I had a good day today! First of all, I was pretty productive at the office today. I have built a little routine---I wake up about 6am, do a lot of emailing, read some news, try to develop some talking points for class if I am teaching, cook a nice breakfast(usually eggs, ham, potatoes, and toast with OJ---otherwise Muesli and tea), listen to an NPR or BBC podcast)walk to work(about .75 mile) and arrive at the office around 10am. I generally leave around 3pm unless I am teaching later in the PM. I have internet access at work but honestly, what is nice is that you can't really open a lot of windows and waste time there. You can read email, blog sometimes, work on word documents; but I don't really waste time surfing because I can't do much of it.
Thus you do actual thinking, reading, studying(Russian!), planning, writing. So I got some Russian vocab in. Dr. Dr. Bobarykina does a class at noon on Wednesdays in Russian language and I must say that she is quite a dedicated and imaginative teacher. She is one of those extraordinary academics who is both a talented/efficient administrator and a dynamic teacher. We play games, we practice grammar(today was accusative and prepositional), we try small conversation. For me it really brings things together. I am also preparing for my next round of teaching which will be entrepreneurship and Business Planning with a group of "Presidential" program scholars---Russians in the academic, business, and administrative communities---in the month of March. Maria and Valentina in the office are going to assist me in this endeavor by helping translate during the actual class. Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I create more work for everyone, but they cheerfully crank out everything required and more.
The real reason I had such a good day was the following series of events----first, the guard guys at the front door now regularly say good morning to me(as well as goodbye). Most recognize me, and acknowledge me. Not only that, but the lady in the window at the front, really smiled at me in the morning and went out of her way to say goodbye in the afternoon. And, this morning while walking to work, I had a little slip in which I caught myself before hitting the ground by extending my huge, muscled arm and catching myself----when this happened, two little old ladies actually exclaimed and moved to help me up. Also for about the last week, several fellas have come up to me on the street and asked for a cigarette---which I don't have, but I think I may be looking a bit Russian after a month? And a guy in the grocery store in the Juice section asked me if I could see where the Apple juice was! There is also a checkout lady in the store who now says hello to me even if I am not in her line. Yesterday she helped me figure out what change I needed to help her avoid using up all her change. On top of all of this, as I was buzzing myself into my building with my grocery haul, a young man of about 12 was coming out, and he held the door for me, I thanked him, and he said, "you're welcome".
So, a good day. All for now. I have to practice my guitar.....I am performing for a student party on Saturday(with many others). The esteemed professor Sanjay Mishra of NVCC-Loudoun graciously spent over an hour with me on Skype last night breaking down a Russian folk song that I was having trouble with.....
Thus you do actual thinking, reading, studying(Russian!), planning, writing. So I got some Russian vocab in. Dr. Dr. Bobarykina does a class at noon on Wednesdays in Russian language and I must say that she is quite a dedicated and imaginative teacher. She is one of those extraordinary academics who is both a talented/efficient administrator and a dynamic teacher. We play games, we practice grammar(today was accusative and prepositional), we try small conversation. For me it really brings things together. I am also preparing for my next round of teaching which will be entrepreneurship and Business Planning with a group of "Presidential" program scholars---Russians in the academic, business, and administrative communities---in the month of March. Maria and Valentina in the office are going to assist me in this endeavor by helping translate during the actual class. Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I create more work for everyone, but they cheerfully crank out everything required and more.
The real reason I had such a good day was the following series of events----first, the guard guys at the front door now regularly say good morning to me(as well as goodbye). Most recognize me, and acknowledge me. Not only that, but the lady in the window at the front, really smiled at me in the morning and went out of her way to say goodbye in the afternoon. And, this morning while walking to work, I had a little slip in which I caught myself before hitting the ground by extending my huge, muscled arm and catching myself----when this happened, two little old ladies actually exclaimed and moved to help me up. Also for about the last week, several fellas have come up to me on the street and asked for a cigarette---which I don't have, but I think I may be looking a bit Russian after a month? And a guy in the grocery store in the Juice section asked me if I could see where the Apple juice was! There is also a checkout lady in the store who now says hello to me even if I am not in her line. Yesterday she helped me figure out what change I needed to help her avoid using up all her change. On top of all of this, as I was buzzing myself into my building with my grocery haul, a young man of about 12 was coming out, and he held the door for me, I thanked him, and he said, "you're welcome".
So, a good day. All for now. I have to practice my guitar.....I am performing for a student party on Saturday(with many others). The esteemed professor Sanjay Mishra of NVCC-Loudoun graciously spent over an hour with me on Skype last night breaking down a Russian folk song that I was having trouble with.....
