The Last Bell

As anyone from Russia is probably familiar with, this week we had the Last Bell (Последний Звонок) in school. Everyone came to school in their best and we celebrated the last day of school! Some girls were in the old Soviet uniform (an old tradition that is, sadly, fading away) and the guys all came in suits and we had a concert. Most of us cried at some point or another as everyone sang, gave speeches, read poetry, and thanked eachother for the many years they've spent together. I have to admit this was a heavy one for me too. I can't believe that not only has my junior year finished, my school year in Russia has too. As of today, I have officially one month left in Russia.




As anyone who's every done this would probably agree with, this is probably one of the hardest blogs I've had to write, because it's one of the last. I love my home here in Russia and I know that I'll never forget the things and people I've gotten the chance to meet, from my amazing host family to my school principle to my fellow AFSers. And much like I did at the half year point (that seems soo recently) I'm going to just make a quick list of some of the things that have happened since I've been here!

1. I've met some of the most amazing people in the world!
Inna Alyamshina is the amazingly brave woman that took me on as a host student, and I don't think I could ever thank her enough! Not only did she open her home to me, she's become truly like family.Along with her, Dinara, my host sister is so amazing! I love them so much and I just can't imagine living so far away!




My principle, Galina Vladislavovna, is also one of the smartest ladies I know. Not only is she the priciple of our school, she's an amazing teacher and completely fluent in English! There are several other teachers here that have been awesome, namely my history teacher Yevgeniy Nikolaivich and David Dalieravich.




And finally, my AFS friends. I just want to say that AFSers are probably the bravest and most foolhardy people on the planet. I now have some of the best friends from Thailand and other countries, and I'm amazed all the time by how awesome that is. They are such smart, crazy people!




2. I got to experience (and survive) a Russian winter!
I can say now that I will honestly miss the harsh winter. I don't know what I'll do next year! I watched a movie today that took place at New Years and I already miss it! Yes, there were many, many times when I could have done without having my eyelashes (and other things) freeze just from being on the street, and I know I can say that at the end of the Winter, you really are just ready to wear flip flops, see the sun, and not worry about scarves, hats, and gloves... But once a year would be nice. :))





3. I've learned to love public transport.
Okay, this is a love/hate relationship, but I do appreciate Yaroslavl's public transport. It's really pretty good, and it's gotten me around all year without too many problems.

4. Fallen in love all over again with history.
I've gotten to take a Russian history class this year, and in June I'll be taking an exam on the topic. And I am soo excited! It has been soo amazing to hear about Russian history from the Russian point of view, besides the fact the Yevgeniy Nikolaivich is an awesome teacher!! I love that guy.)))

5. Figured out that I really don't know what I want to be!
I thought I knew... I didn't. I have now narrowed down the possibilies to anything that has to do with history, and language. So... politics, proffesor, law, business... Yeah, I'll be trying that all out in college probably.

Beyond that, I've learned an amazing language, learned to love Russian food, and gotten very used to hearing English with an accent.

All that said, I still have a month left, and I plan to live it up! To Mishkin and to St Petersburg I go!

Wish me luck and see everyone in California sooner than seems possible,

From Russia,

With Love,

Bettina

Rybinsk and a Couple Other Things....

So, I went to a nearby town this last weekend, Rybinsk, with Ploy. There are 4 other students there, but we only met with two of them, Palin and Oatt (from Thailand). It was great! We walked around, and though the wind was strong and it was pretty cold (I thought that it would be warmer than it was, and wore my Autumn jacket) we had a great time. Here are some pictures:







Blogger's being weird and making all the pictures into weird long... things. So I don't know how to comment in between them, sorry. Basically, these are some pictures from Rybinsk with Ploy and Oatt and Palin. The bridge over the river is on the Volga, and the statue is with fish is because Rybinsk is a big fishing town. The work "Rybinsk" in Russian actually comes from the word for fish!

So, other than that, it snowed today! Spring and Winter are definitely fighting right about now, and... I'm not sure who's winning! Haha. Tomorrow will be the Thai new year, and it'll be too cold here to celebrate in the traditional way (by having water fights!!) but oh, well. We'll figure something out.

Anyways, that's about all that's going on right now.

Happy New Year!

From Russia with love,

Bettina

Just a video to make up for my hibernation

This is a video that's actually part of a series that my cousin, Katie, and I have done (although to be honest, far more Katie than me). We based it off of another YouTubers' idea, the Vlogbrothers. The idea is just that we tried to send little videos back and forth, just about whatever we want to talk about. This is my most recent and like my first, just about a lot of the things going on here in Russia.

If you're interested, here's a link to our Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BorisandKarloff?feature=mhum

Hope you enjoy!

Because I haven't written in so long...

So I, when I decided to write this blog, had no idea just how hard it would be to keep up with it. As with every other school year, this one has definitely picked up pace with the beginning of the end of the year. We're coming into Spring quickly and, though Winter is making a determined attempt at sticking around (as the freezing wind and snow today can account to), the seasons are not slowing down for anyone. Even those of us who really want time to take a break and slow down for a little while!

My whole point being that I've been super busy. Bad excuse, I know, but I'm using it anyways.

What have I been busy with you may ask? Well, that would be with... not terribly interesting things, I'm afraid. I've gone full fledged into studying for the SATs, as well as reading more in Russian (found a couple of my favorite books in Russian!) and trying to pull myself back into shape in time to wear skirts. I will say that the cold weather and the walking a lot makes Russian diets consisting of a rediculous amount of starch and sugar not so bad, but the cold's warming up.

But I digress. I am trying to think of some other things that have happened to write here, but I can't think of a whole lot. I went to a Russian folk dance and music concert, which was amazing! (I put up pictures on my facebook) I am also determined to get my hands on a traditional Russian outfit--we'll see how that works out.

I think that's about it. I have put up pictures on facebook, but for anyone that doesn't have a facebook, I'll be sure to put pictures up here soon!

From Russia with Love,

Bettina

Right about Half Year

So, seeing as I am about half way through my stay here in Russia (not officially or anything, just a sort of rough estimate...) I decided to make a sort of big sweeping look back type blog! Because, i was sitting here the other day, and thinking about how many things have changed in the last 5 months. Sometimes I think that a different person will be going back in my place in less than six months....

Here are some of the crazy things that have happened, and that have changed:

1) I speak Russian!

That is one of the coolest, in my opinion. I am now speaking conversational Russian, pretty fluently. By fluent, I mean to say that I still sometimes struggle with foreign words, but I now know so many words by heart that I don't think about what I'm saying as much-- which has the weird affect of making be speak in English sometimes. Strange... So I'll be speaking really fast in Russian, and then all the sudden say something like, "I mean" or "But yeah". Ploy thinks it's hilarious.

Also, I can understand more of what people are saying, Television, and classes!! Not perfectly, but I'm working on it!

2) I am learning the difference between Pushy and Rude

Because there is one. Here in Russia, sometimes you think that people are being really rude (and sometimes they are) but
there is a fine line that I am seeing now. Here, you just can't get away with being quiet or meek about something. If you want lunch, you'd better get to the front (not a line...) and shout your order fast, or you're just not going to get it. But being pushy, does in no way mean being mean to the people. I don't know how to explain it.

Also, saying Please and Thank You are not normal here. Don't get me wrong, that's a habit I will not be broken of, but I'm just pointing it out. Oh, and if you say "excuse me" too much, people get really weirded out, and you're friends might get offended. Excuse me is for when you've done something wrong and usually not so much for friends.

3) I am learning how to stop an argument when I know that I'm wrong... Or that arguing my correct point won't get me anywhere.

Seriously. That's been one of the hardest lessons, and one that I don't even totally like admitting. But it comes with the language territory. Sometimes I can't even properly explain my point, so I end up repeating myself... I know I'm right, but is there really a reason to go around and around in circles about it?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not perfect. But I'm working on it. Walking away (literally) actually does help. Sometimes your pride isn't nearly as important as the person you're fighting with.

4) People can seriously surprise you.

I've mentioned how sometimes Russians seem really rude, and I know everyone knows that they don't really smile at people... But here's the thing, they aren't mean. Like, I never thought they were, but the extent of their kindness can be really surprising sometimes. They might not smile at perfect strangers on the street, but they smile a crazy amount amongst friends. And that sort of angry guy walking down the street, well, he might just be the one that picks up the hair clip that fell out of your hair and run after the bus you just ran to get on--and yes, that completely happened! And the bus driver stopped so that the man could give me my hair clip!

5) Stereotypes are so... lame

I've learned since being here, that people still who heartedly believe in stereotypes, and I really don't understand why. The more people I meet and the more places I've been, the more painfully obvious it becomes just how ridiculous that is. I have had several (okay, more than several) people be completely shocked that No, Americans don't eat at McDonald's everyday, and No, I don't even like McDonald's. No big group of people can really be flung into a category, and I hope that the smaller this world gets, the more other people get that.


So, when I come back, it's more than likely that I'll say random phrases in Russian without even meaning too, make eye contact with strangers, hold it, and not smile, and start eating salads... that aren't salad.

So for now, I'm going to say, thanks Russia for teaching me so many things!!

From Russia with Love,

Bettina

A teensy bit bored... Can you tell?

So, I've decided that I want to write on this more often, although I haven't done very much recently so this post will probably end up being just a bunch of ramblings (which I've begun to suspect will be to myself...)

So. Ploy and I went to a nearby town called Rostov. It's very small, cute, got a Russian church and a lake. I'll try and write more about it when I get around to downloading pictures.... But I will say that I had a completely small world moment while I was there. On our way back to the bus station, we passed a guy wearing a Greenbay Packers sweatshirt! I just about freaked out, trying to decide whether I should stop the poor guy in the middle of the street and say something to him... Decided not to. But I think he figured it out anyways since I not-so-subtely shoved Ploy into the street and exclaimed, "OMG THAT GUY'S WEARING A GREENBAY PACKERS SWEATSHIRT!". He turned around and stared at me and we started walkin faster.

But anyways. So, my Russian teacher had been out of school the entire time we've been back at school and only came back Friday for the first time. And while he was gone, I realized that it is very, very hard to talk yourself into going to school when there's really no reason... I mean, don't get me wrong. I find lessons interesting sometimes, when I can catch the thread of conversation and make myself pay close enough attention to keep it. And I want to see my friends... But couldn't we do that AFTER the sun comes up? And NOT on Saturday? ;.; Russians have very hard lives, I've decided. I don't get how they expect everyone to get up when the sun is completely not up (I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm getting up at 3am rather than 7...) and put on all this clothing and go out into the way below freezing weather... And just to clarify, I don't know who the "they" in that sentence was. Just sort of a general "they" in the we-are-expected-by-society type "they". I guess.

But I digress.

I am beginning to think that my English grammar has gone downhill. Not in the, 'if I tried I couldn't' sort of way, just in the 'I never have to try' sort of way. Everything I write (including this...) seems to be riddled with little smiley faces, "haha"s, ellipses, and other basically incorrect uses of English. You know, fragments and such.

But, I've already run out of things to talk about here. So if anyone is actually reading this, I applaud you for making it throught that, even if it didn't completely make sense.

For now, buh-bye!

Bettina