Sorry it's late!

Things have been getting busier and busier, so I apologize for the lack of blog updates. This week is our midterms week for Russian as a second language classes, which on top of being a bit sick, has not made for a fun time. I think everyone is getting sick though, because the weather is so wacky. It was warm for a little bit, but the past two days, there have been giant snowstorms in the morning, and then sunny, clear afternoons. It’s almost April! I really hope the snow stops soon . . .
My normal life has also become extremely busy. It kind of feels like Oberlin, where I don’t come home until 10 or 11 every night. One night a week I am now helping with an English discussion club at the Jewish community center. There are about 15-20 people who show up for this club, and another American girl who helps out with me. Every week there is a different topic that the participants find out about beforehand so that they can practice vocabulary if they want. This past week, our topic was “careers.” Working at the discussion club basically involves sitting around for an hour and 45 minutes talking about the topic, which has its ups and downs. I don’t know how they do it, but I think it would be extremely hard to get a group of Americans to sit still for that long and talk about one topic, but the Russians have great powers of concentrations. I, on the other hand, find myself getting a little bored. But, it has its benefits. The participants are all different ages, so sometimes the things they say are really interesting. Last week there were 3 girls who are freshmen in college, who talked about how they are extremely patriotic people and never want to work anywhere except for Russia. This surprised not only myself, but the other Russians there, because most people want to work abroad for the money. My other job for this discussion club is to bring in some Jewish elements to the discussion. About 70% of the people have some Jewish connection, but people don’t really know much about Judaism so I try to add some interesting tidbits into the conversation.
I also joined a small string orchestra in the university. The orchestra itself is pretty bad, but the people are so nice that I keep going. Like any Russian club, there is a break in the middle of rehearsal that runs into more of a 45 minute tea and snacking time. After rehearsal, a bunch of girls go out for more tea and they have invited me along. They are all really friendly and it’s a great chance to practice my Russian. Last Thursday it was a girl’s birthday in the orchestra, and the break was extended to add room for cake and champagne. Needless to say, after that, no one wanted to rehearse more.
This past weekend I also met with the friends of one of my Russian teachers at Oberlin. The daughter, Mariam, is applying for college in the US and needs to practice her English. I went over to their house and they were so friendly. Her mother cooked a ton of food and was so excited to meet me. They are Armenians, not Russians, but have lived here for a really long time. I heard many stories about their lives, was invited to bring my entire family to Armenia to visit them, and asked so many questions about myself. From speaking to Mariam, it’s really obvious how well she would do in a US university. Her way of thinking just doesn’t match with the Russian educational system, which teaches people not really to think, but to repeat facts. She told me many stories about what her classmates say in history classes, and how she gets in trouble for trying to make them more open-minded. She also told me a story about how they were all supposed to pick what they wanted to do when they were in 8th grade, and how she got in trouble for changing her mind a few months later from wanting to do chemistry to physics. If Americans had to pick their profession in 8th grade, our world would be a very different place . . . This week I think I’m going to go to a museum with her on my day off, so we’ll spend half the time speaking English, and the other half speaking in Russian. I’m really looking forward to spending more time with her and her mother.
All in all, this past weekend wasn’t very exciting. But, Friday night I went to a birthday party for a friend at some night club. We didn’t want to stay out all night, so we took a gypsy cab home at 2:30 am. The conversation I got into with the driver was a great example of Russian personalities. It was the middle of the night and he starts asking me about the American primaries and who we want to win. After giving his opinions on the candidates (he thinks Hilary won’t win because she forgave Bill for his sex scandal, which made her look weak to the public), he went on to other topics: Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, the benefits of racism. It was a pretty amusing ride home. Even though the gypsy cabs can be slightly sketchy, they are a great way to break into the mind of the normal Russian.
Well, I should get going – I have two midterms today! Other than that, I found out that I got into Aspen music festival for this summer, so I will be spending the summer in Colorado. Let me know what kind of plans everyone has for the summer!