Good morning blog readers,
I apologize that it has been so long since I last wrote. There are several contributing factors to this.
Firstly, we haven't had any super cultural excursions in a while. Honestly, this has been a nice respite from the constant rushing about and given me time to relax a little.
Secondly, it's a very busy time of year here homework-wise. It's basically the Russian equivalent of midterms, and we have all our tests next week. We also had an essay due for a writing competition and this week we're making projects for "Tolerance Week," a holiday designed to help Russian people and Chinese/Korean/Japanese people hate each other less.
Thirdly, I ran out of "cookies." I don't know what this means exactly, except that my computer wouldn't go to some websites. So I deleted all my cookies, and it forever logged me out of everything and I spent all yesterday trying to figure out how to get back into my google account.
Anyways, I'll make it up to you. Right now I have to go to my early class (ick), but stay tuned for a couple of entertaining posts about the antics of the last week or so.
Also, today is my least favorite holiday. So in case I don't get my Halloween In Russia post up today, I hope you all enjoy your halloween!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
A Cultural Moment
I wanted to share a moment of cultural differences with you. We have a Korean friend here named Anton. He understands Russian much better than me and has a larger vocabulary, but it's sometimes hard to understand him because of his accent. He's a very nice, smart, and interesting guy, but our conversations are usually really awkward. And today I figured out why.
Today Anton and I were sitting in my room talking. This always includes a lot of long pauses, during which I usually look at Anton and wait for him to say something. Today, the silence was broken by him asking (in Russian), "It is a burden when we are talking and you are always looking at me."
I didn't understand, nor did I know the Russian word burden. Eventually I kind of got it. "You don't like it when I look at you?"
"No," he said, "Why do you always look at me with your eyes so big?"
"Because," I replied, "I don't want you to think that I'm not listening to you."
"AAAAAH! It's cultural!" Anton exclaimed.
"In Korea, when people are talking, they don't look at each other?" I asked, interested.
"No," said Anton, "I can talk to you and listen to you but I am looking over here."
It's things like this that I never think of as significant cultural differences, but now that I know that when Anton is silent I don't have to wait attentively for him to speak our conversations go a lot smoother. I told him I was going to write about our "cultural moment" for my blog, and he told me to include that my eyes are "like an eagle" watching for prey. I think I made him really uncomfortable. But now we're friends, and he's going to approve this post before I publish it. Riiiiiiiight.... now.
Aaaaaand we got the OK from Anton. He says hi.
Today Anton and I were sitting in my room talking. This always includes a lot of long pauses, during which I usually look at Anton and wait for him to say something. Today, the silence was broken by him asking (in Russian), "It is a burden when we are talking and you are always looking at me."
I didn't understand, nor did I know the Russian word burden. Eventually I kind of got it. "You don't like it when I look at you?"
"No," he said, "Why do you always look at me with your eyes so big?"
"Because," I replied, "I don't want you to think that I'm not listening to you."
"AAAAAH! It's cultural!" Anton exclaimed.
"In Korea, when people are talking, they don't look at each other?" I asked, interested.
"No," said Anton, "I can talk to you and listen to you but I am looking over here."
It's things like this that I never think of as significant cultural differences, but now that I know that when Anton is silent I don't have to wait attentively for him to speak our conversations go a lot smoother. I told him I was going to write about our "cultural moment" for my blog, and he told me to include that my eyes are "like an eagle" watching for prey. I think I made him really uncomfortable. But now we're friends, and he's going to approve this post before I publish it. Riiiiiiiight.... now.
Aaaaaand we got the OK from Anton. He says hi.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
I Feel Famous
I pretty much feel like a superstar that people (even though it's not many people...) all over the world are reading my blog... ah, the wonders of the interwebs!
TL
When I was in high school, we often complained of having little to do. On chilly afternoons when nobody really wanted to walk on the beach and we had nowhere to go, we would partake in the time-honored tradition known as TLs.
Nobody knows who invented the Town Lap, but it is a popular pastime (literally done for no other purpose than to pass time) amongst the teens of Homer, Alaska. A full town lap takes about seven minutes, or half an hour if you include the spit. TLs are a way to admire the beauty around you, chat with those you enjoy spending time with and, eventually, connect with someone else doing the same thing so that with your combined brain power you can come up with a more productive use of your time.
Why, you ask, am I reminiscing about the good old days of town laps when I am so far from the quaint two-lane streets of Homer? Because today I took time out from my busy schedule to do what everyone should do when visiting a new city - a Town Lap.
Of course, because this is Russia and I blunder about with minimal grace, I didn't engage in this TL on purpose. After class and an afternoon nap, I talked Megan into coming with me for a quick trip downtown to the grocery store. As we exited the store, the bus that runs fairly irregularly but stops at the front doors of our school (as opposed to across the highway, where the other bus stops) pulled up. I suggested we get on it, as we had never ridden it before. Ah, the naivete.
So the bus was really crowded. And we had groceries. And it stopped at a place near our school, but we figured it would be silly to shove our way out the door there only to walk down the hill to school. Because, I mean, the point of taking this bus is that it would drop us directly at our destination.
However, instead of making the left-hand turn we expected it to, the bus traveled further and further away from the center of the city. I didn't really mind though - we were seeing the beautiful snow-sprinkled hills of Vladivostok, the sun was setting and the sky was all kinds of pink, and we had groceries to snack on. I knew there was a reason TLs were so popular.
Soon the bus wasn't so crowded anymore. Then all of a sudden the bus was empty. The bus driver turned to us and asked, in Russian, "Girls, where are you going?" "To VGUES...?" we replied. As with most things I say in Russian, it was more a question than a statement. He nodded and continued to drive. Alright, I thought, we'll be there soon. But then the bus pulled into a bus lot, parked, the driver turned the bus off, and exited the bus to go chat up his other bus driver friends.
At this point we had been on the bus for about 45 minutes/an hour. We were tired. It was past dinner time and Megan had plans to go to dinner and then a basketball games with friends. People started calling us. Where were we? When would we be back for dinner? Those were both very good questions...
So yeah, we got a little freaked out when the bus stopped and it was getting dark out and we had no clue where we were. I apologized profusely to Megan for suggesting we get on the silly adventurous bus when all I really wanted were some groceries. The bus driver may have sensed our anxiety, because he came to talk to us. We talked about his family, living in Russia, what things were like in the US, all the normal things Russians want to talk about. It was kind of nice. It reduced my hysteria. He never really told us how long it would be until we finally got to VGUES, but he seemed to think that we would get there eventually if we continued to sit on his bus. So we did.
Eventually the bus started moving and we headed back toward town. By now it was dark so I really had no idea where we were. Our new friend the bus driver wanted to add us as friends on facebook. He warned us when our stop was coming and refused to let us pay for the bus ride. Which was nice. We got back to the dorms about three hours after we left. Longest grocery trip ever.
It wasn't the type of TL I'm used to, and it was a rather stressful end to an all-around exhausting day. Bus mix-ups happen to everyone. (I consoled myself with a memory of one particularly long bus misadventure in Washington. Knowing that even in a country where you speak the language you can go on accidental town laps gave me hope that I might still be able to survive in Russia despite this minor setback).
Really though, our bus "adventure" wasn't all that bad. Probably the worst thing to come out of it is that next time I need groceries it will be really hard to convince Megan to come with me. Good thing I'm stocked up for a while!
Wonderland!
Yesterday morning I woke up and what should I find...
WINTER had come overnight!
It was too cool. Kind of cold, actually. But I feel like in less than a week it went from being warm summery weather to a half an inch of snow that stuck! Public transportation went nuts because all the buses clambered to get their winter tires changed. People skidded about. Somehow they managed to plow the roads, because there's still dirty snow left in the ditches today.
Most importantly, it felt like winter. It smelled like winter. My breath left little puffs in the air like every breath should at the end of October. Everything felt fresher; the air felt airier and the people felt merrier. It felt like I imagined Russia would feel. It was wonderful.
Also, yesterday Renee, the coordinator of our study abroad program, visited Vladivostok. She took all us Americans out to dinner. We went to a Korean restaurant we've been talking about going to for a long time - it's actually owned by the North Korean government. I don't know much about Korean food, but I thought it was great and it was a very fun night. Of course, that might just be my leftover giddiness from the morning's snow talking...
Monday, October 22, 2012
The Circus
One beautiful day in Vladivostok, a group of Americans went to the circus.
...And do you know what they have at the circus?
POP
CORN!!!
I mean, they have other things there too I guess. Including, but not limited to:
- The "Tanzania Boys," a slightly racist and oddly provocative group of four African acrobats/dancers. They were very good at stacking themselves on top of one another in various combinations.
- A strong man whose feats were not so much strong but more painful... For instance, he bent a piece of rebar by resting one end against his chest and the other end against his two assistants, then ramming it with his whole body.
- Seven of the saddest camels I've ever seen. I almost cried.
- A beautiful pair of trapeze swingers.
- The oddest act, where a man emerged from a stage/box made to look like a pair of bell bottoms dressed like Elvis. He juggled those juggling sticks, but the stick he tossed was decorated to look like an electric guitar. This strange man also did a crazy balancing act on top of the pants/stage, during which he fell off. It was mildly terrifying. But in the Russian circus you have to try, try, again until you get your trick right. He tried twice more before he perfected it.
- An act comprised of a couple who blew giant bubbles under rainbow lights. It was more entertaining than you think it would be. They blew some really big bubbles. Then they got a little girl from the audience and blew a bubble around her. She freaked out. In a good way. It was cute.
- Two clowns who were mildly entertaining sometimes. The best part of the clown acts was one gig where they pantsed each other, and one clown had on underwear that said "Любовь" on them, which means love in Russian. I turned to Danielle, who's just learning to read Russian, and jokingly asked, "What does that say!?" I always ask her to read things. She took it very seriously and stared long and hard at the clown's butt trying to sound out the word.
- Two very well-trained elephants who did some cute tricks. Whoever said elephants don't have knees lied, I saw them climb up and down off their little elephant pedestals with my own two eyes!
It definitely wasn't the biggest circus, like we'd heard rumors it was. But it was pretty entertaining. And I made friends with an elephant, so that was neat.
Here's Danielle and I with our new elephant friends. The one to my left is named Jenny. She rubbed her trunk against me as we were taking this picture and I could feel her trunk hairs prickling me through my sweatshirt sleeve. Weird!
Picasso
This sunny little alley might not look like much, but one afternoon we discovered that it is in fact a portal to a magical world of wonderful art!
The alley led us to an art gallery where a Picasso exhibit was going on. You probably think Picasso's work looks something like this:
However, this was the only "traditionally Picasso" piece in the collection. It was a private collection on display, and it mostly consisted of sketches and smaller Picasso works. They looked more like this:
It was really cool that we were allowed to take photos... but there was a lot of glare because of the interesting lighting in the gallery. It looked like this, with a long line of little paintings/drawings all the way around the room.
The gallery director noticed us speaking English, and was very excited to tell us all about the Picasso collection (in Russian) as well as give us a tour of the gallery's permanent collection
Did you know Picasso was also a ceramicist?
(R): This is why I love art. Because a guy named Picasso can make a rough slab like this and a collector will later pay hundreds of dollars for it. (Incidentally, the most expensive piece in the collection was a small vase with a woman on it that was worth either $600,000 or $1,000,000 - I can't remember which of those was the dollar amount. The director told us the price in some other currency.)
(L): This was my very favorite piece. It's a little bowl about five inches in diameter and four inches deep. The outside is flat black and there's this wonderful cricket relief inside. If I owned this bowl I would eat breakfast out of it every morning then return it to a place of honor as the centerpiece of my kitchen. In fact, I would probably design my kitchen around this bowl. It's that great.
Here we are, chatting it up with the director. Notice the lighting. Unorthodox, but a great space!
I was inspired, and returned home to make my own art. I call them, "Sad Window Lad" and "Woebegone Window Woman". Megan and I were slightly traumatized when my once-happy window people started crying from over-condensation. But, we figured, it's art. Just go with it.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Georgian Restaurant
Here we are on the bus on the way to the Georgian restaurant the other night. We had a nice Russian lady take our picture for us.
You can kind of see in the background that the buses here have really great little curtains around the tops of the windows. It's pretty fancy.
Mmmm, delicious Georgian restaurant! In all honesty I probably will go back there, even though my stomach didn't have too much fun.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
A Whirlwind Weekend
Hello there world,
This weekend has been a flurry of wonderful adventures which I look forward to sharing with you in greater detail soon! For now my internet is being slow and I can't download pictures, so I'll just give you a quick overview so you don't feel like we're losing touch too much.
Friday we Americans went downtown to have Georgian food for dinner. The restaurant was cute, reasonably priced, yummy, and after our appetizers it turned into a dance hall as well. A festive time was had by all!
Afterwards, we met up with some Russian friends and hung out at a bar downtown. Miles, Cameron, and I had plans to head to Russki Island in the morning so we left at a reasonable hour and barely managed to convince the door guards at the university to let us in (we were after curfew). Luckily, they took pity on us poor Americans. I chatted with Megan and Jenya (Russian) for a bit then tried to rest up for the next morning's adventure.
My attempts were unfortunately stymied by a freak bout of food poisoning, which led to a very disheartened blog post last night during my recovery. But at 9:30 this morning I was bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to go!
Miles, Cameron, our Russian friend Inna, and I went downtown and took the ferry (about a 45 min ride) to Russki Island. It is very rural and quaint, and we wandered about through old coal plants, a quiet little monastery, and an abandoned factory. We bought some really good fresh honey and milk. We walked along the beach until Megan and Jenya met up with us (they drove to the island), and Cameron and I headed back to the mainland for a nap.
This evening I had a lovely dinner with Danielle and Alouna (whose name I finally figured out how to spell in English). The waiter was very patient with Danielle's lack of Russian and we tried to teach her how to ask for the check in Russian to impress him. This sadly failed. We'll have to practice a little more.
Tonight we watched a Russian movie and finally got to eat POPCORN! I LOVE POPCORN! Up until now, I have had no way to make popcorn because I can only find microwave popcorn and there are only stoves and sinks in the kitchen. However, Jenya has a microwave in his room (illegal in the dorms... don't tell!) and he let me borrow it. It's good to have Russian friends!
Tonight I'm going to bed full and happy (my stomach feels fine thank you very much!) and excited that tomorrow we're going to try to go to the Russian circus. It's apparently the biggest circus in the world. And I've never been to a circus!
The unfortunate part of having such a great weekend is that my homework is piling up. Sometimes I forget that I'm here to study too, not just have great Russian experiences! Tonight I would like to encourage you all to follow my questionable example; throw responsibility to the wind and take advantage of any opportunities you may find floating in the breeze.
This weekend has been a flurry of wonderful adventures which I look forward to sharing with you in greater detail soon! For now my internet is being slow and I can't download pictures, so I'll just give you a quick overview so you don't feel like we're losing touch too much.
Friday we Americans went downtown to have Georgian food for dinner. The restaurant was cute, reasonably priced, yummy, and after our appetizers it turned into a dance hall as well. A festive time was had by all!
Afterwards, we met up with some Russian friends and hung out at a bar downtown. Miles, Cameron, and I had plans to head to Russki Island in the morning so we left at a reasonable hour and barely managed to convince the door guards at the university to let us in (we were after curfew). Luckily, they took pity on us poor Americans. I chatted with Megan and Jenya (Russian) for a bit then tried to rest up for the next morning's adventure.
My attempts were unfortunately stymied by a freak bout of food poisoning, which led to a very disheartened blog post last night during my recovery. But at 9:30 this morning I was bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to go!
Miles, Cameron, our Russian friend Inna, and I went downtown and took the ferry (about a 45 min ride) to Russki Island. It is very rural and quaint, and we wandered about through old coal plants, a quiet little monastery, and an abandoned factory. We bought some really good fresh honey and milk. We walked along the beach until Megan and Jenya met up with us (they drove to the island), and Cameron and I headed back to the mainland for a nap.
This evening I had a lovely dinner with Danielle and Alouna (whose name I finally figured out how to spell in English). The waiter was very patient with Danielle's lack of Russian and we tried to teach her how to ask for the check in Russian to impress him. This sadly failed. We'll have to practice a little more.
Tonight we watched a Russian movie and finally got to eat POPCORN! I LOVE POPCORN! Up until now, I have had no way to make popcorn because I can only find microwave popcorn and there are only stoves and sinks in the kitchen. However, Jenya has a microwave in his room (illegal in the dorms... don't tell!) and he let me borrow it. It's good to have Russian friends!
Tonight I'm going to bed full and happy (my stomach feels fine thank you very much!) and excited that tomorrow we're going to try to go to the Russian circus. It's apparently the biggest circus in the world. And I've never been to a circus!
The unfortunate part of having such a great weekend is that my homework is piling up. Sometimes I forget that I'm here to study too, not just have great Russian experiences! Tonight I would like to encourage you all to follow my questionable example; throw responsibility to the wind and take advantage of any opportunities you may find floating in the breeze.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Bleh.
On a list of not-so-charming things about Russia, I would like to add cockroaches and food poisoning. I ran into both tonight. Bleh.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
America-Ho!
What could this lovely bunch of Americans be up to now?
(For context these people are L-R: Micah, Dylan, Danielle, Cameron, Miles. All Americans.)
Why, we're visiting the American consulate of course! Look at that grand old flag flying majestically in the Russian breeze.
Elena Arnoldovna, who works for the International Department at the university and is in charge of coordinating the Americans, had planned a trip to the consul for us. However, there was a car crash downtown and the normally bad traffic turned even worse! Our bus was stuck, so we took several small cars (where she procured them I have no idea) and headed to our appointment. The guard was excited to have someone to practice his English with while we waited for everyone to arrive. We talked with a woman who works for the consulate about some possible career paths. It was nice to chat with such a wise and knowledgeable and amiable American in real sophisticated English. She even told us some good places to eat! It wasn't a particularly long outing, but it was nice.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Not-So-Tiny-Any-Longer Rant
Okay, so I would say that up until this point my blog has been largely comprised of things I think will interest you, my loyal blog followers. They are happy things filled with fun photos and quirky anecdotes from my wonderful life in Russia. Welp, this post will offer none of these things.
WARNING: the following rant is for dedicated and brave readers only.
Ok, so my rant's not going to be that bad. But today I'm going to tell you all about the wonders of Russian food. And by wonders I mean terrors. In so many ways.
First of all, Russian cuisine is largely colorless and made only of carbohydrates, butter (is butter a carb?)* salt, and often unidentifiable meat/fish. Some popular Russian dishes include pelmeni (boiled potstickers covered in butter), blini (grease-fried pancakes covered usually in sour cream), or a chunk of fish obscured by cheesy mayonnaisey gloop. Bread products abound. Salads consist of cucumbers and tomatoes slathered in mayonaise. Today for dinner my roommate had macaroni noodles with little chunks of meat. There was no sauce, just a half a cup of butter and a pound of salt.
So here's the real kick in the face (this new saying will catch on because it describes a phenomenon that is both painful and impressive): Russian women are SO SKINNY. My roommate looks like a mail order bride who models on weekends. She's 5'10" and weighs no more than me, though that's not saying much anymore as I have gained at least seven pounds since I've been here. That's the equivalent of growing a second heart, which I might need when mine gets so clogged with Russian pancakes and other "carbs"that it is no more efficient than the hot water pump that occasionally produces a trickle in my shower.
The worst part is, I'm turning into a Russian chef. On my last trip to the grocery store I bought oil, cabbage, ground meat, noodles, and salt. Lettuce appears in zero of my salads. (What then makes them salads, you ask? I know not.) I made a delicious chili the other day only to fill my bowl with equal parts sour cream.
I like to believe that because I'm starting to think like a Russian, I'll soon start to metabolize like one as well. I'll let you know how that works out. But hey, a girl can dream, right? Wherever you may be, dear reader, eat a nutritious meal or two for me.
____________________________________________________________
*Extra points for you if you get the Mean Girls reference.
WARNING: the following rant is for dedicated and brave readers only.
Ok, so my rant's not going to be that bad. But today I'm going to tell you all about the wonders of Russian food. And by wonders I mean terrors. In so many ways.
First of all, Russian cuisine is largely colorless and made only of carbohydrates, butter (is butter a carb?)* salt, and often unidentifiable meat/fish. Some popular Russian dishes include pelmeni (boiled potstickers covered in butter), blini (grease-fried pancakes covered usually in sour cream), or a chunk of fish obscured by cheesy mayonnaisey gloop. Bread products abound. Salads consist of cucumbers and tomatoes slathered in mayonaise. Today for dinner my roommate had macaroni noodles with little chunks of meat. There was no sauce, just a half a cup of butter and a pound of salt.
So here's the real kick in the face (this new saying will catch on because it describes a phenomenon that is both painful and impressive): Russian women are SO SKINNY. My roommate looks like a mail order bride who models on weekends. She's 5'10" and weighs no more than me, though that's not saying much anymore as I have gained at least seven pounds since I've been here. That's the equivalent of growing a second heart, which I might need when mine gets so clogged with Russian pancakes and other "carbs"that it is no more efficient than the hot water pump that occasionally produces a trickle in my shower.
The worst part is, I'm turning into a Russian chef. On my last trip to the grocery store I bought oil, cabbage, ground meat, noodles, and salt. Lettuce appears in zero of my salads. (What then makes them salads, you ask? I know not.) I made a delicious chili the other day only to fill my bowl with equal parts sour cream.
I like to believe that because I'm starting to think like a Russian, I'll soon start to metabolize like one as well. I'll let you know how that works out. But hey, a girl can dream, right? Wherever you may be, dear reader, eat a nutritious meal or two for me.
____________________________________________________________
*Extra points for you if you get the Mean Girls reference.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Chores
In the dorms here, everyone has to help with communal hall chores. Each night a different room of girls has to clean the kitchen and a different room of boys has to take out the trash. A little bit of that Soviet shared responsibility remains, I guess.
The other afternoon, the RA came and knocked on everyone's door and told us that we had to leave the dorms for cleaning. Through the usual confused translation, we thought that the dorms were being cleaned and we needed to leave. However, this was not the case.
We were given these lovely implements and ushered outside, where we attempted to sweep the sidewalks around the entrances to the university. We only worked for about 10 minutes before they sent us all back inside. We collected very little dirt, partly due to the inefficiency of the twig brooms and partly due to the hilarity that we all felt at the pointlessness of the task.
This was one of my top ten most ridiculous moments in Russia so far. I couldn't get the video to load on this page, but it's on my facebook page if you'd like to see.
In Soviet Russia, dirt sweeps YOU.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
The Fortress
One beautiful but windy day, we went to an old "fort" set up in war times to protect Russia from the East. There are many of these forts in Vladivostok, and this one had been renovated into a museum. It was quite interesting, though quaint.
The view from the Fort. You can see that it's a pretty good viewpoint. We were there at high tide, and the waves were sending spray several meters into the air that you could see from the top of the hill. It looked like the city was being besieged by the ocean.
Here's a missile and a giant gun. The walls are the walls of the underground fort, which we got to go inside of and climb on top of.
Here we are, defending the East! (I promise not to aim the gun at Alaska)!
The Dragon
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Five Minutes
I want to use the five minutes before I go to class to tell you about my morning yesterday. The night before, my window had gotten stuck open. I found it quite comical, until I got home from classes in the evening and my room was freezing cold. I alerted the proper authorities but was informed that nothing could be done until the morning, so I propped it shut the best I could with my carry-on suitcase and clambered under my blankets.
When I woke up yesterday it was quite cold. And, once again, our hot water has been out. I knew that I really needed a shower but I couldn't quite handle the thought of taking a glacially cold shower then returning to my drafty room. I went to the bathroom and determined that I wouldn't be fit for social situations unless I showered. So, begrudgingly and steeling myself for the numbing coldness, I turned on the faucet.
But lo and behold, what should come out but warm water! It was such a happy moment. I took a leisurely shower, filling the tiny shower room with steam until you couldn't even see an outline in the mirror. It was great.
I would love to tell you more, but for now my five minutes is up. I hope you all have a lovely morning filled with hot showers, or hot coffee, or a hot breakfast... or some such thing!
When I woke up yesterday it was quite cold. And, once again, our hot water has been out. I knew that I really needed a shower but I couldn't quite handle the thought of taking a glacially cold shower then returning to my drafty room. I went to the bathroom and determined that I wouldn't be fit for social situations unless I showered. So, begrudgingly and steeling myself for the numbing coldness, I turned on the faucet.
But lo and behold, what should come out but warm water! It was such a happy moment. I took a leisurely shower, filling the tiny shower room with steam until you couldn't even see an outline in the mirror. It was great.
I would love to tell you more, but for now my five minutes is up. I hope you all have a lovely morning filled with hot showers, or hot coffee, or a hot breakfast... or some such thing!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
The Russian Family Robinson
The Trip:
Alright... As you may have heard, last weekend Dylan, Megan, and I went on a wonderful trip with real Russians! (Thanks to Megan for hooking us up). It was a weekend of many mini-adventures, which I will cluster artfully into this one comprehensive post. Enjoy!
The car ride to the dacha (Russian weekend vacation home) was about three hours. We stopped along the way at an area of the road where the trees were covered in scraps of cloth. It was a Russian tradition that you made a wish and then tied a scrap of cloth onto these trees, and your wish would come true. So, we all did!
Here's an action shot, and here's my wish blowing in the wind:
We also stopped at a very rustic roadside toilet. It was too beautiful to resist.
The Dacha:
Dachas are a wonderful tradition Russians have. They're rustic little weekend/summer cottages where the city dwellers go to escape. We rented one for 1100 rubles/night per person, or about $35. We got really lost finding the place, and had to drive through some rough terrain to get there...
But it was so worth it! The dacha was adorable. There were baby goats there, and some pretty spectacular decor...
(This is quite possibly the greatest sign I've ever seen. What does it mean? No dumping in the forest? Do your morning squats and/or double-pole ski practice in non-wooded areas? Make sure to shield your ass from dangerously pointy trees? We may never know...)
The Hike:
We arrived, ate lunch, then the Russians told us it was time to hike to a cave about 5K from the dacha. The hike was quite long, and hilly, and rocky, and even after the dacha owner woman made us a three page map we got a little bit lost. But it was fun!
As we were hiking along, all of the sudden one of the girls gasped and raced to the side of the trail. We'd found mushrooms! Russians are really big on mushrooms, and she was an expert. We made a collection, marked the trail, and picked them up for the next day's lunch on our way back home. They were delicious!
The caves weren't huge but they were still cool. We had fun clambering about, tiring though it was.
The Shashlik:
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned shashlik before, but it's basically Russian shishkebabs. We cooked some yummy chicken over an outside fire and made up quite a feast!
Dylan had decided he wanted to buy peanut butter when we came across it at the supermarket, and the Russians went crazy for it. We taught them to eat it with apples, and they figured out themselves that it's also good if you just eat it with a spoon.
I finally had a real Russian meal: A big hunk of barbecued meat, cucumber/tomato/mayonaise salad, and a shot of vodka (okay, maybe more than one shot of vodka) to wash it down!
We spent forEVER trying to get good pictures of us writing in the air with smoldering sticks. Dylan kind of succeeded (in Cyrillic and backwards). We probably would have done it a lot longer, except all of a sudden it was time for...
The Banya:
A banya is basically a really hot Russian sauna, except it also involves whipping yourself (or having a friend do the whipping for you) with wet leafy alder branches. Also, you're supposed to wear these funny hats.
I could only really handle the banya in small doses. Then we'd sit around, snack on our leftovers, and chat! (In both Russian and English).
It was a great weekend and we made some good new friends. This has definitely been my most prominently "Russian" experience so far, and I absolutely loved it, even if my legs were a little bit sore the next day... Russian sure do walk a lot.
Monday, October 8, 2012
A Few Words
Hello again my wonderful blog followers,
Looking back on my posts of late, I feel you may be overwhelmed with photos and perhaps wondering more about what I actually think of the city, not just how things (and how I) look here.
So, here is a post of solely words to clear up some of the things you may be wondering about. Or perhaps to introduce ideas you've never even really considered. These organic thoughts may lack organization, but should overflow with entertainment value.
First off, I would like to remark on how terrifying Russian drivers are. This weekend Megan, Dylan, and I went on a road trip to the country with our new Russian friends (TEASER ALERT! A post about this with many pictures to follow). Anyways, the road trip really cemented my thoughts on Russian drivers. Bus drivers, taxi drivers, and regular people with cars all drive like escaped convicts running from the law. I think I've already mentioned that in Russia there's no standard of which side steering wheels are on in the cars. Also, Russian drivers pay little attention to lines on the roads. Wherever they see a space their vehicle might fit through, they race through it. Instead of keeping a moderate speed, Russian drivers are very jerky. They stop and start and honk their horns and go a million miles an hour over bumps and train tracks and all manner of obstacles. If I die in Russia, it will most likely be from riding in a vehicle. That or drinking the water (which I of course don't do).
So there was a nice little rant.
Next I will tell you about Russian food. So yesterday I was in the kitchen cooking dinner (chicken and potatoes). Our good Russian friend Liana was with Danielle (another American) cooking their dinner. They're on a diet together, so Liana was cooking them healthy Russian food. First she fried some little hotdog-like chunks in a pan. Then she added cabbage and let it steam. There was a lot more cabbage than hot dog... healthy, right? Then when it was almost done she added a cup of Russian sour cream (called smetana). Healthiness = out the door. That's pretty much the story of Russian food. There's so much mayonaise and sour cream and whatever in it that it kind of loses its health value. Russian food involves a lot of dill, which I love. There's a lot of fish here because Vladivostok is a coastal city. A lot of the time it's easy to get good seafood here and not too expensive. Good meat is harder to come by. Random things are really hard to find like tortilla chips or salsa. Other things have become staple parts of my diet like spreadable cheese. Good Russian cooking is delicious, but the cafeteria on campus has a fairly small collection of mediocre food. I am excited to start cooking my own food and went downtown to buy a pan today but the store was sadly closed. I'll go again tomorrow. Also, the dorm kitchens are strangely devoid of ovens and microwaves, which further complicates things. But a lot of kids in the dorms cook and in the evenings the halls always smell delicious.
It's finally starting to cool down here - highs in the mid-sixties and last night it got down to freezing (but just barely). I'm ready for it to feel like fall, which is my favorite season. The leaves are falling, but that crisp cool fall air hasn't quite arrived yet.
My classes are ok - I don't love them but I also don't hate them. Sometimes they're horribly hard and sometimes they're pretty easy. The subject matter itself isn't difficult to grasp; I just have an awful vocabulary and it's sometimes hard for me to understand directions or questions as I hear them without pausing to look up words in my pocket dictionary (which I take with me everywhere). That book is probably the single most useful thing I brought with me.
Alright... that's a lot of writing for right now and I'm feeling sleep creep into the corners of my eyes (that works the same in Russia as it does in America. I hope you enjoyed this piece of my mind. If you, my lovely blog readers, have any comments or things you would like to know about Vladivostok feel free to comment here or on facebook (since I don't think you can comment without a google account). Also, sometime when my internet connection is working a little better I'll upload pictures and tell some stories from this lovely past weekend at a Russian vacation home.
I hope this post finds each and every one of you happy and well and enjoying the beauty of fall. Goodnight.
Looking back on my posts of late, I feel you may be overwhelmed with photos and perhaps wondering more about what I actually think of the city, not just how things (and how I) look here.
So, here is a post of solely words to clear up some of the things you may be wondering about. Or perhaps to introduce ideas you've never even really considered. These organic thoughts may lack organization, but should overflow with entertainment value.
First off, I would like to remark on how terrifying Russian drivers are. This weekend Megan, Dylan, and I went on a road trip to the country with our new Russian friends (TEASER ALERT! A post about this with many pictures to follow). Anyways, the road trip really cemented my thoughts on Russian drivers. Bus drivers, taxi drivers, and regular people with cars all drive like escaped convicts running from the law. I think I've already mentioned that in Russia there's no standard of which side steering wheels are on in the cars. Also, Russian drivers pay little attention to lines on the roads. Wherever they see a space their vehicle might fit through, they race through it. Instead of keeping a moderate speed, Russian drivers are very jerky. They stop and start and honk their horns and go a million miles an hour over bumps and train tracks and all manner of obstacles. If I die in Russia, it will most likely be from riding in a vehicle. That or drinking the water (which I of course don't do).
So there was a nice little rant.
Next I will tell you about Russian food. So yesterday I was in the kitchen cooking dinner (chicken and potatoes). Our good Russian friend Liana was with Danielle (another American) cooking their dinner. They're on a diet together, so Liana was cooking them healthy Russian food. First she fried some little hotdog-like chunks in a pan. Then she added cabbage and let it steam. There was a lot more cabbage than hot dog... healthy, right? Then when it was almost done she added a cup of Russian sour cream (called smetana). Healthiness = out the door. That's pretty much the story of Russian food. There's so much mayonaise and sour cream and whatever in it that it kind of loses its health value. Russian food involves a lot of dill, which I love. There's a lot of fish here because Vladivostok is a coastal city. A lot of the time it's easy to get good seafood here and not too expensive. Good meat is harder to come by. Random things are really hard to find like tortilla chips or salsa. Other things have become staple parts of my diet like spreadable cheese. Good Russian cooking is delicious, but the cafeteria on campus has a fairly small collection of mediocre food. I am excited to start cooking my own food and went downtown to buy a pan today but the store was sadly closed. I'll go again tomorrow. Also, the dorm kitchens are strangely devoid of ovens and microwaves, which further complicates things. But a lot of kids in the dorms cook and in the evenings the halls always smell delicious.
It's finally starting to cool down here - highs in the mid-sixties and last night it got down to freezing (but just barely). I'm ready for it to feel like fall, which is my favorite season. The leaves are falling, but that crisp cool fall air hasn't quite arrived yet.
My classes are ok - I don't love them but I also don't hate them. Sometimes they're horribly hard and sometimes they're pretty easy. The subject matter itself isn't difficult to grasp; I just have an awful vocabulary and it's sometimes hard for me to understand directions or questions as I hear them without pausing to look up words in my pocket dictionary (which I take with me everywhere). That book is probably the single most useful thing I brought with me.
Alright... that's a lot of writing for right now and I'm feeling sleep creep into the corners of my eyes (that works the same in Russia as it does in America. I hope you enjoyed this piece of my mind. If you, my lovely blog readers, have any comments or things you would like to know about Vladivostok feel free to comment here or on facebook (since I don't think you can comment without a google account). Also, sometime when my internet connection is working a little better I'll upload pictures and tell some stories from this lovely past weekend at a Russian vacation home.
I hope this post finds each and every one of you happy and well and enjoying the beauty of fall. Goodnight.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Excursion
Today was a holiday in Russian elementary schools: Teacher's Day! To celebrate, the Russian language professors decided to take their students on a big field trip instead of having classes.
It was very exciting, but as usual we didn't really know where we were going when we got on the bus that morning.
To my pleasant surprise, we ended up at a funny little park about 45 min away from the school. We Americans had a field day exploring!
Megan and Dylan drove an airplane!
I got to hang out with the Russian Winnie Pooh and Piglet!
In case you haven't gotten the idea yet, it was kind of a kids' themed park. But you're never too old for fun!
Watch out behind you! Teehee.
This was the coolest thing: an actual maze! We were tall enough to see over the walls (Even me! That never happens!) so it wasn't as crazy... but it would have been scary if I was little kid!
I went fishing with Masha and Medved, characters from a popular kids' show.
The teachers broke us into two groups and we had a competition for who could make the prettiest sandwich. Which one do you think was my group's? (Answer at end of post).
Megan climbed up in this tree house, and the teachers got so jealous they climbed up too! That's our "Listening" professor in the middle.
In the woods I came across these great natural (but embellished) burl faces.
We also had a competition to see who could find the most beautiful leaves. The teachers picked a bouquet of fall colors.
I had a wonderful time getting out of the city and wandering about the Russian woods. Didn't stumble upon any tigers yet though!
(Answer: The Americans/Koreans made the sandwich on the left.)
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