My First Russian Crisis

Wow. I have so much to share with everyone about what has been going on. I don’t think I can put it in one post. So, I’ll just try to share little bits at a time; we do plan to stay here in Russia quite a while…6 years I believe…so I should have plenty of time to share with you all of the interesting and boring details of life in Moscow. :)

Tuesday marked my first day of language school and my first major Russian crisis. I survived the crazy day only because I knew it would make a great story to tell you. I have recorded a long version of my day here, and at the bottom of this post, I wrote a "Short Version" for those of you who don't have time (or desire) to read my long, drawn out story.

I woke up early on Tuesday morning to get ready for the day. Language school doesn’t start until 9:30am, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get there (or if I could even remember the way)! I headed off for school an hour early because I had to stop at the ATM, as well as a small kiosk for a Mars bar and a Coke. I figured I would need some chocolate and caffeine to get me through 5 hours of Russian! I arrived at the Pushkin Institute early and found the board where my class was supposed to be posted. Everything was written in Russian, but I have a decent grasp of Russian print. I proceeded to look for my name but couldn’t find it on any roster, so I went to the class I was told I would probably be in. To make a long story short, it took about an hour before everyone was rearranged and put in their correct classrooms. It was the first day for many students, most of whom didn’t know where they were supposed to be. Our teacher was very friendly, boisterous and kind. I figured out very quickly that I knew the least amount of anyone in the class. The teacher spoke in Russian, but would translate some of it into English. I took notes in broken Russian printing, hopelessly trying to keep up, not understanding anything my teacher wrote on the chalk board because she wrote in cursive, which is VERY different from print. When I found out that Wednesday was break day, meaning I only had class 4 days a week, my day instantly got better. I headed home with a powerful resolve to study lots of vocabulary and come back on Thursday and stun everyone with my newfound knowledge of Russian. Ha.

I arrived home late because I had to stay longer at the school to pay my dues. Dougle was at the door putting his coat on to leave for his language lessons as I was taking mine off. I settled down with Canaan long enough to eat a snack and then decided to take him to play outside. The people don’t keep their kids inside just because it is cold. Everyone just gathers at the playgrounds, talking together as their kids play happily. (In the future, playgrounds will provide many opportunities for me to meet and visit with other moms and grandmothers once I can talk to them!) I threw some laundry in, got Canaan and myself dressed up in our coats (this sometimes is a long process), and we headed to the great outdoors! Canaan loved playing on the playground; after 30 minutes, much to Canaan’s protesting, we headed indoors to rest. Mommy was tired! We got in, got undressed and as I was pouring drinks for the two of us, I noticed a small trail of water. Curious, I followed it to the bathroom door, which was closed. I knew right away what had happened! Here in Russia, the washing machines are usually in the bathroom or kitchen. They are small (I can fit about 3 pair of pants in one load) and take about 75 minutes to wash one load! Also, you have to put the drain in the toilet. I had forgotten to put the drain in the toilet! While we were outside, it had gone through one wash cycle, draining the contents all over the bathroom floor. Canaan immediately started playing in the water and slipped. He hit his head on the corner of the step, so I decided quickly to get him out of all the soapy mess. I set him up to watch a Baby Einstein and proceeded to mop of the water with our towels, wringing them out in the tub. This took a bit of time. Canaan apparently got impatient with his movie and turned the computer off and headed back in to tell me about it. Oops. In the process of restarting the computer and his movie, I decided he needed a nap and put him to bed. As soon as I started to finish cleaning up all the water mess, our buzzer rings. It is the inside buzzer, meaning the person is in the building and on our floor (the 12^th floor), standing outside our hallway. I open my front door and hear someone yelling at me in Russian. Exhausted from school, playing outside and sopping up water, I wearily open the door to a Russian woman who is rapidly yelling at me in Russian. This older, Russian lady invited herself into our apartment and started pointing. I figured out that water was dripping into her apartment. With gestures, I showed her what had happened and she showed me that water was dripping from her ceiling into her apartment. She took my hand and started to lead me out the door, down to her apartment. She showed me exactly where the water was leaking in her bathroom. Fortunately, she had a plastic ceiling in her bathroom and it hadn’t caused any major water damage, just a few drips into a bowl she had put down. I think she just wanted me to know what I had caused in overflowing my bathroom with water. After exchanging phone numbers, I went back up to my apartment. Dougle arrived home late because he had to meet with someone after his language lessons. I was exhausted and he was a little panicked (foreseeing having to contact the landlord and tell him what had happened), but I had just successfully survived my very first Russian crisis. We e-mailed the landlord, who later called our downstairs neighbor; there was no problem or damage done, so nothing came out of it except that we got to meet her. Her name is Tamara and I hope to take cookies to her tomorrow and talk to her with the 10 Russian words that I know!

THE SHORT VERSION

Tuesday was my first day of language school. I found out very quickly that I know the LEAST amount of Russian than the other 9 students in my class. I hopelessly tried to keep up, taking notes in my broken Russian print as I tried desperately to understand the cursive that our teacher was writing on the board. I survived my first 5 hours of school. I arrived home and was taking off my coat as Dougle was putting his on to go to his language classes. I threw some laundry in and took Canaan out to play on the playground. When we arrived back inside, I discovered that I had forgotten to put the drain to the washer in the toilet and it had drained all over the bathroom floor and was leaking into the hall and kitchen. I started to soak it up with towels, wringing them out in the tub when our doorbell rang. It was an older lady who was yelling at me in Russian. She invited herself into my house; with gestures I showed her what had happened and she showed me that it was leaking into her apartment. She even led me downstairs to her apartment to see for myself. We exchanged phone numbers and I returned to my apartment to finish cleaning up the mess that I had made. Dougle arrived home later that evening to an exhausted and weary wife, who had just survived her first Russian crisis!