A New Season

    Summer is here! It is so interesting how the four seasons seem to go in Krasnoyarsk. Spring and fall are really fast. It seems like once you notice the big change in season (certain leaves falling or flowers starting to bloom) the next week the next season comes into full swing. I remember noticing a week or so ago the flowers and trees really starting to bloom, and now it is in the 80's and 90's and I am sunburned.
       The island where I went ice skating with my friends in the winter is now transformed into a place where everyone goes to sunbathe and to ride bikes or Rollerblade.

      On the island were also some older women selling souvenirs. It still amazes me the ingenuity of people and what the vendors here have come up with to sell. Like cups, hats, whistles, and other assorted items  made of birch bark. There were also Russian nesting dolls made and other toys made of wood that were beautifully painted with bright colors. 

Some examples of birch-bark things.

Another table full of souvenirs.

A bike path that goes around the island.

A Monument in the center of the city with flowers around it; a common sight throughout the city.

Teaching- Not Really My Gift

Kirill and his mother.

Over the last few months I have had the opportunity to teach English to a little three year old boy, Kirill. I don't do a specific lesson, but just spend about an hour and a half playing with him and talking as much as I can in English. It is interesting playing with a kid in the hopes of him learning some English when he barely has a handle on his own. His mother contacted me a few months ago. She is trying to teach her son German and English as well as how to read and write in Russian. Every day she tries to do 20 minutes of spoken English with him. Usually it is just over breakfast but sometimes they watch a children's show (like Blue's Clues) together. She asked me to help because in school and college Russians are taught how to debate, write essays, and proper grammar. But they are not taught what native speakers say to their children (potty training, coloring, the works), which is what she really needed. It has been really interesting teaching someone who would otherwise be fairly fluent in English things like "Let's go wash our hands!" and "Do you have to go potty?"

The other teaching opportunity I have had in Russia is with an Astronomy club. The students there are planning on visiting the Griffith Observatory in the Fall. It is very difficult just speaking English to students who I know can understand less than 25% of what I say, but it is even more difficult to try to teach an English lesson to them! They are all at different levels, and I really hate to see someone completely lost or bored because the subject is too easy. And, of course, I know nothing about astronomy! But that isn't such a big deal because the teacher of the club wants me to teach the students to understand American English, and so I have mostly been focusing on things that they may come across in the USA. This class I am still getting used to still, and the last 45 minutes is usually a kind of loud tea party, where the students talk in Russian with each other and the teacher tries to force everyone to speak English. This has been my last three Saturday evenings.
From this last class has  sprouted a new class, two days a week. I go to a building and teach 9 (if they all come) students English. This has no theme, unless I want it to. It is all mine, but the students are all mostly from the Astronomy club. So, in this class, I get to teach what I want without a teacher hanging over my shoulder while I struggle to teach these kids. The issues I have with these kids is i the wide variations in skill levels. I have three (or two and a half) that don't really need grammar as much as they need to just practice English. The rest of the kids are so varied (from not knowing the basic vocab to just struggling with grammar and gathering vocab) that I don't really know what to do with them. I have split the group in two so that the more advanced kids aren't bored and cheating for the kids that need the more basic material.
The problem is, this is a free class. And the kids don't need to do work from this class. So sometimes they don't do the work I ask them to or as well as I would like. But there isn't really anything I can do! I understand for the basic kids, because what I give them is hard, but the more advanced kids don't like to do the things I ask them like finding phrases they don't understand/believe are slang/idioms in a text, and to know text well enough to read through it quickly/with fluidity. I keep holding out hope for them, though. I feel like maybe after a little while, when they don't have school or are more relaxed with the work they will start to do better. I just wish all the students put out half as much effort as I do in preparing the lessons! Maybe I will just start giving them a lot of notes and vocabulary lists; almost creating a phrasebook with them, so that when the time does come when they will go to America, they realize the importance of our lessons and have something with them to recall what we learned.

Well, my world is starting to thaw out! As spring seems to be approaching, my whole world seems to be changing. The time I leave Russia and my exchange comes to an end is getting closer and closer. I am starting to get comfortable with my life here, and even getting kind of successfull in my Russian University class! Although things are bound to get more difficult as Russian Grammar continues to baffle me.
All of my city seems to be getting anxious for spring.
The snow seems to be melting, but in a very weird way. It has gotten so packed down over the winter that it takes forever and much of the snow that hasn't melted already seems like it never my thaw because it is basically ice. The temperature never  gets below -20, and some people are even selling flowers to plant.

Also, the Russian National Holiday Women's day is coming. It is mostly like a second mother's day (I have no clue what to give my host mom). There is even a super sappy looking Hallmark-type movie out about this holiday called "Mommies."

In Summary

Well, to put it lightly, my blog hasn't been touched in a while. So much has happened in what now seems like so little time. But I can tell I am adjusting to the Russian winter as best as I can. Before it got cold (below -20 Celsius) I did lots of ice skating. It seemed like every day or every other day that I was out on one of the ice rinks near my house. All of the basketball/soccer courts are now ice rinks, or катки (caught-key), and so there are a few of them near my home. I can't say if I became very skilled, but my knees and side got very bruised! And now that it is getting warmer, I have started to go out on the ice again. I am so out of practice that I am sure my body will be black and purple like it was before in no time.

Russian Waltz

The "chicken" dance, which had almost every dancer out taking part.

I have been to a couple of different concerts for Traditional Russian Dance. Both times I went I was amazed by the different techniques the dancers used. The waltzes and the "Russian Barnyard" (in quotes because that is what I named them) dances exhibited in the concerts were very interesting to watch. The dancers must be so ripped it isn't even funny. The amount of muscle control it must take to glide across the stage like they do in the waltzes, or kick their feet up at high speeds like they do in the barnyard dances is just crazy to think about. All the jumping and high kicking of the dances were impressive and fun to watch. Sometimes the ladies would "whoop" and it just added to the atmosphere of the barnyard-type dances. 


I went to an organ concert in an old Polish church (built in 1901). The music was just amazing. It seems to come from the great billows and wrap around you in your seat. If you close your eyes (bad idea, because organ music is very conducive to sleep if it isn't deep and brooding) you can't tell where the sound is coming from. That is the best way to describe the music of the organ, because "girthy" seems to have a weight to it that the music just doesn't have. 

Baking has become kind of a big thing for me. My host mom made a rule that I can't bake something new until the last thing I made is gone. Through trial and error I have discovered the kind of textures and sweets she likes as far as baked goods go, so I can make something new every other week if I only bake small batches. 

As I get better at Russian, I have started to be able to enjoy the people more. I can talk to them with no English and understand (I always have someone who speaks English close by to help translate any key words I don't know) much much MUCH better than I can speak. I feel like I understand my friends more and am to the point where I can decipher teasing and lying as well as hyperbole. Although, come to think of it, it isn't often that Russians use hyperbole or sarcasm. Which is kind of a shame, but I do like that they say what they mean and there is no second-guessing myself on if they were serious or kidding. The unfortunate part comes in when I try to hyperbole-ise something and my friends or family are briefly concerned for my health. But in the end it always is something to just look back and laugh about.

During my winter brake from school, I met a couple of old exchangers from the US and Canada who came back to visit their old host families here in Krasnoyarsk. Jenna and Jennifer, I cannot thank you two enough for all the encouragement and advice you gave me. If you read this, know that you both have helped me SO much, and I can never thank you two enough. You both helped me approach my exchange in a new way and tackle the language with a new sense of direction and purpose. You guys taught me that my exchange isn’t about fluency, but about the relationships and experiences that I can keep with me forever. It may sound strange to read that, but it is true. Sometimes as an exchange student, I have gotten really hung up on thinking that my purpose in Russia is to gain this new language. When really the language is supposed to be just one of the tools I should gain while trying to build relationships and experiences that will last a lifetime. So, thank you guys for bringing my focus back to where it should be and for all of the advice!

For school, I have been focusing on expanding my vocabulary every class. I try to memorise 5 new words per class, which is sometimes harder than I think it will be. Doing this has cut down on a lot of the times I am bored and also helped me expand my vocabulary. There came a point a while back where I felt like I had come to a lull in my Russian and would never be able to understand everything or at the very least get past a basic level. The studying in school has really helped me keep up progress and feel like I am still learning a lot on my exchange still. So as far as language goes, I am improving! Which is something one can always be happy with. When it comes to grammar and my accent, I don't really want to say! Ужас! These things are a bit harder to improve than vocabulary, and that is what I tell myself when I feel a bit down for not being as good as I feel I should be. 

Me with my Xmas packages.

I have also gotten a few packages from the USA! As an exchange student, getting packages is one of the best things ever. It is like someone sends me a chunk of OR in every package I get. Even in my Christmas packages, where half the gifts were for other people, I was still elated. I still have a slight residual Christmas Package high. I cannot thank the people (mainly my parents and grandparents) who have invested quite a bit of money in shipping fees to send me the things I have gotten thus far. The packages, however late or early they have come to me, always seem to come at just the right time. The morning the Christmas packages came, I woke up just feeling homesick. I missed all things rainy Southern Oregon. And then I got a call about packages waiting for me at the post office. They seem to do the opposite of what the Rotarians told me things from home would do. My homesickness is always cured with peanut butter or peanut butter products and a note from someone in perfect English. Always.
The last couple of months have been a little crazy, but I love every minute here. Of course there have been ups and downs, but that is just life. I wouldn’t trade any of this for something else. I can’t wait for what is to come in the future!