daddy finger, where are you?

when we learned about the family, it was quite difficult - a lot of new words; one of the first topics, so the children didn't know a lot in English; me -still quite inexperienced. Thanks to Lena, my supervisor, we (me and the children) did it. She showed me that great family song:

And then we made finger paper dolls like those:

  It worked so well. In the beginning it was only me that was showing them the dolls and having them on my fingers, and they were playing along with their hands. After they learned the song, we started making it as a game - the ones that can name the dolls, can have them while singing; or they will close their eyes with their hands behind and I'll go around and place the dolls to some of them. Then while singing they will show their doll and sing its words. I was surprised how even 4 years old children memorized it fast enough to sing it by themselves.
Of course the risk always exists that the children wouldn't sing the song, but just play with the dolls, and they'll "сломать" them, but what the heck. It's actually the third dolls set that I am making, paper, as you know, is easy to tear apart :)) But one thing is undeniable - once you start singing, the children will join you and sing/play along, even if they are in the middle of a quarrel.
Oh, and that's the "корзинка" where I keep some of my stuff, it's hand-made by myself using a Lipton Yellow tea box and some colour paper ^_^

There is a blue butterfly high in the sky...

I thought it would be a good idea to show some of my work in the kinder garden.
There is a piece I am really proud of - the colours song. I was wondering how to teach them the colours and keep them interested. In youtube one can find plenty of nice (and not so nice) children's songs on the topic, i chose that one:

And to further help the learning process and to make it as a game I made paper butterflies out of colour paper, like that:

It turned out the children loved it. I've played that song and the butterflies with all ages - from 4 to 6,7, they all enjoy it and still ask for it. Of course, one is always running the risk of children being more into the game with the butterflies than into the song, but at the end, fun is more important. 

I found another butterfly song which is my favourite, it really sticks to you and it's sooo sweet. A lovely sunny start for the day :)

weekends like that one...

...give me the chance to appreciate again being where i am and what i do. lovely two days at home dedicated to some English for kids and some related drawing, Russian language (it's a real challenge, but so great, i have been missing the pressure and joy of learning a new language), a nice book and a warm movie. oh, i love trine dyrholm!
and, unfortunately, too much kohuke, too much :)
a lovely ending of two lovely days

spring is in the air ... soon to come!

it's so weird to have this blog. it's forced on me as a part of the project and even though i can see the idea behind, it feels weird, uncomfortable. it's like a private diary that is supposed to be public and you know that your diary will be read. so how private could it be? how why should i share private stuff?
of course i can just pretend and write whatever so that there is something to show. but what is the point? if i say something, i want it to be meaningful to me so that at least i won't waste my time..

today i reached another cornerstone in my existence and relationship with my own self: i self-handedly, con mis propias manos dyed my hair. no one but me around. and it turned out good. and it felt good. it feels good to know that sometimes you can make it on your own, hear that, Bono?
sehr stolz auf mich

and "Girls" sucks.

i developed an allergic reaction to cold. it's so fucking cold that the skin of my hands became chapped, coarse and painful. nothing is helping, none of the creams I tried, I even put warm olive oil, it's not getting better! and I even don't know how that happened, I don't go out without gloves, nice warm Estonian gloves. yesterday i tried to   smear some kohupiim, it seemed like it worked... as another volunteer said, if my skin doesn't fall off while spring comes, it will be an achievement :)

i have to write about how Orientiri went. That Orientiri (meaning Directions) took place last Friday and Saturday (15-16.03.2013) in a sports hall in Narva, it was an education fair, lots of higher education and vocational institutes, trying to lure some fresh flash into their dark corridors, promising great future job. sadly, the most attractive stand was the police and bodyguard kind of school. They even had dogs, some beautiful Blondies (deutsche Schäfferhunde), and a smelly noisy "police" car and uniforms, wow! I guess when you are 15, you are really impressed by that kind of stuff, especially when you cannot see a lot of opportunities for yourself. However, I cannot agree that only losers or society scum  go to those fairs. You are allowed not to know what to do with your life at any age. it's more likely that people who consider them scum, are scum.
and if you have the eyes, you can see so many more different things. the silly teenagers with spots who think they know it all and can barely speak English; the kids that come again and again only for the candies, why the fuck do you need so many candies; the overprotective mother that came to select the best future for her child, (poor child!); and the weird lonely old guy that seemed like lost, i guess he came just to be among people and to be in a warm place, i hope i am wrong. among so many people you can barely see some humanity, it's always lost in the crowd. but then you start talking to the mass, because you have to, and human beings start to show up, if you are lucky.
oh, i love the Daddy finger song, honestly.

and then you see

this
and you realize how fucking important today's day is

an unexpected emotion

today is 8th of March, international women's day. at home, in BG,  we do not really celebrate that date anymore, it's part of our socialist past, or at least i considered it to be. so it's not really a big deal, and for me all the fuss around the date was rather annoying.
today i was proven once again that what matters is attitude. i attended a party at my kinder garden dedicated to 8th of March. and once again i realized it's not a day that it's special, it's our attitude that makes it special. it's the nice dress that we wear and that makes us feel prettier (in our heads), it's the cup of strong tea, candies and a cake bought especially for the occasion, it's the song that a colleague performed and the time she took for preparation. that's what makes a day special.
'nuff said, unexpectedly i enjoyed it.

and i called my friends in manizalez, vicky tamayo y cata piedrahita, que me hacen tanta falta. extraño colombia y su gente, y mis compañeras queridas. fue un placer hablar con ellas de nuevo..

8th of March 2013, Narva, Estonia. unexpectedly emotional. nice.