HELLO EVERYONE!*

9/30/2009

*written by Rose; typed into the blog by Cara

Today was my first full day in my town, which meant that we had our first language lesson and we walked through the center of town for the first time. Let me tell you -- Russian is hard to learn and understand! BUT after only 2 lessons, I already have down most of the Cyrillic alphabet and have almost completely learned the numbers 1-100, as well as some introductory conversations. My language lessons are taught in the home of my language teacher, who is living here temporarily -- his home is somewhere else.

I am sure there are much smaller towns in Ukraine, but my town definitely qualifies as "small." I am not sure yet, but I just asked my host brother if there is internet in town, and he said no. I've heard that it is sometimes possible to get internet with a bluetooth phone, but that may only work in larger cities or towns.

There are dogs EVERYWHERE. Most are on the small side -- some are behind fences but many are just loose. Today my host brother walked me to my language class, and we walked past a dead dog on the sidewalk. It wasn't roadkill on the road -- it was just there on the sidewalk, its eyes wide open, with flies all around. I'm sorry to conjure up this kind of an image but it was a very startling thing for me to see, it was so sad and disturbing.

Right now, however, me and my host brother are watching TV. At the moment, we are watching Ukranian news but we were watching American MTV and Russian MTV a minute ago. It was so weird/comforting when he first turned on American MTV and a Lada GaGa video was on. It was like I forgot that American music and culture even existed.

Last night, my first night here, I gave my family some American souvenirs. I gave my host mother some nice lotion and a Boston shot glass. I also gave her sister lotion and a Harvard shot glass. I gave my host brother a Red Sox hat and his cousin a baseball that had the Red Sox logo on it.

Tonight at dinner, my host mother served the leftovers from yesterday's dinner. she also laid out some sprigs of parsley! I don't usually eat parsley by itself but it was very good. Then she took a clove of garlic from the fridge and held it up for me to see. I tried -- successfully I think -- to explain that I like garlic, so she handed me one half. Next, she instructed me to put salt on my half. We each did that, then she took a bit of the raw garlic, ate a sprig of parsley and then a bit of bread. I was thinking, she is awesome! People never eat raw garlic! So I did what she did and? Delicious.

Okay, so you now, we are now watching HOUSE on TV (dubbed in Russian, of course). Yay, Dr. House.

Apparently there are two Australians and a Canadian living in my town who are teaching English. We have yet to meet them, but I would like to.

I am surprised how much I am able to communicate with my host fmaily, even though we speak different languages. I guess I undertsimated how useful and easy it can be just using gestures, signs, pointing, expressions, etc. Even though for the most part, we have no idea what the other is saying, we still manage to communicate -- I can't communicate exactly what I need to say, but I can still find a way to get the point across.

One I am able to fully master the alphabet, that will be great. In the meanwhile, I feel like a little kid again -- walking around and not understanding any signs in town or being able to read anything, or being able to sound out words but not knowing what the vocabulary means. That will change ... hopefully ...

Until next time!

Love,

Rose