an irish pub in chinatown

Today I arrived in our nation's capital for the very official-sounding Fulbright Program to Europe and Eurasia Pre-Departure Orientation.  Even the abbreviation they put on all the documents (PDO) is official-sounding.  Presumably this four-day meeting will answer all of my questions and allay all of my concerns.  And the last two days will teach me how to teach English, since I've never done it before.  Yeah, I think two days should be enough, right?

I was able to fly directly from Columbus to Warshington.  It was easily the best flying experience of my short flying career.  The jet was a rather small 50-seater, but we had probably only 18 or so passengers, so the flight attendant let us fill out the unused rows.  I ended up sitting in the first row with the extra leg room next to the window.  Nice.

Got in plenty early and had no problems with baggage claim or snagging a taxi to the hotel.  I was even able to check in to my room right when I got there despite the fact that it was two hours until check-in officially started.  I used the hours I had to kill before the opening reception to grab some food and tour the Smithsonian Museum of American Art just two blocks down the road.  I must admit, though I knew theoretically that access to all Smithsonian museums is free, I felt a little weird just walking in and heading down a hallway toward the exhibits.  Gotta love those national museums!

The reception was actually quite nice and not the giant ball of awkward I'd feared it might be.  Most of the Fulbright students going to Russia found each other and got acquainted.  Everyone was extremely nice and genuine, though it got a little tiring having the same "where are you going?" exchange a dozen or so times.  After the reception most of us headed out the door to the heart of Chinatown, where the hotel's located.  Being in Chinatown, we naturally opted for the Irish pub.  Why not get the authentic experience, right?

I retired back to the guest room (they're not hotel rooms at the Renaissance, they're "guest rooms") early because I felt pretty drained after the travel, heat, and walking.  Tomorrow starts the actual informational portion of the PDO--it feels like it should be written PDO--the PDO, but it's at least off to a promising start.  And hey, for the regional politics session we got Anders Åslund, man!  Anders Åslund!

phonetics and other fine pursuits

I haven't written much for this blog, as I haven't had much to say.  Despite all the information I've been given, there's still a lot that I don't know.  Things have been getting clearer in the past few days, as I've finally established communication with who I presume will be my main contact at PetrSU, Tatiana.  I assume I'll learn a lot more at the pre-departure orientation in Washington in a few weeks.  Including how to teach English, presumably.

Anyways, Tatiana, in the two emails I've gotten from her, certainly seems nice and was able to answer some of my most burning questions.  Apparently I'll be starting off as an assistant to a teacher of English at the university, and if all goes well I'll likely take on some of my own lectures/classes.  The students at the university range from beginner to advanced proficiency, and most are either studying law, business, or tourism.  All three specialties of mine, fortunately.  I'm particularly looking forward to giving a lecture on the various "World's Largest [insert random item]s" I've seen.  A chair as big as a house, I tell you!

She also said she'd like it if I conducted a course on phonetics, as she explained that is an area where there are "big problems."  I naturally have no idea what phonetics are, so that should be no problem.  Are phonetics the same as phonics?  Because I'm hooked on those.  Any help is appreciated.  Basically, she said the most important thing will be that I participate in conversational practice, which shouldn't be too difficult because I, like, talk English good.  Kinda.

Perhaps most importantly, she said there shouldn't be any problem finding an apartment near the university, and gave me a website where I can check listings.  To paraphrase my good friend Tony, that's grrrrrreat!  I think I'd go mildly insane if I were forced to live in a dorm again.  And for those of you wise guys out there thinking, "what do you mean, go mildly insane," that's a relative statement.