::Я говорю по-русски немного::

"A different language is a different vision of life." 
::Federico Fellini::

For the last month we have been in Russian classes almost 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. It's a very intensive way to learn Russian, and we still have homework every day. The five of us on my AIM team all are in class together at a university in the center of Kharkov. The university is Kharkov National Automobile and Highway University (ХНАДУ). Our teacher changes every 2 weeks because it is summer break, so we have just started with our 3rd teacher.

While it can be truly exhausting mentally, I have furthered realized how much I love languages. After studying Spanish and French, I can say Russian is much more difficult to learn. It has been a struggle to be patient, but a rewarding one. Looking back over this month, I am so much more willing and eager to start a conversation in Russian as limited as it may be. I am not afraid to walk into a store or up to a stand and ask for things in Russian. I have seen how much can be understood without knowing what was even said.

Our main focus for these 3 months is language, but I can already see what a blessing it will be. It means a lot to people when you try to speak their language, whether fellow Christians at our assembly or the girl at McDonald's yesterday who struggled not to laugh at my bad grammar but was as nice as could be. I have bought fruit, vegetables, even a backpack at a market, which is so much easier now that I understand numbers and can describe what I want.

I know I won't become fluent in Russian in just a year and a half. I may not ever understand everything in conversations. However, I want people to know at the end of these 18 months that I was willing to give it my all to communicate Jesus' love to them whether simply through actions, in my English or through a truly heartfelt attempt to communicate in their own language.

We ride the Metro every day to and from school,
and nearly everywhere else.

Most mornings we meet here with our coordinator.

The main entrance to our University. Our class meets in a building across an inner courtyard.

Ukrainian coat of arms, flag and national anthem on a poster.

Russian lesson

my desk during break

self-portrait of me surviving another day of Russian class :)

In His Service.

-ej