It is hard to believe I have been here a week already. I wasn’t able to sleep well last night, I think I am still suffering from jet lag, the mosquitoes are terrible (see below), and
I was anxious about not knowing my schedule. I was worried I would be late but luckily when I got to school I found my calendar and I ended up being 45 minutes early.
I taught two classes that went fairly well, and just as I was going to go home and take a nap before going to the city center again, Svetlana told me that we would be meeting with the dean, Raisa, for lunch at 2pm.
We went to the
canteen and had
salyanka, a Ukrainian soup, turkey and mashed potatoes, a plate of veggies, and a really delicious pastry.
We talked about our families, cultures, the University, Tyumen, "Siberia", and about exchange programs.
I had no idea, but Svetlana had a baby boy only a month ago!
Apparently, it is a Russian tradition to not let anyone see your baby outside of your family until it is a month or two old, and then you can show the baby to everyone.
She says she plans on inviting me over for dinner soon, once the baby is a few weeks older.
I can't even imagine how exhausted/hectic her life must be right now with a newborn, a new school year, and having to host a new foreign teacher.
Raisa was really interesting to talk to.
She is from a village near Yekaterinburg (a few hundred miles away). She came to Tyumen to study decades ago, because at the time it had the nearest university for foreign languages.
Tyumen, she said, is completely different today than Tyumen years ago.
It used to be a village, but there has been constant growth and development, thanks to the discovery of Tyumen’s natural resources: oil and gas. Now the city is home to 600,000 people and development is still ongoing today. This is especially visible in the summer, because it is the only time construction is possible.
As a result of this expansion different parts of the city went without hot water for weeks at a time.
Luckily, I shouldn’t have to endure that, however, coincidentally, the first day I arrived the hot water in the building was shut off.
Raisa and Svetlana also told me more about the University structure in Russia and in Tyumen, and about the university’s plans to have exchange students from English speaking countries in the coming years.
Apparently, Russia was excluded from the Erasmus (European study abroad) program, and if foreigners came to Russia, they were only able to study in Moscow or St. Petersburg.
MOSQUITOES
Last night, in addition to my jet lag and anxiety about class, I got seriously attacked by mosquitoes.
Katherine warned me that they could get pretty bad in the summer, and that she would sleep in bug spray.
I counted 33 bug bites today.
3 on my face and 15 on each leg. Attractive.
I think I figured out a way to beat the mosquitoes tonight.
The reason they come inside in the first place is because the windows are open.
I have to leave them open or it is way too hot in here.
To solve this problem, I created a DIY mosquito/bug net.
Basically, I duct taped the ends of the sheer to the wall, and I put heavy objects on the window sill to prevent bugs from getting in.
Also, I am sleeping in wool tights instead of shorts, and I have plugged in the Russian version of a citronella candle next to my bed.
Hopefully I won’t look like I have the chicken pox tomorrow.
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