Hey Readers- How goes it? We’ve been having the most glorious non-wintery weather here in DC (recent high of 78!) and I am absolutely L-O-V-I-N-G it. Turns out that the winter weather I was longing for in Mumbai is much nicer in theory than reality (as I learned the hard way on my two Minnesota visits). Too much time in the tropics I guess, because I’m just not as hearty as I once was. Not the best realization considering we’re going to a post with four months of winter, though I am consoled by last year’s data showing that Almaty’s temps never dipped below zero.
But enough weather talk. Remember when I wrote in early February about all my big changes and my Russian program? The great news is I finished two full months of the program, know roughly 1000 words and can give a presentation in Russian for three minutes. Not too shabby, huh?
If only it hadn’t taken over my entire existence…
By week six Nick and I were realizing how unsustainable 50-55 hours a week of Russian was. In addition to that, the curriculum was moving farther away from the everyday usage needs I desire (buying groceries, ordering at restaurants, travel, having casual conversation) to more Diplomat-y things like spending two hours a day reading–in Russian!–about politics, climate change, refugees, war, the economy. Great stuff, but just not the vocab that I want to be spending my time studying. And so it became increasingly obvious that this wasn’t working for me (or my family) anymore.
Therefore, last Friday was my last day in the full-time program. I’m transitioning to a program of my own design. I still plan to do Russian every day, but more to the tune of two to four hours a day rather than eight to ten. I’ve already been doing DuoLingo for 3 months and will continue that daily. I’ve also gotten subscriptions to two other language-learning apps called Mango and Drops. Each one has a slightly different focus, which has kept me engaged thus far. The only other piece I need to get in place is a weekly session to practice conversing with a human. I’ve heard great things about Italki and am looking into hiring a Russian-speaking Kazakh teacher through that platform. Will keep you posted on how that goes! It feels strange going from hyper-scheduled to wide open, so I’m freaking out a bit but hope to have my new routine established soon.
Switching topics. . . I was at the gym on Tuesday doing squats during Bodypump class when I felt a “pop” on the back of my thigh right before my leg gave out. I yelped audibly and threw my bar down before limping to the lobby to figure out what happened. I had never experienced anything like that before but I could walk on my leg still and figured that was a good sign, so I went back in and finished the class with dramatically reduced weights. Despite everyone seeing me freak out and exit, not one of the other twelve people in the room (including the teacher) bothered to ask if I was okay. I may as well have been invisible. Not cool, D.C. That never would happen in MN.
So now I’m nursing my first-ever strained hamstring. It hurt like hell the first 24 hours but seems to be improving slightly. Been icing, wrapping, elevating and trying to stay off it. Am open to any and all suggestions. Like how do I know when I can go back to exercising? And do I massage it? That’s it for today. Hoping to be back here more now that I have my life back again!
P.S. – Just in case you’re wondering, we’re T – 5 months until we leave for Kazakhstan! It’ll be time to start packing soon!
