To Russia, With Love

I tutor a young Russian girl, Masha. She’s 5 (Russian/English age) or 7 (Korean age). For the past 5 months, every morning, I’ve gone to her house and we’ve read books, sung songs, or played games in English. It’s been quite enjoyable.

She will be going back to Russia for a long summer vacation in a couple of days. When she comes back, I’ll be gone. I’ve resigned from my teaching position. From Korea.

There is a lot I don’t write about on the blog. LoriLoo was created by a good friend, Bryan, as a going away present when I left San Francisco. A way to let friends and family know what’s going on. A way to record my memories. I’ve wanted to share and remember the good things about my time here, not focus on bad. I absolutely don’t regret my decision to teach in Korea. But it’s time to move on.

Masha and I talked about her upcoming trip to Russia. We drew pictures of the plane. We discussed what she would do in Moscow. I gave her a going away present. Today was my last day tutoring her. She greeted me with a bottle of chilled Russian vodka. Oh. I looked at her mom. Surely I wasn’t expected to break out vodka shots at 8:30 in the morning? No, no, she assured me, it was for me to enjoy later.

After our lesson, Masha’s mom and I exchanged addresses, telephone numbers, etc. I said good-bye to Masha and gave her a big hug. It was at that point she realized something was different. She spoke quickly to her mother in Russian. Her mother answered her. Masha turned to me with a look of astonishment. Then sadness.

It seems she thought I was going to Russia with them. I would stay at their summer house with them. We would return to Korea together. I apologized and said I would try to visit her in Russia one day. I promised to write. To send her English books.

As I walked away, she ran down the walk, on the other side of the fence, blowing me kisses. Good-bye, Loooooooooori!. Good-byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye…