Kazan — summer 2012

Here's the first local press release about the CLI Kazan program, along with a translations. It's obviously a blurb that was prepared in advance by the institute and released today just after our meeting with Igor Izmailovich Bikeev, the Institute's Vice-President of Academics.

I got a note from a colleague in Kiev concerned about "massive disturbances in Kazan." I'm not sure where that idea comes from. Aygul tells me there was a demonstration somewhere, but I can't even find a good news story on that. All was calm here yesterday. I'm still very glad to be here.

All is well in Kazan.

City tour today for CLI students. 14 of the 16 had never been to a mosque before. Very neat.

I'm really proud of this group. They are out exploring and trying their Russian. Not every American has that type of courage.

My cooking skills are improving here. I can now tell when to turn the garlic meat patties simply by smell.

CLI Kazan students today visited the Kazan Kremlin, which includes a visit to the Qul Sharif mosque (stunning) and the Blagoveshchenskiy Cathedral (impressive). We were pleased to be joined by Marina Akins and her family.

I had to laugh. I wore Marina's kids into the ground with walking. From my Russian perspective, we hardly walked at all, only five miles, but the kids were tuckered.

My colleague Marina and her family are in Kazan for a couple of days. Last night they stayed at my place. It's so nice to be in a young family environment. Son Henry is 7, daughter Naomi is 9. Kids are freaking wonderful. I'm always grateful when families share their time with me.

Marina and I observed classes today. The students are doing great. The first year students have only had Russian for nine weeks, but they are already saying things like, “On my days off I hunt ducks” or “I eat soup and bread for breakfast.” One can't always necessarily tell if they are telling the truth, but as long as they are communicating, that really doesn't matter. The second year students are increasing in accuracy in ridiculously complex Russian grammar. I was particularly proud of my student Amanda. Wonderful progress.

Afterwards the family and I went to visit Danila's family, where Flyura fed us all until we couldn't move. She's a great cook. Homemade noodles in the chicken noodle soup, homemade broth, homemade dough in the manty, homemade balish. Marina's family is staying the night there, but I've come back to my apartment. That was a good decision because it turned out that there was a medical issue in our Kiev group that needed to be responded to. I think everything will be fine, but we aren't going to take any chances; the student will go to the doctor in the morning.

Marina's husband Billy is a natural extrovert. It's amazing for me to watch him. He draws energy from human contact. He makes friends practically on every street corner. I'm a natural introvert. After too much human contact I need space to regain my equilibrium. I've rarely seen the difference so clearly demonstrated.