Thursday and Friday were basically just normal class days so I didn't blog anything for them right away. On Thursday we had two параs of grammar and one of our elective. Mine was линговокултурология, which is basically the study of Russian culture through language. Based on the first class, it sounds like it's going to be pretty awesome because we're going to learn about Russian fairy tales, folklore, songs, etc. The teacher and the other students in the class are also super laid back. We basically spent most of the class yelling out all the Russian words we knew for fruits and vegetables (because in many Russian fairy tales, those are the main characters! Monday we're going to read about the little pepper - it's just like Veggietales!). We definitely spent a good 10 minutes alone trying to figure out the Russian word for cantaloupe with no success. I am also excited because our teacher said that when the weather gets nicer, we're going to have most of our classes outside so we can go and observe different forms of Russian art in Petersburg!
On Friday we had 2 параs of conversation and one of phonetics - 2 classes that I've never really had before in college. I actually really enjoyed them both as well! Our teacher for conversation class told us that we could basically talk about whatever we want, even though we have a book that we can use as a guide when we want. We spent a lot of the time learning all the vocabulary for makeup and she told us that we will spend a class over at the market with her to practice the vocabulary that is used there. So I think it will be a very useful class! Phonetics was also really cool - it's really interesting because there's not really a lot of thinking involved, but we have to try extremely hard to make these sounds that don't really exist in English. I swear I would repeat a sound that the teacher said and think that I'd done it exactly right only to find that I had completely botched the sound to the ears of a Russian. I got a kick out of it though (or a "drive" as Kate says...). I was also really excited because at the end of the class we sang "Мыленкий ты мой" which I had sung for Russian ensemble back in freshman year!
After class yesterday I got laughed at by the Russian cashier lady when we went to a продуты to get some food for dinner. You had to pay for different things at different cash registers so after I paid for my bread and cheese (bread was like 50 cents!), I went over to the other counter to buy a Jaguar (this insane drink that Russians love - it's like an alcoholic Redbull that kind of tastes like liquid flinstone vitamins). After I'd paid, I thought that I had to wait for my receipt (because the other cashier lady had given me one) so I was just kind of standing there, but Kaitlin hadn't seen me pay, so she was saying, "Jaime, go ahead and pay her." So I automatically thought that I'd heard the cashier wrong and that I still owed her 10 roubles or something so I started digging in my pouch, really confused. Then the lady started laughing and yelling "Девушка! заплатила, заплатила!" which meant that I'd already paid and didn't need to do anything else. It was pretty funny.
When we got home we watched Jurassic Park in Russian and then we met up with some other students at this American bar called The Other Side. It's cool because it has American food (like chips & salsa, bagels, mozzarella sticks, etc.) and live music at night (there was a blues group there called Black & White last night). We had fun hearing some of the ridiculous stories from some of the students that were here last semester.
Today I think we're going spend some time exploring the Hermitage (it's nice because it's free for students). I should probably get some of my homework done as well, and buy some gifts for my host family (Nathan said that we would probably arrange to have a meeting either this weekend or Monday, but that he talked to them and they were ready for me to move in whenever, so that made me feel better). OH and do laundry! But I need some detergent, so I'll have to find that as well - maybe we'll go to the combo laundry/club that is on our street... that would be an experience!
До свидание!
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