Day 2 - Did not go to plan. I did my free listening (yeah!), but fell asleep in the evening putting my youngest daughter to bed. So I didn't get around to doing the other tasks (was planning on getting them done in the evening), as I didn't wake up again until the morning!
Day 3 - Did my free listening. A mixture of listening to the radio and youtube videos. When first listening to Russian radio it seemed that the presenters were speaking incredibly fast, actually I couldn't figure out where one word ended and the next began. I've found that I'm already getting used to this - although it's still fast it's making more sense as I became accustomed to the speed. Obviously on most language courses and CDs speech is much slower, so listening to Russian at 'real speed' wasn't going to be easy at first. I'm able to pick out words I know more and more as well. Also listening to songs really helps as a lot of words are repeated, plus some of it is really quite good! I found a Russian children's radio station where they do speak slower, but some of the music isn't great. I listened to about an hour today. I've found the more I listen to the more I want to listen. Instead of turning on my favourite radio station when cooking for instance, I'm putting on the Russian one instead. I also did my active reading/writing, went through my flashcards and spent some time on memrise. So all in all a good day - hopefully making up for my lack of Russian yesterday.
Day 4 - Did everything I should do today and a bit more. Also went on memrise for about 15 minutes, and started working through one of the many Russian course books I have. This was just a basic one with stuff I already know, but it's always good to revise!
Day 5 - Mixed day. I did lots of listening, but mixed it around. Listened to audio from here, and some songs from here. I also listened to some Russian podcasts from this site - especially the stories and poetry. I went on memrise for about 20 minutes. I didn't do any writing though :/
So far the language blast has made my realise a few things. I need variety in what I listen to and the materials I use daily. Doing the same thing everyday is hard, but just setting aside the time or knowing I need to make the time has created a space where Russian has happened everyday. Even if I haven't done exactly as outlined in the book, I have done something. Once I start I also tend to go on longer than I anticipated. I think I'll study for 15 minutes and next thing I know an hour has passed. The more I do the more I want to do. I also realised how little I know, but try not to dwell on it. I have my whole life to improve! I will be carrying on the challenge over the weekend as well and will update on Monday.
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