A Typical Day

Well, today is another typical day, so I thought I would describe it to give you all an idea of what exactly it is that we are up to here. Right now, we are doing orientation, workshops and such, so our schedule will change in a few weeks when we start classes.

In the morning, I wake up and get some breakfast, which my host mother has mostly ready by the time I wake up. I usually get kasha or some eggs with hot tea, although occassionally I get hot chocolate instead. Usually there are vegetables, bread, and cheese too. After that its time to get ready and then head to the American Home. I usually take a bus which takes about ten minutes, but it only takes about thirty-five minutes to walk. The bus drops me off in front of the Golden Gates, one of the oldest buildings in the city and among the oldest in Russia. It was once the main western gate of the city's kremlin when Vladimir was the political center of Russia some seven-hundred years ago. The gate and a short section of earthen wall that stand next to it in the center of town are all that's left of the walls. It is only a short walk, about a block, to the American Home. As you might imagine, it looks outside and in like a typical suburban house. It was built almost 15 years ago as a center for American culture and learning as well as an outreach to local business. Now its main service is our English language program.

Right now, we split our time at the American Home between four main activites. The first is learning about the program and how best to teach English to Russians. We are taught by Lena, a Russian staff member, and Joanna, the lead teacher, who was here last year. We also spend a lot of time in the teachers' office, a room with computers, a printer, copier, and a whole wall of bookshelves filled with English instruction books and materials. This is where we work, hang out, goof off, and many other things. We also spend considerable time sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and talking amongst ourselves and with the Russian staff. Lastly, a couple of evenings a week, we have new students who come to take a placement test. We give them a short test of speaking and listening skills, grade their written tests, and try to place them in one of the levels, from begining level ZI, to the intermediate levels like AI-II, BI-II, all the way up to the advanced D level.

After these duties are complete, we return to our host families for dinner. Dinner always consists of soup, with some sort of meat and vegetable to go along with it, and usually potatoes or pasta. Often I sit with my host mother and drink tea talking about the news, events, Vladimir, Russia, America, or about any thing else that comes up. After dinner, I usually sit down to read, listen to music, write, or whatever else I want to do for a while before bed.

When wqe have time, we have different things to do. There are several cafes that we can visit, and while the weather is still warm, it is nice to sit outside. We also have lots of movies and other DVDs to get into a group and watch. While the weather is nice, we enjoy going outside and enjoying the AH's spacious back yard, throwing a frisbee or tossing a football around.

That's pretty much it...I'm sure in due time we will find more things to do for entertainment, but for now, this is the routine!