One of the things I love about the expat community is that they are very charitable. One of the charities here that was started by a colleague is no shave November. The men that choose to participate do not shave at all the entire month of November. At the end of the month there is an auction of their faces and for a donation you a buy someones face. When you purchase the face you can tell them for a day a silly way to shave and they have to wear it to work like that on one day. The event was a ton of fun and we raised over $1500 for the local cancer center. What a fun event for a good cause.
Another charity event we have every year here is the Chili cookoff and bonfire. I did a terrible job of taking pictures this year - but this is our largest charity event of the year. A lot of the wives here on the compound craft and then sell the crafts for the local dog shelter. There is a silent auction of baskets that people volunteer to put together and other large handmade items. We had local employees here build custom wooden benches and corn hole boards that were really nice. All the money from these donations goes to a local soup kitchen. There is a chili competition so everyone that wants to participate puts a chili in and there is a vote and a prize for the winner. The evening ends with a bonfire - of course that the expats made (I assume this is an Aggie Tradition). It was a great evening and we raised $13,500 for the soup kitchen and $720 for the animal Shelter.
The bonfire - very impressive structure with an oil derrick at the top
Russian Hats are common at bonfires... keeps your head super warm!
Here on the compound the local staff do a pretty good job of trying to keep us Westerners busy and provide us with opportunities for local activities for the families. We were offered tickets for the local Russian Ballet so Riley and I decided to check it out with some of our friends. Ballet is a big deal here in Russia. It was beautiful and we had a great time!
It is starting to get cold and snowy around here. Its amazing to me how much is done outside during the cold... but with the right gear we are finding its not so bad. The kids do not love all the work it entails to get snow suits and hats, gloves, etc.. on but they are starting to get accustomed to it.
My House Covered in snow
Riley heading to swim team practice.... seems odd but hey when in Sakhalin?
Rileys had a bench ball tournament in her PE class. I have no clue what benchball is or where that game came from - I believe it is from the UK but it was an interesting game to watch and Riley's yellow team won - so she was happy!
Carter has a class hedgehog (Stuffed animal) - his name is Hiki and each child has to take him home for the weekend, and document the adventures they have in a journal with a hand written story and photos. Carter really enjoyed his time with Hiki and wrote an amazing story. I was so impressed and he did the story all on his own!
Here is a vide of Carter reading his story
One of the benefits here in Sakhalin is we are able to take a charter plane to Sopporo Japan. The best part about Sopporo is there is a Costco! Some of the items in Sakhalin are not like home so a trip to Costco is a huge treat! I was able to go this month for the first time and it was a blast. We took a charter plane there and back in one day. Crazy experience but it was a lot of fun and we got lots of great stuff! Sopporo is known for its Ramen so we had to make a stop and fuel up for the trip home.
The adult Halloween party was this month and was a ton of fun. People came out with great costumes! I was bummed Justin could not make it but it was still a blast!
In Russia parties for the holidays are a big deal. The company throws a very formal event in December for the holidays and part of the event is the X factor talent competition. My team - the HR team - has never participated and when I asked them about participating they felt they had no talents and didn't think we could contribute. I of course knew different so I convinced them to try something new. We did a SNL type spoof of the company dress code policy (fitting since we are the HR team). We had so much fun with this project and I was so proud of how much the team got into it. Below is a picture from our filming day. The best news... in December during the party we won first place! Who says the HR team has no talent???
The Sakhalin 1 project has a newspaper and the Harrison Family made the paper!
Here are some other random pictures from the month.....
DJ Riley and Carter playing on our friend Josh's turntables
Carters math work... he really is amazingly smart
Thanksgiving face painting. I didn't take pictures during the community thanksgiving dinner - mom fail. We spent thanksgiving with the community here and invited the other expat teachers from the international school. It was a great dinner at the restaurant in our neighborhood. We had over 80 adults and 45 kids. The chefs in our neighborhood cooked the turkey and made some sides and everyone brought something to share so it was truly an international feast. Given the number of kids we had local entertainers play fames with them and paint faces. It was a good event with lots of friends.
We put up our tree in Sakhalin. It was hard to find one here but we did. Starting to feel like Christmas!
Riley doing art work at school.
Carters Class had the Friday school assembly. Each week the entire school meetings on Friday and one class does something in front of the school. Here is part of Carters Assembly.
Carter won the resilience certificate. I am so proud given the road he has been on! Way to go Carter!
Riley in her class is playing with the green screen. Here is her news video that she was working on in school
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