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Learning Russian is NOT easy! But.... I am adapting :-) So far I can say a few words and phrases. That craziness in the title is how you say hello to someone you have just met. It is different from saying hello to your neighbor. Very formal and polite. 

My vocabulary includes some of the following and some I am still working on: 

EVERYTHING in this box is very useful here :-) I'm leaning to 

just be able to say these from muscle memory. But I have this 

handy cheat sheet and Google translate when needed. 

Вы говорите по-английски?	Vi gavareetye pa angleeskee?	Do you speak English?
Я плохо говорю по-русски	Ya plokha gavaryoo parooskee	My Russian is bad
Говорите, пожалуйста, медленнее	Gavareetye pazhalooystamyedleeney	Could you speak more slowly?
Я не понимаю	Ya nee paneemayoo	I don't understand
Я понимаю	Ya paneemayoo	I understand

BASIC Russian Greetings 

Доброе утро	Dobraye ootro	Good morning
Добрый день	Dobriy den'	Good afternoon
Добрый вечер	Dobriy vyecher	Good evening
Здравствуйте	Zdrastvooyte	Hello
Привет!	Preevyet	Hi!
Рад тебя видеть	Rat teebya veedet'	Nice to see you!
Как поживаешь?	Kak pazhivayesh?	How are you?
Спасибо, прекрасно!	Spaseeba preekrasna!	Fine, thanks!
Неплохо!	Neeploha!	Not so bad
Как Вас зовут?	Kak vas zavoot?	What's your name?
Меня зовут...	Meenya zavoot...	My name is...

We also have Rosetta Stone program fro Russian. It is helping alot actually. I was skeptical at first but have done it for a few months, I can understand the sounds of the Cyrillic Alphabet and sorta get the pronunciation right. I AM NO PRO! HA, I still struggle getting everyday things done when at the store. 

I was looking for freezer bags and that was such a problem. I'm sitting in the aisle with my phone and the WordLens app scanning every box looking for freezer bags... This app is so cool. It is a camera and you just hold it over the word and it translates for you. The store workers were laughing and smiling at me. Thank goodness for technology! Will was looking for Salsa and grabbed this bottle of what looked to be Salsa. It was red, chopped tomatoes with what appeared to be veggies in it. I pulled out the app and it turned out to be Zucchini backed in Tomato Sauce! HA! I should have told him it was salsa... I could finally get the man to eat some vegetables :-) Hehe... It is a learning process! 

Kids are picking up stuff too... Its cool listening to Mike and Ash try and say simple greetings. When the car picks us up and drops us off I encourage the kids to say Thank You and Good Bye. Well because they are a stranger, they say the formal good bye which is 

До свидания!

Da sveedaneeya

Good-bye!

Saying this is kind of hard so Mike's pronunciation is "Doe Dye Na" - I LOVE IT!!! Ashlynn's is something similar "Doves Dina" ... Maybe they will be pro's when we come back :-)