Two Quick Lessons

     I'm still in the process of writing up the recap of the weekend's excitement. But here's a quick two-point thing about some things I learned this weekend.
     First, language stuff. I was asked last week to pick up some food for the weekend. This was after the huge shopping trip on Monday. Monday, Dasha and I went to a store called Metro for general weekend supplies (snacks, coffee, paper, tea, etc). I needed to buy some fresh meat, cheese and bread for Friday night snacks. But that required the dreaded talking-to-the-deli-workers-in-Russian activity. I had all the standard nervousness before going but I finally did it. Fortunately, I had a basic script of what I should say, specifically with the kind of meat and cheese to get. Other than mispronouncing one word, it went well. I got exactly what I needed and even confirmed to a shocked deli-lady that I really did need 3 kilos of sliced sausage. Actually, that set me up for having a good rest of the day on Friday. I rode my high from the success of that little adventure right up to Saturday morning.
     Saturday morning changed that outlook for me because of a simple conversation. Not between me and anyone else but between two other people. I was listening to an American and a Ukrainian have a conversation and they would regularly switch back and forth between Russian and English. Listening to the conversation made me a little depressed (mostly for not being so knowledgeable in Ukrainian culture/politics or the Russian language). This made me somewhat angry and frustrated with myself that I wasn't making more progress with language studies.
     It was less a gut-punch of reality and more just "that's how it is." The whole evening and next day, I had to keep telling myself that it wasn't wrong to know less. My sphere of knowledge is different than other people. It's okay that I know more about airplanes, woodworking, and Jeeps than a lot of other people. We all have different interests. This American has had a lot more opportunity to study and practice speaking Russian. I think after the conversation-induced reality-check, I didn't want to think about anything else that day. Instead I had to get introspective with the next lesson that I learned.
     I think the word retreat was a misnomer for the weekend. Mini-camp is better. It's true that since I was staff, I wasn't going to have a lot of chance to rest or relax. But I left the weekend more tired than I was when it started. Part of that could have been the unfamiliar and uncomfortable bed. I'd also attribute a lot of that to my personality. I like to have alone time and together time on my terms. Meaning, I like to choose when and where I spend my time with other people.
     Since this weekend was a service to the students of Liberty, my wants had to come second. I'll give an example. The conversation incident from the previous lesson was on Saturday morning before lunch. The rest of the day, I had to fight through being tired (from bad sleep) and angry (at myself). It made English interesting because I had to set all that aside and teach.
     So, actually, it was three lessons. The third is put aside your wants and needs and just serve. Fight through the disappointments, challenges, frustrations and distractions and do the best possible job to serve these people that are here and now. You may not ever have this chance again.
     The funny part to come out of the Friday food-buying escapade was that I now know two completely opposite ways of dealing with people at the grocery store. The first is to have good friends that force you to talk to people but also give you the right words to say. That improves confidence and vocabulary at the same time. The second way is to get in the checkout line in front of a talkative old woman. She'll want to buy a certain kind of cigarettes and will ask the cashier while they are ringing up your purchase. The two start talking about the specific kind of cigarettes that the old woman likes and that removes her attention from you. The cashier won't ask any questions that you need to answer and you can get out of the store without talking to anyone. Of course I experienced both of these in the same trip. So that point is kind of moot.
     OK, that's all for now. Look for the full weekend write-up later this week. But as a teaser, here are a few pictures from the retreat.

My shared room.

During the first night of Max's lecture.

Standing on the river near the sanatorium.

Some of the students playing a game I've never seen before called Dixit.

BBQ means something different here than I'm used to. There was a severe lack of pulled pork or BBQ sauce.