really good for her, not only is she speaking more English, but it also gives her someone to speak to in total Russian, without having to think about words so hard. I'll keep you posted and let you know how it goes.
I'm heading to bed now, but just added the new pictures. Svetlana spent 2 hours with Almira and said Almira is doing so well and is so bright. She also said she seems really happy.
Kathy
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