10/10/10
Hello again friends! I know that it has been a while since I last wrote but things have normalized and nothing strange or wonderful has happened since last we spoke. During this down time I have decided to add a new feature to my posts. I will call it "Our Russian Phrase of the Moment". Today's Russian phrase is:
STRA-svootchya - Hello
We say it alot here especially to older people and in formal situations.
Since this is a new feature on the blog I will give you another:
MENYAY ZAVOOT, DANNY - My name is Danny
Of course, I am spelling these words how you say them and not how they appear in writing. You wouldn't recognize them if I spelled them correctly as everything is written in cyrillic. That means that Z looks like 3, H is pronounced N, and other letters neither sound or look like letters in English.
Moving on- The Champions League soccer tournament -which is like a mini-world cup- began a couple of nights ago. I"m not sure is the US team is in it or not but I watched Canada tie Ukraine night before last. Tomorrow, Ukraine plays Brazil. Bogdan and I have a bet over who will win. He says Brazil will destroy Ukraine and I say Ukraine will win. There's $20 american riding on it so I hope Ukraine wins. They didn't look very good against Canada so I worry a bit about my chances.
Tomorrow is our two year anniversary. I'm not sure what we'll do to celebrate but I'm sure we'll think of something. Shannon got to stay the night this weekend as usual so that's always nice to have annd look forward to. Our families are very understanding and accomodating. My family wanted Shannon to live here for a month and then I'd live at Shannon's for a month but we had to explain that A) it's against the rules and B) Peace Corps says we'll learn Russian faster apart. That's the way Ukrainian people are though: Whatever you need they will get it. My first night here they asked what was a food I ate in America and I said PIZZA. In ten minutes there was pizza in front of me.
Tomorrow is not only our anniversary but also our first day where we are allowed to travel to the city by ourselves. Up until now we have been escorted everywhere like ducklings. We wnet to Chernigev yesterday to buy school supplies and a heated discussion broke out between our handlers about how much money we owed each other...like we can't do math!
Speaking of school: Last week we taught our first lesson at school. Shannon and I taught 7th grade and our lesson was on the words ALLOW and LET as well as active and passive sentences i.e. "She milked the cow" (active) "The cow was milked by her" (passive). The students were very well behaved and seemed a bit nervous to finally be in front of the Americans. The lesson went well and they seemend to grasp the material pretty well. I am teaching a lesson tomorrow entitled" Problems of Teenagers" which brings us to our final Russian phrase of the moment:
OODACHEE - Good Luck!
Almost one month down and two to go. We are learning so much Russian that I can't adequately explain it all in one post but I understand more and more daily and I study constantly. After only three weeks I can express wants and needs, name food, tell time, describe people and things and conjugate verbs in Russian which is a lot of information. It's amazing how much room the human brain has. Sometimes I think that there is no way I will rememeber some of the words we study but in a day or so I know the words and can use them in conversation. It's crazy.
Well, like I said, things are moving right along here in northern Ukraine. We're healthy, happy, and well-treated. Maybe in a week or so I can start calling folks via Skype since we can go to the city without an escort now. That will make things easier. So, until next time, we love you, we miss you and we'll talk to you soon. Goodnight!
-Danny
