Day 4 ~ First Day of School

06. July ~ Monday ~ First Day of School

So, wow, I’ve only been here 4 days and it seems like a lot longer. Not saying that’s good or bad. Masha and I have the reputation as the ones that take pictures of everything. Francesca makes fun of us a lot saying she doesn’t need any pictures herself because we’re going to take them all. It’s all in good fun, and I warned them I take lots of pictures. I’ve been here four days and I’ve taken almost 400 pictures. Steve said that be the 7th week I won’t have anything left to take pictures of, I reassured him I would find something. Haha.

Also, incase anyone was wondering what ever came of the drama with Adrian. Well, we saw him today at school. Apparently when we were leaving the Pizza place he went to the bathroom, but none of us realized and we all left. He said when he went outside we were all gone, he walked around the pizza place. He ran into Jim somehow and then they ended up taking the bus together, so, he wasn’t really lost. His host family and our little walking group just didn’t know where he was.

Just so you know, and aren’t worried, I always walk around with someone, and if I am by myself it’s when I am getting off at the bus stop in front of my building or getting dropped off in front of my building. So Mom and Kevin, try not to worry! I follow the buddy system! Masha, and Francesca and I are together when we’re not in a larger group.

Anyways, so today everyone had their first day of school. Let’s just say, school is hard! Got up at 7 and got ready! For breakfast Olga made me eggs with cheese and dill and a sausage. It was good as always. She packed me a lunch for school, so cute! Then, we finally left around 8 am.

The morning seemed to come too soon! I had a hard time falling asleep last night; it took much longer than it usually does. Then, I got up at like 5 to go to the bathroom and again it took forever to get back to sleep, I don’t know if it’s the light or what.

Instead of taking the bus, Olga and I went by Taxi to school, it was taxi number 20. The school is located on the opposite side of the river as my house. It takes a little while to get there. We got off on the street that the school is located on and it’s a 5 minute walk through some little park. Haha, yeah. I don’t know why we didn’t take the bus but taxi instead.

I should tell you about this crazy bus system. There are many buses, trolleys and taxi to take you around the city. All of them have different numbers depending on where they go in the city and depending on which bus/trolley/taxi stop you’re on it’s a different number no matter what street you’re going on. For instance, to get home from the bus stop near the Kremlin I need to take bus 19 or 20 depending on which direction I am coming from, or if I am in front of the university I take bus 16 or 6. From there you need to know which stop is yours because they all make various stops. The buses usually have a street name on them next to the number so you have an idea of where it goes. Additionally, the streets don’t have signs with their names on it, you have to look at the buildings for the name of the street. So, take all that, along with just being in a new city and not knowing where you’re going in general it can be very stressful. It will take some getting used to. Seriously, can’t there be an easier way?

Anyways, so I get to school, and find everyone. School starts with Russian language from 9-12. The teacher is named Tamara. People who’ve only had one year of Russian take her class, and then those with more have another teacher.

The teacher expected us to know more than we did, and when she realized we didn’t know that much she smiled and had to backtrack her plans a little bit. Tomorrow we’re doing more review of things that we should already know, or should I say, she’s going to teach us stuff she thought we had already known.

Our textbook was 500 and some rubles. Not a bad price compared to our textbooks at home. In reality our book reminds me of a coloring book and the front of it is very child-friendly. Oh well, we did the first few pages in the book and reviewed some more basic things, such as various ways to ask how one is doing, and responses.

Overall I find the class hard in that as I said previously I have a hard time with pronunciation and reading. The things I know, I can pronounce with ease, but I don’t remember a whole lot of things from last year, and I didn’t bring my school stuff from Brockport. Oh well, it will come back as we learn more. Overall the teacher is really great with us. She is very patient, and is helpful with pronunciations and reading. As a class we were all joking that we can speak as well as a Russian speaking first grader, and that if Russia had, “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” we would all lose.

It really bothers me that I don’t do that well. Everyone finds out that I am Russian and expects my level of knowledge to be a bit greater than it is. Personally I wish it came easier, it’s frustrating feeling so useless language wise. I know here in the country I will have much greater opportunity to learn things and have more time to do it as well. So, all in all, I am feeling positive.

Of course we had homework and like a good student I spent about an hour or so working on it! I was getting tired so I stopped.

After Russian language class we had lunch outside the steps of the Licee (“Li – say”). We aren’t actually at the University for class. I don’t know if this building is connected with the university, but it has many classrooms and such, so it’s for educational purpose. Olga’s packed lunch was reallllly good, I think I had the best looking sandwhich out of everyone! It was two pieces of bread and on each piece she put mayonase, lunchmeat, cheese, and dill. Dill is one of the most commonly used herbs, Russians use it in many things. With it she packed tomatoes and cucumbers and those chocolate covered cookie bar looking things and a really cute small apple juice. I was soo happy, and fed a couple pigeons some crust! I haven’t had lunch packed for me since I was in gradeschool. It’s soo nice that Olga makes sure I get on the right bus and gives me lunch. She really cares, and that’s reassuring when I’d be so lost otherwise.

After that was art class! Our teacher is a locally known artist in Novgorod and she focuses on Folk Art. So, we’re working on painting a folk art design on a wooden plate. My art skills are still pretty lacking, sorry mom! Oh well, it’s a nice wind down from Russian language class.

I have a bad habit of not cleaning off the brush when mixing paint to make new colors! Oops. I can only see mom cringing as I ruin her paints or brushes. I also make a mess too, and Liza was like let yourself get messy. She said, Sasha! Stop cleaning, wait till you’re all finished. She had to do something for a little while and commented when she got back, when I left Sasha was cleaning, when I return Sasha is still cleaning. This time I was wiping off the table as I missed the paper on the edges. Good thing it’s all water based paint.

Hm, painting ended at 2 and from there we took a bus back to the side of the river I live on, and we went to this Folk Art center. Minus the Kremlin, this is my favorite part of Novgorod. The environment is really nice and just different from other places, and it seems like it’s out in it’s own little spot too.

There were tons of people around, we figured out that there were young men that were being drafted into the army and their families were there to wish them well and say goodbye. Russian law requires that at the age of 18 you serve in the army. A man can get out of this if he or his family pay a large sum of money (as large as the price of a house).

At the folk center we met in a large room and there were two women there who were dressed in old fashion folk Russian dress. We played many folk games. It was a lot of fun, and at times dangerous. I tripped over a bench and have a bruise on my shin. Oh well, haha, someone was talking to me and I totally didn’t look in front of me and well, the rest is history.

Another time, we were playing this game where we were all turnips, and we had to sit on each other and wrap our arms around the person sitting on us, and there are a few people who do not sit, and they have to pull the group up, like you would pull turnips out of the ground. Well, when we were getting pulled a bunch of us juts fell into a big pile, and someone landed on the same leg that got bruised. Needless to say I have a nice big bump.

Some of the games, including that one, were very silly, but it was all in good fun. Other games included hot potatoes and variants of it where you dance in partners or threes and things like that. We did a lot, I took lots of video. Sadly I can’t upload videos, it would take days to do it, and that’s not an exaggeration. So I can show those when I get home.

Finally we had tea and blini with current jam! Everyone really enjoyed it! I personally don’t like anything on my blini except the crème Olga has, but the jam was good to eat separately. The blini still tastes more like thin omelet than pancakes to me.
After tea we were free to go on our own. Stac, this nice man who coordinates a lot that we do here, Liza’s right hand man wanted to show myself and Francesca where we will be doing our internship. The orphanage is a short walk from the Folk Center. We went there, with Masha too, for about 10 minutes and got a tour.

Francesca and I start our internship at 4 tomorrow until 6. I am really excited. The children are cute. Personally I have such strong and mixed feelings while being at the orphanage. It almost makes me want to cry, but I don’t. I just really wonder how much of their experiences are similar to what I had had. It will be really good to work with the children though. They range in age from 4-7. Cute children! There is a small playground outside, a large area with a tv and chairs and tables for coloring as well as other rooms. This will certainly be a fun and informative experience.
On our way from here Francesca showed me where the university is where we can get wireless internet access. We were sitting on the steps for about maybe 30 minutes and my battery already died. Masha showed up and I decided to look inside! I found benches and a plug for the computer, very helpful!

Google is in Russian, I have yet to find how to switch the languages, however Yahoo was in English! So, we were there a little while. Francesca left and Masha and I decided that it was about 7 and we should leave before Olga and her Elena get worried. Elena told us which bus to take to get home, bus 16, 3rd stop for Masha, seventh for myself.

I made it home safely! That was good. The bus still makes me nervous. I try not to make eye contact or talk to anyone, I don’t want them to try and steal my stuff. Haha, Liza has me worried about it, well I worry about it from her warning to be careful. I don’t think it’s really that dangerous in Novgorod, but still.

For dinner Olga made pasta and cutlets and a salad. Cutlets of what type of meat I am not sure, but it was excellent and it’s been my favorite dinner meal so far. There was a sauce with it that really sealed the whole meal. I had two plates, and usually I only have one! After dinner I did homework, practiced reading aloud the new things we learned. I am getting better, I never really did much of this at home, wish I had now, but oh well. Beesha and Shira entertained me with their playing. I took video of them at it, it’s soo hysterical. After homework we had the usual tea, and chocolates. From there I went to bed and here I am writing now.

So, hm… I can’t think of much else to say. Oh crap, it’s almost 12! So, off to bed I really must go! School will come too soon again!

I hope everything is well at home, please let me know how you’re doing! You know how I hate missing things, tell me what you’re up to!

“ Spakoi Na Noche” … Goodnight. ( I don’t know how to spell it properly, just how to pronounce it).
~ With love, Sasha.