The Russians Have Landed!

I hereby have company that is going to stay for a couple of months.  My son-in-law's parents from Russia are between homes right now, so it was decided that they would come stay with me to help me clean up and clear out my house, and make repairs, for a potential move later in the year.   They arrived just after dark on Friday, Feb. 5th.

That first night, we just unloaded their car and chilled out a little.  The next day, they unpacked, set up their computers and got them connected to the Wifi.  All is well.

It's different having other people in the house with me.  I'm not used to that, but I welcome the company as long as we can all function without getting in each other's way.  So far, so good....but it's only been two days.  I'm sure, in time, they will gripe about me and I will gripe about them.  For now, I am grateful for the help they bring me.

Their names are Luda and Sergei.  The first time I met Luda, Sergei had stayed back in Russia.  Talking to and understanding her became an exercise in frustration, just to try to communicate  across the language barrier.  It was exhausting!  We would try to talk for a bit and look forward to her son's return from work, just so we'd have an interpreter.  Then we'd invariably go to our own separate corners of the house for awhile.  Both of us.  It was as tiring for her as it was for me.

The next time I was with her, Sergei had come, too.  He knew less English than Luda.  Some of our communications were humorous.  He knew enough to say "night food" when something he liked to eat was brought into the house.  Still, Sergei was what we would call a "sleeper".  He listened and he picked up on things.  The very next time I saw him, maybe a year or more later, he was MUCH easier to talk to.  (So was Luda, but she is less worried about making mistakes in chatter.  She talks; Sergei listens.  The result is the same!)

So now, after almost a year of living in the US, and several months of taking an ESL class at the local community college near where my daughter and son-in-law once lived, they have improved enough to function in the real world.  Where I once just acknowledged that I knew what they were saying, mistakes and all, I now correct them.  We have daily English lessons.  Today, the question was how/when to use "not".  I've never taught English to people who didn't speak it natively (even though native speakers mess it up A LOT).  I had to explain that "not" is tied to a verb...not a verb in itself.  You can't correctly say, "I not go".  It took a lot of explaining on my part.  I think Luda got it, finally, even though she pointed out to me that "go" was a verb, so why wouldn't "I not go" work?  Whew!  Excellent question!  Hard to explain!  Took probably an hour to get through...but you know what?  Until you have taught English to someone who doesn't speak it as a first language, you don't really understand how tough English is to learn!!!  Today's lesson probably took an hour.  Thank God, they are willing learners!

What is the old Girl Scout saying?  "Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better."  We're going to make this work because we need each other.  I can offer them a place to be for a couple of months, and they have the youth, energy, and drive to keep on when I give up.  Damn the torpedoes.  Full speed ahead!