I have nowhere to run here in Tysons Corner, since there are only office buildings around my house, and the nearest forest park is far beyond the highway. You can imagine my surprise when, half an hour ago, I saw an entire herd of deer in the city, munching on grass by the roadside. It’s already night, dark, so no photos of the deer 😦
Category: facebook
February 13 2016, 21:41
More interesting finds from American stores.
February 13 2016, 19:25
I don’t want to say that none of this can be found in Russia, because, of course, it can be found, but it’s unlikely you’ve come across it. Here, it’s a standard product at Office Depot.
February 13 2016, 14:58
Hooray! I got my real driver’s license!
February 13 2016, 12:47
I have an exclusive for you) Scanned Liz’s diary from Longfellow Middle School + comments explaining everything.
Read about the hallway passport, lesson system, dress code, and much more.
February 13 2016, 11:17
Morning jog 1 km. Ran into a rope stretched at eye level along the way.
February 13 2016, 10:43
In the USA, mail services handle literally everything: bills (utilities, internet, medical insurance, loan payments), bank statements, credit cards, licenses, vehicle registration documents (including metal plates), and online store purchases.
To better describe the postal industry, here are some numbers: the governmental USPS alone employs 617,254 people, of whom 78% are mail carriers. There are 211,000 vehicles across the country.
Here are some figures for JUST ONE day of mail service (from their official website):
* 223.7 million — revenue in dollars
* 151.8 million — employee salaries in dollars
* 512.8 million — number of letters and packages processed and delivered
* 21.3 million — average number of letters and packages PER HOUR
* 356,103— average number of letters and packages per minute
* 5,935 —average number of letters and packages per second
* 0 — state funding
For comparison, Russian Post employs just half as many people (about 312,000), and the number of letters and packages processed and delivered differs by a factor of 121 (one hundred twenty-one times!). Yet, USPS continues to operate with significant losses.
February 13 2016, 00:00
“On Tuesday, February 16, Lisa will finally go to school. Longfellow Middle School – one of the best schools in our district. Rated 10 out of 10. Today, they explained to us in great detail what to expect at school. The education system is very different from ours. Starting with the fact that this school only has 7th and 8th grades. Over thirteen hundred kids!
The first thing that was shocking is the bell schedule. Classes start at 7:30 AM. The school bus will pick up Lisa at 6:51 AM at the stop. They told us to be there a few minutes early. If she misses the bus, parents must drive her to school. There is no bus for latecomers. It takes 15-20 minutes by car. By public transport, it takes an hour: 30 minutes by bus and 30 minutes on foot.
The length of the lessons at school varies. It could be 45 minutes, 46, 48, or 52. There are half-lessons of 26 minutes. How can a Russian child remember that the third lesson starts at 10:02 and ends at 10:48???? Breaks are 4 minutes! FOUR. With Lisa’s speed, it’s unreal to get from one classroom to another in that time. Moreover, you can’t take your backpack to lessons. When you come to school in the morning, you have to store it in a special locker and take only what’s necessary for the class. They explained that the school is too crowded with students carrying backpacks. So, in four minutes, you need to sprint to the locker, grab what you need for the next class, somehow stuff the unnecessary things back, close the locker so everything doesn’t fall out, and then run to the classroom. Who complained about breaks of 10-15 minutes in Russia? 🙂
In short, welcome! :)”
February 12 2016, 15:47
The Devil’s machine in the library: works like a microscope, you can zoom in a bit, or right down to the pixels
February 12 2016, 15:45
Police: Parents Arrested After Leaving Kids Home Alone (http://goo.gl/twv3ye)
You can’t leave kids at home here: neighbors can easily call the police, and here is a link to a story about an arrest.
Most states, with rare exceptions, do not regulate the age at which children can be left home alone. However, if something happens to the children, parents can face serious consequences. Child Protection Services (CPS) issue various recommendations on what age children can be safely left alone at home. For our Masha, it’s an hour and a half. But even for an hour and a half, it’s better not to leave them, unless you want to meet the police at your doorstep.
For our Masha it’s an hour and a half, but there are a ton of additional factors taken into account, like whether the child can find the parents on their own if needed (for example, if they work nearby). Generally, it’s the mothers who go clubbing or wander off while the child sleeps who get caught. In Russia, this is incomprehensible, as what to do with children when they come home from school at two in the afternoon and the parents are at work – the state does not answer.
Mom could go to jail for letting her son play outside alone (http://goo.gl/u4ZPYq)
A recent case too – they put in jail a mother because a four-year-old child was walking alone in the yard, reportedly 35 meters from the house, at an apartment complex’s children’s playground.
In Police State USA, Kids Playing Outside is a Crime: CPS to Mom “Don’t let them play outside (http://goo.gl/MboUAC)
Children here never play outside. Not even the relatively older ones. You might see kids walking home from the school bus, and rarely, 15-year-old teenagers alone in the mall. Anyone younger is kept at home or in school just in case.
There’s even a book for sale on Amazon, Dark Secrets Within Child Protective Services (http://goo.gl/xWxmsQ)
Some details in Russian on local forums (https://goo.gl/mfWs4L)
