Yesterday, we had our first language lessons with our tutor, Marina. She majored in the Russian language at University and currently works as a librarian and a Russian tutor for children. She will be tutoring Mike in Ukrainian and me in Russian. She is very sweet and patient!
So, it looks like we will have lessons Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for an hour each. Marina charges only 35r an hour; this is a little over $4! I think we will pay her more though.
Yesterday, Marina focused on finding out what level Mike was at with his Ukrainian so she would know where to start and what to work on. Mike is definitely at an Intermediate level. I, on the other hand, am pretty much still at the beginner level when it comes to speaking, though I can understand quite a bit when people are speaking to me. I just need to be more confident in trying out words I know on the locals. Which leads me to the next topic: The Bazaar.
There is a bazaar (open air market) about 10 minutes away from us (by walking). You can buy ANYTHING there: Food, underwear, shoes, appliances, napkins, tools, etc... There are different stalls set up for each local vendor. One area has all of the clothing vendors, another the meat vendors, another the candy, etc... (I will take some pics soon!)
Today, I went on an adventure to check out the bazaar. We really want to buy our food and other things here because (1) it is much less expensive and (2) we would be buying and supporting locally and (2.5) it is much more fun than going to the store. Also, we want to get to know and become friends with these people!
I spent about 40 mins checking out the whole bazaar and seeing what looked good. I made myself use some Russian to buy a loaf of bread! This bread is amazing and it cost 50 cents! I saw one man selling carrots, garlic and onions that he grew. Many women selling milk and cheese from their cows and eggs from their chickens. Also, lots of people selling their own apples. We are really looking forward to making this our grocery shopping destination and getting to know the farmers!
Today, Solomiya and I are going to spend some time cooking and studying Russian while Mike is in town at the Life English classes. One thing we have found here is that if you do not want to live on bread, cheese, and kielbasa, you need to cook. Pretty much all of your meals need to be made from scratch. This was something I had anticipated, but had not realized how time consuming it would be!
If anyone has some recipes you would like to share, send them on over! ahallenback@gmail.com
These are the foods currently available at the bazaar:
potatoes, cabbage, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, apples, mandarin oranges, sausage (kielbasa), chicken pieces including feet, some kind of fish that I probably won't buy, bread, cheeses, yogurt, eggs, and milk.
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