On our last weekend before school started, Kazan was hosting World Skills 2019. If you have not heard of this event, as I had not, I will try my best to help you imagine the event. We tried to research it in advance and were perplexed as to what exactly it was. We knew that it was a global event (participants from 63 countries), that it only happens every other year (last time was in Abu Dhabi) and that it was some sort of competition for various trades like hairdressing, welding, and baking. Sounded weird and we weren’t sure what to expect, but it was free and seemed like our chances of being in the same place as the event again were slim, so we decided to check it out.

The event was housed in 12 huge halls, each about the size of a football field. The halls were built exclusively for the event. We only visited a few of the halls, as there was so much to see/do in each one. There were competitions going on that you could watch, as well as “try a skill” opportunities. We started in the area with painting and decorating where the kids got to try using a paint spray gun and a stencil to make a magnet. The challenge for the competitors was to paint a specific design on a wall and we were able to observe some of their designs in progress.

We next went to the high-tech hall and spent quite a bit of time at the drone area. The competitors built and programmed their drones and had to fly them through obstacle courses and complete different challenges. The kids got to try building a drone and flying one on a simulator. Unfortunately their operating skills weren’t up to the level required to operate the actual drone, but they were given a piece of chocolate as a consolation prize.

These were just two of the 56 different skills on display. Some were sort of strange to observe (guys sitting at computers coding, for example), but there were plenty of interesting things to see.

Good news! We have found a babysitter and she lives two floors up in our apartment and charges Russian rates ($3 per hour). We decided to hit the downtown on Saturday night with our new friend Jorge who works with Simon in the secondary school. There was a concert with a band who sang in both Russian and Tatar on a floating stage by one of the lakes that is in downtown Kazan. Then we strolled down Baumann Street to the sound of street performers. There were two different musicians- a rock violinist and keyboard player-playing the Game of Thrones theme song. We grabbed an outdoor table at a pizza shop and enjoyed the people-watching.

On Sunday, we went to buy Alden and Mila new bikes (thank you nana and poppy!) at a local sports store. They rode their new bikes home through the park that we visited on our first weekend. We discovered two new areas of the park- a bike riding play area and a high ropes course.

This past week was our first week of school, but I will wait until the next post to reflect on that. No school tomorrow due to a local holiday, so we are off to enjoy our weekend. Hope all is well with all our friends and family away from Kazan. We miss you!