
It’s been a strange month. My husband’s mom was rushed into emergency surgery and my husband left Russia to help her recover. (She’s doing well now!) At the same time, I slipped on the ice and ended up with a small fracture in my arm. The upside is that all the time at the hospital and the polyklinika was fantastic Russian practice. My Russian has improved more this month- living alone and going to the hospital every day- than it had improved since we actually arrived here.
Also, with no husband to implement quality control on movies and shows 😂, I watched a 2013 Alexander Revva movie called Дублёр, started Великолепный век, and got drawn into the season six of Холостяк. With no one to cook for (and especially when I had a cast on), most days I picked up a “borsch” business lunch on the way to/from work. It’s really true; you can never get tired of borsch. And in the evenings, since our cat is not a very good conversationalist, I started studying Russian grammar again. But still, it was a difficult few weeks and I honestly felt like crying most of the time. I really miss D and I’m excited that he’ll be back soon.

In other news…
For the past year I’ve been listening to a ton of music that I inherited from D, his mom, and his friends. It included every Кино / Александр Розенбаум / ДДТ / Алиса / Аквариум / Любэ song ever recorded, several live albums from Владимир Высоцкий, and a bunch of random other bands like Легион, Крематорий, and Би-2. Most songs I would listen to once, then delete, but over the year my collection of Russian music has started to expand into bands I never could have found myself. Only 3 more концерт albums from Высоцкий to go.

Also, Scrabble is now in session! 🙂 It’s a good chance to meet with people outside of work + make connections with teachers who work at other schools. We’ve played three weekends in a row.

There are flower shops on every single corner here and I finally stopped in to get something for spring. Snow might still be on the ground outside but it looks like spring inside.

To the roundup!
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Что нового
- An excursion to the Lena Pillars of Yakutia! If you’re a city person, check out Craft Burgers and Street Food in Yakutsk.
- The illegal coals mines of Nalaikh, Mongolia… or as Varlamov calls them, “Mongolian Mordor”.
- The Museum of Soviet Space Travel.
- Have you ever dreamed of painting Russian icons? You can now take a class at the Museum of Russian Icons in Massachusetts.
- Chelyabinsk has a new superhero: Чистомэн.
- Meanwhile, one man’s mission to track down forgotten Soviet mosaics in Almaty.
- 25 must-know Russian slang phrases (with audio).
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What is one thing you did this month to improve your Russian? What are your language goals for May? Leave me a comment below! 🙂
2 Responses
Elizabeth Brown
I’m so sorry to hear about everything that’s been going on. I know how lonely it can be. I hope you have some sunny days ahead and are able to connect with other teachers! I’m sure you were happy to be reunited with your guy.
I am SO curious about your hospital stay. When I was there in 2017 I got a concussion. I was taken to a private clinic for several days. I think the school I was studying at was afraid to send me elsewhere. They wanted me to keep thing very hush hush as I was hit on the street in St Petersburg and I think it would have been bad press for the school, haha. It was such an experience. The food was stellar though. Lots of borscht…and salad.
Katherine
Привет Elizabeth! Thank you for your comment! Yes, it’s really good to have D back in country. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Wow, a concussion, that’s pretty serious. 🙁 I’m glad your school was looking out for you! Did you have to get an МРТ or other scans? Did you slip on ice too?
Fortunately I didn’t have to stay in the hospital… just visit it every day, haha. It certainly helped me get into the habit of waking up early. And then after the hospital treatments had finished, I was discharged to daily visits to the polyklinika including a group physical therapy class with senior citizens. It was kind of awesome 😂 I bet not many foreigners get to do that. Someday soon maybe I’ll write a post on all those experiences.
Have a great May!