jossi mausi

Halfway Point

Hey guys! Today marks the halfway point of my trip. This is super bittersweet. I am sad that time is flying so incredibly fast over here. I know that I won’t have time to do all of the things that I want to before I have to leave. I have been accumulating a list:

1) Russian Bannya (This is similar to the sauna culture in Finland) 

2) Puppet Theater

3) venturing into the forest

4) order a bottle of vodka at a restaurant with a group of friends and drink all of it.

5) become fluent… 

6) Ferris Wheel on the beach

7) go to a dacha

8) Travel the far east

These are just a few things that I really wanted and still want to do, but I know that I won’t have the time or means to do all of them! :(. Oh well, I guess that just means I will have to make my way back to Russia post-grad at some point. 

I am also relieved to know that I am halfway through, because everything now will be relatively smooth sailing. The first two months were a real challenge and struggle for me. I now have a group of friends, know my way around the city and feel relatively comfortable walking by myself, can communicate my most important thoughts pretty fluently, found a job, and have adjusted to being in class for over 5 hours every day. I also feel proud of myself for all that I have already learned and accomplished. go me! 

Also, on a very exciting note, we had hot water for six hours. It was glorious! I took full advantage of this and took a 45 minute shower. I love taking long hot baths, but I am NEVER in the shower for over 7 or 8 minutes so this was definitely a record for me. I NEEDED it for my own sanity! Normally, when I boil my water for a shower, I only havea about 5 liters of water, and I just don’t think that is enough to sufficiently clean myself, especially since I only did this once a week (I wash my hair everyday by just dunking my head under the ice cold faucet :) ). Last night I was able to finally get rid of all of the dirt! Also, I realized that back home I used bath and showers as a means of escape or alone time. If I felt stressed or overwhelmed, I would just hop in the shower for a few minutes and feel completely refreshed. I feel like I had a lot of pent up energy these first few months just because I did not have this outlet for stress. Sadly, the water is no longer hot…. I am very hopeful that it will be back soon (especially since it is a chilly 35 degrees right now outside). 

I have also found my all time favorite restaurant called Ух, ты блин. It is a hip, clean, cheap Russian pancake house. (blin (the russian pancake) is a crepe style pancake). I always get two different bliny when I am there, a sweet one and a savory one. The sweet one I usually get is made with walnuts and honey. The savory one is melted cheese with tomatoes. I totally consider this to be an acceptable substitute for quesadillas. Anyways we have the same server every time we go and I think he thinks I am a glutton because I order two and then order ice cream (they have a gelato bar and I just cannot say no to gelato…). He always smirks when he hears how much I am ordering. I really can care less though at this point because I will never have this delicious food for this cheap again! I would eat there every night if I could!! I am drooling just thinking about this place!!! 

I have recently discovered two amazing ways to connect with the western world: podcasts (I have always been afraid to try these, I don’t know why, but now that Michael has introduced me to this wonderful world THEY ARE AMAZING!) 

and the foreign language library on campus. I went up there a few weeks ago and the librarian was SO wonderful. She loved the fact that I was from the US and personally went with me through the shelves to look at books (Despite, her interest in English literature we still spoke in Russian, which I appreciated). A lot of the English books were shortened versions made for students who were learning English, but they probably have ~200 full novels. I checked out three books and have been reading away. Every night before I go to sleep, I read and then listen to a podcast. 

Our history professor is bringing us Russian books to read, which I am also really excited for. She printed the first five chapters of Anna Karenina for us to read and I had no problems getting through it. I don’t know if this is because my understanding of Russian is getting to be good enough or if it is because I have already read the book in English and know the storeyline. Either way it felt awesome to be reading it in the original language.

I will write more in a week! I am sure that I will have some interesting insights on the Russian’s take on Halloween. Also, we are going to the opera on Monday! I have never been to the opera, but am soooo excited to dress up and see what it is all about! 

Much Love,

Joss

Another Week

Hello again! I needed to change the layout of my tumblr page because I could not stand the fact that the last photo I posted was not centered. Maybe there was a better way to do this, but I am so technologically challenged that this is the only way I know! :) I don’t really know what happened to the comment box, If you have something to say, you can click on the ask box on the top of the page and I will receive those  and can even post them on the page!  

I had my first English class on Thursday and that was so much fun! The group level is “intermediate” but they all speak English very well and it seems like they understood everything we were saying. Most of the students in the class have been studying English for over 12 years. Everyone was very engaged and seemed to be having fun. There was a lot of laughter and learning which hopefully means the class was successful! I actually had one of the male students come up to me after class, shake my hand and tell me that he really enjoyed the lesson. This is pretty shocking considering men NEVER shake hands with women here. (A lot of the times when I am with Otter or Michael boys will go into shake their hands and completely avoid acknowledging me at all. I am not really sure why this is… It seems to me like men and women do not have friendships here like they do in the states. Whenever I do something outside of classes with Otter or Michael all my roommates giggle like little girls suggesting there is something “more”, probably because they cannot understand friendships between people of the opposite sex. Oh well, I let them have their fun.) Also, we had the students fill out notecards with their names, age, interests ect. just so that we could get to know them a little better. One of the students added a side note at the bottom saying “I love you guys!” I just left the class feeling really good! Who knows, maybe this is something I will pursue post grad! 

The class also left me with some really interesting insights into Russian culture. We listened to an interview with an English chef who opened a restaurant in Chile. He mentioned that he believed that women don’t like to be professional chefs because they would have to work unsocial hours, they wouldn’t like the heat of the kitchen, and because they don’t like being in high stress situations. I asked the students what they thought. All were in agreement and one even went on to say all women should be housewives. HAH. 

I also agreed to take on another class. The directors of the English department decided to omit some every important information though about this class. They decided to let me in on the big secret though a few hours beforehand. The class is a “VIP” group of high ranking buissiness men. This group is obviously very special because they had a buffet set up for them in the classroom which I wasn’t aloud to touch.. It was torture watching them eat all of the cookies in front of me. Anyways, this class will be very challenging for me because they are all at differentl levels. There is one student who doesn’t speak at all and there is one who is nearly fluent. Also, they all had out their fancy gadgets (ipad, phones) and were in suits and were about 20-45 years older than me. Oh well, it should be interesting. 

Speaking of cookies, Zach has been updating me on the cookies in the bon, which are apparently nonexistent now. Can I please have an LC student confirm this? I will be so so so sad if that is the case!

The other night Kristi invited us over to her apartment. She is another American student who somehow managed to get out of the whole dorm situation. It was soo fun to see what the inside of one of these tall, gray buildings looks like. Her landlady had the entire apartment furnished and it was so CUTE! Apparantly it is a very Russian thing to cover the walls, floor, couch in these oriental rugs. I thought it was great! I will definetly take pictures of it the next time I go over there. I gotta say, though I was SO jealous that she was able to have this space to herself. The neighborhood seemed a bit sketchy, but that is all part of the adventure! I will not miss living in these dorms one bit. Cold showers, naggy young roommates, anal RA’s and kitchens that close at 8 o clock are not really my thing. 

Today I was suffering again from a bit of culture shock or loneliness. I actually had to excuse myself in one of my classes to spend some time alone crying for 15 minutes. I just could not hold back the tears. (Luckily I am not the only one, it seems like this has happened to each of us at some point.. one of the lovely Chinese girls also started crying in class today… at least I am not alone in that :) ). I just miss being around people I love and know all the time. I am grateful for Michael and Otter, but it is very very hard to have only them. Luckily, I have been getting closer to this Russian girl named Arina. She also studies foreign languages (Chinese and thai maybe?) and has been so great and wonderful. Next week we are going to go to the movies together. Hopefully we will be able to hang out more often. 

Okay, I think  am going to go for a walk now. The weather is about 55 and sunny today. Yesterday it was snowing though. It is sooooooo unpredictable! GAHH! I love and miss you all! 

First Class

I have my first class that I will be teaching tonight! I am so so so excited. The teacher that I am working with said that the class is very enthusiastic and smart. Hopefully, that means things won’t be so awkward for me. :) 

I am already learning so much about English grammar and pronunciation. Basically it is all over the place… :). 

I am also learning the phonetic alphabet, which is really cool! Students use this to know how to pronounce words. Obviously, I have seen this a million times in dictionaries, but now I will know how to actually construct the words with these letters. Cool! 

Here is a small photo of all of the letters. 

Fire and Poetry Reading

Hey guys,

Life has been so crazy these past few days. I really do not even know where to begin… haha. The only thing I can do is laugh and laugh and laugh. It is hard to take life too seriously here. 

On Monday night a group of us were playing cards in Otter’s room and we heard a bunch of running around in the halls. I was not concerned at all, thinking that it was just some kids fooling around. Michael insisted on checking out the situation though. Good thing too, because the building was on fire! So at around 11 o clock we all rushed out of the buildings and onto the street. At the time, I thought it was some sort of drill so I didn’t grab anything. I didn’t have my I.D., room keys, passport, shoes (i was in my slippers). I was actually planning on grabbing these things, but my roommate was in serious panic mode, screaming, yelling, demanding that I stop, drop and roll, so I had no time to grab anything before she pushed me out the door. I tried to get outside as fast as I can laughing all the while at the surreality of the situation.

 I guess I should say a few words about the fire escape procedure here. 

1)  There are no speakers except for in the hall, so you cannot hear the warning from the rooms… Also, the alarm is not really an alarm. I would probably call it a suggestion. It sounds like this very nice, calm woman recommending that we evacuate because there is a fire. I could barely even hear this above the yelling and chaos in the hallway. 

2) All of the buildings on campus are interconnected. Both of the dorm buildings house hundreds of students. Each of these buildings is 6 floors and there are around 70 students on each floor. For some reason the only exit from our building at night is through the other dorm. I know that I am not being that articulate/eloquent in describing this, but basically it took us about a half hour to get out of the building after we heard the alarm…

3) You can’t get out of your room unless you have 1 key to open your own door to get out and 1 other key to open the suite door. Two major barriers. This also sucks in the middle of the night if I have to go to the bathroom. I have to fumble around in the dark first for the key and then for the lock… It is a pain!! Also, super dangerous. One of our teacher told us that about 5 years ago 3 or 4 students died in their rooms because of a fire… I wonder why. 

Well, once we got outside I learned that yes, the building was actually on fire. No smoke was rising, but I overheard people saying that someone’s CHAINIK caught on fire. Now, a few words about the CHAINIK. 

1) Chainik is the Russian word for those electric tea kettles that every single American college student has. 

2) These are strictly forbidden in the dorms here.

3) EVERYONE has one still. 

Basically, the chainik is the cause for a lot of stress in the lives of my roommates. We must find a new hiding place for it EVERY night before our room check. I am not really sure what the consequences for having one is, but I am sure that they are even higher now. 

The fire caused no serious damage. I think the wall and ceiling of the one room where it caught fire were a little burnt, but that was it. We were back inside within an hour, but our night was nowhere near to being over. 

As soon as we all were herded back into the buildings we were summoned for an emergency hall meeting where we took Roll call (I found this hilarious and saw no real point to it, considering many students were not there) and the RA yelled at us about chainiks. She then said that all of our rooms were going to be searched that night. By this time it is midnight, I am tired and I only want to sleep! Unfortunately, I live at the end of the hall so I had to wait 45 minutes before she got to our room. My roommate somehow managed to sneak out (she goes to the local grocery store to drink vodka in the parking lot every night, comes back to the room after the buildings are reopened at 6 AM… Many of the younger students do this for fun), so I had to deal with her on my own. 

She opened up our closets and took a look around. Then, she asked me if we have a chainik. I said will all seriousness, no of course not! 

I gotta say, I feel kind of guilty lying her, but once again not really. I tried the whole bonding over the fact that I am an RA at lewis and clark. I think she thought that was great for about 2 minutes.. 

I guess I can say a few closing remarks about the chainik and my roommate. So, my roommate is the true owner of the chainik, but she let me use it to boil water for my water bottles, tea and shower. Like I mentioned earlier, she went absoultely crazy about this fire and after the evacuation she destroyed the chainik. This was a very sad time for me because it meant that I would now have to boil my water on the stove. It takes about 30 minutes to boil enough water for my water bottle. Sad, Sad times. (not really, I am being a big baby). 

OH this just in, 

In the middle of writing this, we had another fire alarm. Love it. This place is absolute chaos all the time.

Enough for now though about the inefficiencies in fire evacuation and the dangers of chainiks. 

On Tuesday, I had my big poetry performance that I mentioned earlier. We were only told the day before that we would performing on that day. Fortunately I had already started to half memorize the poem, knowing that it takes me months  to memorize things to performance level. Even so, I knew it was time to turn into panic mode. Tuesday morning came and went with no major mess ups. We gathered around this poets memorial on our campus with some Russian academics and ALL OF THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS department. Basically, it was very very strange to me. All of the Russian as a second language students were asked to perform and attend. There were maybe 5 or 6 performance by actual Russians. I don’t know, it was very bizarre to me. It seemed like some sort of joke was on us or something. Like, a few academics getting a kick out of foreign students trying to fumble through poetry in front of all the major news channels. Ah well, I was able to keep myself together and the recitation went well. So well that I was asked to be interviewed. (Clearly, I was only asked because of the fact that I am American..). I seriously warned the interviewer that my Russian was not very good and that I am already recovering from a nervous breakdown and that I really don’t need that, but I was just pushed towards the camera. Unfortunately the interviewer asked me the easy questions before the camera was on… So I was left to answer,

What does this poem mean to you? (The poem was about a large choir singing in a church, I did not pick up anything more than that… ) 

Tell us about the American poetry tradition. 

What other Russian poems do you know? (she meant memorized)

What is easier to translate, Pushkin or Mandelstam?

I think that I was interviewed for one of the more serious stations. Otter was left to answer questions for what must have been an equivalent of Jay Leno. His only question was Would you memorize Mandelstam’s poetry for girls? ah well. I am just going to hope that they did not run my interview… :) 

Well, I am going to get back to the craziness now. Much love. 

Peace and Quiet

Hey! I thought I would give a brief update on what has been happening over here. I have spent a lot of time thinking and reading this week and not a lot of time socializing or exploring. 

On Monday Otter and I met up with the Russian English professor that we are going to be working with. I am so excited to begin teaching. It seems like we are going to have a lot of fun and freedom with the class. It will also give me a review (teach me?)  English grammar. Otter and I decided that we are going to actually teach the class together. We were originally going to switch off every other week, but I think it will be easier on both of us this way. We were also given the audio for the class which I find endlessly entertaining. The professor told us that we should print the lyrics to these songs and have the class sing a long. The songs all relate back to the themes in our text book (the authors of the text actually chose these songs to go along with the lessons). Some of these songs include classics such as

S8ter Boi(Avril Lavigne) 

Ironic (Alanis Morisette) 

We are Family (sister sledge) 

My life will be complete once I hear a chorus of Russian students singing along to these!

Our first class was supposed to be yesterday, but the school had a mini-shutdown. 

On Tuesday our practicum teacher informs us that university cancelled all classes for Wednesday and Thursday because the city was going to turn off all of the water for two days…. The water had been turned off before, but never for more than 4 or 5 hours. I immediately went into a panic attack (as I am accustomed to doing in high stress situations). How was I going to boil my water for the following day’s drinking water? How was I going to cook? Were restaurants going to be open to cook for me? They didn’t have any water either. How were we going to flush the toilet? How was I going to take a shower. Wednesday is my shower day! (don’t judge… I live with 5 teenage girls who are always in the bathroom and the water is ice cold… you would be taking only one shower a week too :) ) . OH NO! Wednesday is also my laundry day. Luckily we survived what I thought was going to be a mini apocalypse. I simply bought my water for the day and that was that. Yes, the toilet was NASTY by the end, but I survived. 

I was also able to go out to a restaurant. They were not serving pasta because of the lack of water, but I was able to get a delicious salad.  Unfortunately, all public toilets were closed, so I was practically dying when I got back to the dorm, but like I said, I made it out alive!

For some reason, I convinced myself that the water would come back hot… Sadly that was not the case. I think the day may be coming soon! I am optimistic every morning. :)

I used all of Wednesday to read one of the books I brought along with me. The windowsill in my room is the perfect size for me to sit on. I enjoyed my book, tea, jam and the view out my window for 6 or 7 hours.  

As soon as the water returned on Thursday, the electricity for the entire university went out, and was out for 4 hours. I just don’t understand how this is accepted as “normal” here. If this kind of thing went down in the states, I feel eveyone would know about it at LEAST a month in advanced. They warned us (the city) ONE day before we were cut off of water… Oh well, I guess you just gotta go with things! 

Today we were back in class. Lately I have been having this problem with zoning out in my classes. They are structured way differently here and I am having a hard time paying attention and staying interested. Hopefully I am just in a funk right now! I have been extra sensitive these past few weeks. I know it has to do with culture shock, and hope that I become fully adjusted soon. Who knows if that is even going to happen this semester. Everything and anything sets me off crying.Here are just a few examples of things that I have cried about

1)Seeing a sad street dog

2) Saying goodbye to a street dog I had befriended

3) Thinking about leaving Russia behind in only 2 months

4) Thinking about home

5) My suitemate telling me I should not hang out with Chinese students

6) Forgetting how to find my dorm room from my classes

7) Not knowing how to work my cell phone 

8) Too much homework that I don’t understand

Yes, I openly admit it, I am pathetic. :) 

Tonight, Michael, Otter and I decided to go downtown for dinner. I would say that I normally eat out 4-5 times a week for dinner, so this wasn’t anything special. We went to that brewery/restaurant that I mentioned earlier. I indulged in some delicious broccoli and salmon. Once we finished, Michael and I decided to order some beer from the bar. The women politely said that we could not get the beer because the police were coming. This was all very vague and strange to us. Quickly, we learned that the entire building was being evacuated. Otter was no where near finished with his meal and quickly put everything into napkins. It was entertaining to watch other people in the restaurant down full liters of beer that they had just ordered. In the meantime, the police were occuping the building. I really have/had no idea what was happening. All I know is that we, along with everyone else, were no longer welcome there. Maybe something will be in the paper about it tomorrow. I doubt it, though. It seems like a lot of things happen here without being questioned. None of the Russians in the restaurant seemed the least bit concerned that we were being asked to leave. I probably will never know. 

Off to bed after another long week. 

Much love,

Joss

Whoa

sorry, I don’t know why the second half of the last post was deleted. sad! Hopefully I don’t forget anything that I wrote :(. Heading out to dinner. Maybe I will write more tonight about this week.  

Poetry

Hello again. This week has been fairly uneventful for me. I spent a lot of it studying and doing homework. Unfortunately, I am beginning to feel sick. This always seems to happen to me around this time of year, so I guess it was expected… I am not feeling awful quite yet, but I do have a pretty nasty sore throat. I have a feeling that the air here is starting to catch up to me and may be the reason my swollen throat. All of my American comrades had TERRIBLE allergies/sore throats when we arrived due to the pollution here. I somehow managed to avoid all symptoms until now. It never feels like I am getting a full breath of fresh air here even though we are on the sea. Each breath feels like it is full of a bit of exhaust or cigarette smoke. Hopefully my lungs/throat will adapt soon. 

Every week we take some sort of excursion. These excursions have so far included:

1) The soviet submarine

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Pajama party

So, today I am feeling extra proud of my self because I partook in my suitemate’s “pajama party.” It is good to know that these are a pretty universal things! We enjoyed tea, chocolate cookies and (very) late night giggling. The girls were very curious about some of my beliefs and how things worked where I live. I finally was able to explain myself and where I come from. I don’t know how articulate I was, but I think that they have a better understanding of who I am now! The atmosphere was very jovial and I think all of the tension from the past few weeks is starting to fade. yay! 

I learned some interesting things about Vladivostok and the girls as well! 

1) Marijuana in Vladivostok is laced with acetone.. so don’t try it (I wasn’t planning on it anyway, not to worry mother). 

2) The girls worship Putin. As Alyona says, “Putin forever!” 

3) tea is the ONLY way they stay hydrated in this city. 

As with most pajama parties, the topic quickly moved to significant others/love interests. They girls wanted to know all things about Otter and Michael… which made it a little bit uncomfortable since they have become my closest friends here. I don’t think that they were too happy with my super vague answers.

Anyway, I am happy and thought I would share that small victory with you all! 

Love, 

Joss

Happy Things

I have had a pretty fantastic few days over here. Last night Michael and I trekked downtown to eat dinner. For his internship, he must find two “cheap eats” every month. Our friend gave us a recommendation and we decided to check it out. I have been feeling pretty “meh” about the prepared food so far (I have bought awesome awesome awesome cheese, bread and sausage in the stores), so I was a little skeptical knowing that it was probably going to be traditional Russian food. We find this restaurant and it is swanky (well, as swanky as cafeteria/buffet style can get). It is in this pretty new, all glass tower downtown. Wall length windows cover the walls and provide excellent views of the city and water. As you can tell, this place was very exciting for me. I had a delicious meal in a perfectly safe, clean, hip environment for about $5! Exciting! I will probably eat there at least once a week. 

When we got back, Otter decided to read our Tarot for us so that we can analyze certain aspects of our inner selves that are relevent to both the group and the time we are going to spend together. I have never done anything of the sort, but I thought it was very interesting and pretty spot on in some cases. I learned that I should put my energy into learning and mastering the language and not focus on the obstacles surrounding me. The reading took about 1 and a half hours so I ended up staying up until 2 or 3 working on my homework. Oh well, I am getting into school mode again finally. Unfortunately, the light went out in our room now, so I can’t do my homework at night. According to the people in the international students office repairs are paid for and done by the school, but our RA says otherwise. I am hoping that my roommate is able to figure this out for us, because I am clueless at this point. 

Something that I noticed on the first day here is that many people do not interpret NO as NO here. They interpret it as a sign of modesty. When I am in bed, in the dark, falling asleep, my suitemate will knock on my door and ask if I want tea. The conversation goes like this. 

Alyona: Joss, Are you going to have tea?

Joss: (zombie like state) No, I think I will just sleep

Alyona: Are you serious? 

Joss: Yes, I am tired

Alyona: Oh Joss, it is good for your health! 

Joss: no thank you

Alyona: Come on, you promised (she has used this line on me many many times, i don’t know where it comes from…. I don’t really even know how to say I promise you in Russian yet.) 

Joss: Fine, okay okay. 

This same conversation is repeated at least once a day involving food or tea. She came into my room last night insisting that I try her potatoes. Having already pigged out on a loaf of bread and butter (this is also a recurring event in my life and it really needs to stop. I need to suck it up and learn how to cook! Bread and butter is yes delicious, but I can see myself fattening up!), I was not really in the mood for more carbs. She acted as if I had never had potatoes and onions before, insisting ”Joss, these are REAL, RUSSIAN potatoes you must try them.” After going back and forth a little bit longer I gave in. She piles me about a pound of potatoes and then pulls out the ketchup. Many of you know that I despise ketchup, it is almost a borderline phobia for me… before she even opened the cap I was yelling NO, knowing that it would take at least 10-15 nos before she understood that I REALLY didn’t want the ketchup. I clearly did not leave enough time to express my sentiments as I only got in two nos and “i don’t liii…..” before my potatoes were smothered. I reluctantly choked them down expressing how delicious they are… I just hope that this doesn’t happen again. 

Today, I went out of town to the beach with Otter, Michael, Arina and Katya (two of our new friends). We took the train out of town and into the countryside. The train ride was pretty interesting. For one, the train was PACKED three people were sitting on each small bench and the aisles were full. Secondly, despite the lack of space, street performers, or should I say train performers, continued to sing, play instruments and ask for money, thirdly we were scolded 3 or 4 times for laughing too loud. This usually annoys me as well, but I can say that we were not even close to laughing “too” loud. I feel like the older people love to use their “power” to scold younger people here because these same people said nothing to the older women singing(screaming) on the train. 

Anyway, once we got to the beach we grilled kebabs over a fire. It was a pretty good time. We had SOOOOO much food and the weather was AWESOME. I am once again sunburnt, which leads my roommates to question my sobriety. They still do not believe that I wasn’t at a bar. I do not know how to get it across that I am 100% white (except for my mexican part, but I am not really even too sure about that at this point). Now, I am pretty pooped and am planning on spending the evening reading and doing homework. 

OH YEAH, and I have a job. I am going to be teaching English at the university! They said that I will be paid just as much as the other teachers in the department, so I am excited to see how much that will turn out to be!! 

Lots of love!

Joss