Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Blog Migration!
Hello, whoever you are! My blog has moved! Please, go on over to uptheglasshill.com to see what's new. All the posts from this blog have been moved over there. The archive will stay up here, but comments are closed.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
I'm aliiiive....
...but hilariously fuzzy. I had a pretty good day- I woke up at 7:30 and haven't actually slept in a prone or sitting position yet, though I zoned pretty hard a couple of times. It's like I have a bag over my head or something.
I've gotten to see a lot of my loved ones already, I just made omelettes and salad out of homegrown eggs and veggies, Forrest gave me homemade strawberry jam today, I have had two lattes since noon, I understand the language that everyone speaks, and I can almost speak and write english. I have ridiculous moments of aphasia that have me mumbling horrible nonsense while waving my hands around, but other than that (and writing gibberish if I'm not paying minute attention) I'm doing good.
All of my photos are up in flickr now, but unsorted, untagged, and unexplained. There's all sorts of stuff I realize now that I should have photographed, of course, but there's some good stuff in there. And a lot of blurry night shots. Eheh.
Anyway, more tomorrow. I love y'all!
I've gotten to see a lot of my loved ones already, I just made omelettes and salad out of homegrown eggs and veggies, Forrest gave me homemade strawberry jam today, I have had two lattes since noon, I understand the language that everyone speaks, and I can almost speak and write english. I have ridiculous moments of aphasia that have me mumbling horrible nonsense while waving my hands around, but other than that (and writing gibberish if I'm not paying minute attention) I'm doing good.
All of my photos are up in flickr now, but unsorted, untagged, and unexplained. There's all sorts of stuff I realize now that I should have photographed, of course, but there's some good stuff in there. And a lot of blurry night shots. Eheh.
Anyway, more tomorrow. I love y'all!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Still alive...
Some of you will start singing after that title, I know.
Anyway, all is well, packing goes apace, depart Kazan tomorrow morning. Just had my fortune told by and eighty something year old russian woman. All is well. Love!
Anyway, all is well, packing goes apace, depart Kazan tomorrow morning. Just had my fortune told by and eighty something year old russian woman. All is well. Love!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wooo.
Classes almost over, tests done, crazy teacher crazy, all well.
All sitting around in a friend's kitchen having a pre-party party, talking linguistics and Russian culture.
Love you all!
All sitting around in a friend's kitchen having a pre-party party, talking linguistics and Russian culture.
Love you all!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Take me home!
Well, I have been informed that I do not win the heat battle. I tip my hat to those of you living in New Hades, formerly known as Oregon. I hope all of us get cooler weather soon.
So ready for this crap to be over. One more day of classes, and maybe a little mini class on Friday, but I'm not really looking forward to it because it's all testing and the mysterious mass media revenge scenario, whatever that turns out to be. I have failed so far in organizing presentations or gifts, and I am rapidly running out of care. ARGH.
These last few days are going to be full of stupidity, not learning. Wah.
On the other hand, Polly, my amazing teacher from St Petersburg, has agreed to hang out on monday, so that's going to be awesome. Woo!
If I don't die of heatstroke on the way home, I'm going to hike into town and try to buy plates today. If I do die of heatstroke, I'll probably stay in bed with the fan on high until I come back to life. No guarantees.
Oh, you'll also be intrigued to know that today I'm documenting our daily life- I took photos of my walk to school, and the classrooms and cafe and things. I'll have to wait until I'm home to upload my photos- it's almost impossible here- but they'll be on my flickr in a week or two.
Well, TTFN my buddies.
So ready for this crap to be over. One more day of classes, and maybe a little mini class on Friday, but I'm not really looking forward to it because it's all testing and the mysterious mass media revenge scenario, whatever that turns out to be. I have failed so far in organizing presentations or gifts, and I am rapidly running out of care. ARGH.
These last few days are going to be full of stupidity, not learning. Wah.
On the other hand, Polly, my amazing teacher from St Petersburg, has agreed to hang out on monday, so that's going to be awesome. Woo!
If I don't die of heatstroke on the way home, I'm going to hike into town and try to buy plates today. If I do die of heatstroke, I'll probably stay in bed with the fan on high until I come back to life. No guarantees.
Oh, you'll also be intrigued to know that today I'm documenting our daily life- I took photos of my walk to school, and the classrooms and cafe and things. I'll have to wait until I'm home to upload my photos- it's almost impossible here- but they'll be on my flickr in a week or two.
Well, TTFN my buddies.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Don't you tell me you're hot.
Okay, you folks complaining about the weather in Oregon can just quit it. It is now roughly 94 degrees, there is no shade, and I do not own shorts. At eight AM I was at the kitchen table, while Ilkam fried us up some breakfast, with sweat literally rolling down my back under my pajamas. Then I went to school to sit in close, un air conditioned, nigh windowless classrooms for six hours. So let's conclude, very generously in my opinion, that we are at least even on the broiling heat front. :-P (Also, let us conclude that I really need a shower.)
After lunch I had a few minutes free, and I ran down to the main drag and bought a fan for a dollar from a souvenir stand. Best thirty rubles I have spent in Russia- the afternoon auditorium is an OVEN. I was the only cool person in there today, I think. Win!
Yesterday was fairly pleasant. An old student of Ilkam's came by for a chat, so I made small talk with them for a little while, the passed out in my room. Then, that evening after dinner, I translated the pertinent parts of a kids' music textbook for Ilkam. Or, we did half before I pleaded that I HAD to sleep. We'll finish it tonight.
It's coming up on that wonderful time when we all have to figure out what the heck we're buying for all of our teachers and hosts as parting gifts. We are a very disorganized lot, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to end up running it all. Same goes for our presentation in St Petersburg. Argh. I'd just let everyone else deal with it, but I actually care if we seem ungrateful and uncooperative.
As far as my gift for my host family goes, I'm thinking plates. There's been a lot of breakage in the last few weeks, and now there's a bit of a plate shortage. I'm going to run over to the mall that has a china store, and see if four plates is going to cost an arm and a leg, or just an arm. (cheap china is beyond hope here, but if it costs less than $50 I'll count myself successful.)
If china is too hard, I'll buy flowers and caviar. The thought will count, at the very least. Ilkam loves to find fault with things, though, so I think plates are safer... she'll probably hate that they're made in china or something, but she'll love that I went to the trouble, somewhere in there.
I hear all the dirty details about all her other students, and what was good or (mostly) bad about everything they did, said, or gave to her, so I am constantly followed by the warped and abridged ghost of myself that is going to remain behind me when I go. She's probably going to talk about how I never 'strolled' (wandered the streets half-drunk with a pack of russian youths... it's a big cultural thing here), always wore long pants, and didn't EAT. Oh, and loved to commit suicide by sitting in drafts. What else, I can't guess. She really likes me though, and says she's really going to miss me when I'm gone. We get along nicely. :-)
Ugh. Grammar test tonight. I was planning to review for it tonight, but the teacher decided to give it to us a day earlier, so I guess I'll review and take it on the same night. There goes my nap. At least it's multiple choice, but really I can't guarantee that I'll get anything like a good grade on it. My brain is overflowing with Russian, and it's a little bit of potluck whether the right info comes up or not. We're all having terrible word and grammar confusion the last few days- it will be such a relief to speak English again, when I don't have to think about four or five grammatical or lexical points to do with every. Single. WORD.
Well, time for me to toddle home, take a shower, and get cracking on the old homework. Woo!
After lunch I had a few minutes free, and I ran down to the main drag and bought a fan for a dollar from a souvenir stand. Best thirty rubles I have spent in Russia- the afternoon auditorium is an OVEN. I was the only cool person in there today, I think. Win!
Yesterday was fairly pleasant. An old student of Ilkam's came by for a chat, so I made small talk with them for a little while, the passed out in my room. Then, that evening after dinner, I translated the pertinent parts of a kids' music textbook for Ilkam. Or, we did half before I pleaded that I HAD to sleep. We'll finish it tonight.
It's coming up on that wonderful time when we all have to figure out what the heck we're buying for all of our teachers and hosts as parting gifts. We are a very disorganized lot, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to end up running it all. Same goes for our presentation in St Petersburg. Argh. I'd just let everyone else deal with it, but I actually care if we seem ungrateful and uncooperative.
As far as my gift for my host family goes, I'm thinking plates. There's been a lot of breakage in the last few weeks, and now there's a bit of a plate shortage. I'm going to run over to the mall that has a china store, and see if four plates is going to cost an arm and a leg, or just an arm. (cheap china is beyond hope here, but if it costs less than $50 I'll count myself successful.)
If china is too hard, I'll buy flowers and caviar. The thought will count, at the very least. Ilkam loves to find fault with things, though, so I think plates are safer... she'll probably hate that they're made in china or something, but she'll love that I went to the trouble, somewhere in there.
I hear all the dirty details about all her other students, and what was good or (mostly) bad about everything they did, said, or gave to her, so I am constantly followed by the warped and abridged ghost of myself that is going to remain behind me when I go. She's probably going to talk about how I never 'strolled' (wandered the streets half-drunk with a pack of russian youths... it's a big cultural thing here), always wore long pants, and didn't EAT. Oh, and loved to commit suicide by sitting in drafts. What else, I can't guess. She really likes me though, and says she's really going to miss me when I'm gone. We get along nicely. :-)
Ugh. Grammar test tonight. I was planning to review for it tonight, but the teacher decided to give it to us a day earlier, so I guess I'll review and take it on the same night. There goes my nap. At least it's multiple choice, but really I can't guarantee that I'll get anything like a good grade on it. My brain is overflowing with Russian, and it's a little bit of potluck whether the right info comes up or not. We're all having terrible word and grammar confusion the last few days- it will be such a relief to speak English again, when I don't have to think about four or five grammatical or lexical points to do with every. Single. WORD.
Well, time for me to toddle home, take a shower, and get cracking on the old homework. Woo!
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