A Day In the Life

I wake up at 7 am, ready to leave the apartment by 8 am. After leaving, I walk the 5 minutes to the bus stop where I wait with a few other nationals for the bus to arrive somewhere around 8:15 am. If I am late for that bus I get to wait 15 minutes for the next one. As the bus arrives everyone pulls out their bus tickets ready to slip them through the machine as we all step onto the bus. After getting on the bus, I find a seat, turn on my mp3 player and start listening to Russian lessons.

One particular morning as I sat on the bus in traffic, it had stopped and let off some passengers then, closed the doors and turned off its engine. I did not have anyone with me to ask what was happening so I just sat there and waited. I continued to study from my notebook and listen to my lessons. The bus eventually started again about 15 minutes later. No one else on the bus seemed worried or in a rush. I was only going to be about 10 late to my language helper! No big deal.

It is usually about a 15-20 minute bus ride to the metro station, 2 stops on the metro and another 5 minute walk to my language helper's office before I am ready to begin reviewing lessons with my language helper. This is a typical start to a long day. The rest of the day: I take the metro back to the stop that is closest to the office for classes, walk the 15 minutes to class from the metro, spend 2 hours in lessons with my teacher, walk the 30 min home from class, probably stop along the way at the store for some food or just to browse, make lunch at home, do homework, then relax for the rest of the afternoon before supper. Julie and I usually make supper together then I continue to study while she has friends over to practice language.

One other day, I decided to take the metro to my language helper's. Bad idea that morning. I ended up having to stand next to 2 drunk guys who were half sleeping on the metro. As I was getting on the next train I was standing behind a guy. Another guy got off the train and hit the guy I was standing behind in the face. He fell back and knocked me back. I composed myself and walked around the fight to get on the train. The same day my phone ran out of money and I did not realize it. I had gotten off the wrong exit of the metro and could not call anyone for help. I pulled out my map to figure out where I was. Then, had to use a text from my language helper to get past security to go see her. She was able to put money on my phone for me, thankfully since later at the office the security there would not let me in. I had to call my teacher to come out and help. She was able to figure everything out. Long Day. I learned so much that day!

The Name, Elisabeth

It has been amazing to me how much time has gone into picking out a name for me. You would think that my name is the best to use. But, Oh No! The process went something like this:

"What is your name?"
"Elisabeth"
"What do you want people to call you?"
"How does Elisabeth sound?"
"No, but we think of the queen when we hear that name. It also sounds very foreign."
"Is that bad?"
"No, What do you want us to call you."
"What is a different form that would be more acceptable?"
"What about Eliza? Or Elizavieta?"
"I would prefer Eliza." (pronounced Eleeza)
"Are you okay with us calling you Eliza?"
"Yes, when I introduce myself, I will say my name is Eliza. Is that what I need to do?"
"Yes"

This conversation happened with at least 3 people within the first 2 weeks that I was here. I was trying to work with them all and get ideas of the names. There were other ideas of why my name would not work, but I can't remember them now. Each conversation about my name took at least 10 minutes to finally come up with a name. Each time I came up with the same name.

I found this very fascinating, can you tell?

Wow, So Many New Things

I have started language study! Woohoo! Julie and I have a wonderful plan of cooking then watching some show online while we are eating.

I have bought a McChicken from McDonald's, a little roll from the metro stop, a bus ticket, a metro ticket, some groceries, and all of these things I did on my own! I also have used the metro and walked to our coworkers apartment on my own. Talk about accomplished! :)
I am using language such as "I don't understand", numbers, and greetings. It proves to be more difficult than imagined to come up with the right phrase at the right time.