Members of the Johnson Family are to be found in all corners of the earth these days it seems. Uncle Wylie (Wylie Pierson Johnson) shared the following news about his granddaughter Carrie Haddox Johnson. Carrie sent the photos above from her new home in Samara, Russia where she will be teaching English. In the first photo, Carrie stands beside pumpkins. (Notice that the pumpkins are gray. Interesting!) The young man with Carrie in the second photo is Ricky, a British teacher. They are in a tram.

Carrie Haddox Johnson, daughter of Jessica Henry and Ben Johnson went to Samara, Russia on 15 October 2010, where she will be employed as an English instructor for one year. Jessica told me the school had English instructors besides Carrie, from Ireland, England and Australia.

Samara, Russia is West of the Ural Mountains and located at the confluence of the Samara River with the Volga River. It is in eastern Russia about 550 miles East Southeast of Moscow. The Volga River flows into the Caspian Sea. Samara was called Kuibyshev from 1935 to 1990. It had a population of 500,000 in 1950. The metropolitan population of Samara, now is about 3,000,000.

Carrie taught in a French language school in New Orleans, LA after she graduated from Tulane in 2008. She is fluent in French. She has been studying Russian. She told me she boned up on speaking Russian with Amandiy, her cousin Dan Hill's wife, during the week before she left for Samara. Amandiy is fluent in Russian and earned an MD in the Saint Petersburg Pavlov State Medical University in 2001.

Carrie is the granddaughter of Wylie Pierson and Lurene Hall Johnson (Uncle Wylie and Aunt “Dolly”).

The best of luck to you, Carrie! The Samaran people are lucky to have such an experienced, well-educated teacher as you. We know you will do well. Stay warm this winter! Family members can send their love and best wishes to Carrie at carrie17h(at)gmail(dot)com.