More Language

Here we are with our language teacher, Olga! She is great! We meet with her twice a week. We actually meet right here in our kitchen. Usually either Philip or I will take the girls in the living room to play while the other is having lessons.
This is our last week of lessons, as we will be leaving for the States next Wednesday. We will pick back up when we return in January!

Sometimes I feel like I have made little to no progress with language, and then at other times I feel like, "yeah! I can understand what they just said!". It is a toss up. Just last week, Adalynn and I were on the bus back home, and we were sitting across from an older lady. She fixed Adalynn's hat because it wasn't over her ears all the way. Then she asked how old Adalynn was. I totally understood her and was able to answer in Russian. I suddenly had the urge to lose eye contact with her so I wouldn't have to talk to her in case I couldn't understand. But I decided to be brave and continue to talk with her. She asked where I was from, China (the usual), Korea, or Japan. I told her I was American, but that I was born in Korea (Thank you, Russian Language Institute in SC for making me memorize where I was from!). She asked if my parents where Korean, and I said no they were American. I couldn't remember how to say I was adopted, so I suppose she is totally confused. She is probably at home right now thinking about it! I was able to tell her that my family and I lived here in Vladimir, and that I had a husband and another daughter at home. That was the end because we came to our stop and I had to hull Adalynn, snowsuit and all, off the bus!
This was one of those days where I can say, "Yes! I have made some progress as far as language learning goes..." Obviously I am not having in depth conversations with people, but I can understand more and talk more than when we were here last January. Praise the Lord for His help! And Praise the Lord for a great language tutor here to help us!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen