TKO'd by Russian

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Before Anya visited, I ordered Pimsleur's Ukrainian, a 16 part verbal learning course that I caught onto pretty good.  I was ready for Anya, who spoke, mostly Russian.  Doh!  But she knew some of the Ukrainian terms, which we used interactively.  So anticipating Russian as the common language, I ordered a highly recommended book with 2 CD set.  Wrong decision.  It is not simple, starts you right out with verb and noun tenses, etc.  I did learn Cyrillic nicely, though, so I can sound out the words, even though I won't know what most mean.  However, I will be able to spot Rostik's sign when I see it, so that may justify the expense of the book.  I'll use my Ukrainian to ask if people speak any English, and lean on the translators for the rest. 

I've given up on the book, and will instead focus on learning simple Russian phrases ECAS gave to us.


Speaking of ECAS, I find myself battling calling them, wondering what is up with the delay in our SDA appointment.  Our timeline is longer now than both the Ritzmans and Beohrs were, so I'm tempted to worry.  But I keep praying for patience.  The worry is, someone forgot to call, or something got messed up.  We've invested a lot in this process, but I have to trust God, and not lean on my own understanding.  Isn't really easy, though.  I'm finding our weekly calls to Anya are making it harder to communicate, because most of our queries are simple, "How Are You?".  We need face time with Anya, and we cannot get that while we are here in Minnesota. 

The photos above are of our little 9 year old from this past Sunday.  Its great to see her, but she looks thin to me and Nell.  Thanks to the Ritzmans for these great photos.

Comments

  1. RachelMarch 21, 2011 at 12:34 PM

    Most Ukrainians are bilingual, so you should be fine with Ukrainian. Just learn numbers and food items. The too most important words: spaseeba and pazhalsta! (thank you and please!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 22, 2011 at 7:40 AM

    I have great book (I think) called Russian in 10 minutes a day by Bilingual Books. Has a fun to use CD as well. If only I would use it! I ordered it last fall and if I would have disciplined myself, I'd be in a good place. Now I have to cram. :( Although, that worked pretty well for me in college!
    - Jill

    ReplyDelete

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