Office Party

Sarah McCormick would be proud.

 

I never watched “The Office” much at home, but here in Moscow I have a neighbor in my dorm.  Her name is Myra, and she is a Fulbrighter from Indiana spending a in Moscow for a creative writing project.  She happens to be a huge fan of “The Office”, and she happens to have the first four seasons on her computer.

 

And we both happened to need a night with a beer, a friend, and some home-grown cheer.

What I am doing: Part 1

You may ask yourself, “Self, Taylor has been in Moscow for almost three weeks now, and her project doesn’t start until next semester.  What exactly is she doing?” 

 

Well, for starters I have started my classes at RGGU’s Center for Russian for Foreigners.  Grammar, phonetics – it’s all stuff that’s buried somewhere in my memory, but I need a structured environment to bring it out.  I’m also looking forward to taking a politics course, and a contemporary art theory course, as the semester progresses.

 

Two days a week, I have also been given the task of teaching an English class through the English Department.  I didn’t expect to have this job, but I very much enjoy it.  There are ten students in my class – all girls, all 18-20 – with a pretty high level of English.   Which means we can work on some pretty high-level stuff.

 

For example, today I printed out a short article about the McCain / Obama debates, and some quotes from the different candidates on their potential policies toward Russia.  I underlines vocabulary, picked out key words.  I was all set to conduct an hour-and-a-half class on the U.S. presidential election.

 

But then, at the beginning of class, a simple question about how and with whom their weekends were spent illuminated a huge gap in their knowledge of English.  This hole could not be overlooked.  So we spent the rest of class identifying key terms like “boyfriend”, “serious boyfriend”, “fiancé” and “husband”, explaining the nuances between “seeing someone”, “being together”, “being a couple”, and “having a serious boyfriend”.  We conjugated verbs and did an exercise better differentiate between “have been seeing each other” and “were seeing each other”.  And we traced relationship timelines in our own lives, from the beginning of relationships with various boyfriends, to when we “broke up”, “split up”, or “ended the relationship”.

 

These girls are eighteen; I am twenty-five.  And these are serious matters.

Rosh Hashanah

Tuesday, September 30 2008

Today is a holiday.  All around the world, Jews are celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of another one.  Most Jews do not work today.  They take the time to take a day away from life, gather with friends and family, and celebrate good times.  As for me, I confess – I am not taking a day off of class, or work, to acknowledge the dawning of another year.  I actually had to look up the date of Rosh Hashanah online, to make sure I didn’t miss it. 

 

But I didn’t want to miss it.  And I wanted to take this moment as I walk across Moscow at dawn to think about this day, this culture, the people celebrating all over the world, the joy that is shared between them.

 

I’m not a very good Jew, but I am a Jew.  When I am off and abroad in a foreign country, I am all the more compelled to cling to my identity, to what makes me me.  Part of it is a protective instinct, I am sure.  But part of it is also the desire to find reassurance, to feel some sort of foundation under my feet and in my soul.  In a sea of uncertainty, it is the desire to remember who I am.

It’s Not Just Me #2

“Living in Moscow has taken years off my life.  I can’t wait to go back.”

Nick Kupensky

Starbucks

Starbucks 1

Starbucks 2

I’ve only found two in Moscow.  They were within 200 yards of each other.   

 

There are approximately 35,000,000 coffeehouses in Moscow, so I doubt that I’ll be a customer at any of these any time soon.  But it’s good to know that I have two reliable places I can use the bathroom on Starii Arbat.  And, if I get an insurmountable craving, I can get a grande non-fat latte for the bargain price of $8.

UMKA!!!!

Umka, Taylor, and Olga post-concert

It is a little-known fact that Bucknell University has its own official Russian bard.  Her name is Umka.  In another day and another time she may have been the Bob Dylan of Russia, but instead today she has a small, but faithful, underground following – many of whom have Bucknell connections. 

 

I met Umka briefly at a concert when I was here in 2003, and she put on a marvelous performance at Bucknell in 2004.  Since then, it has been a requirement for any Bucknell student spending time in Russia to attend one of her concerts.

 

Olga and I can’t let our school down. 

Reunion, Part 3

While Jim Lavine was my first Russian teacher, he only beat Olga Ivanovna by about 5 days.

 

Olga was my Russian TA during my first two years at Bucknell.  She met me when I was still trying to differentiate between the letters “she” and “sche”, and when the only phrase I knew in Russian was “Arrestuyut, za eto!”  (They arrest you for that!).  After two years of academic partnership came five years of a long-distance friendship.  But e-mail and Facebook can work wonders in this world and Olga and I were reunited on a beautiful Moscow night. 

 

She is working for American Councils teacher exchange programs over here in Moscow, and readapting to life in the big city.  She is also taking on the extra burden of having me as a friend.  It’s been almost five years since we’ve seen each other, and we haven’t missed a beat.

Sergeev Posad

Julia and her classmates at Sergeev Posad

The central area of Sergeev Posad

Phone call from God

Is a beautiful monestary outside of Moscow.  I was invited to go on a field trip there on Friday with Julia and her university.  The seven hours we spent on the bus were long, but the two hours we had at the compound were great, so i guess it all evened out.

Life as a foreign student – Part 1

One of the things I struggle with getting used to in Moscow is how long it takes to do something.  That is, how long it takes to do anything and everything 

 

This is due to a multitude of factors.  Getting anywhere takes a lot of time, for one thing.  You have to walk to the metro station, take the metro, transfer, take another metro, leave, and get to where you are going.  Meeting people is another challenge.  It can take all day to figure out a time when both of you can get to the same place at the same time, and a last-minute traffic jam (common in this city) can put an end to your plans.  Buying things takes forever.  You have to find the right store, the right product.  Being a foreigner who is still struggling with the language, this is an extra difficult challenge.  You have to stand in the aisle in the grocery store for a good while, and read the labels on the bottle very carefully to make sure that what you are is buying lotion, not shower gel or shampoo or conditioner.

 

Having spent my last semester working two jobs and being a full-time grad student while training for a marathon, I got used to being someone who lived her life at a very fast pace.  At least the speed offered great results.  But in this city, while I am still living life at a fast pace, I am struggling with the loss of the productivity I am used to.

 

For example – in a typical day back in the States, I would get up at 5:30, run six miles, come home, shower, go to work at IIE, get on the bus to Boulder, go to work at CU’s Writing Center, go to Russian class, take the bus back to my car, stop at the store on the way home, buy some dinner and necessary household products like hand cream, go home, write a few e-mails to old friends, read the newspaper, finish a book, watch the Iron Chef with Tanya, and go to bed.

 

Here I get up in the morning.  I run all day, and at the end of the day, if I am really lucky, I have finally purchased some hand cream.

It’s not just me – Russia From the Mouths of Friends

This is the first in a multi-part series of anecdotes about living in Moscow, as told by others.  In a nutshell, they get to the heart of aspects of life in this city.  I invite any and all familiar with Moscow / Russia to e-mail me or post a comment if they have a similar anecdote that they would like to share.

 

Administrator at Judith’s school:  Today we will get you signed up for English classes.  Tomorrow you have to come back to find out about the aerospace class.

 

Judith:  Can’t we do both things at once?

 

Administrator:  No.