First posted elsewhere on 16th August 2004.
I'm cooking Russian soup - "shi"
Or maybe it's Latvian soup as that's where I learnt how to cook it. But the old lady who taught me was Russian, so I guess it's Russian soup. Taisia was her name - a wonderful old Russian lady who let Renée and I live in her house while we were studying Russian in Latvia, in Riga, in 1990. Seems such a long time ago now, and I guess it was.
I didn't learn too much on my Latvian placement. I mean, we were supposed to be learning Russian but were in Latvia, just as the Soviet Union was breaking up. And the person I ended up spending most of my time with was Latvian and learning English so I spoke more English than Russian! It was a very interesting time, in fact, but not the best environment for learning Russian. Looking back on it, I think it was a wonderful experience, just not for learning Russian. If I had really wanted to learn Russian then I think I shouldn't have been so stubborn and should have done what I had been offered and gone somewhere else. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The year abroad for my language degree was to be taken in two parts - one placement in Mexico to study Spanish and one in the Soviet Union to study Russian. Makes sense as I was studying Spanish and Russian. The only thing that had to be sorted out was which country to go to first and which centre to study at. Easy - or at least it looked that way to begin with. I wanted to go to the USSR first and then on to Mexico as friends of mine were planning to go to San Francisco on holiday either over Christmas 1990 or sometime during 1991. The theory was that if I was in Mexico I could join them. Logical. And I really wanted to. I had spent the summer of 89 in San Francisco and really loved it and way dying to go back to see the friends I'd made and relive the wonderful experiences, but that would have to be in another blog entry some time. So, when I was planning my year abroad, in the summer term of 1990 it all made sense: USSR, then Mexico.
Everything seemed to be going to plan to begin with. I had 3 or 4 placement choices for Mexico starting in January 91 so that was good. For the Soviet Union, for the last couple of years there had been an intensive Russian language course for foreign students in the Ukraine, in the city of Dnepropetrovsk. (I think that's how you spell it!) This course ran from September to December - so that was fine too. So far so good. Then the Russian course was cancelled. No course available on September. Oh dear. But I really wanted to go in September because of my US plans so I kept pestering Pierre, the head of Russian, to sort something out for September and, in the end, the Riga placement came up. I was very happy that I could finally do what I wanted to - Riga from September to December, and then Mexico from January to June - and also fit in my holiday in the US, whenever my friends decided to go. But, guess what? Plans change and my friends ended up going to San Francisco in SEPTEMBER! so I couldn't go with them anyway! I was so annoyed, but they'd got the chance to stay with one of their friends so that was that.
And this is how Ren and I ended up in Riga, Latvia, trying to learn Russian. We were in a Russian-speaking household with Taisia and did have Russian lessons at the university, though they were often even too easy or too hard, never really at the right level. On top of that, it was just the two of us so we didn't interact that much in Russian. We were able to use Russian when we were out and about, which was good and we did have a few Russian speaking friends, but I really don't think I made enough effort while I was there. Of course, I met Aris and so spent most of my time with him, chatting in English and eating ice-cream with Balsams - a Latvian spirit which is added to vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips and honey to make the most wonderful desert, but anyway.
So I spent my time with him. That's another major factor in the story really and probably deserves a second part of the blog later on, as the soup is ready to eat now.
I'm cooking Russian soup - "shi"
Or maybe it's Latvian soup as that's where I learnt how to cook it. But the old lady who taught me was Russian, so I guess it's Russian soup. Taisia was her name - a wonderful old Russian lady who let Renée and I live in her house while we were studying Russian in Latvia, in Riga, in 1990. Seems such a long time ago now, and I guess it was.
I didn't learn too much on my Latvian placement. I mean, we were supposed to be learning Russian but were in Latvia, just as the Soviet Union was breaking up. And the person I ended up spending most of my time with was Latvian and learning English so I spoke more English than Russian! It was a very interesting time, in fact, but not the best environment for learning Russian. Looking back on it, I think it was a wonderful experience, just not for learning Russian. If I had really wanted to learn Russian then I think I shouldn't have been so stubborn and should have done what I had been offered and gone somewhere else. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The year abroad for my language degree was to be taken in two parts - one placement in Mexico to study Spanish and one in the Soviet Union to study Russian. Makes sense as I was studying Spanish and Russian. The only thing that had to be sorted out was which country to go to first and which centre to study at. Easy - or at least it looked that way to begin with. I wanted to go to the USSR first and then on to Mexico as friends of mine were planning to go to San Francisco on holiday either over Christmas 1990 or sometime during 1991. The theory was that if I was in Mexico I could join them. Logical. And I really wanted to. I had spent the summer of 89 in San Francisco and really loved it and way dying to go back to see the friends I'd made and relive the wonderful experiences, but that would have to be in another blog entry some time. So, when I was planning my year abroad, in the summer term of 1990 it all made sense: USSR, then Mexico.
Everything seemed to be going to plan to begin with. I had 3 or 4 placement choices for Mexico starting in January 91 so that was good. For the Soviet Union, for the last couple of years there had been an intensive Russian language course for foreign students in the Ukraine, in the city of Dnepropetrovsk. (I think that's how you spell it!) This course ran from September to December - so that was fine too. So far so good. Then the Russian course was cancelled. No course available on September. Oh dear. But I really wanted to go in September because of my US plans so I kept pestering Pierre, the head of Russian, to sort something out for September and, in the end, the Riga placement came up. I was very happy that I could finally do what I wanted to - Riga from September to December, and then Mexico from January to June - and also fit in my holiday in the US, whenever my friends decided to go. But, guess what? Plans change and my friends ended up going to San Francisco in SEPTEMBER! so I couldn't go with them anyway! I was so annoyed, but they'd got the chance to stay with one of their friends so that was that.
And this is how Ren and I ended up in Riga, Latvia, trying to learn Russian. We were in a Russian-speaking household with Taisia and did have Russian lessons at the university, though they were often even too easy or too hard, never really at the right level. On top of that, it was just the two of us so we didn't interact that much in Russian. We were able to use Russian when we were out and about, which was good and we did have a few Russian speaking friends, but I really don't think I made enough effort while I was there. Of course, I met Aris and so spent most of my time with him, chatting in English and eating ice-cream with Balsams - a Latvian spirit which is added to vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips and honey to make the most wonderful desert, but anyway.
So I spent my time with him. That's another major factor in the story really and probably deserves a second part of the blog later on, as the soup is ready to eat now.
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