This week was very unique and very interesting. However, it had a pretty weak start. My Tuesday consisted of one class... with one student. In other words, my day consisted of a one and a half hour tutor session and nothing else worth mentioning. It's unfortunate when some of my students miss class, but it can also feel pretty rewarding having a one-on-one lesson. You get to cover topics you know they're interested in and they participate more than they would in a normal class.
Anyway, let's get to the meaty part of the week. This week, instead of feeling like the foreigner, I actually got to be excited with other Russians about the arrival of three high court judges from the United Kingdom. Sir Peter Cresswell, Sir David Steel, and Sir Mark Potter visited our campus to give presentations to and talk with our law faculty and students. I suppose I can now say I've talked with a "Sir." The lectures were convenient for me since I didn't need any translation. Almost everybody else had to use headphones with a direct connection to the translator. The lectures themselves were fairly interesting even though I don't actually know that much about law (especially, the British system). Nevertheless, I was brave enough to stand up and ask a question during the Q&A. It wasn't a complex question. One of the topics they covered was the "social standing" of judges and I basically just asked how their lives changed (if at all) after becoming judges. Even though I didn't notice, some of my colleagues said they noticed some smiles on the judges' faces when I started talking. I suppose I'll just have to attribute that to fact that they were probably surprised to hear a question from an American in a Siberian law institute of all places. After the lectures, I was invited to a coffee break with some of the key participants present. I finally met the president of the university. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly seize the opportunity to talk with the judges. I didn't really want to stand in line.
I found Thursday to be even cooler than Wednesday. I signed up to "participate" in a round table discussion at the Federal Arbitration Court of the Western-Siberian Region. The round table was held on the top floor (the 9th floor) of the building and it was pretty fancy; equipped with plush chairs, microphones for each person, chandeliers, etc. I also got a free folder, notebook, and pen out of the deal. I'd like to add that it's a pretty great pen. Way better than the last free pen I got, which I'm still expecting to break or stop working at any given time. Anyway, I felt like the least important person in that room. I'm just a lowly 23-year-old English teacher with nothing to brag about besides my college diploma while the list of notable Russians in attendance included: the Governor of Tyumen Oblast, the president of Tyumen State University, four judges from the Federal High Arbitration Court, and a long list of chairmen from other regional arbitration courts throughout Russia. The highlight of the whole round table, though, was the presence of judges from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. The judges from the UK are the same as those I saw on Wednesday. The German is a judge from Munchen, Germany. From the United States, there were four primary participants: Diane Wood, Marilyn Huff, Robert Drain, and Collins Fitzpatrick. The most notable of all was Diane Wood who is a current judge of the the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The highlight of my day (besides the pen), was getting to have conversations with the German judge and with Diane Wood during the coffee break before lunch. In addition to talking with a "Sir" from England, I suppose I can also now say that I've talked with a federal judge appointed by the President of the United States (in this case, Bill Clinton). Maybe this isn't as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be. Maybe being in Siberia is making it seem all the more interesting. Nevertheless, I value it as a unique and neat experience. I was only able to stay for the morning activities because I had afternoon classes. All the same, it was probably for the best. As interesting as the whole event was, I probably would've gotten really tired of listening to lectures on commercial law.
Starting on Friday, my week presented me with another interesting opportunity. I was asked by a girl I met at the Model UN, Elina, to help out with a project that one of her friends is working on. Basically, this one guy, Anton, came up with an idea for an Internet project/website and was looking for a foreigner to help with a video promo to help bring in outside help/investors. I was given a small script to practice and, on Friday night, we all met to practice our lines. I only had about four sentences to memorize but it was good for phonetic practice. That is, it was probably the first time since I arrived in Tyumen that I diligently worked on phonetics and Russian pronunciation. We met again on Saturday to shoot the video. First, we met in a cafe called Assorti to hang out a bit and practice our lines. Then we went to a studio to film. As it turns out, I had to wear makeup for the first time since performing in my last play which I believe was in 8th grade. Thankfully, they let me go first with my part because I was already running late to meet up with Katya, Ira, and a couple of Ira's friends, Alyosha and Sonya.
So, after finishing my part, I took a cab to Ticket to Dublin (an Irish pub) to meet with up with the people I just mentioned. The pub was celebrating its 7th birthday and so it was a special night filled with games and prizes. I didn't participate but that may have been for the best. I didn't understand the goal of most of games until about halfway through each one. They gave out stuff like bottle openers, beer glasses, baseball caps, and coupons. We got some bonus food because Alyosha won one of the games and got a coupon for a free appetizer. After the pub, after parting ways with Alyosha and Sonya, Ira, Katya, and I went to Ira's place for tea and cake. I met Ira's friend Sasha and the four of us hung out all night. I just now found myself wanting to use the Russian word "общались" to explain that were hanging out and talking instead of saying it in English. That tends to happen when I think a Russian word describes the situation better than any English translation I can think of. I consider the night a big success for two reasons: 1) I had a great time hanging out with them and 2) I used a lot more Russian than I usually do. The Russian part of my brain was fried by the end of the night, but I know it was great practice.
Sunday, on the other hand, often involves very little talking in any language. This Sunday, like several others, is basically just a chance for me to catch up on my blog and start thinking about classes for the week. Now that I've finished this entry, I'm going to go cook some dinner and get started on my lesson plans for Monday.
Anyway, let's get to the meaty part of the week. This week, instead of feeling like the foreigner, I actually got to be excited with other Russians about the arrival of three high court judges from the United Kingdom. Sir Peter Cresswell, Sir David Steel, and Sir Mark Potter visited our campus to give presentations to and talk with our law faculty and students. I suppose I can now say I've talked with a "Sir." The lectures were convenient for me since I didn't need any translation. Almost everybody else had to use headphones with a direct connection to the translator. The lectures themselves were fairly interesting even though I don't actually know that much about law (especially, the British system). Nevertheless, I was brave enough to stand up and ask a question during the Q&A. It wasn't a complex question. One of the topics they covered was the "social standing" of judges and I basically just asked how their lives changed (if at all) after becoming judges. Even though I didn't notice, some of my colleagues said they noticed some smiles on the judges' faces when I started talking. I suppose I'll just have to attribute that to fact that they were probably surprised to hear a question from an American in a Siberian law institute of all places. After the lectures, I was invited to a coffee break with some of the key participants present. I finally met the president of the university. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly seize the opportunity to talk with the judges. I didn't really want to stand in line.
I found Thursday to be even cooler than Wednesday. I signed up to "participate" in a round table discussion at the Federal Arbitration Court of the Western-Siberian Region. The round table was held on the top floor (the 9th floor) of the building and it was pretty fancy; equipped with plush chairs, microphones for each person, chandeliers, etc. I also got a free folder, notebook, and pen out of the deal. I'd like to add that it's a pretty great pen. Way better than the last free pen I got, which I'm still expecting to break or stop working at any given time. Anyway, I felt like the least important person in that room. I'm just a lowly 23-year-old English teacher with nothing to brag about besides my college diploma while the list of notable Russians in attendance included: the Governor of Tyumen Oblast, the president of Tyumen State University, four judges from the Federal High Arbitration Court, and a long list of chairmen from other regional arbitration courts throughout Russia. The highlight of the whole round table, though, was the presence of judges from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. The judges from the UK are the same as those I saw on Wednesday. The German is a judge from Munchen, Germany. From the United States, there were four primary participants: Diane Wood, Marilyn Huff, Robert Drain, and Collins Fitzpatrick. The most notable of all was Diane Wood who is a current judge of the the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The highlight of my day (besides the pen), was getting to have conversations with the German judge and with Diane Wood during the coffee break before lunch. In addition to talking with a "Sir" from England, I suppose I can also now say that I've talked with a federal judge appointed by the President of the United States (in this case, Bill Clinton). Maybe this isn't as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be. Maybe being in Siberia is making it seem all the more interesting. Nevertheless, I value it as a unique and neat experience. I was only able to stay for the morning activities because I had afternoon classes. All the same, it was probably for the best. As interesting as the whole event was, I probably would've gotten really tired of listening to lectures on commercial law.
Starting on Friday, my week presented me with another interesting opportunity. I was asked by a girl I met at the Model UN, Elina, to help out with a project that one of her friends is working on. Basically, this one guy, Anton, came up with an idea for an Internet project/website and was looking for a foreigner to help with a video promo to help bring in outside help/investors. I was given a small script to practice and, on Friday night, we all met to practice our lines. I only had about four sentences to memorize but it was good for phonetic practice. That is, it was probably the first time since I arrived in Tyumen that I diligently worked on phonetics and Russian pronunciation. We met again on Saturday to shoot the video. First, we met in a cafe called Assorti to hang out a bit and practice our lines. Then we went to a studio to film. As it turns out, I had to wear makeup for the first time since performing in my last play which I believe was in 8th grade. Thankfully, they let me go first with my part because I was already running late to meet up with Katya, Ira, and a couple of Ira's friends, Alyosha and Sonya.
So, after finishing my part, I took a cab to Ticket to Dublin (an Irish pub) to meet with up with the people I just mentioned. The pub was celebrating its 7th birthday and so it was a special night filled with games and prizes. I didn't participate but that may have been for the best. I didn't understand the goal of most of games until about halfway through each one. They gave out stuff like bottle openers, beer glasses, baseball caps, and coupons. We got some bonus food because Alyosha won one of the games and got a coupon for a free appetizer. After the pub, after parting ways with Alyosha and Sonya, Ira, Katya, and I went to Ira's place for tea and cake. I met Ira's friend Sasha and the four of us hung out all night. I just now found myself wanting to use the Russian word "общались" to explain that were hanging out and talking instead of saying it in English. That tends to happen when I think a Russian word describes the situation better than any English translation I can think of. I consider the night a big success for two reasons: 1) I had a great time hanging out with them and 2) I used a lot more Russian than I usually do. The Russian part of my brain was fried by the end of the night, but I know it was great practice.
Sunday, on the other hand, often involves very little talking in any language. This Sunday, like several others, is basically just a chance for me to catch up on my blog and start thinking about classes for the week. Now that I've finished this entry, I'm going to go cook some dinner and get started on my lesson plans for Monday.
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| Since I don't have any relevant pictures from the week, here's a cute bunny from the farm I visited a few weeks ago. |
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