8 months already?

So how are we all suppose to feel for the first time in 7 months after tasting civilization? Like were tired? Yea, after talking with some of the other students, we all agreed that were all different after our trip to Moscow and Peter. How life slowly started to readjust itself. I felt this also when I arrived from Moscow. It felt as if life wasn’t the same as beforу
So after our rotary meeting, my clothes arrived, and I was told that I would go my my possible last family on Sakhalin. Well at rotary, we had out happy dollar. And as recent news, I decided to give 100rubles (actually about 3-4 dollars) for my brother, Ryan. When it became my turn, unlike the others, I stood up, and said. “This is to my brother ryan, who received free college in Ohio State University, the best school in our state. And for 6 weeks, he will be in MSU, Moscow State University (debatably the best school in Russia), to study Russian. The entire rotary club erupts in applause.. Ryan, You’re welcome ;)
I moved into my new (and 5th) family on Sakhalin. Some first notes about my family. The father, oleg, very kind and nice, has already allowed me to address him in the Russian formal version and not polite like I had always done with my previous families. The daughter, 14 years old, named dasha, and the wife, nina. Within a few days, I saw that unlike most host families, my key to survival in this one, was friendship with the host father. Within the first 2 days in my family, it was my host sister’s birthday, so we invited some family friends over and celebrated. I gave her a bear for her bday, as i didn’t know her well enough to risk something else, so I played it safe. So as always, we have English club in the library usually a few times a week. Thanks to the club ive been able to talk about rotary and America. Yet this time, I wasn’t speaking, I was observing, as a british man told us about his work in Sakhalin. The topic was difficult but it was all he had at the time. I surprised him when I spoke English because he didn’t expect any fluent native speakers in the audience, and when I spoke his eyes looked at me differently and said “you don’t sound Russian” “yea I know, all my friends taunt me about that. They say “aaron, you’ve made great efforts to speak Russian, but you sound like the most American person in the world when you do” he laughed, and then had to leave, I didn’t get much time to talk with him. But I got time to talk with some more familiar people. My friends ive met who work off shore for exxon gas. Who was just recently released from his job, he was happy to see me. And a new friend named vladimor, who arrived specially from habarovck (Russian trader city. Also where my host family is from) especially to learn English. But he didn’t know who to help him outside of class. So he came to me. He said that if I can teach him english, he will be able to land a job with exxon, and earn enough money to support his family, and he would be very grateful. So I agreed, although my record in landing people with jobs in Russia with help in english is 0-1. I must always say yes. When I went home, the father held a surprise for me.. it was his birthday! And nobody told me. He invited his son over, and we instantly became friends over one topic, online gaming. We talked about my game “Guild Wars” and his “World of Warcraft”.. fierce rivals. But we had fun discussing the differences between the two and the other games we played.
So while I was reading the blogs of the other students, I got inspired to do something that they almost all were doing. And that was to pick up a second language while on their exchange. The other seemed to pick up French, well I decided to pick up my old friend and heart breaker, Japanese once again. I studied Japanese in the US for 8 months, but when I got Russia, I had to give up my studies, I remember how I couldn’t form one sentence, and how frustrated I got with the writing system and grammer structure. And how much easier Russian seemed when I got to learning it. Well now that im older and more mature, I can see the bigger differences between these 2 languages. Russian writing system has absolutely no way in anyone believing that its harder than Japanese. In Russian there are approx. 33 letters, half of which are roman and the other half are different shapes, with 2 letters which change the soft or hard soundings of words. In japanese, the meain writing system consists of 3 sets, hiragana, katanana, and kanji. Hiragana and katagana take separate shaoes but some sounds, each are used in different situations. Yet in one set alone there are about 40 or 50, (much harder to write than Russian letters) characters, then on top of that, they steal half of the Chinese characters, which is known as kanji. In all, it beats Russian writing. But Russian grammar, is probably the richest in the world, all nice and pretty, everytime new amazing things, adding to the complexity. Russian grammer destroys japanese grammer with ease. Although I still couldn’t form one sentence by myself in japanese after 8 months, and in Russian, I could after 2. To help my japanese, I got 50 giga bites of the language on a hard drive from a teacher, along with some culture notes and videos of castles and Kyoto, the city in which I would like to live in, the second capital of Japan is extremely beautiful. Compared to when I first tried to study japanese, its going along better, I still have my rosetta stone, but at home. So here im just focusing on remembering how to read, and thanks to japanese industry, I can read the japanese on trucks that pass by outside on the streets. I have probably learned over 100 characers already, but like I said, its nothing.
So my friends have been the force keeping me smiling in Russia it seems. They introduced to me, a new game. Called the “I” game. People stand in a circle and say I in turn. If you laugh, they add a name onto you. The more names, the funnier it gets, to the point where you cant remember all of them and you mess up saying stupid names and they have to restart all over again because it gets un fair.. best game in Russia, it beats the body beating one that karsakov club showed me. So my other friends, in the Korean church (which I still go to even though I don’t live with the Koreans anymore) held their easter service, as I forgot, it was easter. In Russia they give out little cakes and crack eggs against eachother, the ones’ whose breaks, loses. After my friends did performances, we went to a concert, where all the churches in the city sang about religion. Im agnostic, there by not a Christian, but it was nice to still be with people who accept me better then the others. There we also met people who arrived from the USA!! Also, but I don’t think they were native, as when I introduced myself to them, they didn’t know the word “exchange student”.
So for the first time I got to teach english to older people, mostly by talking and letting them hog the conversation and I correct them. My student brought his old tests and we went through them and corrected mistakes. He also showed me a very interesting method of learning english. You place 6 pictures in a story, then you select your english tense (which I now know hehe) and try to tell the story in only that tense, seems easy, but its actually very hard to do. Towards the end, he told me more about his work and life. How he arrived here and has been here for 6 months, and how the teachers teach the kids like they’re their kids. As he greatly speaks english for only learning it 6 months. At the end, he asks me for my age, and when I say 17. As usual, the answer is “I thought you were 24” but he gave me the compliment “you are very VERY smart for your age” made me feel good 
So on the 27th of april, it was the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, in the Ukraine. Not really significant, but with fukushima acting up, it made people think quite a bit. Weird how my mom was in Germany right after Chernobyl, and 25 years later, her sin is in Russia right after fukushima.. so close to the blasts, each of us were. On a side note, Russia totally copies the US. Recently the militia has been renamed the police, and for years they have instated government exams which were instated in the US also. All the civilians know it. So I now have a Russian tutor, sorts. Its my english student who I teach usually on Saturdays, weve agreed to split our classes into Russian and english, to help both os us. And he can (legally) sneak me into secret facilities in the local park, because his company gave him the park and he can take 10 friends. Teaching english rocks! I only wish I was good at english  but its enough to quote “really help out with speech”
So again, my church friends have struck with kindness, and after a Sunday service, treated me to a bread factory, like great harvest in Westerville, only seemingly better. Called windmill (translated). And after that, we went to go see Pio in the theatre. It and gulliever’s travels, are probably the most understandable movies I have seen in Russia. So I enjoyed myself. The next day, kindness struck again as they invited me to my Korean host father’s country house. Of course for the 3rd week in a row, it snowed (first time in my city there is snow in may) we still had a blast. I felt so stupid when the Koreans all spoke in Korean and (I think) said “let us pray” and everone broke out into loud praying, and im standing there clueless staring at an entire room full of loudly praying Koreans… I got it on camera. I have a translator, well 2.. Korean to Russian, and because they wanted to make sure that I would understand everything, they gave me Russian to english. But the lady took too long to translate and got cut off by the praying so I never heard it. This happened to me 5 times that day.. by the 3rd, I said, “what else can I pray for?.. god bless my socks?” I was really confused. But soon after, we ate a ton of meat, shish kabobs and friend meet. I loved those hours of just sitting, talking, and eating meet around a fireplace. I ate so much that I went home and couldn’t eat dinner. When I got home on the 2ND of MAY. I heard the news, Osama Bin laden had been killed in Pakistan. The rest of the day the biggest grin was on my face. And I watched the news the entire night. Every time Obama spoke, I smiled and I couldn’t help but chant out with the crowds on the TV, broadcasted through the British BBC. My host father couldn’t believe the news and asked me if I was mistaken. Sure his death won’t end the war, Within the next couple of days, I went with more friends and to see a movie about cars and people taking money, I don’t know the English name.. It was in rio de jinero. And my class prepared a party on the 9th of may.. in Russia its Victory day. Everyone in Russia loves this day, as it’s the day they beat the Germans in the great patriotic war, Russians really place high emphasis on their second front which forced Hitler to fight on 2 sides of Europe.