Scrabble & Burgers: Am I Back Home Already?

The last two weeks have felt like an awakening from hibernation. What I mean by that is I haven't done much real work for the last two months and now it's time to get going again. The textbook project with my boss, which I expected us to finish in early January, is still in progress. That said, we've taken some large strides recently and it's finally starting to come together. I've mostly been editing existing materials in the text, writing exercises and text, finding photos, and voicing opinions on how the book should be organized and formatted. In addition to the textbook, classes have finally resumed and I'm trying to get back in the groove. Teaching feels the same, but waking from my stupor to prepare materials and exercises for classes has been more of a challenge. Due to some scheduling issues, I only had four classes this last week. There are still a number of kinks to work out and we might have to fill out some of the groups a little more. The last bit of "work" (if you want to call it that) that I've done recently was preparation for the English Language Olympiad. Apparently, there are foreign language olympiads that take place on the university level, then regional and national levels. I don't know the purpose of the olympiads beyond the fact that they show foreign language competencies from different Russian universities and they give some students more reasons to train and practice their language skills. I spent some time this last week giving a handful of students conversational tips and practice. Two of the three top place finishers are my students and they'll compete at the regional stage pretty soon.

Lately, I've also tried to expand my culinary repertoire. Sasha came over one night and we decided to go with an idea that I'd been pondering for some time already. We made cheeseburgers. We made our own ground beef patties, sliced our own cheese, added fresh red onion and lettuce, and put it all on the closest thing to a hamburger bun that I could find at the store. After eating at McDonald's twice in Moscow, a homemade burger reminded me why burgers got so popular in the first place. They were ridiculously delicious. It was a complete success and I'm already looking forward to the next time. Also, you know you did something right when it tastes better without condiments. My second food story was almost another home run, but I messed up the basics. I decided to make chicken teriyaki stir-fry by myself and it was almost another fantastic success, but I messed up the rice. Granted, it was my first time ever making rice in my life and I was only going off of a 5-minute YouTube tutorial. I ended up with a pan of rice mush. On the other hand, the chicken, sauce, and vegetable part turned out pretty great. I didn't follow any particular recipe and just threw in what veggies I had available, which included: red onion, yellow bell pepper, and radishes. Even with mushy rice, the entire meal was very satisfying.

'Murica 

A few days ago, after hearing about this place a few times, I finally made a trip to anti-cafe "Freedom." This is the only anti-cafe I've ever been to, but I really enjoyed it. In a nutshell, it's a place that charges by the minute (2 rubles or about 7 cents) and offers all you can eat cookies, coffee, and tea. In addition to that, they have a number of tables, chairs, and couches for just hanging out, getting on your laptop, or playing board games. There are also a couple rooms with big flat-screen TVs and PlayStation 3 game consoles attached. It's a pretty nifty place. I went with Dasha, a student at my institute who I helped practice for the Olympiad. Once we got there, we met with Lera, a student from one of my groups who actually works at Freedom.

Yesterday, February 23, was actually a Russian holiday: День Защитника Отечества (Day of the Defender of the Fatherland). Obviously, it's a Memorial Day-type, military holiday. However, since generations have passed since the World Wars and many veterans have passed away, this holiday doesn't carry as much weight as there are very few people left to recognize. Now it is primarily recognized as a sort of "Men's Day." On Friday the 22nd, our foreign language department held a small party/gathering to celebrate it. We had food, cake, juice, and some sort of rice vodka that a Chinese teacher brought. All of the women took the opportunity to make wishes for the men in the room, including Ivan, a Chinese teacher, another Russian guy I still don't know, and me. All of us men also received some flash drives as gifts. As someone from a country without a "Men's Day," I was very pleased.

Finally, it's time to tell of my favorite part from the last two weeks. As an avid scrabble fan back in the states, I've always wanted to play the Russian version. I managed to do this once in college, but we didn't even finish the whole game. While shopping at the huge supermarket Metro recently with another teacher, I strolled through the game aisle and found it! Russian Scrabble! Of course I bought it and ended up playing it the very next day with Sasha. It was his first time playing, but nevertheless, I expected to get torn to pieces playing against a native speaker. As it turned out, I actually won! I beat a Russian at Russian Scrabble! Now, of course, there's more to Scrabble than just knowing a lot of words. I understood how to manage the board, look for possibilities, and, in general, how to execute strategy better than he did. Additionally, luck plays a role in which letters you get. Still, I knew enough good Russian words to blow a Russian out of the water. But that's not all! After playing some video games at anti-cafe Freedom, I played a game of Scrabble with Dasha and Lera. We didn't actually finish the game, but decided to add up final scores after getting about 70% of the way done. Who had the most? I did! I can't really count it as an official win since we didn't finish the game, but I'll take it. And just two days ago, Sasha and I had a rematch. Knowing that he was more familiar with rules and strategy, I thought my time for celebration was over. And, in fact, it was very bleak for the first half of the game. Luck was on his side and I fell behind early. However, the tables turned and I made one hell of a comeback to obliterate him once again! I can't even think of the last time I had a comeback in English Scrabble. I've played against Russians three times now and I remain undefeated. As inflated as my ego is right now, I know this string of victories won't continue for long. It's only a matter of time before my smaller vocabulary or a total lack of luck finally does me in. Still, regardless of the result, the game has proven really beneficial for picking up new words. I'm learning about 3-4 new words per game and they're sticking for the most part.

Sweet Victory! Final score - Jared: 286 - Sasha 217