At last. It's amazing how much difference the sunshine and the color green make. Every other time of the year my favorite color is indigo, but at the beginning of spring it is always green, that fresh new green of the baby leaves on the trees with the flashes of gold mixed in from the beams of sunlight shining through. The change really happened amazingly quickly. Just two and a half weeks ago, when I last posted, there was snow on the ground still, and now I see girls in the park in bikinis. I almost can't even call this spring - it's more like summer! Not that I'm complaining - but I still haven't got used to the sensation of not having to wear a coat...every time I go outside I feel like I've forgotten something.
In some babushkas' opinions, I have! A babushka is a special Russian breed of grandmother whom you can often see sitting in the sun on warm days and who feel absolutely justified in passing judgment on everyone and everything that passes them by. For example, a few days ago, I decided on a whim (a rather stupid whim, as will be obvious in a moment) to go running. (Side note: the last time I went running, about two years ago, was also the day when I broke my ankle in dance class - bad luck to go running? I think so.) The day was sunny but cool, with a cold wind blowing. However, I was suffering from a derth of exercise pants with pockets - the only ones I had with pockets big enough to store my keys and cell phone were cotton shorts. As I went out the door, the thought that it might be a bit chilly in such an outfit crossed my mind, but I knew I would warm up once I got moving. Apparently I didn't look warm, however, because it seemed like every other (female) person over 40 who passed me by felt the urge to make some comment, not necessarily addressed to me so much as meant to be overheard by me, about the wisdom of wearing only a thin sweater and shorts to run in at this time of year in such weather. I can only imagine what they would say about my brother, who has been known to wear shorts, t-shirt, and sandals to take our dogs for walk in February...when there is snow still on the ground from one of our rare snowfalls. But for me, my jogging outfit worked just fine. What didn't work out so well was the fact that I jarred my foot when I stepped down off an unexpected drop. It was only about the size of a curb, but my foot has been bothering me for the past couple of days, rather throwing a wrench in my plans to give myself a ballet class every day. Oh, well...hopefully by tomorrow.
But I'm getting ahead of myself! I need to tell about our dance performance! It was like a dream, in more ways than one. It was so amazing to step onto that stage, to look out at the rows upon rows of chairs, and to realize that, in an artistic sense, I was walking on hallowed ground - a place where so many wonderful artists had performed over so many years...it really was an awesome feeling, and it was hard to believe I was actually standing there, that I would actually get to dance on this stage. At the same time, it was also like a dream because I was running a low-grade fever the whole day, so my hazy memories don't entirely stem from the fact that I viewed the entire day through rose-colored glasses.
Our preparation routine was a bit different from what I was used to at home...we didn't do a barre or any sort of warm-up at all, which I really missed, and our dress rehearsal took place without costumes. This was actually nice, because often the fuss about costumes can be really distracting when you are also trying to get used to a new stage and a different space to perform in. However, it wasn't so nice when it actually came time to get ready for the show. Everyone else knew the routine well enough to just go with the flow, but I had to do a bit of nervous fluttering and running about before I got all the different pieces of my different costumes together. The actual show was great fun, however. Our audience wasn't huge, but it was very warm, and I really enjoyed performing again after so long. I won't say that my technique was great - in fact, I've seen a couple excerpts from the show and I can say for a fact that my technique wasn't great - but it was so wonderful to have the opportunity to dance there and I think I can say that I did my best considering all the various circumstances. Several of my friends came, which was really nice, and afterwards a group of us went out to Starlight Diner - yes, there is one in Moscow - which was a really strange experience. It was odd, first of all, to be suddenly surrounded by so much Americana - the restaurant looked just like one of the Starlight Diners from home- and second of all because I had to switch to speaking English after speaking and thinking in Russian all day.
I've really noticed a change in my Russian skills recently. It's not so much that my grammar has improved or that my vocabulary has expanded so much as I can just speak freely now. I mean, I still get stuck for words and make tons of mistakes, but I don't have to hesitate nearly so much now, and thinking in Russian is not so much of a conscious thing anymore. Also, I think I'm finally gaining an appreciation for the flavor of the language - the way certain phrases just fit perfectly with the way I think or picture things. It happens in English too...though of course now that I'm trying to think of English examples they're all deserting me... OK, so in Russian there is a question you can ask to see if someone understood what you just told them: "Понятно?" which literally translated would be something like "Understandably?" which is a word we don't have in English, and we would have to use more words to ask, such as "Did you understand all that?" or "Do you have any questions?" It seems like we should have an adverb form of "to understand" in English, that we should be able to ask such a question the same way we would ask in Russian. And it's not just in brevity that certain words resonate better than their English equivalents; that's only one example.
Unfortunately, though, I'm still not very good at switching back and forth rapidly between languages. It's especially difficult, of course, to go from English to Russian, though sometimes it's also difficult to switch back... I've noticed this problem recently with some of my lower-level adult students. Sometimes they will ask a question or make a statement, and their wording sounds unnatural in English because they've translated something literally from Russian into English. But when I hear it, I sometimes can't always correct it right away because my brain knows what they wanted to say in Russian and understands why they want to say it that way in English and can't always immediately jump outside the problem and propose the solution!
That is one reason I regret leaving Russia after only a year...I know it will be difficult to keep up my Russian when I get back home, and even more difficult to improve on it...I will just have to try to meet a lot of Russian people and bother all the Russian friends I already know so they can practice with me! :)
It's hard to believe it's already May. This week has been so nice - not counting hurting my foot - because we finally have a holiday from work. I've been very productive over the past four days of break...sleeping late, watching movies, sketching, having a sleepover...haha...I think the only really productive thing I did was go to the souvenir market with my friend Jenny and buy some stuff for people back home. We were women on a mission - we both had our lists and we weren't about to let anyone rip us off. It was the first time I'd been shopping in a souvenir market since two years ago, in St. Petersburg, and the difference was almost comical. This time I could bargain and argue with the dealers, whereas last time I was worried about remembering the names of numbers in Russian and whether I would pay the right amount. Of course, I probably still got ripped off this time, but at least the process of being ripped off was much more enjoyable. And it was so nice to spend some time with Jenny - we see each other almost every day at work, but we are both so busy that a snatched fifteen minutes of conversation in the teacher's room is usually all the time we get together. And she is leaving this Tuesday to go to America with her fiance, so I probably won't see her for some time.
The day after tomorrow...drumroll please...I'm going to St. Petersburg!!! I'm really looking forward to it. The trip itself will probably be not so pleasant - the metro closes at 12:30 and doesn't open until 5:45, but my train leaves at 4:30 A.M., so in order not to have to pay for a taxi I'm going to take the last metro to the train station on the other side of the city and wait in the hall until my train leaves. Bleeeeeeeeech. But at least I will then have an eight-hour train ride to catch up on my sleep. And honestly, it is a small price to pay to get to see Piter again. And it will hopefully give me a lot of great pictures to put up on this blog!
Well, I'm sure there is other stuff I've forgotten to write about, but for now that's all! Hope everyone is doing well!
In some babushkas' opinions, I have! A babushka is a special Russian breed of grandmother whom you can often see sitting in the sun on warm days and who feel absolutely justified in passing judgment on everyone and everything that passes them by. For example, a few days ago, I decided on a whim (a rather stupid whim, as will be obvious in a moment) to go running. (Side note: the last time I went running, about two years ago, was also the day when I broke my ankle in dance class - bad luck to go running? I think so.) The day was sunny but cool, with a cold wind blowing. However, I was suffering from a derth of exercise pants with pockets - the only ones I had with pockets big enough to store my keys and cell phone were cotton shorts. As I went out the door, the thought that it might be a bit chilly in such an outfit crossed my mind, but I knew I would warm up once I got moving. Apparently I didn't look warm, however, because it seemed like every other (female) person over 40 who passed me by felt the urge to make some comment, not necessarily addressed to me so much as meant to be overheard by me, about the wisdom of wearing only a thin sweater and shorts to run in at this time of year in such weather. I can only imagine what they would say about my brother, who has been known to wear shorts, t-shirt, and sandals to take our dogs for walk in February...when there is snow still on the ground from one of our rare snowfalls. But for me, my jogging outfit worked just fine. What didn't work out so well was the fact that I jarred my foot when I stepped down off an unexpected drop. It was only about the size of a curb, but my foot has been bothering me for the past couple of days, rather throwing a wrench in my plans to give myself a ballet class every day. Oh, well...hopefully by tomorrow.
double rainbow on the first evening of vacation - God is good!
But I'm getting ahead of myself! I need to tell about our dance performance! It was like a dream, in more ways than one. It was so amazing to step onto that stage, to look out at the rows upon rows of chairs, and to realize that, in an artistic sense, I was walking on hallowed ground - a place where so many wonderful artists had performed over so many years...it really was an awesome feeling, and it was hard to believe I was actually standing there, that I would actually get to dance on this stage. At the same time, it was also like a dream because I was running a low-grade fever the whole day, so my hazy memories don't entirely stem from the fact that I viewed the entire day through rose-colored glasses.
"Concert Hall named for P.I. Tchaikovsky, Moscow State Philharmonic"
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall!!!
our poster outside the theatre
Our preparation routine was a bit different from what I was used to at home...we didn't do a barre or any sort of warm-up at all, which I really missed, and our dress rehearsal took place without costumes. This was actually nice, because often the fuss about costumes can be really distracting when you are also trying to get used to a new stage and a different space to perform in. However, it wasn't so nice when it actually came time to get ready for the show. Everyone else knew the routine well enough to just go with the flow, but I had to do a bit of nervous fluttering and running about before I got all the different pieces of my different costumes together. The actual show was great fun, however. Our audience wasn't huge, but it was very warm, and I really enjoyed performing again after so long. I won't say that my technique was great - in fact, I've seen a couple excerpts from the show and I can say for a fact that my technique wasn't great - but it was so wonderful to have the opportunity to dance there and I think I can say that I did my best considering all the various circumstances. Several of my friends came, which was really nice, and afterwards a group of us went out to Starlight Diner - yes, there is one in Moscow - which was a really strange experience. It was odd, first of all, to be suddenly surrounded by so much Americana - the restaurant looked just like one of the Starlight Diners from home- and second of all because I had to switch to speaking English after speaking and thinking in Russian all day.
in rehearsal, Hungarian dance
my friend Lena :)
with our artistic director, Alexander Sokolov
Lena again, after the performance
after the performance in costume for Timonya, a Russian dance
I've really noticed a change in my Russian skills recently. It's not so much that my grammar has improved or that my vocabulary has expanded so much as I can just speak freely now. I mean, I still get stuck for words and make tons of mistakes, but I don't have to hesitate nearly so much now, and thinking in Russian is not so much of a conscious thing anymore. Also, I think I'm finally gaining an appreciation for the flavor of the language - the way certain phrases just fit perfectly with the way I think or picture things. It happens in English too...though of course now that I'm trying to think of English examples they're all deserting me... OK, so in Russian there is a question you can ask to see if someone understood what you just told them: "Понятно?" which literally translated would be something like "Understandably?" which is a word we don't have in English, and we would have to use more words to ask, such as "Did you understand all that?" or "Do you have any questions?" It seems like we should have an adverb form of "to understand" in English, that we should be able to ask such a question the same way we would ask in Russian. And it's not just in brevity that certain words resonate better than their English equivalents; that's only one example.
Unfortunately, though, I'm still not very good at switching back and forth rapidly between languages. It's especially difficult, of course, to go from English to Russian, though sometimes it's also difficult to switch back... I've noticed this problem recently with some of my lower-level adult students. Sometimes they will ask a question or make a statement, and their wording sounds unnatural in English because they've translated something literally from Russian into English. But when I hear it, I sometimes can't always correct it right away because my brain knows what they wanted to say in Russian and understands why they want to say it that way in English and can't always immediately jump outside the problem and propose the solution!
That is one reason I regret leaving Russia after only a year...I know it will be difficult to keep up my Russian when I get back home, and even more difficult to improve on it...I will just have to try to meet a lot of Russian people and bother all the Russian friends I already know so they can practice with me! :)
It's hard to believe it's already May. This week has been so nice - not counting hurting my foot - because we finally have a holiday from work. I've been very productive over the past four days of break...sleeping late, watching movies, sketching, having a sleepover...haha...I think the only really productive thing I did was go to the souvenir market with my friend Jenny and buy some stuff for people back home. We were women on a mission - we both had our lists and we weren't about to let anyone rip us off. It was the first time I'd been shopping in a souvenir market since two years ago, in St. Petersburg, and the difference was almost comical. This time I could bargain and argue with the dealers, whereas last time I was worried about remembering the names of numbers in Russian and whether I would pay the right amount. Of course, I probably still got ripped off this time, but at least the process of being ripped off was much more enjoyable. And it was so nice to spend some time with Jenny - we see each other almost every day at work, but we are both so busy that a snatched fifteen minutes of conversation in the teacher's room is usually all the time we get together. And she is leaving this Tuesday to go to America with her fiance, so I probably won't see her for some time.
Jenny and me on the Old Arbat
the Old Arbat
the Old Arbat
Pushkin's house on the Old Arbat
The day after tomorrow...drumroll please...I'm going to St. Petersburg!!! I'm really looking forward to it. The trip itself will probably be not so pleasant - the metro closes at 12:30 and doesn't open until 5:45, but my train leaves at 4:30 A.M., so in order not to have to pay for a taxi I'm going to take the last metro to the train station on the other side of the city and wait in the hall until my train leaves. Bleeeeeeeeech. But at least I will then have an eight-hour train ride to catch up on my sleep. And honestly, it is a small price to pay to get to see Piter again. And it will hopefully give me a lot of great pictures to put up on this blog!
Well, I'm sure there is other stuff I've forgotten to write about, but for now that's all! Hope everyone is doing well!
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