Making Friends

Guest

Dear Amy,
do you know how many people live in Zhigansk? How many kids are there in the third grade? Have you seen anybody swimming in the river? How many rivers are there in Zhigansk? Is it really muddy there? Have you made any new friends since you have left? Have you been running a lot?
hope your having fun,
Jake Parkins

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 84

Dear Jake,
Suprisingly to me, there are about 4,500 people who live in Zhigansk. It doesn't seem that big at all. There are about 60 kids in each grade. Unfortunately, the younger kids' school (called the primary school) is on summer vacation already--which is funny since it is still snowing here, so I have not been able to go to their school. But the older kids' school (for when you are in 5th-11th) grade is taking their exams so we have been able to meet a lot of kids that go to that school. Here is a picture of some kids who I think are about your age (9 years old) who helped us do some of our sampling the other day.

I haven't seen anyone swimming in the river, but it is still very cold with lots of ice on it. However, people have told me that kids love to swim in the river in the summer here. Max was here last year and he said he saw people swimming in the river.

The Lena is the main river here in Zhigansk, but there are lots of little rivers that dump there water into the Lena river, so there is lots of water all over the place. Your question about the mud is a great one, because it is really muddy in some spots and when it isn't muddy the ground is a lot like the beach, really sandy and dusty. I think this is because there isn't any grass to hold the soil in place. So, as you can imagine it looks very different than it does where you live in Rhode Island.

I am lucky that I have made a lot of friends since I have been here. First of all, I've made friends with all the other scientists who are on this research crew. They are all very nice and interesting to get to know. All the people from the town of Zhigansk have been very nice to me, and I would consider many of them my friends. The teachers who work here are very interested in getting to know me better because they want to find out what it is like to be a teacher in the United States. So, I have been invited to different people's houses for dinner almost everyday.
No, I havn't been running at all, except for a quick run around the village with some of the children of the school who were having a running contest. However, we do get lots of exercise walking everywhere we go.

Thanks for the great questions Jake--it was great to hear from you!

Amy