Privet Comrades!
Today we had our middle-of-the-quarter exams and I think I did okay...at least better than the three previous tests. It's raining outside right now which is nice because it reminds me of home, but sucks because I don't have an umbrella or practical shoes. This weekend we have a free weekend (for the first time since I left Seattle) and we (the Americans) are going to the beach to celebrate the fourth of July! I love America!
Our American Program director came to Astrakhan last Thursday and Friday to have a consultation with us in hopes of smoothing out all the kinks in our program. It took about an hour to explain to him all the problems we've been having. The most important thing was that we were all exhausted. I leave my apartment at 8:30 every morning (earlier on Saturday mornings) but wasn't getting back home until 7 to 9 o'clock at night. And I still had to do homework! Sometimes we would have days where we'd have a lecture until 4 or 5 and then an excursion to a museum or the theatre.
The teachers also didn't give us the opportunity to speak during class, or with other Russian students. Any time we had Russian students in our lecture, we would have highly mediated discussions with the American students sitting on one side of the room and the Russian students sitting on the other. Our Russian teachers would tell us what we thought and usually correct the Russian students or answer for them. One day we had "discussions" in different disciplines: math, journalism and history. I wanted to stay in the auditorium for the History discussion but the head teacher, Lidia, informed me that I was, in fact, interested in Journalism and needed to go to the library. Yay democracy! We worked out a schedule where we have a shorter lunch, the lectures are shorter and the excursions are not obligatory (although they make us sign up like a month in advance...I already know what I'm doing on July 22nd at 3:00 pm).
Another annoying thing is the vocabulary we're supposed to learn--it's all technical or geographical terms. If I really want to talk to people about tributaries or the arches on the Astrakhanski sobors, I'm well prepared! On Friday, things immediately became better--our classes were more interesting, they cancelled our five million excursions for that day and even the lecture wasn't boring...I think. I wasn't really listening.
This past Saturday we had an excursion to the Irkanoe village, which is named after caviar. From what they told us on Friday, we thought that we were going to go to a museum and have a big, delicious Russian lunch. However, that's not exactly what happened. After spending about an hour on the bus, our bus driver suddenly pulled over to the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and our tour guide announced that we were going on a hike. Since I thought we were going to a museum, I was wearing a skirt and nice flats. After 15 minutes on the hike, our tour guide pointed to a small mountain and said that it would be much easier to climb it than walk around. So we did that. I was expecting a building of some kind...or something....but it was just a wooden, Russian crucifix and a small sign that I couldn't read. The view was gorgeous, however, so I wasn't upset like everyone else. Then we went to this museum; it was interesting, I guess. The most interesting part where the three communist rooms that contained memorabilia from the Soviet Union. There were pictures of soldiers who fought in WWII and their medals, but there were also a lot of pictures, books, and awards given to the fishermen and people that worked in the fish factory. It seemed to be a big part of their lives, even now.
After this museum they told us that we were going to go to our Russian lunch...but then our bus driver pulled over to the side of the road in the middle of nowhere... This hike was much longer than the other one, but didn't include mountain climbing. Our tour guide told us that we were going to see something ancient that was interesting but not delicious or delicious, but not interesting--it ended up not really being either. I mean, I like holes in the ground; they're pretty interesting. But walking 30 minutes to see a few? I was proud of myself because I understood a lot of what the tour guide said...he told us that there is a legend in the area: at night, people see the devil appear. He then told us that the people that saw the devil were actually drunk. So much for the legend! The whole thing was just funny, but again, the views were gorgeous. I really miss seeing green. Astrakhan is kinda brown. Then...we went to another fishing museum which was even more boring than the first because included all of the same things, including fish and soviet memorabilia...and finally we had our authentic Russian dinner. I should have known better; it was absolutely disgusting. We had watery fish noodle soup with a special ingredient: fish bones! The other option was huge chunks of fish that had been cooked without any form of seasoning at all. Just fish. We all left to buy ice cream.
Saturday was Natasha's 20th birthday so I went with her and her friends to a night club. It was really funny. Her friends are nice and are patient when I don't understand what they're saying or recognize the words quickly and ask me to hang out with them....although, one of them has called or texted me about 10 times in the last two days. Her boyfriend is Armenian (I don't remember his name), but he is really nice and helped me get home when I left the club earlier than everyone else.
One of Natasha's friends, Tanya, is visiting from a neighboring town; she has been really nice and taught me some idiomatic phrases. I've also been doing more with my host family--I went to the cafe with them last night, and Sunday spent the afternoon at their dacha. It's located in the outskirts of Astrakhan and it was so nice to just relax! Except at first I didn't relax because they have a plentiful garden with nearly every type of fruit imaginable and I was put to work picking berries and apricots. Natasha's grandpa showed me all the different fruits, told me their names, and made me try each one and then make me pose for pictures holding the fruit. He was so cute! While we were picking berries, he made shashlik, or shishkabobs--best meal I've had in Russia. They kept telling me "eat! eat!" and said that they wanted to send me back to the US looking like a "real Russian woman." (Honestly, I don't know what they were talking about...the Russian girls my age are soo skinny!) After lunch I laid out in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. It was so relaxing.
Valya, my host mom, has really been helping me as far as conversation goes. She asks me everyday to tell her what I did at school and asks me questions about America; we've had some heart to heart chats. She told me on Sunday that my Russian has gotten much better and that I just need to talk more. I'm glad that our class schedule has slowed down because I've been trying to do more on my own, while still having enough time to talk to my family (in Russia and America), do all my homework, and not be completely stressed out.
Yesterday we had a discussion with students from Iran. It was really interesting...I was in a group with one of the two women in their group and asked her what life was like for women in Iran. Tomorrow we're meeting with the "Gubernator" (Governor?) of the Astrakhan region and having dinner with him and other officials. That should be interesting. I am so excited because Natasha and I went to a movie rental store and I got my favorite movie (Everything is Illuminated) in Russian!
Well, that's about all for now. I've finally uploaded all my pictures! They're here: www.picasaweb.com/mmammina.
Hope all is well in the US! Stars and Stripes forever!
Ciao ciao,
Maria
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