I finally got some pictures to post on facebook! It's a random collection of pics I've taken since I've been here. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40742&id=1211594619&l=19cacdfb59
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The Russians love their гулять!
гулять: to stroll, to walk with no purpose. It's basically what Russians do in their free time. They don't go to each others houses and theirs really no other place to go, so they гуляют. I had my first major гулять last Friday with my first Russian friend Лина (Lina). She's only 16 and in the 10th class, buts she so cute and funny and I actually really like her. She's really into photography and we have a similar taste in music. So we were talking online (I was using a translator of course) and she invited me to go гулятьing with her and her brother. I met her brother Kostia at the last disco tech at school. He's at the university studying computer programming and he speaks English really well. So I was like, yeah I'd love to! I invited Andrea and Lina's friend Anya (I think? It's hard for me to remember names!) And then we ran into a bunch of other people intermittently as we were walking and met up with Kostia and his friend Alex in the park.
We walked around the park and the streets a bunch, and just as гулять implies, it was without purpose. Until Kostia suggested we go play pool. We were all horrible but it was so awesome. And the Russians play pool differently. The balls are all
white and they are numbered. The que ball is yellow but you don't have to use the que ball; you can use any ball you want to hit the other balls. I still sucked at it! We stayed in the pool hall for a while until the smell of smoke drove us out (I smelt so disgusting when I got home, I took a shower right away!). We walked around some more, ran into some drunk kids from school which we neatly got rid of. Then it was getting late and I wasn't sure how I was going to get home because I live too far from the center to walk and the buses had stopped a while ago. But Kostia was so sweet and was like, I will put you in a taxi if you want because I promised your mama when I called her to ask if you could stay later with us that I would get you home safe. I am responsible for you. I was very sweet and gentlemen like of him. I ended up going in a taxi with Andrea and his mom from Andrea's aunt's house. So it was all good. Awesome times. I hope I can do something like that again!What I've been up to
So, in the last post I talked a lot about my life in general, so know I thought I'd share some funny little details about my life here. I have started to right things that have happened to me as they happen in my assignment book (I don't need a lot of room to write my homework because I only have one actual class a day!) so now I will remember everything and have a bunch of awesome, random things to tell you guys!
Well, first off, I don't think I've talked about the disco techs yet, at least not in my blog. I know I've talked to some of you guys about them already. But anyways, they're pretty awesome. There have been two at my school and then one in the town hall building (I think that's what it is). It's
like going back in time to middle school dances!!! The boys and girls don't dance together unless its a slow song and even then there's maybe four couples on the floor and they are dancing a foot apart, barely touching each other, and looking around at anything but the person they are dancing with because they want to be anywhere else but there! It's so perfectly awkward! Me and Sarah were cracking up, but no one else really could understand. They really like to dance in circles too. I would mix it up a bit though and try to break the norm but you need more than one person for that. The best part that is is nothing like middle school or high school for that matter is the fact that the guys actually dance. They don't just stand there with their pelvis pushed up against a girl's butt. And 90% of them are actually really good dancers. I can't describe how they dance. It's something you have to experience. I will get a video of it at some point I promise. I need it for myself so I can always remember. And all you guys in America will have to take notes because I think everyone guy should dance like that.
The second disco tech at my school was part dance/part cultural presentation. I guess it was world dialogue day or something; I don't know exactly. Andrea had a slideshow about Italy, sang the national anthem, and taught the dance that goes with the Tarantella. Rodrigo did a traditional Bolivian dance in a pretty sweet costume (I can't believe he brought that with him; it must have weighed a ton!) Me and Sarah had a hard time figuring out something to do for America because it's so big and each region is so
different in culture. And we are from two different regions, Northeast and Midwest. So what ended up going down was I sang the national anthem, Sarah sang the fifty nifty states song, we played a game called Honey do you love me (I had never heard of it before but it's actually really fun. I'll have to teach it to you guys when I get back) and then we taught them the Cotton Eyed Joe. I think they enjoyed it, especially the dance. I had a girl ask me for the song the next week in school!
So yeah those are the disco techs. There's another one this Friday at school. Should be cool, hopefully. Okay, what else? Ummm, oh yeah, October 5th was Teacher's Day at school. It was kinda cool. I think we should start the tradition in the U.S. The 11th class decorated the school and set up music in the lobby and greeted each teacher with a balloon. Then, throughout the day, students went around to their teachers and gave candies and flowers and cards. And the best part was the teachers didn't have to teach that day. The 11th class did! Me and Sarah taught an English class for the day. It was kinda fun. We didn't really know what we were doing because we can't speak too much Russian and I don't think they understood everything we said in English. But Sarah was very energetic and the little kids seemed quite entertained so I think it went alright.
Umm, I was on Russian TV for like 30 seconds! The local TV station came and we had to stand in front of a camera and speak Russian! It wouldn't have been so bad if I had known about it ahead of time. But I was literally walking down the hall to my next class and my English teacher grabs my arm and leads me to the end of the hall where there's a camera and she starts telling me all this stuff in Russian to say and I was like, umm, I won't remember that, so I'm just going to say what I know. I said something like, My name is Shannon, I am from the USA, I am learning Russian, Right now I only know a little Russian. I love Korenovsk and my family, Everything is good! I sounded like an idiot. Andrea's host sister has a video of it I think. I wonder if there's any way for me to post it online? I was supposed to be interviewed by the Krasnodar TV people too but there was a fire in the bizare and they felt the need to go cover that for like 2 1/2 hours so I don't know if they'll come back or not.
And that same day I had the TV interview thing, I had my NSLI Russian test. Because the whole point of my scholarship is to learn Russian, NSLI and AFS want to make sure I actually am learning something, so I had a test to gauge my progress. And again, I wasn't aware of it until the head of AFS in the Krasnodar region showed up at my school with a rep from the Moscow embassy. I mean I knew I had a test at some point, but I didn't know the day. I kinda had a little melt down at the point because that was two fairly major things that they didn't feel the need to inform us about. To be perfectly honest, I don't even know if the Russians know what is going on. But I asked my English teacher if there was any way that we could be notified at least a couple days before stuff like that happens again and she said yes but who knows if anything will change. As I have said before, it's not in the Russians' nature to plan ahead. But yeah, my actual test went alright. My ignorance on the matter might have actually worked in my favor. I probably would have been freaking out about it for days if I had known about it ahead of time. I had to read Russian and translate it then listen to a piece of Russian text and answer questions about it. Both pieces were fairly simple and I understood most everything. My pronunciation could probably be better though and it's definitely harder to understand something that is being read to you than it is to understand written text you can see. But the lady from Moscow said that I did very well for only one month of Russian studies. So I guess I did okay! Only me and Sarah had to take the test because we are NSLI.
Okay, this post is getting pretty long. I'm going to start a new one :)
Well, first off, I don't think I've talked about the disco techs yet, at least not in my blog. I know I've talked to some of you guys about them already. But anyways, they're pretty awesome. There have been two at my school and then one in the town hall building (I think that's what it is). It's
like going back in time to middle school dances!!! The boys and girls don't dance together unless its a slow song and even then there's maybe four couples on the floor and they are dancing a foot apart, barely touching each other, and looking around at anything but the person they are dancing with because they want to be anywhere else but there! It's so perfectly awkward! Me and Sarah were cracking up, but no one else really could understand. They really like to dance in circles too. I would mix it up a bit though and try to break the norm but you need more than one person for that. The best part that is is nothing like middle school or high school for that matter is the fact that the guys actually dance. They don't just stand there with their pelvis pushed up against a girl's butt. And 90% of them are actually really good dancers. I can't describe how they dance. It's something you have to experience. I will get a video of it at some point I promise. I need it for myself so I can always remember. And all you guys in America will have to take notes because I think everyone guy should dance like that.The second disco tech at my school was part dance/part cultural presentation. I guess it was world dialogue day or something; I don't know exactly. Andrea had a slideshow about Italy, sang the national anthem, and taught the dance that goes with the Tarantella. Rodrigo did a traditional Bolivian dance in a pretty sweet costume (I can't believe he brought that with him; it must have weighed a ton!) Me and Sarah had a hard time figuring out something to do for America because it's so big and each region is so
different in culture. And we are from two different regions, Northeast and Midwest. So what ended up going down was I sang the national anthem, Sarah sang the fifty nifty states song, we played a game called Honey do you love me (I had never heard of it before but it's actually really fun. I'll have to teach it to you guys when I get back) and then we taught them the Cotton Eyed Joe. I think they enjoyed it, especially the dance. I had a girl ask me for the song the next week in school!So yeah those are the disco techs. There's another one this Friday at school. Should be cool, hopefully. Okay, what else? Ummm, oh yeah, October 5th was Teacher's Day at school. It was kinda cool. I think we should start the tradition in the U.S. The 11th class decorated the school and set up music in the lobby and greeted each teacher with a balloon. Then, throughout the day, students went around to their teachers and gave candies and flowers and cards. And the best part was the teachers didn't have to teach that day. The 11th class did! Me and Sarah taught an English class for the day. It was kinda fun. We didn't really know what we were doing because we can't speak too much Russian and I don't think they understood everything we said in English. But Sarah was very energetic and the little kids seemed quite entertained so I think it went alright.
Umm, I was on Russian TV for like 30 seconds! The local TV station came and we had to stand in front of a camera and speak Russian! It wouldn't have been so bad if I had known about it ahead of time. But I was literally walking down the hall to my next class and my English teacher grabs my arm and leads me to the end of the hall where there's a camera and she starts telling me all this stuff in Russian to say and I was like, umm, I won't remember that, so I'm just going to say what I know. I said something like, My name is Shannon, I am from the USA, I am learning Russian, Right now I only know a little Russian. I love Korenovsk and my family, Everything is good! I sounded like an idiot. Andrea's host sister has a video of it I think. I wonder if there's any way for me to post it online? I was supposed to be interviewed by the Krasnodar TV people too but there was a fire in the bizare and they felt the need to go cover that for like 2 1/2 hours so I don't know if they'll come back or not.
And that same day I had the TV interview thing, I had my NSLI Russian test. Because the whole point of my scholarship is to learn Russian, NSLI and AFS want to make sure I actually am learning something, so I had a test to gauge my progress. And again, I wasn't aware of it until the head of AFS in the Krasnodar region showed up at my school with a rep from the Moscow embassy. I mean I knew I had a test at some point, but I didn't know the day. I kinda had a little melt down at the point because that was two fairly major things that they didn't feel the need to inform us about. To be perfectly honest, I don't even know if the Russians know what is going on. But I asked my English teacher if there was any way that we could be notified at least a couple days before stuff like that happens again and she said yes but who knows if anything will change. As I have said before, it's not in the Russians' nature to plan ahead. But yeah, my actual test went alright. My ignorance on the matter might have actually worked in my favor. I probably would have been freaking out about it for days if I had known about it ahead of time. I had to read Russian and translate it then listen to a piece of Russian text and answer questions about it. Both pieces were fairly simple and I understood most everything. My pronunciation could probably be better though and it's definitely harder to understand something that is being read to you than it is to understand written text you can see. But the lady from Moscow said that I did very well for only one month of Russian studies. So I guess I did okay! Only me and Sarah had to take the test because we are NSLI.
Okay, this post is getting pretty long. I'm going to start a new one :)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
It's Been Awhile...
So my mom has been riding my case about not posting anything new for a while, and yeah, I have kinda left you guys hanging. I've just been writing in my journal a lot, and when I write in my journal, I find I don't have the energy to restate everything I just wrote again. But, anyways, here's what has been going on.
I guess I'll talk about school a little bit first. I go to школа 17, which is right in the middle of the downtown. There are like, 7 other schools in Korenovsk and I guess they're all jealous that my school has us four exchange students. Yes, there are 4 of us in the school; me, Sarah from America, Andrea from Italy, and Rodrigo from Bolivia. It is nice to have Sarah at school to talk English with, and we help each other learn Russian. They try to keep us apart at school so we don't speak English, but that doesn't work too well. Andrea is cool too. He lives near me and we go for walks a lot. We talk mostly in English. I think he is getting better at English than Russian!
The school is very old, but they keep it meticulously clean. Everyday after classes are finished, one of the older forms is on "duty" and they clean the entire school. And I mean clean. They take rags and wipe the baseboards and walls, they sweep everywhere even the front steps, and they wash the windows. Don't tell the janitors in America about this! It's not strictly a high school; it is 1st through 11th form (they graduate at 16/17, no 12th grade). It's kind of annoying to have little kids constantly running around and screaming, but oh well. I'm technically part of the form 11a (there are two parallel classes in each form, 1a and 1b etc...) but I don't really do anything with them. I have my own schedule, which has been a point of contention in terms of my happiness. To make a long story short, as part of my scholarship I am supposed to have Russian Language classes. The students in Krasnodar are receiving these classes at a language school. However, me and Sarah and Phillip are not in Krasnodar and or schools can not provide us with the same caliber of lessons. After a few days of massive confusion and frustration on my part, I finally got some sort of language classes and slowly, I have settled into them. My teacher is very nice, but she doesn't speak English, so it makes learning Russian a little difficult. But we are getting by. At this point, I have deduced that the Russians don't plan well and its a miracle that I'm getting any sort of private lessons. So I'm just going with the flow and doing the best with the situation I am presented with. I talk to Phillip a lot (he's in Ust-Labinsk, but we have little mini therapy sessions and it's great) and we decided that making the best of what we have is all we can do.
Besides my daily Russian lessons, my schedule consists entirely of English classes. Sometimes I help the teach, but I mostly study Russian in the back of the room by myself, which I don't mind too much. I've always liked to study alone. I hope that later on when I understand more I can join my classmates in some other classes. On Thursdays I have труд which is home economics (only for girls, so sexist) and I get to make traditional Russian food which is pretty cool. So far I have made Russian pancakes (basically a crepe, but don't tell the Russian's that) the Russian version of a pirogi, and soup. (I know the Russian names but have no idea how to spell them! I have the recipe for the pirogi things though so I can make them at home!) And can I
just say that the Russians love their soup! We have soup with almost every meal. And also may I add that there are 12 different types of borscht, something I was not aware of until I got here. I eat Kuban borsht, which is basically water tomato sauce with a crap town of onions and peppers and a few potatoes. I eat it, but I don't pretend to enjoy it. Here's a pic.
At school, there is an English translator who is working as a teacher (she told me why but I didn't really understand exactly). Her names is Olya (Оля in Russian) She can't be more than 23 and she speaks English really well. She takes me out in the city sometimes during school and she helps me buy stuff at stores because most everything is in a glass case or behind a counter so if I went by myself I'd have to pull a Tarzan as Madame my french teacher would say and speak very crudely saying "это пожалуйста" ("this please") while pointing. Sometimes me and Sarah and Andrea take walks in the city too when we have English class. The teachers don't really care what we do, so it's kinda nice to have a bit of independence because school can get pretty boring.
So yeah, that's school, which is pretty much my life. My family is so awesome, but they don't really do anything. They never leave the house except to go to school/work or church. So it's good that Andrea lives near me so we can easily go for walks together just to get out of the house. The Russians don't really go outside. Like, there is a beautiful garden behind my house that is really pretty at sunset, but there is not where to sit. There's no where to sit anywhere outside. And as most of you know, I'm used to a nice big deck to go out and relax out on. Oh well. It will be winter soon and I guess it's pretty rainy and cold here in the winter so I won't want to be outside.
Because school is the only thing I do and I get pretty bored being home all the time, I'm looking into doing dance classes at an art school near my school. The director at my school gave me a schedule and told me the teachers name, but I'm a little confused. Like, do I just show up? I'm going to talk to my parents about it, and if they say yes maybe they can help me talk to the director to figure out what I need to do. Cause I was talking to Phillip about the whole being stuck at home thing and he says his family is kinda the same way so he started taking classes at an art school and he says its nice to have something else going on. And also, I really miss dancing. I have no idea what type of dance I'll be doing (I don't think its ballet though :() but I don't really care. Dance is a great stress reliever for me and also, its something I can do without knowing a lot of Russian because with dancing you communicate with your body, not your mouth.
And not to mention a little exercise wouldn't hurt. I'm afraid to say I've gained at least 5 pounds since this whole adventure began. They're diet is so carb-centric. Like the meal I just had was bread, potatoes, and these fried pancakes with cheese things. That's it. No vegetable or meat or anything. I feel like I'm going to explode! I eat grapes and apples and bananas often enough, but I'm not getting a lot of vegetables. I don't like tomatoes so all I really eat are cucumbers, which are basically crunchy water. And of course, there are tons of onions in every dish and yes, I actually do eat them. I never would have thought it possible, but they're not that bad most of the time. But the other day, my mama bought lettuce (it was different than American lettuce but i didn't care) and she made a green salad just for me. They put cucumbers and cauliflower (I told them I like broccoli and I think they think cauliflower is broccoli) and they drenched it in oil and put salt on it (They put salt of everything. And tons of butter. And the only flavoring they use here is salt, dill, and parsley) I didn't care though. I was just happy to have some greens :)
I have a couple other dietary notes to make. First, every Russian, at least in the Krasnodar region, loves sunflower seeds and I have taken a liking to them myself. There are tons of sunflower fields around here. Unfortunately I arrived as they were all dying so I didn't get to see them in all their beauty. But there are still tons of seeds kicking around. And they eat the ones with the shell on it. I still haven't gotten the hang of shelling them, but my host family has it down to a science. And also, my family raises there own chickens. I hear them in the morning and they are in my belly in the evening. And one time I made the mistake of walking into the outdoor kitchen when they were preparing the chickens. Seeing chicken feet sticking out of a pot was an experience I could have done without.
Okay, this is a pretty hefty sized post. I'm going to peace out for now. I'll write more often I promise!
I guess I'll talk about school a little bit first. I go to школа 17, which is right in the middle of the downtown. There are like, 7 other schools in Korenovsk and I guess they're all jealous that my school has us four exchange students. Yes, there are 4 of us in the school; me, Sarah from America, Andrea from Italy, and Rodrigo from Bolivia. It is nice to have Sarah at school to talk English with, and we help each other learn Russian. They try to keep us apart at school so we don't speak English, but that doesn't work too well. Andrea is cool too. He lives near me and we go for walks a lot. We talk mostly in English. I think he is getting better at English than Russian!
The school is very old, but they keep it meticulously clean. Everyday after classes are finished, one of the older forms is on "duty" and they clean the entire school. And I mean clean. They take rags and wipe the baseboards and walls, they sweep everywhere even the front steps, and they wash the windows. Don't tell the janitors in America about this! It's not strictly a high school; it is 1st through 11th form (they graduate at 16/17, no 12th grade). It's kind of annoying to have little kids constantly running around and screaming, but oh well. I'm technically part of the form 11a (there are two parallel classes in each form, 1a and 1b etc...) but I don't really do anything with them. I have my own schedule, which has been a point of contention in terms of my happiness. To make a long story short, as part of my scholarship I am supposed to have Russian Language classes. The students in Krasnodar are receiving these classes at a language school. However, me and Sarah and Phillip are not in Krasnodar and or schools can not provide us with the same caliber of lessons. After a few days of massive confusion and frustration on my part, I finally got some sort of language classes and slowly, I have settled into them. My teacher is very nice, but she doesn't speak English, so it makes learning Russian a little difficult. But we are getting by. At this point, I have deduced that the Russians don't plan well and its a miracle that I'm getting any sort of private lessons. So I'm just going with the flow and doing the best with the situation I am presented with. I talk to Phillip a lot (he's in Ust-Labinsk, but we have little mini therapy sessions and it's great) and we decided that making the best of what we have is all we can do.
Besides my daily Russian lessons, my schedule consists entirely of English classes. Sometimes I help the teach, but I mostly study Russian in the back of the room by myself, which I don't mind too much. I've always liked to study alone. I hope that later on when I understand more I can join my classmates in some other classes. On Thursdays I have труд which is home economics (only for girls, so sexist) and I get to make traditional Russian food which is pretty cool. So far I have made Russian pancakes (basically a crepe, but don't tell the Russian's that) the Russian version of a pirogi, and soup. (I know the Russian names but have no idea how to spell them! I have the recipe for the pirogi things though so I can make them at home!) And can I
just say that the Russians love their soup! We have soup with almost every meal. And also may I add that there are 12 different types of borscht, something I was not aware of until I got here. I eat Kuban borsht, which is basically water tomato sauce with a crap town of onions and peppers and a few potatoes. I eat it, but I don't pretend to enjoy it. Here's a pic.At school, there is an English translator who is working as a teacher (she told me why but I didn't really understand exactly). Her names is Olya (Оля in Russian) She can't be more than 23 and she speaks English really well. She takes me out in the city sometimes during school and she helps me buy stuff at stores because most everything is in a glass case or behind a counter so if I went by myself I'd have to pull a Tarzan as Madame my french teacher would say and speak very crudely saying "это пожалуйста" ("this please") while pointing. Sometimes me and Sarah and Andrea take walks in the city too when we have English class. The teachers don't really care what we do, so it's kinda nice to have a bit of independence because school can get pretty boring.
So yeah, that's school, which is pretty much my life. My family is so awesome, but they don't really do anything. They never leave the house except to go to school/work or church. So it's good that Andrea lives near me so we can easily go for walks together just to get out of the house. The Russians don't really go outside. Like, there is a beautiful garden behind my house that is really pretty at sunset, but there is not where to sit. There's no where to sit anywhere outside. And as most of you know, I'm used to a nice big deck to go out and relax out on. Oh well. It will be winter soon and I guess it's pretty rainy and cold here in the winter so I won't want to be outside.
Because school is the only thing I do and I get pretty bored being home all the time, I'm looking into doing dance classes at an art school near my school. The director at my school gave me a schedule and told me the teachers name, but I'm a little confused. Like, do I just show up? I'm going to talk to my parents about it, and if they say yes maybe they can help me talk to the director to figure out what I need to do. Cause I was talking to Phillip about the whole being stuck at home thing and he says his family is kinda the same way so he started taking classes at an art school and he says its nice to have something else going on. And also, I really miss dancing. I have no idea what type of dance I'll be doing (I don't think its ballet though :() but I don't really care. Dance is a great stress reliever for me and also, its something I can do without knowing a lot of Russian because with dancing you communicate with your body, not your mouth.
And not to mention a little exercise wouldn't hurt. I'm afraid to say I've gained at least 5 pounds since this whole adventure began. They're diet is so carb-centric. Like the meal I just had was bread, potatoes, and these fried pancakes with cheese things. That's it. No vegetable or meat or anything. I feel like I'm going to explode! I eat grapes and apples and bananas often enough, but I'm not getting a lot of vegetables. I don't like tomatoes so all I really eat are cucumbers, which are basically crunchy water. And of course, there are tons of onions in every dish and yes, I actually do eat them. I never would have thought it possible, but they're not that bad most of the time. But the other day, my mama bought lettuce (it was different than American lettuce but i didn't care) and she made a green salad just for me. They put cucumbers and cauliflower (I told them I like broccoli and I think they think cauliflower is broccoli) and they drenched it in oil and put salt on it (They put salt of everything. And tons of butter. And the only flavoring they use here is salt, dill, and parsley) I didn't care though. I was just happy to have some greens :)
I have a couple other dietary notes to make. First, every Russian, at least in the Krasnodar region, loves sunflower seeds and I have taken a liking to them myself. There are tons of sunflower fields around here. Unfortunately I arrived as they were all dying so I didn't get to see them in all their beauty. But there are still tons of seeds kicking around. And they eat the ones with the shell on it. I still haven't gotten the hang of shelling them, but my host family has it down to a science. And also, my family raises there own chickens. I hear them in the morning and they are in my belly in the evening. And one time I made the mistake of walking into the outdoor kitchen when they were preparing the chickens. Seeing chicken feet sticking out of a pot was an experience I could have done without.
Okay, this is a pretty hefty sized post. I'm going to peace out for now. I'll write more often I promise!
Friday, September 25, 2009
My Host Family
I know you are all anxious for pics of my host family, but I haven't really had a chance to get any good ones. But I promise I will! For right now, I'll just tell you about them.
Alla is my sister and is in the 9th form. She's 14 turning 15 tomorrow (I have no idea if she'll have a party or anything. Maybe a family thing or something). She's like any other girl that age. She loves pink and cats and taking crazy pictures of her and her cousin Inna. She's very easy going though, more so then American girls that age. She always takes the time to help me even if it would appear to be inconvenient and she does what her parents say with little rebuttal. I haven't been able to talk to her that much because of the language barrier, but so far we get along really well.
Then there's Papa. Oh goodness, what can I say about Papa? Well, the first thing you notice is how loud he is. The first night I got there, their English speaking friend Ria came over to interpret somethings, and he told her to tell me not to be afraid of his loud voice, that's just how he is. It's like he's yelling all the time. But not an angry yelling. He's very goodnatured. He has a perfectly round face and a nice smile. And just like everyone else in the family, he does everything he can to make me feel welcome and happy. On the application, it said he owns a moving company, but I don't think that's right. He owns his own business, but there's a giant dump truck parked next to the house that he takes out really early in the morning. So I'm not sure exactly what he does! There are two other things you should know about Papa. He is very proud of his grapes and insists upon telling me about the different types and the growth cycle of them even though I don't understand a word of it. And he is also very proud to be Cossack. He is not Russian; he is a Cossack, which, if my memory of Russia history isn't too muddle, means his family is from the Ukraine or at least that area.
Mama is definitely the more level headed one in the husband/wife dynamic. She is very down to earth and is very patient when she explains things to me. She does most of the cooking and cleaning in the house with the help of Bubula. She also works a few days a week at a cafe in town. Like Papa, she not Russian too. She's Moldavian and when her brother comes over, I guess they speak in Moldavian but I can't tell the difference between that and Russian! I can't understand either! And Mama doesn't speak English like it said on the application, but that's okay. With no one speaking English in the house it's more motivation for me to learn Russian! But yeah, Mama is awesome and very motherly and I feel very comfortable talking to her.
Bubula is the one I know the least. She kinda keeps to herself, joining the family only at meal times. She's usually working out in the garden, hobbling about and mumbling in Russian. Sometimes it seems like she's in so much pain from walking around so much; I can't believe she's still walking to be perfectly honest. Her brown skin is all worn and wrinkly and she wears these thick glasses that make her eyes look huge and I always laugh to myself when she puts them because they look so ridiculous! We don't really talk, but she always insists upon filling my plate (like I'm not getting enough to eat) and she knows I really like milk so she always gets me a glass after supper. She's a classic Russian Babushka and maybe I'll be able to talk to her in Russian at some point!
Oh yes, then there's Afonia (I have no idea how to spell his name!). He is one of the most hyperactive 5 year olds I have ever met! He's constantly running around the house blubbery away about something. She I can always tell when he's upstairs because the chandelier in my room rattles whenever he runs around up there. Also, I think Mama and Papa let him act in ways that wouldn't be tolerated in America, or at least I think so. Like he has an aversion to napkins for some reason and Papa wiped his mouth with one and Afonia freaked out and screamed for a towel. He only uses towels apparently. And Mama and Papa just kinda shock their heads; they didn't tell him to stop fussing or anything. I don't know, it's just different parenting I guess. Afonia may be bratty, but he always says hi to me and loves to tell me when it's time to eat. He runs up to me and says "Shannon, kooshaet, kooshaet num,num,num,num". So he's still kinda cute.
So yeah, that's who I live with. Then there are about 20 gillion cousins and aunts and uncles and I can't remember who's who's brother and who is married to who. It's crazy! I do know Inna, Ulia, and Lesa though because they go to school with us every morning and live right down the street. But then they have a couple older brothers, Sasha and some one else. And then someone is getting married soon, I can't remember who... oh well, maybe I'll figure it out sometime! All I know is I have a great family that I can feel a part of. And as I learn more Russian, things can only get even better :)
Though I do suppose I have one little complaint. It's not that big of a deal, but still. The family doesn't really go anywhere together. I haven't gone anywhere except for downtown Korenovsk with them and that was just to run errands. Sarah has been to Krasnodar and Andrea is going to the mountains tomorrow with his family. I hope that we do something more as a family. And I mean, I've been here just under a month. There's still time. And I can't complain too much because I have such a caring and supportive family that I feel very comfortable being a part of.
I wanted to add this picture of my family I took at their church because I have no idea when I'll be able to post this on facebook and I know you all want to see pictures so here you go!
Alla is my sister and is in the 9th form. She's 14 turning 15 tomorrow (I have no idea if she'll have a party or anything. Maybe a family thing or something). She's like any other girl that age. She loves pink and cats and taking crazy pictures of her and her cousin Inna. She's very easy going though, more so then American girls that age. She always takes the time to help me even if it would appear to be inconvenient and she does what her parents say with little rebuttal. I haven't been able to talk to her that much because of the language barrier, but so far we get along really well.
Then there's Papa. Oh goodness, what can I say about Papa? Well, the first thing you notice is how loud he is. The first night I got there, their English speaking friend Ria came over to interpret somethings, and he told her to tell me not to be afraid of his loud voice, that's just how he is. It's like he's yelling all the time. But not an angry yelling. He's very goodnatured. He has a perfectly round face and a nice smile. And just like everyone else in the family, he does everything he can to make me feel welcome and happy. On the application, it said he owns a moving company, but I don't think that's right. He owns his own business, but there's a giant dump truck parked next to the house that he takes out really early in the morning. So I'm not sure exactly what he does! There are two other things you should know about Papa. He is very proud of his grapes and insists upon telling me about the different types and the growth cycle of them even though I don't understand a word of it. And he is also very proud to be Cossack. He is not Russian; he is a Cossack, which, if my memory of Russia history isn't too muddle, means his family is from the Ukraine or at least that area.
Mama is definitely the more level headed one in the husband/wife dynamic. She is very down to earth and is very patient when she explains things to me. She does most of the cooking and cleaning in the house with the help of Bubula. She also works a few days a week at a cafe in town. Like Papa, she not Russian too. She's Moldavian and when her brother comes over, I guess they speak in Moldavian but I can't tell the difference between that and Russian! I can't understand either! And Mama doesn't speak English like it said on the application, but that's okay. With no one speaking English in the house it's more motivation for me to learn Russian! But yeah, Mama is awesome and very motherly and I feel very comfortable talking to her.
Bubula is the one I know the least. She kinda keeps to herself, joining the family only at meal times. She's usually working out in the garden, hobbling about and mumbling in Russian. Sometimes it seems like she's in so much pain from walking around so much; I can't believe she's still walking to be perfectly honest. Her brown skin is all worn and wrinkly and she wears these thick glasses that make her eyes look huge and I always laugh to myself when she puts them because they look so ridiculous! We don't really talk, but she always insists upon filling my plate (like I'm not getting enough to eat) and she knows I really like milk so she always gets me a glass after supper. She's a classic Russian Babushka and maybe I'll be able to talk to her in Russian at some point!
Oh yes, then there's Afonia (I have no idea how to spell his name!). He is one of the most hyperactive 5 year olds I have ever met! He's constantly running around the house blubbery away about something. She I can always tell when he's upstairs because the chandelier in my room rattles whenever he runs around up there. Also, I think Mama and Papa let him act in ways that wouldn't be tolerated in America, or at least I think so. Like he has an aversion to napkins for some reason and Papa wiped his mouth with one and Afonia freaked out and screamed for a towel. He only uses towels apparently. And Mama and Papa just kinda shock their heads; they didn't tell him to stop fussing or anything. I don't know, it's just different parenting I guess. Afonia may be bratty, but he always says hi to me and loves to tell me when it's time to eat. He runs up to me and says "Shannon, kooshaet, kooshaet num,num,num,num". So he's still kinda cute.
So yeah, that's who I live with. Then there are about 20 gillion cousins and aunts and uncles and I can't remember who's who's brother and who is married to who. It's crazy! I do know Inna, Ulia, and Lesa though because they go to school with us every morning and live right down the street. But then they have a couple older brothers, Sasha and some one else. And then someone is getting married soon, I can't remember who... oh well, maybe I'll figure it out sometime! All I know is I have a great family that I can feel a part of. And as I learn more Russian, things can only get even better :)
Though I do suppose I have one little complaint. It's not that big of a deal, but still. The family doesn't really go anywhere together. I haven't gone anywhere except for downtown Korenovsk with them and that was just to run errands. Sarah has been to Krasnodar and Andrea is going to the mountains tomorrow with his family. I hope that we do something more as a family. And I mean, I've been here just under a month. There's still time. And I can't complain too much because I have such a caring and supportive family that I feel very comfortable being a part of.
I wanted to add this picture of my family I took at their church because I have no idea when I'll be able to post this on facebook and I know you all want to see pictures so here you go!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
House Pics
I got facebook to work and here's the link to the pictures of my house: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38495&id=1211594619&l=57bb046df4
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