The Russian word for Black Sea is Чёрное море. In Russia, I was lucky to live very close to the Black Sea and I enjoyed going swimming with my grandparents. Because the Black Sea is isolated, it is very warm during the summer and many people enjoy swimming in it because of the comfortable water temperature. The beach is very crowded during the summer days and it is easy for parents to loose track of their children if they don’t pay close attention. I often heard my mother call out to me «Оля! Не уходи далеко» “Olya! Don’t go too far.”

My mom and my grandmother often swam far away from the shore. They swam so far that the beach was hardly visible when they turned around to go back to shore. As they swam in the open sea, many large jellyfish медузы surrounded them but surprisingly, my mom and grandmother were not afraid of them. Back on shore, I always found friends to play with and make sand castles песочные замки. Girls and boys played all around me and I came to them and said «Можно я буду строить песочный замок с вами?» “Can I build a sand castle with you?” and they gladly included me in their activities. At the end of the day, I was very tired from all the exciting activity and my family took me home. With my eyes half way shut, my mom said «Ты очень устала и теперь тебе надо отдохнуть» “You are very tired and now you need to rest”. Indeed, I always slept well after playing on the beach of the beautiful Black Sea.