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Friday, January 31, 2014

meeting the host family

This is what you all have been waiting for! –or maybe I’m just projecting my own feelings. After a weekend in the dorm, as nice as it might have been to live in a quad with three other girls on the program, I was so ready to meet my host family.

Apparently, they were ready to meet me, too. Natasha and Andrei, the older couple I’m staying with, came to pick me up in the dorm. Although they live within walking distance, they drove their car to get me and my things. Our first encounter was somewhat awkward, as an introduction is wont to be when one party is so ridiculously nervous-excited she can barely speak English, let alone Russian… especially when <2 minutes after meeting, those three people + 75lbs of luggage squeeze into an elevator roughly the size of a shoebox. Okay, fine, it was actually about the size of my refrigerator. That is not an exaggeration; it was about 2x2’. Again, aawwwwkward.

But things have been warming up steadily since then. We got to the apartment, and Nastya, the 10-year-old, met us at the door. She was wearing pink striped pajama pants and an Angry Birds t-shirt. Then the three of them showed me the house. I have my own room, one wall of which is covered by a giant, English-language map of the world. I showed them where my family lives, and then the scary thing happened: they asked a question I understood but couldn’t answer. “Does your city have any sports teams? Basketball, hockey, soccer…?” Andrei asked. He’s had sports on for the past 8 hours; I think he likes them. I was abashed to note that, while my mother taught gym coached basketball for several years, I couldn’t even say whether or not we have any of those teams. All I know is that we root for the Browns in football even though they stink. (Have I ever watched a Browns game? no.)

Nastya took me to her play area next. I was a little surprised, I guess, by her… I’ve worked a lot with 9-and 10-year-olds, and I feel like by that age most of them are jaded and “sophisticated.” If they still play with toys, they certainly don’t tell their friends, and they dress more like teenagers than children. Since Russian women all seem to have the sophistication thing down pat, walking around in their ridiculous-high heels, super-skinny jeans, and total-fur coats, I figured that Russian children would make this transition even earlier. Not so. Nastya is more comfortably a child than most American preschoolers I’ve met (and I’ve met many). It’s great. She wants to be an interior designer (which is what I wanted to be when I was her age, actually), and has created elaborate living spaces for her dolls and stuffed animals out of cardboard and paper. She spends most of her time playing with these dolls and set-ups, all the while singing some unintelligible Russian songs quite loudly and off-key (which is, I suppose, what happens when you give a 10-year-old headphones).

Nastya and Natasha took me out on several trips in the afternoon, showing me the city. There’s a sort of outdoor museum set up right now, to commemorate the fall of the blockade. Tomorrow is the 70th anniversary, and there’s going to be a parade! Unfortunately, that parade falls in the middle of our 2-hour placement test. That’s very sad for me; I have been looking forward to the parade since a friend at school alerted me to it. Anyway. The tour. Mostly Nastya just jabbered a mile a minute with random trivia and thoughts. Really the only time I ever understood her was when she was responding to one of my questions or pantomiming. So maybe 10%. She talked a lot. When there was something important to know, Natasha would step in and explain it to me. She is very good at speaking simply and clearly. I’d say I understood close to 80% of what she said, which I think is good.

All in all, I’m quite happy. But tired. As I write this, I have been with the family for 8 hours. 8 hours of Russian takes its toll. Ready for the rest of the semester? Oh sure.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

morientation

(Credit for my incredibly clever title goes to Sam.)

YES, we got to St. Petersburg, and then we had more more more orientation.

After a bus ride, we arrived sort of near the dorm, where we are staying for this first weekend. There was an accident or two, which caused a traffic jam, so we walked the last few hundred yards, dragging our bags through slush. We had an hour to regain cognizant thought (hah!), and then our first Russian dinner. I felt surprisingly confident, walking into a cafeteria/buffet hybrid called “Marketplace,” going up front and ordering exactly what I wanted. I came out with the best bowl of borscht I’ve ever eaten, a little meat-filled pastry, and a bottle of pineapple juice. Okay, so maybe I goofed on the juice (I meant to get orange), but it was still really yummy.

After dinner, I took a surprisingly nice shower. Then I stayed up for a while in the teensy tiny dorm room just processing. Trying to check email. Trying to remember the Russian words for things like “bed.” 

Sleep felt nice, although I woke up a bunch of times. Adjustment is rough. I had lots of nightmares that seemed more like night terrors, they were so relevant… e.g. getting into different situations where I didn’t know the right words, running into people in Russia who I was glad to not have to see this semester…

I’ll skip all of the boring stuff, like my very dairyful breakfast (yogurt and some soft cheese-stuff, purchased in the dorm convenience store) and more talking sessions.

At 1ish, we were divided into small groups and sent off with various tutors. I went with Stephanie, her tutor, and Katie (a student who is here for the whole academic year. Yes, there are multitudes of Katies everywhere). We walked around while the tutor jabbered at us in Russian about the city. I think I absorbed about 40-50% of it. Could have been worse. We took a bus to another part of town, and to return we took the metro WOW THE METRO I LOVE IT. Lunch was good, some vegetable soup and a ham & cheese filled pastry. We talked in “Russish,” switching between Stephanie’s and my broken Russian and the tutor’s perfect British English (she has not a hint of Russian accent).

After some more sessions, we were free. I started to feel kind of sick to my stomach again (was it something I ate? something I didn’t eat? lack of good sleep?), but ate dinner anyway. That was an experience. We went to a place called Biblioteka, where the waitress responded to us in English, gave us English menus, and sat us in a back room with only one table. The wall was painted like an American flag. Yep. So not much incidental contact with Russians or Russianness, as we have been encouraged to seek out, and also not much incentive to speak Russian the whole time. But I did get to interact with the waitress a little bit in Russian, which went well. The problem with sitting alone in a back room is that nobody comes to check on you ever, so you have to go hunt down somebody to ask “Где можно заказать?” (Where can I order?) and “Можно взять домой со мной?” (Can I take this home with me? –but I’m sure there’s a better way to ask for a take out box.


I think I will have more success with Russian-practice when I’m living with my host family. In fact, I’m certain of it. Lots of incidental and non-incidental contact.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

words to the wise

I am here! I’ve actually been here for about 24 hours, but more on that later. For now, I would like to fill you in on the 12 hours prior, aka Katie Travels From Washington To Russia By Herself.
In Dulles, I was all set to sit down in my lonely little gate for a lonely little 7 hours before my flight took off. I had gotten through security very easily (nobody even needed to pat down my hair!), and my luggage was all under the weight limit. I would sit, draw up Russian vocabulary lists, make last minute phone calls, and write cards to a few friends.

But the best laid plans of mice and men are silly when you’re in an airport. I found two of the other girls, Stephanie and Nicole (who were also travelling separately from the group), and we chatted for a while. Meanwhile, I drank like three days’ worth of Vitamin C via a very expensive juice drink. Everything, I have learned, is very expensive in an airport. Their flight left about two hours before mine, at which point I started looking to mail my cards.
Word to the wise: there are no mailboxes in Dulles. Also, thanks to frequent intercom announcements about not accepting packages from strangers, there is nobody willing to take your mail and send it for you. Sigh.

The first flight was the long one. Thanks to the fact that I was travelling alone, and the fact that not many people travel to northern Europe this time of year, I shared a 4-seat row with a very nice Indian lady. She helped me find my boarding pass when I dropped it (oops). I scooted over, we each had two seats, and all was lovely. Including the food. Wow, that meal was good.
Another word to the wise: when Air France tells you they’re going to serve you “fruit compote,” it’s probably just a cup of Mott’s applesauce. Which is great. Also, their mango cake is, as we say, очень вкусно.

I didn’t sleep much, but all was otherwise good until descent, when my ears started hurting really badly. Ouch. The flight was approximately 7pm-2:30am EST. Dinner was at 8:15, breakfast was at 1. Time to begin the jet-lagging of the eating schedule.

Layover was nothing special. I was tired, hungry, and thirsty, but I didn’t have any euros or anyone to watch my stuff while I sleep, so I powered through.

It was during this time that I realized I was wearing/carrying not one… not two… no, five different plaids. I felt really self conscious for the rest of the day. It was not intentional. It just happened that my shirt, scarf, hat, backpack, and carry-on were all mismatched plaids.
Yet another word to the wise: when you see something plaid you want to wear, consider carefully. It does not lend itself to matching things.

4/5 plaids. Интересно, что в русском языке нет слова "plaid," или нет слова в моей словари.

THEN I had THREE SEATS to myself on the flight to St. Petersburg. I slept a little more. The lunch was not as good… some strange potato salad stuff, a piece of chicken that was literally bright orange, and some bread. I felt super sick to my stomach already (nerves and sleeplessness), so I just ate a few pieces of potato and the bread. But still, three seats to myself.

I arrived in St. Petersburg with no problem. Got through customs very easily. Met up with the group not long after. Began speaking Russian, and by that I mean pointing and grunting “Вот, вот,” for whatever it was, because it was 8am EST, and my brain had roughly the consistency and intelligence of that Mott’s applesauce.
Last word to the wise: sleep is important.

Friday, January 24, 2014

orientation

After two days of pre-departure orientation, I am thoroughly flummoxed. Am I excited or just scared? And remind me how normal people interact in social context again? And what if everyone here is better at Russian than me? What if I fly into St. Petersburg and no one can understand me?

But it’s okay. I’ve met the other people in my group, if only briefly. They’re all east-coast-ers, which is cool, because it means they’ll eat sushi with me (apparently sushi is big in St. Petersburg?). Two of the girls are swing dancers, which is cool, because they’ll go out dancing with me (yay!). One of them grew up Russian Orthodox, which is extra cool, because she knows all of the etiquette and the prayers, and of course which services are too beautiful to miss (Vespers twice/week? yes please).

The most helpful session all weekend was the one on Thursday morning, on language acquisition. It’s a thing that scares me, as you know, but the man who presented gave very concrete examples of how to maximize gain over these four months. And then he showed us all of these growth charts, like “hey, you could make it from a 1- to a 2- in a semester if you do these things!”

So of course, now I am All. Determined. And. Ready! to run at my brick wall as fast as I can, and hope to make it through without too many bruises. (If only I had Mrs. Who glasses…)

One product of the last few days is a set of new goals. Because of course they wanted some very specific, and perhaps more ambitious, goals for our time. Here's my semi-updated list:

  • learn 12 words/day,* and use them again
  • keep a journal, minimum 150 words/day*
  • read 3 news articles/week
  • read at least 1 “for fun” book while there

Our goals were supposed to be specific, measurable, and attainable. Seeing as all of mine have numbers involved, I think they count. I’ve proven I can do the first by all of the times I crammed vocabulary lists for quizzes, although the “use them again” part might mean I actually remember the words. 150 words is about the length of the first two paragraphs of this post, which I can totally do. And reading should be no problem, and it will expose me to more words, which I can then add to my to-learn list.

Remember that part about planning making me sort of jazzed? I feel a lot better now that I have something to go in with, and some way to keep track of my progress. Because I don’t want to be there a month, look back, and go “ugh, what have I been doing here, I haven’t gotten any better.” At the very least, I should have a vocabulary 288 richer, be 12 news articles better-read, and have a nice little record of my daily activities. And I think that’s good.


PS I'm in Paris now. Post regarding the WONDERFULNESS of Air France coming soon.



*operating on a 6 day/week system, because rest is important

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

tests

This week, I have had the indescribable pleasure of taking MASSES OF TESTS. None of these are graded, so it’s fine, but that doesn’t mean I don’t freak out. To be honest, the very fact that they’re not graded, there’s no list of things to learn, and I can’t prepare for them makes my mental state even more wacky. And by wacky I mean stressed.

Here’s a little glimpse of the pre-program hoops I’ve been jumping through:
  • Reading. This test was 90 minutes long, and I used up the whole time. This is because there were 50 questions, and for every one or two questions there was a different section (1-4 paragraphs long) to read. Thankfully, the questions were in English.
  • Listening. This test was 90 minutes long, and I did not use up the whole time. This is because there were 50 questions, and for every two questions there was an audio segment. But wait! you say. That sounds just like the reading! With the reading, if I didn’t understand on the first run-through or two, I could just read it again. Puzzle it out. But some of the listening sounded like the fine print on TV commercials for medicines. And if I didn’t get that right away, well…
  • Oral Proficiency. MY GREATEST FEAR. I understood what my interviewer said most of the time, but my feeling about speaking was sort of like at the beginning of Advanced 1, where this happened:
Professor: Что вы делали прошлым летом?     (What did you do this summer?)
Molly, Tyler, Roman: [insert intelligent answers here]
Professor: А Лиза?                            (And Liza? –-that’s my Russian class name)
Me: …Видно, забыла ВСЁ.                         (Evidently, forgot EVERYTHING.)
  • Intercultural Development. This seemed like a test I might have had to take as part of diversity week in Contemporary Topics freshman year. I was scared to begin, because (a) the instructions said I couldn’t use special characters (including basic punctuation), and there was a long answer section—but it turned out they were okay on long answer; and (b) my intercultural experience is really little, unless you count my “Evangelical Visits Catholic Disney World” experience of the last 2.5 years. I counted it. I hope I don’t get points off.

Basically, I’m sure I did okay… again, none of this was actually graded, except so that they can show us our numbers at the end of the semester after administering the same test, as a “look how far you’ve come!” But reading, listening, speaking, and adapting to cultural differences are all things I’m going to have to do this semester. Regularly. So now I am experiencing, full-force, PTSD (Post Test Stress Disorder).

Friday, January 10, 2014

things I’m excited about

As I previously mentioned, if you had asked me in September whether I was excited to go to Russia, I would have said something approximately equivalent to “meh.” But now, now you are more likely to get a sneaky sort of smile and a quiet “yes,” accompanied by a bouncing foot or two.

Here are my top 10 reasons why.

I am excited about…

  1. St. Petersburg. Well duh, you say. But St. Petersburg has had a sort of magic element to it since I saw Anastasia for the first time in elementary school. So it’s not a cop-out to say that I’m excited about just being there.
  2. fish. My family moved last year, from Maryland to Ohio. I go to school in Indiana. I haven’t had real, good seafood (or even lake food, to be honest) in a long time. Petersburg is on the water. They HAVE to have fish there. It HAS to be better than the frozen tilapia my mom gets in plastic packages from the grocery store.
  3. the Hermitage. My university is a 10-minute walk (along a canal, no less) from the Hermitage Museum. Which has free admission for students of all ages and nationalities. I might just live there after classes, it’s okay.
  4. my host family. I can’t wait to live with a family, get to know them, and learn their lifestyle. I am also super excited at the prospect of having my very own babushka, and maybe even a host sibling, which would be cool. Maybe even a host pet-cat.
  5. the Olympics. To be in another country while the Olympics are going on there… will be awesome. Even though Sochi is nowhere near St. Petersburg, I’m sure the buzz will be there. And the Russia-USA hockey game should be really fun to watch, even though (to be perfectly honest) I’ve never watched a hockey game in my life.
  6. White Nights. Assuming I figure out a sufficient excuse to stay for the summer, I will be in Petersburg for the month or so that the sun just never sets. Ever since I read Julie of the Wolves in elementary school, I’ve wanted to see what that was like… and I’m sure it will be even cooler in the city than on the Alaskan tundra.
  7. language acquisition. Yes, the getting there is scary, but I really want to be more comfortable with the Russian language. Currently I know it well enough to read the dust jacket of the lone Russian novel in my home library and tell it’s trash, but I would like to get to the point where I could read it and explain to someone else (out loud) why it’s trash.
  8. the Russian Orthodox Church. Not that I’ve been to one before, but I hear services are 2-3 hours long and entirely sung. I just love the ROC aesthetic. And Easter! Russian Easter! This year the Gregorian and Julian calendars overlap, so Easter will be the same day in both of my countries. But, fun fact: apparently, due to the lack of palm trees in most of Russia, Palm Sunday there becomes Pussywillow Sunday.
  9. travel. There’s something about the idea of just getting on a train and going somewhere that really appeals to me. Hostels sound exciting. Riding a train through Russia sounds way more literary-romantic than it probably feels, but it’s a bucket list item. Also, I love the metro. I will get to ride the metro a lot, I hear.
  10. warmth. No, that’s not sarcastic. It’s been consistently 40 degrees warmer in St. Petersburg than in South Bend, and my frigid little fingers are very excited to get out of the Midwest. Brrr. (But even before this month, the weather over there does tend to be warmer than here in the winter, and cooler in the summer, which I’ll take.)


I don’t know if I know enough to declare with certainty that all of these things will be as awesome as I think they will, but… I think they will. (Yes, I know that’s redundant.)

Sunday, January 5, 2014

things I'm nervous about

I’ve been encouraged to do lots of pre-thinking about my time in Russia (as if I needed prompting…), including the things I’m nervous and excited about. That way, 6 months from now, I will be able to look back at poor, naïve, sheltered little Katie and laugh at her. This is one of my favorite activities, so I’m all in.

**NOTE** Few of these are well-founded fears, but if reading them will make you nervous on my behalf, I ask you to stop reading here.

I am nervous about…

  1. getting sick. I come down with a significant cold about once a semester anyway, and I hear those are tough to get rid of in Russia. I hate being sick, and I don’t know how I’ll handle being sick in a place where communication alone requires mental effort.
  2. making friends. Again, I have trouble with this in America. I warm up to people pretty slowly, and I don’t feel like I can call someone a “friend” at all if I’ve known them fewer than 2 months. Which means that, for at least the first 2 months (without any fellow ND students there), I’m in trouble. Hopefully the language barrier won’t doom me forever.
  3. loneliness. This is kind of related to the last, but slightly different. I’ve spent time being lonely. I know how little I enjoy it, and how little I enjoy other things when in the grip of it. I don’t want to be an un-fun bum all the time because I miss people.
  4. getting mugged by gypsy children. This is a sort of euphemism for “standing out as a Yankee,” which emerged from my Russian 101 professor’s story about being accosted by gypsy children who sensed her Americanness, but who then left after being convinced of her street cred. I have no street cred. I have a lot of Americanness. I hope I can fake it well enough.
  5. my wardrobe. I don’t dress particularly well even by American standards. Frankly, most of what I wear is pretty colorful and a little ridiculous, and not particularly European-sophisticate. I hope paisley skirts aren’t too strange to Russians. I also hope my hair bows won’t relegate me to 5-year-old status.
  6. keeping in touch. There is a delicate balance between living on the internet and never speaking to your friends. This is a balance I have never yet achieved (see: average 1 phone call/semester to my best friend from high school vs HOURS DAILY spent Facebook chatting with various people this summer).
  7. language acquisition. As I told a friend the other day, I’m really looking forward to being fluent… not so much becoming fluent. Talking about literature in Russian for 75 minutes every other day could be stressful; I will have to speak Russian (regardless of my ability to do so with any class or finesse!) way more than that.
  8. food. I’m pretty much incapable of going longer than 2-3 hours without food. When I do eat, I can only handle modest amounts before I feel like I’m going to explode. Will I have time to eat enough between classes? When I eat with my host family, are they going to give me absurdly huge portions I can’t finish?
  9. summer plans. I want to stay in St. Petersburg this summer. I would also kind of like to make money doing it. I don’t really know how that will work, legally, and I’ll probably have to spend some time this semester figuring it out... I know how difficult and attention-consuming that can be.
  10. toilets. Anyone who has travelled with me knows: I have an absurdly small bladder. Free public toilets in Russia, clean or otherwise, don’t exist. Woe is me!


There you have it. Top 10 anxieties. Maybe they will be worth stressing about… but aside from the wardrobe thing, there’s not much I can actually fix now (and even that is questionable. I like my clothes!). Maybe I’ll check in with these at the end of the semester, but then again I might forget.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

new year's resolutions

If all goes as planned, I will be spending fully half of 2014 in St. Petersburg. I think that means my Russian semester merits its own list of goals/resolutions! (Also, if you remember, plots and plans make me really happy.)

So. My goals. (I think “resolutions” might be a little much for right now, since living in Russia is something I’ve never done before, and I have no idea if any of these things are actually attainable.)

  • Learn at least one interesting new vocab word each day. If I don’t in classes/life, look one up in a dictionary. 
  • Average no more than 30 minutes per day in communication with America (including email, Facebook, phone, and video chat). 
  • Learn to pray in Russian.
  • Find a place in St. Petersburg where I can swing dance. 
    • Wear my amazing (-ly obnoxious) new $6 dance shoes. 
    • Be the exotic American doing exotic American dances like, the way they do them in America. 
  • But otherwise, keep the obvious Americanness to a minimum. 
  • Read at least one “for fun” book in Russian. Even if it’s a children’s book. 
  • Remember to take my dietary supplements and vitamins. 
  • Attend a Russian church. 
    • Make friends with the local бабушки (read: little old church ladies). 
    • By the end of the semester, understand what's going on at all times during the service.
  • Don’t be too annoying about rooting for the good ol’ USA during the Olympics. 
  • Update this blog at least twice a week. 
  • Get more sleep than I do at ND on a regular basis (so, more than 6.5 hours/night). 
  • Stay in a hostel. 
  • Visit every free museum in St. Petersburg. 
  • Do not end up leading/directing/in charge of anything. Except maybe weekend excursions with the other students.

Unrealistic? I hope not. Here’s to a good 6 months in Russia. (I am now toasting with a mug of water—I can give a real toast with real alcohol once I get to Russia and am legal.)


PS- for fun, a picture of my amazing & obnoxious $6 dance shoes. Wow are they comfortable. And wow are they ever ridiculous.