jossi mausi

class, class and more class (among other fun things)

Hello Hello, I thought I would give a little update about classes and what I have been up to for the past few days. 

For those of you who are interested, I will give you the lowdown on what and how many classes I am taking. First of all, I no longer have class on Saturday. I think that we did enough whining about this that they rearranged our schedule. This is a wonderful thing, but it also means that some days I have 5-6 hours of Russian Language in a row. It is mind numbing, and by the last class it feels like I am not taking any information at all. Each class is an hour and a half and all but one are entirely in Russian. Otter and I calculated that we have a total of ~24 hours of Russian every week. At Lewis and Clark we had approximately 12 hours of class total. This means and feels like we have doubled our work load. No, we are not writing any serious essays or doing reasearch or anything of that sort. Yet, the classes are just as demanding. We have about 2 hours of hw for each class. On the one hand, it feels like I am spending all of my time working. On the other hand, that is why I came here! So, here is a list and short description of the classes I am taking (the levels of the classes vary… in some I find myself understanding everything and in others I am 100% lost). 

Природа России (Russian Nature): This class kind of reminds me of 1st grade a little bit, which is awesome because I have recently been in denial of the fact that I am no longer a child. The class is not about the “nature of the Russian people,” but about the actual nature of Russia, which means we are now learning about animals! I just did a presentation on polar bears! We spent last class coloring tigers! Even though the class seems a bit juvenile, I am learning some important vocabulary. 

 Практикум по развитию речи (Speaking practice): These classes are much smaller. I am with the three other American students, two Korean students and two Chinese students (They have already been here for 2 years). We have this class four times a week with two different teachers. We have discussed many different topics! A few include Climate Change and art. I think that these classes have been the most useful. I have picked up a lot of vocabulary from them. 

Межкультурные Коммуникации(I think this translates to something along the lines of Intercultural interaction): This class is very strange and very interesting. On one day it is a group of about 40 students. Us (the four Americans), a group of about 15 Chinese students and about 20 Russian students. Our first project was to go out into the city with your partners (I had Russian and Chinese partner). This proved to be REALLY fun and I can tell that the two of them are going to be some of my closest friends here. We are planning to go to the movies and a bar together this weekend.  On the other day it is a lecture class for just the American and Russian students. I leave this class with the largest headache because it is essentially a lecture prepared for Russians (80% of class is Russian). The last lecture was about ethnocentrism and tolerance. From what I understood, this is now a mandatory class for all Russian students. I know that there are some serious racism issues here(like the US and pretty much everywhere..) and I think that this is one of the ways they are trying to solve it. I feel like we and the Chinese students are just a tool for the teacher to instill tolerance in the Russian students. We don’t play as much of a role in the conversation/lecture of the class. Either way, I am still leaving each lecture confused…I can just BARELY follow it. 

History of the Far East: This class is half in English and half in Russian. I think that at this point it has a lot of potential, but our lecture today was pretty boring. We went over the general geography/economics of the Far East. I kind of felt like the teacher just copied and pasted information from Wikipedia onto slides and read from them. I understand that it is very difficult for her to be teaching in English, so hopefully we can make a change over to Russian soon. I believe that this class is going to be taught by a variety of professors and that it will include a lot of excursions (exciting!). 

Грамматика(grammar): I don’t really know what to say about this class. It is Russian Grammar and that is that.

Чтение(Reading): We have been reading short articles in class together and doing exercises for homework. The class was pretty terrible last week because it was after the Lecture class and my brain felt like it was melting. I did not understand anything…

Аудирование(Listening): yay for a movie class!! Unfortunately, this is only once a week. We watched this terribly corny romcom last week and it was wonderful!

Основы русской культуры (Russian Culture): This class is with a very large group of Chinese students. We have been reading about the nature of the Russian individual and our final project is going to be answering the question What makes up the Russian Individual in an essay. 

So yep! Those are my classes. It is exhausting, but I am learning, little by little. As far as organization goes, the teachers, classrooms and department seem to be a little all over the place. Teachers are ALWAYS 5-10 minutes late to class and often the room changes without informing us. We were 15 minutes late to our class today because we had no idea to where it had been changed. 

So other things that have been going on:

I spent the day downtown with Otter on Saturday. We(mostly Otter) did some serious shopping and then settled down at a Sushi bar to have some coffee and do homework. It was fun practicing my Russian on the streets asking for directions(This city is an absolute maze… there are no such thing as real blocks). The people are soooo willing to help and are very very nice which made things easy on us. Later in the day, Michael met up with us and we walked along the shore. For dinner, we met up with two of our new Russian friends for Pizza. They then invited us to a bar. Finally seizing the opportunity, we agreed to go along. I had already had a bit to drink with dinner, but insisted on having some vodka and white russians at the bar… I probably had a bit too much, but it was fun to get  a little bit loose after a stressful and emotional week. When we got back (before curfew which is at 11) my roommates were just getting ready to leave for the night (they stay out until morning). Our fuse had been blown, so I sat alone, in the dark, tipsy for a few hours. We got it figured out the next day, but something is still wrong with the shower light. This is a problem for two reasons

1) I now have to take freezing cold showers IN COMPLETE DARKNESS

2)The only room with a mirror in our suite is in darkness… Now, normally this wouldn’t be too much of a problem for me, but my roommate’s parents have brought us a full length mirror for our room. This means that all of the girls from the other room in our suite come into our room to do hair, makeup, admire themselves for minutes at a time all day/all night. Hopefully, we can figure out the light soon!

This weekend we are heading out (by train) into the forest to make shishkababs over a fire (at least this is what I think we are doing…. still having some language barriers)..It should be really fun and I will post photos and a narrative about it later. Happy Tuesday!!!!

On My Relationships with the Women who live with me.

Hello All, The past few days here have been pretty uneventful. I have had a lot of class and a lot of homework(87 sentences, 2 presentations, and many many readings that I don’t understand). I just wanted to say a few words on my relationships with the women here. I spend most of my time either with my five 17-18 year old roommates or the two American boys. My relationships with the girls at this point are a little superficial just because my language is not up to par quite yet. I really appreciate having Otter and Michael here, but I seriously need some girl talk and miss my girlfriends from LC so much. One of my suite mates is a transfer student and is 20. We have tea and cookie time together every night, but it is hard for me to get across any important/interesting thoughts in Russian. Most of our conversations consist of her telling me to eat more. 

Anyways, the first thing that I have noticed is that there is an extreme and unavoidable double standard here. Women spend hours getting ready for class every day. They ALL (95%) wear 3-4 inch heels, make up and nice dresses to class that I would only really every wear to a dance club. Men, on the other hand, just throw on a t-shirt and jeans. 

Things started to make me feel very uncomfortable yesterday when my suitemate called me into her room (not telling me why). She pulled out mascara and a hair straitener and started attacking me, saying that I was going to be a real Russian girl. She also told me that she thought that American women were ugly and that I was “1 in a million” and the make up can only amplify my beauty. This complement was soo twisted to me, but I let her have her way. 

Today, Michael, Otter and I wanted to eat out, so we decided to ask my roommates for a recommendation. They gladly suggested a place and I went to go change into something nicer (I was in my pjs). I had put on a nice pair of dark jeans, a nice solid and fitted turtle neck and black boots. The girls in the room flipped out when they saw what I was wearing. “Are you seriously going to wear that out to a restaurant?” and “What about a dress?” were just a few of the responses I got. I thought I looked pretty. On the verge of tears, I reluctantly changed into a skirt. That was still not good enough. Full out crying, I changed into a dress in front of them. As I changed, I heard them whisper, “look how white she is.” I have been asked from day one why I don’t tan. I feel so ashamed that I let a group of teenage girls get me down like that, but I really don’t understand the relationship between us right now. On the one hand I am an independent adult, on the other though I feel like they may have some sort of authority over me just because I am a guest in their country. 

I wish I could assert myself better and explain to them that they really do not HAVE to live this way, but for now I am pretty self-conscious. After I was all dressed up and ready to go, Michael, Otter and I went to a very swanky, classy, and EXPENSIVE pan-asian restaurant that they had recommended to us. I ate my sorrows away wish a huge plate of Sushi and ended up spending $38. (This is probably the most expensive meal I have eaten in college, but hell, I am abroad!). 

I know that things will get better! (Things are not/have not been bad… My Russian is improving and I know the people mean well). More tomorrow, maybe!

Excursion & Exploring Vladivostok

I have been pretty busy out and about the past few days. On Saturday, we trekked out to an ancient city and today I had a group of Russian girls show me and two Chinese students around the city. 

The excursion had to be one of the best experiences I have had so far. We(all of the Russian as a second language students.) wake up at 7AM and pile onto this VERY old Russian bus (Otter, Michael and I were the westerners on the bus, so this successfully fulfilled my dream of being on an Asian tour bus!!). We were told that the trip to the ancient city was going to be about three hours so I brought along a book and some homework. Little did I know that we were going to be literally squeezed onto this bus. Russians added extra seats that fold down into the aisle so that even more people can join in on the fun. Otter, Michael and I sat in the very back of the bus along with two other students. Michael had already taken dramamine to prevent motion sickness and was obviously feeling a little loopy. Shortly after we got going I had to pop a pill because I felt so ill. The bus was very old and crowded, the roads are old, bumpy and are under extreme construction, and to top things off we were sitting ontop of the exhaust tank that was leaking INTO the bus. I don’t know if we were laughing because we were loopy on Dramamine and exhaust , or because things were actually hilarious. A very old Russian women spoke into the microphone for the entire ride. Her voice sounded like the Charlie Brown voice and so we understood NOTHING. Also, our bus driver obviously had NO idea where we were going. We turned around on the same road about 5 different times, clearly very indecisive. 

After traveling through the Russian wilderness and countryside, we finally arrived at our destination (it actually took us 5 hours). The ancient city was definitely aimed to entertain children. There were a lot of children’s games and I didn’t really learn much about the native history of the area. That may be because I didn’t understand everything that they were saying, though. We probably spent a total of 1 and a half hours there and then it was back to the bus. On the bus, we met a Chinese girl who wanted to speak English. The highlight of our conversation was probably the question “Do you like Buddha or Jesus?” Otter responds with “I think Buddha has a lot to say.” She goes on to say “yes, but obviously Jesus is better.” 

The trip ended with us stopping at the beach. I loved frolicking in the Sea of Japan. It was soooo lovely. The water was warm and the energy just sooo positive at this point in the trip.. (given, we had just taken more dramamine… :) ) I came back to my suite mate having food, tea and jam prepared for me. It is a Russian tradition to eat jam by the spoonful with your tea. We enjoyed both awesome food and awesome conversation. It surprises me that we can talk to each other for so long in a language that I barely know, but the people here are VERY patient with me and truly want to help.  Anyways, I went to bed a happy camper. 

Like I said, today I took a pretty basic tour of the city with some Russian girls from one of my classes. It was so much fun being out with and trying to communicate with Russian and Chinese students. At the first cafe that we stopped at, Slava (the Chinese boy that I have befriended) and I enjoyed some coffee with cognac while listening to Pink Martini(a Portland band) being played on the speakers. The setting was so perfect and it totally set the scene for the rest of the day. I will definitely post pictures of the outing soon! 

Sadly, I have neglected my homework for the past few days so I must now attend to that. I think that tomorrow I have an excursion class, so maybe I will write. Sending you all so much love and positive energy from Russia!

“This is Russia-Everything Dirty”

Hey everyone, I have had a pretty stressful few days here figuring out classes and doing homework. It seems as if I will have very very little time to really explore this city on my own. I have at least 3 hours if not 4 and half hours of class everyday. It usually takes me about 5-6 hours to do my homework because I need to look up everything! I am completely exhausted by 9 or 10 o clock because it is so difficult to talk, think and speak in Russian all day long. I am hoping that it only is like this for another week or two while I am still adjusting. 

Otter, Michael and I got a talking to by the dorm babushka about cleanliness a few days ago. Basically all I got out of the conversation is that Everything Must Be Perfect. We need to make our beds everyday, take out our trash everyday, nothing can be on the walls, ect. I kept hearing her say ochen gryazni(very dirty) I was also once again scorned for refusing to wear the tapichki or slippers. Barefeet are unacceptable because the floor is ochen gryazni. Dima, Michael’s roommate, knows very very little English and uses what he does know whenever he can. After our conversation with the babushka, he definitely noticed how surprised and upset we were with the rules. I think that he thought it was funny and said “this is Russia-everything dirty.” When I pointed out the mountain of trash sitting outside of the kitchen and asked “pochemy?” he responds with “This is Russia.” It is one of his favorite ways to respond to our questions. I wish I knew enough Russian to talk with him about his opinions on his country because he seems to be pretty critical. One day… :) 

A few days ago we were called to meet another department at the university. Apparently the school also has a children’s division. They have convinced us to volunteer at this anti-drug, anti-alcohol event. I am pretty excited for this because I know that it will be entertaining. They insisted that Otter sing an American song about not doing drugs. I am very interested to see what he chooses. haha! Michael and I will be handing out candy and signing autographs probably… I will also be teaching a few classes in English to the kids about Portland. If you guys have any ideas about what I should talk about, let me know. 

The mysterious phone calls did not end there… We were called back to the office of the middle aged women again. I was pretty happy about this because I know that they were a free tea/cookie source. Shortly after eating about 5 of their cookies, they informed us that we were going to be featured in an article and comic in the school newspaper. I love how they told us this AFTER they recorded all of our commentary and interviewed us… Oh well. I am sure that it will be interesting. On Monday, we get to preview the comic before it is published and I will definetly let you guys know how we are mocked. hahaha. 

This is completely unrelated to anything I have talked about, but the toilets in the hallways are so interesting to me… They are holes in the ground, porcelain holes, but still holes. So I have to pop a squat to pee. There is definitely not enough room in these little stalls and I will openly admit that my backpack slipped into one today… :(. Lucklily it was before I used it, but still… It also took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to flush the toilet. I could have left it, but I was determined to learn on my own. After some serious searching I found the button!! 

Anyways, I am going to do some more hw now. I will try and write tomorrow night because I am going on an excursion during the day!!! Much Love, Joss

I am famous!

Hello friends,

I have had a pretty good two days over here considering I am still suffering from homesickness and culture shock. Yesterday nothing much happened except I took a placement test (which I think ended up being useless because somehow I am in the same classes as the two grad students who have been studying Russian for 7-8 years.) According to my roommates we had a mandatory meeting in the auditorium. We all went down there and waited for about an hour and half. The meeting was then cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow because not enough students were there. They certainly do not have a problem with wasting people’s time here. 

Last night, the person who I think is the “RA” came into our room (my roommate was out smoking) and started yelling at me. I did not understand much. What I got out of it was that my room was VERY VERY dirty (believe me, it is cleaner than my room ever was at Lewis & Clark) and unsanitary. I think she said that this is a warning and that the third time she sees our room like that we will be in big trouble. I wanted to give her a reality check. If she saw some of the rooms of my old residents at LC she would probably go into cardiac arrest. I really don’t understand the relationship between us right now… Sometimes she is laughing and grabbing my hand and sometimes she is yelling in my face. It is very confusing for me and I just want to scream at her, “I DON”T UNDERSTAND YOU!!”

I also found out that we can’t have alcohol in the dorms. This isn’t a major problem for me, it just surprises me. I suppose it is because we have 17 year olds living here. Michael (the other American) and I have already made plans to hit up the “Whiskey Bar” we saw downtown. It looked very inviting considering it was written in English and in a “western” style font… I think I would enjoy the bar nightlife more than the club nightlife here… 

I found out today that we don’t really have access to washing machines, so I will be washing my clothes by hand in the same bucket that I use to shower. AWESOME! Living like its 1900! I have a feeling I will have to throw away my clothes when I get back because they will reek so bad. 

Today I had my first classes. Everything in the Russian as a foreign language department seems a little bit disorganzied, but the teachers and departments are nice. My first class is some sord of intercultural communication course. The class is probably 45% Chinese, 45% Russian and 10% (me, Otter, Michael and Christi) American. We played pretty basic “first day of class” foreign language games. It wasn’t so bad. The teacher started the class by playing all of our national anthems. Ours was played last and we all stood and sang along. I almost started crying because I felt so homesick. I never felt any sort of connection to that song until I heard it then.

At the end of the class we were paired up with another partner and we have to find all these sights in the city and make a powerpoint presentatoin with our pictures about them. I am pretty excited. My partner is very excited to be working with me and has been texting me in English all night. On Sunday, we are planning on working on the search and powerpoint. 

It was in this class, though, that I realized that Americans are treated as something quite different here. EVERYONE wants to talk to you. All of the girls swoon over Otter and he just takes it all in. In that class 3 Chinese students took photos of us. (I think they thought we couldn’t see them). It is really weird being the center of attention.

After our next class (it was a conversation class), we got our schedules (class everyday except sunday… wtf??) and headed to lunch. Lunch is super good and super cheap in the cafeteria so I will def. eat there everyday. I had a chicken breast and rice for only 67 rubles or 2.5 dollars today.

Anyways, while we are eating we get a phone call from some “department” needing to have an interview with us about our medical insurance. Clearly, this department did not have any professional business to conduct with us. Basically, it was a group of middle aged Russian women who wanted to talk about life in America.. I don’t know how they got our numbers, but it wasn’t so bad because they made us delcious tea and cookies. 

Later today, we had probably they most bizzare experience yet. Our RA comes in demanding that we go to this mandatory concert (in the same auditorium as the day before). We reluctantly go. I noticed that none of the Chinese students on the floor were going and asked the RA why not. She said they won’t understand ANYTHING so they can’t come…. I swear there is def. some flat out racism towards Asian students here. It is sad. :(. Anyways, after having waited for another hour (I swear… no sense of time…), the concert begins. Two pretty terrible teenagers go on stage and sing and dance a few duets. After that is over, we were ready to leave (eat & sleep). Our RA blocks our way and says that that was just the opening act. The opening freaking act lasted a whole hour!!! After waiting for another half hour the real acts finally came on. The first was a Korean high school band playing an ABBA medley… The next was a Japanse song and dance and the last was an HOUR LONG Russian pop dance. The kids dancing were probably no older than 10 and yet they were SO SO SO sexualized… it actually freaked me out… The big concert finally ended after 3 and a half hours with all of the children on the stage singing in English Michael Jackson’s Heal the World. It was truly hilarious/wonderful and I will treasure that memory forever… :) 

More tomorrow probably. Sorry if this is so rambley. I just want to get ALL my thoughts on paper (or internet).  Maybe one day I will have time to refine it! (i won’t…)

Love-Hate relationship right now!

Hello all, I just finished my second full day in Russia and things are getting easier. I have now made it a part of my routine to boil water and place it in my water bottle for the next day. Hopefully, I will not fall very ill in a week. We will see and I will let you know! :)! I have a feeling that I may not feel too great in a few days, but who knows? All we can do now is drink and wait. 

This morning I was able to skype with my mom, grandma and Zach. It was great talking to family (even though it had only been 4 days). These semi-reunions provoked a mini break-down and panic attack, but my roommate saved the day when she brought in a huge pan of pasta for me and said “Don’t Cry, Or I kill you” HAH! Still working on convincing her to speak ONLY in Russian. We do speak a fair amount in Russian, but if I completely don’t understand something, she translates.. Hopefully we will make the change over to only Russian soon! As soon as I finished my pasta, my suite mate brought in some tea, bread, cheese and sausage. Three other girls and I sat a talked… I mostly listened since I am not 100% comfortable jumping in a conversation and since I didn’t really understand much. I then went over to Otter’s room and we played cards with the other American student on our floor. We speak in Russian together because we are nearly the same level. Otter’s roommate and his mother were also in the room. Both Dima (his roommate) and his mom are amazing amazing people. They loved speaking with us in Russian and his mom went on to cook us a very large meal in the dorm kitchen. She put an extra helping on my plate telling me that women need more “meat” on there bodies. 

Anyways, it is clear that I am not going to starve. Food is being shoved in my face every minute. I feel like a queen! 

I spent the rest of the day talking with my suitemate. Her name is Alyona. She loves teaching me! She speaks 0 english, so it was fun to watch her gesture some of the words. We talked for about two hours. I can already tell we are going to be bffls. I asked to take a photo of her! (another beautiful Russian woman.. I think the two American boys I am with are in heaven.) 

Я в России!

Привет! Я в России! After a very, very long journey (about 27 hours) I finally arrived at my new home. It feels awesome to be here, although I am already suffering from a little bit of culture shock. I met up with Otter and another boy in the same program at the Seole airport, so I was fortunate not to be arriving alone. Landing in Vladivostok was beautiful. Large forests and the sea surrounded the city and the greenness reminds me a little bit of Portland. It was fairly humid when I arrived and so it seemed much warmer than Portland although it was about the same temperature. A Russian student named Denis and a driver met us. I was the first to come out of customs and Denis welcomed me. He was quick to laugh at my poor Russian, which was terribly embarrassing, but I quickly learned that he was warm hearted as he started asking us questions about Justin Bieber and our accents.

Our drive into the city was crazy! First thing I learned was that the steering wheels for Russian vehicles are on the right side and they still drive on the right side. Very interesting. Practically the entire road from the airport was torn up, and I mean absolutely destroyed. It looked like it was supposed to be a highway, but instead it was a 4-lane mud, dirt road. Also, like many other countries the traffic seemed to have no structure or rules. The animals on the farms were practically running loose. We saw both a cow and a horse frolicking on the “highway”. Arriving on campus was very refreshing after the long and bumpy ride. It is quite a change from Lewis & Clark, although I must say that it is just as hilly. The campus is located very close to down-town so we are surrounded by large apartment buildings. Every building on campus is connected to each other by little secret passageways. There is no way that I have memorized the layout of the maze yet and I don’t know if I ever will. Hopefully our director will have a map for us!

We arrived in our dorms and were greeted by a woman who was the director (I think). She worked out our student id’s and gave us our rooms. All of our roommates were waiting inside of the security gate. (these gates were very interesting… They are like those spinny things that you have to put a ticket into at the entrance to amusement parks, only the Дежурная (dorm mother who’s job is to open these gates) is the grand master of who gets in and out). She seemed truly lovely! People warned me about these women and their potential cranky babushka-ness, but this woman seemed very happy to meet us!

            I was then introduced to my roommate. Her name is Валерия (Valeria). She is so welcoming and so nice! She brought me into my room and helped me figure out a few logistical things because she speaks fluent English. She studied in Vancouver for a few months in high school. So far, we have been speaking in both Russian and English. Hopefully, we will switch to only Russian very soon. We share a suite with another group of girls who were just as welcoming and excited to see me. They do not speak English, but were very accommodating with my poor Russian.

They all asked me what I wanted to do, and to be honest; all I wanted was to take a nice hot shower. But, oh no. Of course something was in the way of my plan. The water for the shower is broken (no one really knows when it will be fixed…) so we had to spend thirty minutes boiling water in a tea pot and transferring it into a big bucket. Once the bucket was full, I was finally able to step into the shower area with a small pan and pour the water onto me. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I DO hope, though, that we will be able to take real showers soon.

My roommate, who is 17, introduced me to her advisor, who is 20. She was also very, very sweet. I really enjoyed talking with her yesterday about Russian life. She tried to tell me that the school’s internet does not work right now. I don’t know what that means exactly… Hopefully, Otter and I will be able to figure it out together soon, because all I really wanted to do (after my shower) was talk to my family and Zach.

            It is really hard for me to be in such a new place without someone I know well there to support me. I have moved around a lot in my life, but I have always had my family to hug me and understand me and feed me. I feel incredibly lucky to be around such wonderful people here in Russia, but I feel very helpless right now, not being able to see and talk to my mom and not being able to communicate very well with the people. I think things will be much better once I have classes and my internet figured out. I won’t have as much time to think about missing home. I will be too wrapped up in what I am doing here. Gah, sorry about my sappyness and whining. I will knock it off and get back to my thoughts on life here. 

 After my shower, I went with my roommate, Otter, Kate and Dima to a money exchange and to the grocery store. I picked up some water, milk, fruit and lunch food. The prices seem pretty reasonable, so I am not too worried about money over here. We were going to make dinner together, but instead I decided to pass out. It was 8, so I assumed that it would be a good time.

            My roommate and the other girls in the suite came in at about 11 screaming, giggling turning the lights on, ect. They are all freshman (17 years old) and did not seem to understand that I was cranky, tired and attempting to sleep. After they quieted down and my roommate got into bed, the drama did not end. She tried calling her boyfriend (he hasn’t picked up his phone in 2 whole days.. what the hell?!>) about 100 times throughout the night. That didn’t stop me from conking out though. Let’s just hope that this does not continue. I now fully appreciate my single RA room that I had at LC. My roommate is very sweet, but I can already tell that she and I have many, many differences. This is not a bad thing, but hopefully we can work out kinks very early on. J

            Today I am hoping to get more things bought. I need to by some basic cooking supplies, slippers (after a scolding of my bare feet by my roommate), hangers, and a cell phone. My roommate and her advisor are also going to give us a short tour of the downtown area. I am excited to take many pictures!! I will hopefully post some soon.

             Later:

            I was able to achieve a lot today spending  A LOT of money! I went with the two other American students and a group of Russian students downtown. They were very eager to introduce us to their friends and show us their city. I was able to get a lot of important things done, so I feel happy. I bought a phone, an internet stick, dishes, slippers (at the request of my roommate… Even though she is 17, she def. has the upper hand in this relationship.. :)), towels… We had the large group making all of these transactions for us which made me very nervous. For example, although I plan to use skype to communicate with friends and family back home and I let my roommate know this, she bought a calling card to the US for me (using my cash). I thought the money was just part of the total for the phone, but it actually the phone plus 300 rubles to call the US… Oh well.

            After we bought these basic things, we walked down to the pier. It was so clear and beautiful today! The sea looked glorious and everyone was happy! We enjoyed some delicious ice cream and conversation. Even though it is only the second day, I can already tell my Russian has improved, which is very exciting! The Russian students who we have been spending time with love teaching Americans. Eventually, we all ended up at a coffee/food place. It was surprisingly very hip looking and comparable to hip coffee shops Portland. I enjoyed some beer or пиво (pivo) and a mozzerella and tomato salad. A group of us played cards and had a jolly time.

            Now I am back in my room reflecting on all that I learned today.

            It seems that Russian women tend to dress up rather than down, and this makes me a little nervous. Many wear 4-inch heels and club dresses that don’t exactly align with my style. The women are truly beautiful and it makes me a little bit self conscious. I am trying to keep things in perspective, though, remembering that I am who I am and that’s that :).

            Anyways, I really don’t understand how they are able to walk around the city when it is covered in gravel. Tatiana, my Russian professor at Lewis and Clark, was right when she told me that the city was under construction for this big east asian summit that is supposed to take place here next September. The entire city is TORN APART. They are taking out and replacing perfectly nice sidewalks and I could not see why. Hopefully, they will stop construction over the winter months.

            One thing that also surprised me was the trash situation here. It is pretty sad and depressing. There is no such thing as recycling and that is not a good thing in a city where the residents can only drink water in plastic containers. The amount of plastic and other trash that is just thrown around the city baffles me. Even on our seemingly progressive campus, there is this trash “mountain” accumulating outside our kitchen. IT is pretty disgusting and sad. The city could be SOOOO beautiful if only the citizens took proper care of it.

Okay, time to review some of my Russian before bed. I will post some pictures and write more tomorrow hopefully! 

From Korea with Love!

Hello, Hello!

I am officially on my way to Russia! I spent my last day in the states visiting friends and finishing up some last minute business before leaving. I am so happy that I was able to see some of my favorite people and I hope that all of my friends have a wonderful semester in Portland. I am very sad that I am missing another beautiful Portland autumn, but am keeping things in perspective. Yesterday was full of many tearful goodbyes and questioning whether or not I chose the right  program. I was originally planning and signed up for the St. Petersburg program, knowing that I would have so many opportunities for various artistic experiences there. I hesitantly changed my mind in January after having listened to several students complain that the St. Petersburg program did not really fulfill what they wanted out of a study abroad trip. I knew that I wanted to go to Russia primarily to improve my Russian and going to Vladivostok is going to force me to pick up the language… or else (ugh, why must I make everything seem so dreadful?). All of my classes will be in Russian and I will be living with a Russian roommate. I have been floating in and out of these waves of panic because I honestly have no idea what to expect. I don’t know anything about my roommate and I am scared that my Russian is not good enough to get everything done that I am going to need to do once I get here. It seems like I am not going to be babied at all once I get there. I will have to figure out visa registration, cell phone, internet, cooking, classes, and my dorm on my own. I hope that I have some sort of English-speaking resource once I arrive so that they can help me work these sorts of things out.

Today has been pretty draining so far. My mom took me to breakfast in Portland and I enjoyed my last big fatty American breakfast—- hashbrowns and a breakfast burrito. I also had about 2 cups too many of coffee and was bouncing off the walls until my first flight left. Once we got back to my grandma’s, I finished up some packing (how in the world was I expected to pack for 2 polarized seasons’ weather in one suitcase? Somehow I managed it, but I know that I probably missed some important items…. Like peanut butter… *Russians have apparently not been introduced to the wonderful world of cooking/eating by the spoonful with peanut butter. Why? I don’t know, I am waiting to learn.) and enjoyed some cookies. Zach biked over after his classes so he could come to the airport with us. After a very stressful and almost tearful check-in I said my goodbyes and hopped onto the plane to LAX. I was so so so lucky that I was able to visit with my good friend Diego in L.A. (thank you 6 hour layover!).  We actually had time to go to the beach and visit his mom! (don’t kill me mom for leaving the airport!! You would be happy to know that I was back two and a half hours before my flight!)

My flight to Seoul was pretty uneventful. No good movies and no good food. L. I am here now ,though. One step closer to Россия!

Oh My God!

I am leaving tomorrow.. so many emotions flowing through me right now! I will write more tomorrow in the airport! 

Also, upon my mother’s request, I enabled comments. I think that if you click on the parentheses above each post it will lead you to a page where you can comment on what I write. 

Much Love,

Joss