For those of you learning Russian

A few tips:

1. When people say щас (shas), they are not saying час (chas, meaning hour), but сейчас (sei-chas, meaning now). They're sckrunching the word into one syllable. Don't let this confuse you.

2. Штука means thingy or thingamajig or doohickey. I actually learned this this past week, while teaching a class about the differences between American and British English. Among my many examples of different vocabulary used in the US and in the UK, I taught the words thingy, thingamijig (US) and wotsit (UK). The students translated it into Russian for me. Perfect timing: in a conversation last night, I think someone used штука almost every tenth word.

3. If your professors of Russian language gave you a good chart to learn the Russian verbs of motion, hold on to that chart forever. Memorize it. I brought my worksheets with me from my freshman year of college. I still don't have them memorized, but it sure feels good to have a handy guide to look at when I go home. Also, be okay with the fact that people will probably laugh at you when you say things like "I arrived in Ukhta last week" and you by mistake used the wrong root verb, meaning that you arrived by foot. When that happens, just fix your mistake or ensure them that, yes, indeed, you traveled from the US to a northern town in Russia, walking the whole way.