1 Down, 26 To Go

First of all, I’m sorry, but you won’t be getting any pictures from me for a while. I have some really great ones that I’d love to share, but until I get a new camera...

So, all of Kaz-21 went on a hike up to Turgin Falls on Friday. It was really beautiful and made me feel like I was in Utah! Anyway, there was a fantastic photo spot next to a wishing tree. My language group went up for a shot, and I put my camera in my pocket to keep my hands free for the climb down. As luck would have it, I slipped and landed right on my camera. Not cool. So if anyone would like to donate to a fund to get me a new camera – preferably compatible with a Sony Cybershot DSC-S750 memory card and battery/battery charger – send me an email. 
That was probably the worst part of a not so great week. I started teaching this week. I taught two 4th grade classes – one by myself and one team-teaching – and they went well, but it was definitely a little bit stressful. I also had some awkward tension with my host family (mostly just the sister) this week, but hopefully that’s all been cleared up and won’t be a problem anymore. And the father of my host family has been working in another city since I’ve been here, but is coming back today. So now I have one more person to get to know and get past awkwardness with. Ah well, he’s not the first and definitely not the last…

Also, I haven’t bathed in 6 days, so I’m feeling a little… un-bathed. We’ll leave it at that. I feel a little gross, but I have bigger things to worry about. And it will only make banya night all the more enjoyable when it comes – hopefully tonight! Tomorrow at the latest. I don’t remember the last time I went 6 days without a bath or shower. Even girls camps didn’t last this long, and I’m not even camping. Weird.

This week has definitely been the hardest one yet, both in terms of work load and my emotional/mental state. But I’m feeling better about the language and can actually understand a lot of what is said to me, even if I can’t really respond very well. Russian is a super hard language to learn, but I think I’m finally starting to understand the cases a bit more and reading is coming easier, too. A couple of nights ago my “host Babooshka,” I suppose you could call her (she’s my host mom’s mom and lives just down the street), came over and talked to me for a bit. I haven’t seen her since my first day here. I remember just staring at her the first day and shrugging my shoulders because I had absolutely no clue what she was saying to me or how to respond. I couldn’t even remember how to say “I don’t understand”! But this time she asked the questions, and I actually had responses! They might have not been grammatically correct, and I might have missed a few words here and there, but we understood each other! That was a good point of reference for me to see how far along I really have come with the language.

So coming up next week I’ll be teaching 3 classes, the same 4th grade class twice, and team-teaching a 3rd grade class. I finished my lesson plans last night, and finished most of the materials this afternoon so I’m going to relax tomorrow – watch a movie, go for a walk, maybe meet some friends for lunch – and hope that next week turns out better! Yay for optimism!