Home and Classes

Ok, there are two main topics to cover in this blog entry: my host family, and classes. Basically, that’s all that has been going on in my life.

My host family, although I wasn’t so thrilled with them at the beginning, has turned into quite a lovely experience. The immediate family includes Tatiana, my host mother, Katya, her daughter, and Tosya, the rat. We live in a small apartment, only 3 rooms (the mom sleeps in the kitchen at night), but it is quite enough space to live in. But, because it’s so small, it has been a little difficult. Their computer is in what is now my room, so, when Danya, Tatiana’s 5 year old grandson, comes to visit and wants to play computer games, my room turns into a playroom. In some ways, that’s not bad, as I can speak more easily to Danya than to Russian people my age, but it gets a little frustrating.

But, I’m beginning to really bond with the mother, so it’s a much better experience. When she isn’t stuffing me with food (she is always making me try new things, often things I have eaten but don’t know the Russian names for. Like yesterday, when she slathered something on a piece of bread, told me to try it, and it turned out to be horseradish. Not a taste you want to be surprised with. But, she did make some tasty baked pumpkin the other day.), we have actually been having more conversations. Sometimes we watch bad Russian tv shows and talk about them, but today she told me a lot about her life, which was really interesting. She also asked me what my parents do (mom, it took me a really long time to try to explain the Alexander Technique in Russian). I actually felt like today I could carry on conversations with her and understand most of it, which is fantastic. Katya doesn’t really talk to me. I’m fine with that, although today I found out that she actually understands English. This occurred when a friend called me making plans to meet up, and she translated the conversation to her mother. What a spy . . . The rat stays in her room, so I barely see it. I’m also fine with that.

Classes are also going quite well. We have a slew of different intensive language classes every day. Sometimes grammar, which is taught by a lady who, I think, has gone crazy from teaching so many foreigners Russian grammar that she actually speaks more in sounds and motions than in words. Writing is an annoying but useful class, which involves writing an essay every night. We have speaking class, a class where we learn to interpret mass media, and today we had our first phonetics class! This was actually quite exciting, although if anyone walked in they would be really confused by the sight of a group of students making sounds for an hour.

Generally, things are going quite well. We had an excursion this past week to the Kuntskamera museum, which holds Peter I’s collection of malformed babies preserved in alcohol, and we have 2 more excursions to get in this week. I also have my first viola lesson this week, which I’m looking forward to, though half scared out of my mind. Having my viola has actually been a great thing, because practicing is a break from focusing on speaking and understanding Russian. Life, though, doesn’t seem so different. Even after 1 week, we are much more comfortable with transportation, I watch Scrubs every morning while I eat breakfast (dubbed in Russian), and today I bought a Russian Glamour magazine because Fergie was on the cover.
I’m happy to hear that people have been reading my blog, and pictures are coming soon!