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The Entire Family
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I stayed with a wonderful family. The two girls, Natasha and Ulyana, both go to School15, and in addition to other subjects, are taking English. Their mother, Ludmilla, teaches English at the local university and their father Yuri, is a mining engineer in St. Petersburg. He commutes home twice a month. They also have their auntie living with them. She is a terrific cook and while I was there was always brewing up some very good dish for me to try.
The Kolesnyak family has a very nice fourth floor apartment. The apartment has three bedrooms, a sitting room, a kitchen and bathroom. The girls had posters and artwork on their walls. In other rooms there were bright colors and some wood carving that Yuri had done. When you enter through the front door you come into a cloak room where you hang your coat, stow your gloves and hat and take off your outside shoes. Most Russians wear slippers around the house. I t keeps the sound down for the downstairs neighbors and helps keep the apartment clean.
In the evenings, the children work on their three hours of homework and when finished may watch an hour of TV. Both like to talk on the phone and listen to tapes. Ludmilla does her schoolwork and reads. Winter is a time to enjoy the fruits of hard work undertaken at the dacha in the summer. Ludmilla had dozens of large jars of fruits and vegetables that she had grown and canned last summer. We enjoyed a delicious blackberry drink, pickles and tomatoes that came from her garden.
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This is where the Kolesnyak family lives.
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Ulyana, a sophomore
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This is Ludmilla and Yuri
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The cookin' auntie
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This is Natasha - 3rd grade
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