9-29-10 Today was a bad day. You’re not supposed to write about bad days on a blog, but I’m making an exception. Yesterday, I woke up and couldn’t talk, my throat infection had gone from bad to worse, and so I kept my speech to a minimum. Quite the feat considering my days here consist of learning how to speak, trying to converse with people, and yesterday leading English music club. The music club didn’t quite happen.
Today, I woke up after a restless night of tossing and turning and worrying about my throat. I wasn’t teaching till 10:00, the one bright spot since I’d decided to let myself sleep in a bit.
At 8:15, I was twenty minutes away from school, I got a call from Max, schedule change, we’re teaching in 15 minutes. This is going to be a stellar day.
Micheal had started my class for me, then I set up and jumped into the lesson. Class went okay, until the end, when my host-teacher asked me to help the kids sing a song. I knew this was a bad idea, but well, after one verse I was in uncontrolable coughing with tears streaming down my face–the teacher now agreed with me–stellar.
The rest of the morning went okay, up until Russian Class. This was a particularly stressful day of Russian as we were all tired from teaching and had just had a rough week in general. by the time we went home I think there were a couple of shots of vodka had before everyone went home.
After class my congested head was even more pressured with the tensions from Russian class, and frustrations with my learning. Getting home where everyone spoke this forgein language didn’t help me feel any better. They say something like 80 percent of communication is non-verbal. Well, let me tell you, that other 20 percent is pretty key.
Anyways, I set my sights on an activity that can be done in all cultures in any place: doing the dishes. There’s something comforting about being able to put a kitchen in order, even when life seems so out of whack. I didn’t care if no one understood what I said, I was going to do the dishes, and listen to music while I did them!
My host sister, Tyira, came in when I was two-thirds of the way through washing, and helped me rinse and put away. I told her about my CTRAHbI DEHb (crazy day) and once my venting subsided, and my Russian vocabulary had dried up, I asked her how her day was “Normalna, ne-harasho, ya hachoo harasho.” Translation, “Okay, not great, I want great.”
She was right, normalna sucks. Even ploha (bad) is still feeling something. The valleys are worth the peaks.
Catherine's Blog 
Dear Catherine,
I hope your throat has begun to heal and you’re chattering away again. You know, the dishes thing is so true. Whenever I am visiting someone’s house – like when we go to the homes of David’s family – I always find some sort of consolation in washing the dishes. I guess I’m hoping that one of their love languages is acts of service and that it is an appreciated gesture of my gratefulness to be staying there. My favorite though was washing dishes together at Newman or the Blue House. Normally, I make use of evaporation, but Chelsea would always get out a towel and start drying them by hand so that everyone could be involved. Ah, fond memories.
Thinking of you,
Ann
Hello Catherine,
Will pray that you had a quick recovery. I don’t know if they have lemon or honey, but I like mixing them in warm water for a soothing elixer. That, and nice, hot chicken soup.
Very thankful that you were able to make the best of the day, and able to enjoy a bit of companionship with Tyira over dishes. Your Dad and I were frequent partners doing dishes. Nowadays, my partner is your aunt Barb. No offense to your Dad, but I prefer Barb as a partner. Nicer rewards for a good job well done……..
Have the leaves on the trees begun to change? Already falling? How are the sunrises? Sunrise has always been my favorite time of day, especially when the song birds are singing.
Take care, DObpu DEHb,
Love, Uncle Gary
Catherine,
I agree about washing dishes… It can be such a comfort to do something familiar like that 🙂
-Cilla