Getting the thanks ready for English club

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, and I've been thinking about it constantly. What can I make here that I can share with my English clubs? What decorations? What food? What activities? But, the question isn't only what can I prepare--it's how. I have thought about the possibilities of presenting a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pies, cranberry sauce--just about anything--to the clubs. But, I've run into difficulties with ingredients, my own time, my lack of an oven and lots of equipment for cooking and the fact that I don't have many hands to get everything to the clubs, warm and on time. I could have solved this with more planning, but unfortunately, I didn't ask for much help. So, it's the night before Thanksgiving, and I'm trying to be creative in the kitchen. First, I decided to make some cornbread in the fifth floor oven.  One cornbread down (shaped like a flower, because I borrowed my friend's flower oven-safe pan), and one more to go. It's funny running up five flights of stairs every time I check the oven, but I'm thankful that I am allowed to use it. The fifth floor is a special floor, with a special guard at the entrance. I don't know what sets the students living on that floor apart, but I know I'm allowed in because I am the American who is living in the building for the year. They let me wash my clothes in their washer and, as I found out today, use their oven. It's very kind. The rest of the people living in the dorm do not have such luxuries.

(Side note about the dormitories: At our university, the curfew for the dorms is 11pm. This means that if you are out later than 11, you must notify a guard beforehand. If you don't notify a guard, and you come back late, you probably won't be allowed out the next night. I somehow don't fall under these rules, though, so I can ring the doorbell whenever I'd like and a guard will open the door. A guard is one of the several women who rotate shifts, constantly sitting in a room next to the entrance. One of these women always puts my hood up before I go out into the cold. Today she told me that it was -5 degrees Fahrenheit before I headed out for a half and hour walk across the city. Chilly.)

Next, I was hoping to make some pie. Unfortunately, I can't find all the pans I need, so I've decided to make just pumpkin pie filling. (Update: I just cooked the pumpkin, and it turns out that it's a spaghetti squash. Who knew?) Lastly, I'm making cranberry relish. I bought fresh cranberries from someone selling at a stand on the street. (There are regularly people selling berries on the street. Berries, potatoes and woolen clothing.) I understand that these dishes only represent a little bit of the Thanksgiving table and that they, alone, don't really go together. I'm excited to share them, nonetheless. English club's on Thursday at 5. Hope you can make it.

Well, the snow didn't stick

People have been telling me that we are having abnormally warm weather in Ukhta. When you hear "warm," though, don't thinks that it's that warm. Since I arrived in late September, the temperature has been pretty constant, hovering around freezing. Rarely, it's been 40 degrees (Fahrenheit, that is). Rarely, it's been 20 degrees. Regularly, it's been 32. It seems to me that almost everyday there is some sort of precipitation falling from that sky. I say "some sort of precipitation" not only because it changes frequently, but also because I don't really know what to call it. Sometimes it's clear: rain. Sometimes I think it's rain, but it's definitely some sort of slush. Sometimes  I step outside, see it's raining and run back inside to get an umbrella. But then, umbrella in tow, I step outside and I see that now, in fact, it's snowing. Hmm, interesting.

Last week, snow was on the ground for a few days. The streets were lighter. The streets looked cleaner. The birch trees were more camouflaged. The air felt fresher. The sidewalks were slippery. In fact, the sidewalks were very slippery. I'm amazed that I haven't seen more falls (I've only seen 2) because every sixth step or so, pedestrians seemed to take a long and not-always-elegant skate on the ice. Personally, I love snow. I love the crunching sound when it's not too wet out and I love that everything gets white (and light). And, right now, light is very important to me. It starts to get light around seven in the morning and it's dark again by three in the afternoon. And, in general, the clouds don't like opening up to the sun, so it stays pretty gloomy. This is why I welcome snow. It brightens the place up.

That being said, I try to take advantage of the brighter part of the day. I go for long walks when I can. These walks can be nice when it's dark out, too, but I try to get my fill of vitamin D by going when there's light. When I'm lucky on these long walks, friends take me to places I haven't seen yet. Ukhta is really not that big. That's why people laugh when I tell them that I got lost once. But, there are a bunch of streets that I have not roamed down yet. Once, I went for a four hour walk through town and out into the nearby woods and fields. Out there, my friend Vika showed me a natural spring where some people get there drinking water. While we walked happily through lots of mud of huge puddles that were on the road next to Ukhta River (happily because we both wore big rubber boots), we even spotted the town's token camel grazing in a field. This camel was given to the town as a present some years ago. I'm not quite sure why, yet. Below is a picture of the camel in his usual hangout spot: Komsomolskaya Square.

On that note, 'til next time! 

Thanks for reading,

Sara

The last two weeks of lessons

Where to start? In the 14 days since I wrote my last post, I taught 22 classes (an hour and twenty minutes each), held two English clubs and a Halloween party, went on many long walks around town (getting lost only once) and sat through a few important meetings that will help to determine some of my activities this year in Ukhta.

So, first: classes. I am based out of the international language department at Ukhta's university. In the teacher's room, the language teachers (all female) speak to me in English and Russia. And, sometimes in French. Unfortunately, I'm usually limited to greetings with the francophones. German is also taught at the university. It's in this teacher's room that I try to design my schedules for the coming weeks. First, I sit and hope teachers will invite me to their classes. Then, if I'm running low on scheduled groups, I seek out the teachers. Whose class can I come to? What are the students' English proficiency level? What topic do you want me to teach? When and where do I need to be?  With this method, I've been able to pretty much fill my weeks.

The teachers have all been very kind and inviting. Some come to me excited about certain topics of discussion. My repertoire includes: American versus British English (a topic that has been popular every week); opportunities to get jobs in America;  me, my life and my family; university life and American education; youth problems in America; free time. Today, prompted by student interest, I gave a whole lesson on names of American towns. They students thought the Los Angeles might mean Lost Angels, and that name Detroit might come from the verb "to destroy." Nope. As of yesterday, I am well versed in the name history of Los Angeles, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Horseheads. It was actually a great lesson, for me and the students, in realizing how many names in the United States are adopted from other languages: French, Spanish, Native American languages. Each lesson that I give is sprinkled with new vocabulary for students, but rarely do I give full out grammar lessons. Today was a great exception, though. I gave a whole lesson on command forms. Positive, negative, impersonal, polite...everything. I was so happy to test my grammar-teaching skills, and so happy to do it with this group of students in their 2nd year of Public Relations. I've been to their class several times, met with some students outside of class and have now etched out a time-slot every Tuesday to teach them an interactive grammar lesson. Sweet! Who ever thought I'd be so excited about grammar. As my schedule develops and I start finding more classes like this that I can teach consistently, I will be able to focus more on practicing certain grammar and vocabulary skills with students. But for now, I'm the king of practicing general conversation skills. I often say, "Don't be scared to talk to me. I just want you to feel comfortable talking. It's okay if you make mistakes. I also make many mistakes when I speak Russian." Sometimes, I prove this by speaking a little bit of Russian in class.

Classes can sometimes be great, and can sometimes be difficult. Partly, I think this is because I don't know what to expect with each new class: the size, the language ability, the interest. But, with each variant, I'm slowly learning how to get more and more students to interact with me. It's when they interact that I feel good.

Pictures from the first day the snow stuck

The sun was shining, and I took a long walk. I hadn't realized that the clocks turned back an hour, so I had an extra hour to my morning to roam around. 

 Взрослий Парк (Adult Park). I walk through this park every day on my way
to the International Office.

Детский Парк (Children's Park)

Three dear looking out on Ukhta River.

Pushkin's statue and Building E, where the international office is located. 

Lenin.

Some garages in town.

A bridge in Adult Park. Its a tradition for couples put locks on bridges when they get married. 

It's what's for dinner

Living alone, I cook for myself every day. Fortunately, I have a kitchen right down the hall from my apartment. I share it with other people who live in this section of dormitory number 4--the "hotel" section which is reserved for guests of the university--but, in general, we don't fight over who reigns in the kitchen at any particular hour. Now, this kitchen did come stocked with one pot and one pan, some cutting boards and a spatula. But, I decided to get a few things for myself. I felt good about shopping around for some sturdy domestic ware that will last me the year. Every night, with items piled high in my arms so that I make the fewest trips, I walk to the kitchen with ingredients, cookware and some sort of plan.

Tonight, I had two plans. So, I made two trips and ate two dinners.

First, I wanted to use the cloudberries that a friend gave me last week. Cloudberries look like orange blackberries and grow in the north. They have a nice delicate flavor that I can't really describe. Yesterday I bought a delicious loaf of white bread from the store (I think it might be made of barley) as a break from the hearty black bread that it seems most everyone eats. So, french toast it was--with loads of a strawberry homemade jam that was another Russia-warming gift and cloudberries sprinkled on top. De-licious.

Second, I wanted to eat some greens. Greens have been a little bit hard for me to find. But, yesterday I found a package of frozen spinach, and the day before, frozen broccoli. I made a dish with spinach and added kidney beans. Canned beans, although not very difficult to come across in grocery stores, are fairly expensive and, I think, not often used. I've been using them, though. I've made sure to buy the cans with a pry-open top (I still can't figure out how to use the can openers here, let alone do I know if the tool I'm thinking of is, actually, a can opener). So, with my spinach and bean dish made, I pulled out my bag of potatoes. When in a grocery store, potatoes and carrots can be pretty similar looking. They are covered in dirt, so much that it can be hard to see the carrot's orange color. I'm not quite sure why they are still covered in dirt, but I guess that this practice keeps the weight (and thus price) up a fraction, and, hey, maybe it makes the consumer feel a little closer to the agricultural process when they can still see the dirt (defetishizing the commodity, anyone?).

My second dish was a baked potato, covered with those beans and spinach and topped with that chanterelle cheese I was so ecstatic about earlier. This, too, was delicious.

One more thing about shopping for food or other items. Some stores are set up exactly like I am used to: you walk in, shop around and then go to a cash register, items in hand, on your way out. Others, however, add a step: you might need to lock up the bags you've been carrying around in free lockers before walking through the metal gate that lets you into the store. Others, still, don't let you touch any items, but instead have you look at what you want through glass or over a counter and then order from a cashier. For me, the most confusing of this kind of store has the following system. First, you have to find everything that you want. Then, you add up your total cost, go to another counter where you pay a cashier, and then go back and give your receipt to the person standing behind the first counter. This person will then give you your items. This system took me a little while to get used to.

Somehow, I've managed to get all the items I need for dinner, though.

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.

Chanterelles--a quick salute

Dear Finland, thank you for selling your dairy products internationally. A few moments ago, I searched through a grocery store in northern Russia both hungry and curious. This dangerous combination of desires led me to the dairy section of the store, where I happened upon Valio spreadable cheese next to the saran wrapped kind from Russia. Upon first glance, this product was of some comfort, just out of brand familiarity. It's not too common that I know of other brands of dairy products so far from my home in the US. Looking further, I realized that the cheese was mixed with my favorite mushroom. For those of you who may know, I love chanterelle mushrooms (лисичка, kanterelli--for those who may be curious). They are orange and delicious, and in America, few and far between. Any chance I get, if they aren't way too pricey or totally bruised, I'll purchase them. Better yet, I'll find them in the woods, where I first fell in love with these mushrooms. (I'd pick with help of local experts of course--I'm not ready to pick mushrooms myself).

Next to the peach juice, kefir, tomatoes, sweet crackers that are called Jubilee and a whole bunch of cloudberries that my friend picked and jarred, this cheese spread has found a nice home in my mini fridge.