The minor successes of three weeks in Russia
I appreciate all of the supportive emails I recieved after the last
email. I did not intend to give the impression that I was miserable
here, but I appreciate all of the positive talk and the motivational
messages. I just thought that I should include some of the hard
realities of living abroad in a country with a difficult language.
So, I have decided to list some of my successes.
Victory #1: I found the choir!! That was the best thing that could have
happened to me. My friends Matty, Liza, and all awkwardly walked into
the room and took a seat in the back in an attempt to be conspicuous.
This attempt failed and two students came up to us to ask what we were
doing. We quickly explained that we were foreigners and that we wanted
to sing in the choir. To this the male started in broken English and
said, "We can speak in English if you have trouble speaking the
Russian." We told him that we didn't. As soon as the word was out, a
small gaggle of girls crowded around us to ask us questions. They asked
us where we studied (which fakultet) and where we were from. To my shock
and horror, they didn't really know where Seattle was and when my
friend, Lizi, jokingly said that California was better, they all quickly
agreed. I'll let it slide, since most Americans are clueless as to the
coordinates of Irkutsk (unless they play Risk.) Then we had to sing
alone for the choir director, the horror! I must have had a bad tryout,
because she was convinced that I was a first alto or a second soprano. I
tried to convince her of her error, but she just rolled her eyes at me.
I talked to the girls about it and they just told me to sing first
soprano anyways. Phew! Although the first soprano part forces me to deal
with a rather large and unpleasant woman, who always looks at me like I
am a fool and asks the director to forgive us when the chior makes a
mistake, "I'm sorry, we have Americans here, they don't always know
better." Grrr. I can understand them!
Anyhow, as a result, I have one friend!! His name is Styopa and he
speaks English and Japanese. He lives in the Akademgorodok, where I
live. Every night, he insists on walking Lizi and I home. We exchanged
phone numbers, so the friendship is official. We also befriended a
handsome German boy, who is here teaching German and English to school
children as part of his civil service, instead of serving in the army.
The new found friendship is greatly appreciated. Before that, I could
only count the television as my one Russian friend. Now, you may read
that and think that is very sad, but hear me out: the television teaches
me many new phrases and I can hone my listening skills. Did you know
that there is a Russian version of the Nanny? (That old Fran Drescher
sitcom.) There is also a version of the apprentice. In addition to that,
there is a wealth of bad soaps, which my host mother loves to watch. If
you thought that the Mexican soaps were bad, you should watch the
Russian ones. Also, they show tons of American movies. They are usually
bootlegged, so the dubbing is very bad; the films are in English and the
translator yells the Russian over it. If I'm feeling Russian-ed out, I
turn up the volume and strain to hear the English. This also helps my
Russian, because it is a translation directly from English!
Success #2: I have successfully found a mainstream course! The professor
is a very kind Prof. Brandenburg. He smiles at us and is cooperative
with us. It is difficult, however, to hear over the din of the students
conversing and checking their cell phone messages. I am still trying to
find another course, because the courses in the international department
are deathly boring. I have not met anyone in the class yet. I think they
might think that I am a Russian. (You may laugh, but yesterday at choir
one girl started talking to me and asked me a question that I did not
understand. I explained myself and said that I was from America. She
looked at me disbelievingly and said, "Seriously." It took me answering
this three times before she believed me and introduced herself.
Apparently the Irish-German can look Russian.)
Success #3: Becoming even better friends with my host mother. She wakes
me up every morning by saying, "Kolinka, molinka, wake up!" For those of
you that don't speak Russian, this comes from a famous Russian folk
song, (which the Communists turned into the Communist anthem and tetrus
borrowed and bastardized.) Since they have a difficult time pronouncing
my name, I tell them to pronounce it like this. If I don't, it comes out
as either "Colin" or "Colon." I don't like the second version too much,
it reminds me of Mr. Schreiner and his inability to pronounce my
name...and his thinking that my name was pronounced "Colon" and
Mallahan's was "Colleen." (I appologize to non-Prep people, who don't
understand this reference.) She also keeps feeding me good food.
Pirozhki are my favorite. I also drink tea for breakfast, lunch, and
dinner with disgusting quantities of jam.
Success #4: Figuring out public transportation! I really like riding on
the public transport because I can people watch. It only costs 5 rubles
on the bus and 8 on the marshutka taxi. The low cost make Tim Eyman's 30
dollar liscense tabs and the sky high bus fare that resulted look
laughable.
Well, we are going on an excursion (a real expedition on a boat!) to
Lake Baikal next week, so you will not hear from me for awhile. I didn't
die, I'm just in the middle of the deepest lake in the world, on my way
to the spiritual center of Shammanism, Olkhon Island.)
email. I did not intend to give the impression that I was miserable
here, but I appreciate all of the positive talk and the motivational
messages. I just thought that I should include some of the hard
realities of living abroad in a country with a difficult language.
So, I have decided to list some of my successes.
Victory #1: I found the choir!! That was the best thing that could have
happened to me. My friends Matty, Liza, and all awkwardly walked into
the room and took a seat in the back in an attempt to be conspicuous.
This attempt failed and two students came up to us to ask what we were
doing. We quickly explained that we were foreigners and that we wanted
to sing in the choir. To this the male started in broken English and
said, "We can speak in English if you have trouble speaking the
Russian." We told him that we didn't. As soon as the word was out, a
small gaggle of girls crowded around us to ask us questions. They asked
us where we studied (which fakultet) and where we were from. To my shock
and horror, they didn't really know where Seattle was and when my
friend, Lizi, jokingly said that California was better, they all quickly
agreed. I'll let it slide, since most Americans are clueless as to the
coordinates of Irkutsk (unless they play Risk.) Then we had to sing
alone for the choir director, the horror! I must have had a bad tryout,
because she was convinced that I was a first alto or a second soprano. I
tried to convince her of her error, but she just rolled her eyes at me.
I talked to the girls about it and they just told me to sing first
soprano anyways. Phew! Although the first soprano part forces me to deal
with a rather large and unpleasant woman, who always looks at me like I
am a fool and asks the director to forgive us when the chior makes a
mistake, "I'm sorry, we have Americans here, they don't always know
better." Grrr. I can understand them!
Anyhow, as a result, I have one friend!! His name is Styopa and he
speaks English and Japanese. He lives in the Akademgorodok, where I
live. Every night, he insists on walking Lizi and I home. We exchanged
phone numbers, so the friendship is official. We also befriended a
handsome German boy, who is here teaching German and English to school
children as part of his civil service, instead of serving in the army.
The new found friendship is greatly appreciated. Before that, I could
only count the television as my one Russian friend. Now, you may read
that and think that is very sad, but hear me out: the television teaches
me many new phrases and I can hone my listening skills. Did you know
that there is a Russian version of the Nanny? (That old Fran Drescher
sitcom.) There is also a version of the apprentice. In addition to that,
there is a wealth of bad soaps, which my host mother loves to watch. If
you thought that the Mexican soaps were bad, you should watch the
Russian ones. Also, they show tons of American movies. They are usually
bootlegged, so the dubbing is very bad; the films are in English and the
translator yells the Russian over it. If I'm feeling Russian-ed out, I
turn up the volume and strain to hear the English. This also helps my
Russian, because it is a translation directly from English!
Success #2: I have successfully found a mainstream course! The professor
is a very kind Prof. Brandenburg. He smiles at us and is cooperative
with us. It is difficult, however, to hear over the din of the students
conversing and checking their cell phone messages. I am still trying to
find another course, because the courses in the international department
are deathly boring. I have not met anyone in the class yet. I think they
might think that I am a Russian. (You may laugh, but yesterday at choir
one girl started talking to me and asked me a question that I did not
understand. I explained myself and said that I was from America. She
looked at me disbelievingly and said, "Seriously." It took me answering
this three times before she believed me and introduced herself.
Apparently the Irish-German can look Russian.)
Success #3: Becoming even better friends with my host mother. She wakes
me up every morning by saying, "Kolinka, molinka, wake up!" For those of
you that don't speak Russian, this comes from a famous Russian folk
song, (which the Communists turned into the Communist anthem and tetrus
borrowed and bastardized.) Since they have a difficult time pronouncing
my name, I tell them to pronounce it like this. If I don't, it comes out
as either "Colin" or "Colon." I don't like the second version too much,
it reminds me of Mr. Schreiner and his inability to pronounce my
name...and his thinking that my name was pronounced "Colon" and
Mallahan's was "Colleen." (I appologize to non-Prep people, who don't
understand this reference.) She also keeps feeding me good food.
Pirozhki are my favorite. I also drink tea for breakfast, lunch, and
dinner with disgusting quantities of jam.
Success #4: Figuring out public transportation! I really like riding on
the public transport because I can people watch. It only costs 5 rubles
on the bus and 8 on the marshutka taxi. The low cost make Tim Eyman's 30
dollar liscense tabs and the sky high bus fare that resulted look
laughable.
Well, we are going on an excursion (a real expedition on a boat!) to
Lake Baikal next week, so you will not hear from me for awhile. I didn't
die, I'm just in the middle of the deepest lake in the world, on my way
to the spiritual center of Shammanism, Olkhon Island.)