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We are a team of people trying to reach people in Ufa and Bashkortostan in Russia. It is no small task and we want your support!
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Monday, January 16, 2012

After Six Months....

Time has flown by here in Ufa! Some days I feel as if I just walked off the plane and others as if I have been here for ages. Overall, I can say that I am blessed to be here in Ufa. My experience as a student at the Bashkir State University has only been pleasant. The professors are all more than willing to help, not only with learning Russian, but also with adapting to life here. The International Department is always interested in knowing how I am settling in, if I’d like to go to any ballets around town or other cultural events, and how they could be of help to me. This has made it easier to feel more at home in a country so far away from close family and relatives.

Another thing that has helped with settling in here in Ufa has been the amount of locals that have been willing to help me. Through everyday events I have come across people that give me the right directions if I don’t know the way, talk with me about my dog and how I can make life better for him, people who have an interest in learning English, and many others. Though there have been events in which I did not feel welcome, those also happen where I’m from. People are people all over.

One of the biggest things I have realized since being here is that I will always be a learner. I am constantly learning the Russian language. I am learning the culture. What I consider most important is that I am learning how to interact with people, how to ask questions that bring a conversation deeper than the everyday surface level stuff that most people stick to. How much can you really get to know a person if you stick to the usual questions that everyone asks everyday? I can learn how to be a better friend, how to meet needs that I might not have known about, otherwise.

One thing that I can share that I think I will never get used to is the lack of orderly lines. I don’t mean to poke or make fun, it’s just that I am so used to the queue system of a line almost everywhere in America. Here, I have had to get used to crowding and being more assertive than usual. One thing that I can say I will always value and probably miss when I go back to America is the system in place here to pay for certain services such as internet and cell phone service. All around town are little machines that you can enter info into as well as put money in and it adds it to your account. Though some may argue it may be easier to do all that online, I have really come to appreciate those machines and how easy it is to use them.