Hi there! It's been a while since I've posted, mostly because I've been updating my website. But I decided to write here that I'm super excited because our "spring" (or "winter phase 2") break starts tomorrow. Three of my friends and I are going to Mongolia!! I'm super excited (now that everything's been planned)!! I don't think it's going to be a very relaxing vacation, but I'M GOING TO BE IN MONGOLIA!! Yeah. We're doing this tour and we're spending three nights in "ger"s (also yurts), the homes of Mongolian nomads!! Very cool! If you're interested: For about 10,000 tugrik, a nomad will head out with his rifle, shoot a marmot, and then cook it for you using hot stones. Hurray! Oh wait, not so fun: this time of year, marmots can carry bubonic plague. I guess I'll try to avoid eating marmot.
Alright, that's all for now!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Address in ENGLISH!!
I just found out what my address is in English! HURRAY! So if you are at all inclined to send me a letter:
Larissa Levine
Department of International Cooperation
Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University
Ul. Respublikanskaya 108
Yaroslavl
RUSSIA 150000
Larissa Levine
Department of International Cooperation
Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University
Ul. Respublikanskaya 108
Yaroslavl
RUSSIA 150000
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Week 2
Hi again!
I've survived another week in Russia! Things have really started settling in. My schedule is pretty set and my routine with my host mom/babyshka is good. As my knowledge of the city grows, so does my food repertoire. I am trying new cafes for food and my host babyshka is making me more Russian dishes. The other day, she made me tongue and yesterday aspic. Neither were bad, mostly just the thought of them made me uncomfortable. She promises to make me this rice and ground beef ball, which I am pretty excited to try. So I'm eating really well! Tonight is smoked salmon and cauliflower (in Russian, white cabbage). I expect to eat a lot of blini (Russian pancakes) this week because Monday is Maslenitsa (holiday). My host babyshka made me blini with carrots and spice the other day. They kinda tasted like the pancake version of carrot cake, ie: yum!
This past weekend, I went to Moscow for the holiday weekend. I wrote about the trip and put pictures up on my website: www.larissalevine.com. The weather there was cold, but the sun shone everyday!! This is crucial because I had just gone 15 days without seeing the sun! Speaking of seeing the sun, next week we take our group trip to Sochi!! I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather there! The train ride is going to be super long, though. 28 hours there, and 40 back (slower, but more direct train back). I've already started thinking about how to spend my time on the train. I'm thinking I might actually be able to put a small dent into War and Peace.
Nothing here really feels that new anymore, making it hard for me to update about super interesting things. The stuff that is now exciting for me is small interactions with regular Russian people. I try really hard not to mess up so that they can understand me. I've been doing a pretty good job, but when I tried to call someone for information, they hung up on me… ☹. Last week I found a cafeteria that makes potato and onion stuffed bread. I finally got up the courage to buy some! And today the lady behind the counter remembered me!! It was way more intimidating to buy it today because there was a line and there were lots of men standing around drinking vodka (10am). But I ordered flawlessly and was very proud of myself. I've been buying two of them (about $0.50) and eating them for lunch.
Today I'm going to meet the people at my internship for the first time. Actually, I'm only meeting one of the head people, because the guy I'm supposed to work with is in Africa and others are in New York. I won't actually start working for them until after Sochi, but it should be nice to get a sense of what I'll be doing there.
Okay, I must go now, but I hope all is well with everyone!
-Larissa
Okay, I wrote this last week, but didn't have internet access all week to update. So this post actually refers to last week!
I've survived another week in Russia! Things have really started settling in. My schedule is pretty set and my routine with my host mom/babyshka is good. As my knowledge of the city grows, so does my food repertoire. I am trying new cafes for food and my host babyshka is making me more Russian dishes. The other day, she made me tongue and yesterday aspic. Neither were bad, mostly just the thought of them made me uncomfortable. She promises to make me this rice and ground beef ball, which I am pretty excited to try. So I'm eating really well! Tonight is smoked salmon and cauliflower (in Russian, white cabbage). I expect to eat a lot of blini (Russian pancakes) this week because Monday is Maslenitsa (holiday). My host babyshka made me blini with carrots and spice the other day. They kinda tasted like the pancake version of carrot cake, ie: yum!
This past weekend, I went to Moscow for the holiday weekend. I wrote about the trip and put pictures up on my website: www.larissalevine.com. The weather there was cold, but the sun shone everyday!! This is crucial because I had just gone 15 days without seeing the sun! Speaking of seeing the sun, next week we take our group trip to Sochi!! I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather there! The train ride is going to be super long, though. 28 hours there, and 40 back (slower, but more direct train back). I've already started thinking about how to spend my time on the train. I'm thinking I might actually be able to put a small dent into War and Peace.
Nothing here really feels that new anymore, making it hard for me to update about super interesting things. The stuff that is now exciting for me is small interactions with regular Russian people. I try really hard not to mess up so that they can understand me. I've been doing a pretty good job, but when I tried to call someone for information, they hung up on me… ☹. Last week I found a cafeteria that makes potato and onion stuffed bread. I finally got up the courage to buy some! And today the lady behind the counter remembered me!! It was way more intimidating to buy it today because there was a line and there were lots of men standing around drinking vodka (10am). But I ordered flawlessly and was very proud of myself. I've been buying two of them (about $0.50) and eating them for lunch.
Today I'm going to meet the people at my internship for the first time. Actually, I'm only meeting one of the head people, because the guy I'm supposed to work with is in Africa and others are in New York. I won't actually start working for them until after Sochi, but it should be nice to get a sense of what I'll be doing there.
Okay, I must go now, but I hope all is well with everyone!
-Larissa
Okay, I wrote this last week, but didn't have internet access all week to update. So this post actually refers to last week!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Photos, at last!
Hi everyone!
I've put some photos up: www.larissalevine.com
Today I saw the sun for the first time in 15 days! It was glorious!
I hope all is well!
-L
I've put some photos up: www.larissalevine.com
Today I saw the sun for the first time in 15 days! It was glorious!
I hope all is well!
-L
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Week 1
It's been a week in Yaroslavl', so I thought I should send out an update! I wanted to send out an e-mail, but it turns out that it's kinda hard to make sure I get it to everyone. Thus, I'm doing the blog. Everything here has been good since I adjusted to the time change. After getting little sleep for the first few days, I've really enjoyed sleeping 9-10hrs a night. I'm living in a homestay with a babyshka (though she really isn't old). She's really into health (ie: her and my personal wellbeing). She really tries to eat healthy food, which is great! She's also really considerate about feeding me. I told her that I would try almost anything but that I couldn't promise to like it. She intersperces new, Russian dishes with food she knows I like. She's made me pasta and cheese, which is awesome because people don't really eat pasta here, but she knows that Americans like it. In fact, she's well traveled. She's been to the United States four times, Germany many times, and Africa (where I'm not sure yet, but she promises to show me pictures when I have free time). Surprisingly, she is fluent in English (this is surprising because the Middlebury program tends to choose host families that don't speak English). We speak only in Russian, but it's nice to know that I could communicate with her in English if I needed to.
School-wise, things are starting to pick up. I've had all of my classes at least once, though most twice. I'm taking classes that the Middlebury program designed especially for foreigners. That said, all of our classes are taught entirely in Russian. I'm taking Grammar, Speech, Writing, Culture, and Russian History (up to the 20th century). Grammar will be very hard, mostly because our vocabulary is still relatively limited. Speech (intonation, pronunciation) is really interesting and kinda hard. I've only had Writing once and the concepts we're learning seem really abstract. One of the students who was here last semester said that this class is hard and has a lot of homework. Culture is super easy but interesting. History is hard, but mostly because we have to do a lot of reading in Russian and we don't have the vocabulary of history writing. Fortunately, I took this same class last semester at Colby in English. As a result, I know what we're reading about in class without understanding every word. I feel bad for those students who have no sense of Russian history of this time period because they are really lost. Overall, my classes should be challenging but really rewarding. I can already tell that I'm going to learn a lot!
My life recently has revolved around getting to class, buying notebooks, finding time to eat (class schedules in Russia don't really permit time for lunch, which, ironically, is supposed to be the biggest meal), talking to my host, and sleeping. I haven't really had any down time until now (my first real weekend here). I think I'm going to try to go to the movies with a friend later on today. My host took me today to the local market and I bought some stuff that I needed. She bought two sets of sheets for her dacha (summer/country home—she grows her own fruit and veggies there!) and sour cream for the borsht that I'm trying for the first time today (hehe). Tomorrow, the Middlebury group is going to Rostov, a very historical neighboring town (about an hour away by train). I don't know what we're going to do there, but it should be a nice trip.
Okay, that's about all I've done so far. I hope all is well with you all!
School-wise, things are starting to pick up. I've had all of my classes at least once, though most twice. I'm taking classes that the Middlebury program designed especially for foreigners. That said, all of our classes are taught entirely in Russian. I'm taking Grammar, Speech, Writing, Culture, and Russian History (up to the 20th century). Grammar will be very hard, mostly because our vocabulary is still relatively limited. Speech (intonation, pronunciation) is really interesting and kinda hard. I've only had Writing once and the concepts we're learning seem really abstract. One of the students who was here last semester said that this class is hard and has a lot of homework. Culture is super easy but interesting. History is hard, but mostly because we have to do a lot of reading in Russian and we don't have the vocabulary of history writing. Fortunately, I took this same class last semester at Colby in English. As a result, I know what we're reading about in class without understanding every word. I feel bad for those students who have no sense of Russian history of this time period because they are really lost. Overall, my classes should be challenging but really rewarding. I can already tell that I'm going to learn a lot!
My life recently has revolved around getting to class, buying notebooks, finding time to eat (class schedules in Russia don't really permit time for lunch, which, ironically, is supposed to be the biggest meal), talking to my host, and sleeping. I haven't really had any down time until now (my first real weekend here). I think I'm going to try to go to the movies with a friend later on today. My host took me today to the local market and I bought some stuff that I needed. She bought two sets of sheets for her dacha (summer/country home—she grows her own fruit and veggies there!) and sour cream for the borsht that I'm trying for the first time today (hehe). Tomorrow, the Middlebury group is going to Rostov, a very historical neighboring town (about an hour away by train). I don't know what we're going to do there, but it should be a nice trip.
Okay, that's about all I've done so far. I hope all is well with you all!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Hokay
Today's our first day of real classes. I had Grammar at 10:15am--let me tell you, I am going to learn A LOT! There are so many verbs I don't know! Anyway, my grammar teacher seems really nice. She talks a lot quicker than the culture teacher, but I think the culture teacher was going slow on purpose. I haven't really taken any pictures because I stand out as a foreigner already! But I took some pics of my room, so here goes! The trees are my wallpaper-haha! Okay I must go!
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