Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Getting Lost

Since I wrote my last blog post many exciting things have occurred. We moved to a new apartment with 2 other Russian girls named Anisa and Katya. They are very lovely and are helping us learn so much Russian! We began teaching our English courses and have have about 20 people show up in total to our first two classes. We have successfully figured out the bus system, how to cross the busy streets by ourselves, and how to buy groceries at the supermarket. These first (almost) three weeks have been quite the whirlwind but there is one even that sticks out in my mind quite heavily: I caused a pressure cooker to explode. That's right, I became one of the 100 goofballs who are seriously burnt by pressure cookers a year. Life is all about learning and I have now learned that pressure cookers are of the devil and should not be challenged to a fight. Ever. However, fret not! My injuries are healing flawlessly with no infection. My left hand suffered a slight 1st degree burn and just looks like a peeling sunburn but I suffered a 2nd degree burn on my chest and that was pretty sick nasty. Think blistered and oozing and peeling and yellow. Yuck!

Our new apartment with Anisa and Katya is a lot closer to the city center and it is truly a blessing. We can now walk almost anywhere and get there within an hour and our bus rides are much shorter. We're hoping to get our own apartment on this side of town because it is only a 10 minute walk from where we will be teaching English all semester. Our new roommates have taken it upon themselves to help us learn meany new Russian words and have been a great encouragement in our language learning. I personally am picking up a lot of little words here and there and can kind of understand some things in context through I have no idea what the literal translation is. It is definitely a gift from God that I had to learn Czech when I lived in the Czech Republic in high school. Knowing Czech has helped me grasp the language aspects that my partners are struggling in. Again, God's plans are far better than mine and He is putting my prior experience and knowledge to good use here in Russia and I am so thankful for this.

Our English courses. These courses have been quite the experience. ESL is my minor at school but actually teaching ESL is like being on a whole 'nother planet! We have dived head first into lesson planning and making sure that we are catering to the needs of each individual student. Our classes are not so much structured and focused on precise grammar as they are about providing a means for Russians to practice their conversational skills. Russians begin learning English in school but most have never been placed in a situation that required them to use their English. So we are constantly exploiting the fact that we are native speakers and that we would love to just chat with people! This seems simple enough but there are instances when it can be a real challenge coming up with new things to talk about. Thankfully, God's got our back and He always provides words when we are lacking.

Oh girl, the bus system. You have to pay EVERY SINGLE TIME that you ride a bus. You could be going 2 stops or 20 stops, you still have to pay the 15 rubles (approx. 50 cents). If the bus is crowded you actually have to talk to people and ask them to pass your money down the bus to the driver, who counts your money and gives out the change WHILE HE DRIVES! Y'all, these drivers are talented fellows. I was the first to muster enough courage to speak Russian on the bus and pay our fare. Now we have each done it and our friends are amazed that we can already ride the bus no problem and navigate around town. Tomsk only has about 700,000 people to transportation isn't that bad and living right by the downtown makes it all the better!

The grocery store is fun. We usually end up buying what we are familiar with based on the picture or if we can tell what it is by looking at it. The cashiers are always a little confused by us because we speak English and only know how to tell them if we do or don't need a bag, that we really don't want a "bonus card," and that we do indeed have the correct amount of change to pay for our stuff. Though sometimes they speak a little too fast and things have gotten quite confuddled. Since Russia has really cheap and really delicious ice cream we seem to pop into the same grocery store every other day for a little comfort food and the cashiers are getting to know us. Have I mentioned that there are little stores EVERYWHERE?! If we ever need anything we just have to walk across the street. Like, the other night I was craving potatoes so I went and bought some. Boom. No biggie! And our friends are very good about making sure we try lots of traditional Russian food.

Olga is quickly becoming one of our closest friends and she is so willing to show us the town and introduce us to new friends. She is so caring and fun and all around a great gal. For instance, today we wandered around for 5 hours and got to visit some amazing places. She is also really good about taking pictures! So I will close this blog with a praise for new friends, a request for you to keep us in your prayers, and a few pictures.
World War II monument with fellow Americans


My burn





The inside of an Orthodox church

Inside of a Jewish Synagogue








Rubbing Chekhov's nose for good luck


This is Olga. Our lovely friend!

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