I've gotta say, one of the hardest parts about living in a foreign country is finding friends. This problem is hugely exacerbated when you struggle to understand the local language.
You would think we'd have it by now, but just remember - all up, we have only been here in Siberia for around 10 months. After our first 7 months, there was a five month intermission back in Australia when little Anna made her grand entrance. We've been back not quite 3 months.
Most of our time so far has been indoors, as we are enjoying our fourth straight winter (Aussie, Russian, Aussie, Russian). University study takes up a ton of time, and outside of that, it's nice to not plan anything too exhausting.
Slowly but surely we're making some friends, joining some groups, sending the older kids out, taking the younger kids to things.
Eli now does soccer 2 to 3 times a week at the local stadium. He still hasn't made a concerted effort to learn Russian, but is picking up the basics as he needs them (which is a slow process, but better than nothing).
Layna loves Irish dancing (though not the two hour round trip on the bus twice a week) and she is trying to learn Russian of her own accord. She lies awake reading stuff in Russian - kid's picture dictionaries etc.
Amalia will start "kindergarten" (детский сад) one day a week starting this Friday. She also learns Russian in a private lesson on Mondays.
Unfortunately, Clayton hasn't been able to slot into something, but he goes along with Eli to his soccer training.
The four kids (i.e. not Anna) come with me each Sunday to kids club on the other side of the river. So they're getting contact with Russian kids there too.
Finally, there's my beloved Janene. She's got a hard task, but she's pretty brave. Though sometimes I need to organise a social engagement without her knowledge and then spring it on her!
So at midnight last night she found out that she's going to the movies with Lyuda, a local Russian lady we've come to know.
Amalia and Layna have gone along too, and they are watching a well-known Russian cartoon at the cinema (check out the trailer below).
We first met Lyuda when she came to the Aussie Christmas we hosted in our apartment. We have since invited her back to do some craft (see the pic) and go ice-skating with us. She doesn't speak much English, so it's a great opportunity to extend Janene's Russian.
Keep us in your prayers. Fitting in is so hard when you can't easily talk about what's on your heart. It's like your brain is a clogged filter that your non-native language gets harshly filtered through. Come to think of it, there's probably a mincer in there too, making a real mess.
You would think we'd have it by now, but just remember - all up, we have only been here in Siberia for around 10 months. After our first 7 months, there was a five month intermission back in Australia when little Anna made her grand entrance. We've been back not quite 3 months.
Most of our time so far has been indoors, as we are enjoying our fourth straight winter (Aussie, Russian, Aussie, Russian). University study takes up a ton of time, and outside of that, it's nice to not plan anything too exhausting.
Slowly but surely we're making some friends, joining some groups, sending the older kids out, taking the younger kids to things.
Eli now does soccer 2 to 3 times a week at the local stadium. He still hasn't made a concerted effort to learn Russian, but is picking up the basics as he needs them (which is a slow process, but better than nothing).
Layna loves Irish dancing (though not the two hour round trip on the bus twice a week) and she is trying to learn Russian of her own accord. She lies awake reading stuff in Russian - kid's picture dictionaries etc.
Amalia will start "kindergarten" (детский сад) one day a week starting this Friday. She also learns Russian in a private lesson on Mondays.
Unfortunately, Clayton hasn't been able to slot into something, but he goes along with Eli to his soccer training.
The four kids (i.e. not Anna) come with me each Sunday to kids club on the other side of the river. So they're getting contact with Russian kids there too.
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| Janene and Lyuda with the little felt owls they made |
So at midnight last night she found out that she's going to the movies with Lyuda, a local Russian lady we've come to know.
Amalia and Layna have gone along too, and they are watching a well-known Russian cartoon at the cinema (check out the trailer below).
We first met Lyuda when she came to the Aussie Christmas we hosted in our apartment. We have since invited her back to do some craft (see the pic) and go ice-skating with us. She doesn't speak much English, so it's a great opportunity to extend Janene's Russian.
Keep us in your prayers. Fitting in is so hard when you can't easily talk about what's on your heart. It's like your brain is a clogged filter that your non-native language gets harshly filtered through. Come to think of it, there's probably a mincer in there too, making a real mess.
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