Dealing With People

So I've been home a couple of weeks now. Sometimes it's just...strange. I'm completely and utterly sick of people asking me how Russia was. My typical answer is different. How do you really answer that? Because you can't just say "good." I mean, some parts of it weren't really that good. I usually answer "Different" though Sometimes I just feel like being rude and I want to say "Do you really care or are you just asking to be polite?" The other question I'm sick of is "Have you re-acclimated yet?" My usual answer to this is something along the lines of "Somewhat" or "eh.." But I seriously think that the next person who asks me that is going to get an earful of Russian.

I miss speaking Russian tons by the way. The other night I came home from somewhere and I just started speaking Russian to my mom. Naturally, she didn't understand it. So I started trying to tell her what different words meant but without telling her in English, just explaining it in Russian. Bless her heart, she was very patient with me just sitting there babbling on for like twenty minutes before she was like "Abigail, I'm sorry, I'm just too tired." Even though it's pointless to speak Russian to people here, I find myself doing it anyway. It's good practice for me anyway. When we got done, I followed mom upstairs to my parents' room where I promptly started to cry.

I've had that happen a couple of times. Just burst out crying. The first time was actullay the day I made my last blog post. The day before my party. I had stumbled upon a website that listed "the worst roads in the world." Number two were the roads in Yakutsk. A picture of a truck half stuck in mud was accompanied by a little blurb. I read said blurb which was basically not nice about Yakutsk. The last line was something like "Maybe Yakutsk isn't worth visiting after all." I promptly burst out crying. A lot. I felt so hurt and insulted because I lived in Yakutsk. Ten and a half months of my life were dedicated to that city and I know very well that even though it's remote and freezing in the winter, it is a good place to visit.

I'm weird about Russia too. Woe to anyone who makes some comment about Communism. They will quickly be set on the straight and narrow. Russia is not a communist country and has not been so for like 17 years. Woe as well to anyone who makes fun of Russia and/or Yakutsk. I spoke in my bible class today about life in Russia. I passed around a book with pictures of Yakutsk. One girl was flipping pages and came to a picture of a woman in Yakutian National Dress. She laughed loudly and asked if it was one of my host moms. I just shot her this evil glare.

Which is odd actually. Because I have no problem making fun of Russia myself. I mean, I don't feel bad about making comments about Vodka, or Russia, or Communists, or I'll make jokes about this country and the Capitalism. That's okay. Yet when other people do it, it irritates me. I felt rather hypocritical about it until someone said it perfectly. They said it's like having a little brother or sister. You can pick on them all you want, but are quick to jump to their defense when someone else does. And that, I think, is exactly what it is. I've lived in Russia. I know well, if not intimately, The language, the culture and the people. So I can kind of pick on the faults of the motherland. Yet it bothers me when people who don't know anything make fun because, well, they're just ignorant about it. Because they don't know about Russia, their jokes are coming straight from stereotypes. It irritates me. Usually, when a comment based on a stereotype comes out as just someone not knowing. Perhaps they ask it as a question. I assume that they just don't know and that they'd like to know so I'm usually pretty polite; however, I had some guys today that were just making fun and I...uh...wasn't nearly as polite to them :) Duratskii amerikantsii. But such is my life right now. I have my good and bad days. Just like when I was in Russia.

Some days are basically good with only a few thoughts on Russia. Most days though I think about it a lot. Or at least, the russian speaking part of it. In some ways, I try not to think about it. It's my defense tactic.

Being Back

It was a long trip. Last Friday was the longest day of my life. Seriously. I got up at 3am moscow time and went to sleep in my own bed at 3am Eastern Time. 12 hours right? no problem. You have to remember that between those times, I had a 4 hour flight, an 8 hour flight and a two hour flight. Plus layovers in various airports. I had many adventures, like almost getting on a flight to Detriot, but the upshot is that I started crying when, at 9pm eastern time, my airplane landed in Cleveland. All I could think was "Oh my goodness, I'm in Cleveland. I'm home, I'm home."

It was a shock on the flight from Moscow. I flew Swiss Air from Moscow to Zurich. Why was it a shock? Because Swiss Air speaks German and Swiss Air speaks English. They do a little French too. So it was a bit of a shock to be on this airplane and have the in-flight magazines not be in Russian, and to have people automatically address me in English. I was freaking out and had to mentally tell myself that "I need to be doing English."

I've been here almost a week and the novelty is starting to fade. I mean, yeah, I'm still happy to be hanging with my parents. To be able to see my family and friends. But in some ways, I no longer feel connected to them. My feelings are as changing as the wind. Mostly I don't want to be here. But my problem is that I'm not sure that I'd want to be back in Russia either. I don't know where I want to be.

I feel bad that I haven't updated more. Mom said people had started asking her why I wasn't updating. The truth is that I've been really busy. I feel like I've been going almost non-stop since I got back last week. What have I been doing? Well, aside from a family dinner and a party tomorrow, I've been doing what I've always done. I run errands with my parents, I go to church, I occasionally meet with friends. Yet somehow now, it seems like too much. Probably because I've gotten used to having entirely too much free time.

I haven't gotten back in to watching American TV yet. Just haven't felt like it. Don't really play a lot of Wii either aside from Wii fit and occasional guitar hero. I've been reading a lot. Working on Pride and Prejudice right now. I sleep a lot too. I tell you what, it hits 8 or 9 pm and I just crash. But I don't dare go to bed until at least ten. The one night, I went to bed at 8:45. Bad idea because as I result, I found myself nice and awake at about 4:30 in the morning. Fun.

What else has been happening? Well, I've got myself a cold, On the way home from the airport I forgot the English word for smetana (It's sour cream by the way) and I occasionally find myself asking questions with Russian intonation rather than English. Oh and I've gotten rather sick of people asking me "how was your trip?" I mean normally, it wouldn't be a problem but after ten and a half months of ups and downs in a foreign country, how do you answer that. I mean saying the standard "good" is just so inappropriate. Mostly I just say "different" and leave it at that though I'm seriously thinking about just giving a good russian answer, "normalnye"

Sometimes I do things that are really rude without thinking, and then I'm like "Oh, man, I'm really really sorry about that." Sometimes I find myself reaching for the button on the back of the toilet to flush it, before realizing it's not there, or I'll reach for the little triangularly folded paper napkins on the table and then remember you have to ask for them.

I've been enjoying American food, but every time I eat it, I can't help thinking about all the Russian food that I can no longer eat. What do I miss most? Caviar, Salo and Ice cream.

I was at a wedding yesterday. Watching the Bride and Groom the just seemed so young. Although actually, the couple is a year or so older than me. I told mom when I got home last night that some days I watch people and I feel positively Ancient.

She says it'll pass and I know she's right, but you can't come out of Russia, or exchange for that matter, without being changed in some inexplicable way. My friends tell me I'll get used to life here again, that I'll get "Back to normal." That makes me want to scream. I don't have some disease that I'm overcoming and can then return to society. There's nothing broken about me.

Well, I guess that's all. At least for right now. But stay tuned for more drama and excitment from the land of Capitalism and Free Trade. (And yes, I've been thinking that rather sarcastically lately though I have no reason to.) Oh, by the way, if you know me and haven't heard, My welcome back party's tomorrow. It's at the church from 2-4 so feel free to drop in and have all your burning questions answered. I should really go finish my power point for that too.

Конец Мира

Ну вот и все. So I'm leaving tomorrow. It's nuts. It doesn't feel real but at the same time it feels entirely too real. Ten and a half months ago do you know what I was doing? I was hanging out with my friends for the last time. And now it's the opposite. Just over ten and a half months ago my parents were taking me to the airport, and my mom was saying "If anything, we'll meet right back here in Ten and a half months." While we were at the baggage claim. That's something that's stuck with me over the last ten months. The fact that at the end of it, we'd meet right back where we started.

I've been busy the last few days, meeting with friends and my 'family' here. Yesterday, I made a call to my parents working out last minute details on a hotel in Moscow. A 15 hour layover means spending the night.

It's just weird. Now I have to go back. I have to be a grown-up. Go to college, get a job, that kind of thing. I'm not sure I'm ready to be an adult. Not sure I'm ready to go back to life in Ohio where I have responsibilities to people and places and things.

And I can't be a kid, because I don't feel like a kid at all anymore. I don't know when it happened, exactly, but at some point, I realized that I hadn't felt like a teenager in a long time. Hadn't felt like a kid in a long time. So I can't go back. Only forward. I just keep telling myself that going back is going to be the start of another adventure, but after being here, it's hard to think of it that way.

It's strange to think that I can go back to my native language now. That in two days, I'll be speaking only english. Seeing only english, hearing only english. It's depressing. I don't want to stop speaking russian. I like it.

Okay, so maybe this post is rather disoriented. Sorry, that's how I'm feeling at the moment. It's all so weird. I can't believe I'm going back to Ohio.

Even though there's things I hate about this city, I'm always going to have a soft spot for it. It's like the fact that there's things I love and hate about my city back in Ohio. But it's where I was born, where I grew up so I have a soft spot for it. In the same way, I grew up in a sense here. Yakutsk is where I learned about Russia, where I learned about the culture and the language and so in a sense my Russian self grew up here.

Okay, I've talked enough. Consider this my last post from Russia. The next one comes from American soil.

Leaving

So, Thursday morning I head to the airport for the last time. My bags are mostly packed and I've been half living out of my suitcases the last week or so. These last three days, I'm going to be saying my final goodbyes to the people and places here that I've come to love. I feel like I should tell you about my weekend. Tell you about how I went to the Opening Ceremony of the Children of Asia games. Tell you about the odd Rotary New Year. But why? I mean, I feel like not talking about Russia on here, because well, I'm going to be home in four days and then you can ask me what you want to know, And if I'm not going to see you, then drop me an e-mail. I mean, I just feel like telling you how I feel. And this is it. Almost every day the past week or so I've cried. It'll be random things that set me off. Little things sometimes. The kids playing in the fountain on Ploshad Lenina. The other day, it was watching my Russian family interact with each other, and thinking about how in a week I'd be doing the same thing with my family back home.

It's weird because I think it's finally hit me that I'm leaving. But It's just so weird because I've just been living here, doing my thing. I've finally gotten used to life here. The rhythm of it, and now I'm leaving and let's be honest. I don't know if I'll ever come back. And that hurts.

A part of me could see me coming back. Renting an apartment, teaching english for a couple years (Even though I adamantly told my mother that I never wanted to be a teacher) Visiting Elena Ivanovna once a week, finding myself a Yakutian husband (ha ha) It's like this little thing in my head. But I don't know if that's the direction God has planned out for me. So for now, I'm wrapping up this adventure, and going to meet the next one head on. Life is always interesting. And I live it once. Might as well make the best of it.

Homeward Bound-A Folk Song

(No, I didn't write this. It's a folk song. Sort of. sang it for a competition in like 8th grade. Or seventh. Don't remember. But thought it would be appropriate to post)

In the quiet, misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed
When the sparrows stop their singing
And the sky is clear and red
When the Summer's ceased its gleaming
When the corn is past its prime
When Adventure's lost its meaning
I'll be homeward bound in time.

Bind me not to the pasture,
Chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow.

If you find it's me you're missing
If you're hoping I'll return
To your thoughts I'll soon be listening
In the road I'll stop and turn.
Then the wind will set me racing
As my journey nears its end
And the path I'll be retracing
When I'm homeward bound again.

Bind me not to the pasture,
Chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow.

...
One week from tomorrow, I fly out of Yakutsk...

Sadness

So, I started packing last week, I don't have to do it all at the last minute. My heart's been really heavy the last couple weeks. I realized today as I was jamming stuff into a suitcase that it wasn't fitting. So I took it out and started putting it back in in a different order. And I burst out crying. See, this is my last full week in Yakutsk. In 11 days I'll be meeting my family at the airport. And I want it to be here because I'm tired of feeling sad like this. Tired of trying to Jam an entire lifetime into two suitcases weighing no more than 50lbs, and two carry-ons. How do you do it? But what's weird is that even though my time here ends in a week and a half, life goes on as normal. I get up, get ready for the day, go walk, spend too much money. So life goes on. It's like when I was leaving the states. The world doesn't stop because I'm leaving.

So for now, I'm doing the best I can to shove stuff into suitcases, and enjoy the little time I have here left, and hang in there for another 11 days.

Ysyakh-Yakutian New Year

So, Now that I've been to at least three Ysyakh celebrations, I feel that I can safely say I am an Ysyakh expert. Or at least I know more about it than your Average American.

Ysyakh is, as the title of the post says, the Yakutian celebration of summer and the New Year. But it's also much more than that. My guidebook says that Ysyakh usually takes place the weekend after the Summer Solstice, which is the truth, but actually, Ysyakh is the big summer holiday and only the big City-wide Ysyakh takes place the weekend after the Solstice.

The smaller Ysyakhs are like family reunions. It's a chance for people who haven't seen each other in a year or so to get together and catch up and what's going on. While Ysyakhs vary in size, there are some things that remain the same.

Ysyakh is held in an open field out in nature. You go and when you first arrive, you set up camp. This involves spreading out blankets sometimes, putting up a little tent and hauling out the masses of food. There's no set menu of stuff you eat at Ysyakh but there are a few key traditions. Such as horse meat, and Koumiss which is fermented milk. Traditionally, it's mare's milk, but now a-days it's often cow, sometimes goat. Other than those two things, the menu varies. Chicken, Pirozhki (Pastries filled with meat) and sliced cucumbers and tomatos are very popular. To drink there's usually in addition to Koumiss, water, beer, and juice.

The events are in some ways standard as well. There's usually a program of welcome. There are usually singing contests and fellowship. There's usually Sports Games as well where young men compete in various events to prove their strength (wow, I sound like one of the translated from Russian guidebooks you find here.) These games include such things as wrestling, Seeing who can pull a stick out of another person's grasp, and seeing how far you can carry a 116kg stone before dropping it.

The City-wide Ysyakh is Ysyakh on steroids. It's absolutely huge. It's kind of like the county fair, only with less rides. There are booths selling everything from toys, to souvenirs, to food. There are horse rides, and stages where various concerts and things take place. Everything relating to Yakutian culture and done in the Yakutian language of course. At the big Ysyakh, there's an opening ceremony where a shaman sprinkles koumiss on the ground. Typically the City-wide celebration starts on a saturday at noon and finishes the next day at six in the evening. At three a.m. On sunday morning, there's a celebration to welcome the sun. I don't know what all that entails because I didn't get to attend that part.

The Ysyakh celbrations usually begin around the last weekend in May and continue through July. If you would like to know more about Ysyakh, or would just like to see some pictures and press from it, you can do so at The Official Ysyakh Website But I warn you that it is all in Russian.

Russia Update

Hi all!

I know it's been a long time since my last update and I"m going to be honest. The reason for this is because I've been putting it off. I mean, what do you say to a group of people you're going to be seeing soon? Not only that, but how do you describe all of this? I'm so confused right now. In some ways it feels like these final few weeks are harder than the first because the truth is, I'm ready to go home.

I think sometimes, the exchange students who feel this way don't like to admit it because it's at this point that many of our peers are having such a good time, they don't want to leave. And it's not that my exchange has been bad, in some ways it's like the defining moment of my life up until now. It's just I'm tired and ready to go home and have a break before starting the next adventure.

At least I'm not as scared as I was. For a while there, I was terrified to come home. At District Conference we were asked how we felt about the whole "Soon going home" concept. I answered "Afraid" and started to cry. It's hard to explain why. I was afriad because what if everything back home has changed and what if nothing has? THankfully though the raw terror in the pit of my stomach stage is past and I'm dealing with it.

Now the big question I'm wrestling with is how to share what I've learned, what I've experienced here. My mom said that we should have a welcome home party about a week after I get back. She told that it would be good for me to do a fifteen to twenty minute presentation. I know at some point I'm going to have to do one for my sponsering Rotary club as well. And that's when I realized firstly, How do you fit ten and a half months into fifteen minutes? Secondly, How in the world do I share this? One of the most depressing things I've realized recently is that as soon as I leave here and share my experiences with people back home, I'm going to be talking to people who've never experienced these things. I know, it sounds really odd when I write it like that. Like it doesn't make any sense. But it's like this. I can tell you what it feels like to lay on ice in June, to realize you suddenly understand a new word, to hear the rough sing-song of the Yakutian language. I can even show you pictures. But it's not the same as actually experiencing it.

So that's what's been bothering me most of all the last week or so. The fact that I won't be able to share my life here with you well enough. Maybe it sounds stupid, but that's one of the reasons for coming here in the first place. I wanted to learn what life in Russia was really like so I could share it with the people back home and break down sterotypes, just like I've been doing here with America.

I've spent the last nine and a half months doing everything in my power to become Russian. It makes sense to carry toilet paper around with you, to pack whole meals with you when you travel, even for a short time. It no longer bothers me to eat yougurt that's been sitting unrefrigerated on a boat for two days, or eat meat that's been sitting out most of the day. And when there's a 50% off sale on plane tickets because of the March 8th holiday and your usually 10,000 rouble tickets only cost you 8,000 you just shrug your shoulders and go on with life because it's just "Russian Tradition"

The irony is that after spending all this time learning and becoming this not quite russian, not quite american person, in Two weeks I'm going to be returning to a culture that expects me to be fully American, and I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with that. It's not that I don't love my birth country, but after something like this I don't think I can ever go back to being fully American.

Having said that, I hope you all have patience with me at first. I have a feeling I might be a little confused and disoriented sometimes. lol.

That's basically all I've got right now.

Adventures At the Waterfall and Buluus

I thought it would be fun to do this post mostly in pictures. Hope you all enjoy.




Crossing to the other side of the Lena River




The main Road out of Yakutsk. This is the one that goes to Nirungry. Looks fun doesn't it?

Our little group of adventurers minus Egor's nephew who's taking the picture.




The Hazards of the road



Wait, Where is the road?




At the Waterfall at last!



The Wild Abigail creeps through the forest of Russia's Far East



Random Ponies in the Road. Actually, horses. Yakutian Horses




What happens when you blow a tire in the middle of nowhere? The menfolk change it!



We Finally arrived at Buluus where the snow never melts!



What is this?



That's right! It's SNOW!



I can now say I've made a snow angel in June!



The Wild Abigail in her natural Habitat. Captured here while drinking from the stream.



The view from the top.

And that was our adventure!

Quickness

I don't have long. Feel like I haven't updated in forever. I'll try to do a couple of longer more detailed updates when I can. Basically the upshot is after district conference, I got sick in a major way. Not fun. Especially since Emmaline, my lovely Canadian exchange friend was going to be showing up here. So I did my best to get better and was mostly so by the time she came.

We had many adventures. Some of which I will follow up in a later post in more detail. Some of which you may never hear. The upshot though is that I've now seen Ice in June, Drunk water straight from a creek, seen the main road out of Yaktusk, Been underground surrounded by permafrost, Seen most of a play in Yakutian and talked about various boys in English without them understanding a word. Yeah. Life it good.

Oh and we had Graduation. I'll tell you about that too in more detail when I get a chance, but honestly, it wasn't nearly that big of a deal. Last Bell was much more interesting and exciting Culture-wise. This past week went really fast thanks to our visitor. It was nice. Now, I've got twenty days left until I get home. It's weird to think that three saturdays from now I'm going to be sitting down to a home-cooked meal with my entire family. Surreal. I want it to feel like I'm going home soon but it doesn't. I have my tickets, I'm going to be packing. Why doesn't it feel real? But then, I had the same problem coming the other way too. It didn't hit me that I'd be spending ten months in Russia until I actually got here.

Anyway, that's all for now as my internet time is limited. Look for more updates in the next few days.

One Month

I am leaving this city in One month. One month. That's four weeks, or thirty days. That's not long.

For those of you who don't know, I spent friday through monday in Khabarovsk for the district conference. In some ways it was so much fun! It was great to see my exchange buddies again and I got to meet some Rotarians that I'd heard about, but had never met.

But Khabarovsk wasn't as amazing as the trip in March. I mean, the city was beautiful and all (What I saw of it anyway,) and it gave me more funny stories, but it was different than the other trip. For one we weren't all there. For another it almost felt like the carefree days of our previous trip were over. We're leaving. Becoming rebounds. Some of us have already left, some of us are getting ready to leave, and others are stretching out the time as long as possible.

It was like there was this unspoken thing hanging above us the entire weekend. There were a lot of tears. It was the last time some of us were going to see each other. It was tough. Especially when we had a meeting as students with some guys for the district, it was great because we talked about where we'd been and exchange and where we were going, and then we started talking about going home, and I just started crying. Because I'm scared. It's so hard to explain why. I never thought going back to friends and family, the place I came from would be scary. But I'm terrified. I can't really say what I'm scared of, but I'm terrified that everything's changed and nothing has. I'm terrified that no one will understand, no one will listen. Part of me just wants to go home and hide. Yet at the same time, I want to find places to speak and people to talk to, ways I can share my experience and let people know what life here is really like.

I had another revelation while we were there. For the first time in my life I felt an age gap between myself and other exchange students. I think I'm ready to move on, but at the same time the fact that exchange is ending means that I have to go home, have to be an adult. Have to be responsible for things and deal with things such as college. In short, I'm terrified.

Anniversary

June first was my nine month anniversary. As time has been going on, I've found that the days that are my month markers have become less significant. But I remembered June first because it's my second to last month marker. Why am I writing a blog about it? Because it's frustrating in some ways. I feel like it's only been in the last month or so that I've actually gotten comfortable with my life here, and the language. I mean It's great because I'm not afraid of the language or the culture anymore, But in 38 days I'm going to be getting off a plane in Cleveland, greet my family and probably feel like a foreigner among my own country-men. Why? Well because let's be perfectly honest. I've spent the last nine months and two days trying my best to not be American. I've tried to adapt to this culture, and this life and this language, and I've finally done it. Now I'm going to be going home.

38 days. When you say it like that, it's not very long. One thing I've learned is how fast time goes. I mean really. In some ways this has felt like the longest year of my life and in others, it hasn't. I don't know. I think for the most part, I'm excited to be going home. I'm ready to see the Family. In other ways, I'm scared because even though I don't know exactly how, I know I've changed. I was reading my first journal the other day. The one that covers september to December and I laughed because I'm not that person anymore. I look back and just think "Wow, I was so Naive. I didn't know anything." And in some ways, I still don't know anything. But in some ways, I know so much more than I ever thought possible. I can't describe the feelings I've been having the past few weeks. Sometimes I just feel disconnected from this place already. Sometimes it feels like I'm living in a dream and one day I'm going to wake up and be back home. And In a sense, I guess that I am.

Esperanto Part 2

Okay, I'm sorry guys, I just have to adress this and then I'm done with this subject.

My post was intended to show that English is a current international language. As Far as I know they don't have to sing in english because many eurovison groups were not. And for the record, I'm not trying to "Force people to Learn my language" I find the fact that they learn and use English interesting. I am very much about people learning other people's languages to better communicate. I mean part of the reason I came to Russia in the first place was to learn Russian better and communicate better with people.

Okay, Having said that, I'm done now.

My First Yskah

On saturday, I got invited to go to a tiny Ysakh with Raisa and some friends and family. For those of you who don't know, Ysakh is the Yakutian New Year. It's a chance to celebrate the coming of warm weather, to meet people and generally hang out. It usually takes place in June, around the solstice. How it works, is that they start small and one weekend you have village Ysakh, the next weekend you have them for the Ulusses or counties and then the weekend after the solstice, there's a city-wide Ysakh.

Anyway, so now that you have a basic idea of what Ysakh is, here's how my first experience with it went. By the way, I'll edit with pictures when the internet at the apartment decides to work again.

So we went to this field out in the middle of nowhere. There were these flags set up in a big s

(A/N For some reason, this post was never finished...))

More Polar Days

Both of these pictures were taken from my window at about 1:30am on the day I watched Eurovision which was...May 25. So actually it was the morning of May 26th but that's being Technical. Anyway, it was actually lighter than shown in the pictures. Sorry about the bad quality my camera takes bad pictures of slightly dark and indoor settings but I figured a bad picture was better than none right? It's actually lighter than this now since we're coming up to the Solstice soon. I love the Polar Days!

Addressing Esperanto

There's nothing wrong with English, but I would like to argue the case for Esperanto as the international language. It is a planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states. Take a look at www.esperanto.net

Esperanto works! I've used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.
Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I've made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there's the Pasporta Servo, which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries.

Maybe Eurovision would be more interesting if the participants sang in their own language - or even in Espertanto!

This comment was left on my post about Eurovision Normally, I do not adress comments really, I read them and move on leaving them where they are for others to read or not as they so chose, however I felt like addressing this comment. Why? Well...Let me just start by saying that There's nothing wrong with Esperanto, but I would like to argue the case for English.

Back home in America we were told that we should all learn Spanish because so many people speak spanish. I decided to take French. In French class we learned that a lot of countries speak French. I took French because I thought it would be more of a challenge and after I started taking it, I decided the usufulness of knowing it in a european setting outweighed the usefulness of knowing spanish in my opinion. What does this have to do with English? Well even though both Spanish and French teachers were quoting statistics to me about the usefulness of knowing either of those languages, I heard other rumblings about how English is becoming an international language. Now, it's not that I don't trust my country's news, but coming straight from home, things are going to be a bit prejudice. So I figured, yeah, English is becoming an international language and some people are learning to speak it. I never realized that English is already an international language. I just didn't realize it until I got here.

I can't tell you how it became an international language. Will have to watch the BBC's Story of English and then tell you. But I can definitely say for sure and not just because I'm a native speaker, that English is a world language. I have seen it countless times here. Not just because Eurovision was broadcast in it either. For example, remember when I had to go to Korea? Well something interesting that I didn't tell you was this. I had to arrange with a travel agent to get my tickets set up. She was helping me find a hotel. So this Russian speaking travel agent calls to the Korean Speaking Hotel and what does she say? "Hello, I am calling from Russia and would like to know how much one night at your hotel would cost." And no, I'm not translating that from Russian. She was speaking English. And the Korean people were answering In English! It's not just that that proves my point either. It's the fact that all airlines use English. It's the fact that international airports give announcements and post flight listings in both the native language and English. It's the fact that the kids here start learning English in preschool. My seven-year old host brother knows more words in English than my 19 year old friends back home know in Russian. I mean for pete's sake the kid can sing "The Alphabet Song" complete with British accent. (It's adorable actually because it's like this Psudo brussian accent but I digress.) It's the fact that the kids here don't swear in their native language because swearing in English is cooler. It's the fact that they listen to American singers, and writing on clothes and back packs is done in English. I mean if you step outside the U.S. and take a look around, it's an English world out there.

Oh and another thing, The English education doesn't stop with high school. The kids who go on to college take special English classes with vocabulary related to their fields. i.e. Doctors learn "English for Physicians" Future Economists learn "English for Economists" and yeah, most of them are probably never going to use what they learn but it's just the fact that they have to learn it in the first place.

The good news is that I've actually heard of Esperanto before this comment was left for me. If you ask, a lot of people probably don't even know what it is. Not that I'm trying to bash Esperanto, it's just personally, I don't know anyone who speaks it. Or reads it, or basically knows it. I guess that's what my point is, it might have been started as an international language, but it doesn't have nearly the range as English. It's not nearly as available. How many of you have heard a famous Esperanto rapper on the radio? Or seen t-shirts with things written in Esperanto across them? My point exactly.

So I guess that about wraps up, what I think may have turned into a rant (Forgive me if it did.) Sorry if I insulted any of you Esperanto speakers out there, but take a look around. Maybe you should try English.

Oh and for the record many countries in the Eurvision Final did sing in their Native Language. Such as the Armenian group, The Turkish guy and the Guy from Isreal. Not one person sang in Esperanto. Funny though, how quite a few groups chose to sing in English...

If you'd like to learn more about Esperanto, the history, word base and that sort of thing you can do so at Good Old Wiki

Straight From the Horse's Mouth

I opened up my host sister's english textbook to a random page and was very entertained. Here are some examples of dialogues:

-Hi, Dick! What a surprise! Your hair doesn't smell.
-I haven't been smoking since last year. I feel much better now

-Nick, You really look better now.
-I have been taking Coldrex for 2 days. I feel better.


-Hello, Mary! You look so slim!
-I have been eating only low-fat food for 5 months


Hope you enjoyed as much as I did.

Things I'm going to Miss About Yakutsk

1. Speaking Russian
2. Hearing Yakutian
3. Friendly People
4. Being American=Being a Celebrity
5. Priozhki
6. Salo
7. 6r ice cream
8. Blini
9. Plov
10. The food here in General
11. The big sky
12. The fact I can walk anywhere
13. the kiosks
14. Sweet Cheetos
15. Lack of responsibilities
16. free time
17. The people I've met
18. Yakutian culture
19. Russian Tv
20. nasha russia
21. my host siblings
22. nature
23. dachas
24. the juice
25. "having chai"
26. The fact that I can say "chai" and everyone knows what I'm saying
27. The fact that I can speak russian and people understand
28. bookstores
29. Reading in Russian
30. Cell Phone Kiosks
31. Babushkas
32. The cleaning ladies
33. The lack of drama
34. The fountain on Ploshad Lenina
35. Polshad Ordzhonikidze
36. Watching the kids play in the fountain
37. sitting on the ploshadi

That's all I've got for the moment more to follow as I think of them

okay that's all I got for the moment. Will

Eurovision 2008

Guess who won Eurovision 2008?

Wait? What do you mean "What's Eurovision?" Where have you been living? Under a rock?

Actually, don't worry about it because up until a few days ago, I too was in the dark. This is the conversation I had about it with my host sister.

Me: What are you Watching?
Natasha: Eurovideniya (The russian word for Eurovision)
Me:...
Natasha: Do you know what Eurovideniya is?
Me: Nope.
Natasha: How can you not know? It the biggest song competition in Europe!
Me(thinking): Well, that explains it. I'm not from a european country.

Natasha then went on to explain all about Eurovision which I will now enlighten you about. Eurovision is the biggest song competition on this side of the world. It involves over forty country and takes place every year. It's a competiton where artists from various countries compete for the title and the right to host Eurovision the next year. There are several levels of competition. The goal is the finals. The groups and artists who make it to the finals do a performance, after which voting is opened up to all the countries. For fifteen minutes people text message their votes from over forty countries. The top ten countries are awarded points. tenth through fourth get 1-7 points depending on where they ranked. 3rd place gets 8 points, 2nd gets ten and first gets 12. Naturally, the object is for your country to get the most points. Whoever has the most points, wins. Oh but there's a catch, you can't vote for your own country. It's like American Idol on Steroids

Okay, so having said that, back to my original question.

Guess who won Eurovision 2008?
take a wild guess?


Figured it out yet?


I'll give you a hint.
He has a funny haircut.

Need another?
He's a very popular singer

Still don't know?
He's Russian...

Oh that's right! Everyone's favorite artist, Dima Bilan, Swept away Eurovision 2008 with his song Belive. He scored 272 points leaving second place Ukraine in the dust. If you would like to see the song that won him the title and Russia the right to host next year's contest here it is. I have no idea of the quality of this video because I'm at the computer center and the flash player isn't working so I can't watch it, just imbed it. Oh and be sure to watch for the unneccesary ripping open of Dima's shirt. What is that anyway?



By the way, wondering about the random violin player and skater? Well, they aren't just background dancers. They're famous too. It was a big deal because they hauled in the little ice thingy for them.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about this victory. On the one hand I'm happy because this contest has been going on for fifty years and this is the first time Russia's won. They came pretty close two years ago. Dima Bilan got beat out by "Some guys in scary masks" as my host sister put it. So I'm glad for Russia.

However that fact that it's Dima Bilan is eh...

Personally I didn't like his song as well as the song from say, Armenia. Personally, if I'd been casting a vote, I would've done so for Latvia The group was called "Pirates of the Sea" and the song "Wolves of the Sea." I basically laughed my head off when they performed yet at the same time loved the addictiveness of the song, and I really want to cough up two euros and download it. Unfortunately, they were a little to "odd" for the rest of the countries' tastes and in the final they took 12th place out of 25 with 86 points.

The Greek team got a lot of votes with a Britney Spears wanna-be singing an obnoxious song about her "Secret Combination." The Greek team was giving good ol' Dima a run for his money for a while. Okay, so maybe him winning was preferable to the Greeks. Though his song is only slightly less obnoxious than hers was.

I basically enjoyed watching the Eurovision Final. I think it's an awesome thing that brings this side of the world together. Actually, I really want to save up some money and come to Moscow for it next year. How cool would that be.

Through watching this, I came to realize, once again how much English is an international language. Though the competition was being held in Serbia, The entire broadcast was done in English. There were some parts done in French, but it was basically all English which was cool.

If I can't make it to Moscow next year, I'm planning on at least finding a way to watch the finals. Because Eurovision is just so cool!

If you want to know more about Eurovison, you can check out their website at Eurovision.tv

If you have the time and inclination and would like to watch the entire broadcast of the Final, you can do so at This Link. It really is worth the watch. Eurovision also has its own Youtube Channel

50 Things I'm Looking Forward to Doing When I get Home

In no particular order

1. hug my parents
2. Hug the rest of my family
3. Taco bell
4. Swimming in my Cousin's pool
5. getting ready for college
6. Starbucks
7. Free Refills
8. Slushies
9. Those giant sized drinks for cheap at gas stations
10. McDonalds
11. Chinese take out
12. American Pizza
13. Ice in Glasses
14. sharing my silly exchange stories
15. sleeping in minimal clothing
16. Wal-mart
17. Taco Bell
18. Talking with fellow rebounders
19. Mexican food
20. Playing my dulcimer
21. Herding goats
22. Chilling for the summer
23. Seeing my redecorated room
24. Church
25. Seeing the new church building
26. Reconnecting
27. Teaching people cool russian words
28. Yelling at obnoxious drivers in Russian
29. Being able to drive again
30. pet the dog
31. decompress
32. General Fast food
33. the fact that there's stuff around.
34. going to the library and catching up on reading in English
35. sleeping in my bed, in my room
36. Being part of my family
37. Trips to the grocery store
38. All of our convenience food
39. People not making up their own driving rules
40. Steady water
41. Movies being in English
42. Catching up on my TV series
43. seeing if and how I've changed compared to home
44. Steak and Shake
45. Chili
46. The farm
47. Going to see my brother
48. Did I mention Taco Bell?
49. Going to anyplace with an all-you-can-eat buffet
50. Breakfast out with the family