Russian 102 Ending Soon

It's hard to believe that my Russian 102 class is coming to an end.  My "interview" final is this Wednesday.  All my correction homework is due as well.....So much has happened this term, not just with my Russian class, but with life as well.  I feel like I haven't had a chance to actually catch up.  In fact, I took a day off of work a few weeks back just so I could sleep in, then do homework and study.  All that got done, but then still life took over again.

How Difficult Should Russian 102 Be?

Really, I should be doing my homework, but it's not going to be that difficult, writing out sentences in Russian, practicing verb conjugation.  Instead I decided to take a few minutes beforehand to talk about the conversation I had last night with my study group at the Green Dragon - is our Russian 102 class too easy?

Hardest Russian Class Ever (Homesick)

Class on Wednesday made me the most homesick I think I've ever been, except on Dmitri's last day.  

Not Quite the End of Russian 101

How did this term end, you ask?

Not Complaining

I shouldn't complain, and I'm really not complaining, it's just...I'm sooo bored.  Okay, it's not like I know the material and the vocabulary already.  It's just that once it's explained to me the first time, I'm okay, I get it.  well, most of it anyway.  We did plurals the other day, it's so similar to Czech that it's not funny.  I mean, it's not Czech, but she explains it and I'm like "oh, ok."

Study Partners and More

Just because you already speak a second language, doesn't mean the next one is going to be easy.

Speaking Czech & First Quiz

The past few weeks in class, I've spoken more Czech than I have in the previous eight years.

End of Second Week

At the end of my second week, I have four things of note.  First, I'm the only person whose name has been called for "reading" and/or giving examples in front of the entire group, every class.  At first I thought it was because my last name starts with the letter "B" so when she's going through her list of students, my name is one of the first on the list.   But, during that fourth class when it happened again and everyone noticed that I'd been called on during every class...yeah, I'm thinking it's not coincidence.  And it's not that I'm entirely comfortable either, maybe it's that my pronunciation isn't terrible?  No idea, but we'll see if it happens again next class.

First Homework Assignment

Our first homework assignment, just three simple exercises writing Russian the Russian alphabet in cursive - and not even all of it.  Well, that was the first exercise (writing about 10 letters, upper and lower case, three times each.  The second was combining two letters in cursive, twice each.  The third was writing about 13 words, once each.  Simple?  Well, mostly.  Of course, I waited until the day before it's due - and I work on the day of class, basically up until class, so I had no choice except to do the homework today.  My excuse was that I thought the homework really was simple, but I'm a perfectionist, so I erased my first letter half a dozen times until I was satisfied with it.  Then, instead of writing "za" in cursive twice, I started writing "za - az," "na - an" because that is how much of our pronunciation practice is laid out.  Two lines were wasted because of that.  Tomorrow's class needs to go better than homework - that's all I'm saying.
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Bored in Russian Class Already

Меня зовут Катерина, Как Вас зовут?

Russian 101: First Class

Nervous all day, I fled work as soon as my shift ended despite the fact that I could have pulled some overtime, easy.  Got home, grabbed my books from the Jeep (brought to work in case I somehow hadn't had time to run home before class), my husband warmed me up some dinner and then I got ready again - this time for school.

Call Me Nervous

During my visit to campus, I purchased the "books" that I would need for class.  The main text book is in all actuality just a huge print out with a three hole punch and loosely brought together with one pin.  This book cost about $42.00.  The workbook is about half to a quarter of the size and cost about half that.  So naturally, a student has to go to an office supply store (the bookstore didn't have what I was looking for - I like the flexible kind) to purchase more items - three ring binders and some inserts.  Heavy duty "books."  All this and I still need to find my Air Force shoulder bag that my aunt got me years ago so I can have something to put all these bags in and not look ridiculous.

Red Tape

After one aborted visited - we were ready to go, but then checked the hours and the bookstore and offices were closed, we finally went on Wednesday.  This time my husband made me drive.  While I have to cross the bridge to the other side of down, it's a bridge I don't mind, and the route he showed me is simple.  Campus, however is not.  When my husband announced we'd be parking in the "free" spots this time, I went "what?!"  When I went to school I didn't have to pay to park at a community college.  Now, I never went to this particular one, but still.  Rip off.