Weds., July 22, 2009 Hey guys! Yesterday was quite an experience. After classes, Dasha took me to a summer camp where her older cousin works about 30 minutes from the city. There were about 400 kids staying there, and all of them were really interested in meeting an American, even though they heard English and [...]
Alfred 11
Monday, July 20st I probably had the best conversation with my host father tonight, by which I mean I actually comprehended almost all of it, and respond to his questions. He was telling me how difficult it is to live in Russian society. People make virtually nothing with their profession. For example, teachers make an [...]
Alfred 10
Sun. July 19th Hey everyone, Sorry it’s been so long since my last entry. Nothing was happening and then BAM, all at once. So, this past weekend all the volunteers met up in Belakoreeha (I’ve probably spelt this differently at least 10 times) on Saturday. Of course, my city has to be the furthest away, [...]
Alfred 9
Mon., July 13th and Tues., July 14th Hey Everyone! It’s been a depressing couple of days. First, our director Brett left Novyaltaisk to go visit the other volunteers, leaving me as the only volunteer in this city! My condolenses go out to my host family also. I know that yesterday my host grandfather was admitted [...]
Alfred 8 (livin la vida Russian!)
Sun, July 12th Exactly one month until I hop back onto the Trans-Siberian RR back to Moscow for my flight back to JFK. I’m already feeling homesick, or rather its difficult to adjust to some things. I thought my parents ate a lot of meat, but Russians literally have meat with EVERY meal, including breakfast. [...]
Alfred 7 (Extra, extra, read all about us!)
Weds., July 8th Okay, so today was really interesting! We were interviewed by 2 Russian papers, and we will have articles printed within the next few days. I’ll have to get a copy to bring back home, but of course it will be in Russian! The initial shock of the Americans in town has still [...]
Alfred 6 (July 7th. “I don’t think i’m in Kansas anymore…”)
July 7th Okay, so I have been In Russia for a week now, which went by very quickly. I began teaching on Monday. None of the students have ever met an American, and most of the town hasn’t either, even the English teachers. They are so happy that we have come to the middle of [...]
Alfred 5 (July 5th..ish)
Dear Blog, Today I had an interesting breakfast. We had kasha, a Russian grit-like dish, and fried fish. I had no idea why we were eating fish for breakfast (not to mention it was fish that was not skinned and was cooked with its head so it was looking at me!), so I asked. Their [...]
Alfred 4 (Saturday, July 4th)
We finally arrived to our destination and parted our ways. I miss the others so much already. They were my main contact point for American culture! Now I am in my town. classes start on Monday. I found out yesterday that the age group for my classes are 15-16 year olds, not the 10-12 year [...]
Alfred 3 (Sorry Guys, haven’t been on the internet in a while!)
Hello everyone! This has been such a surreal experience so far! I’ve missed quite a few days because I haven’t had internet access, so this is going to be a long one. I flew out of JFK on the 29th with Devan, another volunteer from Georgetown. It was only a 9-hour flight, but it felt [...]
