Noveau Ruski

So I started my Russian class at the community college on Tuesday. It will be four short weeks for me to spend two nights a week practicing my Cyrillic script writing, minute conversational skills, and hopefully improving my reading before my trip to Ukraine in July. During the first 3-hour class session, all of us got to know each other a bit, spent a lot of time practicing our writing, and watched a couple “cultural” videos about Russian history.

The teacher, an Russian who came to the States 11 years ago, wanted to have the class get a taste not only of official cultural history, but also see some contemporary culture, so she brought a video of a couple Russian pop stars performing on Russian MTV. As we sat there watching and marveling at these energetic Russian boy bands, all I could think was, “this is the soundtrack to every taxi and marshtutka in Klaipeda!” So, stuck in a little florescent-lit classroom, in the middle of a dry American prarie, I got the faintest waft of unfiltered cigarettes, dusty old upholstery, and stuffy taxi air…

Oh, Litva, I miss you!