Bilingual Children Travelling to Minority Language Country. Diary. DAY 3

DAY TREE

Today is on the list:  Best place for adults and kids to visit in St-Petersburg  --- When music unites the cultures  --- Birthday party - how bilingual kids feel encountering other kids speaking their minority language.

( For those of you , who are just joining in: I am travelling alone with two 3 and 5 years old kids to our family minority language home country - Russia. This is a continuation. Read about bilingual kids travel day one  and day two.

The day was beautiful we choose to spend it outside and went to see the birthplace of St-Petersburg - Peter and Paul fortress.

Remembering my childhood and how much fun I had climbing on the cannons, I brought my kids to do the same on the grounds of the fortress and on the road to our next destination - the artillery museum.

Here are the pictures I have taken inside the fortress:

Rocket at front of the Museum of Space Exploration and Rocket Technology in Peter and Paul Fortress, St Petersburg, Russia 

There are many many more interesting museums on the grounds of the fortress. Here are some of them

View on the Peter and Paul Cathedral from Fortress wall.

Russian howitzer on the ground of Peter and Paul Fortress

15 -17 century cannons near Artillery Museum

Reading reading everywhere!

This is one of the reasons why you should start teaching your children letters early. Kids try to read signs around them all the time!  See post about teaching children to read.

Ice cream break! 

This was the first one for my kids to try. There was a choice of many different shapes and tastes. I bought  for my kids the taste of my childhood. Working hard in passing on my heritage ;)

In the artillery museum we saw the famous “Katyusha” ( rocket launcher used during the WWII). My trilingual children know the Russian song by the same name very well. They also know the song of Italian partisans "Fischia il vento" with different words by Felice Cascione but with the same music by M. Blanter.

At some point my son started to sing the Italian song and Russians around had a puzzled look on the faces. Every Russian knows the Katyusha tune, but they could not figure out what words , as it seemed, a Russian boy was singing. BTW it was in the bathroom... Fun times!

Here are both songs audio and text:

Катюша ( Katyusha) Lyrics: M. Isakovsky Расцветали яблони и груши, Поплыли туманы над рекой. Выходила на берег Катюша, На высокий берег на крутой. Выходила, песню заводила Про степного сизого орла, Про того, которого любила, Про того, чьи письма берегла. Ой, ты, песня, песенка девичья, Ты лети за ясным солнцем вслед И бойцу на дальнем пограничье От Катюши передай привет. Пусть он вспомнит девушку простую, Пусть услышит, как она поет, Пусть он землю бережет родную, А любовь Катюша сбережет.

Fischia il vento Lyrics: Felice Cascione Fischia il vento, infuria la bufera, scarpe rotte eppur bisogna andar, a conquistare la rossa primavera dove sorge il sol dell’ avvenir. Ogni contrada è patria del ribelle, ogni donna a lui dona un sospir, nella notte lo guidano le stelle forte il cuore e il braccio nel colpir. Se ci coglie la crudele morte, dura vendetta verrà dal partigian; ormai sicura è già la dura sorte del fascista vile traditor. Cessa il vento, calma è la bufera, torna a casa il fiero partigian, sventolando la rossa sua bandiera; vittoriosi e alfin liberi siam.

Finally evening was approaching and we had friend's kid's birthday party to go to. When I told my daughter let’s go she said: “Мама я могу только на тебе или на такси.” “Mama, I can do it either on you or in a taxi.” I was impressed with my great walker's ability of grasping the concept of taking a Taxi considering that she has not taken any before!

More sweets to taste - Birthday cake!

During the Birthday party my kids played with others as if they were natives. Nobody could tell that Russian is their second language. I guess the fact that they speak it to each other makes all the difference in their ability to use it in a free play. (Read about Multilingual siblings language choice).
Perhaps the only thing is giving them out - they are loud as all Italians are :)

A great company of friends is what kids and adults need :) We came back home way after midnight ...

More to come soon!


Want to hear how our trip has begun? Read:

Bilingual Children Travelling to Minority Language Country - DAY ONE.

Bilingual Children Travelling to Minority Language Country - DAY TWO.


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