Another week in paradise!

These cute little kids go to Galia's school (one of our English club friends).  She is a teacher and invites us to come and visit with these kids.  She tells us they are so happy and proud that they have talked to real Americans!  They like to practice asking us "What is your name?"  or "What is your favorite color?" or "Do you like dinosaurs?"  ummm  sure!

I told one of the teachers that the little girl in the center reminds me of my granddaughter.  They were surprised to hear that I would have a granddaughter that looks like her!

 



We shared the story of The Night Before Christmas with Galia's class.  They had never heard this story before and they got a kick out of it!  One of her students helped with the translation.

 



 

We get a kick out of visiting these children.  The boy in the back shook his belly like Santa!

 

 

Here's another look at the blocks of ice they're cutting out of the river.  It took us so long to get the camera out that all the workers disappeared before we got a picture of them.

 

We had a combined English Club / Branch Christmas activity where we explained some of the traditions of the holidays, played games and had treats.  Playing charades was kind of tough since the names of movies changes from English to Russian!  Some things just get lost in the translation.

 

 

So it turned real cold on us this weekend.  Minus 40 C = minus 40 F.  Who knew?  This is how we looked by the time we made it to church (a 30 minute walk). 

 

 



 We actually felt warm, except for the icicles on our eyelashes!  And it was a bit challenging to see where we're going.  It's a good thing we know our way around town a little bit.

 

 

Some of our branch members have already left for the holidays, so our numbers were down a bit but we had a good time meeting with the saints in Astana!

 

 

 

 

We were finally able to get all our paperwork in order for our projects this week. We had to go around town to get some of the papers re-done. We went into one office building and at first they didn't recognize who we were until we removed a couple of layers. It's the Andersons!! Why are you outside in this weather??

 

 

One final note ---- this is our patio / balcony.  The red packages on the floor are ice cream!  Our freezer inside was a bit crowded, so we are using our natural freezer!