Settling In...

Today has been a good day for settling in and catching up from the long flight yesterday.  It seems strange to me that my students are just starting their school day and I am finishing my day here!

I walked around Dubna today and got a good feel for how to get around the city.  It seems like all of the buildings that I need will be on one major road, so it will be simple for me to find them.  They do not shovel their sidewalks here, so that makes for difficult walking!  Not many people own a car, and so the majority of travel is by foot or bus.

Everyone lives in large apartment buildings.  The smallest I have seen are five stories high.  Although the city is small, the population is very high because so many people live in one building.  The apartments are very small, but cozy.  I am staying with another English teacher, so that makes it convenient to communicate!

Here is what our apartment looks like:

This is the front entryway.  In Russia they always take their shoes off at the front door.  On the bottom shelf by the door is a stack of slippers for guests to use.

To the left of the front door is the "toilet room."  It literally only has the toilet and a small sink.  Although some homes have the toilet and shower combined, having two separate rooms seems to be common. 
 

This is the bathroom.  It has a sink, bathtub, and the laundry (that is a washer and dryer)

We have the kitchen.  Some apartments have the washing machine in the kitchen where we would have a dishwasher.

Another view of the kitchen.  In the back is the entry to the terrace.

Here is the room that I will stay.  Normally it would be her living room.  The bed is a couch that folds down.  It seems like these are very common, like we would use a day bed.  The best thing about this couch is that before it folds down there is a secret compartment under where you would sit that holds all of the bedding!

There is also one more room that is Irina's bedroom and office.  Right now she is teaching private English lessons and so I don't want to disrupt them.  Did you know that most teachers here work a second job? Anna Z works in the evenings translating letters from Russian to English for a company here in town.   I'm very thankful to only have one job!

That's my update for today.  I am not sure what tomorrow will hold, but on Wednesday it sounds like I will be able to visit our first school with Anna A.