keith birthday has norwegian arms

I go to the banya a lot

Every week I go to the Russian bathhouse with friends. We get naked and then sit in an extremely hot and steamy room (at least 200 degree fahrenheit) where some (mostly older men) choose to beat themselves with branches from birch trees. Some of them wear silly woolen hats to protect their hair. We sit there (or stand, or lie as some do) until we basically cannot handle the heat anymore. Then we jump in the snow/jump in a plunge pool/step under the cold shower for a second. Once cooled, we sit with each other and drink beer and talk in English (unofficially, this is the English drinking club). Repeat until 11PM when the banya closes. It’s like molting.

Russian + Nicktoons = Pretty Awesome

Like my apartment in America, my apartment in Russia has a TV. Unlike my apartment in America, this Russian TV actually gets channels that I can watch with relative clarity. Being that I’ve been here three days and have zero friends and have little idea what to do with myself most of the time, I’ve watched more network TV in the past three days than I have in the last two years.

Although I get thirteen channels (according to the TV) only about six are watchable. Of those six channels that are watchable, three of them are too fuzzy to watch eighty percent of the time. So basically I can only rely on four channels to never let me down. The sports channel, one called TNT (although I do not thing it has anything to do with the American TNT), MTV (which is as terrible here as it is in the US) and this channel called Russia.

What have I been watching? Mostly whatever seems to be the most interesting thing on at the time, usually sports, just because it comes in the clearest and it is easy for me to understand what is going on (there is only one way to play hockey, volleyball, etc.), but every now and then (especially in the early afternoon) I turn on TNT, because I get to see what is perhaps my favorite thing in any country regardless of language: Nicktoons dubbed into other languages.

Actually, I made this Nicktoon discovery quite early. Shortly after I arrived at my apartment on Saturday morning, I turned on the TV just in time to watch Hey Arnold! in Russian. It was an episode I’ve seen (the Chinese checkers one, if anyone’s curious) so I made a conscious attempt to actually understand what was going on. I failed miserably, but it is funny to listen to the various voices assigned to the characters (grandpa sounds like the German spongebob) and watch these old semi precious gems in a foreign country. Today I was delighted with the company of Catdog and As Told By Ginger (a later toon that I am only aware of via my younger sister).

Its things like these that make the transition to other countries easier. Of course I’m speaking about the familiarity of these cartoons, but on a deeper level, these cartoons are most likely the medium through which I will learn the most Russian at this point in time. Because I am aware of the stories/characters/setting, there’s less of a focus on me figuring out what the heck is going on and a greater emphasis placed purely on trying to understand the words coming out of the characters’ mouths. Lower stress = better language learning. Hopefully as a result of my stay here I’ll be able to sing the Spongebob theme song in Russian. We’ll see.