I can't write a lot right now. In fact, I'm just killing time before Ivan and I walk back to the hostel. Long story short: I'm in love with Mongolia and never want to leave and didn't quite realize how cold and uncomfortable Russia was until I LEFT IT.
So my host mother, as usual, cooked a ridiculous amount of food for the train. As in, on the 2nd night, with some food from some of the other students, we managed to put together an entire dinner for four. Ivan, Sonya, and I were in one compartment, and Elissa, Joseph, and some Russian guy were in the one next to us. No one came to claim the 4th place which was EXCELLENT, because we had lots of room and a compartment all to ourselves. Also Joseph and Elissa could come and chill and not spend lots of time with the Russian guy. I would imagine it would be slightly uncomfortable at times.
So, after the first like, hour (of a 34 hour train ride) Sonya and Joseph decided it would be a GREAT idea to mess with this compartment of Australians (actually there were like 3. In fact, there were more English speakers in our wagon than Russian speakers. Also more Mongolian speakers than Russian speakers. I think there were maybe like 4 native speakers of Russian, if that. Anyway). They wanted to talk to them a little bit but not a whole lot, so they just came and spoke to them in this thick Russian accent and told them they wanted to "practice their English". Evidently this was hilarious (I didn't actually see), but they eventually caught on that something was up (Elissa heard them talking..."Okay well we know at least ONE of them is Russian but the other one is DEFINITELY American.") However, before they caught on, one of them stopped by our compartment to ask us a question and I almost died.
Australian: Train...Leave (hand motions involving some sort of swishing motion)....5 o clock? (holds up 5 fingers)
Sonya: Nu...dey...look at...passport...4 o clock.
I nearly died. More later.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
I'm writing more because I have nothing else to do.
So I'm really excited because I'm going to get my visa for CHINA in Mongolia so I can go and meet up with Jenna! This is going to be fabulous. It's almost November, which means I really have to start thinking about my travel plans for the end of December/beginning of January. I'm actually really excited. I think there are going to be a lot of people in Moscow/St. Petersburg around Christmas/New Years too. WHEEEEEE!!!
So Sonya and I walked about the Targovii Complex around the History Department yesterday. She showed me how very strange it was. There were like, 10 stores (2 of them selling fur coats), and around they had little couches and tables and a car. One of the couches was like 2 hands next to each other, which reminded me of Buster's hand chair in Arrested Development. Maybe when I get my power cord I'll download some off of itunes.
So, there's this girl, Tanya in our mainstream. She sort of has this weird fascination with foreigners, and we think she doesn't really have any actual Russian friends. So she texts me a lot and after class last week she asked where I was going afterwards. I told her to the bus station to ask about tickets to Olhon. She told me she'd walk with me, which is fine, but it's pretty far. Anyway, we walk, everything is nice, and then she asks me what I'm doing the next day. I tell her I have class in the morning but we could probably meet up in the afternoon if we wanted. We agree to do that, but then she wanted to know exactly WHEN I was going to class ("When are you going to Universitetskii (area where the mezhfak is)? 10:30? I'm going before 11! Let's go together!"). I don't quite understand, since she doesn't live near me. We'd have to meet at some agreed upon stop, then sit next to each other on the marshrutka, and then I'd leave to go to class. I completely didn't understand. But I said fine, we agreed to meet at the central market and go from there at 10:30. So I get a text message at 10:20 saying she can't get there in time, but let's meet at the corner of Lenin and Karl Marx, she'll be there in 20 mins. First of all, it's about 15-20 mins from me, and THEN we'd have to walk to another stop, and then go from there (usually a ride on the marshrutka is like 30-45 mins). So I really don't want to be late and I'm sort of irritated, but we meet up, ride, and I end up not being late. But then we meet up for lunch, and afterwards I say I'm going to the gym. "Like, right now? Where is the gym? Downtown? I'll ride with you!". Then she later asks when I'll be done at the gym. I say probably around 5. At 5:05 she starts calling me, and in 40 mins calls me SIX TIMES. I call her back. The conversation is as follows:
Natalie: Sorry, I had my phone on silent and didn't hear your calls!
Tanya: It's okay. Where are you right now?
Natalie: I'm leaving the gym.
Tanya: So you're downtown? Right now? Walking? Where are you going?
Natalie: I'm on my way home.
Tanya: oh...you're going home. *VERY clear dissapointment*
Natalie: Yea, I have to eat dinner quickly and then I have a meeting at 7.
Tanya: Oh, so you're busy later tonight.
Natalie: Yea, sorry.....
*long awkward pause*
Natalie: so....where are you?
Tanya: I'm at home. Bored.
Natalie: Oh....sorry. Well, yea. I'm on my way home.
Tanya: Okay. I guess I'll see you later.
It was more awkward than it seems.
Also every time I leave the (new, upscale, almost like something that could be found in America) gym, all of the women (and also some of the men) yell at me for leaving with wet hair. They also ask me if I want tea. Only in Russia does your monthly gym pass come with free tea after every workout. Things are even less awkward with the trainer that I don't really want help from but who continues to watch me as I work out. Only problem is I have no idea what any of their names are.
Also I need to be going more often but it's SO HARD. I think next time I'm going to get the pass that let's me go in the evenings, when I'm more free. Also I'm going to be spending like 4 hours a day at the civic center when I come home. This is ridiculous.
So, I realize I'm sort of a weird person, but I DON'T understand this whole homesick phase thing. Like, I'm here, and yes, there are some things that I'm frustrated by that I wouldn't be frustrated by if I were in America. But I'm not like ACTIVELY missing home or Middlebury. Like, yes, I'm excited for next semester and being back in the states, but I'm not finding myself sad here because I'm not there. Does that make sense? I just keep reading these comments where people are like "I MISS MIDDLEBURY AND HOME SOOOOO MUCH!" and yes, these places are without a doubt better than Russia. And yes, I would STRONGLY prefer it if I had independence and flexibility. But I'm not feeling this strong "missing" feeling that people keep describing. I don't know, maybe it would be different if I were going to be here longer. But I'm not going to be here for that much longer. Then again, I find that I don't actively miss things in general. The only time I experience that heartbreaking "homesick/missing" feeling that people describe is when I leave situations I will never be in again (for example, after my Washington Workshops program) or people I will probably never see again. Anyway the point of this is that I probably have some sort of mental imbalance. No big deal.
But my mom is sending me peanut butter, marshmellows, and jelly bellys soon, which is ridiculously exciting. I want to show my host family and all of my Russian friends.
I wrote a lot more yesterday before the internet cut out and this internet cafe and lost the last part of my entry. I saw THE BEST (well, what I thought was the best) kiosk the other day. It was entirely devoted to baby food. But then sonya told me she saw a kiosk entirely devoted to cat and dog food, so I guess that's better.
I get really excited about seeing people I recognize in the street. I realize that it's not THAT big of a deal, and Irkutsk really isn't that big of a city, but I feel like I see people I know everywhere. I've run into Elissa and Ivan in the street a couple times (well, we see each other like all the time, but still), I recognized some guy I rode the marshrutka with, this guy that checked our coats at Old Cafe (while coming out of the internet cafe, but I don't think he recognized me, which is unfortunate because we talked for like 20 mins), this girl from SPO Phoenix, Elissa saw Sasha, and so on and so forth. I don't know, I just get excited about it.
We went to the Zemfira concert on Tuesday night. It was really good, actually, I quite enjoyed it, and would like to return to this nightclub. This may be difficult, considering that my host mother doesn't want me out after 11. Sasha was there too (how does this happen? How does he end up where we end up so often? well, only like 3 times.)
These guys at the internet cafe are ALWAYS here and listen to this song that's really upbeat and when I first hear it, sounds like a techno remix of a song from The Phantom of the Opera (I'm completely blanking on which one right now).
Also I'm going to meet some people at a bar to listen to jazz music. I'm wearing a polo shirt and a sweater. This would probably be inappropriate attire in an American bar, but in a Russian bar, this is like completely unacceptable. Oh well. I don't really care, nor do I have appropriate attire for...well, Russia in general (by "appropriate" I mean ridiculously ugly clothes with high knee boots (actually I do have those...) and miniskirts (...actually I have one of those...)).
So Sonya and I walked about the Targovii Complex around the History Department yesterday. She showed me how very strange it was. There were like, 10 stores (2 of them selling fur coats), and around they had little couches and tables and a car. One of the couches was like 2 hands next to each other, which reminded me of Buster's hand chair in Arrested Development. Maybe when I get my power cord I'll download some off of itunes.
So, there's this girl, Tanya in our mainstream. She sort of has this weird fascination with foreigners, and we think she doesn't really have any actual Russian friends. So she texts me a lot and after class last week she asked where I was going afterwards. I told her to the bus station to ask about tickets to Olhon. She told me she'd walk with me, which is fine, but it's pretty far. Anyway, we walk, everything is nice, and then she asks me what I'm doing the next day. I tell her I have class in the morning but we could probably meet up in the afternoon if we wanted. We agree to do that, but then she wanted to know exactly WHEN I was going to class ("When are you going to Universitetskii (area where the mezhfak is)? 10:30? I'm going before 11! Let's go together!"). I don't quite understand, since she doesn't live near me. We'd have to meet at some agreed upon stop, then sit next to each other on the marshrutka, and then I'd leave to go to class. I completely didn't understand. But I said fine, we agreed to meet at the central market and go from there at 10:30. So I get a text message at 10:20 saying she can't get there in time, but let's meet at the corner of Lenin and Karl Marx, she'll be there in 20 mins. First of all, it's about 15-20 mins from me, and THEN we'd have to walk to another stop, and then go from there (usually a ride on the marshrutka is like 30-45 mins). So I really don't want to be late and I'm sort of irritated, but we meet up, ride, and I end up not being late. But then we meet up for lunch, and afterwards I say I'm going to the gym. "Like, right now? Where is the gym? Downtown? I'll ride with you!". Then she later asks when I'll be done at the gym. I say probably around 5. At 5:05 she starts calling me, and in 40 mins calls me SIX TIMES. I call her back. The conversation is as follows:
Natalie: Sorry, I had my phone on silent and didn't hear your calls!
Tanya: It's okay. Where are you right now?
Natalie: I'm leaving the gym.
Tanya: So you're downtown? Right now? Walking? Where are you going?
Natalie: I'm on my way home.
Tanya: oh...you're going home. *VERY clear dissapointment*
Natalie: Yea, I have to eat dinner quickly and then I have a meeting at 7.
Tanya: Oh, so you're busy later tonight.
Natalie: Yea, sorry.....
*long awkward pause*
Natalie: so....where are you?
Tanya: I'm at home. Bored.
Natalie: Oh....sorry. Well, yea. I'm on my way home.
Tanya: Okay. I guess I'll see you later.
It was more awkward than it seems.
Also every time I leave the (new, upscale, almost like something that could be found in America) gym, all of the women (and also some of the men) yell at me for leaving with wet hair. They also ask me if I want tea. Only in Russia does your monthly gym pass come with free tea after every workout. Things are even less awkward with the trainer that I don't really want help from but who continues to watch me as I work out. Only problem is I have no idea what any of their names are.
Also I need to be going more often but it's SO HARD. I think next time I'm going to get the pass that let's me go in the evenings, when I'm more free. Also I'm going to be spending like 4 hours a day at the civic center when I come home. This is ridiculous.
So, I realize I'm sort of a weird person, but I DON'T understand this whole homesick phase thing. Like, I'm here, and yes, there are some things that I'm frustrated by that I wouldn't be frustrated by if I were in America. But I'm not like ACTIVELY missing home or Middlebury. Like, yes, I'm excited for next semester and being back in the states, but I'm not finding myself sad here because I'm not there. Does that make sense? I just keep reading these comments where people are like "I MISS MIDDLEBURY AND HOME SOOOOO MUCH!" and yes, these places are without a doubt better than Russia. And yes, I would STRONGLY prefer it if I had independence and flexibility. But I'm not feeling this strong "missing" feeling that people keep describing. I don't know, maybe it would be different if I were going to be here longer. But I'm not going to be here for that much longer. Then again, I find that I don't actively miss things in general. The only time I experience that heartbreaking "homesick/missing" feeling that people describe is when I leave situations I will never be in again (for example, after my Washington Workshops program) or people I will probably never see again. Anyway the point of this is that I probably have some sort of mental imbalance. No big deal.
But my mom is sending me peanut butter, marshmellows, and jelly bellys soon, which is ridiculously exciting. I want to show my host family and all of my Russian friends.
I wrote a lot more yesterday before the internet cut out and this internet cafe and lost the last part of my entry. I saw THE BEST (well, what I thought was the best) kiosk the other day. It was entirely devoted to baby food. But then sonya told me she saw a kiosk entirely devoted to cat and dog food, so I guess that's better.
I get really excited about seeing people I recognize in the street. I realize that it's not THAT big of a deal, and Irkutsk really isn't that big of a city, but I feel like I see people I know everywhere. I've run into Elissa and Ivan in the street a couple times (well, we see each other like all the time, but still), I recognized some guy I rode the marshrutka with, this guy that checked our coats at Old Cafe (while coming out of the internet cafe, but I don't think he recognized me, which is unfortunate because we talked for like 20 mins), this girl from SPO Phoenix, Elissa saw Sasha, and so on and so forth. I don't know, I just get excited about it.
We went to the Zemfira concert on Tuesday night. It was really good, actually, I quite enjoyed it, and would like to return to this nightclub. This may be difficult, considering that my host mother doesn't want me out after 11. Sasha was there too (how does this happen? How does he end up where we end up so often? well, only like 3 times.)
These guys at the internet cafe are ALWAYS here and listen to this song that's really upbeat and when I first hear it, sounds like a techno remix of a song from The Phantom of the Opera (I'm completely blanking on which one right now).
Also I'm going to meet some people at a bar to listen to jazz music. I'm wearing a polo shirt and a sweater. This would probably be inappropriate attire in an American bar, but in a Russian bar, this is like completely unacceptable. Oh well. I don't really care, nor do I have appropriate attire for...well, Russia in general (by "appropriate" I mean ridiculously ugly clothes with high knee boots (actually I do have those...) and miniskirts (...actually I have one of those...)).
Random thoughts
These are all things I meant to post like a week ago, but then I was busy and in a chainsaw fight and I didn't really feel like I could talk about nothing when I just returned from the Siberian edition of The Shining.
So I had this really bizarre dream the other night. I was with a bunch of other people, and everyone had to have this brain surgery, but I REALLY didn't want to. I guess it would have no effect on anyone but me, and I was forced into it. Someone knocked me out and they did this surgery and it was this slow process where I lose my mind. I woke up before I lost my mind, thank God, but what does this say about me? or about RUSSIA?!
I bought a pair of boots. I love them. They have fur. Nadya said she assumed I was not a member of Greenpeace (is that how you spell it? I don't know, because I'm not IN THE GROUP). We laughed about it. Unfortunately I couldn't go off on my tirade about PETA people in Russian. I actually tried in an essay at the beginning of language school and failed miserably. (That was my "social problem". That there are PETA people in existence. Sad, that all the other social problems I couldn't even BEGIN to talk about...but I know how to say "animal" and "love" and "importance", and with some other words I could describe how ridiculous the entire organization is). The funny thing is, when I was buying boots I was looking for some that I could wear at home and in Russia (therefore I did not buy anything with heels, which actually made the process much easier, since 85% of all women's boots have heels). I also figured that I wanted fur, which narrowed it down even more, making this a fairly simply process. However, I'm not sure how successful I'm going to be when I try to wear fur boots at Middlebury (oh the irony! I wanted something I could wear in America as well! ha). Although I guess if someone confronts me about it I can then go off on my PETA hatred speech.
Eddie and Lyonya and Anya came over after that, and we sat in the kitchen and drank tea and ate lots of cookies and talked for like, 2 hours. Every time Karrina sat on my lap Eddie asked me if she was going to become my new pair of boots. He is so evil. But then we walked around Irkutsk for awhile and it was all very nice. I don't see Lyonya and Anya enough and it makes me sad.
We bought our train tickets to Mongolia!! Wow, I leave in like, 2 days. I'm really excited though, except our tickets were SO expensive! $90! I realize in the states that would not be THAT much, but this is Russia. Everyone said they were supposed to be, like, $40. And that's only there, not back. I guess I can't really complain because we're staying in this really upscale hostel for $5 a day with free internet, breakfast, and washing machines. Also Ivan has a friend of a cousin who wants to give us a free tour around Ulaanbaatar. Then we're going to the Gobi Desert. In, like, less than a week I will be riding around Mongolia by means of camel. Yes, you're jealous. And on the train we have an actual bed and a table and a compartment, not just a seat like on the Amtrak trains I take. But still, I'm in RUSSIA, things like this are supposed to be cheap.
Okay, let's talk about food again. Russians have like 8 million variations on the meat/dough pocket. Let's make a list:
Pilmeni: very small, sort of like totellini. You boil this meat/dough pocket.
Pozi: Also boiled, but with a hole in the top, and bigger.
Something that starts with an M: Also like Pozi, but a little flatter with a covered top. Also boiled.
Pirashki: smaller, oval sized meat/dough pocket, fried.
Something that starts with a b: like pirashki, but a small hole in the top, circular, and flat.
Cheburek: semicircle, flat, meat/dough pocket, deep fried.
This list goes on and on and on, but you would think you could only do SO MUCH with a ball of meat and some dough. The funny thing is that they SWEAR these are completely different foods with completely different tastes. I guess I can understand the difference in taste if it's fried or boiled, but seriously? When the shape is different (as in, oval vs. circle)? Puh-lease.
Let's talk about ridiculous ringtones. First of all, Russian men seem to have a very strange concept of masculinity. For example, a man purse and very fashionable, pointy, elf-like shoes are completely acceptable. Chocolate is not. Anyway, so I'm riding on the Marshrutka and I hear "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani. I had hoped this atrocity had not escaped the United States borders, but evidently it had. I figure it's the cell phone of this cleary very fashionable and hip devushka (girl) sitting across from me. And then this like 45 year old, slightly balding man next to HER pulls out his ringing cell phone. Like, what middle aged man has a Gwen Stefani ringtone?
So, we know how my host mother freaks out about everything, for example, if I'm out on the streets at night after dark (have I talked about this situation before? Not that it's a big problem now, but I'm sure it's going to put some severe restrictions on my clubbing/nightlife when I return from Mongolia). She sent me off to the train station in the 40 degree rain in a full length winter coat and snowboots. She freaks out if I'm not wearing a hat. And yet when I told her about the chainsaw story, she was completely unfazed. It was like "oh, right, yea, the chainsaw, and then what? Was it cold there? Did you guys have snow?". Like, WHAT?! This is completely ridiculous.
Also, I came back last night and had dinner, and then sat down to do homework. I'm sitting on the couch and Mama Olya brings me this plate of grapes and pears. I thank her, and then she asks me why I didn't take any myself, and goes on this tangent about how I need to be taking it myself and not by shy and I should always be eating fruit. I reply that I didn't because we just ate dinner. She and Nadya look at each other, then look at me, and she says "Fruit isn't food."
WHAT?! EXCUSE ME?!
"You could say that if I handed you a plate of cutlets."
Wow.
So I had this really bizarre dream the other night. I was with a bunch of other people, and everyone had to have this brain surgery, but I REALLY didn't want to. I guess it would have no effect on anyone but me, and I was forced into it. Someone knocked me out and they did this surgery and it was this slow process where I lose my mind. I woke up before I lost my mind, thank God, but what does this say about me? or about RUSSIA?!
I bought a pair of boots. I love them. They have fur. Nadya said she assumed I was not a member of Greenpeace (is that how you spell it? I don't know, because I'm not IN THE GROUP). We laughed about it. Unfortunately I couldn't go off on my tirade about PETA people in Russian. I actually tried in an essay at the beginning of language school and failed miserably. (That was my "social problem". That there are PETA people in existence. Sad, that all the other social problems I couldn't even BEGIN to talk about...but I know how to say "animal" and "love" and "importance", and with some other words I could describe how ridiculous the entire organization is). The funny thing is, when I was buying boots I was looking for some that I could wear at home and in Russia (therefore I did not buy anything with heels, which actually made the process much easier, since 85% of all women's boots have heels). I also figured that I wanted fur, which narrowed it down even more, making this a fairly simply process. However, I'm not sure how successful I'm going to be when I try to wear fur boots at Middlebury (oh the irony! I wanted something I could wear in America as well! ha). Although I guess if someone confronts me about it I can then go off on my PETA hatred speech.
Eddie and Lyonya and Anya came over after that, and we sat in the kitchen and drank tea and ate lots of cookies and talked for like, 2 hours. Every time Karrina sat on my lap Eddie asked me if she was going to become my new pair of boots. He is so evil. But then we walked around Irkutsk for awhile and it was all very nice. I don't see Lyonya and Anya enough and it makes me sad.
We bought our train tickets to Mongolia!! Wow, I leave in like, 2 days. I'm really excited though, except our tickets were SO expensive! $90! I realize in the states that would not be THAT much, but this is Russia. Everyone said they were supposed to be, like, $40. And that's only there, not back. I guess I can't really complain because we're staying in this really upscale hostel for $5 a day with free internet, breakfast, and washing machines. Also Ivan has a friend of a cousin who wants to give us a free tour around Ulaanbaatar. Then we're going to the Gobi Desert. In, like, less than a week I will be riding around Mongolia by means of camel. Yes, you're jealous. And on the train we have an actual bed and a table and a compartment, not just a seat like on the Amtrak trains I take. But still, I'm in RUSSIA, things like this are supposed to be cheap.
Okay, let's talk about food again. Russians have like 8 million variations on the meat/dough pocket. Let's make a list:
Pilmeni: very small, sort of like totellini. You boil this meat/dough pocket.
Pozi: Also boiled, but with a hole in the top, and bigger.
Something that starts with an M: Also like Pozi, but a little flatter with a covered top. Also boiled.
Pirashki: smaller, oval sized meat/dough pocket, fried.
Something that starts with a b: like pirashki, but a small hole in the top, circular, and flat.
Cheburek: semicircle, flat, meat/dough pocket, deep fried.
This list goes on and on and on, but you would think you could only do SO MUCH with a ball of meat and some dough. The funny thing is that they SWEAR these are completely different foods with completely different tastes. I guess I can understand the difference in taste if it's fried or boiled, but seriously? When the shape is different (as in, oval vs. circle)? Puh-lease.
Let's talk about ridiculous ringtones. First of all, Russian men seem to have a very strange concept of masculinity. For example, a man purse and very fashionable, pointy, elf-like shoes are completely acceptable. Chocolate is not. Anyway, so I'm riding on the Marshrutka and I hear "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani. I had hoped this atrocity had not escaped the United States borders, but evidently it had. I figure it's the cell phone of this cleary very fashionable and hip devushka (girl) sitting across from me. And then this like 45 year old, slightly balding man next to HER pulls out his ringing cell phone. Like, what middle aged man has a Gwen Stefani ringtone?
So, we know how my host mother freaks out about everything, for example, if I'm out on the streets at night after dark (have I talked about this situation before? Not that it's a big problem now, but I'm sure it's going to put some severe restrictions on my clubbing/nightlife when I return from Mongolia). She sent me off to the train station in the 40 degree rain in a full length winter coat and snowboots. She freaks out if I'm not wearing a hat. And yet when I told her about the chainsaw story, she was completely unfazed. It was like "oh, right, yea, the chainsaw, and then what? Was it cold there? Did you guys have snow?". Like, WHAT?! This is completely ridiculous.
Also, I came back last night and had dinner, and then sat down to do homework. I'm sitting on the couch and Mama Olya brings me this plate of grapes and pears. I thank her, and then she asks me why I didn't take any myself, and goes on this tangent about how I need to be taking it myself and not by shy and I should always be eating fruit. I reply that I didn't because we just ate dinner. She and Nadya look at each other, then look at me, and she says "Fruit isn't food."
WHAT?! EXCUSE ME?!
"You could say that if I handed you a plate of cutlets."
Wow.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Russia is a completely ridiculous country.
So I have a lot I need to update on, but I'm just going to go ahead and cover our trip to Olxon and backtrack later.
So we decided to go to Olxon for the weekend, which is this beautiful island on Baikal which was just recently blessed with electricity (well, only half of it, the other half should have electricity sometime soon...) Anyway. So as we're planning this trip we're figuring out all of our possible options and realize that one of them will cost us a ridiculous amount of money (like $100 each). So we decide we're not going to stay in the hotel that gives you bed and food for $30 a night (yes, I realize that in America a room AND all three meals would be like $100 a night, but this is Russia, and spending more than like $10 a night + food is a lot). So we get on the marshrutka at 10 AM (Eddie joined us at the last minute, making it him, me, Sonya, Ivan, Elissa, and Joseph).
This is CRAZY. We're crossing over Baikal into Olxon and we're about to get back on the marshrutka and we see SASHA (one of our tour guides from Ylan-Yde). So we talk for like 4 seconds and hug and whatnot, but how crazy is that (this is actually one of the least craziest parts of the entire weekend.)? He was just, like, there. He has a house on Olxon and is working on building some stuff there too.
So we ask some guy if he knows where we can stay once we get there, and he takes us to this place where this woman talks 18,000 miles a minute, but when she finally says we can stay for 200 rubles per night (per person), we agree. (This is like 8 dollars). Excellent. There's a kitchen, she goes through this whole speech about how to use the kitchen, what to do, etc (only to the girls though, since boys don't cook or do anything at all). We settle in, and meet one of the other lodgers. His name is Boris Andreevich, and he is about 300 lbs and dressed completely in camo. This compeltely doesn't faze me. 2 of the other guys in his group completely ignore us, which is surprising because half of our group is female.
Anyway we put our stuff down and decide to go see this shaman rock or something. The woman at the hotel/hostel/place to sleep talks ridiculously fast and quite a lot. I say that I completely understand, thank her, and leave, because I can't stand to listen to her talk anymore. When the group asks me where we're going I say I don't completely know and we set off in a direction which may or may not be where she pointed us. Then as we're walking around Sasha drives by us AGAIN. We talk a little more and he tells us about some excursion we can go on with them in a couple of weeks. We say we're interested. He also wants to know if we can help teach English, which we also very much want to do. I give him my number and we head off again.
We find this shaman rock which is really quite pretty. We climb all over it, talk a lot. Eddie throws a teacup off the top and makes an excellent reference to Arrested Development ("RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!"). We see this beach and a little church and decide to wake up early the next morning, swim in Baikal, have breakfast on the beach, and maybe visit this little church before our excursion at 11.
On the way back we debate about whether or not we want to buy dinner and cook it or find a cafe. We go back to our rooms first, get money (I kept an account book because there was no bank-o-mat on Olxon, which meant that we had to borrow from each other and whatnot. Everyone laughed at me but I'm totally right.) We asked Boris Andreevich if he knew where the closest store was and sent out some guy to show us. This guy did not seem thrilled, but I guess it was okay. We bought some pilmeni, bread, cheese, and vodka (we're so Russian, right?). Then when we get back one of the guys helps us with the stove and we make our pilmeni. (There were four of them-Boris Andreevich, this two brothers (one blonde, and one skinny with black hair), and this buryat guy). The Buryat guy started acting sketchy immediately, telling me we had to find Natasha (WHO is Natasha?) so he's dragging me along with him and we're in the dark behind the house. He's telling me to give me his arm and trying to put HIS arm around me, because evidently I need to be careful of where I'm walking (we're on completely flat ground). I tell him I don't think that this Natasha is out here, and return back to the kitchen. I guess he gives up and follows me back inside and goes back to his room.
So Sonya cooks pilmeni, and it's quite good. Then we have a couple of toasts and go to see what's going on in the TV room. We end up talking to these four guys, everything's nice. I guess they were drinking way more than I noticed, but at like 10 we started to gather our things, wash the dishes, and get ready to go to bed (after all, we're planning on waking up at like 7 and going to the beach). The Buryat guy keeps insisting that we drink with him, and actually tried to like grab me as I was walking out of the kitchen. Sonya, Elissa and I return to our room and get ready to go to bed. I guess the boys were still talking to the 2 Russian brothers, and all of a sudden Boris Andreevich (I guess with no prompting at all) gets up and starts beating up the Buryat guy. Joseph, Eddie, and Ivan come into our room and Joseph's like "Okay, we're going to have to break the language pledge for this one...Boris Andreevich just beat the SHIT out of that Buryat guy." So we're all pretty concerned, but just agree to lock ourselves in our room until everything dies down.
Well, sounded like everything died down...until we hear this sort of loud noise, getting louder. I think to myself "what on EARTH is that?...oh wait....oh yea that's a chainsaw." Evidently the boys' door was somewhat open and they saw the Buryat guy completely covered in blood, chasing after Boris Andreevich. So THEY come into our room, we lock the door, and sit there freaking out with each other. We make this elaborate plan that if he happens to come after us, we'll kick out the window and jump out (problem being that we'd probably slice ourselves on the glass, and there were 2 panes). We say that if we happen to need to escape, we can just call Sasha and stay with him (I later realize that I don't actually have Sasha's number, he has mine...but I had Sergei's number and he would have given me Sasha's number. Not important. Anyway). We spent a lot of time forming plans of action. A main problem is that the hotel was basically like this: Enter through the door, see hallway. On the left is the kitchen. Proceed forward, have 4 rooms (2 on each side). At the very end of the hallway is a TV room, and then 2 rooms off of that (one of which the chainsaw enthusiasts were occupying). This meant, that since this fight was going on in the hallway around the door and directly outside of the door, we had no way to get out of the building (aside from the window).
So we hide in our rooms for awhile and then the two brothers knock on the door. Someone (I don't remember who, because I certainly would not have let them into our room at that point) let them in and they were actually quite nicely trying to calm us down, telling us everything was fine (meanwhile we can still hear the other two punching each other). Later they tell us that the Buryat guy is asleep in his bed. Their pants and hands are also COMPLETELY soaked in blood. We talked for awhile, actually, and ended up talking about movies or something. At the end one of them said that they were really there because they "liked our girls". I was actually not concerned about this because although the one was fairly creepy and going after Elissa, he finally stopped after Sonya told him multiple times that she was sleeping and not to bother her, and the other one (who actually said this) sat next to Joseph the entire time and didn't come within 5 feet of any of us (girls).
I didn't see any of the blood (by the time I left the room Boris Andreevich had mopped it all up), but Eddie and Joseph said that there was A LOT. Also we were pretty positive that the Buryat guy was not in bed, but in the street (I think Joseph saw him, also there was a lot of moaning in pain). The next morning NONE of them would even look at us and were acting really, really weird. They told us that everything was fine, that the Buryat guy got up early in the morning to go back home. This seems quite strange, given that one could wake up 6 hours after that kind of drunk fight and just return home. Needless to say, we never saw him again. We're not sure if he died (I'm completely serious, Eddie and Joseph said there was that much blood everywhere). Everyone else had all of their limbs and no other chainsaw wounds, and when Joseph saw him in the street he said he was on his feet...but then Eddie brought up a good point, he could have somehow gotten nailed in the stomach or something. Anyway it was an incredibly scary experience.
I guess at some point Ivan went to get water and was doing it the wrong way (dipping his cup into the water bin instead of using some sort of ladle), and Boris Andreevich stopped fighting with the Buryat in order to correct his waterbottle filling form. That WOULD happen. Also in the middle of this Eddie put his hands on his head after looking at the chainsaw and said "I don't HAVE that merit badge!" ha. Also Ivan, who was sitting there quietly the whole time (in typical Ivan fashion) said "...maybe our room has a chainsaw too..." as if it came with the hotel.
The next day Sonya realized that she was the only one that had registered with the hotel (they said we only needed one person from the group), so her name and passport number are with the hotel right now. Also, since those other two guys were in our room, there's blood on the door. We don't think anything's going to happen...but we're just going to go ahead and hope that nothing happens. Elisabeth is calling the people in Moscow to ask them and said that if the police call Sonya at any point, she has to just say she doesn't speak Russian well, needs a translator, and is to call Elisabeth immediately.
On Sunday we went on this excursion with this girl from Australia and guy from England. It was nice, we got to see a lot of the island and spoke a lot of English (yesssss). We visited a rock where I guess you make wishes...and something about love? I don't know. Eddie translated this (incorrectly) to "the place where mice go to find love." We also saw some sort of (village? can't be, more like collection of shacks) where there lived three families, what appeared to be a goose farm, and some sort of brightly colored building that did something with the weather. Then we came back, went to the banya, made macaroni and cheese, and sat in our rooms. Joseph, Eddie, Ivan and I spoke in English for awhile. Eddie and I briefly discussed some philosophy and whatnot, and reminded me of how crazy I sometimes think Eddie is, and invariably likewise for him.
So we decided to go to Olxon for the weekend, which is this beautiful island on Baikal which was just recently blessed with electricity (well, only half of it, the other half should have electricity sometime soon...) Anyway. So as we're planning this trip we're figuring out all of our possible options and realize that one of them will cost us a ridiculous amount of money (like $100 each). So we decide we're not going to stay in the hotel that gives you bed and food for $30 a night (yes, I realize that in America a room AND all three meals would be like $100 a night, but this is Russia, and spending more than like $10 a night + food is a lot). So we get on the marshrutka at 10 AM (Eddie joined us at the last minute, making it him, me, Sonya, Ivan, Elissa, and Joseph).
This is CRAZY. We're crossing over Baikal into Olxon and we're about to get back on the marshrutka and we see SASHA (one of our tour guides from Ylan-Yde). So we talk for like 4 seconds and hug and whatnot, but how crazy is that (this is actually one of the least craziest parts of the entire weekend.)? He was just, like, there. He has a house on Olxon and is working on building some stuff there too.
So we ask some guy if he knows where we can stay once we get there, and he takes us to this place where this woman talks 18,000 miles a minute, but when she finally says we can stay for 200 rubles per night (per person), we agree. (This is like 8 dollars). Excellent. There's a kitchen, she goes through this whole speech about how to use the kitchen, what to do, etc (only to the girls though, since boys don't cook or do anything at all). We settle in, and meet one of the other lodgers. His name is Boris Andreevich, and he is about 300 lbs and dressed completely in camo. This compeltely doesn't faze me. 2 of the other guys in his group completely ignore us, which is surprising because half of our group is female.
Anyway we put our stuff down and decide to go see this shaman rock or something. The woman at the hotel/hostel/place to sleep talks ridiculously fast and quite a lot. I say that I completely understand, thank her, and leave, because I can't stand to listen to her talk anymore. When the group asks me where we're going I say I don't completely know and we set off in a direction which may or may not be where she pointed us. Then as we're walking around Sasha drives by us AGAIN. We talk a little more and he tells us about some excursion we can go on with them in a couple of weeks. We say we're interested. He also wants to know if we can help teach English, which we also very much want to do. I give him my number and we head off again.
We find this shaman rock which is really quite pretty. We climb all over it, talk a lot. Eddie throws a teacup off the top and makes an excellent reference to Arrested Development ("RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!"). We see this beach and a little church and decide to wake up early the next morning, swim in Baikal, have breakfast on the beach, and maybe visit this little church before our excursion at 11.
On the way back we debate about whether or not we want to buy dinner and cook it or find a cafe. We go back to our rooms first, get money (I kept an account book because there was no bank-o-mat on Olxon, which meant that we had to borrow from each other and whatnot. Everyone laughed at me but I'm totally right.) We asked Boris Andreevich if he knew where the closest store was and sent out some guy to show us. This guy did not seem thrilled, but I guess it was okay. We bought some pilmeni, bread, cheese, and vodka (we're so Russian, right?). Then when we get back one of the guys helps us with the stove and we make our pilmeni. (There were four of them-Boris Andreevich, this two brothers (one blonde, and one skinny with black hair), and this buryat guy). The Buryat guy started acting sketchy immediately, telling me we had to find Natasha (WHO is Natasha?) so he's dragging me along with him and we're in the dark behind the house. He's telling me to give me his arm and trying to put HIS arm around me, because evidently I need to be careful of where I'm walking (we're on completely flat ground). I tell him I don't think that this Natasha is out here, and return back to the kitchen. I guess he gives up and follows me back inside and goes back to his room.
So Sonya cooks pilmeni, and it's quite good. Then we have a couple of toasts and go to see what's going on in the TV room. We end up talking to these four guys, everything's nice. I guess they were drinking way more than I noticed, but at like 10 we started to gather our things, wash the dishes, and get ready to go to bed (after all, we're planning on waking up at like 7 and going to the beach). The Buryat guy keeps insisting that we drink with him, and actually tried to like grab me as I was walking out of the kitchen. Sonya, Elissa and I return to our room and get ready to go to bed. I guess the boys were still talking to the 2 Russian brothers, and all of a sudden Boris Andreevich (I guess with no prompting at all) gets up and starts beating up the Buryat guy. Joseph, Eddie, and Ivan come into our room and Joseph's like "Okay, we're going to have to break the language pledge for this one...Boris Andreevich just beat the SHIT out of that Buryat guy." So we're all pretty concerned, but just agree to lock ourselves in our room until everything dies down.
Well, sounded like everything died down...until we hear this sort of loud noise, getting louder. I think to myself "what on EARTH is that?...oh wait....oh yea that's a chainsaw." Evidently the boys' door was somewhat open and they saw the Buryat guy completely covered in blood, chasing after Boris Andreevich. So THEY come into our room, we lock the door, and sit there freaking out with each other. We make this elaborate plan that if he happens to come after us, we'll kick out the window and jump out (problem being that we'd probably slice ourselves on the glass, and there were 2 panes). We say that if we happen to need to escape, we can just call Sasha and stay with him (I later realize that I don't actually have Sasha's number, he has mine...but I had Sergei's number and he would have given me Sasha's number. Not important. Anyway). We spent a lot of time forming plans of action. A main problem is that the hotel was basically like this: Enter through the door, see hallway. On the left is the kitchen. Proceed forward, have 4 rooms (2 on each side). At the very end of the hallway is a TV room, and then 2 rooms off of that (one of which the chainsaw enthusiasts were occupying). This meant, that since this fight was going on in the hallway around the door and directly outside of the door, we had no way to get out of the building (aside from the window).
So we hide in our rooms for awhile and then the two brothers knock on the door. Someone (I don't remember who, because I certainly would not have let them into our room at that point) let them in and they were actually quite nicely trying to calm us down, telling us everything was fine (meanwhile we can still hear the other two punching each other). Later they tell us that the Buryat guy is asleep in his bed. Their pants and hands are also COMPLETELY soaked in blood. We talked for awhile, actually, and ended up talking about movies or something. At the end one of them said that they were really there because they "liked our girls". I was actually not concerned about this because although the one was fairly creepy and going after Elissa, he finally stopped after Sonya told him multiple times that she was sleeping and not to bother her, and the other one (who actually said this) sat next to Joseph the entire time and didn't come within 5 feet of any of us (girls).
I didn't see any of the blood (by the time I left the room Boris Andreevich had mopped it all up), but Eddie and Joseph said that there was A LOT. Also we were pretty positive that the Buryat guy was not in bed, but in the street (I think Joseph saw him, also there was a lot of moaning in pain). The next morning NONE of them would even look at us and were acting really, really weird. They told us that everything was fine, that the Buryat guy got up early in the morning to go back home. This seems quite strange, given that one could wake up 6 hours after that kind of drunk fight and just return home. Needless to say, we never saw him again. We're not sure if he died (I'm completely serious, Eddie and Joseph said there was that much blood everywhere). Everyone else had all of their limbs and no other chainsaw wounds, and when Joseph saw him in the street he said he was on his feet...but then Eddie brought up a good point, he could have somehow gotten nailed in the stomach or something. Anyway it was an incredibly scary experience.
I guess at some point Ivan went to get water and was doing it the wrong way (dipping his cup into the water bin instead of using some sort of ladle), and Boris Andreevich stopped fighting with the Buryat in order to correct his waterbottle filling form. That WOULD happen. Also in the middle of this Eddie put his hands on his head after looking at the chainsaw and said "I don't HAVE that merit badge!" ha. Also Ivan, who was sitting there quietly the whole time (in typical Ivan fashion) said "...maybe our room has a chainsaw too..." as if it came with the hotel.
The next day Sonya realized that she was the only one that had registered with the hotel (they said we only needed one person from the group), so her name and passport number are with the hotel right now. Also, since those other two guys were in our room, there's blood on the door. We don't think anything's going to happen...but we're just going to go ahead and hope that nothing happens. Elisabeth is calling the people in Moscow to ask them and said that if the police call Sonya at any point, she has to just say she doesn't speak Russian well, needs a translator, and is to call Elisabeth immediately.
On Sunday we went on this excursion with this girl from Australia and guy from England. It was nice, we got to see a lot of the island and spoke a lot of English (yesssss). We visited a rock where I guess you make wishes...and something about love? I don't know. Eddie translated this (incorrectly) to "the place where mice go to find love." We also saw some sort of (village? can't be, more like collection of shacks) where there lived three families, what appeared to be a goose farm, and some sort of brightly colored building that did something with the weather. Then we came back, went to the banya, made macaroni and cheese, and sat in our rooms. Joseph, Eddie, Ivan and I spoke in English for awhile. Eddie and I briefly discussed some philosophy and whatnot, and reminded me of how crazy I sometimes think Eddie is, and invariably likewise for him.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
So, where did I leave off?
Right, we had dinner with Nana, it was all very nice. So then on Thursday I'm meeting with this girl Anya again. So she meets me at the bus stop and we go into this building and room with a ton of college-aged Russians. I have no idea what's going on, and freak out even more when I realize that we're all going around the room saying our name and talking about ourselves. But, everyone else is not, in fact, talking about themselves, they're hip and cool and talking about other things somehow related to themselves but not actually about themselves, since they all already know each other, and everyone is laughing and smiling and I'm going to be the loser American who talks about studying in the international department. They also talk about why they're interested in this group, Phoenix. Since I, at the time, completely blank out, I did not say that I was interested in working at a children's home. I said I was here because I knew Anya and Alyona. While true, it made it seem as if I had no idea where I was (which was more or less true, but it wasn't supposed to actually SEEM like that). So the meeting goes on for about an hour, then there's a short break, and it's GAME TIME. For like, half an hour we just played games. One of them included running up to a blindfolded person and touching them, then running away and freezing when he said "stop". Then when said person encountered one of the "frozen" people, they had to figure out who it was. This usually involved everyone else running over and putting their hands or hair all over the "frozen" person in order to disguise them. Although I don't really know what that did, because no one has six hands. The last 15 mins we (well, they) sang songs in a circle. Afterwards we all met outside and they had this chant and everyone said goodbye, see you monday.
This was actually amazing. Everyone was SO nice, a lot of them are studying English, and it was just awesome. I went back on Monday and was greeted with a million hugs and "Hi! How was your weekend?!"s. Ivan came with me on Monday, I think he's going to come to meetings with me in general. It was excellent. I've exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and have gulyalled (walked with no particular direction).
Also, when we were in our mainstream on Wednesday, these two girls came up to us and started talking to us. We eventually exchanged phone numbers and said we would meet up to gulyat. Ivan and Eddie sat and made fun of me for a very long time, because I guess I go into hyper friendly mode when Russians approach us trying to become friends. But, joke's on them, because I actually have like 15,000 new Russian friends and they don't, so there. We met up with Tanya again on Thursday, Anya and I SMS (text) each other like every other day, and so on, and so forth. HA. I win.
Also Nikolai came out of the class before our mainstream acting very suave, and started talking to Sonya and me. We talked about nothing for about 5 minutes, exchanged phone numbers ("so, do you have cell phones? Here, give me your numbers, I'll call you. We can talk about Russian history."), and talked about nothing for another 5 minutes. He, being very slick and cool, was skipping our next class. His head hurt or something. I then thought about how he is at least 2, maybe 3 years younger than us, and laugh at the whole situation. He also completely ignored Ivan and Eddie, as he is only interested in the female Americans.
Friday marked our first night where we ACTUALLY did something. We decided we can't just sit around after dark and watch Russian soap operas (or, in Eddie's case, on the internet....which he will do regardless) and we went out to a bar. Eddie and Joseph had already been there the week before. This was incredibly convenient for me, as it was literally 3 minutes from where I live. Anyway, we drank and ate and generally had a good time. It was one of the few times we actually just got to hang out with each other, and just really good for the group dynamic in general. It also came out that I had met up with Zhenia, but only AFTER I found out that Ilana had met up with Sasha. Whoa. Crazy situation. Except my situation isn't quite so sketchy, as Zhenia isn't married with children.
Saturday I broke down and went to the uber-expensive gym near where I live. Although Alex Gym is cheap, it is also a 35 min ride on the marshrutka and has very little aside from a bench press, some free weights, a bike, and the treadmill of death (which I can't actually use it's so awful). Oh, and a lot of sawdust, and no walls. So I went to this upscale gym, where they also have an unlimited monthly pass (I can go anytime I want! Of course, as long as it's between 9 and 5...or not on Sundays....anyway). I can take aerobics and pilates (of course, during these times I'm in class....but whatever, the opportunity is there). Evidently I did EVERYTHING wrong as I got there. I wore my tennis shoes to the gym, which is clearly not okay. They gave me new ones to wear because mine had been outside and were clearly too dirty. I also didn't bring any shampoo with me (because I planned on showering at home); this also merited a number of disapproving looks. How could I go out onto the streets like that? A 10 minute walk! Anyway, I then went to work out, and was greeted by this tall Russian trainer. When I work out, I want to put on my headphones and just tune out. I, in general, am at the gym like 6 days a week. I know what I'm doing. So he asks what I want to do, I point to the elliptical and say "I'm just going to go on the elliptical for awhile" (all in Russian, with the exception of the word "elliptical", which was why the pointed was required.) He then leads me over and explains to me that all I have to do is act like I'm running, and breathe. I realize that he's just being nice and doing his job, but I've seen an elliptical before. Also it makes me uncomfortable when people are watching me work out (which he did, I think, trying to look for flaws in my form so he could offer advice). The whole experience was pretty painful.
But when I returned on monday everything was better. I DIDN'T wear my tennis shoes there, I brought my shampoo, there was a female trainer who simply ignored me after she asked whether or not I knew how to use the machines (yes!). Excellent.
Monday night's meeting with SPO Phoenix was also excellent. I'm sure they're all wondering what I'm doing there (since I'm only going to be here for a couple months) but they're all very enthusiastic, which is nice. I also correctly learned how to conjugate the verb "to crawl" in the imperfective as well as the word for "tail", since we played a game about a snake. Excellent.
Also I know I've talked about the ice cream kiosks before, but is it really necessary to have an ice cream kiosk next to an ice cream kiosk? I mean, seriously? I also saw an ice cream kiosk 3 kiosks over from another one, which makes a LITTLE bit more sense, but not much. I don't think the 2 kiosk distance does much. Sonya said something about some law where similar businesses need to be near each other, which I guess would explain the warehouse of shoe stores nearby, but seriously? What IS this?
This was actually amazing. Everyone was SO nice, a lot of them are studying English, and it was just awesome. I went back on Monday and was greeted with a million hugs and "Hi! How was your weekend?!"s. Ivan came with me on Monday, I think he's going to come to meetings with me in general. It was excellent. I've exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and have gulyalled (walked with no particular direction).
Also, when we were in our mainstream on Wednesday, these two girls came up to us and started talking to us. We eventually exchanged phone numbers and said we would meet up to gulyat. Ivan and Eddie sat and made fun of me for a very long time, because I guess I go into hyper friendly mode when Russians approach us trying to become friends. But, joke's on them, because I actually have like 15,000 new Russian friends and they don't, so there. We met up with Tanya again on Thursday, Anya and I SMS (text) each other like every other day, and so on, and so forth. HA. I win.
Also Nikolai came out of the class before our mainstream acting very suave, and started talking to Sonya and me. We talked about nothing for about 5 minutes, exchanged phone numbers ("so, do you have cell phones? Here, give me your numbers, I'll call you. We can talk about Russian history."), and talked about nothing for another 5 minutes. He, being very slick and cool, was skipping our next class. His head hurt or something. I then thought about how he is at least 2, maybe 3 years younger than us, and laugh at the whole situation. He also completely ignored Ivan and Eddie, as he is only interested in the female Americans.
Friday marked our first night where we ACTUALLY did something. We decided we can't just sit around after dark and watch Russian soap operas (or, in Eddie's case, on the internet....which he will do regardless) and we went out to a bar. Eddie and Joseph had already been there the week before. This was incredibly convenient for me, as it was literally 3 minutes from where I live. Anyway, we drank and ate and generally had a good time. It was one of the few times we actually just got to hang out with each other, and just really good for the group dynamic in general. It also came out that I had met up with Zhenia, but only AFTER I found out that Ilana had met up with Sasha. Whoa. Crazy situation. Except my situation isn't quite so sketchy, as Zhenia isn't married with children.
Saturday I broke down and went to the uber-expensive gym near where I live. Although Alex Gym is cheap, it is also a 35 min ride on the marshrutka and has very little aside from a bench press, some free weights, a bike, and the treadmill of death (which I can't actually use it's so awful). Oh, and a lot of sawdust, and no walls. So I went to this upscale gym, where they also have an unlimited monthly pass (I can go anytime I want! Of course, as long as it's between 9 and 5...or not on Sundays....anyway). I can take aerobics and pilates (of course, during these times I'm in class....but whatever, the opportunity is there). Evidently I did EVERYTHING wrong as I got there. I wore my tennis shoes to the gym, which is clearly not okay. They gave me new ones to wear because mine had been outside and were clearly too dirty. I also didn't bring any shampoo with me (because I planned on showering at home); this also merited a number of disapproving looks. How could I go out onto the streets like that? A 10 minute walk! Anyway, I then went to work out, and was greeted by this tall Russian trainer. When I work out, I want to put on my headphones and just tune out. I, in general, am at the gym like 6 days a week. I know what I'm doing. So he asks what I want to do, I point to the elliptical and say "I'm just going to go on the elliptical for awhile" (all in Russian, with the exception of the word "elliptical", which was why the pointed was required.) He then leads me over and explains to me that all I have to do is act like I'm running, and breathe. I realize that he's just being nice and doing his job, but I've seen an elliptical before. Also it makes me uncomfortable when people are watching me work out (which he did, I think, trying to look for flaws in my form so he could offer advice). The whole experience was pretty painful.
But when I returned on monday everything was better. I DIDN'T wear my tennis shoes there, I brought my shampoo, there was a female trainer who simply ignored me after she asked whether or not I knew how to use the machines (yes!). Excellent.
Monday night's meeting with SPO Phoenix was also excellent. I'm sure they're all wondering what I'm doing there (since I'm only going to be here for a couple months) but they're all very enthusiastic, which is nice. I also correctly learned how to conjugate the verb "to crawl" in the imperfective as well as the word for "tail", since we played a game about a snake. Excellent.
Also I know I've talked about the ice cream kiosks before, but is it really necessary to have an ice cream kiosk next to an ice cream kiosk? I mean, seriously? I also saw an ice cream kiosk 3 kiosks over from another one, which makes a LITTLE bit more sense, but not much. I don't think the 2 kiosk distance does much. Sonya said something about some law where similar businesses need to be near each other, which I guess would explain the warehouse of shoe stores nearby, but seriously? What IS this?
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Okay more updates.
So I've been talking with this girl about helping us volunteer at a children's home. We met this group of girls a couple of weeks ago, they said they could help us out (they're also in their 3rd year at the mezhfak). So two weeks go by, I hear nothing, I send a text message, we agree to meet on Monday. Note, this is a new girl (Anya) not the original girl I was talking to (Alyona). So I meet Anya at the bus stop near the Linguistics Department. She tells me we have to find some other girl, who's at the theater right now (why she didn't tell me this first I don't know, I mean, it's not like she didn't know we'd need her, or that there was a show going on). So we go to the theatre, and sit, and for like an hour watch these people singing and dancing. Though amusing, I have no idea what this whole spectacle was for. I think for the teachers of the university, or something. So then after the show I talk to this girl. She talks really fast, says she has a list of homes but not with her, why don't we meet on Thursday. So...after 2 hours, I have no new information, and head home. This did not do much for my mood in general.
Nana (the head of the Middlebury School in Russia) came to Irkutsk this week to sit in on our classes and just generally see how things were going. In our Baikal class, Elissa gave a presentation about the Celtics. For, like, 45 mins. I had NO idea how this related to Baikal, or even Siberia, but thought that maybe something was lost in translation. Ha. Anyway, Pavel Alexandrovich (our teacher) asks her the same question, she doesn't know. So then for a really long time he talks about clothes or something, I have no idea, but at the end of the class I still have no idea what is the connection between the Celtics and Baikal. But LATER, at dinner, we were talking with Nana and it turned out she ALSO didn't understand what he was talking about. This is thrilling, because she IS Russian. Therefore, maybe I didn't understand NOT because of my lack of language ability, but because what he was saying was entirely incomprehensible (this is not actually true, had what he said made sense I still wouldn't have understood). But it made me feel better knowing that an actual Russian didn't understand either.
We had our group dinner at this cafe which was quite good, actually. I'd like to return. It was called "Old Cafe", and had a sign that said "since 2007". We all found this to be quite humorous. What was strange was that they didn't bring all of our food out at the same time, they sort of brought them in shifts. So they sort of brought out everyone's food over the span of, like, an hour. We were there for 3. But it was fun, and they played ridiculous music (children singing "We Will Rock You", Christmas carols, etc...all in English. But also "Living on a Prayer" and "This Love". I was excited). Sonya and I tried some of what Elisabeth had, which was SO good, and basically the reason why I want to go back. Anyway.
Okay I'm out of time again. More later.
Nana (the head of the Middlebury School in Russia) came to Irkutsk this week to sit in on our classes and just generally see how things were going. In our Baikal class, Elissa gave a presentation about the Celtics. For, like, 45 mins. I had NO idea how this related to Baikal, or even Siberia, but thought that maybe something was lost in translation. Ha. Anyway, Pavel Alexandrovich (our teacher) asks her the same question, she doesn't know. So then for a really long time he talks about clothes or something, I have no idea, but at the end of the class I still have no idea what is the connection between the Celtics and Baikal. But LATER, at dinner, we were talking with Nana and it turned out she ALSO didn't understand what he was talking about. This is thrilling, because she IS Russian. Therefore, maybe I didn't understand NOT because of my lack of language ability, but because what he was saying was entirely incomprehensible (this is not actually true, had what he said made sense I still wouldn't have understood). But it made me feel better knowing that an actual Russian didn't understand either.
We had our group dinner at this cafe which was quite good, actually. I'd like to return. It was called "Old Cafe", and had a sign that said "since 2007". We all found this to be quite humorous. What was strange was that they didn't bring all of our food out at the same time, they sort of brought them in shifts. So they sort of brought out everyone's food over the span of, like, an hour. We were there for 3. But it was fun, and they played ridiculous music (children singing "We Will Rock You", Christmas carols, etc...all in English. But also "Living on a Prayer" and "This Love". I was excited). Sonya and I tried some of what Elisabeth had, which was SO good, and basically the reason why I want to go back. Anyway.
Okay I'm out of time again. More later.
This is going to be like half an entry.
Because I'm meeting Eddie (and probably other Americans, but I wouldn't know because they aren't RESPONDING TO MY TEXT MESSAGES) for dinner at Tex-Mex (this is not actually the name of the restaurant, it's a Mexican restaurant with tex-mex, but we simply refer to it as tex-mex. This was, in fact, not such a great idea because when my host sister asked where I was going, I was unable to answer. I told her I was going to "tex-mex", not far away from the history department (I don't know how I was planning on getting there without actually knowing the name or where it was located, I figured I'd get somewhere relatively close and then call Eddie). But when I said it was a restaurant with Mexican food, she knew exactly where it was located. I guess it's the only one in Irkutsk? Anyway, I was fairly impressed, and this thought was way too much for parentheses.)
So after our trip we went to class, that sucked. But later that night Zhenia called me (these are the parts I wonder about-do I write about this in a blog? Why not.) and we talked for a little while. This was, in fact, a short while, as he quickly caught on to my inablity to communicate in Russian by telephone. So he asked if I wanted to do something Thursday and then told me he'd call me later. So the next day I'm in Cafe Fiesta with Sonya when he calls. And he's, like, three buildings away, so he comes to find me. I, not knowing what to do (I guess you're not supposed to be hanging out with your recent tour guide on the group trip? I'm fairly positive Elisabeth would NOT be thrilled, but it's not sketchy like a student-professor relationship. I guess it just felt like something I should not be doing), decide to be an incredibly sketchy person and just tell her that i'm going home (I was supposed to borrow her computer to use the internet), and then I just tell her what's going on. She laughs at me. I laugh at me. 5 mins later Zhenia and I come into Cafe Fiesta and ask to use her computer. Zhenia then saves like 600 photos from our trip onto her flash drive (this part was difficult to explain to Elisabeth. She's making us a disc of all the photos from our trip, so asked us to give her photos. On sonya's flash drive were my pictures, her pictures...and Zhenia's pictures. We just told her that we ran into him at Cafe Fiesta. I'm not really sure she believed us, but whatever). So we walk around Irkutsk for awhile, through downtown and along the Angara, which was very nice. (Walking around with no particular direction (the verb gulyat) I guess is the Russian version of our going to coffee shops or out for ice cream. It's a very popular thing to do). And then later we went to this little cafe near where I live and had borsht. I felt very Russian. Anyway he, Sasha, and Sergei left for Olhon the next day to go build something (not really sure). We (American students) might go bar hopping or clubbing with them, as having them around would be a) fun and b) make us feel safer.
Then that weekend I hibernated in the apartment (we know why). Actually, that's a lie. On Saturday I walked around in the very cold weather by myself for like 2 hours, which was actually sort of a good way to clear my head. Then on Sunday Sonya came over for tea and lunch, and then we hung out at Cafe Fiesta waiting for Igor to call (who never called, and is sketchy to the nth degree).
Okay I have to meet Eddie. More later.
So after our trip we went to class, that sucked. But later that night Zhenia called me (these are the parts I wonder about-do I write about this in a blog? Why not.) and we talked for a little while. This was, in fact, a short while, as he quickly caught on to my inablity to communicate in Russian by telephone. So he asked if I wanted to do something Thursday and then told me he'd call me later. So the next day I'm in Cafe Fiesta with Sonya when he calls. And he's, like, three buildings away, so he comes to find me. I, not knowing what to do (I guess you're not supposed to be hanging out with your recent tour guide on the group trip? I'm fairly positive Elisabeth would NOT be thrilled, but it's not sketchy like a student-professor relationship. I guess it just felt like something I should not be doing), decide to be an incredibly sketchy person and just tell her that i'm going home (I was supposed to borrow her computer to use the internet), and then I just tell her what's going on. She laughs at me. I laugh at me. 5 mins later Zhenia and I come into Cafe Fiesta and ask to use her computer. Zhenia then saves like 600 photos from our trip onto her flash drive (this part was difficult to explain to Elisabeth. She's making us a disc of all the photos from our trip, so asked us to give her photos. On sonya's flash drive were my pictures, her pictures...and Zhenia's pictures. We just told her that we ran into him at Cafe Fiesta. I'm not really sure she believed us, but whatever). So we walk around Irkutsk for awhile, through downtown and along the Angara, which was very nice. (Walking around with no particular direction (the verb gulyat) I guess is the Russian version of our going to coffee shops or out for ice cream. It's a very popular thing to do). And then later we went to this little cafe near where I live and had borsht. I felt very Russian. Anyway he, Sasha, and Sergei left for Olhon the next day to go build something (not really sure). We (American students) might go bar hopping or clubbing with them, as having them around would be a) fun and b) make us feel safer.
Then that weekend I hibernated in the apartment (we know why). Actually, that's a lie. On Saturday I walked around in the very cold weather by myself for like 2 hours, which was actually sort of a good way to clear my head. Then on Sunday Sonya came over for tea and lunch, and then we hung out at Cafe Fiesta waiting for Igor to call (who never called, and is sketchy to the nth degree).
Okay I have to meet Eddie. More later.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Hm.
Again, don't really know how much I should be writing in here, but whatever.
Update of the past two weeks (or some of it, anyway):
So our group trip to Ulan-Ude was really fun. We took the train at night (I am now obsessed with the train and would like to ride it as much as possible; I'm sure this thrill will fade when I'm on it for more than 10 hours when at least 6 of them are spent sleeping). Sonya and I were together (there and back) and we were the extra two that were stuck with other Russians instead of the other Americans in the group. This was totally fine. Well, for me. On the way there Sonya did not sleep so well, as she got a bottle of water spilled all over her when the woman in the bunk above me closed the window and was woken up like 4 times by the alarm clock of the man in the bunk above her (Each train wagon has a bunch of separate compartments, with 4 beds (2 on top and 2 on bottom) with a table. Also, this guys alarm clock was on his cell phone and wasn't any sort of normal ring tone-when it goes off, it says "OPEN YOUR EYES! I SAID, OPEN YOUR EYES!" (note: although ridiculous, this sounds less ridiculous in Russian.) And then when he hit snooze, it said "okay, 5 more minutes"). I, however, slept very well with no interruptions. By very well, I mean for 4 hours, because most of our time was spent together in Eddie's compartment with a bunch of other kids from our group. Also we arrived at like 6 AM, so, yea.
Our tour guides picked us up from the train station. I remembered two of them (they came to the university the day before to give us hiking boots) but the other two were new. We went back to the hotel, which smelled a lot like cigarette smoke, and slept for about an hour and a half.
A lot of our time was spent eating and seeing Buddhist temples or Old Beleiver villages. While this was very interesting, I don't think it warrants more description.
Also a lot of our time was spent driving and eating. Seriously, we would drive for a little while, stop and eat, drive for a little while, stop and eat, etc. This was entirely unnecessary as we were just SITTING in a marshrutka. Or observing Buddhists. At any rate, no calories were burned, therefore we didn't need any less than, like, 8 hours in between meals, but I think we had no more than 3.
So we were in Ulan Ude for only one day before we drove 300 KM to some village on Baikal. This was fun. We stopped a lot along Baikal. Eddie or Sonya (don't remember who) found I giant stick (much like a softball bat) and then started to hit stones with it (much like the game of softball.) I was more or less thrilled and had much fun with this. Our tour guides also swam in the lake, which I thought was insane because I was cold just standing on the beach and Baikal water is SO cold. Elisabeth and Elissa and Ilana did too. I also thought they were crazy. But then I tried it myself and it was AWESOME. SO cold, but you don't really swim so much as run in, dunk your head underwater, and run out. I would do this multiple times in the next 3 days.
Our first night not in Ulan Ude we stayed at these people's house (I don't know how they had enough room for 14 extra people, but they did, and they were very nice). Our guides cooked for us (mostly Zhenia, who cooked quite well, although I can't say he cooked a whole lot other than kasha, soup, and macaroni. But it wasn't bad. Oh, and omul.) He asked who wanted to help, so Adrienne and I hung around and made a salad while the others walked around for awhile. Our guides then tried to get us to drink...samagon? I think it's called? with them, but we have a rule that on Middlebury group trips no one is allowed to drink alcohol. Which, although can be dissapointing, was sort of okay with me as our tour guides were all men, and all Russians, and therefore sort of, well, somewhat interested in all of the girls in our group. Anyway.
We also sang songs, in Russian and in English, which was much fun, and played "mafia" at 2 in the morning (all of our guides at this point were completely drunk, but that's okay). They also wanted to look at the moon or the stars or something, so played with a telescope outside for a half and hour and then we went back inside because they couldn't figure out how to use it. I'm sorry that these are not sentences.
The next day we were going to go hiking, but couldn't because there were very strong winds in the mountains, making this somewhat dangerous. It's okay, because we went to this village where there were cows on the beach and then took a boat to some hot springs. We were the only people there, and it was actually quite fun. There were two little tubs of hot springs, and then Baikal, so we ran in and out a bunch of times. We then slept in this sort of cabin thing at the base of the mountain we were going to hike up the next day. While we were trying to find this cabin, we sort of went off-roading in the marshrutka, and one of them bottomed out and had oil flowing out of it (bad?). So Sasha drove us and Zhenia to the cabin, Zhenia made macaroni with canned chicken (and Sonya and I made the best, and quite possibly largest, salad ever. It was also NOT drenched in mayonaise because we couldn't find it. This is excellent because the FIRST night I made what I thought was the best salad ever with Zhenia (cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, dill) he then ruined it by drenching it in mayonaise. It's not his fault, he's Russian.) Sergei and Kolya fixed the marshrutka, Sasha went back to check on them, later the boys went and chopped wood with Sergei and Kolya and made a fire. Really quite fun.
The next day at 8 AM I swam in Baikal. It was excellent. We then hiked up the mountain, which was literally STRAIGHT up for like four hours. It didn't help that I am insanely out of shape right now. Sergei and Zhenia are ridiculously athletic. They somewhat resembled mountain goats as they climbed up the sides of, like, cliffs. They also don't think it's healthy to drink water on the way up, because you will immediately sweat it out. I'm totally fine with this, and actually feel awful when I do anything athletic WITHOUT sweating a ton. (Americans in general drink a lot of water, and I'm used to drinking water like ALL THE TIME. So this was somewhat, or very, strange to me). Also Zhenia insisted that we sit on pieces of wood because if we sat on the ground (or worse, rocks) we would never be able to have children. The logic of this is completely beyond me, but whatever.
So we then started going back down the mountain. I'm standing there, thinking this is going to be so much easier, and better, and then I see Zhenia like literally leap off of this rock and start RUNNING down the mountain. Mind you, this is practically straight down with rocks and trees and whatnot and I was SURE he was going to break a foot or an ankle or something. He then tries to teach us, telling us it's a lot like skiing...and then Eddie and I ran down with him. It was ridiculously hard, but ridiculously fun. I couldn't stop myself so I sort of had to grab on to trees when I didn't want to, like, fly off the mountain anymore. I wiped out, and so did Zhenia, but everyone lived. Then at the bottom he felt like running, so he and Joseph and I did that for awhile. We then swam in Baikal, got back in the marshrutkas, and returned to the house we stayed in the 2nd night. I slept a lot (and FREAKED out when I woke up and felt us moving and saw water-Kolya was in the process of driving the marshrutka onto the ferry we needed in order to cross over this little river thing. I thought we were going to die.), and later we went to the banya. Sasha beat us with birch branches, we sweated a lot, etc etc. Elisabeth found MARSHMELLOWS! so we roasted those over the fire (except they were strawberry flavored, which was a little weird, but whatever, they were marshmellows which CANNOT be found in Russia. Also on the way here she made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. PB can also not be found in Russia. She made it herself. She is amazing.)
We returned to Ulan Ude train station and had a very sad parting. But Zhenia and Sergei and I exchanged phone numbers, so that's good, I guess. All of the other Middlebury kids on the train (Ivan and Eddie) stayed in Sonya's and my compartment for awhile and we talked to the other 2 Russians. We laughed a lot. It was fun. We talked about being not understood and foreigners in general. Especially our Baikal class, and the anxiety associated with saying "next stop, please" on the Marshrutka.
That's pretty much it. More later on everything that happened AFTER the group trip.
Update of the past two weeks (or some of it, anyway):
So our group trip to Ulan-Ude was really fun. We took the train at night (I am now obsessed with the train and would like to ride it as much as possible; I'm sure this thrill will fade when I'm on it for more than 10 hours when at least 6 of them are spent sleeping). Sonya and I were together (there and back) and we were the extra two that were stuck with other Russians instead of the other Americans in the group. This was totally fine. Well, for me. On the way there Sonya did not sleep so well, as she got a bottle of water spilled all over her when the woman in the bunk above me closed the window and was woken up like 4 times by the alarm clock of the man in the bunk above her (Each train wagon has a bunch of separate compartments, with 4 beds (2 on top and 2 on bottom) with a table. Also, this guys alarm clock was on his cell phone and wasn't any sort of normal ring tone-when it goes off, it says "OPEN YOUR EYES! I SAID, OPEN YOUR EYES!" (note: although ridiculous, this sounds less ridiculous in Russian.) And then when he hit snooze, it said "okay, 5 more minutes"). I, however, slept very well with no interruptions. By very well, I mean for 4 hours, because most of our time was spent together in Eddie's compartment with a bunch of other kids from our group. Also we arrived at like 6 AM, so, yea.
Our tour guides picked us up from the train station. I remembered two of them (they came to the university the day before to give us hiking boots) but the other two were new. We went back to the hotel, which smelled a lot like cigarette smoke, and slept for about an hour and a half.
A lot of our time was spent eating and seeing Buddhist temples or Old Beleiver villages. While this was very interesting, I don't think it warrants more description.
Also a lot of our time was spent driving and eating. Seriously, we would drive for a little while, stop and eat, drive for a little while, stop and eat, etc. This was entirely unnecessary as we were just SITTING in a marshrutka. Or observing Buddhists. At any rate, no calories were burned, therefore we didn't need any less than, like, 8 hours in between meals, but I think we had no more than 3.
So we were in Ulan Ude for only one day before we drove 300 KM to some village on Baikal. This was fun. We stopped a lot along Baikal. Eddie or Sonya (don't remember who) found I giant stick (much like a softball bat) and then started to hit stones with it (much like the game of softball.) I was more or less thrilled and had much fun with this. Our tour guides also swam in the lake, which I thought was insane because I was cold just standing on the beach and Baikal water is SO cold. Elisabeth and Elissa and Ilana did too. I also thought they were crazy. But then I tried it myself and it was AWESOME. SO cold, but you don't really swim so much as run in, dunk your head underwater, and run out. I would do this multiple times in the next 3 days.
Our first night not in Ulan Ude we stayed at these people's house (I don't know how they had enough room for 14 extra people, but they did, and they were very nice). Our guides cooked for us (mostly Zhenia, who cooked quite well, although I can't say he cooked a whole lot other than kasha, soup, and macaroni. But it wasn't bad. Oh, and omul.) He asked who wanted to help, so Adrienne and I hung around and made a salad while the others walked around for awhile. Our guides then tried to get us to drink...samagon? I think it's called? with them, but we have a rule that on Middlebury group trips no one is allowed to drink alcohol. Which, although can be dissapointing, was sort of okay with me as our tour guides were all men, and all Russians, and therefore sort of, well, somewhat interested in all of the girls in our group. Anyway.
We also sang songs, in Russian and in English, which was much fun, and played "mafia" at 2 in the morning (all of our guides at this point were completely drunk, but that's okay). They also wanted to look at the moon or the stars or something, so played with a telescope outside for a half and hour and then we went back inside because they couldn't figure out how to use it. I'm sorry that these are not sentences.
The next day we were going to go hiking, but couldn't because there were very strong winds in the mountains, making this somewhat dangerous. It's okay, because we went to this village where there were cows on the beach and then took a boat to some hot springs. We were the only people there, and it was actually quite fun. There were two little tubs of hot springs, and then Baikal, so we ran in and out a bunch of times. We then slept in this sort of cabin thing at the base of the mountain we were going to hike up the next day. While we were trying to find this cabin, we sort of went off-roading in the marshrutka, and one of them bottomed out and had oil flowing out of it (bad?). So Sasha drove us and Zhenia to the cabin, Zhenia made macaroni with canned chicken (and Sonya and I made the best, and quite possibly largest, salad ever. It was also NOT drenched in mayonaise because we couldn't find it. This is excellent because the FIRST night I made what I thought was the best salad ever with Zhenia (cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, dill) he then ruined it by drenching it in mayonaise. It's not his fault, he's Russian.) Sergei and Kolya fixed the marshrutka, Sasha went back to check on them, later the boys went and chopped wood with Sergei and Kolya and made a fire. Really quite fun.
The next day at 8 AM I swam in Baikal. It was excellent. We then hiked up the mountain, which was literally STRAIGHT up for like four hours. It didn't help that I am insanely out of shape right now. Sergei and Zhenia are ridiculously athletic. They somewhat resembled mountain goats as they climbed up the sides of, like, cliffs. They also don't think it's healthy to drink water on the way up, because you will immediately sweat it out. I'm totally fine with this, and actually feel awful when I do anything athletic WITHOUT sweating a ton. (Americans in general drink a lot of water, and I'm used to drinking water like ALL THE TIME. So this was somewhat, or very, strange to me). Also Zhenia insisted that we sit on pieces of wood because if we sat on the ground (or worse, rocks) we would never be able to have children. The logic of this is completely beyond me, but whatever.
So we then started going back down the mountain. I'm standing there, thinking this is going to be so much easier, and better, and then I see Zhenia like literally leap off of this rock and start RUNNING down the mountain. Mind you, this is practically straight down with rocks and trees and whatnot and I was SURE he was going to break a foot or an ankle or something. He then tries to teach us, telling us it's a lot like skiing...and then Eddie and I ran down with him. It was ridiculously hard, but ridiculously fun. I couldn't stop myself so I sort of had to grab on to trees when I didn't want to, like, fly off the mountain anymore. I wiped out, and so did Zhenia, but everyone lived. Then at the bottom he felt like running, so he and Joseph and I did that for awhile. We then swam in Baikal, got back in the marshrutkas, and returned to the house we stayed in the 2nd night. I slept a lot (and FREAKED out when I woke up and felt us moving and saw water-Kolya was in the process of driving the marshrutka onto the ferry we needed in order to cross over this little river thing. I thought we were going to die.), and later we went to the banya. Sasha beat us with birch branches, we sweated a lot, etc etc. Elisabeth found MARSHMELLOWS! so we roasted those over the fire (except they were strawberry flavored, which was a little weird, but whatever, they were marshmellows which CANNOT be found in Russia. Also on the way here she made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. PB can also not be found in Russia. She made it herself. She is amazing.)
We returned to Ulan Ude train station and had a very sad parting. But Zhenia and Sergei and I exchanged phone numbers, so that's good, I guess. All of the other Middlebury kids on the train (Ivan and Eddie) stayed in Sonya's and my compartment for awhile and we talked to the other 2 Russians. We laughed a lot. It was fun. We talked about being not understood and foreigners in general. Especially our Baikal class, and the anxiety associated with saying "next stop, please" on the Marshrutka.
That's pretty much it. More later on everything that happened AFTER the group trip.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
hmm.
So, I never really know what you can and can't put in an online blog. I'm sort of new to the whole blogging concept, but I've always thought it was ridiculous when people shared too much online. I mean, shouldn't some things be kept private? But, I guess it's relevant to my experience in Russia, so...
My Baba died last week. I didn't find out until Friday morning, until it was too late to make it home for the funeral. I sort of thought it might happen in Russia so I was kind of preparing myself, but I wasn't prepared to miss her funeral, and it happened much sooner than I thought it would, so it shook me up quite a bit.
I never really felt like Irkutsk was far from home. I mean, yes, I'm in Russia, and no, it's not really like the United States, but I never felt that huge distance people describe when they talk about being far away. I never really felt that. But last Friday, with only 30 hours until the funeral, I was frantically searching for flights home. I think when I found out that there was no possible way I could get from Irkutsk to New York in 24 hours, I realized how far away from home I really am.
Also, so you know how Russians think vodka is a medicine that will cure everything? I was sort of upset on Saturday night and not really breathing, and my host mother comes in with a shot of...something. She tells me that I have to drink it. She describes it in Russian, yet I have no idea what it is. I do, however, know:
a) It was definately alcohol (though not very strong)
b) It tasted very bad
c) it wasn't anything I had ever heard of.
But, 4 days later, it hasn't had any majorly detrimental effects, so I guess that's good.
I really miss her. But my parents said that Deda might come and live with us. I really hope he does.
More on our group trip later.
My Baba died last week. I didn't find out until Friday morning, until it was too late to make it home for the funeral. I sort of thought it might happen in Russia so I was kind of preparing myself, but I wasn't prepared to miss her funeral, and it happened much sooner than I thought it would, so it shook me up quite a bit.
I never really felt like Irkutsk was far from home. I mean, yes, I'm in Russia, and no, it's not really like the United States, but I never felt that huge distance people describe when they talk about being far away. I never really felt that. But last Friday, with only 30 hours until the funeral, I was frantically searching for flights home. I think when I found out that there was no possible way I could get from Irkutsk to New York in 24 hours, I realized how far away from home I really am.
Also, so you know how Russians think vodka is a medicine that will cure everything? I was sort of upset on Saturday night and not really breathing, and my host mother comes in with a shot of...something. She tells me that I have to drink it. She describes it in Russian, yet I have no idea what it is. I do, however, know:
a) It was definately alcohol (though not very strong)
b) It tasted very bad
c) it wasn't anything I had ever heard of.
But, 4 days later, it hasn't had any majorly detrimental effects, so I guess that's good.
I really miss her. But my parents said that Deda might come and live with us. I really hope he does.
More on our group trip later.
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