Life in Vinnytsia: Continued

Yes I know it's been a long time since I've written. I had that cold for a week or so, and not much was going on. Things have finally started to pick up, though. I am now teaching about 3 classes a week, working with Svitlana (my contact here at the university) and Oleg (the department head) (for the sake of simplicity, we might just call them "my Ukrainian mom and dad," hahaha) and various other teachers.

SO here are pretty much all the significant things that happened in the last few weeks:


A week ago Sunday, on the last warm day of the year, I finally went to the little cafe downstairs. I had cappuccino and apple strudel... and it was the best ever. Tasted better because I ordered in Russian, paid in Russian, and the waitress understood me... it tasted like VICTORY.

Apple Strudel a la mode. Mmmmmmmmm...

I've also done a lot of writing on my novel. I'm happy to report that it now stands at 51,615 words... ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the halfway mark! Yayyyyy!

Storyboarding on my living room floor... don't read the papers, there are spoilers!!!

So far, the most fun I've had teaching a lesson was the class I had last Tuesday with the Philology students. They were learning about British theater... so I made them a lesson based on Les Miserables. I passed out a synopsis, and we discussed it; then, we did a listening activity with "Stars," my favorite song from the musical. The students were really happy and enthusiastic, and we all had a really fun class.

On Friday, I helped out in Oleg's class. They are only first-year students, but they are very bold and talkative. In fact, they talk more than Svitlana's fourth-year students do. Whenever I begin working with a new class, I always give them a half-class or so to ask me questions about myself, where I am from, what America is like, what I think about Ukraine, etc. etc. One young man in this class wanted to know: "You are very beautiful. Do you have a husband?"

The entire class and I laughed for a good minute over that one. Teaching college students is so much fun.


After teaching that class I finally had my first lesson in Russian. Oleg, the department head, has taken it upon himself to personally tutor me every day. It makes my brain hurt, but if I keep up at this rate, I do think that, as he says "by the time you return to America, you will have a Russian accent."

Yes, this is a textbook for teaching English. Yes, I am using it to learn Happy Russian.

Another big step on Saturday... I had to go pay my internet bill by myself. It actually went off without a hitch, but I get so nervous every time I'm supposed to speak Russian without an interpreter around.

And the adventures continue... this morning, the light fixture in my living room, the main source of light in my apartment, fizzled out. Literally. I was afraid there would be a fire or something. Tanya's husband, who is an electrical engineer, will come to have a look at it tomorrow. But for now, my apartment is very dark. And also very cold, since I haven't yet called my landlady to turn on the heat. Another problem for tomorrow.

Today at the store I found fresh figs. I had never seen a fig not dried. I bought three, and this evening I ate one. Pretty tasty, but not as sweet as they are when dried (I guess that makes sense).

And now you know what a fresh fig looks like.

And that, I think, it all that has happened of importance over the last week or two. Updates as my Russian improves.