Yesterday was my first outing to practice Russian. We traveled over to the European side of the city where there are many clothing and textile wholesale stores. In this district you can find many different people of Central Asian countries, including many Russian speakers. We were pretty successful in finding and speaking with Russian speakers throughout the day. When we came across anyone that was willing to chat, I would give them the 'ole, "show up and throw up." I would tell them a bunch of random information about myself, and why I was studying Russian. They probably thought that I was crazy, but it was a good experience and the conversation practice really helped. They were all very complementary of my progress and it made me feel good. I told one of the guys that I was with, that even if they are lying through their teeth, it's nice to get some compliments every once in a while. I don't get many from my teacher.
While we were making our way down one of the narrow streets, we came across some Turkmen (these are not Turkish people, they are from Turkmenistan) who were selling these huge melons. The people that I was with recognized them immediately and recommended that we buy one. I have never seen anything quite like them. They were almost 2 feet long with a girth of about 12-15 inches, and weighed about 15-18 pounds.
It probably would have been a better idea to get them when we were finished with our day and ready to go home, but they were concerned that there wouldn't be any left, so we negotiated a price and bought two of them.
The bag that we put them in tore about a block away from where we bought them. So the rest of the day we had to cradle them in our arms like a baby. Everywhere we went, people were staring at us trying to figure out why these crazy Americans were trucking around the city carrying these huge melons.
Oh and by the way, remember my last post about the heat? Our melon adventure around the city was in what felt like 100 degree weather!
While we were making our way down one of the narrow streets, we came across some Turkmen (these are not Turkish people, they are from Turkmenistan) who were selling these huge melons. The people that I was with recognized them immediately and recommended that we buy one. I have never seen anything quite like them. They were almost 2 feet long with a girth of about 12-15 inches, and weighed about 15-18 pounds.
It probably would have been a better idea to get them when we were finished with our day and ready to go home, but they were concerned that there wouldn't be any left, so we negotiated a price and bought two of them.
The bag that we put them in tore about a block away from where we bought them. So the rest of the day we had to cradle them in our arms like a baby. Everywhere we went, people were staring at us trying to figure out why these crazy Americans were trucking around the city carrying these huge melons.
Oh and by the way, remember my last post about the heat? Our melon adventure around the city was in what felt like 100 degree weather!
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