Interesting topics today!

Our first speaker this morning was a high school teacher from Phoenix (who went on the inaugural Fulbright program in 2004) who presented a lesson plan from a course she designed called "Teaching Russian History through Literature in High School." I got to thinking about my half-semester course proposals for surveys of Russian history and 19th century Russian authors at Mansfield High School and may use her course as a model for combining the two... I think it would work out really well and I have access, now, to some great resources.

After lunch, we found out more about the American Home in Vladimir. Dr. Pope ran us through a pretty good slide show and offered all sorts of heads-up info about our visits to Vladimir and Murom. I'm really excited about going!!

We ended the afternoon with some videos... Mostly about Russian families, interviews with kids-- stuff we could use in the classroom, really. Then we ended on Paul McCartney's 2003 concert in Red Square...

Tomorrow is a morning-only wrap-up session. After that, I plan to sleep as much as possible before we have to get on a 3:30am bus the following morning...

That's it for now. Off to dinner...

Poka!

Aww, shucks...

...this is the longest-term continuous corn plot in the world. Really. And it's right here on the University of Illinois campus. My (horti)cultural horizons just keep on expanding...

From the conference room...

...is a another poor quality cellphone photo of me, my suitemate Terry from Seattle, and another teacher, Deirdre from Kansas. By the way, in reference to the corny picture above, I have to tell you that, being from Kansas (in only a way she can understand), Deirdre told me that she is "anti-corn"... Teachers. Who can understand them?

The Break.

Yesterday's topics were interesting, more or less. In the morning, the presenter was a grad student who was born in the Ukraine; he is a Jew and his family-- like many others-- left the Soviet Union in the 70s. He spoke about everyday life in the Soviet Union. I thought the topic was very good! (And he gave us a break halfway through-- it was two hours long.)

(No breaks from that point on...) There were two two-hour blocks after lunch, the first on Russian politics, from Gorbachev to Putin. A very enthusiastic professor kept going and going and going. By the time she was done and we earned 10 minutes (for good behavior?), my brain and butt were starting to go numb. The last two hours were on Business and Politics in the New Russia (aka economics). The presenter, a lawyer-turned-professor, was okay, but there is a reason why I don't teach economics. Much of what he was talking about and what appeared on his PowerPoint slides was over my head... By 5pm, I was starting to hallucinate...

We had a group dinner at 5:45pm at a nearby restaurant. Everyone is starting to get to know each other a little better-- it's interesting to see the group dynamics at work (like in the classroom).

Today's menu begins with a high school teacher who was on the 2004 trip, then we have a bona fide trip orientation by the seminar director who will be accompanying us to Vladimir, then some videos until 5 or so. Shouldn't be as brain-numbing as yesterday!

Anyway. It has been a great experience so far... We are scheduled to depart for Russia via (first leg) a flight to Atlanta from Bloomington (IL)-- to get to the airport, we have to get on a bus at 3:30am Monday. That will be one long trip. There's a lengthy layover in Atlanta before getting on the really long flight to Moscow; once in Moscow, we get on another bus to make the 2-hour trip to Vladimir...

So, that's it for now. You know the drill... Coffee!!

Where's Waldo?

This is another cellphone pic (thus the quality, subject notwithsatnding). By the Internatiolnal Studies Bldg. sign (where we have our lectures). The tall building behind me and to the right is our dorm.

Russian geography, history, et al

Yesterday was a long day. It seemed like we were anchored in our chairs in this same conference room forever (I think my butt went to sleep twice)!

But it was an interesting one. In the morning there were two lectures, the first on Russian and Eurasian geography (and ethinic groups), the other on Russian environmental issues. The program folks bought us lunch in the dorm dining facility (it was palatable) and then the afternoon sessions picked up a bit. We spent a good 3 hours with THE premier Russian history expert (and prolific author) of our day (as he is know around here), a U. of Illinois professor named Mark Steinberg. This guy's presentations were fascinating (to me, anyway); he is especially interested in the 1917 revolution and the life of the last tsar, which he talked about for half the time. The last portion of his lecture was on Russian peasantry (doesn't sound like an overly stimulating topic, I know, but it was good, too!). After that was a lecture on Russian folk music-- by the time the nice lady was ready to begin, we were all ready for a nap... But hers was interesting information, as well.

We walked a few blocks for dinner (and to restore blood flow to our internal organs-- brain, mostly) and then, as fate would have it, there were technical difficulties, so we didn't sit through the planned hour and a half of videos. I was glad, because I was ready for the rack (and I wasn't the only one)...

Today we have politics, politics, and-- you guessed it-- more politics. Then a group dinner somewhere and nothing afterward.

So, as is my now-established routine, I must go get coffee. Or perish. :)

Speaking of the Gulag...

...well, I wasn't, but I just thought I'd mention a book I'm almost finished reading called Dancing Under the Red Star by Karl Tobien. I sort of stumbled onto this book while I was wandering around a Borders Book Store last week. It's an easy read about the only American woman (one of only two Americans) to survive the Soviet Gulag system under Stalin. In the 1930s, Henry Ford sent a few hundred families to live and work in Gorky (now the city of Nizhny Novgorod). This young woman, Margaret Werner, was in her late teens when she was declared an enemy of the state (this, after the authorities came and got her father) and was sent to labor camps in Siberia.

I think it would be a book that high schoolers could read (and would get a lot out of). I'm considering assigning it or, at least, reading it in class next year.

That's it for now... Gotta find some coffee!

This is your name in Russian.

Well. What an afternoon. First, there was the lecture on Russian Electoral Reforms by a visiting professor from the University of Florida. Interesting, but it was a tad dry for me... Actually, someone in the crowd asked the lecturer a question and I understood neither the question nor the answer.

Then there was Russian Language 101 for almost two hours...

The pace picked up for the last lecture on cultural trends. Then there was a "wine and cheese" reception from 5-6pm (really). I had the opportunity to yak with the Russian lecturer who did the language/culture topics-- she is very nice and was amazed to hear that Russian is being taught in high school in Texas.

This was followed by a mass migration to some place called Murphy's for dinner. Now it's 8pm and I'm about to retire for the evening. What a party animal am I.

Tomorrow we have lectures into the after-dinner hours... The docket looks interesting enough. I'll let you know.

Until then...

Poka!

Not a great picture...

...but it's proof that I exist. This was taken by the teacher I'm rooming with in the computer room in Illini Tower. We spent a little time meeting the folks in the Russian Studies department here, where our lectures start at noon today.

Fireflies

Okay. Last night I landed in Champaign, Illinois, which, anyone here will tell you, is nowhere NEAR Chicago (we're two hours south). In fact, I think I'm closer to Kentucky than Chicago, actually...

The Champaign airport was practically empty when we arrived at 8:30pm last night. The largest plane on the tarmac was the one I got out of, a 90-person puddle-jumper. I chatted with the lady sitting next to me on the flight, which was a good thing; she offered me a ride to the U. of Illinois campus-- her son-in-law is a Miller beer salesman and is familiar with the layout and he picked her (us) up in her car. They were very nice people and they saved me the hassle of trying to find transportation on my own. (Though I'm sure her daughter and her husband wondered what kind of weirdo I might be...)

It was getting dark as we left the airport and everywhere were little flashing lights-- even in the middle of intersections. There were lightning bugs all over... Reminded me of Maryland or Pennsylvania.

My suitemate here is a history teacher who knows a little Russian. He's from the Seattle area and seems like a pretty nice guy. I haven't met anyone else yet; our first get-together is after lunch today.

I wandered out last night to get a bite to eat and there is NO doubt that this is a college campus! On my way to a small pizza place, I passed the Girls Gone Wild tour bus and there was loud music coming from just about every direction. Oh well. Only 4 days. And it's cool and quiet on the 10th floor of the dorm I'm in.

That's it for now.

Off to Champaign, Illinois...

Tonight I make my way to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the first step in my 5-week Russian odyssey. I'll be staying in a dorm building called the Illini Tower on the campus. With the exception of O'Hare airport, I have never really been to Illinois (well, I take that back...my family lived there briefly when I was a kid). For 4 or 5 days we will be attending pre-departure lectures on campus. I'm ready. Let the journey begin!