Eastern Daylight Time – a beautiful thing, if you happen to live on the east coast. I think that I am officially back on my normal time schedule after a week of intense training and field trips in Fairbanks, Alaska. That being said, now that I am over the exhaustion, I have hit the ground running with my list of stuff to do as I prepare for my PolarTREC expedition.
One endeavor that has been entertaining, as well as educational is learning some Russian. I have borrowed a set of CDs with Russian lessons and a small book of useful phrases. The language lessons are about a half hour long and I listen to them and speak aloud all the way to work and back each day. I have now begun to master phrases like "I understand a little Russian", "Do you understand English?", "I am an American" and "excuse me". All of these seem useful and will certainly be helpful while we find our way across the continent to the Kamchatka Peninsula. The small book of phrases has been extremely entertaining. It has the usual practical stuff such as "Where is the bathroom?" and "Where's the baggage claim?" Then there is a special section in the back of the book with a myriad of phrases that although extremely useful, I hope I never have to put into use. These include "I'm innocent.", "Please take me to my embassy." and the ever popular "I need a lawyer who speaks English." …Oy! Let's keep our fingers crossed that these don't come into play for our team.
Well, for now comrades – Da svidanya (Good Bye)!