One Month In

I am back to being a student. And it is such a good feeling! I have begun Russian classes that are conveniently held in the international dorm right next to me. Little did I know there would be so many different nationalities among my fellow students (from America, Britain, France, Estonia, Belgium, China, Germany, etc) studying in Voronezh. I have been placed with a group of Brits and have ten hours of Russian a week including conversation, grammar, “Russian verbs”, and translation. A lot of it should be review for me, but I am appreciative of the chance to relearn the material as my Russian unfortunately got pretty rusty over the summer. (Laura Givens, I know you’re reading this- I am relieved you are not here to witness my struggles conjugating obscure verbs of motion like herding cattle in many directions!).

I went on an excursion with the other international students to Divnogore, a town about 3 hours from Voronezh. Divnogore (Дивногорье) is a combination of two Russian words – “divno” meaning marvelously or wonderfully and “gora” meaning mountain. As the name suggests there is an abundance of mountains and caves there.  What makes them “divno” is the fact that they are created from natural limestone/chalk.This is the main limestone “mountain” - it is actually a 17^th century chalk cave church. 

Although the church itself was very bare (I don’t think it is open very often), we walked through the tunnels surrounding the church with candles to view the rest of the cave. There were even two levels- on the second floor was a small chapel room and a room for eating meals. 

Here I am enjoying the view with the other Americans in our international group. 

I also completed a week full of Voronezh cultural experiences, including three concerts with new Russian friends. Yes, you read that correctly. I have Russian friends now. They are few, but they exist! Forcing myself to be extroverted is paying off. The first concert we attended was a famous Russian singer popular among most middle-aged Russians named Alexander Rosembaum. I went with a Russian who received a Fulbright grant to Texas a few years ago! I wasn’t a huge fan of the music, but the concert was in Voronezh’s opera and ballet theater which was cool to see.
(Edit: I forgot to mention the flower-giving that occurred during this concert. In between every song, and I mean every song, a man or woman would walk up onto the stage with a bouquet of flowers to give to Rosembaum. At first I found this extremely distracting as every time he would bow or begin a new song, someone else was coming up to hand him flowers. His stack of flowers on the stage was huge! But then I decided that I liked the tradition- you are able to meet your favorite artists and give them a token of your affection! I wish this was a tradition at the Zooey Deschanel concert I went to this summer....) 
 The second was a Philharmonic concert I attended with a girl on my hall. It was some sort of Russia tour of contemporary symphonic music, and we somehow got seats next to the composers of the pieces! I have never before seen a balalaika used in symphony concerts, so I can cross that off the list of things to do before I die. The last was an electronic music concert by Moscow/British DJs. I went to this concert with some of the other English teachers and their husbands. Their husbands were very eager to show me that they had whiskey from Tennessee. And Cuban rum (they have all been to Cuba and make sure to tell the American all about it). When drinking, Russians make toasts about every five minutes, and, as the night progressed, they came up with many creative ones incorporating my name : “to Merrri- Merry Christmas!”, “To Merrrri- Merry times!”. One of the Russians also made me an omelet and was really excited to show me that she was using mayonnaise in it (???). Which reminded me that most Russians 1. Think Americans love mayo and use it on everything, and 2. Actually use so much more mayo in one week than I have used in my life.

Besides these events, I have been continuing to adjust to dorm life. Every night there is a 11pm curfew even though the RA ladies sit at the desk all night regardless. I didn’t anticipate it being a huge problem but many events in Voronezh don’t begin until 10pm. As one of the Americans doing his graduate work in Russia stated, “I am 35 and balding but I have a curfew!”. I have also discovered that apparently one can “bribe” the RA ladies in the other dorm with flowers and/ or chocolates in exchange for  the key to the one washing machine in the basement. So then the other international students went to the head of our building and received “official stamps” on “official papers” stating that we are allowed to use the washing machines, but our RAs ,alas, were unmoved. So now I'm left to puzzle out exactly how one washes jeans by hand....   But I digress.

Lastly, I have experienced a wave of homesickness for the first time. I guess it is right on time- I have been here for about a month. Last week was especially hard for me as my dad had a heart scare and was briefly hospitalized. I have never felt so far from home. Yet, thanks to modern technology, I was reminded how easy it for now for me to contact family when needed. I have heard from my parents that they have received an incredible amount of support during these last few weeks. So, thank you everyone at home!