Hello, dear lovely readers (all two of you...)!
So, because summer school was determined to be insufficient torture, we are now undergoing exams. Six of them. Today. I've already sat three, and I *think* one more is coming before lunch (we're really not well-informed about what's going on - you know which exam is next when they hand you the paper). The reading wasn't bad, the listening was fine, and I totally bombed the phonetics. I am okay with this, as I am not a linguist, I have no desire to become a linguist, and I can still pronounce the words, even if I can't sit down, look at a list, and tell you which consonants are hard in which configurations. Oh, and I'm not sure how I was supposed to acquire some of this information in a class that primarily consisted of repeating random syllables and asking people for directions...
After they've turned our brains to mush, there's going to be a big party thing, where we will be expected to speak Russian and receive pretty pieces of paper. Maria and I will also be performing a Russian folk dance (which we may forget) while Jennifer sings. All three of us will be dressed in Russian national costumes (and they're going to have heart failure, because Maria and I typically dance barefoot, and this is not. okay. in Russia...).
We also have class and a vocabulary test tomorrow. After finals. Making sense is not the Astrakhan State University way, if you haven't noticed.
The weekend will be spent at a "tourist base" out on the banks of the river. Highlights are sure to include the trip out to see the lotus fields (looks cool) and avoiding drunk students (not so cool). Then it's packing and flying on Tuesday (woohoo five hours in the Moscow airport - the only part of Moscow I've ever seen), St Petersburg Wednesday and Thursday (more tests and excursions - don't these people ever get tired of tests?) and then flying home on Friday (Friday, Mother, Friday!).
This may be my last blog post from the Motherland, as both internet time and time in the country are fleeting. I'm planning a few posts of stuff I never got around to once I'm back in the States (Things my textbook taught me, How to cook macaroni in Russia, etc), but no promises, especially since I'm apparently applying for a Marshall (I enjoy rejection). Stay cool!
Showing posts with label tests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tests. Show all posts
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Me, Crazy? Never!
So, long time, no post. You can blame the folks who write our schedule for that - there was absolutely no internet time last week (trust me, this is much more tragic than you think). You can also thank them for the fact that I'm writing right now, instead of learning my Russian folk dance. You see, dance club was supposed to start at 4, but the meeting we had with the rector (head of the university - he's the President Lilley of ASU), was also supposed to run until 4.30. Thus, when we arrived at clubs at 4.30, the girls who teach had decided no one was coming and left. I felt terrible, but the lady in charge of stuff like that theoretically explained what happened. Argh!
Russia remains Russia. School is driving me more than a little crazy. The grades on my midterm sheet say I have learned diddly squat thus far, which I have simply decided is more a reflection of the exams than me (otherwise, unbearable depression would probably result). I sincerely miss the concept of the rubric, which might at least give some indication of *why* grades are what they are. This, of course, is too much to ask. I'm also still trying to figure out how, exactly, I have a grade for a reading midterm no one took... Oh, Russia!
In other news, we had an interesting excursion this weekend. We rode 4+ hours each way on a bus in order to see the largest Buddhist temple in Europe, which is somewhat randomly located in the middle of Russia. Kalmykia is Russia's only Buddhist republic, but they seem to be doing pretty well at it. The temple was gigantonormous and Buddha himself was big, too - 2 stories of gold Buddha! He also had a decent-sized army of tiny golden minion-Buddhas. It was interesting to see, but on some level heart breaking - there were all these food offerings left to this huge statue, made by nothing but human hands...
Lecture today (if I haven't mentioned it before, lecture is a special level of hell reserved for us after lunch...) was supposed to be over tolerance. No one, Russian or American, read the article (I read enough to declare it funny and then watched West Wing* instead), and thus it was a lot of "Well, I think..."
This then was directed to immigration. Mind you, we didn't redirect it to immigration - the head teacher rather naively decided that we should talk about it. Things kind of deteriorated from there, since controversial topic (which I really wouldn't want to discuss in a large-group setting in English) + relatively simple language skills = um, yeah. It was interesting, if you wanna call it that.
I was forced to attempt to explain the influence of the job situation in France on racial tensions, and then the professors tried to ask further questions regarding my opinion on some policy of the French government on something (from what I understood, they were having difficulty with the whole concept of open borders for work under the EU - can't really help you there if you don't get it...). I just gave up and said that anything the French government said about jobs was a fairy tale - I'm not terribly well-versed in French policy in English folks! I was just trying to deal with the fact that there was more to the situation than people randomly going crazy and burning cars, which seems to be the Russian take. The joke is that we're going to talk about the war in Iraq next week, so we can just line up on opposite sides of the room and practice shouting insults at each other.
The internet is being problematic at the moment, so that'll have to be all. We're going to see mosques tomorrow, but there should be internet time the day after (emphasis on the *should*) or something like that.
*Oh Mother Dearest! Season 3 of the West Wing would be an awesome Welcome Home present... *looks innocent*
Russia remains Russia. School is driving me more than a little crazy. The grades on my midterm sheet say I have learned diddly squat thus far, which I have simply decided is more a reflection of the exams than me (otherwise, unbearable depression would probably result). I sincerely miss the concept of the rubric, which might at least give some indication of *why* grades are what they are. This, of course, is too much to ask. I'm also still trying to figure out how, exactly, I have a grade for a reading midterm no one took... Oh, Russia!
In other news, we had an interesting excursion this weekend. We rode 4+ hours each way on a bus in order to see the largest Buddhist temple in Europe, which is somewhat randomly located in the middle of Russia. Kalmykia is Russia's only Buddhist republic, but they seem to be doing pretty well at it. The temple was gigantonormous and Buddha himself was big, too - 2 stories of gold Buddha! He also had a decent-sized army of tiny golden minion-Buddhas. It was interesting to see, but on some level heart breaking - there were all these food offerings left to this huge statue, made by nothing but human hands...
Lecture today (if I haven't mentioned it before, lecture is a special level of hell reserved for us after lunch...) was supposed to be over tolerance. No one, Russian or American, read the article (I read enough to declare it funny and then watched West Wing* instead), and thus it was a lot of "Well, I think..."
This then was directed to immigration. Mind you, we didn't redirect it to immigration - the head teacher rather naively decided that we should talk about it. Things kind of deteriorated from there, since controversial topic (which I really wouldn't want to discuss in a large-group setting in English) + relatively simple language skills = um, yeah. It was interesting, if you wanna call it that.
I was forced to attempt to explain the influence of the job situation in France on racial tensions, and then the professors tried to ask further questions regarding my opinion on some policy of the French government on something (from what I understood, they were having difficulty with the whole concept of open borders for work under the EU - can't really help you there if you don't get it...). I just gave up and said that anything the French government said about jobs was a fairy tale - I'm not terribly well-versed in French policy in English folks! I was just trying to deal with the fact that there was more to the situation than people randomly going crazy and burning cars, which seems to be the Russian take. The joke is that we're going to talk about the war in Iraq next week, so we can just line up on opposite sides of the room and practice shouting insults at each other.
The internet is being problematic at the moment, so that'll have to be all. We're going to see mosques tomorrow, but there should be internet time the day after (emphasis on the *should*) or something like that.
*Oh Mother Dearest! Season 3 of the West Wing would be an awesome Welcome Home present... *looks innocent*
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Happy Thoughts
The weather has gotten over its grumpy mood and has resumed the lovely falling-snow thing. You have no idea how incredibly happy this makes me. So happy, in fact, that I busted out the furry white shopka today for the purpose of keeping my head warm. It's somewhere between lovely and ludicrious, I swear (and I can't spell, but that's nothing new).
The shopka really makes me laugh because the boys (that would be the WP and AFA guys that I study with, Ashley), are forever teasing me about the fact that they think I'm visible from a mile off, with my long blonde hair, bright purple scarf, and big white coat. The shopka really just enhances that, I suppose. At the same time, they always see me because I'd stand out in America - here, I actually kind of blend in (I still feel really obvious, but I know I'm not). It's weird like that.
Y'all are all just about done with exams, and I'm still in class. Pooh. On the flip side, we should have exams at the end of this week/ start of next, and then I'll be done. At this moment in time, I don't really know when or what exams I have - they're not really big on advanced planning over here. I'm so ready for classes with schedules and syllabi and all, when you have at least some idea of when things are going to happen, and your course schedule doesn't change at random...
In other news, life at our little apartment is as interesting as always. Yesterday, I accidentally misinformed my hozhaika's son that hozhaika was at the dentist, when she was in fact no such place. You see, she'd been talking about the "zahntekna" and needing something with a "kron". My strange little brain took the "zahn" out of "zahntekna" and said, "Oh! 'Zahn' is tooth in German, thus 'zahntekna' must be dentist. And since we're talking dentistry, a 'kron' must be a crown. I get it!" Um, yeah, not so much. As it turns out, a zahntekna is something plumbing-related, and a kron is a faucet. Way to use that brain... But no harm, no foul, and it's funny, so all's well.
Hozhaika also managed to 'lose' me yesterday. I'd been at church, and I'd popped my head in when I got home around 9.30, as per usual. Somehow, hozhaika didn't hear my greeting, so I spent a good half hour sitting in my room with the door open, mentally grousing about the fact that I wanted my dinner and wasn't getting it, while she was on the phone with another hozhaika, talking about how she couldn't find her devyshka, and she didn't know where she'd gone. (Mind, I left a note that said I was at church, and I always get in around that time, but whatever.) Silly hozhaika.
Be good, stay warm, and enjoy your holiday! I'll see you all soon!
The shopka really makes me laugh because the boys (that would be the WP and AFA guys that I study with, Ashley), are forever teasing me about the fact that they think I'm visible from a mile off, with my long blonde hair, bright purple scarf, and big white coat. The shopka really just enhances that, I suppose. At the same time, they always see me because I'd stand out in America - here, I actually kind of blend in (I still feel really obvious, but I know I'm not). It's weird like that.
Y'all are all just about done with exams, and I'm still in class. Pooh. On the flip side, we should have exams at the end of this week/ start of next, and then I'll be done. At this moment in time, I don't really know when or what exams I have - they're not really big on advanced planning over here. I'm so ready for classes with schedules and syllabi and all, when you have at least some idea of when things are going to happen, and your course schedule doesn't change at random...
In other news, life at our little apartment is as interesting as always. Yesterday, I accidentally misinformed my hozhaika's son that hozhaika was at the dentist, when she was in fact no such place. You see, she'd been talking about the "zahntekna" and needing something with a "kron". My strange little brain took the "zahn" out of "zahntekna" and said, "Oh! 'Zahn' is tooth in German, thus 'zahntekna' must be dentist. And since we're talking dentistry, a 'kron' must be a crown. I get it!" Um, yeah, not so much. As it turns out, a zahntekna is something plumbing-related, and a kron is a faucet. Way to use that brain... But no harm, no foul, and it's funny, so all's well.
Hozhaika also managed to 'lose' me yesterday. I'd been at church, and I'd popped my head in when I got home around 9.30, as per usual. Somehow, hozhaika didn't hear my greeting, so I spent a good half hour sitting in my room with the door open, mentally grousing about the fact that I wanted my dinner and wasn't getting it, while she was on the phone with another hozhaika, talking about how she couldn't find her devyshka, and she didn't know where she'd gone. (Mind, I left a note that said I was at church, and I always get in around that time, but whatever.) Silly hozhaika.
Be good, stay warm, and enjoy your holiday! I'll see you all soon!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
They Really Like the Word "Excursion"
Hope y'all had a happy Labor Day and enjoyed the day off school and whatnot.
While y'all were sleeping in and relaxing, the hardworking students of Voronezh State University were in class :-P Actually, the real VSU students started school on Saturday (along with the rest of Voronezh). Since we're spoiled Americans, we still get a Saturday-Sunday weekend. It's nice.
So, the first day of school. Several of us got together and walked to school around 9.00 - classes started at 10.00, and it's a pretty decent walk. There are 15 of us all together, since the AFA boys got here - we're one of the largest, if not the largest, contingient of American students in the country (we tend to get curious looks when we travel en masse). We study in a rather run-down building with all the other foreign students. For the first day, we just met all the professors and had to go around the table and do the whole introduce yourself (in Russian) bit. After that, we took a nice, relaxing grammar test, which made at least one of my fellow students wax nostalgic for O Chem. Then, we got back together and listened to Tatiana lecture at length about the mountain-thing we went to for today's excursion. I did a lot of smiling and nodding...
We were done before two, so most of us went and grabbed a bite to eat. (Note: Russians do have fried cheese, but it's not the same kind, etc, etc). And then it was time to go to the gym and get sore, because that's what you do in Voronezh if you're bored. (Or at least, that's what we do).
We had an excursion today (more on that later, hopefully with pictures), and tomorrow we get to find out how poorly we did on the grammar test. Fun times.
Be good!
While y'all were sleeping in and relaxing, the hardworking students of Voronezh State University were in class :-P Actually, the real VSU students started school on Saturday (along with the rest of Voronezh). Since we're spoiled Americans, we still get a Saturday-Sunday weekend. It's nice.
So, the first day of school. Several of us got together and walked to school around 9.00 - classes started at 10.00, and it's a pretty decent walk. There are 15 of us all together, since the AFA boys got here - we're one of the largest, if not the largest, contingient of American students in the country (we tend to get curious looks when we travel en masse). We study in a rather run-down building with all the other foreign students. For the first day, we just met all the professors and had to go around the table and do the whole introduce yourself (in Russian) bit. After that, we took a nice, relaxing grammar test, which made at least one of my fellow students wax nostalgic for O Chem. Then, we got back together and listened to Tatiana lecture at length about the mountain-thing we went to for today's excursion. I did a lot of smiling and nodding...
We were done before two, so most of us went and grabbed a bite to eat. (Note: Russians do have fried cheese, but it's not the same kind, etc, etc). And then it was time to go to the gym and get sore, because that's what you do in Voronezh if you're bored. (Or at least, that's what we do).
We had an excursion today (more on that later, hopefully with pictures), and tomorrow we get to find out how poorly we did on the grammar test. Fun times.
Be good!
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