I live in a field.: ß ãîëîäíûé êàê âîëê

(Ya, goal-od-knee kak volk) "I am hungry like a wolf."

Your first Russian lesson. But really hungry for
Mexican food, a hamburger, a meal without potatoes
maybe....
So welcome back to my blog! My one month anniversary
of arriving in Ukraine is today, 4/27/2007. It feels
like I have been here for months and for days at the
same time. It's Friday night and I am cooking
Cabbage Rolls with my mom for a project. The cabbage
was really tough, so it's 9:20 PM and we're still
waiting for it to soften enough to use. Today was an
easy day. I had Russian class from 9 -1:30 and a
technical tutoring session at 4:30. I study Russian
Monday - Friday for 4 hours. On Saturdays we meet
with another training group for technical training -
how to teach, tips for living in another culture,
culture shock etc. On Mondays I teach two classes, a
fifth grade class by myself and an eighth grade class
that I team teach with another PCT. I mostly use
English, but have to translate vocab and things I
can't get across through pictures/pantomiming in
Russian. I have given my autograph to everyone in my
fifth grade class and got my picture taken for their
yearbook. If I said this was easy I'd be lying. It
is like studying for final exams where every day is a
final. The language and teaching alone is enough to
stress any normal person out. Now add in weekly
meetings, the English club we started, writing lesson
plans, planning a summer camp, our individual projects
and our community project. And the tough cabbage.
And speaking of the language, why do they have to keep
changing the endings of everything?! A noun can have
a gazillion different endings depending on the
situation. And guess what - adjectives aren't safe
either! Depending on whether the noun is feminine,
masculine, neuter or plural, that ending can change as
well. And try saying you are going somewhere. Are
you going somewhere on foot or by vehicle? That's two

different verbs. Not bad you say? Add another 2
verbs to that making four total. Two of those are
used for situations in which you are leaving
now and usually for a known amount of time. The other
two have a whole new set of rules: for places that you
go often, for movement in general with no specific
destination or for movement there and back. Confused?
No? Add that to the prepositions you just learned and
try sorting out genitive, locative, instrumental,
nominative and accusative and then
tell me what question words go with what, because of
course they are all different, and I'll give you a
dollar-a Ukrainian dollar :) I really do
love the language though. There are times when I
understand something and I feel like I'm doing ok and
the feeling is wonderful! But then 5 minutes later it
is back to feeling a bit hopeless. I have to remind
myself that it has only been a month.
My host family is awesome - I have a mom, Natasha, and
sister, Ilona. Ilona speaks English really well and
has been a lifesaver. She just took her exam to get
further education in law and got top scores! Mom is
a teacher at the school I work with. She has been
teaching for 12 years.
Anyway - thanks to Sameer for my first letter! Please
write me! It would really make my day as I haven't
really talked to anyone since I left. I will try to
post some stories soon!
Emily