The morning started bright and early (okay I know this is relative, in Russia, 7 is early). I met Kyle at 8:00 to walk to school 170. One of the teachers walked with us. She had been at the teacher appreciation dinner on Thursday. She doesn't speak English so I didn't get to do much talking, but it was nice to walk along with her. There were parents and kids everywhere! Kids were dressed in their best clothes. The girls had nice skirts and blouses with ribbons in their hair and the boys had on suits. They all carried flowers for their teachers. I know what you are thinking...school started on Saturday? Yes, that's right folks - school starts on Saturday!!!!! September 1st is a holiday that marks the start of school. It doesn't matter if it falls on a Saturday or not, that is when school starts. There are even schools that have school on Saturday. One of the girls from my class at English camp has school on Saturday. Of course, most of this day was for show. I think only the kindergarten and seniors were there. I got to meet a couple of new kids and saw some familar faces. I met the father of Dasha S. who was a regular at our Friday club meetings in the spring. The kids only had to stay until 11 before heading home. Parents walked their kids to school. There was a short program welcoming everyone back to school. Only parents of the kindergarten kids were allowed to go into the school. They had three guards at the door. After a while, the kindergarten kids came out with their teachers and walked to the metro together. They were very cute! :-D























That afternoon, we had an appreciation dinner for the summer camp counselors. It was supposed to be a picnic, but the weather was cold and rainy so we moved it inside and changed the menu to chili. It was a huge success with about half of our conselors there.