I live in an apartment building with an older man and his wife: Volodya and Vera. I also live with the other girl from West Point, so I'm not all by myself in the house. The apartment is more like a small house with two floors. I have my own room, and it's small, but I don't need anything more than I have. There's a bathroom upstairs with a tub (no shower curtain, so I have to be careful or I splash water everywhere), real toilet, and sink. It's small, and not as "nice looking" as what we normally see in America, but everything is clean. The kitchen is small as well, but it works well, and we even fit 6 people at the table without too much of a problem on the first night.
My bedroom and the bathroom in my house ^
Oh yeah, and they have a cocker spaniel. Her name is Yezhi. :) She took a nap on my bed yesterday.
They always try to feed us too much food, especially on the first night--potatoes, lots of meat, pizza (not American-style, but good), two kinds of kapusta (kind of like a cabbage salad, one was with lots of carrots), more food I don't remember, cake, and since they had guests (one was one of my teachers), they brought out the alcohol. They make their own vodka and wine, and they bought a bottle of russkoye shampanskoye (russian champagne), and we all did about 8 toasts. I figured it out, though. If you don't drink the whole shot or glass, they don't fill it back up.
In the mornings, we've eaten kasha, which is kind of like grits, but worlds better, especially with sugar on it. We've also had "blinni," which are kind of like meat-filled pancake pocket things that are good, but greasy. And tea. Tea with breakfast, tea with dinner, and they give us tea breaks at school too. I love the tea; it is so much better than the tea at home.
Since we only get two meals a day provided by Volodya and Vera, we've been going out for lunch to various restaurants. Even the really expensive ones only cost about 300 rubles to get a really good meal (which is about $12). But I can't eat as much as I've been getting. It's way too much food to eat, and it is too filling.
We walk to school everyday; it's only about a half hour walk, but we got lost yesterday. We thought we were farther up the road than we were, so we turned around and went back the wrong way. Finally I pulled out the map and realized we had been right originally, and we went back. We still made it on time, so it was okay. Now we have a better idea, although neither Jessica nor I know many street names. The school itself is not what you'd think of as a university. It looks quite run down and not very technologically advanced. It's kind of cold inside, but if I wear a long sleeve shirt, it's warm enough. One of the teachers told us that for every word of English we speak during school, we have to pay 10 rubles. The exchange rate has been pretty steady at around 26.3 rubles per dollar, so you figure out how much a short conversation in English might cost.
They always try to feed us too much food, especially on the first night--potatoes, lots of meat, pizza (not American-style, but good), two kinds of kapusta (kind of like a cabbage salad, one was with lots of carrots), more food I don't remember, cake, and since they had guests (one was one of my teachers), they brought out the alcohol. They make their own vodka and wine, and they bought a bottle of russkoye shampanskoye (russian champagne), and we all did about 8 toasts. I figured it out, though. If you don't drink the whole shot or glass, they don't fill it back up.
In the mornings, we've eaten kasha, which is kind of like grits, but worlds better, especially with sugar on it. We've also had "blinni," which are kind of like meat-filled pancake pocket things that are good, but greasy. And tea. Tea with breakfast, tea with dinner, and they give us tea breaks at school too. I love the tea; it is so much better than the tea at home.
Since we only get two meals a day provided by Volodya and Vera, we've been going out for lunch to various restaurants. Even the really expensive ones only cost about 300 rubles to get a really good meal (which is about $12). But I can't eat as much as I've been getting. It's way too much food to eat, and it is too filling.
We walk to school everyday; it's only about a half hour walk, but we got lost yesterday. We thought we were farther up the road than we were, so we turned around and went back the wrong way. Finally I pulled out the map and realized we had been right originally, and we went back. We still made it on time, so it was okay. Now we have a better idea, although neither Jessica nor I know many street names. The school itself is not what you'd think of as a university. It looks quite run down and not very technologically advanced. It's kind of cold inside, but if I wear a long sleeve shirt, it's warm enough. One of the teachers told us that for every word of English we speak during school, we have to pay 10 rubles. The exchange rate has been pretty steady at around 26.3 rubles per dollar, so you figure out how much a short conversation in English might cost.
This is what the Russian Rubles and Kopecks look like, compared to American money.
Jessica and I have been getting up to go running in the morning too. It's hard to run through the snow sometimes because it's so slippery, and the air is hard to breathe as well. Not just the cold, but the industrial smoke and smog make it hard to breathe during the day, so we get running by 7. Not today, though. It's Saturday. Right now, I guess it's 4:30 in the morning back home, but here in Voronezh, it's already 12:30 in the afternoon. That's kind of a weird concept.
We're exploring today to find jackets, boots, and other stuff that will make us stand out less. Hopefully sometime soon I'll figure out somewhere or some way I can upload pictures to post so those of you who read this can get a better idea of what it's like here. I actually really like it. More later.
Jessica and I have been getting up to go running in the morning too. It's hard to run through the snow sometimes because it's so slippery, and the air is hard to breathe as well. Not just the cold, but the industrial smoke and smog make it hard to breathe during the day, so we get running by 7. Not today, though. It's Saturday. Right now, I guess it's 4:30 in the morning back home, but here in Voronezh, it's already 12:30 in the afternoon. That's kind of a weird concept.
We're exploring today to find jackets, boots, and other stuff that will make us stand out less. Hopefully sometime soon I'll figure out somewhere or some way I can upload pictures to post so those of you who read this can get a better idea of what it's like here. I actually really like it. More later.
2 comments:
Glad you have a real toilet...and your own room, but the whole shower without a curtain thing would freak me out...haha...anyway, good to know you're safe and sound and have someone to connect with as far as English speaking...and aren't you glad Missi and I got you to get a taste of some vodka before you went??? So you know what it tastes like now!!! Glad the food is good, but you weren't ever too picky, so I'm sure I'd be doing a little worse than you will...love ya, stay safe...I think about what time it is all the time at work...counting on my fingers to figure out the time difference...lol...Love you tons,
Karrie
The dog looks quite healthy! Lots of potatoes!! This will truly be a great adventure for you. Knowing your determination, you'll become fluent and your scores in May will be stupendous. Dad says, "I told you so!" (about the shots of vodka). Well Ms Katie, enjoy, be safe and know how much we love you. Chisholm says hello as well.
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