Crystal in Russia

Russian All the Time

I've almost started thinking in Russian, because that's all I hear the whole day. Even when I'm home alone I have the TV or radio on, and guess what, it's in Russian! Except for the radio stations that seem to only play music in English. Anyway, here's what's been going on:

Monday I met both my host mom and my tutor. My host mom, Galina was away at the dacha all weekend. She is a ball of energy. She talks nonstop--in Russian, of course. I understand most of what she says, but it's tiring to keep up with her. She showed me how to take the машрутка (mashrutka, a mini van) from our neighborhood to Nevskiy Prospect. My classes, at Herzen University, are just off Nevskiy past Kazan Cathedral. More on the public transportation later.

My apartment is interesting. On the inside it looks almost like a small American apartment, but the outside is much different. The neighborhood is a lot of tall buildings and dusty streets. Not your image of suburban America--more like the ghetto with factories, but it's not a good indicator of wealth here. My family seems rather well off. After all, they have hot water year round (the government turns off the hot water supply during July), a microwave, and a washing machine. Anyway, the biggest trouble I have is using the phone and eating. When Galina's home, she cooks okay food. It's Russian, so I'm not quite used to it. When she's not home, I have to eat leftovers or make something on my own. Let's remember that I don't know how to cook, and that Russians don't buy a lot of preprepared food. So I eat leftovers or "snack food" (pretzels, little cakes, and cheese). The phone is just trouble because I'm not fluent and because the tones baffle me. I use a phone card to call home, but it doesn't work all the time. My bed is also not very comfortable--it's a fold out one, and Russian sheets look more like bedrolls. But, it's okay.

One word on the keys. I have four keys--to the building, the floor (if you don't have a key to that floor, you're stuck with the elevators), the outside door to the apartment, and the inside door. The inside door usually isn't locked because the outside door is made of heavy metal. And today I learned that there is no fire escape. Someone was stuck in the other elevator, so the repairmen turned both off to fix it. I looked, but even the balcony had no fire escape. Fun.

Now to transportation. Russians drive like maniacs. Never ever drive in Russia. If you obey the "rules of the road," you will get in a wreck. Lanes don't exist here. Then there is the metro, which is pretty clean but can be pretty busy. Then there are the mashrutki and aftobuses (emphasis on the 'o'). Both have a honor system where you pay after you get on. I rode the bus two days ago, and because it was rush hour, I never got a chance to pay. The difference between them is that the mashrutki pick up and drop off anywhere along the route, where the bus only stops at stops. To get off the mashrutka you have to tell the driver where to stop. You know that I'm quiet, and I don't know the city very well. I almost missed my stop once, and yesterday I missed it completely. I like the bus better because it's so big the driver can't drive as fast as he wants to and swerve through traffic.

We started classes yesterday. They are all in Russian, and we're not supposed to speak English even in the hallways. My teachers (all women) are all really nice, however, and for the most part I understand them. Everyday we have our elective, which for me is a culture class. Right now we're doing Russian fairy tales. None of them have happy endings! On one day I have Conversation Practice and Grammar, and the other Mass Media and Phonetics. For some reason, Phonetics is my favorite class. The goal is to not sound like an American. Mass Media is pretty interesting, too.

That's all for now!

posted by Crystal @ 4:14 PM