If you haven't checked out our new blog, you need to!!!
We are now posting our family/culture posts on our McDougle Family Blog. So if you are keeping up with us through blogs, you need to switch over and sign up for e-mail notifications for our new blog!
http://www.mcdouglefamily.com/
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
First Time
Last night (Saturday) I was called by a brother in the church here who asked me to do the greeting at church on Sunday morning. I said yes and didn't think much more about it for the rest of the night. I guess I was just excited for the Texas Tech v. Kansas State game to come on (I watched some of it through a friends Skype video). So I stayed up until 3 am watching the game and didn't prepare what I would say.
So this morning I woke up and asked Lucy what she thought I should say. She said that she didn't know, but she said that whatever I say, it should be in Russian. My immediate response was "No!" However, while getting ready for church, I decided that I would go ahead and try it. So with about 10 minutes to go before leaving for church, I worked out what I would say for the greeting.
Of course I was nervous, since this was my first time to speak in Russian in front of the church. However, it went very well and I was quite pleased. After church I received several positive comments from various people. I'm glad that Lucy encouraged me to take this step.
On another note, we had some people over for dinner last night. They are a couple who have been coming to our LST studies each week, and we wanted to see them one last time before we moved to Ukraine. While eating our borsh soup, the lady told Lucy that it was delicious. Then she asked that if instead of saying delicious, she could say that the soup was "mouse water." Neither one of us understood what she meant at first. Finally we came to realize that she meant mouth watering. But with the Russian accent it still came out "mouse watering." I'm sure we have had many of these types of experiences in Russian and will continue to have them.
So this morning I woke up and asked Lucy what she thought I should say. She said that she didn't know, but she said that whatever I say, it should be in Russian. My immediate response was "No!" However, while getting ready for church, I decided that I would go ahead and try it. So with about 10 minutes to go before leaving for church, I worked out what I would say for the greeting.
Of course I was nervous, since this was my first time to speak in Russian in front of the church. However, it went very well and I was quite pleased. After church I received several positive comments from various people. I'm glad that Lucy encouraged me to take this step.
On another note, we had some people over for dinner last night. They are a couple who have been coming to our LST studies each week, and we wanted to see them one last time before we moved to Ukraine. While eating our borsh soup, the lady told Lucy that it was delicious. Then she asked that if instead of saying delicious, she could say that the soup was "mouse water." Neither one of us understood what she meant at first. Finally we came to realize that she meant mouth watering. But with the Russian accent it still came out "mouse watering." I'm sure we have had many of these types of experiences in Russian and will continue to have them.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Fun With Russian
A while back I wrote about the Russian word for ladybug, and about how Lucy and I thought that it was funny. In this post I wanted to share with you some fun things about the Russian language. We have to look for some of these fun things to keep us going because learning Russian really isn't that fun. We have heard before that Russian is the language of heaven, because it takes an eternity to learn!
Ladybug (божья коровка bozhya karovka) - God's little cow
Armpit (подмышка podmishka) - Under the little mouse (thanks to Brandon Price for leading me to this)
Here is a Russian word that has two very different meanings:
причастие (preechasteeye)- This translates either to communion (like at church) or participle (grammar).
It is interesting that when I bring the previous words to the attention of a Russian, they have never thought about it like we do. They never have connected that the word for communion is the same word for participle. When I point it out they are a little confused at first and then just begin to laugh.
We have also figured out that something interesting about "pet names" in Russian. In English we call those we love by various names: sweetie, pumpkin, sweetie pie, honey, etc. In English, most of our pet names come from food. Russians' pet names come from animals or insects. So sometimes I call Lucy my little cow!
I also learned yesterday that it is a compliment to call a girl a Русалка (Rusalka). A rusalka is a "mermaid-like demon." When you call a girl a rusalka you are saying that she is very beautiful. You can read about rusalkas here. So I just learned a new name I can call Lucy! She is my mermaid demon :-)
There are a couple of interesting things that I want to share that have nothing to do with the language, but a bit with the culture. First, when buying flowers for somebody, they should always be in odd numbers. The only time when you give flowers in even numbers are when somebody dies. Secondly, on birthdays the cakes should be round or oval, not square or rectangle.
Ladybug (божья коровка bozhya karovka) - God's little cow
Armpit (подмышка podmishka) - Under the little mouse (thanks to Brandon Price for leading me to this)
Here is a Russian word that has two very different meanings:
причастие (preechasteeye)- This translates either to communion (like at church) or participle (grammar).
It is interesting that when I bring the previous words to the attention of a Russian, they have never thought about it like we do. They never have connected that the word for communion is the same word for participle. When I point it out they are a little confused at first and then just begin to laugh.
We have also figured out that something interesting about "pet names" in Russian. In English we call those we love by various names: sweetie, pumpkin, sweetie pie, honey, etc. In English, most of our pet names come from food. Russians' pet names come from animals or insects. So sometimes I call Lucy my little cow!
I also learned yesterday that it is a compliment to call a girl a Русалка (Rusalka). A rusalka is a "mermaid-like demon." When you call a girl a rusalka you are saying that she is very beautiful. You can read about rusalkas here. So I just learned a new name I can call Lucy! She is my mermaid demon :-)
There are a couple of interesting things that I want to share that have nothing to do with the language, but a bit with the culture. First, when buying flowers for somebody, they should always be in odd numbers. The only time when you give flowers in even numbers are when somebody dies. Secondly, on birthdays the cakes should be round or oval, not square or rectangle.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Our First Care Package!
Yesterday we received our FIRST care package!! It was very exciting. Livia (my sis) called and wanted to know some stuff that we would like because she wanted to send us a care package! Naturally, we were very excited! We were anticipating it to take 2-3 weeks because my mom had previously sent Dougle a book and me some vitamins through the mail, and it only took 2 weeks for each of those pack
ages to arrive. However, as 4 and almost 5 weeks rolled by, we were getting a bit worried about it. But, to our delight, it arrived in just under 5 weeks!Our care package came decorated with 41 cent stamps all over the front of it! I think they were trying to use up all the 41 cent stamps they had, since the price has gone up! It made for a very pretty wrapping! :) It contained 3 pregnancy shirts and one pregnancy undershirt for Lucy, several packages of a special Chi Tea for Dougle, and a travel magnadoodle for Canaan! We have all enjoyed our new things! It was so fun to receive the package and feel loved and cared for! It was great knowing someone thought of us in such a special
way! So, Thank You LIVIA and DAVID!!!It was our first and last care package that we will receive in Russia. However, if you wish you could have sent us a care package, YOU CAN! We just have to move to Ukraine and get an address. The exciting part is there is an excellent shipping company we have recently heard of that sends packages for a really decent price! To ship overseas through the post office, it costs close to $1 per ounce! That gets expensive fast! However, this company will ship things to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries for $1.10 a POUND! We've heard from some other missionaries in Ukraine that they are VERY reliable! We are very excited about his option, and have a list started of things we miss that we can't get here! So, once we get a permanent address in Ukraine, we will be able to receive packages!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
We Have Them
A couple of weeks ago our family went to the Ukrainian embassy here in Moscow to turn in all of our documents. They gave us back our passports that same day and told us to return on the morning of September 25 to turn in our passports. Then we would be able to return in the late afternoon to pick up our visas.
So this morning I headed to the center to turn in our passports. When I arrived there was an extremely long line. I didn't want to wait in the line so I just went in when the door opened, cutting in front of everyone. Before you become angry at me for cutting in line, I was at the Embassy for a different reason than all those in line. Very few people come to the Embassy here for a visa since Russians aren't required to have a visa to go to Ukraine. So it was perfectly fine for me to cut in front of everyone!
After turning in our passports I had some lunch and then spent some time in and around Red Square and the Kremlin. I also headed to Starbucks to get a good cup of coffee. I really appreciate Starbucks because it helped me survive culture shock!
So after a full day in the center, I returned to the Embassy to pick up of passports with Ukrainian visas in them. When I went in they were all ready for me. The lady who was working at the window (the same one that was there last time too) was very nice and even said that Canaan resembles me. So we have our Ukrainian visas for one year! Our move is coming soon! Keep us in your prayers.
So this morning I headed to the center to turn in our passports. When I arrived there was an extremely long line. I didn't want to wait in the line so I just went in when the door opened, cutting in front of everyone. Before you become angry at me for cutting in line, I was at the Embassy for a different reason than all those in line. Very few people come to the Embassy here for a visa since Russians aren't required to have a visa to go to Ukraine. So it was perfectly fine for me to cut in front of everyone!
After turning in our passports I had some lunch and then spent some time in and around Red Square and the Kremlin. I also headed to Starbucks to get a good cup of coffee. I really appreciate Starbucks because it helped me survive culture shock!
So after a full day in the center, I returned to the Embassy to pick up of passports with Ukrainian visas in them. When I went in they were all ready for me. The lady who was working at the window (the same one that was there last time too) was very nice and even said that Canaan resembles me. So we have our Ukrainian visas for one year! Our move is coming soon! Keep us in your prayers.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Heat is On.
In a previous post, Lucy explained how and when the Moscow city officials decide to turn on the heat. I also heard this same thing at school from one of my teachers. However, I think the city officials are just crazy and decide to turn the heat on whenever they like.
Yesterday was one of our warmest days in weeks (getting into the 50's). Mid afternoon Lucy heard our heaters making some noise and soon they were producing heat. So now we have to keep the windows open to keep the apartment from getting too hot. Of course the heat is only on in our living room and kitchen, but not our bedroom. Not sure how that happened.
We can tell that winter is coming soon. We do like winter, but don't think we are quite prepared for it. This has been a pretty short summer for us here in Moscow. Most of the summer we had to wear at least a light jacket because of how cool it was outside. Hopefully moving to Kharkov will give us a few more weeks of warmer weather before the snow begins to fall.
On another note, I go today to the Ukrainian embassy to pick up our visas. This will be a full day process, but we are excited to finally have our visas.
On yet another note, soon we will be moving over to a new blog. Since we will no longer be living in Moscow and the name of our blog is "moscowmissions", we thought it would be a good idea to get a blog without the name 'moscow' in it. So keep your eyes open for our new blog coming soon.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Cold, Heat and Flowers
As you might guess, it is cold here in Moscow now. The temperatures have been hovering in the 40's for the past 2 weeks, though I don't think it has got down below freezing yet. Though we weren't quite ready for wearing coats and hats yet, we are getting used to it. When Canaan and I were out for a walk the other day, I (Lucy) was s
surprised, however, to find that several flowers are still blooming!
Though our apartment is still pretty warm, we've been wondering when the heat would come on. If you remember, the government supplies the hot water and heat here in Moscow. At a certain time in the year, the radiators come on and stay on all winter long. There is no thermostat on these radiators. Last winter in our apartment, the radiator worked so well, that we ended up wearing short sleeves most days, as well as keeping
a window open for a bit of fresh air.
Recently we talked with a friend, and he said that the government announced that it is ready for winter, but that they are waiting to turn on the heat until it has been an average temperature of 8 degrees centigrade (about 46 degrees F) for 5 days in a row. While I thought it had been this cold for a week already, apparently I am wrong! I think that the wind we've had recently has just made it feel cooler! However, if any public institution, like a school or hospital, requests their heat be turned on, they can call and it will be turned on now. So, that is the latest news on the heat here in Moscow!
surprised, however, to find that several flowers are still blooming!Though our apartment is still pretty warm, we've been wondering when the heat would come on. If you remember, the government supplies the hot water and heat here in Moscow. At a certain time in the year, the radiators come on and stay on all winter long. There is no thermostat on these radiators. Last winter in our apartment, the radiator worked so well, that we ended up wearing short sleeves most days, as well as keeping
a window open for a bit of fresh air.Recently we talked with a friend, and he said that the government announced that it is ready for winter, but that they are waiting to turn on the heat until it has been an average temperature of 8 degrees centigrade (about 46 degrees F) for 5 days in a row. While I thought it had been this cold for a week already, apparently I am wrong! I think that the wind we've had recently has just made it feel cooler! However, if any public institution, like a school or hospital, requests their heat be turned on, they can call and it will be turned on now. So, that is the latest news on the heat here in Moscow!
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