I Have Friends!

Who cares if they are only in the 4th grade! The girl that I tutor at my house, Iana, has a little sister, Catia (short for Ecaterina) that comes with her to English Club. She is the darn cutest little girl I have ever seen in Moldova. Probably the cutest girl you've ever seen in Moldova too, if you were to see her and be in Moldova. After school there was a mini piata in the lunchroom to raise money to buy a bust of Alexei Mateevici, whom the school is named after. After buying some sweet treats I retired to my classroom to read before my optional classes began. In walks Catia and her friend. We start talking, and at first it is akward, I don't know what to say to them (although I do know how to say it once I did) and they would just stand there staring back at me. They rushed off after I explained to them where I lived, showed them on the map, and then compared the size of Moldova to the U.S. Ok, so they left. Nope, they returned five minutes later with sweets for me, that they had bought at the piata. How cute is that? So I insisted that they teach me Russian, how to write the alphabet in lower case and in cursive. Let me tell you, you think you can't understand a drunken toothless man on the subway? Trying to figure out what the crap you are looking at when it is in Russian AND cursive, is far harder. But at least Russian cursive doesn't smell of spirits or try to grope you.
My students didn't show up, big surprise, so I packed up my things and the girls and I headed out of the class. After we bundled up (yes, there is STILL snow on the ground, about another 6 inches fell this morning) we headed outside. They insisted on holding my hands, and it was just too darn cute. When we parted ways we said our goodbyes, mine in Russian and theirs in English.