Shto Eta? Eta yeda. Eta yeda? Da, eta borshch.

So I'm learning Russian from a book I bought on Amazon for 10 bucks. It's pretty sweet and has 30 chapters, of which I've completed three. I think I should be able to get through it before heading out in August. Still, I've learned the alphabet and I'm learning cool conversations like the one in the title which goes:

Me (curious): What is that?
Host Family Member: That's food.
Me (not convinced): This is food?
Host Family Member: Yeah, it's beetroot soup.


Here's what borshch looks like:

Impressive huh? Even more impressive is the fact I am having to learn the Cyrillic alphabet to be able to write it. The letters are crazy and confusing because some of them look like letters we have, but they make different sounds. Here's how to write Kazakhstan in Russian:

Caption: "Kazakhstan, History Page"

Speaking of Kazakhstan, I leave two months from this past Tuesday. Back to the book I go.