Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Okay, I'm back.  They called me and I knew I was going to be late but I decided to go anyways.  So I walked down to the metro station (it's about a mile so it takes a while) and got on.  Soon I was kind of dozing.  All of a sudden I heard palatz sportoo so I jumped off the metro right as the doors were closing...only to find they had been announcing that was the next stop.  So by this time I was going to be really late.  I was trying to decide what to do when this guy comes down the stairs chanting something.  I thought maybe he was collecting money because I'd seen a little boy doing that earlier but when I listened to what he was saying I heard, "Don't learn English.  We are Russian.  The Soviets were awesome.  The Americans brought this depression upon us."  and I started to freak out thinking "He's going to kill me!"  So I edged closer to the two babuski I was standing next to hoping they'd protect me and as soon as the next train came I ran and got on.  But it was headed back.  So I decided just to go home.  On my way, I had another interesting encounter when I ran into some Russian guys.  I can usually intimidate most guys by being so tall, but Russian guys are tall to so they were scared.  They were right in my way so I had to go between the two of them and they called out to me, "Девушка, девушка, где вы ходите?" (young lady, where are you going).  It was extremely terrifying.  But I didn't make eye contact and just kept going and they didn't follow me.  I was really really happy to get home that night.  And I got to eat borscht which was delicious.  The next day I had to teach.  It was a fiasco because none of us knew what we were in for.  I had to teach in the kitchen but I wasn't teaching kitchen because we decided not to do it this week so I was trying to teach games and all of the kids were throwing a fit because they wanted to eat.  This situation was exaccerbated by the fact that I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep because my stupid body believes that in changing time zones again I've gone back to Australia and therefore need to get up at 3 when I went to bed at 11 and this was the 6th night I've done that so I was getting really sick from lack of sleep.  So when I finished, I went home and crashed on my bed and slept for 11 hours.  This morning when I woke up, my host mom knocked on the door and said, "Bы гивёте?" (You're living?) When I said I was, she answered, "I vas first day?  Yes?"  Goodness life is getting hard.  I think I am now going through culture shock.  The first week was fine but now that I actually realize I'm staying here and have to teach kids everyday I'm kind of freaking out.  But this too shall pass.  Let's hope it does quickly.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Annilyn! I'm impressed that your Russian skills are proving so helpful already! I'm terrified that I'm going to get over there and not have the faintest idea what anyone is saying and forget everything I ever learned! Your first day of teaching sounds like it was hard. That's probably normal. I completely sympathize with the "oh my gosh, what have I gotten myself into" feeling--I definitely experienced that my first week in France (probably my first two months in France, actually ;)). Thanks for telling me about your blog--this is awesome! Do you have to go to internet cafes to use the internet?

Jocelyn said...

Annilyn, annilyn, how on earth can you go to such a scary place? You are not allowed to come into contact with any more scary people, okay? If you do, just send me a text and I'll come over there and knock em out! But seriously annilyn you are so incredible. You are going to have the most amazing adventures this semester and come back being a PRO in Russian! Good luck with teaching!

P.S. make sure to keep updating your blog - every single entry is so suspenseful, we need constant updates so we know you're still alive!

Anonymous said...

What's this about tall Russian boys, Annilyn?

Kiev sounds awesome.

I miss you!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh so I just remembered something else I wanted to ask you.

I was bicycling down around Whitehall, and I was at that little store there, and this family from Provo Utah walked in and started talking to this guy there and I wanted to know if they were living in your house because how cool would that be? Utah people! But I didn't ask them because I thought that would be weird and I was wearing funny biking clothes and didn't want to jump up and be like, "Do you guys know the Schills?!??!?!?!???!!!!!! Cause they're awesome."

Anonymous said...

Hey Annilyn!! Your updates are really scary!! But I love reading them so keep 'em coming! You're so lucky and I miss you soo much!!!!!!!

Robyn

Anonymous said...

Annilyn!

Your adventures sound awesome, and I hope you are having a wonderful time. And I am going to mail you exciting things! (okay, not very exciting, but I will mail things anyway) Because I got your Koala postcard, and I enjoy sending mail.
Anyway, PLEASE be safe and take care of yourself and have more awesome adventures.

<33333 Jenn

Lauren said...

Annilyn! I love your blog! Oh my gosh I just checked my facebook the other day and saw your message! Thank you so much for letting me know! How can i follow it because I don't think I can remember the address :) Watch out for an Elder Mansfield too while you're there. He's one of my good friends from freshman year. Look forward to reading more!