Thursday, October 22, 2009

Hamster - Halfway through the week - Wednesday, 7 October 2009

Hamster


Speaking of parents, one of Christie's students recently got a hamster. Christie told the parent how Sophia had been begging for a hamster, and so the parent volunteered to drive us after school to the hamster store. So we all piled into her car--a really cute one, kind of styled like a Matrix but smaller. There were 4 adults and 2 children--Sophia, Christie, the student Lynn, Lynn's mother, Lynn's grandmother, and me. Our bookbags and coats stuffed the tiny trunk. Lynn sat on Christie's lap.

Lynn's mother was very nice and spoke English well and was thrilled that Sophia would be in her daughter's class (for English conversation!) Sophia and Lynn took to each other immediately; however Lynn was a bit afraid of the moth Sophia had..

They drove us to the store--a large shopping complex not too far from our apartments, and led us to the tiny pet store that was more like a kiosk in the huge grocery store. The mother did all the talking; Sophia picked out the hamster; and I paid. We got a white female hamster, a small pink-wired cage with a wheel and water bottle; hamster food; and litter/bedding for the bottom of the cage. When Lynn's mother asked what we call the stuff that goes on the bottom of the cage, both Christie and I drew a blank.

Driving home, I asked for the Russian word for hamster and then the Kazakh word. Lynn's mother and grandmother struggled with remembering the Kazakh word, and Lynn's mother explained to me that she hadn't really learned Kazakh, that a lot of people hadn't learned Kazakh, and Lynn did not know Kazakh either. So Lynn is really learning two new languages--Kazakh and English. That's a lot for a 2nd grader!

Lynn's mother dropped us off at our apartment, and Sophia was excited to finally get inside and be allowed to take the hamster out of the cage. It really is a cute little thing, very inquisitive, and it should make a good addition to our household.

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