I was born in the Soviet Union, came over as a 5 year old, and have seen my Russian getting worse and worse due to a lack of exposure. I’ve been using quarantine as a way to practice and improve my Russian through daily lessons in the Duolingo app. It’s a well designed app and while it has some flaws I’m on a 191 day streak and am loath to give it up. One thing that’s surprised me was how I’ve subconsciously picked up the Russian keyboard layout. I started having to hunt for each letter but these days have a subconscious feel for where the letters are. I actually do a better job typing without any thought than trying to figure out what letter comes next and where it is.

Maybe this is my early Russian immersion coming back. Or maybe it’s just the way we build habits. Or maybe it’s a bit of both. I just find this stark example of separation between the conscious and subconscious fascinating.