Home from Russia!

Privyet! (or "hello!")

  I'm back from Russia! I went with a group from church to teach English and evangelize at a camp outside of Moscow. We had a great time, and met some great new friends (I'm so glad Facebook makes it easy to stay connected with people across the world! Praise the Lord!).

My husband and I in a Moscow metro station

We were so busy for the two weeks the camp lasted. We taught English lessons for three hours a day, had sports time (we taught them American Football, Baseball, and Ultimate Frisbee), and created skits to go along with the theme of the day. Each day the theme was a different holiday celebrated in America. Some of the skits were amazingly creative!

I helped teach beginner English with two other Americans. These are our students above.

Ultimate Frisbee and a Christmas Skit

 

 

I'm sure many of you heard about the fires in Russia. On the first day of camp a brushfire started in the edge of the soccer field. We happened to be playing a game nearby and were able to put it out before it had spread very far. Thank God for protecting us! It was an adventuresome way to begin camp :)

If you have any questions about the camp, what we did, or what I believe feel free to comment! I would love to talk more about it :)

An now back to blog matters:

The poll results are as follows. The top three choices are Victorian (with a whopping 46%), Regency (39%), a tie for third in Middle Ages and Renaissance (both at 28%).

I'm excited to see that there's an interest in Victorian fashions! I have three upcoming dolls that will fit into the category. The first you'll see is Margaret Hale, from author Elizabeth Gaskell's novel North and South, set in 1850's England. Updates for her will begin soon (and Mandie will be phased out). Still in pencil sketches are my doll for Jane Eyre (1847), and the not-so-literary cowgirl doll (1880). I'm having a lot of fun researching costumes from these eras and then trying my hand at recreating and redesigning them.

In answer to second and third place in the poll, I have a couple ideas for a paper doll from one of Jane Austen's books. Once I get a good doll sketch I can begin (so far I haven't done anything I'm happy with). And Middle Ages... that will be fun! I haven't spent much time researching that block of time. If you have any suggestions, let me know!