I love it when the kids here use online translators to translate something for an english class. Why? Because the grammer constructions are absolutely hilarous. I can always tell when someone's used an internet translator, just like I can tell when someone's taken something straight from the internet. So to enlighten you about the amusment that comes from online translators, I've decided to conduct a scientific experiement. For this experiement, I will be using the first two sentences from the book The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
Here are the first two sentences in English:
Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of air-raids.
And now, the first two sentences from the Russian version:
Жили-были на свете четверо ребят, их звали Питер, Сьюзан, Эдмунд и Люси. В этой книжке расскаэывается о том, что приключилось с ними во время войны, когда их вывезли из Лондона, чтобы они не пострадали из-за воздушных налетов.
And now, let the scientific experimenting begin. I have no idea what tranlation tool the kids here use for their english projects, but I have chosen to use FreeTranslation.com. Having that said, here's goes nothing.
Part 1: English to Russian to English
For the first part I have taken the english text above, changed it into Russian, and then back to english. The original is above. The translated Russian version is as follows:
Однажды было четыре ребенка, названиями которых был Питер, Сьюзен, Эдмунд, и Люси. Эта история - кое о чем, что случилось с ними, когда они были отосланы из Лондона в течение войны из-за воздушных налетов.
As you can see, even those of you who don't know Russian, the above translation doesn't match the translation of the official Russian version of the book. Actually the above translation is much more of a literal translation. And now, back to english:
Once there were four children which names were Peter, Susan, Эдмунд, and Lucy. This history - which about what, that happens with them when they have been sent from London during war because of air strikes.
Doesn't really match the original, though not bad. I was surprised at how well it did considering. If you'll follow me, we'll move on to part two.
Part Two: Russian to English to Russian
We will now do what we did above in part one with the Russian text.
Lived-were on light of four children, them called Peter, Susan, Эдмунд and Lucy. In this book расскаэывается that has happened to them during war when them have taken out from London that they have not suffered because of air strikes.
Even for those of you who can't read russian, I'm sure that you can still see that the translator doesn't do nearly as good of a job going from Russian to English. It has some trouble with grammar. And now, back to Russian:
Живший - были на свету четырех детей, их назвал Питера, Сьюзен?????? и Люси. В этой книге?????????????? это случилось с ними в течение войны, когда их взяли из Лондона, который они не перенесли из-за воздушных ударов.
Ha ha ha! I have no idea, this is just what the translator spit out for me.
Conclusion
Well, the conclusion I came to from doing this experiment basically confirmed my hypothesis which is that Online translators aren't really the best option out there. It's always better and preferable to do it yourself, and don't think the native speakers won't know. Some ways I could improve this experiment are by testing more than one online translater.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Keep Your Eye on the Bear
See this guy? I bet you fifty roubles that when the march elections roll around he's going to be the next President of Russia. Why do I think this? Possibly because he's the canidate running for Единая Россия.(announced yesterday.) For those of you who don't know, that's President Putin's political party. My host mom doesn't like this guy. (his name by the way is Dmitri Medvedev) She say's he's really young, hasn't really done anything. I was like "How ironic, we have a canidate like that too. Barak Obama." We had a conversation about it at dinner. Want to know what the Russians know about current american politics? They know that Hillary is going to try to run.
Anyway, the point of this post is just to tell you to keep an eye on this guy. Knowing what I know about Russian politics there's all likelyhood that you'll be hearing his name a lot more in March. If you'd like to read more about him, you could always check out good old Wiki Though there's not a whole whole ton of info in the english version.
День Самоуправления
Today was a sort of holiday type thing at school. День самоуправления. This is another one of those cool Russian "Let's take two words and combine them to make one" things. The second word comes from the words for "Self" and "Administration" (Goodness, I feel like the father from My Big Fat Greek Wedding) Anyway, in English we'd probably just call it "Be a Teacher day" or something because that's what we were doing. When I found out about it, I really wanted to participate because I realized even though I don't really know enough Russian to teach a class, I know enough English to teach an english class. So I talked to some people and they got me all set up, and today I taught two classes. Both 9th grade.
My day started out with a mad sprint to the school because I was running late. Everytime we have a late start, the time throws me and I tend to run late. Today was not a good day to be late. Fortunately, I wasn't too horribly late, and it all worked out and no one was angry or anything.
The ninth graders have been talking in their english classes about shopping and famous stores in Britain. So my job was to talk about Shopping in America. I focused on several stores. Abercrombie and Fitch, Macy's, Wal-Mart, The Mall of America, and a Giant Eagle Grocery store. I taught in a very not Russian style because I don't know how to teach Russian style. Though I did incorperate some russian things i.e. "Write this down." But I tried to get the kids to interact with me. It was very interesting.
I told the first group I had one rule (The second group I added another) But I basically have one rule and that is when I ask a question, answer it because then I know you're not sleeping and at least pretending to pay attention. My other rule is usually Don't talk while I'm talking.
Anyway, since I didn't really know what they were talking about I asked "What have you been talking about?" It took some tooth pulling but I finally got the groups to answer. The first group told me "shopping" and when I asked if in England and what stores they gave me some answers. When I asked the second group they finally answered shopping and I go "In Britain? Or what?" And this girl goes "It's on page two hundred and..." And I'm like "I don't have a book. That's why I asked." And she goes "oh." I found it rather amusing. The second group was also the one where when I asked if there were any questions after the presentation this girl goes "What are famous stores in america?" And I'm standing there thinking "Devushka, where have you been for the last twenty minutes?"
I was worried that my presentation would be too short as it was only five or six slides long, but after the introductions and speaking slowly, it was just right for the forty minute period. At the end of my presentation, I made up a slide with some little quiz questions on it, to see who was paying attention. I gave out some Ohio state quarters as prizes which the kids thought were really cool. Though I didn't bring enough. The lesson was just long enough in the sense that we didn't get through all the questions on my last slide before the bell rang. Excellent.
After my two teaching periods, I went to my classes. We only had a total of four lessons today. The last two were Physics and Astronomy. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but we were taking tests in both (Somehow I missed the memo) and as I'm always a bit fried after I do a presentation I really really didn't feel like taking the physics test. The kid who was teaching got after me, and so I pretended to work, and then stopped, and then the real teacher got after me, so I pretened to work some more. I ended up translating one question on the Physics test. When I finally understood what it said it was something like "What is the historical significance of " and then some guy's name. I had no idea who the guy was or was even aware that we'd studied them (Just because I take notes in class doesn't mean I always understand them) so I wrote something like "I have no idea who this guy is, but I imagine that his historical significance is that he did or discovered something important to physics." Then the bell rang and they took the test sheet away and so I didn't get to any other questions.
On the Astronomy test I answered two questions. One was "Why can't you find the position of planets on a star chart." Once again I had no idea so I was like "You can't find the position of planets on a star chart because planets move and also because it's a star chart, not a planet chart" heh heh heh, sometimes I love being an exchange student.
After school, Nina and I had made plans to go to the National Museum. First though we decided to hit a cafe, Margarita's. There we dined on pizza, Chai, and Tiramasu and talked. Finally, Nina was like "are we going to go to the museum?" oh. yeah. Right. So off we went. Except today is tuesday. Apparently Tuesdays are выходные days at the Museum. i.e. It's closed. So we walked across ploshad Lenina and admired the New Year's tree because it now has lights (For those of you who've looked at my flickr recently, you can see the tree, I'll be taking more pictures of the tree with the lights in the next couple of days.) then we waited for my bus at the bus stop until Nina's mom randomly showed up and offered to give me a ride home. So they dropped me off, and that was my day. Despite the rough start, I think it was a good one. I'm really enjoying myself right now! Life is awesome!
My day started out with a mad sprint to the school because I was running late. Everytime we have a late start, the time throws me and I tend to run late. Today was not a good day to be late. Fortunately, I wasn't too horribly late, and it all worked out and no one was angry or anything.
The ninth graders have been talking in their english classes about shopping and famous stores in Britain. So my job was to talk about Shopping in America. I focused on several stores. Abercrombie and Fitch, Macy's, Wal-Mart, The Mall of America, and a Giant Eagle Grocery store. I taught in a very not Russian style because I don't know how to teach Russian style. Though I did incorperate some russian things i.e. "Write this down." But I tried to get the kids to interact with me. It was very interesting.
I told the first group I had one rule (The second group I added another) But I basically have one rule and that is when I ask a question, answer it because then I know you're not sleeping and at least pretending to pay attention. My other rule is usually Don't talk while I'm talking.
Anyway, since I didn't really know what they were talking about I asked "What have you been talking about?" It took some tooth pulling but I finally got the groups to answer. The first group told me "shopping" and when I asked if in England and what stores they gave me some answers. When I asked the second group they finally answered shopping and I go "In Britain? Or what?" And this girl goes "It's on page two hundred and..." And I'm like "I don't have a book. That's why I asked." And she goes "oh." I found it rather amusing. The second group was also the one where when I asked if there were any questions after the presentation this girl goes "What are famous stores in america?" And I'm standing there thinking "Devushka, where have you been for the last twenty minutes?"
I was worried that my presentation would be too short as it was only five or six slides long, but after the introductions and speaking slowly, it was just right for the forty minute period. At the end of my presentation, I made up a slide with some little quiz questions on it, to see who was paying attention. I gave out some Ohio state quarters as prizes which the kids thought were really cool. Though I didn't bring enough. The lesson was just long enough in the sense that we didn't get through all the questions on my last slide before the bell rang. Excellent.
After my two teaching periods, I went to my classes. We only had a total of four lessons today. The last two were Physics and Astronomy. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but we were taking tests in both (Somehow I missed the memo) and as I'm always a bit fried after I do a presentation I really really didn't feel like taking the physics test. The kid who was teaching got after me, and so I pretended to work, and then stopped, and then the real teacher got after me, so I pretened to work some more. I ended up translating one question on the Physics test. When I finally understood what it said it was something like "What is the historical significance of " and then some guy's name. I had no idea who the guy was or was even aware that we'd studied them (Just because I take notes in class doesn't mean I always understand them) so I wrote something like "I have no idea who this guy is, but I imagine that his historical significance is that he did or discovered something important to physics." Then the bell rang and they took the test sheet away and so I didn't get to any other questions.
On the Astronomy test I answered two questions. One was "Why can't you find the position of planets on a star chart." Once again I had no idea so I was like "You can't find the position of planets on a star chart because planets move and also because it's a star chart, not a planet chart" heh heh heh, sometimes I love being an exchange student.
After school, Nina and I had made plans to go to the National Museum. First though we decided to hit a cafe, Margarita's. There we dined on pizza, Chai, and Tiramasu and talked. Finally, Nina was like "are we going to go to the museum?" oh. yeah. Right. So off we went. Except today is tuesday. Apparently Tuesdays are выходные days at the Museum. i.e. It's closed. So we walked across ploshad Lenina and admired the New Year's tree because it now has lights (For those of you who've looked at my flickr recently, you can see the tree, I'll be taking more pictures of the tree with the lights in the next couple of days.) then we waited for my bus at the bus stop until Nina's mom randomly showed up and offered to give me a ride home. So they dropped me off, and that was my day. Despite the rough start, I think it was a good one. I'm really enjoying myself right now! Life is awesome!
Monday, December 10, 2007
School
Yesterday's blog didn't turn out how I originally thought. Funny how that works. How my fingers just kind of follow my brain. Anyway, once again it's monday and I'm sitting in computer class not doing what we're supposed to be doing and have no idea what we're supposed to be doing because I wasn't listening. Then I decided to update because I've been meaning to do a detailed entry about what school's like so why not do it now?
Please excuse lack of capitals and occasional spaces because as always, the computer I use here has a horrible keyboard. Also please excuse that this is in no particular order, as I'm just typing as I think.
School here is different than it is back home. I mean there are some things that are the same such as some of the classes, but it's a lot different too.
For starters, how many school districts do you think are in Yakutsk? The correct answer is zero. There isn't one or two school districts were all the kids in the city go. Instead, there are a ton of smallers schools all over, and you go to one. THe highest school number I've heard of is 33 though I'm not sure that there's every single number in between.
I go to school number 8 as most of you probably already know from me mentioning. School number 8 is a gimnasium. (Prounounced with a 'g' like in the word "gum") from what I hear, a gimnasium is a school for smart people, not the smartest people because there's a separate school for them, but still fairly smart people.
I do not go to a high school. There is no such thing as "high school" here. My school holds the littlest grades, up to the last grade. There are some differences in the way grades work too.
First grade is about the same age as first graders in america. The last grade is 11. There is no twelfth grade and from what I understand there's no fourth grade either. students graduate when they are 16/17.
I change classes, but I have the same people in every class. There are three "tracks" you can choose here. One is a Math/Science track and most of your classes are like algebra, chemistry, bio, etc. The second track is a literature track where you take more Russian/literature/language classes, and the third track is the Law track and most of your classes are like History/social studies. I am in the Literature track. This means that I sit in Literature class five days a week. That's every day but tuesday.
SPeaking of which, for those of you who don't know, I go to school six days a week. monday through saturday. I am required to wear "formal" clothing to school. This means that I wear black pants, a white blouse and a black sweater though occasionally i wear my rotary jacket when my sweater is in the wash. Saturday is cool because we don't have to wear said "formals" and can wear what we want. At first I didn't like the "uniform" thing but I've gotten used to it and it's kind of nice to already know what you're going to wear for the day. plus, it makes washing clothes easier.
At first, I had to look at a schedule to figure out what classes i had each day because they changed. After a while though, the schedule became fixed and now i basically have the same classes on the same days every week.
school starts at 815 in the morning and goes until 1:10 or 2:00. It depends on the day. On Mondays, and Fridays, I have seven lessons blocks and so I get done about 2. Tuesdays and Thursdays i have 6 and I get done about 1:10. Wednesdays I go to the rotary meeting so I get out at 12:20. Saturdays I have five lessons and the time schedule is different so i get done at 12:15.
Having 7 lesson blocks doesn't mean i have seven classes. hence the reason i call it a block. an example is today. today is monday so i have 7 blocks. two blocks are computer class, two blocks are literature, one block is Algebra and the last two blocks are history. and that's how that works.
There is like no truant policy as far as I understand, and no policy that says you can only miss so many days of school. there's one girl in class who's missed like 3 weeks of school. A while back she was sick for a week. then two weeks ago she wasn't at school, she came one day and then was gone last week too. i have no idea if she's back now or not.
we occasionally have holidays at school. Russians are really big on celebrating random things. hence, the night back in october celebrating day of teacher, and tomorrow which is like 'be a teacher for a day' day.
The highest grade is a five. the lowest is a one. The class has a grade book that someone is responsible for making sure it gets to the teachers. often grades are read outloud.
Everyone in class takes turn 'being on duty' this varies from watching the halls, to erasing chalkboards, to who knows what else.
NOw I must go because i actually have an assignment I"m supposed to be doing, so I'll have to continue this later.
Please excuse lack of capitals and occasional spaces because as always, the computer I use here has a horrible keyboard. Also please excuse that this is in no particular order, as I'm just typing as I think.
School here is different than it is back home. I mean there are some things that are the same such as some of the classes, but it's a lot different too.
For starters, how many school districts do you think are in Yakutsk? The correct answer is zero. There isn't one or two school districts were all the kids in the city go. Instead, there are a ton of smallers schools all over, and you go to one. THe highest school number I've heard of is 33 though I'm not sure that there's every single number in between.
I go to school number 8 as most of you probably already know from me mentioning. School number 8 is a gimnasium. (Prounounced with a 'g' like in the word "gum") from what I hear, a gimnasium is a school for smart people, not the smartest people because there's a separate school for them, but still fairly smart people.
I do not go to a high school. There is no such thing as "high school" here. My school holds the littlest grades, up to the last grade. There are some differences in the way grades work too.
First grade is about the same age as first graders in america. The last grade is 11. There is no twelfth grade and from what I understand there's no fourth grade either. students graduate when they are 16/17.
I change classes, but I have the same people in every class. There are three "tracks" you can choose here. One is a Math/Science track and most of your classes are like algebra, chemistry, bio, etc. The second track is a literature track where you take more Russian/literature/language classes, and the third track is the Law track and most of your classes are like History/social studies. I am in the Literature track. This means that I sit in Literature class five days a week. That's every day but tuesday.
SPeaking of which, for those of you who don't know, I go to school six days a week. monday through saturday. I am required to wear "formal" clothing to school. This means that I wear black pants, a white blouse and a black sweater though occasionally i wear my rotary jacket when my sweater is in the wash. Saturday is cool because we don't have to wear said "formals" and can wear what we want. At first I didn't like the "uniform" thing but I've gotten used to it and it's kind of nice to already know what you're going to wear for the day. plus, it makes washing clothes easier.
At first, I had to look at a schedule to figure out what classes i had each day because they changed. After a while though, the schedule became fixed and now i basically have the same classes on the same days every week.
school starts at 815 in the morning and goes until 1:10 or 2:00. It depends on the day. On Mondays, and Fridays, I have seven lessons blocks and so I get done about 2. Tuesdays and Thursdays i have 6 and I get done about 1:10. Wednesdays I go to the rotary meeting so I get out at 12:20. Saturdays I have five lessons and the time schedule is different so i get done at 12:15.
Having 7 lesson blocks doesn't mean i have seven classes. hence the reason i call it a block. an example is today. today is monday so i have 7 blocks. two blocks are computer class, two blocks are literature, one block is Algebra and the last two blocks are history. and that's how that works.
There is like no truant policy as far as I understand, and no policy that says you can only miss so many days of school. there's one girl in class who's missed like 3 weeks of school. A while back she was sick for a week. then two weeks ago she wasn't at school, she came one day and then was gone last week too. i have no idea if she's back now or not.
we occasionally have holidays at school. Russians are really big on celebrating random things. hence, the night back in october celebrating day of teacher, and tomorrow which is like 'be a teacher for a day' day.
The highest grade is a five. the lowest is a one. The class has a grade book that someone is responsible for making sure it gets to the teachers. often grades are read outloud.
Everyone in class takes turn 'being on duty' this varies from watching the halls, to erasing chalkboards, to who knows what else.
NOw I must go because i actually have an assignment I"m supposed to be doing, so I'll have to continue this later.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Lackadazical
Actually, it's not that I'm lackadazical, it's just that the past few days I honestly haven't felt like getting on the computer. So I haven't. So maybe that makes me lackadazical. I don't know. It's not that I don't care about what's going on at home, it's just that lately I've been feeling rather what I call "abstract" about stuff. Like Home. i.e. The people and the building back home in the states is there, but in an "abstract" way.
Ooh, just a random thought, but you know that guy with the cat in the box? Schrodinger? Maybe? And it's like while the box is closed up the cat doesn't exist because it can't be seen? My question is since I can't see the people back home does it mean that they don't exist? But they e-mail me so what does that prove? And what's more since they can't see me does that mean that I don't exisit either? Then why am I sitting here in Russia typing this?
Okay, enough philosophy, back to the entry. Maybe the best way to describe these feelings is sort of a lack of emotion. Apathy? no, that's "I don't Care" there's a word for it, but I forget what it is. I've been noticing that about other stuff too. It's like I'm not happy, and not sad, I just am.
Another example is the holidays. They're coming up. In America I guess that there's like two weeks until christmas. I'm not excited about Christmas because it's not a major holiday here. New Year's is. Yet, I'm not really excited about New Year's either. It's just like, I am.
The good news is that I've discovered that I really do enjoy my time here. Remember how I mentioned the deportation thing in my last blog entry? I mentioned it because we went to finish getting me registered in the city and the guy told us I had the wrong kind of visa, that mine was only good for three months and I was going to have to leave in two days. When he said that, I was ready to dig my feet in and start fighting. Because doggone it, my departure date is July 11th and I'm not leaving a moment before. The Rotary club here has been amazing with helping me get that straightened out, and so it turns out there's nothing to worry about.
SO yeah, I'm more content here, My language is going well. I even had a dream worth remembering in Russian. That was pretty exciting! I'd been talking with Raisa about speaking up during class and then that night I had a dream. In it we were having history in our english room (Which we sometimes do) only my english teacher was teaching it. And my deskmate asked me if there were questions I had about what we were going over, so I raised my hands and asked questions. The funniest thing was that in my dream, my russian was as broken and ungrammatically correct as it was in real life. Heh heh heh.
What else can I report? Well, I'm pretty sure I'm going on the trip to China. I found out that it's technically not a rotary trip, but the woman who's running it is the rotary youth exchange coordinator for our district. The only thing is that I have to ask her a question about Muti-entry visas.
My question of the day is why in English can't we combine words to make new ones? it's really frustrating. Like in Russian the word госплан which we were talking about in history class. I'd never heard/seen that word before but knew immediately that it was state-plan. See? there's like no good translation for it. It's a combination of the word for "state" and the word for "plan" or I was reading the newspaper the other day, and in a political cartoon the guy said something about "многопартиность" (I don't remember the exact word) once again, I'd never seen the word before but I took the parts and came to the conclusion that it was "Many parties" or something like that. Again, it doesn't translate well.
Speaking of the newspaper, I know that news on TV here and the TV channels in general are basically state run, but I'm not sure about the newspapers. When I was reading the paper yesterday there were several articles that seemed to be criticizing Putin. The political cartoon had a man asking a shadowy figure "What happend to 'multi-parties' " and the shadowy figure replying that "it drowned" (Or maybe didn't succeed as the verb means both) and the title of another article was "Not 'state' duma" (It's hard to convey the tone in english) so I think that maybe there's still some freedom of the press here.
I read a newspaper article once about how putin said that in the news, the United States should be portrayed as an enemy. So since I've been here, I've been trying to see if that's the truth. Honestly, I have no idea. I will say that most of the times they report on the United states, it's in a not very good light, but then doesn't the news always report on the bad things? They did have a news story on the Christmas tree that was going to be put up in Rockefeller center so isn't that a positive thing?
I don't know it seems to me like I'm trying to find truth when there is none. I mean if you think about in America don't we do what Russia's doing in our own way? I mean everytime we learn about Russia in history class, it's always in a negative light. That doesn't mean I'm excusing Stalin, but how many schoolkids in America think that all russians are communists? And most of the news articles you read about Russia in the newspaper are negative too.
It doesn't mean that I'm all in love with the Motherland. It doesn't mean that I'm un-american. I don't think the Russians are right about everything either. I'm just an observer of this world, wondering how do you define truth, when it seems like there is more than definition?
Ooh, just a random thought, but you know that guy with the cat in the box? Schrodinger? Maybe? And it's like while the box is closed up the cat doesn't exist because it can't be seen? My question is since I can't see the people back home does it mean that they don't exist? But they e-mail me so what does that prove? And what's more since they can't see me does that mean that I don't exisit either? Then why am I sitting here in Russia typing this?
Okay, enough philosophy, back to the entry. Maybe the best way to describe these feelings is sort of a lack of emotion. Apathy? no, that's "I don't Care" there's a word for it, but I forget what it is. I've been noticing that about other stuff too. It's like I'm not happy, and not sad, I just am.
Another example is the holidays. They're coming up. In America I guess that there's like two weeks until christmas. I'm not excited about Christmas because it's not a major holiday here. New Year's is. Yet, I'm not really excited about New Year's either. It's just like, I am.
The good news is that I've discovered that I really do enjoy my time here. Remember how I mentioned the deportation thing in my last blog entry? I mentioned it because we went to finish getting me registered in the city and the guy told us I had the wrong kind of visa, that mine was only good for three months and I was going to have to leave in two days. When he said that, I was ready to dig my feet in and start fighting. Because doggone it, my departure date is July 11th and I'm not leaving a moment before. The Rotary club here has been amazing with helping me get that straightened out, and so it turns out there's nothing to worry about.
SO yeah, I'm more content here, My language is going well. I even had a dream worth remembering in Russian. That was pretty exciting! I'd been talking with Raisa about speaking up during class and then that night I had a dream. In it we were having history in our english room (Which we sometimes do) only my english teacher was teaching it. And my deskmate asked me if there were questions I had about what we were going over, so I raised my hands and asked questions. The funniest thing was that in my dream, my russian was as broken and ungrammatically correct as it was in real life. Heh heh heh.
What else can I report? Well, I'm pretty sure I'm going on the trip to China. I found out that it's technically not a rotary trip, but the woman who's running it is the rotary youth exchange coordinator for our district. The only thing is that I have to ask her a question about Muti-entry visas.
My question of the day is why in English can't we combine words to make new ones? it's really frustrating. Like in Russian the word госплан which we were talking about in history class. I'd never heard/seen that word before but knew immediately that it was state-plan. See? there's like no good translation for it. It's a combination of the word for "state" and the word for "plan" or I was reading the newspaper the other day, and in a political cartoon the guy said something about "многопартиность" (I don't remember the exact word) once again, I'd never seen the word before but I took the parts and came to the conclusion that it was "Many parties" or something like that. Again, it doesn't translate well.
Speaking of the newspaper, I know that news on TV here and the TV channels in general are basically state run, but I'm not sure about the newspapers. When I was reading the paper yesterday there were several articles that seemed to be criticizing Putin. The political cartoon had a man asking a shadowy figure "What happend to 'multi-parties' " and the shadowy figure replying that "it drowned" (Or maybe didn't succeed as the verb means both) and the title of another article was "Not 'state' duma" (It's hard to convey the tone in english) so I think that maybe there's still some freedom of the press here.
I read a newspaper article once about how putin said that in the news, the United States should be portrayed as an enemy. So since I've been here, I've been trying to see if that's the truth. Honestly, I have no idea. I will say that most of the times they report on the United states, it's in a not very good light, but then doesn't the news always report on the bad things? They did have a news story on the Christmas tree that was going to be put up in Rockefeller center so isn't that a positive thing?
I don't know it seems to me like I'm trying to find truth when there is none. I mean if you think about in America don't we do what Russia's doing in our own way? I mean everytime we learn about Russia in history class, it's always in a negative light. That doesn't mean I'm excusing Stalin, but how many schoolkids in America think that all russians are communists? And most of the news articles you read about Russia in the newspaper are negative too.
It doesn't mean that I'm all in love with the Motherland. It doesn't mean that I'm un-american. I don't think the Russians are right about everything either. I'm just an observer of this world, wondering how do you define truth, when it seems like there is more than definition?
Monday, December 03, 2007
To All Potential Outbounds, exchange students
Dear Potential Outbounds,
I am writing this letter to any of you who may happen to stumble upon, or regularly read this blog, because I know that the time is coming soon (if it hasn't already) for you to pick your top countries. The country where you will spend ten months of your life.
As you may or may not know, I have chosen to spend ten and a half months in the country of Russia. At the risk of sounding negative and rude, I do not encourage all exchange students to apply for Russia. Yet I have a good reason for this.
Being a future exchange student, you probably realize that exchange students are a rare breed of people. They are ready for anything and they like a challenge. They want to meet new people, learn new things, and learn more about themselves and the world around them.
Yet I do not encourage all exchange students to apply for Russia because spending a year in Russia is not for the faint of heart. It is for the rarest of the rare. i.e. it is for the exchange student who wants to go above and beyond the above and beyond. An exchange to Russia is not your grandma's exchange. If you're looking for a year of parties and good times, then you should pick Brazil or Spain, if you're looking for a quick language learn, then you want Chile or Belgium. If you want to meet a lot of other exchange students then go for Germany or Taiwan.
For those of you considering Russia, this letter is not meant to scare you off, I just want to let you know what you're getting yourself into. Russia has a unique set of exchange challenges not to be found in any other country. This includes Good, old Russian Bureaucracy (Read: occasionally not being allowed into libraries, having the threat of deportation over your head, filling out eight copies of official papers by hand, that sort of thing) A difficult language (read: six cases, and about a thousand verbs of going), and icy cold winters (Layers are not an option. Neither are thick coats and fur hats) just to name a few.
For those of you, who are still considering Russia, good for you, you've probably got what it takes. It's a hard country, that's no lie, but Like many extra difficult things, When you come out of it, the learning and growing you have done will be worth it.
I hope this letter has given you a bit of insight before making your choice. Whichever country you decide to choose, I wish you luck in your year abroad.
Sincerely,
Abigail
Yakutsk, Russia
December 2007
I am writing this letter to any of you who may happen to stumble upon, or regularly read this blog, because I know that the time is coming soon (if it hasn't already) for you to pick your top countries. The country where you will spend ten months of your life.
As you may or may not know, I have chosen to spend ten and a half months in the country of Russia. At the risk of sounding negative and rude, I do not encourage all exchange students to apply for Russia. Yet I have a good reason for this.
Being a future exchange student, you probably realize that exchange students are a rare breed of people. They are ready for anything and they like a challenge. They want to meet new people, learn new things, and learn more about themselves and the world around them.
Yet I do not encourage all exchange students to apply for Russia because spending a year in Russia is not for the faint of heart. It is for the rarest of the rare. i.e. it is for the exchange student who wants to go above and beyond the above and beyond. An exchange to Russia is not your grandma's exchange. If you're looking for a year of parties and good times, then you should pick Brazil or Spain, if you're looking for a quick language learn, then you want Chile or Belgium. If you want to meet a lot of other exchange students then go for Germany or Taiwan.
For those of you considering Russia, this letter is not meant to scare you off, I just want to let you know what you're getting yourself into. Russia has a unique set of exchange challenges not to be found in any other country. This includes Good, old Russian Bureaucracy (Read: occasionally not being allowed into libraries, having the threat of deportation over your head, filling out eight copies of official papers by hand, that sort of thing) A difficult language (read: six cases, and about a thousand verbs of going), and icy cold winters (Layers are not an option. Neither are thick coats and fur hats) just to name a few.
For those of you, who are still considering Russia, good for you, you've probably got what it takes. It's a hard country, that's no lie, but Like many extra difficult things, When you come out of it, the learning and growing you have done will be worth it.
I hope this letter has given you a bit of insight before making your choice. Whichever country you decide to choose, I wish you luck in your year abroad.
Sincerely,
Abigail
Yakutsk, Russia
December 2007
Sunday, December 02, 2007
No Hanging Chads: Experiencing the Russian Vote
Today was December second. Do you know what december second is? If you said the second day of my fourth month here, then good job, but that's not the answer I was looking for. The correct answer is today was voting day. How do I know this? Mostly because for the last few weeks the TV has been advertising two things. 1. The new season of TV shows starting, and 2. that December second is voting day 2007.
I had said something to Raisa about a week ago about going with her to vote. I didn't get to go with her, but her sister, Lena, was working the polls today and so basically, Raisa made a phone call and I went and sat and watched people for a couple of hours. I know, you're probably thinking a couple of hours, are you nuts? But as an exchanger, and a not very social one sometimes, a couple of hours was no biggie. Besides, it's not like I had anywhere else to be and a couple of hours gave me the chance to really see how things worked. So that I can know make a detailed report to all of you.
Voting over here is one thing I was particularly interested in. Probably because I have this thing about voting. It's like a really big deal to me. Probably because I've been going to the polls with my parents and watched them vote since I was like five and every time, they'd tell me (Especially dad) how voting is an important right granted to us under the U.S. constituion and it's important that we exercise that right. I will never forget when I got to vote in my first election. That was exciting stuff!
Anyway, enough reminicing, let me tell you how it works here. (Mom, I even made notes while I was watching so I wouldn't forget anything)
I went and sat at school number 33 which is the school located in my neighborhood, 202 mikrorayon. (That's dvesti ftoroi, not two hundred and two :) ) The first thing I notcied is that you vote based on your korpus. For those of you who don't know, the korpus is the apartment building you live in. So rather than having a big spread out area that's like "district one" they have signs up that say "Korpus 17" and such.
When you first arrive, you find where your korpus is located and you stand in line. When it's your turn you show your passport (A passport here not only allows Russians to move from country to country, but also serves as their main form of ID within the city/country) The workers look at your passport and then write your name down on a list. They do not have a book with the names already written down in Alphabetical order like we do in the states, they just write your name down as you come in. After they write your name down, you sign by it, just like in America. They then give you your ballot and you're ready to go.
They do not vote electronically here. I think in some places they are just starting too as there was something about electronic voting machines on the news tonight, but here they use a paper ballot. And when I say paper ballot, I mean paper. This is not like our old ballot system with the punch cards. Basically you go into a curtained little voting both, take a little pen and check off the issuses. There is one box for each issue. I imagine that if you check the box you vote yes, and to leave it blank means no.
When you have finished your vote, you leave the booth, fold your paper up and drop it into a slot in a big huge box. After that I have no idea what happens to the ballots. In Russia, as in America, the voting age is 18. If you are a first time voter, when you've completed your vote, you go to a special table and say "I'm a first time voter." You then get a special little pin that says "First time voter" in Russian, and a little present in the form of a little address book, or calender. They tell you "Congratulations, the next vote is March 2nd"
One interesting thing is for each little voting section, there is a group of people sitting kind of off to the side. I asked Lena why, and she said that they are there to make sure that the vote is done right. Hmm...interesting.
I also found out that in Russia, the law says you have to vote. I'm not sure if I agree with making this a law. I vote in America because I have the right to choose to vote or not, and since I have the option of having a voice in my country, I chose to use my voice and I vote and I feel special because I feel like I've made a difference in my country. I don't know, making people vote just seems. Not backwards really, but it seems like making people vote defeats the purpose of being able to vote in the first place.
But then you don't have a small percent of the people making the majority of the decisions either. I guess I can see both sides to it, but prefer the fact that in America there is no law forcing me to vote.
Oh, incidentally, today's vote was for the State Duma, which is kind of like a parliament/congress thing. You can read more about it on Wiki. Also, the people elected a new Mayor of Yakutsk today.
Oh and for those of you who don't know a lot about Russia and still think they're all communists, yes, there is a communist party, but there are other parties too.
Actually, one interesting thing about communism that I've noticed. In America when we learn about the cold war era, and we talk about Communism, there are always these jokes and stuff about it. The Russian kids make the same kind of jokes that american kids do when they learn about the Cold war/Communist era. Just thought you'd all find that interesting.
So I think that about covers it. If there are any questions, let me know.
I had said something to Raisa about a week ago about going with her to vote. I didn't get to go with her, but her sister, Lena, was working the polls today and so basically, Raisa made a phone call and I went and sat and watched people for a couple of hours. I know, you're probably thinking a couple of hours, are you nuts? But as an exchanger, and a not very social one sometimes, a couple of hours was no biggie. Besides, it's not like I had anywhere else to be and a couple of hours gave me the chance to really see how things worked. So that I can know make a detailed report to all of you.
Voting over here is one thing I was particularly interested in. Probably because I have this thing about voting. It's like a really big deal to me. Probably because I've been going to the polls with my parents and watched them vote since I was like five and every time, they'd tell me (Especially dad) how voting is an important right granted to us under the U.S. constituion and it's important that we exercise that right. I will never forget when I got to vote in my first election. That was exciting stuff!
Anyway, enough reminicing, let me tell you how it works here. (Mom, I even made notes while I was watching so I wouldn't forget anything)
I went and sat at school number 33 which is the school located in my neighborhood, 202 mikrorayon. (That's dvesti ftoroi, not two hundred and two :) ) The first thing I notcied is that you vote based on your korpus. For those of you who don't know, the korpus is the apartment building you live in. So rather than having a big spread out area that's like "district one" they have signs up that say "Korpus 17" and such.
When you first arrive, you find where your korpus is located and you stand in line. When it's your turn you show your passport (A passport here not only allows Russians to move from country to country, but also serves as their main form of ID within the city/country) The workers look at your passport and then write your name down on a list. They do not have a book with the names already written down in Alphabetical order like we do in the states, they just write your name down as you come in. After they write your name down, you sign by it, just like in America. They then give you your ballot and you're ready to go.
They do not vote electronically here. I think in some places they are just starting too as there was something about electronic voting machines on the news tonight, but here they use a paper ballot. And when I say paper ballot, I mean paper. This is not like our old ballot system with the punch cards. Basically you go into a curtained little voting both, take a little pen and check off the issuses. There is one box for each issue. I imagine that if you check the box you vote yes, and to leave it blank means no.
When you have finished your vote, you leave the booth, fold your paper up and drop it into a slot in a big huge box. After that I have no idea what happens to the ballots. In Russia, as in America, the voting age is 18. If you are a first time voter, when you've completed your vote, you go to a special table and say "I'm a first time voter." You then get a special little pin that says "First time voter" in Russian, and a little present in the form of a little address book, or calender. They tell you "Congratulations, the next vote is March 2nd"
One interesting thing is for each little voting section, there is a group of people sitting kind of off to the side. I asked Lena why, and she said that they are there to make sure that the vote is done right. Hmm...interesting.
I also found out that in Russia, the law says you have to vote. I'm not sure if I agree with making this a law. I vote in America because I have the right to choose to vote or not, and since I have the option of having a voice in my country, I chose to use my voice and I vote and I feel special because I feel like I've made a difference in my country. I don't know, making people vote just seems. Not backwards really, but it seems like making people vote defeats the purpose of being able to vote in the first place.
But then you don't have a small percent of the people making the majority of the decisions either. I guess I can see both sides to it, but prefer the fact that in America there is no law forcing me to vote.
Oh, incidentally, today's vote was for the State Duma, which is kind of like a parliament/congress thing. You can read more about it on Wiki. Also, the people elected a new Mayor of Yakutsk today.
Oh and for those of you who don't know a lot about Russia and still think they're all communists, yes, there is a communist party, but there are other parties too.
Actually, one interesting thing about communism that I've noticed. In America when we learn about the cold war era, and we talk about Communism, there are always these jokes and stuff about it. The Russian kids make the same kind of jokes that american kids do when they learn about the Cold war/Communist era. Just thought you'd all find that interesting.
So I think that about covers it. If there are any questions, let me know.
Friday, November 30, 2007
The Haircut: Another First-Person Narrative in the Third Person
She was terrified, and that was putting it into simple terms. From the moment her friend had told her "Sorry, I can't come with you" Her day had been shot and the terror had clutched at her stomach, not letting go for anything. Her heart had begun to pound at the slightest thought of what she was going to have to do. Completely on her own. Sure, her friend had told her what to say, even shown her where to go, but she was still terrified. At least she'd been able to expresses that thought in her host country's languge.
"I'm scared," she had said, and then tried to worm her way out of it. She was short on money, couldn't they reschedule? Alas, no. The appointment had been made a week ago, and couldn't be backed out of. And so she tried to deal with it, tried to tell herself that "vso budet horosho, everything's gonna be all right"
She was telling herself that now even as she was praying that the bus ride would last forever. Normally, when she rode the bus it was a pleasant ride, one that took quite a while. Not today. She'd heard stories of convicts taking that "last long walk" She had a feeling though that it wasn't nearly as long as people were lead to believe.
Even as these thoughts were going through her head, the bus pulled up to her stop, and she found her feet hitting the snow-covered pavement. Oh she really didn't want to do this, but at the same time was resigned to it. She needed to use her still budding language skills. But what if they didn't understand? What if something went wrong? She didn't have anyone to step in and make it all okay. She had to rely completely on herself.
She started the short walk to her destination, noticing as she went that there were New Year's lights on several buildings, shining beautifully in the darkness. She noticed them, but in an abstract way, her mind was still rather pre-occupied.
She glanced at her cell. 20 after four. She was going to be there early. Crud. Yet she also knew there was no way she would've been able to sit in that apartment another ten minutes. She'd kept getting more and more nervous the closer 4 o'clock came. No chance she would've been able to sit any longer.
She was halfway there, when her nose went numb. She put a hand over that part of her face and wondered for a moment whether or not it hearalded some forthcoming doom, because surely when your nose goes numb it's not a good thing.
Just as she feared, she arrived early. 4:30 on the dot. She went inside the building and debated for a moment on what to do, She spent the moments of indicision staring into a glass case filled with really expensive shampoo. She then gritted her teeth, and her resolve and turned toward the woman behind the counter.
"Did you want something?" The woman asked. Before she could loose her resolve, she blurted out, "no, but I have an appointment at 5"
"And the name?"
She gave the name and the woman behind the counter's countenance softened. "Alright, follow me please"
She swallowed down the lump of fear in her throat and did as the woman said. The worst was over now, right?
vso budet horosho...
"I'm scared," she had said, and then tried to worm her way out of it. She was short on money, couldn't they reschedule? Alas, no. The appointment had been made a week ago, and couldn't be backed out of. And so she tried to deal with it, tried to tell herself that "vso budet horosho, everything's gonna be all right"
She was telling herself that now even as she was praying that the bus ride would last forever. Normally, when she rode the bus it was a pleasant ride, one that took quite a while. Not today. She'd heard stories of convicts taking that "last long walk" She had a feeling though that it wasn't nearly as long as people were lead to believe.
Even as these thoughts were going through her head, the bus pulled up to her stop, and she found her feet hitting the snow-covered pavement. Oh she really didn't want to do this, but at the same time was resigned to it. She needed to use her still budding language skills. But what if they didn't understand? What if something went wrong? She didn't have anyone to step in and make it all okay. She had to rely completely on herself.
She started the short walk to her destination, noticing as she went that there were New Year's lights on several buildings, shining beautifully in the darkness. She noticed them, but in an abstract way, her mind was still rather pre-occupied.
She glanced at her cell. 20 after four. She was going to be there early. Crud. Yet she also knew there was no way she would've been able to sit in that apartment another ten minutes. She'd kept getting more and more nervous the closer 4 o'clock came. No chance she would've been able to sit any longer.
She was halfway there, when her nose went numb. She put a hand over that part of her face and wondered for a moment whether or not it hearalded some forthcoming doom, because surely when your nose goes numb it's not a good thing.
Just as she feared, she arrived early. 4:30 on the dot. She went inside the building and debated for a moment on what to do, She spent the moments of indicision staring into a glass case filled with really expensive shampoo. She then gritted her teeth, and her resolve and turned toward the woman behind the counter.
"Did you want something?" The woman asked. Before she could loose her resolve, she blurted out, "no, but I have an appointment at 5"
"And the name?"
She gave the name and the woman behind the counter's countenance softened. "Alright, follow me please"
She swallowed down the lump of fear in her throat and did as the woman said. The worst was over now, right?
vso budet horosho...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Busy
yes, you read that right. I'm actually slightly stressed because of the things I have to do here, and you know what, it's kind of a good feeling.
With that said, I don't know how much I'll be updating the blog for a bit. I've got some college scholarship stuff to do, as well as my usual lessons and things, plus I have some other meetings and what not. On top of that, I just haven't really felt like updating my blog and so I thought I would tell you all so you don't waste time always checking. No, I'm not stopping the blog, I may post about the same, or I may not post at all for a couple of weeks, it's just I keep a paper journal too, and like I said, I haven't really felt like updating this a whole ton recently, so if I disappear for a bit, have no worries, I haven't been eaten by a reindeer, I'm just busy.
The dean of the Foreign language department at the Teaching College asked me to teach an English class once a week, I was like "I'd like too, but I'm not sure if I have time" So that's cool.
I'm still trying to work out if I can pull off this trip to china.
Other than that, nothing really exciting here except that the biggest holiday of the year, New year's is coming up so everyone seems to be excited about that.
With that said, I don't know how much I'll be updating the blog for a bit. I've got some college scholarship stuff to do, as well as my usual lessons and things, plus I have some other meetings and what not. On top of that, I just haven't really felt like updating my blog and so I thought I would tell you all so you don't waste time always checking. No, I'm not stopping the blog, I may post about the same, or I may not post at all for a couple of weeks, it's just I keep a paper journal too, and like I said, I haven't really felt like updating this a whole ton recently, so if I disappear for a bit, have no worries, I haven't been eaten by a reindeer, I'm just busy.
The dean of the Foreign language department at the Teaching College asked me to teach an English class once a week, I was like "I'd like too, but I'm not sure if I have time" So that's cool.
I'm still trying to work out if I can pull off this trip to china.
Other than that, nothing really exciting here except that the biggest holiday of the year, New year's is coming up so everyone seems to be excited about that.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thanksgiving and the Aftermath
So, we had Thanksgiving. I had some friends over. Nina, Vika, Natasha K. and Irina, one of the teachers whose classes I've spoken too. We were going to have chicken but Nina brought a turkey her mom had made special for us, which was uber nice and very tasty. Everyone came at six and we ate, and talked and so on and so forth until Irina suddenly looked at her watch and it was 9:30 already! It was an awesome awesome time and we even had a ton of leftovers like we would've at home.
I was scheduled to call the family on Friday morning my time. Thursday night I was like a little kid at christmas, had trouble falling asleep, and woke up several times during the night to check the time and make sure I hadn't overslept.
I called, and briefly talked to everyone, which was spiffy. I cried on the phone because it was so good to hear everyone's voice. The strange thing was when I got off the phone I was still crying a bit and then I had the oddest thought. I realized that I didn't really miss them. I mean, I do miss my family, but it was like the feeling of missing them that I've been carrying around for almost three months was gone and the absence of it was startling. Perhaps I've gotten over the worst of the homesickness.
The next day, I skipped school. I went to talk to another one of Kunai's classes and by the time I got done, school had let out for the day because they'd had an open literature lesson. After I finished at the university I went home, hung out and then went a little after two to the Akademia to meet my new Russian tutor. Anna Nicholaevna, my old tutor is writing her Doctorate paper and can no longer Tutor me. My new tutor is named Lena.
In the evening, I was scheduled to go back to the university because they were having a competition between the english students in the different departments. I was on the jury. Basically, there were ten skits we had to watch and judge. Some were better than others. The unanimus descision was that the students from the med institue were the winners.
Today, I went with Irina to a village about two hours away from the city. It's called Nentsi. I was scheduled to speak to a group of high schoolers. The presentation went well, and I had a good time, I enjoyed the trip, but I was really tired afterwards.
Lately I've found myself getting more irritable about stuff and I don't know why. There's little things here that bother me sometimes, I suppose it's all just part of the exchange and I have to deal with it.
Probably the most exciting thing of all that I found out about is a trip the Inbounds can go on in December. To China. How cool would that be? I'm really hoping I'll be able to go!
Oh by the way, I've updated my pictures with some stuff from Vika's birthday party, Thanksgiving, today, and some random pics of the city. Enjoy!
I was scheduled to call the family on Friday morning my time. Thursday night I was like a little kid at christmas, had trouble falling asleep, and woke up several times during the night to check the time and make sure I hadn't overslept.
I called, and briefly talked to everyone, which was spiffy. I cried on the phone because it was so good to hear everyone's voice. The strange thing was when I got off the phone I was still crying a bit and then I had the oddest thought. I realized that I didn't really miss them. I mean, I do miss my family, but it was like the feeling of missing them that I've been carrying around for almost three months was gone and the absence of it was startling. Perhaps I've gotten over the worst of the homesickness.
The next day, I skipped school. I went to talk to another one of Kunai's classes and by the time I got done, school had let out for the day because they'd had an open literature lesson. After I finished at the university I went home, hung out and then went a little after two to the Akademia to meet my new Russian tutor. Anna Nicholaevna, my old tutor is writing her Doctorate paper and can no longer Tutor me. My new tutor is named Lena.
In the evening, I was scheduled to go back to the university because they were having a competition between the english students in the different departments. I was on the jury. Basically, there were ten skits we had to watch and judge. Some were better than others. The unanimus descision was that the students from the med institue were the winners.
Today, I went with Irina to a village about two hours away from the city. It's called Nentsi. I was scheduled to speak to a group of high schoolers. The presentation went well, and I had a good time, I enjoyed the trip, but I was really tired afterwards.
Lately I've found myself getting more irritable about stuff and I don't know why. There's little things here that bother me sometimes, I suppose it's all just part of the exchange and I have to deal with it.
Probably the most exciting thing of all that I found out about is a trip the Inbounds can go on in December. To China. How cool would that be? I'm really hoping I'll be able to go!
Oh by the way, I've updated my pictures with some stuff from Vika's birthday party, Thanksgiving, today, and some random pics of the city. Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
A Title, A title, my Kingdom for a Title...
Okay, I'm trying not to be cynical or sarcastic, so don't take this the wrong way. But it just cracks me up every time I read about exchange students being excited about snow in their host countries. I've seen posts about snow on several of the numerous blogs I follow, when I get a chance. It makes me laugh because if you all remember we had our first snow here on October 3rd. I guess because snow is so much a part of the landscape here, I don't thinking of it as a novelty anymore.
Speaking of Snow, I forgot to mention that we got my oonti. Oonti are boots with thick soles (I had to get used to them being heavier than my other boots). And fur, and they're about the coolest thing ever. I have a picture of them that I'll have to post. Anyway, we got them made special because of my larger shoe size. The company is called Sakhabult and they specialize in all things fur. If the thought of helpless little animals being slaughtered to make coats, hats, gloves, and boots bothers you, then don't come to Russia. And when it gets cold wherever you are in the world, just remember that where I am it's colder and the slaughter of those animals is keeping me from losing toes.
Okay, now to turn off the sarcast-o-meter. It's just that I really don't want to be on the computer right now. I'm being entirely seriously. I'd much rather be sitting with the little kid in the next room, pretending to read my history while actually watching treasure planet. heh. But I am "Abigail the technical guru" and so I'm here at the computer.
Last October when I finally got my Rotary application turned in, I was so happy because I thought that I would never ever have to fill out another Rotary application again. Unfortunately my "Techno-guru" title has me filling out another one. Don't worry, I'm not filling it completely out from scratch, see next year's potential outbound did the application but did it by hand. We told her where the website to download the application was but when she downloaded it, it didn't work. My guess is because she doesn't have Acrobat Reader on her computer. This means that Abigail got stuck with the job of typing up a rotary applicaiton. And you all know that's exactly how I wanted to spend my evening.
Actually, I'm complaining, but it's not that bad. Raisa is a good host mom, and does a lot for me, so I don't mind doing favors for her, or the Rotary club. However, this is just kind of irritating. I'll get over it, besides it's not like I had anything else planned for the evening anyway, just reading for history, and practicing the khomus, and maybe drawing a bit, or reading my book, or writing.
As you can probably guess I'm procrastinating the filling out of the applicaton by writing a blog entry instead.
Now, on to the good news.
Yesterday we had Obshest. This class is like social studies. The kids learn about the laws and rights they have, that sort of thing. Anyway, we were talking about conflict. We had to work in pairs and make a drawing showing what conflict is, and then we had to list ways to avoid, or resolve it. I worked with my friend Nina. My job was to do the drawing, and to explain what conflict is. Know what? I did it, I got up infront of the class and explained conflict in fairly uncomplicated terms and I DID IT IN RUSSIAN!!! ha ha ha! Do you know how hard it is for me to get up and speak in front of people in Russian? I'm perfectly comfortable, and I love doing it in English, but it's hard for me to do in Russian. But I did it! I was very proud of myself.
I've decided that I love Russian. There's just some cool things about it. Yeah, the prefixes can be frustrating, but those prefixes combined with base words create new words, and it's just fascinating. One of my favorite words right now is полюбить. It's just a really cool word.
любить is the verb "to love" but when you add the prefix по the word becomes the verb "To grow accustomed to, to grow fond of, to fall in love with" How cool is that that you just add a prefix and have one word mean that. In some ways it's very convenient. And just plain cool. Another cool word is международный. I kept hearing it, but didn't quite know what it meant. I knew it meant "Between-peoples" между=between and народа is a word for People, and then today in English class of all places I found out it meant "International" and I'm like, duh! because it makes sense. Russian just does that. The words make sense. Obviously, but you know what I mean.
Raisa just got a call from the potential outbound. Apparently she figured out that you need to download Acrobat, and did it herself. Raisa told me to go ahead and finish filling this one out here so that they have an example. Urgh, but at least I don't feel bad about doing it now, yay for the potential outbound doing it herself!
Have I ever mentioned that the printer speaks German. Or maybe it's swedish or dutch. I really have no idea, but I find it odd and rather amusing.
Well, I've run out of things to say really, Just wanted to let you all know that life is moving along. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving. I think I'm going too. Ooh that reminds me, I need to make a quiz for tomorrow's celebration. It should be a good time, I'm looking forward to it.
The printer just talked again. Definitely not German, definitely something Scandinavian.
Speaking of Snow, I forgot to mention that we got my oonti. Oonti are boots with thick soles (I had to get used to them being heavier than my other boots). And fur, and they're about the coolest thing ever. I have a picture of them that I'll have to post. Anyway, we got them made special because of my larger shoe size. The company is called Sakhabult and they specialize in all things fur. If the thought of helpless little animals being slaughtered to make coats, hats, gloves, and boots bothers you, then don't come to Russia. And when it gets cold wherever you are in the world, just remember that where I am it's colder and the slaughter of those animals is keeping me from losing toes.
Okay, now to turn off the sarcast-o-meter. It's just that I really don't want to be on the computer right now. I'm being entirely seriously. I'd much rather be sitting with the little kid in the next room, pretending to read my history while actually watching treasure planet. heh. But I am "Abigail the technical guru" and so I'm here at the computer.
Last October when I finally got my Rotary application turned in, I was so happy because I thought that I would never ever have to fill out another Rotary application again. Unfortunately my "Techno-guru" title has me filling out another one. Don't worry, I'm not filling it completely out from scratch, see next year's potential outbound did the application but did it by hand. We told her where the website to download the application was but when she downloaded it, it didn't work. My guess is because she doesn't have Acrobat Reader on her computer. This means that Abigail got stuck with the job of typing up a rotary applicaiton. And you all know that's exactly how I wanted to spend my evening.
Actually, I'm complaining, but it's not that bad. Raisa is a good host mom, and does a lot for me, so I don't mind doing favors for her, or the Rotary club. However, this is just kind of irritating. I'll get over it, besides it's not like I had anything else planned for the evening anyway, just reading for history, and practicing the khomus, and maybe drawing a bit, or reading my book, or writing.
As you can probably guess I'm procrastinating the filling out of the applicaton by writing a blog entry instead.
Now, on to the good news.
Yesterday we had Obshest. This class is like social studies. The kids learn about the laws and rights they have, that sort of thing. Anyway, we were talking about conflict. We had to work in pairs and make a drawing showing what conflict is, and then we had to list ways to avoid, or resolve it. I worked with my friend Nina. My job was to do the drawing, and to explain what conflict is. Know what? I did it, I got up infront of the class and explained conflict in fairly uncomplicated terms and I DID IT IN RUSSIAN!!! ha ha ha! Do you know how hard it is for me to get up and speak in front of people in Russian? I'm perfectly comfortable, and I love doing it in English, but it's hard for me to do in Russian. But I did it! I was very proud of myself.
I've decided that I love Russian. There's just some cool things about it. Yeah, the prefixes can be frustrating, but those prefixes combined with base words create new words, and it's just fascinating. One of my favorite words right now is полюбить. It's just a really cool word.
любить is the verb "to love" but when you add the prefix по the word becomes the verb "To grow accustomed to, to grow fond of, to fall in love with" How cool is that that you just add a prefix and have one word mean that. In some ways it's very convenient. And just plain cool. Another cool word is международный. I kept hearing it, but didn't quite know what it meant. I knew it meant "Between-peoples" между=between and народа is a word for People, and then today in English class of all places I found out it meant "International" and I'm like, duh! because it makes sense. Russian just does that. The words make sense. Obviously, but you know what I mean.
Raisa just got a call from the potential outbound. Apparently she figured out that you need to download Acrobat, and did it herself. Raisa told me to go ahead and finish filling this one out here so that they have an example. Urgh, but at least I don't feel bad about doing it now, yay for the potential outbound doing it herself!
Have I ever mentioned that the printer speaks German. Or maybe it's swedish or dutch. I really have no idea, but I find it odd and rather amusing.
Well, I've run out of things to say really, Just wanted to let you all know that life is moving along. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving. I think I'm going too. Ooh that reminds me, I need to make a quiz for tomorrow's celebration. It should be a good time, I'm looking forward to it.
The printer just talked again. Definitely not German, definitely something Scandinavian.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Just Life, I guess
So the other day, I went back to the university and listened to some English classes who I spoke to before give presentations on their dream trips and on Yakutsk. It was mind numbingly interesting and boring at the same time. The one group, you could definitely tell that they had written their presentation in Russian and then just plugged it into an online translator. some of the grammar was absolutely hilarous!
I also spoke to a group of girls who seemed to actually understand what I was saying because they laughed at some of my jokes, so that made me feel good. All in all it was an entertaining time and I got to skip a bunch of school for it, though I was really tired when I got done.
In the meantime, it's still cold here. we're still doing html in computer class (where I am right now) this keyboard is horrible so please excuse my bad typing.
I've been speaking more, but am frustrated because i can't always express what i want to say clearly, if at all, and that irritates me to no end. But I'm working on it.
The good news is that i've been making more of an effort to pay attention and participate in school. The result is that the teachers have started calling on me and assigning me homework. I never thought i would say this, but i was pretty darn excited to have homework. It took me all of yesterday evening to do it, but doggone it, i got it done, and my brain felt better afterwards.
I'm slightly bummed out about missing thanksgiving. it's always my favorite holiday even more than christmas because the whole family is always together, and we hang out all day and play games and eat a whole ton. and from what i hear the whole family is home this year except me. oh well, thanksgiving comes around every year, and I don't always get to spend time in Yakutsk, Russia so it's an okay trade. Raisa told me that if I wanted to have some friends over, she would make chicken and mashed potatos and we could have a sort of thanksgiving celebration here. so that's cool. If i don't sit there and cry. ha.
I've been trying to keep busy. Raisa and i are going to some thing at the opera tonight so i'm leaving early from art class. I have no idea what we're going to see really. (as usual)
I've discovered something. When two people are conversing with each other a lot of times i can follow and understand what they're saying really well. But the minute someone starts talking to me my understanding goes down the drain. i have trouble with monologues to. i.e. one person speaking, the news, that kind of thing. hopefully though as time passes, i'll be able to get better on that.
I'm really not paying attention though I probably should be. it's just i've done html since i was in 7th grade. and i'd much rather update my blog.
next weekend i'm going with Irina, one of the english teachers I've met to a couple of schools outside the city. i'm going to speak about america and she's going to speak about the economics part of YAGU which is the university here. It's going to be a day trip and i'm looking forward to it because 1. it gets me out of saturday school and 2. it's going to be something different, and that's exciting. any variations in routine are a good thing!
So i guess that's really it for now. i'll let you guys know how those two events go. thanksgiving and the other. i'm hoping that once i get past thursday my homesickness will decrease exponentially. i'm not really worried about the whole missing christmas thing because they have winter holidays here too. i.e. new years. And once i get passed that there's not really any other major holidays to worry about. I think thanksgiving is the hardest.
okay, i've blabbed enough.
I also spoke to a group of girls who seemed to actually understand what I was saying because they laughed at some of my jokes, so that made me feel good. All in all it was an entertaining time and I got to skip a bunch of school for it, though I was really tired when I got done.
In the meantime, it's still cold here. we're still doing html in computer class (where I am right now) this keyboard is horrible so please excuse my bad typing.
I've been speaking more, but am frustrated because i can't always express what i want to say clearly, if at all, and that irritates me to no end. But I'm working on it.
The good news is that i've been making more of an effort to pay attention and participate in school. The result is that the teachers have started calling on me and assigning me homework. I never thought i would say this, but i was pretty darn excited to have homework. It took me all of yesterday evening to do it, but doggone it, i got it done, and my brain felt better afterwards.
I'm slightly bummed out about missing thanksgiving. it's always my favorite holiday even more than christmas because the whole family is always together, and we hang out all day and play games and eat a whole ton. and from what i hear the whole family is home this year except me. oh well, thanksgiving comes around every year, and I don't always get to spend time in Yakutsk, Russia so it's an okay trade. Raisa told me that if I wanted to have some friends over, she would make chicken and mashed potatos and we could have a sort of thanksgiving celebration here. so that's cool. If i don't sit there and cry. ha.
I've been trying to keep busy. Raisa and i are going to some thing at the opera tonight so i'm leaving early from art class. I have no idea what we're going to see really. (as usual)
I've discovered something. When two people are conversing with each other a lot of times i can follow and understand what they're saying really well. But the minute someone starts talking to me my understanding goes down the drain. i have trouble with monologues to. i.e. one person speaking, the news, that kind of thing. hopefully though as time passes, i'll be able to get better on that.
I'm really not paying attention though I probably should be. it's just i've done html since i was in 7th grade. and i'd much rather update my blog.
next weekend i'm going with Irina, one of the english teachers I've met to a couple of schools outside the city. i'm going to speak about america and she's going to speak about the economics part of YAGU which is the university here. It's going to be a day trip and i'm looking forward to it because 1. it gets me out of saturday school and 2. it's going to be something different, and that's exciting. any variations in routine are a good thing!
So i guess that's really it for now. i'll let you guys know how those two events go. thanksgiving and the other. i'm hoping that once i get past thursday my homesickness will decrease exponentially. i'm not really worried about the whole missing christmas thing because they have winter holidays here too. i.e. new years. And once i get passed that there's not really any other major holidays to worry about. I think thanksgiving is the hardest.
okay, i've blabbed enough.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
People
So since I've mentioned the people I see everyday several times, I've decided rather than do another post about how I'm going through my "I don't like it here" phase, I thought I would give you some more in depth information about the people here. What I've observed and stuff. I know you'd much rather read that than more of my craziness.
There are two kinds of people in Yakutsk. Russians, and Everyone else who is Yakutian. Most of the population is Yakutian. This means that they look Asian. I While some people look more Asian than others, they don't really look Chinese or japanese. It's more of a Monglian look. I think. I'm not really sure.
At first I really noticed that everyone had that Asian look. Honestly, Now I barely notice it. My mom asked me if there were any predjudices or anything since I look Russian. The answer is no. There are enough ethnic Russians in the city that they aren't an oddity.
There are several types of people under the category "Yakuts"
You have the people who's first language is Yakutian. These people grew up speaking Yakutian and speak it more comfortably than Russian. Though they can and do speak Russian when necesity calls for it. (Like interacting with Shopkeepers and officials) but among friends and family it's Yakutian.
Then you have the people who Know Yakutian and can speak it, but their main language is Russian. My friend Vika is like this, I found out at her birthday party. She and some of the people there spoke some Yakutian but mainly they speak Russian.
Next are the people who don't speak Yakutian but understand it. These people use Russian as their main form of communication but their family might speak Yakutian. When addressed, in Yakutian they answer back in Russian.
Finally, There's everyone else who doesn't speak Yakutian. This is basically the entire population of Ethnic Russians and myself.
Want to know something funny that's starting to happen to me here? I've learned the sound of Russian. What I mean is this: When I hear English on a TV program here, it's like my ears automatically perk up and I recognize the words, and the sounds. I've started doing that with Russian too. Occasionally there will be a program on TV in Yakutian and I'll be sitting there listening to it and not understand a word of it then they'll say something in Russian and I automatically recognize the sound and my ears perk up. It's the oddest sensation. But it's cool.
I'm trying to work on speaking more as I feel that I'm not doing enough of that. I've just been trying to take it day by day here. IT's hard sometimes, but there are cool things about life here.
There are two kinds of people in Yakutsk. Russians, and Everyone else who is Yakutian. Most of the population is Yakutian. This means that they look Asian. I While some people look more Asian than others, they don't really look Chinese or japanese. It's more of a Monglian look. I think. I'm not really sure.
At first I really noticed that everyone had that Asian look. Honestly, Now I barely notice it. My mom asked me if there were any predjudices or anything since I look Russian. The answer is no. There are enough ethnic Russians in the city that they aren't an oddity.
There are several types of people under the category "Yakuts"
You have the people who's first language is Yakutian. These people grew up speaking Yakutian and speak it more comfortably than Russian. Though they can and do speak Russian when necesity calls for it. (Like interacting with Shopkeepers and officials) but among friends and family it's Yakutian.
Then you have the people who Know Yakutian and can speak it, but their main language is Russian. My friend Vika is like this, I found out at her birthday party. She and some of the people there spoke some Yakutian but mainly they speak Russian.
Next are the people who don't speak Yakutian but understand it. These people use Russian as their main form of communication but their family might speak Yakutian. When addressed, in Yakutian they answer back in Russian.
Finally, There's everyone else who doesn't speak Yakutian. This is basically the entire population of Ethnic Russians and myself.
Want to know something funny that's starting to happen to me here? I've learned the sound of Russian. What I mean is this: When I hear English on a TV program here, it's like my ears automatically perk up and I recognize the words, and the sounds. I've started doing that with Russian too. Occasionally there will be a program on TV in Yakutian and I'll be sitting there listening to it and not understand a word of it then they'll say something in Russian and I automatically recognize the sound and my ears perk up. It's the oddest sensation. But it's cool.
I'm trying to work on speaking more as I feel that I'm not doing enough of that. I've just been trying to take it day by day here. IT's hard sometimes, but there are cool things about life here.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Links
so I'm sitting in computer class, and we're starting a unit on web design. which is cool. I've done it, but at least it's better than Access. Anyway, part of what we were doing was looking at links, so here are a couple.
School №8
--this is my school's website. In russian only, but have a look anyway. There are some pictures and things.
Old City
--This is the old part of yakutsk, where the city originally was. it's got pictures and you can choose to read it in English if you want.
enjoy! for me it's back to russian land.
School №8
--this is my school's website. In russian only, but have a look anyway. There are some pictures and things.
Old City
--This is the old part of yakutsk, where the city originally was. it's got pictures and you can choose to read it in English if you want.
enjoy! for me it's back to russian land.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Так...
That word is kind of like "So..." And it's the title of this post because honestly, I don't really know what to write about. I mean, stuff's been happening, it always is. I suppose I could write about my most embarrassing exchange student moment ever, but honestly, I don't feel like rehashing it, plus I think it would make a better oral story. So when I get home, Ask me about it. By then I'll think it's hilarious.
I could write about how the boys (Accidentally I think) deleted my pictures on my memory card, and how frustrated that made me. I could write about how on top of that, the computer has decided to recognize my flash drive as an application rather then a flash drive and therefore won't open it. (If you know how to fix this please tell me)
I could talk about how I just want a hug, and someone to tell me it'll be okay.
But I'm not going to.
Because while I like to keep it real, I hate feeling like I'm always being negative about my exchange because for the most part, I really am enjoying myself.
Most mornings I wake up and think "WOw, I'm in Russia. How cool is that?" I'm working on trying to speak more. Because while I have a decent sized vocabulary when it comes to understanding, I don't speak enough so my speaking vocabulary (and writing vocabulary) is horrible.
I've eaten sushi while speaking Russian twice. Which is really cool too. Suhi is really popular here. I've been to two different restaurants that serve it.
Raisa and I went visiting to Maria the club president's yesterday. It was fun. Mostly because she has a seven month old baby and we got to play with him some. IT's interesting, because it seems like a lot of people here have one or two kids who are a lot older than their one or two younger kids. I can name probably three families that are like this just sitting here right now. I'm not sure why this is except people here seem to get married a lot younger so maybe they have a kid right off and then ten years later decide to have another one.
When you go "в гости" (Visiting) in Russia it usually involves dinner, looking at the hosts' photographs (This usually involves any and all photographs of the trips they took too america or their children took, probably because I"m American and they think I'll be interested to see it.) and then tea. Sometimes various other entertainment. Sometimes I find the photographs boring, but last night I actually found them to be rather interesting. Maybe because I know Maria a little bit.
This past week, our school was on fall break. It went by really fast and I really enjoyed it. I'm not really looking forward to going back to school, but there's not a lot I can do about it. Besides it has it's silver lining because that's where I get most of my exposure to Russian.
The Rotary people told us at orientation to not look at the big picture of exchange. They said to break it down into smaller chunks and it's easier. Know what? They're right. They suggest looking forward to events. And that does help some. I was looking forward to fall break, and now that it's almost over, I'm looking forward to New Year's. After that I'm looking forward to the April Orientation where I'll get to meet all the other exchangers, and then the district conference in June, Ysakh, the Yakutian New Year at the end of June, and then home on July 11.
That does help some. What really helps me though is to look backwards. In other words instead of saying. "Oh my goodness I"m still going to be here 7.5 months!" I think "Wow, I've already been here two and a half months." or "Can you belive that it's already November 11th?" Okay, so it's not quite two and a half months, but it's close enough.
I'm going to make a prediction. It seems that a lot of people by the end of their exchange are either like "Get me out of this country now," or "No! I don't want to leave!" My prediction is that When the time comes for me to get on that plane, I'll miss this place, but I'll know that it's time for me to go.
But that's just my guess. I don't really know becasuse it's still 7 and a half months away.
I could write about how the boys (Accidentally I think) deleted my pictures on my memory card, and how frustrated that made me. I could write about how on top of that, the computer has decided to recognize my flash drive as an application rather then a flash drive and therefore won't open it. (If you know how to fix this please tell me)
I could talk about how I just want a hug, and someone to tell me it'll be okay.
But I'm not going to.
Because while I like to keep it real, I hate feeling like I'm always being negative about my exchange because for the most part, I really am enjoying myself.
Most mornings I wake up and think "WOw, I'm in Russia. How cool is that?" I'm working on trying to speak more. Because while I have a decent sized vocabulary when it comes to understanding, I don't speak enough so my speaking vocabulary (and writing vocabulary) is horrible.
I've eaten sushi while speaking Russian twice. Which is really cool too. Suhi is really popular here. I've been to two different restaurants that serve it.
Raisa and I went visiting to Maria the club president's yesterday. It was fun. Mostly because she has a seven month old baby and we got to play with him some. IT's interesting, because it seems like a lot of people here have one or two kids who are a lot older than their one or two younger kids. I can name probably three families that are like this just sitting here right now. I'm not sure why this is except people here seem to get married a lot younger so maybe they have a kid right off and then ten years later decide to have another one.
When you go "в гости" (Visiting) in Russia it usually involves dinner, looking at the hosts' photographs (This usually involves any and all photographs of the trips they took too america or their children took, probably because I"m American and they think I'll be interested to see it.) and then tea. Sometimes various other entertainment. Sometimes I find the photographs boring, but last night I actually found them to be rather interesting. Maybe because I know Maria a little bit.
This past week, our school was on fall break. It went by really fast and I really enjoyed it. I'm not really looking forward to going back to school, but there's not a lot I can do about it. Besides it has it's silver lining because that's where I get most of my exposure to Russian.
The Rotary people told us at orientation to not look at the big picture of exchange. They said to break it down into smaller chunks and it's easier. Know what? They're right. They suggest looking forward to events. And that does help some. I was looking forward to fall break, and now that it's almost over, I'm looking forward to New Year's. After that I'm looking forward to the April Orientation where I'll get to meet all the other exchangers, and then the district conference in June, Ysakh, the Yakutian New Year at the end of June, and then home on July 11.
That does help some. What really helps me though is to look backwards. In other words instead of saying. "Oh my goodness I"m still going to be here 7.5 months!" I think "Wow, I've already been here two and a half months." or "Can you belive that it's already November 11th?" Okay, so it's not quite two and a half months, but it's close enough.
I'm going to make a prediction. It seems that a lot of people by the end of their exchange are either like "Get me out of this country now," or "No! I don't want to leave!" My prediction is that When the time comes for me to get on that plane, I'll miss this place, but I'll know that it's time for me to go.
But that's just my guess. I don't really know becasuse it's still 7 and a half months away.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Cold (Part One of a I don't know how many part series)
Sometimes I seriously envy the people who chose to go to South America. Okay so the past few days I've been envying them a lot. Mostly because do you know how cold it is here? One of the Rotarians back home wanted me to describe a Siberian winter. So here you go. Although I've called this part one because technically it's not winter temperatures. So I might be updating again.
So
It's been fairly cold here. In the -20s celcius. Do you know how cold that is? It's cold enough that you have to bundle up. Because if you don't your toes go numb very quickly. And your legs if you're not wearing underarmor. Do you know what it feels like on the exposed bits of your face when it's negative 20? It feels like your skin is going to peel off. Fun huh?
I've learned a lot about cold here.
I've learned that though you might not think there is any difference in temperature between -13 and -15 there actually is, and -15 is practically a heat wave compared to negative 20.
And someone in the Rotary club here told me this was warm, and that it's still fall temperatures. ha ha ha.
If I'm going to walk anywhere I wear thick, heavy socks, Underarmor, and a hoodie over whatever shirts I'm wearing. On top of that I wear my long coat, and the hat/scarf combo that Raisa made me. And Usually I pull up my hood.
And a lot of times I think to myself "I could've been in Argentina right now." but then I also remember that I'm learning Russian, or trying too, and that's a good feeling.
So
It's been fairly cold here. In the -20s celcius. Do you know how cold that is? It's cold enough that you have to bundle up. Because if you don't your toes go numb very quickly. And your legs if you're not wearing underarmor. Do you know what it feels like on the exposed bits of your face when it's negative 20? It feels like your skin is going to peel off. Fun huh?
I've learned a lot about cold here.
I've learned that though you might not think there is any difference in temperature between -13 and -15 there actually is, and -15 is practically a heat wave compared to negative 20.
And someone in the Rotary club here told me this was warm, and that it's still fall temperatures. ha ha ha.
If I'm going to walk anywhere I wear thick, heavy socks, Underarmor, and a hoodie over whatever shirts I'm wearing. On top of that I wear my long coat, and the hat/scarf combo that Raisa made me. And Usually I pull up my hood.
And a lot of times I think to myself "I could've been in Argentina right now." but then I also remember that I'm learning Russian, or trying too, and that's a good feeling.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Everbody Dance Now
First of all business. The general information is this. My new computer days are Monday and Thursday. These are the days that I check my e-mail and update my blog if I get a chance. Just thought I'd tell you all. Also if you would like to say привет to me through chat, I am usually on the Google Talk client about 6:30am Eastern Standard Time, Thursday mornings. Usually I'm on until about 7:30 or so because I chat with my american parents and then do my e-mail thang.
Now on to the stuff I know you want to hear.
As you know because I've mentioned it several times. I'm one of those people who likes to tell you about my exchange as it is. The good and the bad, because I don't want to give a dishonest impression. There are two sides to every coin. So let me be frank. Yesterday was hard in some ways. Mostly because I suddenly realized that I wasn't going to get to be with my loud, boisterous, obnoxious, loving family for Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving is my favorite.
It just kind of hit me all of a sudden (It was a really bad time because babushka, dedushka, Raisa's sister and my host cousins were over) and I got really upset. And that's about all I'm going to say because I don't want to sound like I'm whining and I don't want to sound like I'm looking for a pity party because I'm not. I had a moment, I got over it. I feel better about it now. Exchange does that kind of thing to you. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Yesterday evening turned out to be really good though. Lilia had said she knew some people who wanted to meet me. I'd never had sushi before so we went to a cafe where you can get it, and we met up with these two guys who were friends of Lilia's. It was an awesome evening. We sat in that cafe from maybe 8 or 8:30 until midnight when we decided to see what was going on elsewhere. The upshot of the whole thing is that I had a really really good time, which included not getting home until 3:45am and resulted in me feeling good about myself and this exchange basically all day. (except for a few moments in art class, but I've said enough about that in previous posts)
We went to Drakon. Drakon is what I guess is the best club in Yakutsk. I wouldn't know because I've only been to it and none of the others. So yeah, I went clubbing, and had a really good time. It was an interesting cultural experience. One of the things I found most interesting was that except for the beer and cigarettes, it was a lot milder than a school dance. What I mean is this. When you go to a high school dance back home, everyone is dancing like they're having sex with their clothes on. Here you had maybe one couple doing that. And one couple kept making out in the middle of the dance floor. Everyone else seemed to be there just to have a good time and feel the music. I sure did. I'm hoping to get to go again.
The major downside was that even though I did not have any beer, or alcohol, nor did I smoke (aside from what I inhaled second hand) I still came home reeking of cigarettes and beer and the next morning took a good long shower and washed my clothes.
Oh and I had a major freakout. Nothing horrible, but we were in the cafe and I ordered a soft drink. The chick brought it to me, and I drank some and all of a sudden I go. "There's ice in this glass." And everyone's like "What?" and I'm like "This is the first time I"ve had ice in a drink since I came to Russia." It was a cultural difference that I'd noticed and I thought about before, but drinking cold pop just really really freaked me out because it was...well...cold. And there was ice in the glass. And yeah, It felt odd for there to be ice there.
There were a couple of times where I couldn't follow conversations due to my lack of Russian skills, but for the most part, it felt really really good to just act like the stupid young adult I am. Yup. I hope to get together with that group again. I've already mentioned it to Lilia and she definitely agrees.
I guess the main point of this post is just to say that while exchange still gets me down sometimes, for the most part the good is outweighing the bad and with everyday that passes I get more used to it here, and more and more I think "Yeah, Yeah, I'm going to make it through, I'm going to be okay."
One other thing that I've found interesting is that since I've been distanced from my friends at home, I see them in a different light. Okay, it's not a different light really, it's just...I don't know. Because I'm farther away and not seeing them all the time, I can see their personalities better. Or maybe I've just found my own personality. Because we are influenced by our friends whether we notice it or not. SO maybe it's just that I can see with clear eyes who I really am. It's an interesting view.
Now on to the stuff I know you want to hear.
As you know because I've mentioned it several times. I'm one of those people who likes to tell you about my exchange as it is. The good and the bad, because I don't want to give a dishonest impression. There are two sides to every coin. So let me be frank. Yesterday was hard in some ways. Mostly because I suddenly realized that I wasn't going to get to be with my loud, boisterous, obnoxious, loving family for Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving is my favorite.
It just kind of hit me all of a sudden (It was a really bad time because babushka, dedushka, Raisa's sister and my host cousins were over) and I got really upset. And that's about all I'm going to say because I don't want to sound like I'm whining and I don't want to sound like I'm looking for a pity party because I'm not. I had a moment, I got over it. I feel better about it now. Exchange does that kind of thing to you. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Yesterday evening turned out to be really good though. Lilia had said she knew some people who wanted to meet me. I'd never had sushi before so we went to a cafe where you can get it, and we met up with these two guys who were friends of Lilia's. It was an awesome evening. We sat in that cafe from maybe 8 or 8:30 until midnight when we decided to see what was going on elsewhere. The upshot of the whole thing is that I had a really really good time, which included not getting home until 3:45am and resulted in me feeling good about myself and this exchange basically all day. (except for a few moments in art class, but I've said enough about that in previous posts)
We went to Drakon. Drakon is what I guess is the best club in Yakutsk. I wouldn't know because I've only been to it and none of the others. So yeah, I went clubbing, and had a really good time. It was an interesting cultural experience. One of the things I found most interesting was that except for the beer and cigarettes, it was a lot milder than a school dance. What I mean is this. When you go to a high school dance back home, everyone is dancing like they're having sex with their clothes on. Here you had maybe one couple doing that. And one couple kept making out in the middle of the dance floor. Everyone else seemed to be there just to have a good time and feel the music. I sure did. I'm hoping to get to go again.
The major downside was that even though I did not have any beer, or alcohol, nor did I smoke (aside from what I inhaled second hand) I still came home reeking of cigarettes and beer and the next morning took a good long shower and washed my clothes.
Oh and I had a major freakout. Nothing horrible, but we were in the cafe and I ordered a soft drink. The chick brought it to me, and I drank some and all of a sudden I go. "There's ice in this glass." And everyone's like "What?" and I'm like "This is the first time I"ve had ice in a drink since I came to Russia." It was a cultural difference that I'd noticed and I thought about before, but drinking cold pop just really really freaked me out because it was...well...cold. And there was ice in the glass. And yeah, It felt odd for there to be ice there.
There were a couple of times where I couldn't follow conversations due to my lack of Russian skills, but for the most part, it felt really really good to just act like the stupid young adult I am. Yup. I hope to get together with that group again. I've already mentioned it to Lilia and she definitely agrees.
I guess the main point of this post is just to say that while exchange still gets me down sometimes, for the most part the good is outweighing the bad and with everyday that passes I get more used to it here, and more and more I think "Yeah, Yeah, I'm going to make it through, I'm going to be okay."
One other thing that I've found interesting is that since I've been distanced from my friends at home, I see them in a different light. Okay, it's not a different light really, it's just...I don't know. Because I'm farther away and not seeing them all the time, I can see their personalities better. Or maybe I've just found my own personality. Because we are influenced by our friends whether we notice it or not. SO maybe it's just that I can see with clear eyes who I really am. It's an interesting view.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Novelty
A couple I forgot:
Pounds I've gained: 10
Times I've tried to take a shower and there's no hot water: 4
Dreams in Russian: 1
Anyway, I can tell I'm starting to get more used to life here. How? Because stuff is starting to lost its novelty. The snow is no longer Russian snow, it's just snow. I've spoken to so many English classes that that's no longer new and exciting. The people who pull their stuff on little sleds is still a novelty but it won't be for long, and I no longer notice that most of the people I pass in the street have the asian look.
Which is cool. Getting used to stuff is good.
I've taken to reading in Class. Which is actually helping my vocabulary. I learned maybe four or five new words today just by reading. That's good.
Sometimes I feel like there are just so many words. And I want to absorb them all right now. But I can't because my brain doesn't work that way. Sometimes I wish it did.
I've had some interesting feelings lately. I spoke to another english class today and decided that I hate speaking english. It feels weird in my mouth. Wrong in my mouth. My lips feel fat and my ears don't like the way the words sound. It's the oddest sensation.
One interesting thing that happened was after I finished my presentation. The class was shy about asking questions and at one point Kunai looked at a group of girls and was like "Think of a question because everyone needs to ask one," And automatically in I go "Yeah, and do it quick because the easy questions are going fast like "What music do you like?" " and then all of a sudden I realized that Kunai had spoken Russian, and I'd answered in English. But I'd heard and understood the Russian as if it were english. It was really really cool. Made me feel awesome. I guess I am making progress.
The other day I heard a song in French and right after it a song in Russian. I understood the Russian better than the French.
Pounds I've gained: 10
Times I've tried to take a shower and there's no hot water: 4
Dreams in Russian: 1
Anyway, I can tell I'm starting to get more used to life here. How? Because stuff is starting to lost its novelty. The snow is no longer Russian snow, it's just snow. I've spoken to so many English classes that that's no longer new and exciting. The people who pull their stuff on little sleds is still a novelty but it won't be for long, and I no longer notice that most of the people I pass in the street have the asian look.
Which is cool. Getting used to stuff is good.
I've taken to reading in Class. Which is actually helping my vocabulary. I learned maybe four or five new words today just by reading. That's good.
Sometimes I feel like there are just so many words. And I want to absorb them all right now. But I can't because my brain doesn't work that way. Sometimes I wish it did.
I've had some interesting feelings lately. I spoke to another english class today and decided that I hate speaking english. It feels weird in my mouth. Wrong in my mouth. My lips feel fat and my ears don't like the way the words sound. It's the oddest sensation.
One interesting thing that happened was after I finished my presentation. The class was shy about asking questions and at one point Kunai looked at a group of girls and was like "Think of a question because everyone needs to ask one," And automatically in I go "Yeah, and do it quick because the easy questions are going fast like "What music do you like?" " and then all of a sudden I realized that Kunai had spoken Russian, and I'd answered in English. But I'd heard and understood the Russian as if it were english. It was really really cool. Made me feel awesome. I guess I am making progress.
The other day I heard a song in French and right after it a song in Russian. I understood the Russian better than the French.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
By the Numbers
Since Thursday marks the beginning of my third month in this lovely (or horrible depending on which way my bi-polarness is swinging) country I thought I would do something special to mark the occasion. So here it is, two months in Yakutsk, Russia by the numbers.
Number of times I've been in a taxi: 4
Number of scary taxi Drivers I've encountered:3
Number of days I've been here: 60
Number of months left: 7,5
Number of days I haven't had tea: 2
Number of times I've had Russian vodka sitting in front of me: 1
People I've seen drinking Russian vodka: 0
Times I've tried Russian vodka: 0
People I've seen with braces: 2
People I've seen with cell phones: 5,000
Times I've slid on Yakutian Ice: 50
Times I've fallen on Yakutian Ice: 3
Average daily cups of tea: 3
Days a week I don't want to get up for school: 6
Times I've skipped saturday class: 2
Number of new words I've learned: 1,000
Books I've read: 2
Times I've been asked if I know who Dima Bilan is: 10
People who've asked me if I have winter where I come from: 75
People who tell me that temperatures here can get to minus 50: 500
Times I was ready to get on a plane and go home: 1
Hours a week I spend in art classes: 6
Khomus lessons: 1
Friends: 4(?)
Times I've not done French homework: 2
Minutes a day I practice the Khomus: 10
Days a week I go to Grammar lessons: 2
Speeches about the USA I've given: 5
Birthdays I've had: 1
Times I've been turned away from the Pushkin Library:2
Books I've bought: 1
Magazines I've bought: 1
Plays I've seen at the Russian Theater: 1
Russian Movies I've seen: 3
Yakutian plays I've seen: 0
Times I've been to the Theater of Opera and Ballet: 2
Times I've eaten ice cream in negative degree weather: 3
Churches I've stumbled upon: 4
Churches within the city limits that I've been inside: 0
Number of people who now think I'm going to hell because of my last statement: 50
Time it starts getting dark: 3:00pm
Price of the bus: 10 rubles
Price of a new camera: 7 500 rubles
Number of attractive boys I've seen: 3
Times I've randomly wanted to burst into tears: 15
Times I've talked to my parents on the phone: 3
Times a day I say I'm tired: 7
Days a week I check my e-mail: *coughcoughnumbercoughcough*
Paintings I've completed: 1
People who've said that New Year's is coming up: 2
Times I've worn underarmour: 3
Unique visitors to this blog since september: 893
Minutes I've wasted writing this blog entry: 30
So there you have it. I hope you enjoy reading all of that. ha ha ha. *Laughs evilly*
Oh by the way, that whole library thing really really ticked me off. The lady basically told me I wasn't allowed to just go look at books. The only good thing about the whole situation was that I understood well everything she said.
Number of times I've been in a taxi: 4
Number of scary taxi Drivers I've encountered:3
Number of days I've been here: 60
Number of months left: 7,5
Number of days I haven't had tea: 2
Number of times I've had Russian vodka sitting in front of me: 1
People I've seen drinking Russian vodka: 0
Times I've tried Russian vodka: 0
People I've seen with braces: 2
People I've seen with cell phones: 5,000
Times I've slid on Yakutian Ice: 50
Times I've fallen on Yakutian Ice: 3
Average daily cups of tea: 3
Days a week I don't want to get up for school: 6
Times I've skipped saturday class: 2
Number of new words I've learned: 1,000
Books I've read: 2
Times I've been asked if I know who Dima Bilan is: 10
People who've asked me if I have winter where I come from: 75
People who tell me that temperatures here can get to minus 50: 500
Times I was ready to get on a plane and go home: 1
Hours a week I spend in art classes: 6
Khomus lessons: 1
Friends: 4(?)
Times I've not done French homework: 2
Minutes a day I practice the Khomus: 10
Days a week I go to Grammar lessons: 2
Speeches about the USA I've given: 5
Birthdays I've had: 1
Times I've been turned away from the Pushkin Library:2
Books I've bought: 1
Magazines I've bought: 1
Plays I've seen at the Russian Theater: 1
Russian Movies I've seen: 3
Yakutian plays I've seen: 0
Times I've been to the Theater of Opera and Ballet: 2
Times I've eaten ice cream in negative degree weather: 3
Churches I've stumbled upon: 4
Churches within the city limits that I've been inside: 0
Number of people who now think I'm going to hell because of my last statement: 50
Time it starts getting dark: 3:00pm
Price of the bus: 10 rubles
Price of a new camera: 7 500 rubles
Number of attractive boys I've seen: 3
Times I've randomly wanted to burst into tears: 15
Times I've talked to my parents on the phone: 3
Times a day I say I'm tired: 7
Days a week I check my e-mail: *coughcoughnumbercoughcough*
Paintings I've completed: 1
People who've said that New Year's is coming up: 2
Times I've worn underarmour: 3
Unique visitors to this blog since september: 893
Minutes I've wasted writing this blog entry: 30
So there you have it. I hope you enjoy reading all of that. ha ha ha. *Laughs evilly*
Oh by the way, that whole library thing really really ticked me off. The lady basically told me I wasn't allowed to just go look at books. The only good thing about the whole situation was that I understood well everything she said.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
A Long Day
Raisa came into my room last night at about 11:15 pm. She goes "You're not asleep?" I was like "nope." I'd just gone to bed. She basically told me that tomorrow (IE Saturday which was today) she was going to do something at a lake. I could go with her if I wanted or If I prefered I could go to school. I bet you can guess which one I picked. I'm up for just about any adventure that gets me out of school.
So I got up today, and put on my lovely underarmor because Raisa said it would be cold. Bundled up, and with the daughter of one of Raisa's co-workers accompanying us, we drove to the lake.
Once we got to the lake, we drove on it to somewhere out in the middle. Yes, you read that right. We drove On the lake. Don't worry, it was nice and frozen. I really had no idea why we were there, to be perfectly honest, but I asked what exactly the people were doing and all soon became clear.
The family of Raisa's coworker, Tatiyana, were cutting blocks of ice out of the lake so they could have water all winter. I think it's water for their dacha, but maybe they hall them into the city and use them at home, I'm not really sure. What I do know is that it's an interesting process. A process that unfortunately I'm not going to describe here, because I'm a lazy bum. Besides a picture's worth a thousand words right? So if you want to know about the process, you can check it out Here at my photos page.
From what I understood, they can drink the water at this particular lake because it doesn't have any organisims in it. So they make piles of ice blocks and haul them home throughout the winter. Tatiyana let me taste some of the ice. It was sweet on my tongue.
We came back just in time for my first lesson on the Khomus. Which really excited me. I have since discovered that learning the Khomus is harder than I thought it would be. Who would've thought you need so much technique for such a simple looking instrument?
After class, I ran home because I needed some money to give the girl who was going to color my hair. So I went to the bankomat at the post office. But it was out of money. I was rather frustrated. Mostly because this meant that I had to walk clear to the other end of the city. On the way I stopped and bought the book I mentioned previously.
On my way to the bankomat, Kolya, a guy I know from the university called and was like "hey want to go to the Miss Yakutia pageant?" and I was like "okay." So I had to tell the hair-coloring girl that we couldn't do it today and I'll have to call her.
So I pulled out some money, and bought a ticket to the Miss yakutia pageant and spent three and a half hours of my life watching girls parade around. But it was actually kind of interesting in some ways. The tiara they awarded Miss Yakutia is very yakutian looking.
I've noticed something about Russia. Events are kind of like my family. Because to every concert-type thing I've gone to has started late. This is no joke. I've been to events where it says the concert/event starts at seven. Like that is the time printed on the ticket, and then it actually doesn't start until twenty to thirty minutes later. It's just, interesting.
Anyway, so I hung out with Kolya and Lena, another girl from the university I met. After Miss Yakutia was crowned, Kolya called a taxi for Lena and I and we hopped in to go home.
The taxi driver was a jerk. He realied I was foreign and promptly decided that he wouldn't be able to understand anything I said. No lie. He actually said that. Lena told me. And told me that I should pay before the end. (originally I was going to pay when I got out) so I leaned forward and asked the taxi driver "Do you want the money now?" And he was like "what?" And I said "Do you want the money now?" and then he said something I didn't catch and Lena was like "what are you trying to say?" amd so I told her in English and she said to the taxi driver "Can we pay now?" and of course he understood that. Whatever. Tell me that if you were a taxi driver and somebody with an accent asked if you wanted the money now, you would understan what they meant? I would. Urgh. I'd heard stories of taxi drivers pulling stuff like that. I guess it's the truth.
We're doing something else at the lake tomorrow. I think it might involve reindeer, but honestly, I'm never sure. Sometimes I think someone says something and they really said something else.
So I got up today, and put on my lovely underarmor because Raisa said it would be cold. Bundled up, and with the daughter of one of Raisa's co-workers accompanying us, we drove to the lake.
Once we got to the lake, we drove on it to somewhere out in the middle. Yes, you read that right. We drove On the lake. Don't worry, it was nice and frozen. I really had no idea why we were there, to be perfectly honest, but I asked what exactly the people were doing and all soon became clear.
The family of Raisa's coworker, Tatiyana, were cutting blocks of ice out of the lake so they could have water all winter. I think it's water for their dacha, but maybe they hall them into the city and use them at home, I'm not really sure. What I do know is that it's an interesting process. A process that unfortunately I'm not going to describe here, because I'm a lazy bum. Besides a picture's worth a thousand words right? So if you want to know about the process, you can check it out Here at my photos page.
From what I understood, they can drink the water at this particular lake because it doesn't have any organisims in it. So they make piles of ice blocks and haul them home throughout the winter. Tatiyana let me taste some of the ice. It was sweet on my tongue.
We came back just in time for my first lesson on the Khomus. Which really excited me. I have since discovered that learning the Khomus is harder than I thought it would be. Who would've thought you need so much technique for such a simple looking instrument?
After class, I ran home because I needed some money to give the girl who was going to color my hair. So I went to the bankomat at the post office. But it was out of money. I was rather frustrated. Mostly because this meant that I had to walk clear to the other end of the city. On the way I stopped and bought the book I mentioned previously.
On my way to the bankomat, Kolya, a guy I know from the university called and was like "hey want to go to the Miss Yakutia pageant?" and I was like "okay." So I had to tell the hair-coloring girl that we couldn't do it today and I'll have to call her.
So I pulled out some money, and bought a ticket to the Miss yakutia pageant and spent three and a half hours of my life watching girls parade around. But it was actually kind of interesting in some ways. The tiara they awarded Miss Yakutia is very yakutian looking.
I've noticed something about Russia. Events are kind of like my family. Because to every concert-type thing I've gone to has started late. This is no joke. I've been to events where it says the concert/event starts at seven. Like that is the time printed on the ticket, and then it actually doesn't start until twenty to thirty minutes later. It's just, interesting.
Anyway, so I hung out with Kolya and Lena, another girl from the university I met. After Miss Yakutia was crowned, Kolya called a taxi for Lena and I and we hopped in to go home.
The taxi driver was a jerk. He realied I was foreign and promptly decided that he wouldn't be able to understand anything I said. No lie. He actually said that. Lena told me. And told me that I should pay before the end. (originally I was going to pay when I got out) so I leaned forward and asked the taxi driver "Do you want the money now?" And he was like "what?" And I said "Do you want the money now?" and then he said something I didn't catch and Lena was like "what are you trying to say?" amd so I told her in English and she said to the taxi driver "Can we pay now?" and of course he understood that. Whatever. Tell me that if you were a taxi driver and somebody with an accent asked if you wanted the money now, you would understan what they meant? I would. Urgh. I'd heard stories of taxi drivers pulling stuff like that. I guess it's the truth.
We're doing something else at the lake tomorrow. I think it might involve reindeer, but honestly, I'm never sure. Sometimes I think someone says something and they really said something else.
Friday, October 26, 2007
An Opera of a different kind, A "lesson", and John Steinbeck
I hate opera.
The browser, not actual musical opera.
see we got this new computer.
My host cousin Nika came over and set it up, and my other host cousin, Lavik, came over and set up the internet, which is cool.
Except internet explorer on the new computer doesn't have Java installed so I can't see my google page, and that google page is my connection to everyting. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.
So I switched to the other browswer on the new computer, Opera. I hate it. It's like it's trying to be cool like firefox, but is only succeding in looking like a nerd.
I think it doesn't keep connected to the internet all the time or something because google talk comes on and then when I flip back over to it to check it, it says that I'm offline. I just felt like complaining about it.
My life has finally started to settle into a routine, or something resembling a routine, which is cool. I'm getting more used to this place as well. I no longer wake up every morning and think "Oh my word, how am I ever going to make it ten months here?" I take it one day at a time, focus on things that are worth looking forward to, such as fall break here in another week. There was never really any real question of me coming home. I knew going into it that I would make it all ten and a half months, but I did have my moments. Usually my first thought upon waking up is "I really don't want to go to school." But I go. Although I haven't been doing all my time this week. I haven't intentionally skipped though. There was the end of last week, where I didn't go two days because of Maynard Gross, the district 5010 governer, and then this week, I've gotten to leave school early/miss some class about everyday. Today I woke up really late, 7:32. Once I realized I was going to be late I didn't really rush. When I got to school, I decided I didn't want to risk angering the godess of physics, so I sat that class out.
In math, one of my classmates, Kesha, sat beside me and basically told me today was the day to start Homus lessons. I was like "uh...okay!" So we did some arranging and I skipped english class *with permission* caught the bus home, changed, snarfed a butterbrot, grabbed my homus and fifteen minutes later was back on the bus to the school where I said I'd meet Kesha at 1:30. We went together to the Homus museum for the lesson. Whoever Kesha had talk to had told him to be there at two, and we were right on time. The teacher wasn't. So we got to look around at the museum while we waited. I found it really interesting.
The teacher showed up around 2:30 basically to inform us that we weren't actually going to do any learning/playing today. Instead she told Kesha and I to come back tomorrow at 3:00. Kesha seemed really disappointed but I was like "okay" because spending time at the homus museum waiting around a half an hour killed an afternoon that I would've otherwise spent reading John Steinbeck. So after school tomorrow we're going back for our first lesson.
After The "lesson" I didn't go home because I was supposed to meet Kunai. I can't remember if I wrote about it on here, but she asked me to speak to some of her economic students yesterday (though she's an english teacher), so I did and they invited me to their I forget the word. I think maybe convocation? It's where they all officially become first year students, and students of the university.
So I grabbed a cheeseburger at Max Food, Which isn't like the good old Micky D's burger I've been hungry for (read odd sauce, carrots, and who knows what else on it that I didn't care to analyze) drank some cherry juice and then caught another bus to the university just in time to meet Kunai.
I really do prefer walking, but one thing I have to say about the bus. It sure is convenient. Plus it gets me where I want to go in about half the time as walking. So when I have time I walk, and when I'm short on time, I take the bus.
The convocation was basically a bunch of skits and singing and stuff, it reminded me of our day of teachers celebration at the 8th school. It seems like the Russians have a lot of these types of celebrations.
I got home at about 6:30. Raisa had (and still has) friends over. So I ate rather quickly, had a cup of Chai (only one today, that's unusual for me) and vacated the kitchen rather quickly. I was reading on the couch when Raisa told me I should see what Lavik was doing, so I came into the bedroom, pretended to watch Lavik, and kept reading until he finished setting up the internet, and now I'm testing it. Or rather, I was testing it. Until I realized I'd been testing it for a while, and so I disconnected to write this blog.
I've gotten some comments about how some people enjoy reading about the "emotional" part of my journey. Sometimes I'll be walking, or sitting in school, and get these really profound thoughts, and I'll write them down and forget to put them in my blog. The result is that I'm going to have to take every stinking one of my school notebooks home just so I have all the complete thoughts.
I've been reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Actually, it was kind of an accident. I started it a day or two ago, just because I wanted to read something in English because I missed reading. Those of you who know me, know that once I got into it, I couldn't stop. You all should read it because it's an amazing book, and I've decided that Steinbeck is a brilliant writer. Some of his similies and descritions make me jealous.
Unfortunately it being in English is a bad thing. The good news is that since I read a lot yesterday evening and all day at school today, I'll be finishing the book soon. Or maybe it's bad news because that means I have one book left in english. I was looking at one of the many bookstores today and found a copy of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Translated to Russian. I think I'll buy it because reading it in Russian won't be too terribly difficult because I already know the story and have read the english version. But it'll be in Russian so that'll be good practice. An additional bonus is that the book is small so it won't be too heavy to carry to school.
The browser, not actual musical opera.
see we got this new computer.
My host cousin Nika came over and set it up, and my other host cousin, Lavik, came over and set up the internet, which is cool.
Except internet explorer on the new computer doesn't have Java installed so I can't see my google page, and that google page is my connection to everyting. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.
So I switched to the other browswer on the new computer, Opera. I hate it. It's like it's trying to be cool like firefox, but is only succeding in looking like a nerd.
I think it doesn't keep connected to the internet all the time or something because google talk comes on and then when I flip back over to it to check it, it says that I'm offline. I just felt like complaining about it.
My life has finally started to settle into a routine, or something resembling a routine, which is cool. I'm getting more used to this place as well. I no longer wake up every morning and think "Oh my word, how am I ever going to make it ten months here?" I take it one day at a time, focus on things that are worth looking forward to, such as fall break here in another week. There was never really any real question of me coming home. I knew going into it that I would make it all ten and a half months, but I did have my moments. Usually my first thought upon waking up is "I really don't want to go to school." But I go. Although I haven't been doing all my time this week. I haven't intentionally skipped though. There was the end of last week, where I didn't go two days because of Maynard Gross, the district 5010 governer, and then this week, I've gotten to leave school early/miss some class about everyday. Today I woke up really late, 7:32. Once I realized I was going to be late I didn't really rush. When I got to school, I decided I didn't want to risk angering the godess of physics, so I sat that class out.
In math, one of my classmates, Kesha, sat beside me and basically told me today was the day to start Homus lessons. I was like "uh...okay!" So we did some arranging and I skipped english class *with permission* caught the bus home, changed, snarfed a butterbrot, grabbed my homus and fifteen minutes later was back on the bus to the school where I said I'd meet Kesha at 1:30. We went together to the Homus museum for the lesson. Whoever Kesha had talk to had told him to be there at two, and we were right on time. The teacher wasn't. So we got to look around at the museum while we waited. I found it really interesting.
The teacher showed up around 2:30 basically to inform us that we weren't actually going to do any learning/playing today. Instead she told Kesha and I to come back tomorrow at 3:00. Kesha seemed really disappointed but I was like "okay" because spending time at the homus museum waiting around a half an hour killed an afternoon that I would've otherwise spent reading John Steinbeck. So after school tomorrow we're going back for our first lesson.
After The "lesson" I didn't go home because I was supposed to meet Kunai. I can't remember if I wrote about it on here, but she asked me to speak to some of her economic students yesterday (though she's an english teacher), so I did and they invited me to their I forget the word. I think maybe convocation? It's where they all officially become first year students, and students of the university.
So I grabbed a cheeseburger at Max Food, Which isn't like the good old Micky D's burger I've been hungry for (read odd sauce, carrots, and who knows what else on it that I didn't care to analyze) drank some cherry juice and then caught another bus to the university just in time to meet Kunai.
I really do prefer walking, but one thing I have to say about the bus. It sure is convenient. Plus it gets me where I want to go in about half the time as walking. So when I have time I walk, and when I'm short on time, I take the bus.
The convocation was basically a bunch of skits and singing and stuff, it reminded me of our day of teachers celebration at the 8th school. It seems like the Russians have a lot of these types of celebrations.
I got home at about 6:30. Raisa had (and still has) friends over. So I ate rather quickly, had a cup of Chai (only one today, that's unusual for me) and vacated the kitchen rather quickly. I was reading on the couch when Raisa told me I should see what Lavik was doing, so I came into the bedroom, pretended to watch Lavik, and kept reading until he finished setting up the internet, and now I'm testing it. Or rather, I was testing it. Until I realized I'd been testing it for a while, and so I disconnected to write this blog.
I've gotten some comments about how some people enjoy reading about the "emotional" part of my journey. Sometimes I'll be walking, or sitting in school, and get these really profound thoughts, and I'll write them down and forget to put them in my blog. The result is that I'm going to have to take every stinking one of my school notebooks home just so I have all the complete thoughts.
I've been reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Actually, it was kind of an accident. I started it a day or two ago, just because I wanted to read something in English because I missed reading. Those of you who know me, know that once I got into it, I couldn't stop. You all should read it because it's an amazing book, and I've decided that Steinbeck is a brilliant writer. Some of his similies and descritions make me jealous.
Unfortunately it being in English is a bad thing. The good news is that since I read a lot yesterday evening and all day at school today, I'll be finishing the book soon. Or maybe it's bad news because that means I have one book left in english. I was looking at one of the many bookstores today and found a copy of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Translated to Russian. I think I'll buy it because reading it in Russian won't be too terribly difficult because I already know the story and have read the english version. But it'll be in Russian so that'll be good practice. An additional bonus is that the book is small so it won't be too heavy to carry to school.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Rather unorganized.
I seriously wasn't going to use the computer today. I use it too much. So I was just not going to do anything with it for a couple of days and then e-mail my parents just when they're beginning to wonder if I've been abducted by Chechen rebels. But my plans kind of changed because Kunai, the teacher who "accompanied" me to the Lena pillers called and wants me to speak to her english students. Tomorrow. Which I can't refuse because I put her off last week with the excuse that my power point needed finished. Which was basically the truth.
See I made this powerpoint presentation about myself before coming here. Dad helped me fix it all up spiffy and everything. Timing was all good, and what not. But there was a slight problem. When I plugged it into the computer here, the timing was wrong, or rather, there was no timing for the slides with pictures. So I have to fix it so the pictures come in right. While I was at it I thought I'd check my e-mail and write an update. I would just like to say though if you think powerpoint is bad in english (Which actually it's a good, easy to use program) Try using an older version of it. In Russian. So now that I've figured out where the buttons are, it's going faster.
Art class was better today. I didn't get screamed at. I actually talked to some of my classmates. I have a love hate relationship with that class. It's fun, and I enjoy it, and even though I've had like two lessons, I've learned a lot. Yet at the same time it's difficult because I really have zero background in art other than what they made us take in middle school, so that makes it challenging. Which is good because school here doesn't really challenge me because I don't do a whole lot.
In other news, I found out that we are having a really mild winter so far. Apparently usually by this time of year it's negative 30 and there's like 5 feet of snow. Okay, maybe not five feet, but you get the idea. Actually, it didn't snow for a week or two and then yesterday it started up and it's basically been snowing ever since. Which is fine with me because it makes the city beautiful! Though you do have to be careful not to slip. There's a different way of walking on the snow. I can't describe it, but you can't walk on it like you normally walk, or you'll end up hurting yourself. *though I have slid many times, I've only actually fallen once so far knock on wood*
I just got back from looking at an apartment with Raisa. Not for her but for her aunt or cousin or something. Everytime I see other apartments, it makes me really glad to be living with Raisa mostly because her apartment is more modern than most. Read: really nice by Russian standards.
Just a digression, but I'm glad I went back to art class. Even though it was really bad the first couple of times. I went back because I know a secret that I'm now going to share with all of you. I could make so much money if I sold this secret, or wrote a book about it, but instead I'm going to share it with all of you. The secret is this: You've got to keep getting back on the horse, Eventually you'll tame it. Or you'll just break your neck in the process.
See I made this powerpoint presentation about myself before coming here. Dad helped me fix it all up spiffy and everything. Timing was all good, and what not. But there was a slight problem. When I plugged it into the computer here, the timing was wrong, or rather, there was no timing for the slides with pictures. So I have to fix it so the pictures come in right. While I was at it I thought I'd check my e-mail and write an update. I would just like to say though if you think powerpoint is bad in english (Which actually it's a good, easy to use program) Try using an older version of it. In Russian. So now that I've figured out where the buttons are, it's going faster.
Art class was better today. I didn't get screamed at. I actually talked to some of my classmates. I have a love hate relationship with that class. It's fun, and I enjoy it, and even though I've had like two lessons, I've learned a lot. Yet at the same time it's difficult because I really have zero background in art other than what they made us take in middle school, so that makes it challenging. Which is good because school here doesn't really challenge me because I don't do a whole lot.
In other news, I found out that we are having a really mild winter so far. Apparently usually by this time of year it's negative 30 and there's like 5 feet of snow. Okay, maybe not five feet, but you get the idea. Actually, it didn't snow for a week or two and then yesterday it started up and it's basically been snowing ever since. Which is fine with me because it makes the city beautiful! Though you do have to be careful not to slip. There's a different way of walking on the snow. I can't describe it, but you can't walk on it like you normally walk, or you'll end up hurting yourself. *though I have slid many times, I've only actually fallen once so far knock on wood*
I just got back from looking at an apartment with Raisa. Not for her but for her aunt or cousin or something. Everytime I see other apartments, it makes me really glad to be living with Raisa mostly because her apartment is more modern than most. Read: really nice by Russian standards.
Just a digression, but I'm glad I went back to art class. Even though it was really bad the first couple of times. I went back because I know a secret that I'm now going to share with all of you. I could make so much money if I sold this secret, or wrote a book about it, but instead I'm going to share it with all of you. The secret is this: You've got to keep getting back on the horse, Eventually you'll tame it. Or you'll just break your neck in the process.
Monday, October 22, 2007
So I lied
Alright, I wasn't telling the truth when I said that exchange is the hardest thing I've ever done. But at the time I said it, I didn't know there was something harder. I now think that the hardest thing I've done is take an art class on exchange. I know that sentence probably made all of you burst out laughing, but I'm beginning to think it's the truth. Between the woman yelling at me (literally) and the teacher practically painting my picture for me, plus everyone thinking I'm an idiot who can't speak Russian, it's an emotional journey. Plus I'm not good at art like everyone else in my class because unlike writing, I haven't been drawing and painting since I was a babe in arms. This is right up there with coming down the Lena Pillars, thinking I was going to meet Jesus face to face with every step. oi, mametchka!
So I'm thinking I need to reclassify because it seems like every month I go through something harder than the last month, or as hard as. Living here day to day is a challenge, but then I get these extra big mountins that come along. oi. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?
Okay so here's how it works. The general heading is "Exchange is the hardest thing I've ever done" period. Because as a whole, it is. Then under that we have the sub headings. "Climbing up and down the Lena pillars" "Going to art class" and "Asking the kiosk ladies for a candy bar" though the latter gets easier everytime I do it. Just like art class gets a little easier everytime I go, just like climbing...well, I've only done that once, (I'm not sure I want to do it again) but you get the idea. And not only that, but living in Russia gets easier with everyday that passes.
I was proud of myself because when I came home, I told Raisa about the woman yelling at me. It was broken, bad grammar Russian, but it was Russian. That makes me proud. I've discovered that everytime I'm down I feel better about myself when I use Russian in an everyday situation. A lot of times this involves buying something. I know it sounds like I'm a shopoholic, but It's usually just small stuff. I don't do it for the stuff. I do it because in a lot of stores here you have to ask for what you want. So it's not really the buying stuff that makes me feel good, it's the fact that I can use my Russian.
So I'm thinking I need to reclassify because it seems like every month I go through something harder than the last month, or as hard as. Living here day to day is a challenge, but then I get these extra big mountins that come along. oi. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?
Okay so here's how it works. The general heading is "Exchange is the hardest thing I've ever done" period. Because as a whole, it is. Then under that we have the sub headings. "Climbing up and down the Lena pillars" "Going to art class" and "Asking the kiosk ladies for a candy bar" though the latter gets easier everytime I do it. Just like art class gets a little easier everytime I go, just like climbing...well, I've only done that once, (I'm not sure I want to do it again) but you get the idea. And not only that, but living in Russia gets easier with everyday that passes.
I was proud of myself because when I came home, I told Raisa about the woman yelling at me. It was broken, bad grammar Russian, but it was Russian. That makes me proud. I've discovered that everytime I'm down I feel better about myself when I use Russian in an everyday situation. A lot of times this involves buying something. I know it sounds like I'm a shopoholic, but It's usually just small stuff. I don't do it for the stuff. I do it because in a lot of stores here you have to ask for what you want. So it's not really the buying stuff that makes me feel good, it's the fact that I can use my Russian.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Russia Update #3-Reflections
I think this is number three now, right? If I loose count, forgive me. Also please forgive any spelling and grammar errors as I seem to be losing my writing ability due to learning more Russian.
Anyway, I hope that this update finds everyone well. Life here is always interesting. I still feel like I have yet to develop a true routine as random things seem to pop up and come and go. Maybe this week my routine will finally reveal itself. I've been waiting for it for almost two months.
Speaking of which, I'm finishing out my second month here in the city of Yakutsk. It's very odd the way the time seems to fly by, but at the same time, it's very slow. Not that slow is always a bad thing. I guess the main thing that's slow is school. School bores me. A lot. But I go because if I didn't, I wouldn't get nearly the exposure to Russian. I've been trying to make more of an effort to participate and do homework which helps, but school is still tedious.
For those of you who missed the memo, I celebrated my 19th birthday here. I feel so old. Do you realize that most of my 19th year will be spent here and that when I get home I'll be ready to turn 20? AHHHHH! lol.
The governor of District 5010 came for a visit this last Friday. I ate dinner with him, his wife, and the Rotary Club president on Thursday night. I did some translating which was kind of exciting. It shows how much my Russian has improved since I've come here. On Friday I basically spent the entire day doing stuff with and related to the govorner's visit. Raisa and I were really tired when we got home Friday night, so she told me I didn't have to go to school saturday. That was really exciting.
I know this letter isn't as formal as the last one, not as well organized, and maybe more rambling, but I just don't feel like being formal right now. I think that you all will deal with it.
My language has improved. I'm not sure really about my speaking except that I have a larger vocabulary than I did two months ago. I get so frustrated when I can't express myself. Though last night I was able to figure out how to tell a girl why I didn't like the last Harry Potter book. Which made me feel really good.
I have my ups and downs. I want you all to know this because I don't want to paint an unreal picture of my exchange. There are days when I just want to curl up in a ball and cry. There are days when I think that I never want to go back to America. There are times when all I want are my friends an family in America. Yet, if given the chance I wouldn't go home. It's like I don't know what I really want. It's weird. It's like this country makes me bipolar.
Yet, at the same time I know that it'll feel odd when I go back to America. How do I know this? Because the idea of me going back already seems...different...The way I see and view America is different. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I already feel the change. Though it may not look like it, I'm already a different person than I was when I got off that airplane in Yakutsk's tiny airport almost two months ago. Already I see things through different eyes, there are issues that I look at differently, and there are things I've learned here that I will carry with me.
I don't know if any of this is making sense, and maybe some of you don't enjoy reading about my emotional process. You think when you signed up for this e-mail I was going to give you the bare facts. Well, I've got news for you. These are the facts. Yeah, I could tell you details about my daily life here, but I already do that in my blog. If that's what you want, then go read it. http://learnspeak.blogspot.com I just figure that this is my newsletter, and you wanted updates so here they are.
Sometimes I think I'm a bad exchange student. I think that maybe I'm not outgoing enough here, I don't try hard enough to make friends. Sometimes I think about the day I get off the plane in good old Cleveland Ohio. Sometimes I think about it a lot. More than I think I should and then I mentally chastise myself because I need to be living here, in Yakutsk Russia. Sometimes I want the time to hurry up so that it can be february, or march, and I can be more used to living here. There are moments that I wish would last longer. Sometimes I wonder why Rotary picked a person like me to go on exchange. I know they had their reasons, and I've always wanted to go on exchange. Felt like I was meant to go on exchange. I know that once I get through it, like the Moscow airport, I'll have a sense of accomplishment. I've seen so much and done so much here that I couldn't in America. If I could go back in time to the beginning of my exchange journey, and were given the option of coming or not, knowing what I know now, I would still come. Because even though this is probably the hardest thing I've ever done, I know it's also going to be the most rewarding when I get done.
I appreciate those of you who have read this far. Appreciate the fact that you listened to my personal...not problems really, I guess reflections is a better word. If you were expecting this letter to be something other than what it was, maybe next time you won't be disappointed, but this right now is the reality of my life.
I have this thing about stuff that's more personal, how it doesn't go on the internet because you never know who reads it, so there are some things that are best left to a paper journal, or not said at all. I do not classify this as one of those things. Because I want you to know what exchange is like, and this is it.
I was going to do shout outs now, but I figured why? mostly because I talk to those of you I would shout out to on a semi-regular basis, so I guess I'm just going to leave this letter where it is. As always I appreciate your thoughts, comments, prayers, and e-mails. I really am doing well here. Don't think that I'm not. If this letter came off sounding really negative, I didn't mean it to. It's more of a reflection. I've come to love this city, the dust, the cold, the old school cars. I've already started making plans for how to save up money to make a second trip here. So life really is good.
I hope that you all are doing well too wherever you may be, exchange, college, home, high school. I hope that you are enjoying whatever it is you have chosen to do, just as I am enjoying mine.
Until next time,
Abigail
--
Abigail Faust
Якутск, Республика Саха (Якутия) Россия
Yakutsk, Sakha Republic (Yakutia) Russia
Website: http://learnspeak.blogspot.com
E-Mail:
languagelove@gmail.com
arfaust@hotmail.com (Rotary)
AIM: InterpretedSigns
Anyway, I hope that this update finds everyone well. Life here is always interesting. I still feel like I have yet to develop a true routine as random things seem to pop up and come and go. Maybe this week my routine will finally reveal itself. I've been waiting for it for almost two months.
Speaking of which, I'm finishing out my second month here in the city of Yakutsk. It's very odd the way the time seems to fly by, but at the same time, it's very slow. Not that slow is always a bad thing. I guess the main thing that's slow is school. School bores me. A lot. But I go because if I didn't, I wouldn't get nearly the exposure to Russian. I've been trying to make more of an effort to participate and do homework which helps, but school is still tedious.
For those of you who missed the memo, I celebrated my 19th birthday here. I feel so old. Do you realize that most of my 19th year will be spent here and that when I get home I'll be ready to turn 20? AHHHHH! lol.
The governor of District 5010 came for a visit this last Friday. I ate dinner with him, his wife, and the Rotary Club president on Thursday night. I did some translating which was kind of exciting. It shows how much my Russian has improved since I've come here. On Friday I basically spent the entire day doing stuff with and related to the govorner's visit. Raisa and I were really tired when we got home Friday night, so she told me I didn't have to go to school saturday. That was really exciting.
I know this letter isn't as formal as the last one, not as well organized, and maybe more rambling, but I just don't feel like being formal right now. I think that you all will deal with it.
My language has improved. I'm not sure really about my speaking except that I have a larger vocabulary than I did two months ago. I get so frustrated when I can't express myself. Though last night I was able to figure out how to tell a girl why I didn't like the last Harry Potter book. Which made me feel really good.
I have my ups and downs. I want you all to know this because I don't want to paint an unreal picture of my exchange. There are days when I just want to curl up in a ball and cry. There are days when I think that I never want to go back to America. There are times when all I want are my friends an family in America. Yet, if given the chance I wouldn't go home. It's like I don't know what I really want. It's weird. It's like this country makes me bipolar.
Yet, at the same time I know that it'll feel odd when I go back to America. How do I know this? Because the idea of me going back already seems...different...The way I see and view America is different. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I already feel the change. Though it may not look like it, I'm already a different person than I was when I got off that airplane in Yakutsk's tiny airport almost two months ago. Already I see things through different eyes, there are issues that I look at differently, and there are things I've learned here that I will carry with me.
I don't know if any of this is making sense, and maybe some of you don't enjoy reading about my emotional process. You think when you signed up for this e-mail I was going to give you the bare facts. Well, I've got news for you. These are the facts. Yeah, I could tell you details about my daily life here, but I already do that in my blog. If that's what you want, then go read it. http://learnspeak.blogspot.com I just figure that this is my newsletter, and you wanted updates so here they are.
Sometimes I think I'm a bad exchange student. I think that maybe I'm not outgoing enough here, I don't try hard enough to make friends. Sometimes I think about the day I get off the plane in good old Cleveland Ohio. Sometimes I think about it a lot. More than I think I should and then I mentally chastise myself because I need to be living here, in Yakutsk Russia. Sometimes I want the time to hurry up so that it can be february, or march, and I can be more used to living here. There are moments that I wish would last longer. Sometimes I wonder why Rotary picked a person like me to go on exchange. I know they had their reasons, and I've always wanted to go on exchange. Felt like I was meant to go on exchange. I know that once I get through it, like the Moscow airport, I'll have a sense of accomplishment. I've seen so much and done so much here that I couldn't in America. If I could go back in time to the beginning of my exchange journey, and were given the option of coming or not, knowing what I know now, I would still come. Because even though this is probably the hardest thing I've ever done, I know it's also going to be the most rewarding when I get done.
I appreciate those of you who have read this far. Appreciate the fact that you listened to my personal...not problems really, I guess reflections is a better word. If you were expecting this letter to be something other than what it was, maybe next time you won't be disappointed, but this right now is the reality of my life.
I have this thing about stuff that's more personal, how it doesn't go on the internet because you never know who reads it, so there are some things that are best left to a paper journal, or not said at all. I do not classify this as one of those things. Because I want you to know what exchange is like, and this is it.
I was going to do shout outs now, but I figured why? mostly because I talk to those of you I would shout out to on a semi-regular basis, so I guess I'm just going to leave this letter where it is. As always I appreciate your thoughts, comments, prayers, and e-mails. I really am doing well here. Don't think that I'm not. If this letter came off sounding really negative, I didn't mean it to. It's more of a reflection. I've come to love this city, the dust, the cold, the old school cars. I've already started making plans for how to save up money to make a second trip here. So life really is good.
I hope that you all are doing well too wherever you may be, exchange, college, home, high school. I hope that you are enjoying whatever it is you have chosen to do, just as I am enjoying mine.
Until next time,
Abigail
--
Abigail Faust
Якутск, Республика Саха (Якутия) Россия
Yakutsk, Sakha Republic (Yakutia) Russia
Website: http://learnspeak.blogspot.com
E-Mail:
languagelove@gmail.com
arfaust@hotmail.com (Rotary)
AIM: InterpretedSigns
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Dear Americans: A Letter from an American To Americans
Welcome to Russia! And I mean that in the most sincere way possible. Despite all of the rumors circulating in our own country, Russia is actally a pretty cool place. It's modern and there are things about it that are extremely convenient. Russia however, is not America. So I thought I would help you out by giving you some advice before you go blundering around irritating people like me.
First off, Do not even attempt to interfere with anything having to do with food. Why? Because Russians have a thing with food. You're just going to have to deal with that. In America if you go out to dinner and just order a soup and salad, that's fine, but in this country it's not allowed. If you tell someone that you just want soup and salad, they will pretend to not understand your english, and order you additional items. If you tell the translator (Me and anyone else who knows english and Russian at the table) that you just want soup and a salad, we will not translate this request to the person paying and you will end up with a meal anyway. It's Russia. You might as well enjoy the good food.
Secondly, all restaurants have cloth napkins. These napkins are for your lap. You do not wipe your mouth with them. What do you think the paper napkins are on the table for?
Thirdly, plan for a restaurant dinner to take at least two hours. This isn't america. Russians enjoy their food. Not only that, but service in restaurants is a lot slower here. So just relax and enjoy the atmosphere.
Fourthly, life equals tea. Learn this lesson and learn it well, grasshopper. Russia without tea would be like...jelly without peanut butter? Milk without cookies? Actually tea is so much a part of the culture here that the two are inseperable. If you are invited to someone's house, expect to stay for tea. And don't expect to "Just have tea" Mostly because "having tea" also includes butterbrot, cookies, jelly, and sometimes other random things that the Russians have about the house. It's insulting if you don't have some.
Speaking of butterbrot, if you are making one for yourself, do not make it like an american sandwich. Butterbrot are meant to be eaten open-faced. Besides if you add that second slice of bread you lose the flavor of the kolbasa and cheese.
Finally, Russians are a proud people. You'd better try whatever national/traditional dishes they offer. Even if it's cold fish, butter soup, or funny-looking whipped cream. Besides, why wouldn't you try it? You might not get another chance.
Please learn these lessons and learn them well. You'll save people like me, who live in two worlds a lot of agrivation. And please, enjoy your stay here. It really is a great country.
First off, Do not even attempt to interfere with anything having to do with food. Why? Because Russians have a thing with food. You're just going to have to deal with that. In America if you go out to dinner and just order a soup and salad, that's fine, but in this country it's not allowed. If you tell someone that you just want soup and salad, they will pretend to not understand your english, and order you additional items. If you tell the translator (Me and anyone else who knows english and Russian at the table) that you just want soup and a salad, we will not translate this request to the person paying and you will end up with a meal anyway. It's Russia. You might as well enjoy the good food.
Secondly, all restaurants have cloth napkins. These napkins are for your lap. You do not wipe your mouth with them. What do you think the paper napkins are on the table for?
Thirdly, plan for a restaurant dinner to take at least two hours. This isn't america. Russians enjoy their food. Not only that, but service in restaurants is a lot slower here. So just relax and enjoy the atmosphere.
Fourthly, life equals tea. Learn this lesson and learn it well, grasshopper. Russia without tea would be like...jelly without peanut butter? Milk without cookies? Actually tea is so much a part of the culture here that the two are inseperable. If you are invited to someone's house, expect to stay for tea. And don't expect to "Just have tea" Mostly because "having tea" also includes butterbrot, cookies, jelly, and sometimes other random things that the Russians have about the house. It's insulting if you don't have some.
Speaking of butterbrot, if you are making one for yourself, do not make it like an american sandwich. Butterbrot are meant to be eaten open-faced. Besides if you add that second slice of bread you lose the flavor of the kolbasa and cheese.
Finally, Russians are a proud people. You'd better try whatever national/traditional dishes they offer. Even if it's cold fish, butter soup, or funny-looking whipped cream. Besides, why wouldn't you try it? You might not get another chance.
Please learn these lessons and learn them well. You'll save people like me, who live in two worlds a lot of agrivation. And please, enjoy your stay here. It really is a great country.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Mister Black Star aka Timati (and DJ Dlee)
I'd seen the concert advertised for a couple of weeks. I saw the ads, though "oh, that's interesting" and thought no more about it. Sunday morning we were eating breakfast (yay blini!) and Raisa goes "So there's a concert by this guy called Timati on Tuesday. Why don't you call up Vika and see about going." Since I had nothing planned on Tuesday I was like "Okay," So I called up Vika, and we made arrangements, bought tickets, and last night we went to see Timati. Vika was pretty excited about it, and so her excitment was contagious even though I'd only heard one song by Timati on the music video channel. (Just as an aside, have I ever mentioned that one of my favorite things about this country is that they have not one, not two, but three channels that show music videos?)
The concert was at the Circus so I met Vika at the tsentralnye theater (our usual meeting spot) and we walked to the circus. We were being silly the whole time. I don't even remember what about. Mostly just stupid teenage girl stuff. It was fun. We arrived at the plaza outside the circus at about twenty til seven. (The concert was supposed to start at seven) We met up with some of Vika's classmates and stood around with them until almost seven. Then we went inside.
Once inside we left our coats at the customary coat drop off. I'm going to miss those when I go back to America as they are so convenient. We milled around for a bit and then headed to find our seats. Vika and I had good seats. That was a good thing since I didn't pay 1,200 roubles to sit and look at the back of some famous Russian's head. We weren't right in the middle or anything, but our seats were really good. The concert was interesting. Timati seems to be a typical tatoo covered, bling wearing, ACDC t-shirt sporting rapper. Except that he's Russian.
He's got this whole "Mister Black Star" thing going on and I looked at Vika and asked "Why is he called Mr. Black Star...He's not black." Seriously. He's really not. His skin is slightly darker than the average Russian's but personally I think he looks more hispanic than black. Vika said something (I think) about him being arab by decent. Anyway she said that since his skin is a little darker, and most rappers (except eminem) are black, he calls himself "Mr. Black Star" I was like Oh okay. Secretly thinking to myself that that was...interesting. The concert was filled with shrieking teenagers which gave me great entertainment because sometimes they would cheer for Timati at the oddest times. Напремер (For example), Timati was singing this rap about a guy who catches his girlfriend in bed with another guy. So he shoots the guy. He was kind of acting this little story out, and so there was a gunshot sound effect. Naturally in songs like this, the killer gets caught, this was evidenced by the sound of a police siren. And since this is a rap we have to condone suicide so Timati pretended to shot himself (accompanied by another gunshot effect) and he sprawled out on the floor. Right after he did that there was a cheer from the teenage girls in the audience (Because they loved the song) but I just laughed, because it was almost like they were happy he was dead. It gave me great amusement.
The concert ended sometime after nine, but I don't really know because we were there for maybe another 45 minutes because Vika wanted autographs. It was something I hadn't even thought of. So we waited in line and while I was there I had both Timati and Dj Dlee (A famous DJ he's touring with) sign my ticket. It makes a cool souvenir anyway. Wait til I go home and show everyone. I can just hear the conversation in my head:
"And look while I was at this concert thing, I got Timati's Autograph. Isn't that awesome?"
"You got who's autograph?" *Person wanders away*
yup, I can hardly wait. hee hee.
Speaking of conversations I've found some more mistakes that I've made while speaking. I realized the other day that I'd gotten the words for "never" and "Not allowed" mixed up so when I had a conversation with one girl about boys it was something like:
Girl: "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Me:"Nope, I'm not allowed"
She probably thinks I'm nuts. Oh well, just about everyone does. I'm okay with that too. Here's a conversation I had with Vika:
Me:"Yeah I want to get together with Lilia next week and make American Liver"
Vika:"Liver? uh...okay?"
Me:"yeah! you know (in english) cookies!"
Vika:Ah! Okay, because you just said you wanted to make liver
Me:(slightly embarrassed)HA HA HA!
In other news someone told me that last winter the temperature here didn't hit negative 50. I was like "really?" and inside I was secretly thrilled. She went "Yeah, it was only negative 48" and I was like "You're kidding" in a rather disappointed tone. She then went on to explain that there's a big difference in temperature between negative fifty and negative forty eight, and after living here for a month and a half, I believe her.
The District governor is coming on Friday. I'm doing events all day. That's cool with me as I get to skip school.
There was something else...what was it?
Ah! I remember.
How many of you have heard the song "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake. Go on Raise your hands.
Good.
Now how many of you can say you've heard this song in Yakutian?
That's what I thought.
I have heard this song in yakutian. I didn't understand a word of it. But it was pretty sweet anyway.
We were singing it in English. Okay, actually the teacher was out of the room and I was helping people with their stuff and I started signing a little of a song by a Russian artist, Pavel Bolya. All of a sudden Aita, one of my classmates, goes "I'm bringing sexy back" And so naturally I'm like "Yeah!" the bell rings and I'm walking with some girls, singing sexy back, and Galia goes "I have it on my phone!" So she turns it on and we're heading to the first floor and I'm singing along and then Kirill, one of the boys in my class goes "hey Abigail, want to hear it in Yakutian?" So he turns it on, and I listen to part of it and I'm like "Sweet!"
Then they all had to go to gym and I had to go to Rotary so the moment was over, but it was cool while it lasted. And that's my story for the day. Now I must finish my little speech about jazz for History tomorrow.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
They Call Him Dima Bilan
So it's time for another one of my more interactive posts. I know how much you all enjoy them. Actually I don't really know, I'm just guessing. If I were you, I would enjoy them.
Watch the youtube video below. It's in English for your convenience since I know that 95% of you don't know Russian. (Actually the truth is that the song is in English, it's not really for your convenience.)Notice in particular the man singing. Also, you might want to notice his hairstyle. (it's a rather popular style here.)
Have you watched the video? THE WHOLE VIDEO? Good. Now do you know who this man is? And don't say Dima Bilan just because it's in the post title, or on the bottom of the video, or because he says it about five hundred times during the song. Do you actually know him. Like, have you heard of him? You haven't? Well that's a shock because everyone knows Dima Bilan.
If a Russian knows that you're foreign and you say you like Russian music, the first question you get asked is "Ты знаешь Дима Билан?" Which roughly translated means "Have you heard of the great and powerful Dima Bilan?" Actually it just means "Do you know Dima Bilan." The point is that if you say "nyet" you will get a lecture becaue Dima Bilan is probably the most famous singer in Russia right now. As I previously stated. Everyone knows Dima. The above music video has been number one on the MTV Russian countdown every week that I've been here. (Closely followed by the Song by Maxsim that I posted earlier) You can hear his songs on the radio, on commercials, you see his picture in girly magazines. Apparently they think he's attractive, personally I'm all for him getting a hair cut, and what's with that little half gotee thing? The magizine "yes" had a countdown of the one hundred hottest guys. It was a big poster. Do you who number one was? That guy from fallout boy. Followed by that guy who looks like a chick from the german band Tokio Hotel and then somebody else who I forget. Dima Bilan was number four. He beat out Justin Timberlake, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and basically almost every other typically "attractive" celebrity you can think of.
Comedians make fun of him. Actually I enjoyed watching the sketch I saw of comedians making fun of it because I understood it. I'm not going to try to describe it because I won't do as good of a job, and it's only funny if you've heard more than one of Dima Bilan's songs, but I about died laughing.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that like the mobile provider МТС (That's em-tey-ess, not em-tee-see) Dima Bilan is kind of a Russian icon.
Watch the youtube video below. It's in English for your convenience since I know that 95% of you don't know Russian. (Actually the truth is that the song is in English, it's not really for your convenience.)Notice in particular the man singing. Also, you might want to notice his hairstyle. (it's a rather popular style here.)
Have you watched the video? THE WHOLE VIDEO? Good. Now do you know who this man is? And don't say Dima Bilan just because it's in the post title, or on the bottom of the video, or because he says it about five hundred times during the song. Do you actually know him. Like, have you heard of him? You haven't? Well that's a shock because everyone knows Dima Bilan.
If a Russian knows that you're foreign and you say you like Russian music, the first question you get asked is "Ты знаешь Дима Билан?" Which roughly translated means "Have you heard of the great and powerful Dima Bilan?" Actually it just means "Do you know Dima Bilan." The point is that if you say "nyet" you will get a lecture becaue Dima Bilan is probably the most famous singer in Russia right now. As I previously stated. Everyone knows Dima. The above music video has been number one on the MTV Russian countdown every week that I've been here. (Closely followed by the Song by Maxsim that I posted earlier) You can hear his songs on the radio, on commercials, you see his picture in girly magazines. Apparently they think he's attractive, personally I'm all for him getting a hair cut, and what's with that little half gotee thing? The magizine "yes" had a countdown of the one hundred hottest guys. It was a big poster. Do you who number one was? That guy from fallout boy. Followed by that guy who looks like a chick from the german band Tokio Hotel and then somebody else who I forget. Dima Bilan was number four. He beat out Justin Timberlake, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and basically almost every other typically "attractive" celebrity you can think of.
Comedians make fun of him. Actually I enjoyed watching the sketch I saw of comedians making fun of it because I understood it. I'm not going to try to describe it because I won't do as good of a job, and it's only funny if you've heard more than one of Dima Bilan's songs, but I about died laughing.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that like the mobile provider МТС (That's em-tey-ess, not em-tee-see) Dima Bilan is kind of a Russian icon.
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