Hello Evylinda,
Thank you for your Christmas story. I liked it very much, and my classmates liked it too. We didn’t have any probs with understanding, because our teacher helped us. Everyone remembers your lesson - it was great!
Now we study a new unit. Its title is “Does your health depend on you?” We learn some new words, which describe our health.
Now, I have to go. We are having a meeting in our School Hall.
Take care,
Nadya
Dear Megan,
How are you doing? Today we have recieved your cards with Christmas and New Year greetings.
Right now we are having our national holiday. It is our New Year month. It started on the 31st of January, it lasts for a month. So, your cards are not late! They are just in due time.
The name of our holiday is Sagaalgaan , which means White Month. January 31 we had a day off and after that we have been visiting each other for a month. And we say this time: Sagan haraar! Sagaalgaanar!
With love,
The 6th A Grade
Dear Megan,
We are so happy to get your letter and cards. It is not late, because we are having our Sagaalgaan. We have just met the Blue Horse Year. They say that it will be a year of hard work and big success.
From your letter we got to know many interesting things about the USA and the Netherlands. It is so nice to have such a good friend in the Netherlands.
Best wishes,
the 7thV Grade
Dear Megan,
We are very glad to talk to you again. Your greeting cards are wonderful. It is very nice to get greetings from the Netherlands. We would like to know more about this country.
We liked your letter very much too. And we got to know very interesting things about your Mother land. We would like to continue to talk to you.
Take care,
The 5th V Form
Dear Megan,
How are you? We are all doind well. It seems to us that spring is coming. It is getting warmer, and the snow melts sometimes.
Thanks a lot for your greeting cards and a letter. Now we know much more about the USA and the Netherlands.
Can you explain us what Delft Blue is more exactly. Is it a beautiful blue flower?
We have to finish because the lesson will be over soon.
Best wishes,
the 6thB Grade
Hello Children,
your english seem to be improving day by day. Congratulations. Keep up the nice work you are doing. I’m sure you’ll find great joy learning a new language as you improve your ability to use it to comunicate with other people from around the world.
I was very glad to know you received Megan’s cards. It must have been a wonderful feeling to have those cards in your hands coming from such distant part of the world.
So, don’t give up. Keep on studying because we always have new wonderful things to discover.
Best wishes,
Mauricio.
Dear Megan,
How are you doing these days? We hope everything is going to be OK.
Thanks a lot for your wonderful cards and your interesing letter. We are sorry that they have been coming to our place for three months but it doesn’t matter. Right now we are finishing (3 days left) our national holiday. It means that we have been enjoying our New Year holiday (Sagaalgaan) since the 31st of January.This holiday has one peculiarity - the date of beginning shifts every year. For example, we met Sagaalgaan February,3, last year.
We have learnt many interesting facts about the Netherlands and the USA from your letter. We liked your dog Fenrir very much Though we don’t know him. Has he got bigger since you sent your letter? Do you have any other pets?
Sorry the time is running out and we have to finish.
Take care,
the 11th A Grade
Hello Megan,
How are you doing there in the Netherlands? We are sure that there is no snow in Zoetermeer. But we are having snow in the streets yet.
It was our pleasure to get your letter and so beautiful cards. It is the first time we have received the mail from a European country. That’s wonderful.
Now we know where your birtplace is and where you and your husband live. So many interesting things we got to know!
What kind of music do you like? What computer games are your favourite? Could you explain us, please, what crocheting is?
It was very nice to write you this collective letter. It will help us to write our letters on the exams.
Best wishes,
the 11th B Grade
Dear Megan,
Thanks a lot for your wonderful cards and interesting informative letter. Itwas very unexpected and surprising for us!
How are you and your husband Rogier doing? It seems to us that Fenrir is 20 months old now - is he still growing bigger? Fenrir… What does his name mean?
Sagaalgaan is finishing but now we are having a Russian holiday. It is Maslenitsa. It is the holiday of the Spring beginning.
What is your husband’s profession? What are his hobbies?
Talk to you soon!
Best wishes,
the 10th A Grade
Dear Megan,
Thank you very much for your amazing and beautiful present. We think that it took you lots of time to fill in so many cards and write so interesting and informative letter.
How are you all doing there? Our teacher said that you attend a shooting Club. Wthat weapon do you use there? It seems to us that you have many hobbies - what cute person you are!
You live in the Netherlands… Do you like skating? Would you mind visiting Russia in the future?
We are looking forward to talking to you again.
Best wishes,
the 10th B Grade
Hello Yuri and Mujibur.
I am writing my experience on the “Cruise carnimal triumph” as i promised you. I will post some pictures as well for your students Yuri. I really hope they will like it 
It was a five days trip on the cruise carnival, i went with my family and two more family friends…a long holiday for me as a housewife
The moment i saw my cruise ship at the port, my expression was, "oh my god…its a huge ship " and my excitement began. As we entered, our eyes were left wide open to see the royalty. It was my first time to see such an amazing world of fun.
We had our food and started sailing. I have no words to express what i was feeling throughout the trip everytime i see the big ocean sometimes with calm sometimes the angry waves…
I am from India and surprisingly we got an Indian cook there on the cruise so we enjoyed our delicious Indian cuisine for dinner… and one beautiful show was presented by all the waiters before serving us the desserts. They stand in a line and sing and dance nicely for us .hahaha it was fun to watch them. I made few videos of this which i can share.
We visited the Merida city in Mexico…It gave me a feeling of India as i saw the same kind of concrete construction and street shops. Then to a Caribbean beach which is the purest water in the entire world. I have never seen such crystal clear water in my life. We enjoyed Scuba diving there.
The rest of the days were full dancing and in the casino, Jacuzzi, pool, open theater, basket ball, golf…there was everything.
Well now time for some pictures.
Thank you
Richaa
Dear Megan,
We are so happy that you found time to send us cards and a letter. It is amazing that all your cards are written in different words.
Our teacher gave us an assignment to translate your cards in writing.
From your letter we got to know very interesting and wonderful things. We would like to know more about the Netherlands, the USA and other countries.
Best wishes,
The 5th B Form
Dear Megan,
How are you now? What is the weather like in the Neterh erlands? Is there any snow in Zoetermeer?
Thank you so much for your wonderful qreetinqs and your wonderful letter.
We got to know from them many interesting things and many useful words.
We had mild December and January but February was severe.
Now it is getting much warmer.
Best wishes,
The 6thV Form
Hello Mauricio,
How are you doing? Thanks a lot for your message.
Yes, we recieved many greeting cards from Megan. They are in Dutch and in English. Megan translated us these words: “Prettige Kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar”. They mean “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.
Almost all greetings were different and mine sounds like this “Seasons greetings and warm wishes to you and your family”.
Looking forward to talking to you again.
Best wishes,
Aryuna
Hello Richaa,
Nice to meet you. How are you?
My name is Galya and sometimes I send on the Forum my messages. I found very nice older friends here.
Richaa! Thanks a lot for your amazing pictures. I have never seen such a big ship in my whole life. I hope that I will have my own cruise in the future. You are so lucky that you went scuba diving!
Please sent us some more messages.
Best wishes,
Galya
Hello Galya.
Yes even I have seen such a huge ship first time in my life. I realise its just a bit smaller than ‘Titanic’
Thanks for replying back
have a good day
Richaa
Dear Megan,
Thanks a lot for your wonderful cards and interesting informative letter. Itwas very unexpected and surprising for us!
How are you and your husband Rogier doing? It seems to us that Fenrir is 20 months old now - is he still growing bigger? Fenrir… What does his name mean?
Sagaalgaan is finishing but now we are having a Russian holiday. It is Maslenitsa. It is the holiday of the Spring beginning.
What is your husband’s profession? What are his hobbies?
Talk to you soon!
Dear Children,
I am so happy to hear that my Christmas cards and letter finally reached you! We have a saying in English, it goes “Better late, than never”. Do you have a saying like this in Russian?
I hope you don’t mind but I want to answer all of your questions in one response, so that I can share it with all of you.
Many of you asked how I (and my husband Rogier) are doing. We are doing alright and we hope that all of you are doing very well!
You wanted to know more about Delft Blue. To give a quick description of what it is, basically it is a type of pottery. The classic Delft Blue is blue and white in color, with a glaze over it that makes it shine. It’s produced in factories in the city of Delft, which is how its name came about “Delft Blue” or it can also be called “Delftware”. See below a picture of various Delftware.
If you would like to read more about the history Delft Blue, this link has a short description about it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delftware
You asked if my dog Fenrir has grown any bigger. Not really. Dogs do most of their growing in the first 6 months, afterward it slows down a lot. He is 20 months old now and he’s not growing any bigger. His muscle will still grow a little but he will not get any taller or longer. Of course, he could grow fat but we will try to make sure that doesn’t happen!
You also asked what the name Fenrir means. Fenrir is a giant wolf in Norse mythology. He is said to be the son of the Norse god Loki. I have named all of my Rottweilers after Norse gods. Our last dog was named Loki, and though our Loki was not the father of our Fenrir, we thought it would be a nice way to remember him by naming our new puppy Fenrir.
Here are a couple of pictures of our Fenrir.
You asked if we had any other pets. We have 2 goldfish as well, named Sun and Spot. We used to have more but sadly they died.
You asked what kind of music I like to listen to. I enjoy most genres but usually I listen to rock, alternative, metal and variations thereof. Some of my favorite bands and musicians include Buck Tick, Silly Fools, Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Blof, Zeraphine, Kamelot, Nightwish, Within Tempation, Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, Anastasia, and many others.
You asked what some of my favorite computer games are. I really like playing games like Civilization, Diablo, Torchlight II, Final Fantasy, EVE, Everquest 2, Tekken, Soul Caliber, Rockband, and many more.
You asked me what crocheting is. Well, crocheting is a little bit like knitting. When you knit, you have two long straight needles in which to make clothing or blankets out of. Crocheting is similar, only you use one shorter hooked needle.
This is what a crochet needle (or crochet hook) looks like (and they come in many different sizes depending on the size of the items you want to make).
Here is a little hat and scarf that I crocheted for my doll.
You asked what my husband does for a living and what his hobbies are. Well, my husband is Project Manager for the IT department of a company called Sanoma Media. Sanoma is actually a Finnish company but they have offices in many countries around the world. My husband’s main hobbies are gaming, which he does quite a lot of. He also spends a lot of time at the shooting club. He’s a secretary of the board for the local shooting club, so that keeps him very busy too. He also enjoys movies, music, and spending time with friends.
You asked what weapons I usually shoot at the shooting club. I haven’t shot very many weapons at our local shooting club because the laws in the Netherlands are very strict about owning or shooting guns. In the USA I shot many different kinds of pistols, rifles, shotguns, I even got to shoot a black powder pistol once. My favorite was the CZ-52. Here in the Netherlands I am only allowed to shoot air pistol and air rifle at the moment. If I want to shoot anything else, I will have to apply for each group one at a time. It can take years before you are allowed to shoot all the weapons allowed in the Netherlands.
You asked if I liked skating. I used to love to go roller skating. I’ve only been ice skating once in my life and I wouldn’t really call it skating. I spent most of my time falling down and trying to get back up! I was black and blue all over after just an afternoon of trying it.
You asked if I would mind visiting Russia someday. I really hope that I will get the opportunity to do so! Urs has shared many of his pictures from his time in Russia and looks like such a wonderful place to visit. Also, how fun would it be if we could all meet each other someday!
Last, but not least, you asked what the weather is like in the Netherlands and if we get snow here. The Netherlands has a relatively mild climate most of the year. On average the temperature is somewhere between 10C and 20C. In the winter it can get below freezing for a few weeks and in the summer it can get up into the 30’s for a few weeks. It also rains here a lot. You have to love the rain and cooler weather if you want to live here. It does snow here but not every year. This year they have had a very warm winter and so there hasn’t been any snow. Last year and the year before that, they had a decent amount of snow for a few weeks. The Dutch people have told me that in years past it used to be colder during the winter and it snowed more often but that was before I moved here.
I really enjoyed listening to all of your messages! I am so happy that you all want to communicate and that your teacher Yuri gives you the opportunity to do so! Please, always feel free to ask any questions you may have, you are all always welcome!
I should go now as this message is getting very long! Take care and I look forward to your future replies!
Take care,
Megan
Sorry, I couldn’t quite fit all of the message into one recording. Here is the last little bit!
Hello Megan,
How are you doing? We are happy to be together with you. Thanks a lot for your response to us.
It is great that you have answered all our questions. We got to know many new interesting things about you, your husband, your dog Fenrir, Delf Blue and so on.
We have just finished our additional English classes. We repeated everything connected with the weather conditions. Now we are wriitting you this letter.
It is getting warmer day after day. We think that snow will melt in 2 or 3 day, and birds will fly from warm countries.
It is very pleasant to be in touch with you.
Take care,
Aza,Yanzhima, Kristina, Bayarma and Maxim