russian learning - grammar... are you serious?

This is a direct quote from what I'm learning right now.

So what happens when Russians want to say something like "We talked about what you were reading?" First notice that a pronoun like what is required. The problem is that what plays a role in both the main clause and the subordinate one, where different cases are required. Because of the rule above, however, if two cases are required in Russian, two pronouns are required, and that is precisely Russians resolve this problem. The first pronoun is a demonstrative pronoun (usually beginning with 't') and the second is a relative (interrogative) pronoun (usually beginning with 'k' or a related sound), e.g. Мы говорили о том, что вы читали. These constructions are called 'T-K Constructions'.

If I didn't have a linguistics degree, this would probably sound like Greek to me. Now, Amy and I just have to figure out how to incorporate this kind of construction into casual speech.

The longest day

So today is technically the longest day in the year. At about 12:30 is was finally dark. Amy and I were up for father's day calls back to the States. And we were still up at 2:30am when the sun started coming up! Isn't that crazy?

As I was laying there trying to sleep (mosquito bite between two toes keeping me awake) - I couldn't believe that it was actually LIGHT outside at 4 in the morning.

And we're not even the far north!

Grounded....

Today I'm grounded.

Amy told me last night that I was to spend the entire day in our living room. She told me to do whatever I wanted, to avoid work, home finances, etc - but to read, watch, sleep, rest, organize and otherwise do what I love. She said that she wouldn't enter the room and would avoid speaking to me even!

I guess it's become really apparent that I needed a bit of time to pull myself back together. Sometimes I just get myself too busy (add to to do list - must learn to say 'no').

It's been great. It's about time for dinner. Our friend/language tutor/pal Masha is over and we're having Thai Green Curry. Amy can cook my friends...

Facebook....

You know, I've decided as an ex-pat living here in Russia, that facebook is awesome. It helps me to stay connected with the lives of those I love and care about...

We've also posted about 200 photos of our year in Russian on facebook. So, if you're on facebook and you want to see pictures, but you're not already one of our friends... facebook us and we'll add you so you can see a year in pictures!

Look up either myself or Amy.

Bratskaya - brothers' meeting

This morning we gathered together for the weekly brothers' meeting with H0ly Tr!nity. There are usually about 2 or 3 guys gathered, but this week there were 10! It was really interesting to see, because we were half American and half Russian. I wasn't expecting so many folk and I definitely wasn't expecting to translate...

Well, seems like I did okay from Russian into English, but I make tremendous and horrid mistakes when I try to translate from English into Russian. The grammar is so complicated... everyone always tells me that the important thing is if the message is communicated. Well, that's true. But a child of 3 can communicate a more complex and detailed message with no grammar errors, better than I can...

If I'm able to choose what is said, it's really okay, but interpreting for someone who uses their college level education, SAT, 70 years of life experience is a different story. It's so good to be humbled.

I was really excited to see an unexpected familiar face in the crowd. Our fried S. came. He's one of the interpreters and I was pleased that he accepted Jim's invitation to come AND that he shared a request with the group.

Please life S. up in pr@yer. He is a business man and had two stores in the market where he sold tools. One of the markets has a new owner who basically raised prices too high and S. had to close one of his stores. So there is a tremendous loss to his income and to his investment in that store.

Our first 'near death' experience together

Well, turns out that I'm not the best leader in the world. We were headed home from a great evening with the Israti family from Ekaterinburg, crossing the street just like normal, when we realized that the two cars coming at us weren't going to stop for the pedestrian crossing.

They were racing each other up the main 'drag' of Tyumen and we were caught in the cross hairs... So we clung to each other, said a quick pr@yer, and they blew past us. I know that I tend to the dramatic and exciting when I tell stories, but this is the real deal. There was wind and real fear.

Then, I got mad and just pointed at the next car that was coming and yelled 'hey!' It stopped and then the rest of the traffic followed suit.

I just don't get it... a cross walk and the drivers didn't even consider stopping. They were so far away when we started to cross the road, sometimes there's something to be said for good traffic law.

Stereotypes... D-Club

Our topic this week for English Discussion Club was really awesome. We talked about the biases and stereotypes Russians have of Americans and vice versa. We built a chart together and talked about the peoples' opinion, what the media teaches and how the government portrays us. The talk was very open honest and we talked about how these stereotypes impact how we think and behave towards one another.

This theme was so hot that we added a special D-Club this Friday welcoming Jim and Sally back to Tyumen along with George and the Istrati family. Our Scottish buddy Dan made an appearance as well. So we had 10 native English speakers with us!

As we talked about stereotypes of men/women, young/old, etc. as well. And the topic got really good as one of our D-Clubbers said, "religion is for old people." This started a pretty good conversation that we're going to continue next Monday.

Please lift this up in pr@yer as many believe that spirituality is just religion, that religion is just for the old, that it is only the concern of those who are close to death and has no application for the present moment, especially for the young, healthy and vibrant.

Couldn't be farther from the truth. (aside: is it farther or further? Do you know the difference? Farther indicates greater distance, further indicates advancement of degree.... so with truth which is it? I chose farther - it's more distant)

Intro to Chr!stianity and the B!ble

Well, it really is the greatest. Today one of the interpreters, Z. asked Amy if they could meet together. Z. said that she didn't know anything about Chr!stianity or the B!ble so they met today for about an hour for Amy to fill her in on the basic structure of the OT and NT, how it was put into canon and what Scr!pture means to Chr!stians.

It was really cool to see how interested she was and what a cool opportunity for Amy.

The first steps are so cool to witness.