Playing catch-up

It's been a while, folks. Thanks for waiting around (or for clicking on this link form my Facebook page, which I'm sure is the case for most of you. No worries.) I have a few things to update you on, chronologically. If you want to end on something more up-beat, try reading this post bottom-to-top.

1. Thanksgiving. Since the beginning of November, I had been wishing and hoping and planning for a great Thanksgiving celebration. I wasn't sure how we could pull it off (or even who "we" would include, but what I do know is that I have a DANK stuffing recipe (Thanks mom) and I only get one chance a year to use it. Well, Thanksgiving day was a normal day at work, which meant there was NO WAY I could put anything together (A "normal day" for me consists of waking up somewhere around 10am, sitting on the bus for half an hour to get to the University, and not coming back to my edge-of-town dormitory until long after dark). However, this day was a special day. As I waited for my 7pm class to start, I got a call from a student: "Well, I know that today is sort of a holiday for you, and, well, if you don't have anything else planned, I wanted to invite you over for dinner so that you could celebrate?" this turned out to be one of the greatest Thanksgivings I've ever had. The menu featured meatballs rather than turkey, spaghetti noodles instead of crescent rolls, potato pancakes in lieu of mashed , and in place of cranberry sauce: fried eggs--- but I couldn't have asked for better company. The next day my international friends and I had an enormous feast prepared by our Chinese classmates, and Saturday was our own home-style Thanksgiving potluck where I got to showcase my stuffing, but the best part of Thanksgiving was sharing it with so many great people. (Awwww.)

2. Siberian Teacher's Conference. We had been planning this since my arrival in Irkutsk, but the annual conference at our university was to feature (by my invitation) other Fulbright ETAs from different cities, including myself. We came, we presented, and the Russian teachers had very little to say about it. This may have been because of our theme: Extra-Curricular activities to supplement language learning. Russian teachers, like teachers in the US, are overworked and underpaid. Russia is a little bit worse off in this department, though... teaching is not considered prestigious in the least, most tell me, and many teachers feel resentful of the amount of work they already have to do." Extra-curriculars? We don't need no stinking extra-curriculars." Not to mention the lack of resources, limited space, and scheduling disasters that are inherent in any school or university in this country. I may talk more about that later... Anyway, we had a great weekend otherwise, and my colleagues were extremely welcoming of our new guests. I work in the greatest place on earth...

3. Current events. Part of the reason it has taken me so long to write a decent post is because of the string of happenings, all rather close-to-home, which have basically rendered me incapable of sitting and writing positive, quirky updates on my life in Russia. The first of these was an extreme shock which directly influenced my work. After a routine and successful trip to a nearby high-school with some colleagues and students, we entered the office to find another colleague about to leave. She had cancelled all of her classes and told her students to go home, because one of the other students from their group had been killed. She told me the student's name --- a very general Russian girl's name, which sent all of us in a tizzy trying to deduce exactly which girl this was. She was a first-year, worked with a wonderful group of talented students. I had lead a class on fashion just a week before where she described her style as "classy yet comfortable". Days later she answered a call from someone "looking for a nanny" and was found that weekend, dead, in an abandoned apartment near the center of town. I didn't know how to feel about this, but I still teach the same group of students, and everything has to continue as usual. Teaching was hard for a while after that. Then came the news from Connecticut, which I try to avoid talking to my students and colleagues about (because they already think that all Americans own guns just for kicks). Just another thing that made teaching harder, from an emotional standpoint. I'm not saying I had to fight off tears to get through my day, but teachers everywhere had this on their mind --- STILL have this on their mind as they go about their teaching. And then came the very serious talk of Russia banning adoption of Russian children to American families... which has since been passed into law. Maybe you don't know this, but for the past two summers I have worked as a Russian teacher in a children's camp where a generous percentage of our students are adoptees from Russia. I've heard some of their stories, and I know that many of them wouldn't even be around today if it weren't for the adoptive family that jumped through all the hoops to bring a child from the often dismal conditions of a Russian orphanage into an average American home. This new law, Putin's senseless retaliation against American policy, will take away the chance of that future for about 1,000 Russian orphans this year; from kids who have disabilities, who (in all likelihood) won't be adopted by Russian families because they can't afford/don't have access to the proper care. All these kids --- at camp, at the university, private pupils --- These kids are my students. I love my students. They are the reason (the only reason, really) that I am a teacher. Honestly, sometimes I really hate teaching; I tell myself that I'm only doing this because I have no better prospects, or else I get overwhelmed and just want to cut and run, but I know that I can't. I live for these students, and the thought that I could lose any one of them in a very permanent sense... well, it kinda freaks me out. It makes me a little upset --- mad, even. But mostly these "current events" makes me value each of my students even more.

Don't mess with my students.

Merry Christmas, Everybody.
Sarah

IOU

Dear all,

As soon as I am done applying for Graduate programs, I promise I will write a post, including all of your favorite things, including but not limited to:

-Words!
-Pictures!
-News about conferences, Thanksgiving, and how freaking cold it is in Siberia.

Loooove,
Sarah

Russia is just like Minnesota, except not.

After living in Russia, there are certain things that have become normal to me. I recently started to take note of these things which, back home, seem absurd and/or unhygienic. Here, it's just another part of my life. So, here are a list of things that are COMPLETELY normal in Russia.

1. Synchronized clapping during applause (see video above)
2. Drinking hot tea/coffee out of flimsy, disposable plastic cups.
3. Ordering food that was prepared hours ago, and has been sitting on a shelf getting cold (don't worry, they microwave it when you buy it. Inside of a plastic bag, if possible.)
4. I've mentioned this before, but: Rhinestones. Everywhere. (I think I could make millions here if I had only thought to bring a bedazzler.)
5. Asking at restaurants if they actually have a certain item listed on their menu (because sometimes they are out of almost everything).
6. Showing up 15 minutes late for class (as a teacher).
--- 6a. Texting your teacher to find out what room you have class in, because you never know until 5min. before the class begins.
--- 6b. Finding a certain number of chairs in your classroom to be broken, but sitting on them anyway
7. Wearing the exact same outfit multiple days in a row
8. Loud music in restaurants, combined with large flat-screen TVs playing music videos/cartoons on mute (never to the music that is playing, just random stations. You end up watching Beyonce or loops of Family Guy while listening to K-pop)
9. Assigned seating in near-empty Movie Theaters
10. Purple and green french-tipped nails with butterflies and glitter (and all other ridiculous combinations of nail-art).

There you have it. None of these things seem strange to me, and I myself am guilty of participating in almost every single one of them. Except the last one... Now way, Jose.

Love,
Sarah

Life = Kasha.

Dear readers, I apologize for not writing in so long --- I have been far too busy sleeping.

In all seriousness, I find it impossible to wake up at a reasonable time here. Perhaps because it's below freezing every day? Maybe because the sun rises so late in the morning? Or because I don't make it home for dinner before 10:00pm? No matter what the reason, I wake up as late as possible each morning, and have long since understood that I will probably never make it to the University in time to teach a class before 11am. Such is life, living 45 minutes away from my work. Other than that, I have been keeping busy despite low temperatures and copious amounts of snow falling each day.

Top of the agenda for last month was Halloween, which was a fabulous (if stressful) event in all senses. I organized a Halloween party for my students, had a television interview in Russian with the local morning news station, and had time to celebrate with my friends as well. Russia doesn't really celebrate Halloween, which is why my presence at this time of year was such a novelty. It was enough motivation for everyone pretty involved in the holiday --- at least among students in our department. I was a spy one day, a ninja the next (the easiest costumes, just wore a lot of black). We ate far too much candy. No regrets.

Here I am being an awesome Teacher. Probably laughing at my own joke.

My students are great, too. They applaud when I tell lame jokes.

Fabulous costumes. The bunny gave me a candle as a gift!

After Halloween, of course, comes the day I usually spend more time blogging about than any other: My Birthday. Not so much to tell this time, other than the fact that my friends here are wonderful, and they threw me a great big dinner-party. I made spaghetti for everyone, they made a ridiculous amount of side-dishes, and there was more dessert than anyone could have wanted (but we ate it all anyway, if my memory serves me right). Being 23 is pretty okay!

Celebrations aside, my life here is still great. Teaching is becoming more involved, now that everyone knows who I am and I no longer have to spend an entire class period introducing myself and answering questions about America. I'm also helping to organize a conference next month at my University, and have invited other Fulbright ETAs to present and lead a round-table discussion with Siberian English teachers. More news on that next month, I guess. Oh, and I made it to Baikal for a second time! This time the weather was beautiful (although ridiculously cold). What a beautiful place, I can't wait to visit when it freezes over.

One of these days I will be able to analyze/remark on some aspect if Siberian/Russian culture, but seeing as I've lived in this country before, I'm finding myself really comfortable. I forget which things are interesting or out-of-the-ordinary to other people, because I still feel like Russia is my second home. Ever since my first visit, I've been of the opinion that Russian life makes more sense than any other life I've known, and I love it. I'm always happy here. I buy my groceries, I take the bus, I work with interesting people, I live with good friends, I cook for everyone, and I sleep as much as I can. Kind of bland --- Like Russian kasha... But I love kasha! Bland is beautiful, sometimes.

...Or, you know, maybe I should find a new hobby. I'll work on that.

Love you all,
Sarah

"Welcome to Siberia"

The warm welcome has, in one very literal sense, worn out here in Siberia: I'm not sure if I mentioned that the weather here had been fabulously warm for the first week I was here, but soon afterwards it began to SNOW. In fact, it has been snowing for about three days straight and just stopped this evening. The view from my window is awesome. But before I end up talking about  nothing except the weather (gasp!) I'll get to the point by saying that nothing else has turned cold here in Irkutsk.

The view from my balcony at dusk. I love the colored windows.

As I've mentioned, my department is outstanding and treats me like a magical beacon of American culture to be passed from person to person. I'm not complaining, but the system works in such a way that I visit a different class of American Studies students every day (only one, mind you) and introduce myself. There are so many groups, however, that I have yet to have a second visit with any of these groups (except one, which I believe was a scheduling accident). In an effort to pull my weight and do something besides introduce myself and answer general questions about American cultural norms, I'm starting a culture and conversation club called "This American Life" where I'll get to meet with students outside of class hours and discuss certain aspects or areas of American Culture from my own perspective, and open up a discussion for the students who attend. Our first meeting will be Wednesday, and I put a poster outside our department asking "What do YOU want to talk about?" My department was afraid that someone would steal the pen pinned to the board immediately or that no one would bother to write anything anyway, but the response has been fantastic so far. I almost feel like I'm back at St. Olaf again... Anyway, things will be getting busier this week as we plan more extra-curricular activities, as I continue to study Russian (and French?) at the University as well, and as the buses go slower and slower due to massive amounts of snow.

Snow in October isn't so bad... See?

 Outside of University life, I'm as happy as a clam. I live with all of my group mates (studying Russian as International students), and we've been spending more free time together. Today we went out into the snow to visit a Museum in the city. Lots of great photo-ops, as well as a visit to a Позная (Poznaya) which is a cafe specializing in the Buryati dish of позы (pozy). Not to be confused with Khinkali, a similar dish from Georgian cuisine (If you read my blog post on food from Georgia, then you know what I'm talking about.) They are basically giant dumplings with a small hole in the top, into which you can pour soy sauce and/or chili sauce, then out of which you can drink the broth inside. Very tasty, but very messy, since it doesn't have the convenience of the dough-handle that Khinkali offers.

Я люблю Иркутск <3

That's about it for now. I'm having a great time, still making progress at the University, and currently trying not to forget about Halloween just because it looks like December outside. Holy buckets, I've never been so crazy content (unless you count that time when they put me on intense painkillers after oral surgery...?); I want everyone who reads this blog to share in some of my happiness, because I've definitely got enough to spare. Let's hope it stays like this for a while --- In the meantime, I'll enjoy the ride.

Lots of love from Russia,
Sarah

The Path to Becoming a Siberian Princess

A lot has happened since the last time I posted, and I guess it's about time to fill you in with some of the details. As you may know, I've already made it to Irkutsk (YAY!) and it already feels like home. My university is fantastic (one of only four linguistic universities in Russia), has a rare "American Studies" department in which I get to work, and the other faculty really amaze me. I'm living in the international student dorms, which has turned out to be a huge blessing --- everyone speaks Russian ALL the time, and we all speak on more-or-less the same level, which means we get lots of practice without getting impatient with each other. I live in a suite with three other teachers of German, Polish, and Italian. Extremely cool people. But before I tell you too much about Irkutsk, I'll give you a run-down of the path I took in order to get to this magical place.

Ephesus, Selcuk, Turkey

 I left my Minnesota home at the end of August to spend three weeks backpacking around Western Turkey. I booked this trip in part to reduce the stress (and high price) of waiting to buy a trans-Atlantic flight until my Russian visa was processed, but also because I had nothing to do for the last month of summer. It was a great trip, despite making me feel that my life is an indefinite vacation (is that so bad?) See facebook for pictures, I went to a lot of places and saw a lot of cool things, none of which are really relevant to this particular blog. From Istanbul I made my way to the second checkpoint of my journey: Moscow.

The essential Red Square photo. Every time.

In Moscow I was picked up by a taxi driver with a sign saying "Fulbright." This was also the moment I realized that both the wheels on my suitcase were broken, making it rather difficult for the driver to drag it through the parking lot, and even more difficult for me to lug it around through different doors of my hotel at 2am trying to find the front desk. Russians have a particular way of organizing all entrances with two sets of doors, with only one door in each set of doors unlocked, farthest away from each other. So, once you find the unlocked door on the outside, you have to remember to walk to the opposite end of the second row of doors to find another unlocked door that grants you access to the building. This is hard to remember sometimes, and I find myself trying each door in succession and, momentarily, thinking that the building is closed. This happened three times in a row, all while carrying a very heavy (and broken, remember) suitcase. Anyway, when I checked in and made it to my room I also discovered that I had a roommate (surprise!). She was (thankfully) not to peeved that a stranger clumsily made her way into her room and woke her up at 2am with a question posed in Russian: "Are you with Fulbright?"

From then on everything was a breeze. Moscow felt like home as well, and this time I was with a bunch of other Americans who were about to do the same crazy thing as me. I had to brush up on my Russian geography to figure out where everyone was going, which was a very good thing, and I made a lot of new friends. Nice to know that there are other people out there that I can talk to about any issues I have adjusting/teaching/etc. Sad that we're so far away from one another now, but great that we have contacts in 35 different Russian cities. After our short orientation, we went our separate ways --- My way being a direct flight to Irkutsk.

"Jesus." Irkutsk, Siberia

After a 5-hour red-eye flight to Siberia, most of which was spent being served a dinner(?) of Omul (a fish that, as far as I know, is only found in lake Baikal), I arrived in Irkutsk at 9am local time and not having slept a wink. A representative from the International office was there waiting for me. She took me straight to my dorm, we dropped off my battered suitcase, and without so much as a power nap or a change of clothes I was taken to the University. There I prepared my new registration in one building, met my department in another building, went across town to buy a sim-card, begged my co-worker/escort to take me to a soviet-style cafeteria for some food, went back to my department, then back to the other building for more paperwork, then back to the department for some reason, back across town to give my registration to the cell provider, back to the University to have my photo taken for my ID card (it's super swanky, btw), then to an English Literature club for Russian students (where I got to learn something too, not having studied American literature), then to a meeting with my advisor (who teaches US Geography and is happy to have someone who can pronounce the names of all the US States and capitols), and then met up for coffee with a friend who just happens to be studying in Irkutsk. I eventually made it home to my dorm, exhausted but filled with incredible first impressions of my school, my city, and my life in general.

At an artist's house in Listvyanka, Baikal

Since I arrived on a Friday I had the weekend off, and I used it to explore some more of the city, set up an internet connection in my dorm room, do some yoga, and take a trip to Lake Baikal. Unfortunately, we chose a rainy day for our excursion, but it was great nonetheless. Who knew that Baikal had SEALS? You know, like the cute, chubby, swimming mammals with huge, adorable eyes that make you go "Awwww" involuntarily. If you ever make it to Baikal, be sure to go to the Baikal Museum at Listvyanka, it's one of the greatest museums I've ever been to.

"Нерпы" (Baikal Seals)

Today I had Russian class, "History of the Russian Language," and I also sat in on a course on Siberian history taught in English by a good friend in my department. Both fabulous, and I got to meet all of the international students living in my dorm. Like I said, a big plus, being that I'm never more than twenty feet from the nearest Russian-speaking acquaintance who ALSO wants practice speaking and is most likely down to have tea and cookies at any time of day. I'm also impressed that the American student did not try to speak English with me. I'm even more pleased that I didn't try to speak English with him.

In other words, this place makes me feel like a princess, and I can't believe how lucky I was to be given Irkutsk as my Fulbright placement. More news coming soon, I should think --- I start teaching tomorrow. Normally I would be nervous as I'll get out, but this time I can't wait. Wish me luck!

With love from a Siberian Princess,
Sarah

Itinerary News

Hello all! I'm writing this post from the tiny little netbook which is replacinge my giant laptop and accompanying me abroad this time around. Here's to my Acer Extensa, the greatest of all laptop computers, for serving me faithfully over the past five years. I'll miss you, but it's time to move on (and save space.)

I've been spending the summer buying plane tickets, filling out paperwork, and getting my life ready to fit inside a suitcase once again. I'm finally done, with the exception of student loan deferment forms, which I may or may not do. My list of new travel accessories include:

- My third Russian visa (thanks, Aram)
- More money than I've ever had sitting in my bank account (thanks, Fulbright)
- This baby computer (thanks, Mom)
- An old iPhone as a portable WiFi device (thanks, Elle)
- A Kindle to replace all of my books (thanks, Amazon)
- A new external hard drive for all my photos and music (thanks, Dad-o)

...and a snazzy suitcase to put it all in. Good-bye, old blue suitcase with your wire framing sticking out the sides, your busted plastic handle, and terribly muddy crooked wheels. I also have my final itinerary for my trip, which involves a lot of layovers and a three-week diversion in Turkey before I start working... not too shabby. So, heres the rundown:

8/27-28: Minneapolis > Chicago > London > Istanbul. Commence three weeks of extended summer.
9/21: Istanbul > Riga > Moscow. Here I have a week of in-country orientation and meet other Fulbrighters.
9/27: Moscow > Irkutsk. Now I get to move into the University and figure out what my job will entail.

Can't wait to get started... but I have a fabulous week left in Minnesota which includes the MN Renaissance festival, a metal concert, a fancy good-bye dinner, lots of running, yoga, coffee, and... rabies vaccinations.

Love to all,
Sarah

You heard right...

After over 8 months of preparation, essay-writing, interviewing, and (more than anything else) WAITING, I finally got word of my being awarded a Fulbright Grant for the 2012-2013 academic year in Irkutsk, RUSSIA! If you know me, than you now that this is pretty close to a dream-come-true. For now, let's just hope I can figure out how to complete my medical forms while still living in a village in the Republic of Georgia.

The blog gets going this Fall!

Love,
Sarah