Hey guys! Well, I must still be in stage one of culture shock, as I haven't yet been completely frustrated by Russian life yet. Granted I've only been here a couple of weeks, but having already lived in Moscow for seven months, I'm already pretty used to the hectic pace of life in a huge metropolis.
Latest news on the homefront: I've been recruited to join the Moscow International Choir, rehearsals for which began last night. Our conductor's name is Sergei, and well, let's just say, he's...enthusiastic. I always enjoy working with conductors who are passionate but also encouraging of all choristers. Once again, tenors are famously underrepresented, and two of whom are female. That brings our staggering section up to 5. Then again, being quite accustomed to frequently singing tenor alone, 5 seems like 50. Anyways, we're singing Vivaldi's Magnificat, which is beautiful, but of course quite difficult (thank you, Baroque composers, for writing spectacular but super complex vocal music), you know, being VIVALDI. I am quite excited, despite the ridiculous amount of tritones (DIABOLUS IN MUSICA!!!!! Music majors will get this reference, lol). We're also doing Christmas music, and I hear talk of excerpts from the Messiah as well, even though it would make more sense to sing it at Easter, despite its being performed at Christmas more and more often. Rehearsals are every Tuesday evening at the church, at which I also sing twice every Sunday. Apparently I'm also going to be singing at Catholic and Orthodox churches throughout the city (NB: this is NOT true, people like to exaggerate, even though it would be cool to sing with a Catholic church again...:))
That's the major news I have to report. On the academic front, I met with my research advisor on Monday to discuss my thesis ideas, and while he encouraged me to broaden the scope of the paper and focus more on how fairy tales portray Russian culture, I am determined to stick to a pedagogical approach. The thesis only needs to be about 25-40 pages, so I am sure I can cover that in a paper, possibly touching on culture, but obviously focusing more on grammar/teaching. I found some useful textbooks on teaching Russian as a foreign language and using fairy tales in the classroom, so they will make interesting and highly useful secondary materials. ONe thing I will need to determine is what kinds of fairly tales to use: folk tales or fairy tales as literature (Chukovsky, Barto, etc..)Tomorrow I'm going to be listening to a spetkurs (special course) on fairy tales, which will have a great influence on my research, plus reading fairy tales are just plain fun. :)
Less fun is trying to find a mainstream course but I'm going to try again tomorrow afternoon. After stylistics in the morning, there should be a lecture on Eurpoean musical culture (basically Music History, only in Russian, of course). Hopefully it won't be cancelled again. I also found out that my Russian history class starts next week, first class Monday morning at 10:30. The earliest class I have is at 10 on Thursdays, my other classes (apart from history) meet in the afternoon. I also don't have class on Fridays. :))) Pretty good life, you may think, just wait until rehearsals and research take up all my valuable As Time Goes By time (I've been obsessed with watching that series) of late. For fans of British comedy I highly recommend it, starring the legendary Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer.
That should be all for this week. I got home late from rehearsal last night, having went out to dinner with some friends from choir, so an early night is in order this evening, all the more so because I have to leave my flat at 9 to make it to the university in time for Stylistics. Woot. Peace out, everyone! ;) Drop me a line sometime!!!
Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to write down quotes from rehearsal last night, but I foresee many great Sergei quotes, lol. So I will close with my all-time favorite...
"You're taking the train to Russia?" Now four years old, but still as fresh now as it was when I first read that IM...:)))
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