The Final Four

I am entering my last four days of complete freedom before A) Doug is off for New Year's Day and B) I start Russian classes. Just a few days left to exercise before I start the sedentary life of a student. I realize that it has been 25 years since I've been a full time student. I hope I can get my mind wrapped around this. I'm trying the visualization that was so helpful in my move to D.C. I'm seeing myself attempting all the sounds and words even if I'm not confident. I don't think I have the leisure to wait for surety. I'm picturing myself practicing with Douglas in the evenings even though I don't always like it when he corrects me. I am preparing myself to be done with Christmas candy (BOO!) and snack on raisins and cranberries, drink water (no Pepsi). I'm going to pack my luches so I don't spend money and eat their (yummy) pizza every day at the cafeteria. Doug and I are planning on buying new bicycles (ours are in storage) so we can ride to the Foreign Service Institute together. His classes begin in March.

I really feel for my students now. You have no choice but to be in student mode. I had the option to study Russian or not; to take a quick, short set of classes or this lengthy course. I don't mean to make being a student sound negative, it's the whole freedom thing. In a way, I'm envious of my students. When you have no choice that can make discipline easier. You must answer to someone. You are accountable to more than yourself alone. Even our laws require education. I am accountable only to myself who, by the way, is the most important. Seriously. Our personal standards for ourselves should be the highest as long as we don't get unrealistic with perfection.
I don't have that problem.

I understand that the first day or two of language school is testing to see how we learn best. Am I a visual learner? Oral? Tactile? The teachers they hire are the best of the best. Each teacher is required to be a native speaker. If I do my work, I should be conversational by the time we leave.

When we get into the Russian itself, the classes are M-F approximately five classroom hours daily with apx. three hours daily independent study. We'll begin with learning the cyrillic alphabet for a week or two. I already know that alphabet which made me think, "Great. I'll be teacher's pet. I can relax." Then Doug wrote something in Russian in cursive. I've been printing and reading printing. I have to learn to write and read again. Imagine that, will you please? We are periodically required to get exposure outside of the classroom to our language of study. This may entail visiting a Russian Orthodox church service or renting a movie in Russian. My friend Rada speaks Russian and has offered to work with me. More on all that when I actually get into it.

This is random but, it was not lost on me that my first Winter in Minnesota brought the record breaking Halloween storm and my first Winter here in D.C. brought a record breaking snow. You may not know that my final summer in Phoenix brought record breaking heat (124 I think). I cant' wait to see what I do to Uzbekistan. Maybe it'll be positive and the Aral Sea will miraculously rise in water level. If you don't know the story of the Aral Sea, here it is in a nutshell. During our Civil War, cotton supply to Russia was cut off. We were busy. So they decided to grow cotton in a region of Uzbekistan. But they needed water, so they rerouted a river that emptied into the Aral Sea. Eventually this drained the sea which caused a catastrophic chain reaction of consequences including the dying off of the fish, an extraordinary amount of dust particles in the air, unclean water left behind, and on and on. As a result, people are unemployeed, sick and without basic resources. It is said that it is unfixable. Read about it if you get the chance, it is sadly interesting. It is a strong fable for our current behaviors and the effects on the environment.

I wasn't going to tell anyone this but if I say it, it's more likely to happen. Bobby McFarin (the singer who lives in Minneapolis) broke through to popularity with the song "Don't Worry; Be Happy". He made amazing instrumental sounds with his voice that most people had never heard before. When asked how he came up with that unique sound he once answered that he went into his basement, did not listen to other people's music for a period and just began playing with his voice. Surely this did not last only a few days to get the incredible sound he achieved but it gave me an idea, one I wish I had thought of months ago. I love telling stories. I love singing. Both use my voice. I am currently not singing with any group so I am out of practice simply because I'm not keeping myself well-vocalized. One of my goals in Uzbekistan is to share stories with the people. Here's my idea: I'm going to use all this alone time to play with my voice. I'm going to spend time each day singing. I'm going to practice telling the stories aloud and learn to listen to myself. I'll read and practice delivery and expression and timing. I can do this with many of the half-written stories I have and, perhaps, I can actually finish some of them.

Poor Douglas. I say that alot. This means, of course, that throughout the next few days I'll get all excited about this story or that story and he'll "just have to hear it." My captive audience. Ah, the blessing of a one-bedroom apartment.