I've begun my ride on Raskolnikov Railways and am now fully engrossed in Crime and Punishment. I had a fair amount of difficulty early on while reading about an intense dream had by Raskolnikov. In the dream, an old mare is beaten to death, and her demise is written of in immense detail across (in my edition) four excruciating pages. While it was uncomfortable to read such an elaborate description about an animal being flogged, I've been exploring some literary theory on that particular scene and find the explanations for it quite compelling. I hope to delve further in to the novel soon. I haven't had much time for personal reading due to schoolwork, but the end of the semester is in sight and I hope to gobble up many more pages over winter break.
In my Russian 101 course, we're currently working on the mastery of numbers through 199. I find numbers to be some of the easiest words to learn in foreign languages. When I'm first learning to count in new languages, I practice constantly while walking around. I've been reciting Russian numbers whenever I can - counting steps ands stairs, reading license plate numbers, reciting phone numbers.
Aside from numbers, my class is preparing dialogues to be recited and recorded this week. My partner and I have prepared a conversation in which one of us is an American student and the other is a Russian student. In the dialogue we practice our use of Russian prepositional case extensively, and I'm feeling much more confident than I did at our mid-semester recording assignment. I feel like I've at least obtained a survivalist level of Russian speaking ability.
Tonight I'm going to purchase a little notebook that I can keep with me and jot down words I'd like to learn in Russian. I'm hoping to choose words that will be relevant in my everyday life so that I'll have an easier time cementing them in my memory. I'll make sure to post about the words I've learned!
