20.11.08

went to my class this morning -_- and to be honest, im beginning to lose interest... ive never really been an avid fan of language, in fact, im half chinese and cant even speak cantonese! i suppose though that learning is about perserverence, and my lack of moitivation may be due to discouragement...but seriously man! russian words change according to their freaking location in a sentence. there's not even a set word for me, but it changes according to thecontext so that for example just to say 'my age' you have to say something that is basically the equivalent of 'the years moving toward me', and then that 'my' will change again when you say 'minya zavot' or my name is, becoming'the name belonging to me'. so you have two different words for 'toward me' and 'belonging to me', rather then just my, and then probably a whole bunch of other mes that i havent even been taught. i mean comeon! for every englishword, the russian will have about another five syllables. just to say 'cold' you have to wrap your tongue around this three syllabled 'hol-den-ya'. and sometimes you look at russian text, and just see these neverending words, thatyour mouth was just not created to pronounce. eg the ever elusive 'bl' that suonds like 'eugh'- which you make by saying E and then pushing your jaw forward, supposedly. i had a hard enough time just learning to say 'squirrel'! i am not so bitter really, when i look blankly at russians now, im not so ashamed. i dont understand but that doesnt make me stupid or some sort of lesser alien. heck, the music they listen to is english, there is an Accessorise here- and well, they cant have their cake and eat it! or seeing as i have always found that saying completely illogical (what else are you meant to do with cake?!) if they want the cake, they are going to have to eat it! they cant justpick off the cherry or icing, they gotta scoff the entire thing- including that muttering foreigner who wants to exchange the ugliest pair of high heels she bought in a fit of desperation. because finally, after my lesson with Sergei,i bought some clothes. well by clothes i mean a jumper dress and pair of heels, as hopefully tomorrow we are going to sample the Russian night life. i also got a jigsaw puzzle of a sunken ship, to do with Sirosha, which after hours offiddling with tiny pieces, i realised might be a bit too advanced- for both of us. 2000 pieces! flip sake! eventually we gave up, after i pointed out 'tomorrow night' in the slovaird (dictionary) and we sat down to watch Sinbad and theSeven Seas on my laptop. Sirosha is such a wonderful child, he is so unbelievably happy despite spending literally hours alone, cooped up in this four roomed apartment. with nothing for company but the computer, an odd friend he might invite home, and Muzik. Now, Sirosha's relationship with Muzik is a bit odd. He obviously loves the cat, he wont give it peace- but he loves it with the rough affection of a 12 year old boy. he torments the cat, he willplay fight it, drag it around the flat, toss it around; he has scratches all up his arm from their tumbling. It's good that someone pays attention to the cat, i dont think its allowed to leave the flat, one day, when someone leftthe front door open for a couple of minutes, i watched Muzik paw at the air as though expecting some sort of boundary to be there- even with the theshhold wide open before him, the cat didnt leave. he/she seemed confused, andjust couldnt comprehend the idea of leaving. I think it's a perfectly healthy cat, its fur is glossy and he is very sleek, and thanks to Sirosha, active, and besides outside is getting so cold i doubt he/she would want to be there anyway, butit was a bit sad to be honest. and sometimes i wonder if Sirosha has traumatised him/her, if he/she just succombs to the antics because he/she literally cant escape. But Muzik seems affectionate enough with both Sveta and Sirosha,so perhaps it doesnt mind at all.it snowed most of today, and settled on the ground. my teacher explained that because of an anti-cyclone or some technical weather term, the skies are always blue and clear in the winter. so the landscape completely transforms, i think this grey autumny season is the least enjoyable, for everyone. with a good coat apparently the winter is pretty comfortable, central heating seems as natural as lights here. tomorrow i finally have my on-arrival training, three days in the city, and then four in a village somewhere, in the countryside! yay! where it will probably be like a snowglobe, withsugar frosting everything. we're also going to visit a nationally famous matroishka factory! and three polish volunteers arrived yesterday, they dont speak english and they will be living in the village, so i wont get to see much of them;although they will be at my training. with Myself, Magda, Artur, Gwen and Martina. i'm beginning to really like polish people. And hopefully tomorrow night...partay!