School in Russia starts the same time as in Hungary: September 1st. I was looking forward to it, as it meant a whole new beginning for me. Not just because Dana spent time in school during the day. Also, because we moved to the city centre with Dana. Why would we do that, you might think. Well, during the school year Dana lives with her grandmother, because her home is closer to the school. This way she doesn’t have to get up so early. It’s still a hassle to wake her up at 7 AM, I have no idea, how she could get up at 6 AM.

This flat is situated in the centre so everything is close. I don’t have that much privacy as in the other house, because I don’t have my own room here. Partly I decided this way. There’s a living room, where I could sleep on the couch. The other option was to sleep with Dana in the bedroom on a queen bed. I decided this way, because Dana preferred to sleep with me than with her grandma. I also though it’s a good idea. It can give a chance to bond even better. I don’t like sleeping alone. It’s always nice to talk to someone before sleeping. After the 2nd night however I realized maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. Dana is like a night owl. She can’t fall asleep, so even after chatting in bed for 40 minutes she wants to continue. She constantly nagged and tickled me. The main problem with it was that we always fell asleep late and it was hard for her to wake up the next day.

I got used to the new routine pretty quickly. I drop off Dana at school. It’s about 20 minutes by walk. I have free time until 11:15. I could finally walk, look around in shops and use Internet at cafes.

We go home have lunch, that grandma cooked, play a bit then it’s time for homework. The grandmother helps Dana with her homework. She watches her every move. She is quite strict. I honestly felt sorry for Dana, because she didn’t have much free time. She always has a bunch of homework, that takes a lot of time to do. We always do the English homework together.

In the evening if there was some time we went to the park or Mis came over with Natasa. They live very close.

I didn’t meet my host dad during the week. My host mum works close, so she came to the grandma’s flat every day for a few minutes. They usually just talk a little with Dana, discuss if there’s something important. I can see how much they miss each other. Dana is just 10 years old, it can be difficult to see your mom only for a few minutes a day. However I also think it’s the best solution, because there aren’t good schools where they live. Dana’s school is very strict but they get good knowledge. Her English is really amazing compared to what they teach in Hungary for children at this age.