First week

Hello friends...it's been a long, intense first week, in Washington, Frankfurt and now in Kazan. We had a three-day orientation in Washington, and then we flew to Frankfurt and had a long layover there. We had a great day wandering around the city, and flew to Kazan that night.
Kazan is a beautiful city with a lot of history. Known as Russia's Third Capital, it is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. There are lots of beautiful statues, lakes, and parks, and the Kazan Kremlin is amazing, with Orthodox cathedrals and Muslim mosques standing side by side.
My host family has been wonderful. They're inifinitely hospitable and very patient with my primitive Russian. I can understand a lot of what I hear at home, but speaking is very challenging for me...sometimes I'll get halfway through a sentence only to remember that I don't know the verb I need, and sometimes the grammar totally deserts me and I feel completely lost. I'm used to being really talkative, even verbose, so it's been hard for me. But I've been learning a lot, in class and out of class.
Our Russian classes here at the university are a lot like my Russian classes in high school, minus the constant threats of death-by-defenestration. We learn new vocabulary, read short dialogues, and talk about our days, asking how to say whatever we're trying to say, and always getting good answers. Our teacher is really nice and patient with us, and has a great sense of humor. Usually we have class for three hours in the morning, have lunch at the cafe "Trali-Vali," and then go on excursions into the city in the afternoon. Yesterday, our group of Americans, along with some Russian friends, went to see "Inglorious Bastards" in Russian. I didn't understand most of the dialogue...people talked really fast for a long time and then shot each other. Tarantino is Tarantino, no matter what the language. After the movie, we practiced our presentation for September 1st, the beginning of the Russian school year. We're going to perform our rendition of the "Soldja Boy" dance for the Russian university students.We did a preview performance in the main university square for our Russian friends and whoever else was passing by.
Living in another culture with another language is one giant challenge for me. But living in a city, after spending 15 years in Conway, MA, has been just as hard. I miss being outside all the time. I feel out of place in my ratty thrift-store clothes in a city where people dress to kill. The other day I got totally lost trying to take the bus home, and I wandered around for an hour and a half asking every babushka I could find. People were very nice to me, and very good about giving directions, but I only understood about half of what they were saying. Eventually I got back on the bus and asked the bus conductor, the bus driver, and random people on the bus several times how to get to my stop. They were all very patient and kind, and I found my way home. So, for those of you who think of Russia as a cold, bleak, inhospitable place, I urge you to get lost in a strange city and discover a culture of people who care about each other's well-being, even if they don't smile at strangers on the street.
More blogging soon,
Lysander

An absurd beginning...

In other words, "Ya durak." ("I am a fool.")

Early this morning I said my good-byes and drove to the airport in Hartford, CT. Then I was trying to check in on the computer, but it wouldn't accept my e-ticket number. So I waited in line for the manual check, and I was getting really nervous about making my flight in time.

Then the woman behind the counter informed me that my 10:15 flight is, in fact, tomorrow. Which I would have figured out if I just read my itinerary all the way through.

So here I am, back in Conway, and I have to say, I didn't expect to be back so soon. But it's good to have another day to collect myself; I've had tons of friends around these past few days, and it's been great, but I haven't really had a moment to myself.

So, I will blog tomorrow about: "The Great Kazan Expedition: Take 2."

Preparation

I've just gotten in touch with my host family. They have a daughter around my age and a son around my brother's age, so I'll be in good company. I'll be bringing my violin along, and my host family is going to let me practice, so that's very exciting.

Liliya, my host, who has done a similar exchange program in America, wrote me a Facebook message in very good English, so I'll probably feel the usual embarassment speaking primitive Russian to Russians who speak close-to-fluent English. Now, absurdly, I want to break out my high school Russian textbook, "Nachalo," mere days before I leave for Kazan, and try to make sense of the Genitive case once and for all. I guess that's what plane rides are for.

Anyway, hearing from Liliya about her family inspired me to write a little about my family. We live in an old, terminally funky house in Conway, MA:

There it is (Conway, that is), sitting squarely in Franklin County, with its large amount of land and small amount of people.

This is my dad, and my gecko, Milo. My dad likes to sleep. Milo likes to climb on people, with or without their knowledge or consent.

This is my sister and I, several years ago at my cousin's bat mitzvah. She is several years older than me and also a musician.

This is my family at my school's prize assembly: My brother is on the left. He's 15, and is currently into bass playing, frisbee playing, piano playing, and running.

I depart for the orientation tomorrow. I'm writing this from the coffeeshop in Conway where I actually get internet, and soon, too soon, I will have to walk back to the house and start the packing frenzy.

Do svidanye,

Lysander

The Blog Begins!

Hello, all. I'm about to depart for a four-month stay in Kazan, Russia.

I've received a scholarship from the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), a state department program that provides 550 scholarships a year for students overseas and study Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Farsi, Chinese, Korean and Turkish. More information at http://02c71fd.netsolhost.com/index.html

From August 22 to December 16, I'll be living with a host family, taking intensive language classes and some university classes as well, getting to know the city and, hopefully, finding a way to play some music as well. I have four years of high school Russian, and I'm not sure yet how much that will help me. I did spend two weeks in Moscow and St. Petersburg my junior year, and I didn't understand most of the Russian I was hearing. More than anything language related, I remember lots of subway rides, poorly transliterated McDonalds menus, dogs wearing pants, great hospitality and friends, and our St. Petersburg tour guide who knew everything about Russian history, ever.

I just received confirmation of my plane ticket, and I leave for a pre-program orientation in Washington, D.C. on the 19th. Then to Russia on the 22nd.

More blogging soon,

Lysander