Taking Stock

So, for those of you not in the loop, I was working all of last week but I get this week off to relax before my classes with students start next Monday.  Everyone keeps asking me, what are you going to DO with a whole week off?? And I’m just realizing that it’s past midnight on Wednesday, which means it’s already Thursday, and I’ve managed to do more relaxing than planning for the semester.  Of course.  But I’ll get to that tomorrow.

What have I been doing then? Well for one, I’ve been getting enough sleep.  “Enough sleep” for me equals not less than 8.5 hours, which can be difficult during the workweek, but this week I’ve just been killing it with lots of nighttime and daytime sleep.  Awesome.

I’ve also had enough time to read in Russian, which takes a significant amount of time for me.  A perfect morning for me is sitting by the window/radiator, slogging through some Russian with a big cup of coffee and my laptop open to an online dictionary, and watching my notebook of new vocab fill up (more quickly than it should, I don’t know anything).  I made a promise to myself to read more this semester and so far it’s happening.  Also there’s nothing more satisfying than not having to look up a word in a text message because you already read it that morning in Собачье Сердце and remember what it means.  (for the record, the word was морда, which Reverso tells me means “muzzle” when talking about an animal or “mug” when talking about a person.)

I’ve also been able to see friends and do fun things.  Or do “fun” things.  Yes, the dreaded ice rink again!  It was the third time, and at first I just felt like I had never even been once.  It’s worse than bike riding I think.  This time I was mostly by myself, because I didn’t want to bother my friends too much and they are also not experts, and while it was a little frustrating to be moving so slowly I could actually move by myself.  I could get all cheesy about the difference between the time I went in November and this time, and make it all metaphorical and deep and significant, but I’m not going to.

Well.. No.  The thing is, I’ve realized in the past week or so that I am not going to be in Russia forever.  Everyone’s thinking, duh smarty, but really.  In the fall,  especially when things were a little more difficult with getting my students motivated or when I was homesick, I felt like the whole 10 months stretched out endlessly before me.  Going home at Christmas helped a bit, and certainly our seminar in Moscow, but now I am realizing that it’s already practically the middle of February and time is rushing onwards.  I think the two things that happened to make me realize that are that the new American cadets who are studying here this semester just arrived, and one of my closest friends in Voronezh is leaving next week to go back and start her last semester of university in Germany.  I can’t believe she’s already leaving, and of course it’s sad for me, but it also makes me realize that I’m also not going to be living in Voronezh forever.  In fact, I have about four months left before I leave Russia.  I’m over halfway, and it means that now I can really enjoy things, because I know that time is only going to go by faster once classes start next week.

Plus, I have lots of things to look forward to! There are more holidays this semester, for one. Also, my favorite mother (ha) and my oldest sister are coming to visit me here next month, which is incredible.  I’m also hoping on visiting another ETA who’s in Sochi at some point this spring, to experience the Hawaii of Russia.  And I’m keeping my fingers crossed that possible other travel plans for June materialize (ahem, Blessing!).  The outlook is good.

Finally, I’ve realized in the past week or so that there is life after Voronezh, and different possibilities are emerging.  It makes me that much more enthusiastic for everything in the next four months, because I have the perspective now that this is an incredible but limited time in my life and is one that is rushing to a conclusion.

I was trying to fall asleep a few nights ago when suddenly out of nowhere my heart gave a little leap, and I thought, “Oh my God! I’m in Russia.  I’m living in Russia.” I want that feeling – that feeling is my motto for the rest of my time here.

 

Ok I promise I will try and be more concrete and less reflective next time. But did you really think you would get by without an ooh-we’re-halfway-there entry? Hmm??