My First Russian Lesson

It was better than a hangover, but not as good as a major caffeine withdrawl.

I spent 30 minutes learning the sounds of the Cyrillic (ki-RIL-ik) alphabet. Then I spent the next 1.5 hours sounding out about 100 words. After which I slept 12 hours and got up the next day still feeling wasted.

Can you imagine? I even paid for this torture! There is special psychological treatment for people like me somewhere... but they'll NEVER catch me! Ha ha ha!

Please study the graph below for half an hour, then go to the following page and try to read for another hour and a half. (Don't try to comprehend! That could cause serious injury and irreversible damage!) Only then will you have a small taste of the mental acrobatics required to learn a new alphabet.

Click on the graph to enlarge the image. Click here to enlarge the image AND hear the actual sounds of the letters. Enjoy it in all its terrible glory!

Try out your new Russian phonics skills by reading this page!

In case you're wondering "Why Russian?", the answer is two-fold:
1. There is so much Russian spoken in my house, in my workplace, and just all over the place generally in Moldova, it really is necessary in order to know what's going on around me.
2. Because there IS so much Russian here, it is simply too good of an opportunity to waste to learn a valuable language like Russian.

Discussion on the Romanian vs. Russian langauage debate that rages here in Moldova to come at a later date.

Em's new do

Have you ever had one of those days? One of those days when the feeling just creeps up on you? Something's not quite right.  Something needs to change.

You're feeling restless. You're feeling a little weighed down. Ok, maybe even feeling, dare I say it, a little old.

Maybe it was the Moldovan lady that said,"Why don't you dye your hair? You look OLD!" (People can be pretty blunt here.) Or maybe it was all the other American girls that I was with who are 10 years younger than me and they were all doing it.

It's been over a year since the last time I did it. I've been avoiding it, because honestly, you just never know what will happen!  Whatever moved me, this weekend I went ahead and took the plunge...

I cut my hair.

Was it traumatic? Yes.
Was the language barrier a problem? Quite possibly.
Was it all that I hoped and more? Definitely not.
Does it look cute? Of course, it's ME we're talking about.
Will I live, and learn to love my hair again? Most certainly.

Will I ever go back to that over-priced salon that serves coffee to their clients but DOESN'T listen to what they want, that only seems to know one hairstyle, and when it's (a lot) of MY time and MY money (more than I care to admit for a haircut in Moldova) on the line? HECK NO!

But just to show you that it was only my peace of my mind and my routine that was momentarily squashed, and not my FABULOUS good looks (nor my ego evidently,) here are a couple of pics of me and the other perpetrators.

Happy Women's Day to the X-generations!

Today is the day when all women are celebrated! If you are a woman: young, old, or in between. If you are a mother, a daughter, a sister, or a grandmother. If you are a friend, a neighbor, a teacher, or a colleague. If you are just passing on the street. If you are a woman, you will be congratulated, given gifts, flowers, and beautiful wishes. It just the Moldovan way.

There are many conflicting stories on the origins of Women's Day. I've heard that it was started by women demonstrating against the First World War in Russia. It could also be something that was started in Chicago and was borrowed by Russia. The rumors are as numerous as they are varied.

Several things are for sure, though. It is definitely a holiday recognized by the United Nations. It is widely celebrated throughout the former Soviet republics. It is the eastern version of our Mother's Day in the West. Only it's better, because here, you don't have to have a child to be part of the celebration. You only have to have an X chromosome!