Деревня/Derevnya/Village

                So in Russia, most families, or at least most that I've encountered have two homes. One in the city, and another in the derevnya (village) which is called a dacha. This is the case because most people were born in small villages and at some point in their life moved to the city. My host dad for example, was born in Suneevo, a small village about 2 and a half hours away from Nizhny and came to Nizhny to study (my host mom was born in Kazakhstan, which at the time was part of the USSR, and also came to Nizhny to study, where she met my host dad, they got married, had 2 kids named Yulya and Artem, and eventually decided to host a 16 year old American girl named Lindsay).
    So we went to Suneevo over the weekend (it was my second time there, I also went during our week long break at the end of March) and stayed in the house that my host dad was born in (its been renovated a bit since). Cool though? If when I say village you are imagining an american style small town, you are not imagining correctly. When I say village, I mean village. I don't think we have villages in the US. It's funny, because Suneevo reminded me in some ways of Harmons, (a village in Jamaica where I've been). My host family got a kick out of my saying the Russia resembled Jamaica, and you probably do too, but I stand by my assertion.

My host parents.

A house in the village. This is what a typical house looks like. I'd post a picture of ours but I for some reason didn't take one.

                              These girls, Natashka (8) and Dianka(3), are our neighbors. They live in the village all year around. They are absolutely adorable. The younger one didn't totally understand what it meant when I said I wasn't from Russia. She kept asking "Why are you talking funny?".

                                        The downside to spring in Russia: Flooding.

                                                   Happy Easter! You'll notice there are some dyed eggs on the table. On the morning of easter about 8 different people came to us and wished us a happy easter, and gave us some of their dyed eggs, and we gave them some of ours. Also something minorly interesting, the white stuff (a sort of cottage cheese yogurt thing called pas-ha) you see on the table, they said that is the body of christ, and the eggs, which are traditionally dyed red, represent the blood of christ. I thought that was interesting because it minorly resembles catholocism.

This is one of the three streets in Suneevo, its our street. Aside from houses this village also has 2 small stores for food and a "club" which is a room with a pool table where kids hang out in the winter. I have no clue what the population is but I'd guess around 100.

Also AFS Russia had a contest, where you had to do something that demonstrated your vision of Russia. I wrote an essay, and got second place. The prize is going on a free trip to the south of Russia for 2 weeks (since I got 2nd place for me its 50% free). So I am leaving on Sunday, and am quite excited for a 30 hour train ride to a completely different part of the country!

Question and Answer/Вопросы и Ответы

So, lots of friends/family from the states have emailed me with questions, so I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to the answering of said questions.


How is the russian pop music?  Do the students you're meeting listen to american & european & african music too?
For the most part, Russian pop music isn't fabulous, but most american pop music isn't either (both of those statements are my opinion). The thing that I like about pop music though, which I think is the thing everyone likes about it, is that it is popular. Everyone knows it, and lets face it, its way more fun to sing with people than to sing alone (agian, my opinion).  People do listen to songs in other languages (mostly english) but it seems to me they listen to Russian songs most often. I'll post the youtube links to some songs that are currently popular here.
                               Город Сочи -heres a russian pop song that sounds like a pop song, but it sort of has a russian feel, or at least it seems that way to me. There are quite a few of this type. It is about Sochi, a very warm city in the south of Russia. You probably know it because the Olympics are going to be there. **after listening more closely to the lyrics I figured out it is about a guy who is leaving his wife and finding a new girl in sochi... slightly less charming, but still a cool song**

                                      
                              

                                              Около Тебя- Close to you...this song is everywhere. Probably has been number one in Russia since I got here.  Its an example of a russian pop song that sounds exactly like an american pop song, just not in english.

           
  Девушка по дорогу-Girl on the Street... This one isn't bad. Another pop song that sounds fairly american, just in russian.

It might also interest you to know that the most popular English song in Russia at the moment is probably "I'm Sexy and I Know It". Everyone sings it, and no one understands. They wonder why I laugh.
Are there any people there from other places in the world besides you?
Yes. I came to Russia with an organization called AFS, which sends students from all over the world, well... all over the world. AFS sent about 100 kids to Russia for a year program back in September, and they sent an additional 5 (one of which being me) in January for just a semester. These are kids from all over the world. I haven't met the majority of them, because we are all over Russia, but there are 4 foreign kids in my city appart from me. Sofia (from Austria), Quentin (from France), Giacommo (from Italy), and Marysabel (from Venezuela). Also there is a small town not far from where I live where there are four more foreign students that I've met. Andrea (also from Italy), Sandra (from Germany), Pim (from Thailand), and Fabiana (also from Venezuela). The girls from Venezuela recently went home though, which is sad.
Is there a place the teens hang out?
I feel like in Russia it is not very common for teens to go to eachothers houses. It happens, but not nearly as much as in the US. I think that is because as far as I've seen, most people here live in small (by american standards) appartments, which means a whole lot of people in a small space and not a whole lot to do. I also asked Yulya, and she said that friends almost never sleep over at eachothers houses. Lucky for Yulya though I sleep over at her house every single night.
             Every night though teenagers 'гулять'. The verb literally translates to 'go for a walk'. They just walk in circles around the appartment buildings where we live, or sometimes, when its cold, hang out in the staircases of the afformentioned buildings. It sounds sketchy, but its Russia, and therefore it happens.
Do they do valentines day or is that just for places with hallmark stores?
They do have valentines day. There was lots of card giving at school, and at home (this was my old family) our dad bought our mom roses and gave Dasha, Laura and I little flowers. We all had dinner together, and afterwards ate heart shaped cake. Although valentines day is celebrated here, it is nowhere near as big of a deal as protector of the homeland day or womens day. 
What are people most interested in asking you?
Do you live in a house or an appartment? Why? How many floors does your house have? Why? Do you learn Russian at school there? Why? Do you like McDonalds? Why? Do you like Russia better than america? Why?
In case you missed the pattern, in Russia, every question when answered, is followed with another question: Why.
At what temperature do the Russians consider  it  "spring"?  
 "Spring" began about a month ago, but as I write, there is still snow on the ground, and the temperature is around 35 farenheit. So I guess thats an answer for you.
What are groceries like? Is everything fresh? Do they have frozen foods?
For the most part, everything is fresh. I have no idea how, because its still so cold here, but in the stores they always have fresh food, and every I'd say three days we go and buy food to cook a soup, or some sort of dish, and the cook a large amount of that dish, and then eat it for the next few days, and then once we run out buy ingredients for another dish. Try to picture in your head. Where I live, there are four appartment buildings (gigantic) set up in a square, and in the middle of the square, there is a little playground. Then on the corners of the appartment buildings, there are stores. Within a 5 minute walk from my house, there are three different grocery stores, a pharmacy, and a store where you buy miscellaneous things such as hairbrushes and contianers.  These stores aren't like stores in america though. There is a counter, and you have to go up to the counter and ask for what you want, and the woman will give it to you. They do have frozen food, but normally we don't eat it. Normally, we eat home cooked food, every day. Its quite nice, though I can pretty safely say, that once I get back to the states, I will never again in my life eat soup.

How long does it take to feel comfortable in a language when you're immersed in it?
It depends on the person, the language, and the degree to which they are immersed. Of the 100 students in Russia on the year long program, there are some who after 7 months speak near fluent russian, there are others who literally cannot speak more than a few words.
Person: Some people are good at math, others are good at learning languages, others are good at sports, just depends on the person's natural language learning ability.
  Language: Russian for example, is way more similar to English than it is to Thai, making it significantly harder for a thai person to learn russian than for me. Conversely, Spanish is way more similar to English than russian, making it significantly easier for me to learn Spanish than Russian.
   Degree of Immersion:  If you spend all your time, reading, writing, speaking or even thinking in a language other than the one you're immersed in, then you'll probably not learn as fast.

Honesty/Chestnostz/Честность

I am going to take a post to describe what is in my opinion, the biggest cultural difference I've noticed between Russia and the US. In Russia, people tend to govorit pravda (speak the truth)...all the time.

EXHIBIT A
(with my old host family)
Dasha: Why did you cut your hair?
Me: I don't know, I just wanted a change.
Dasha: You are more beautiful with long hair.
Mama: I agree.

EXHIBIT B- in school, 7 year old Oleg has just recited a lengthy poem by heart, but mixed up a few words, and spoke rather quietly
Teacher: Class, how do you think Oleg recited?
Student: Very badly.
Teacher: Why do you think so?
Student: He said the words wrong.
Teacher: Why else?
Another Student: He recited quietly, and without emotion.
Teacher: Yes, absolutely correct. Oleg, becuase you did so badly, I am going to give you a 2 (the worst grade you can get in Russia, keep in mind this is in front of the whole class)
So, rather defeated, Oleg returns to his desk and the teacher calls on Nastya to recite the poem, she does.
Teacher: How did Nastya recite?
Student: Very well!
Teacher: Why?
Student: She knew all the words, and recited beautifully.**
Teacher: Correct. Nastya, I am going to give you a five 5, you're a good girl.***

At first I was really taken aback by such bluntness, but the more I get used to it, the more I think it is a good thing. Look:

Person A: Hi, How are you?
Person B: good, you?
Person A: Good.

How many times a day do you have that conversation? Tomorrow, if you want, count. Then think how stupid it is.
Why do we say everything is fine when it isnt?
Why do we say we like things when we dont?
Why do we say something was good when really it just wasn't?

I think its because we are afraid of offending people, but really, a difference in opinion or taste should not offend.

I am more of a compare contrast person than a we do it better here/they do it better there person, but this is one of the few times that I'll say it: I think the Russians are doing this right, and we are not.

*Just a little footnote, washing the floor means on your hands and knees with a cloth. 

**In the Russian language its not weird for someone to 'recite beautifully' its also not weird for something to 'smell tasty'.

***Again, in Russian this doesn't really sound abnormal.

Festival/Фестиваль

This past week I didn't study in my school, but rather in another school in my city. That is because at the school I studied at there was like an international festival, and all the foreign students in the area went to school there that week. It was cool to experience another school, and also fun to hang out with other foreign students.

       We each had to do a presentation of our country, a national holiday, and then do a song/dance that is representative of our country. Each foreign student was paired with a class of russian students and we prepared the presentation together. I did one on thanksgiving day. I wanted to do halloween, but with classic russian honesty, I was told that 'no that is a bad idea, do thanksgiving day'.
         Theres no candy or costumes, but I think it did in the end wind up being a cool presentation because no one knew about thanksgiving beforehand. For our musical number I was clueless as to what to do. I asked the people in my class for an opinion and they said they wanted to do a dance.

Just a question: faced with 25 Russian teenagers asking you to show them an american folk dance what would you do?

I will post the video of our dance, and preface it with nothing more than this: If you ever find yourself in Nizhny Novgorod, and everyone thinks that all americans are cowboys, its probably my fault.

Even if our presentation was minorly stereotypical, I think the school enjoyed it. Also, it is not as if there was no work done to break stereotypes, because going to school with these people and dancing with them for a week, they got to know me, a real american, so they get a picture of the real, and the presentational United States.

Also, all the foreign students for the finale did a Russian folk dance to a song called Katyousha. Its about a girl named Katya looking out at a lake waiting for a bird to bring her a message from the person she loves. Russia if nothing else is unique.

I'd love to also post the complete video of that dance, however the 8 year old I told to film didn't know how to work my camera (and I didn't do a fabulous job of explaining in Russian), and therefore I'll show you about 10 seconds of it.

Also I'm planning on doing a question and answer blog post, so if you have any questions about Russian, Russians, or Russia please email them to me in the next week or so: lindsaysaligman@gmail.com

C 8 Марта!/Si bosmoy Marta!/Happy 8th of March!

       Sorry I've gone a while without posting...I should start by saying:
 For reasons it wouldn't be right to go into in such a public setting, I have had to move to a new host family. It wasn't something I wanted to do, nor was it something something my host family wanted, but it had do happen.
        The good news is my new host family is also pretty great. I have a dad, Lyosha, mom, Irina, a 24 year old brother, Tyoma, and a 17 year old sister, Yulya. She's in my class at school, which is quite convenient, because now I have someone who can explain physics to me. None of them speak a word of english, so there is a lot of going back and forth with a dictionary, but I'm sort of happy about it, because what better way could there be to learn Russian? The other good news is they live in the same appartment building as my old family, so I can visit them as often as I'd like.

          So now to the main subject of this post. Remember protector of the homeland day? Well today was another lovely (and entirely religionless I might add) national holiday. It was womens day. It isn't like mothers day though, where you sort of kind of give your mom flowers and maybe call grandma... It's quite the legitamate day. Yulya about every five minutes was getting texts from every boy she knew wishing her a happy womens day. Tyoma got Yulya and I roses, and our parents got us chocolate.
          Yesterday there was a celebration at school too. We only had four lessons rather than six, and for the rest of the day we had a concert, which was one of the most russian things I've seen. It began with kids from the 2nd grade dressed as mushrooms doing a dance to a folsky song about grandma, continued with the girls in 11th grade reciting poems about being a woman, and ended with our middle aged male PE teacher playing the guitar and singing about how lovely women are. Only Russia.
       After our concert just the 10th class went to the classroom of our advisor and which all the boys in our class had decorated for us. They also bought us cake. So we drank tea, which they served to us, and ate cake. It was sweet, literally and figuratively.  Then they recited a poem for us, along the lines of 'beautiful, wonderful girls of the 10b class, we love you, and on this special day we want to give you gifts to show how glad we are to have you in our lives'. Then all the boys went and got gifts, and each one of them presented a gift to a different girl in our class. I got an apron and a spoon decorated with traditional russian patterns. "For to cooking!" a boy in my class enthusiastically explained. The whole thing seemed a little sexist to me, but the good kind of sexist, if that makes any sense. Its not like they are saying 'you are a woman you belong in the home' they are saying 'you are a woman and thats wonderful, we love you'.

                       He is singing about how wonderful women are. And this isn't creepy at all. Only Russia. I might add that this is the same PE teacher that forced us to run in circles for a half an hour and if we didn't go fast enough (or sometimes just because) he threw volleyballs at us.

Part of the concert

Маселницa и вех/Maselnitza iy vech/Maselnitsa and Milestones

The past week (Sunday to Sunday) was a Russian holiday called Maselnitze. It is a festival to celebrate the end of winter, and I think it also had some distant relationship with lent/fat tuesday before the soviet union came along and removed religion from the picture. If you were wondering about religion, most people here are Christian (eastern orthodox) but not very religious, or at least most people I've met. 

    On last Friday we got let out early from school, and all stood outside while these elderly men and women sang folksy songs about winter ending. There was lots of dancing and jumping. Then we played carnival sort of games in the snow, and afterwards everyone gathered around in a giant circle around a doll, and set it on fire. I'm not sure what the signifigance of that was, but it was a treat to watch. 

      On last Tuesday, I think it was, I came home to find that my host mom was making блины (blini), these extremely thin, extremely buttery pankakes that you can eat plain, with jelly, or with something called sweet milk, and tastes a little like caramel sauce but not really. I'm totally adding them to the list of things I need to learn how to make before leaving. 

       Another festivity was on last Sunday I went to a park in my city with a few friends from my class and there they also had a celebration of maselnitze. There was folk music, pop music, and lots of doll burning. It was quite the celebration, though the 20 foot tall slide made entirely out of ice made me question whether winter is actually ending. 

IF YOU EVER GO TO RUSSIA: Do not eat sharma (middle eastern meat burrito type thing). I made this mistake on sunday, only to find out by way of my host mother yelling at me when I got home, that the meat used is 70% of the time from a dog. Is that disgusting and horrible? To Americans, yes. To Russians, also yes. Its one of those things that, for better or worse, society convinces us of because we have dogs as pets and therefore love them, and therefore do not want to eat them. Dasha was joking around with me afterwards and said that I ate Richi (our dog)'s brother, upon which Laura made a face and proceeded not to talk to me for a few hours. Gotta love my host family. 

Milestones

1) Today was the first day that the temperature was above freezing. I can't believe I'm saying this, but seeing puddles in the streets kind of made me sad. I feel like it won't be Russia without the snow. 

2) It's officially not dark outside when school starts, I mean, it's still dark when I wake up, but progress is progress. 

3) My Russian is coming along. I'm now at a point where I understand about 70% of what I hear (this varies however with context, I understand a whole lot more when people are talking about what they did yesterday as opposed to politics or algebra). As for my speaking, I'd probably say I know enough Russian to get by, and then some, but I'm by no means fluent. 

Another interesting note: In Russia, the 23rd of Febuary is a holiday: День защитника Отечества. This translates to something like Protector of the Homeland day. It used to be called Soviet Army day, but that sort of had to change back in January, 1992. To commemorate this special day, you give boys of all ages (reguardless of whether or not they protect the homeland) presents and cards. 

Singing folk songs

Maselnitze

burning the doll

Me on the 20 foot ice slide. 

                                                        Happy protector of the homeland day!!!

Сообщение для зимы--Soabsheniye dlya zimuy-A post for Winter

                    It is not quite spring here in Russia, but the good news is the temperature is getting a bit warmer. Now it is on average about 5 degrees farenheit as opposed to -15. In a few weeks there is this thing called Maselnitza which is a festival to say goodbye to the winter and hello to spring. I'm pretty excited for that.
           For now though, while it's still winter, I'll do another post with a few things that come along with this sometimes unbearable though usually enjoyable (and beautiful) season.

1) Before you can experience the winter for yourself, you'll need to go outside. It'll take about ten minutes to одеватся, which for those of you who don't speak russian, means to put on clothing, in this context for going outside. Even if you're only going to the store across the street you'll need a few things:

• куртка (jacket)
• воришки (mittens)
• шарф (scarf)
• шапка (hat)
• колготки (leggings)
• джинцы (jeans)
• носка (socks)
• ещё носка (a second pair of socks)
• рубашка (a shirt)
• ещё рубашка /(another shirt)
• свитер (a sweater)
• ботинки (boots)

Also, if you are a girl anywhere from the age of 16-35, you'll need to dress fairly nicely and wear makeup. Of course, this isn't true of every young woman in Russia, but if I were to pick one off the street at random, it is more likely than not that I'd find her in a dress and at least partially fur coat with a fair amount makeup. 

Which makes me wonder what the typical (or rather stereotypical) american woman might dress like. If you're in the US right now (and are so inclined) please make some observations and get back to me.

2) So in the US we have strollers. In Russia you probably also have strollers in the summertime, but in the winter, it'd be pretty difficult to wheel your baby around on snow and ice. Don't worry though. There is a solution! I'm not sure what they're called, but I have seen a whole bunch of parents pulling their children across icy roads and sidewalks in these little baby sled type things. You have no idea how cute it is to see a two year old in a  snowsuit being pulled in a baby sled. So I'll attatch a picture.

                 Unfortunately, I did not take this. I haven't been able to get a picture of one of these, because as you might have already guessed, I am not quite familiar enough with the Russian culture to know if it is acceptable to go around photographing babies that I don't know. I am also not quite familair enough with the Russian language to ask. Google images did a pretty good job of supplying me with the following photo. 

I was also going to write about tea, but this post is long enough, and I think tea, and russian tea drinking deserves an entire post all to itself, so I'm going to wait. 

As for the various aspects of my life: School is getting better. I'm understanding more and more (though not enough to do my homework for thу most part) and making a few friends. My family is doing well, on Sunday we went to Tarasiha for Babushka's birthday, the whole family--cousins and all. There was a lot of food, beer and vodka (the latter two were for adults only, don't worry). Laura being her adorable self recited poetry for Babushka. My seven year old cousin David, being his adorable self, took me on a walk  around the village and showed me what everything was. This promptly turned into a race from snow covered house to snow covered house, and I did a lot of falling, and (after making sure I was alright) David did some laughing. He reminds me a lot of my brother Daniel. 

Hm... What else? 

I don't know, I think thats about all for now. I wish everyone in the US a happy presidents day.