Encouraging news!

Today at my Russian lesson, Tatiana, informed me that she was sad. Vicki, an Englishwoman who has been studying here since November is leaving this Friday. Tatiana started thinking about my leaving in May and she said to me, "Jeff, you absolutely have to keep your Russian skills sharp. Find a way to use your Russian to return to us, because students don't easily achieve such language skills. You must not let this year of your life become a waste by letting your skills become rusty." And then she attacked my essay with her red pen. I was sad that there was so much red and said as much to her.

She then retorted that I had best not talk down about how many mistakes I'm making, because my writing style is completely different now. Now I get marked down for advanced errors instead of simple child-like errors.

Well, I'm encouraged and still frustrated. I have pulled myself up from my bootstraps and decided that I need to continue to approach Russian as a lifelong quest to know the culture, language, and people of this great country. So today I redouble (and retriple) my efforts to learn Russian verbal participles! Yes!