Russian Superstitions

On Wednesday and Thursday this week, I had a couple 8 hour training meetings for teaching. Thursday afternoon, we split up into our country groups and did some culture training. One thing I learned: Russians are very superstitious. Here's some examples of Russian superstitions:

* If you whistle indoors, your money will fly out the window
* Before leaving for a trip, you must have a moment of silence
* If you return home because you forgot something, you must look in the mirror before you leave again
* Never shake hands under a doorway; it will bring bad luck to the friendship or deal made
* If someone steps on your toes, you must step on their toes, or else you will have a quarrel with them
* If you go outside with your hair wet, you will get pneumonia
* Cold drinks are the most common cause for flus, colds, and general sicknesses
* Single women must NEVER sit at the corner of the table, or else they'll never get married. They also must not wear rings on their right ring finger (where Russians wear their wedding rings)

We also talked about how because we're cute young American girls, the Russian boys will be after us, so if we ever are bothered by them, we can ask the babushkas (grandmothers) to yell at them to leave us alone. Of course, the babushkas will also yell at us if we don't have our hats and gloves on, or if our coats aren't zipped or buttoned. It'll be quite the experience, I'm sure.

After teacher training this week, I've got a lot better idea of what I'll be doing over there, though I still don't know what age group I'll be with. I also met the head teacher, Areil, and another teacher, Tasha, from my group, and they are awesome girls! I can tell we're going to have a lot of fun, and I hope the rest of the group is going to be just as fun, too. I won't meet the rest of them til we're at the airport the day we leave. Tasha and I already talked about having a moment of silence before we get on the plane, like true Russians. :) About 2 and a half weeks to go!

Smitten Blog Designs!

Big thanks to my sister, Kate Rosenberg, for doing some work on my blog! She made it look a bit cleaner and did the title banner at the top (awesome, right?). If you didn't already know, she and our sister-in-law, Heather Peterson, run a successful blog design business, smittenblogdesigns.blogspot.com. I got the basic blog design from their free gallery and then Kate did a little customizing. Check out their site! They are seriously talented--you'll be impressed :)



Thanks again, Kate! It looks awesome!

Land of No Marshmallows

You're probably wondering what the heck my blog title is about. Well, if you were not already aware, I'm leaving January 26th to go to Voronezh, Russia to teach English to kids. I received an information packet about Voronezh, about the program and other random facts. I noticed a list of things that you can't get in Russia. Peanut butter I expected, but I was surprised by some of the other things on there. For example: Lined paper (you can only get graph paper), duct tape, and marshmallows.

Marshmallows? What kind of country doesn't have marshmallows?! You can get all kinds of American name-brand products there, but no marshmallows? For some reason, I find that really funny, hence, the naming of my blog. No peeps this Easter--I'm gonna miss those little guys.

Anyway! Let me answer a few questions I keep getting with a little Voronezh FAQ!

Q: Why Voronezh?
A: That's where I was assigned! I originally planned on going to Kiev, Ukraine, but I was switched to Voronezh, which I'm actually really looking forward to. Voronezh is on the south western side of Russia, kind of by Ukraine, so it's not nearly as cold as, say, Moscow or St. Petersburg. In fact, the weather isn't much different from Utah.

Q: How do you pronounce Voronezh?
A: Your guess is as good as mine.

Q: Do you speak any Russian?
A: Not a word. The program offers free language classes though, so I'm definitely going to take advantage of that. I'll be living with a host family who most likely won't speak English and I'll be going to a Russian branch out there, so I have the incentive to learn it. They actually told us that the missionaries in Voronezh can translate for us at church. I'm really looking forward to learning some Russian.

Q: Won't it be hard to teach kids whose language you don't speak?
A: Yep.

Q: What is this program?
A: It's called International Language Programs (ILP). They send volunteers to 4 different countries (Mexico, Ukraine, China, and Russia) to teach English to kids in schools. It is volunteer work, so no, I do not get paid, but the program cost (about $2,500) pays for my airfare and all food and housing while I'm there, plus language and culture classes. The only things I have to pay for is entertainment costs, like traveling and going to performances and things like that. I found out that most ballets and shows you can get into for about 60 Russian Rubles--about $2 in the U.S.! I'll be living with a host family that lives near the school I'll be teaching at and they'll provide most of my meals.

If you have any other questions, let me know! I'll update as I get closer to leaving, and I'll try to be good about posting while I'm there, but I'm sure I'll be pretty busy, so no promises. I'm very excited to go, but I'll miss all of you!