вторник, августа 30, 2005

What I've Been Up To

Well I want to kind of give you all an overview of what I've been doing in Russia so far. I'll start with the plane.

It was about 14 hours total with one stopover in Frankfurt, Germany. I didn't think it was that bad. I never mind long trips like that, but I was disappointed in United and Lufthansa. Unlike my trip to Italy, these planes were not equipped with TV screens at each seat. I know its a big luxury, but was seriously looking forward to this for like a week. Other than that the trip here was uneventful. I had no problem getting through customs and all that, (No fights with KGB or anything)

We did have a 4 hour busride to Vladimir, that kinda sucked. It was long and boring, and very tiring. I arrived in Vladimir tried and amist many Russian speakers. Seriously, we got off the bus and straight into Russian. I did a lot of Um's and ah's and was not able to say much to my new host family.

I was meet at the bus by my host grandmother and her granddaughter (who speaks pretty good english). They had a taxi waiting and we went to my new home. My new Apartment is small, two bedrooms, a small kitchen a bathroom and a toilet. That's it! But my room is pretty big and after 5 days I am getting used to living with my new Russian Mother.

Her name is Alla Mihailovna, and she is very nice and very willing to talk to me. I know that every conversation we have helps my language, but at this point I don't really feel independent. You know, as if I was by myself in a dorm. I know once I get my routine and once I get used to everything it will be much better and I'll learn a lot. But I still wish I was in a dorm.

Vladimir is a very nice little town. It has many many churches, but not all of them are still active churches. They are all very beautiful. I did manage to find my new Catholic Church and I'll even get to attend Mass next Sunday, Hooray!!! I missed it last Sunday due to all the travel and the fact that I didn't know where it was.

Well, that's all I'll get into now, stay tuned for more to come.

2 комментария:

Alan O'Connor комментирует...

Glad to hear your host family is treating you well. We missed you today during a round of euchre with Mike, Tim and Mary. We dealt the cards your way. Have you learned any Russian games?

Sebastian комментирует...

Actually the first night of orientation the Vladimir group played a few rounds of durak. We played the American way (7 card hands and full deck) and the traditional Russian way (6 card hand and only 6's and up, plus no passing :(. That was fun. One of the guys I meet knows how to play a Russian verison of Go Fish, I don't remember the name, but like so many Russian card games its one of those no one wins you just avoid losing.

P.S. I'm jealous, I have no Euchre buddies here in Russia