Good Days
In case you haven't been able to tell, I was going through a spell of "what the f*** am I doing here" for about a week or more, but things have seemed to settle themselves down now.
I had a few conversations with my host family, making things at least feel a bit more normal again, at the very least livable, which in all honesty, it had ceased being once I got back from my Russian language refresher.
But I've found that to pretty much be the case here. Anytime I'm pulled away for some training, even if it is just for a day, it is extremely difficult to get back into the swing of things and takes about a week or two to reestablish my routine and my own motivations.
On Monday I thought that my classes went well, or at least they were better than they were the week before when I wanted to smack most of my students silly just because I wasn't feeling it myself. This week, I have been somewhat excited again and looking forward to finding out exactly what will work with these students, who are quite different than American students.
I have been hanging out a bit more with the family, taking more time to talk to them and practice my Russian again. I have not done much learning of new words, but I have been trying to be more conscious of my grammar, conjugating verbs properly and whatnot. I have a habit of trying to speak fast rather than correctly. I'm trying to make it fast and correct. And as always, working on trying to not sound so much like a foreigner.
Also, last night I was finally able to make my first joke. Granted, I could get my family back K--to laugh at me too, but it was usually just that, them laughing at me. So my host father was eating some borsht and had some long green onions off to the side. He picked one up and dipped it in some salt and promptly, bit by bit, ate it, like a rabbit. My host mother looked at him and said, "tasty?" in a way that indicated her disdain. I reponded with exactly what I had thought, which was that he looked like a rabbit, and they both started laughing hysterically to which I obviously joined in, because finally I gotten exactly what I wanted across without having them laugh at my attempt. It was good.
I had a few conversations with my host family, making things at least feel a bit more normal again, at the very least livable, which in all honesty, it had ceased being once I got back from my Russian language refresher.
But I've found that to pretty much be the case here. Anytime I'm pulled away for some training, even if it is just for a day, it is extremely difficult to get back into the swing of things and takes about a week or two to reestablish my routine and my own motivations.
On Monday I thought that my classes went well, or at least they were better than they were the week before when I wanted to smack most of my students silly just because I wasn't feeling it myself. This week, I have been somewhat excited again and looking forward to finding out exactly what will work with these students, who are quite different than American students.
I have been hanging out a bit more with the family, taking more time to talk to them and practice my Russian again. I have not done much learning of new words, but I have been trying to be more conscious of my grammar, conjugating verbs properly and whatnot. I have a habit of trying to speak fast rather than correctly. I'm trying to make it fast and correct. And as always, working on trying to not sound so much like a foreigner.
Also, last night I was finally able to make my first joke. Granted, I could get my family back K--to laugh at me too, but it was usually just that, them laughing at me. So my host father was eating some borsht and had some long green onions off to the side. He picked one up and dipped it in some salt and promptly, bit by bit, ate it, like a rabbit. My host mother looked at him and said, "tasty?" in a way that indicated her disdain. I reponded with exactly what I had thought, which was that he looked like a rabbit, and they both started laughing hysterically to which I obviously joined in, because finally I gotten exactly what I wanted across without having them laugh at my attempt. It was good.
posted by Molly | 7:33 AM
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