new friends

Today Brighid and I went to the American Corner at the library in Vologda. They have an English club that several people come to every week. The woman in the picture with Brighid is Yelena. She is in charge of the Corner. These three other people are Sergey, Vera, and Anna. Everyone has been so welcoming, and I really enjoyed getting to know them today. Vera said that she wants to teach me how to play the guitar. I haven't played in years, but I would love to learn from Vera. I also made a coffee date with another girl who was at the Club today.

It's so exciting to see these relationships starting to develop. I feel so blessed to be in this city and be meeting these people. One other quick story, is that this evening I was making dinner and needed to open this jar. However, they are not the screw off cans that I am used to. So I went downstairs in hopes that my hand gestures and the jar itself would explain what I needed. I expected to see my Babushka, but it was some younger kids. Luckily one of the guys spoke some English. After he watched me unsuccessfully ask for help from the girl sitting behind the desk, he came over and showed me how the Russians open the jars. (His words not mine). He pulled out his jack knife, and cut the whole thing up. Thanks Sasha. He then invited me out with some of his friends. So of course I went out with them for a while and they showed me how to play a Russian card game. His friends didn't know much English, but I could still say somethings to them. They live in my building and take classes at the school where I will be teaching.