Oh the places you'll go!!

I know the title of the blog is “Adventures in Russian” and at the time I created it I really saw the language itself as an adventure. I see learning as an adventure and because I am a teacher by profession this pretty much sums up my teaching style.
I expected to learn Russian, I expected to conquer and master its ancient streets of syntax, case and aspect. I am still scaling the mountain of vocabulary. I still have the goals of wanting to be able to read fluently as I am discovering there is a vast wealth of modern Russian writers that are not translated into English. And of course I want to be able to speak fluently without accent.
Here is what I did not expect:
I did not expect to be “The Russian Speaking” teacher which really amuses me. I am now introduced to new students at my school as such. I have discovered that speaking to students in Russian does get their attention. For example it is not unusual for them to hear: Садитесь! Тетради! Ручки! Поехали! (Sit down! Notebooks! Pens! Let’s Go!) Being the teacher known for taking on a difficult language has allowed the other closet language learners to come out of the wood work. We have something called “ridiculous sentence of the week” which can manifest itself in Russian, Latin, Arabic or even Swedish. This was started after sharing the sentence “The tallest man in the world saved a dolphin.” It has been wonderful to talk to students who drop by my room after school to discuss the benefits of studying Farsi or German and how they hope to acquire many languages in their lifetime.
I did not expect to spend afternoons and late nights conversing in Russian with native speakers. I did not expect to have such an incredible resource to correct all of my silly stupid mistakes and ask my dumb questions. Russians are very patient people, and I am grateful to have such exceptional friends in the Russian speaking world. And in truth this too may also be a source of life changing experiences for both of us.
But here is what I really did not expect.
I did not expect to meet another fellow Russophile who like me was ensnared by this amazing language. I did not expect that we would become each other’s cheerleaders and support. It is so nice to have one other person in the world who also does not understand WHY Russian needs 2,000 verbs of motion (I am exaggerating but only a little they have много!!!). I did not expect to have another English speaker who also sees himself as a citizen of the world and seeks to travel to learn. I did not expect to have another English speaker who understands my Russian PERFECTLY without mistake or mispronunciation. In fact though our Russian is less than perfect, our Russlish is fluent. Certainly I did not expect that I would be asked to work as a volunteer for a sister cites organization he is a part of and it never occurred to me that as a result I would be packing shampoo and lotion into 3 oz containers and getting ready to set off for a weekend in St. Louis, Missouri.
So this Adventure is now taking me to the “Show Me” state, where iced tea, the ice cream cone, and Dr. Pepper were invented not to mention the home of my beloved Panera bakery. We have quite a list for the weekend.
- New nicknames, possibly code names.
- Meet all people who have been up to this point, names on a schedule.
- Taste vodka from Kazakhstan.
- Teach him FINALLY how to write Russian Script.
- Speak a LOT of Russian with Russians in St. Louis.
- Sample the international culture of STL.
- Successfully toast in Russian.

I am getting on the plane in a few days…let the antics begin and dear readers- Stay tuned!