I’ll only post a couple more entries about my time in Russia, but I did want to share a few of my favorite memories of problems I encountered with mixing English and Russian. Let me know your favorite ; )
1 ) Kids or Tea?
Nikita: “Do you want kids?”
Me: “Umm, well not right now…wait, what did you say?”
Nikita: “Do you want chi?”
Me: “OH! Tea. No. Not right now.”
2 ) English is Hard
Nikita was reading a book Katie got me just to show me he could read English outloud. He almost got through a whole paragraph perfectly until he got to the word “Judged.” He read it “jood-ged” and I just about died laughing (as did he when I said the correct pronunciation).
3 ) It’s a Rooster!
::Pasha and I walking past a cage of chickens and roosters at the Moscow Zoo::
Pasha: ::points to Rooster and declares:: “Cock.”
Me: “Well, yes, but we don’t really use that word because of its other meaning. It’s kind of bad.”
Pasha: “What else does it mean?”
Me: “Yeah, Cock is fine. Nevermind.”
Rooster at the Moscow Zoo
4 ) Rihanna Translated
::Rihanna’s S & M video comes on in St. Petersburg::
Me (to Nikita): “Yay American music! Even if it’s a little crazy.”
Nikita: ::Blank stare::
Me: “Do you know what the song is about?”
Nikita: “No.”
Me: “Oh. Well, kind of what s going on in the video. ” ::Proceeds to mime being handcuffed because that is the only thing I could think of in the moment besides pointing at the screen::
5 ) Signa…what?
Nikita: Kelly, what’s name of this? ::Points at alarm on iPhone::
Me: “Alarm.”
Nikita: “Uh-Larm.”
Me: “Yes. What’s it in Russian?’
Nikita: “Signalizatsiya.”
Me: 
……”I’m going to go with alarm.”
6 ) McDonalds = McDonalds
::Russian waitress asks to take my order at McDonalds::
Me: “Um, Nikita, can you help me? I want ::points to Chicken McNuggets meal::
Nikita (to waitress): “Chicken McNuggets.”
Me: -_- “Okay, I could have done that.”
7 ) Keeping Busy
::Talking with Alexi (a friend of Pasha’s who could speak English pretty well) about cars::
Me: “Most American’s drive an automatic car.”
Alexi: “I don’t like it. It’s too boring. You always need something to keep your hand busy.”
Me, Pasha, and Alexi: ::Dead silence for a few seconds, and then we all burst out laughing at what that statement implied::
8 ) Machinas!
::Watching Transformers in Russian and they happen to say the word “machina”::
Me: “Machina! That means car! They said car!”
::Nikita starts laughing::
Polina (in a teacher to a preschooler tone): “Very good Kelly.”
Me (proudly): “I understand like every 100oth word in this movie!”
9 ) Not Microbiology
::Nikita trying to explain a class he is taking in dental school::
Nikita: “We look at cells and use a microscope.”
Me: “Oh! Microbiology.”
Nikita: “No. That’s a different class.”
::Nikita shows me the textbook used for the class and then we translate it on Google to see that it’s the equivalent of Histology in English.::
Me: “OH. Histology…Yeah, I don’t know that word in English either.”
kellyschrumpf 