Catch A Car

Before coming to Russia, one thing I was warned about was the "gypsy cab" phenomenon. Basically in Russia a lot of not-actually-cabs will pick people up flagging down a cab. Often in big cities these guys are involved in some illegal trade and can get you into trouble, or charge exorbitant prices... or whatever. But they really only exist in big city nightmares, and Vladivostok isn't a big city at all.

The public transportation shuts down here at about 10pm. There aren't very many cab companies around and it's always a long wait if you call for one. So the normal thing to do here is to stand on the side of the road with your arm out and wait for somebody to pull over. They aren't gypsy cabs at all really - they're just normal people driving about at night on no particular time schedule who are willing to stop and pick people up. They'll roll down their window and ask where you're going. You'll tell them and name your price. Usually we ask if they'll take us to the school for 100 rubles (about $3.00). If we're going somewhere downtown from downtown we'll sometimes find someone who will take us for free. I think it's a pretty effective transportation system, especially in a place where not very many people have cars and the heavily relied-upon public transportation isn't running. For you worry-worts out there: I've never flagged down a car on my own, only in a group. Partly because I don't trust my Russian to haggle down the price, but also because it's always smartest to travel in packs, especially in a foreign city.

So the other night when our Russian friends went to catch a car Jordan and I used the English phrase "catch a car" to describe what they were doing. They loved it. It really is a fun thing to say... so they practiced over and over... "catch a car, catch a car, catch a car..." it was quite entertaining. However, it was one of those classic moments I have here where Russians are so excited to learn English that I never really learn Russian. I'm still not sure how to say the equivalent phrase of "catch a car" in Russian. All I know is that if you stick your arm out into the road eventually some nice Russian will come along and take you and your friend wherever you want to go for cheaper than a taxi will. Thank you Russia.

Life As Usual

[This post is from Wednesday... Russian internet just didn't want you to see it until now.]

Not much to blog about these last couple of days... it's just been a normal week of school. This study abroad program really is heavy on the studying. Many programs through Lewis & Clark are more travel-oriented programs, where students get to galavant about with other kids from LC and see different parts of a country, studying here and there as they go. This language-intensive program is kind of the opposite. You're supposed to get permission to go to neighboring cities (or at least alert someone) and we have 2-3 classes/day. With homework too it gets to be a bit much sometimes, but hopefully the hard work will pay off. Although I know I've mentioned that I haven't made as much progress with Russian language as I'd hoped to, I still like to think that I'm improving a little bit! I think being around the language it's hard not to pick up a few things.

Anyways, tonight I'm going to take the night off from my busy life as a student to go out with my roommate Iuliia. It will probably look something like this:

I guess my advice to you all today is to take a break from your own busy lives and indulge yourselves a little. See the sights, smell the roses, and do the things you love.

As long as we're on the topic...

Looking back, almost all of my recent posts have somehow involved food. So I figured I'd take this opportunity to continue the trend and share with you one of my long-term projects for my time here...

So lots of things in Russia are weird. Not drinking the tap water is weird. Not having a standard side of cars for the steering wheel to be on is weird. The fact that people don't flush their toilet paper but instead put it in little baskets next to the toilet (not because the septic system can't handle toilet paper, but just because) is weird. 

But one of the weirdest things is to see normal American things transformed into weird Russian things. Like, for instance, simple Lays potato chips. They have Lays in Russia, which is cool because I'm a big fan of potato chips. But none of the flavors here are anything you'd even expect might exist in the world. I've been trying my best to sample all the weirdest and most wonderful types during my time here. Here's a few of the highlights:

Alright. I know you want to know how they all were.

Let's take it from the top left and work clockwise.

1) Красная Икра = Kracnaya Ikra = Red Caviar. These chips tasted nothing like caviar, but were rather odd and kind of sweet. They weren't horrible, but weren't my favorite. And I was really disappointed because I wanted them to actually taste like caviar.

2) Бекон = Byekon = Bacon. These are pretty much delicious. They taste like a little bit saltier and less sweet version of American barbecue flavored Lays. A friend told Megan and I that we had to try them when we got a chance because he'd had them... and we were not disappointed.

3) Белые Грибы со Сметаной = Beliye Gribie so Smetanoy = White Mushrooms and Sour Cream = Fail. These were horrible. I could hardly eat them. I love mushrooms... but these were so awful. Ugh.

4) Краб = Krab = Crab! These are my favorite to talk about because they're just so weird. Who would ever decide to make crab flavored chips? Also I love that they come in a pink bag. I feel like a pink bag of Lays would never exist in the US... because what normal chip flavor would possibly be pink? The chips inside this pink bag taste exactly like that fake crab stuff that is really some sort of fish rolled up. When I was a kid my mom would always put it in chef salads and it was decently tasty but mostly I liked to unroll it and turn it into a giant zigzag. Anyways, imagine that flavor plus potato chip. I think they were actually pretty good once you got past the initial shock. Others had mixed opinions. Some people thought they were awful. Perhaps it was my fond memories of salads past and my love of the pink packaging with a cute little crab on it that made me like the chips... I don't know. All this taste testing is hard work!

P.S. Although I've tried all the weirdest flavors, there are more odd Lays out there... stay tuned for further culinary updates.

HAMBURGER

For dinner last night Megan, Jordan, and I treated ourselves to a humongous delicious greasy real American burger at the Irish pub. I'm not sure if it's because I was starved for real food or just because it was an awesome burger, but it was one of the most delicious burgers I've ever eaten in my life! It had cheese as well as some magical sauce and some sort of bacon/ham hybrid too. Yummmmmm...

While we were waiting for our food three Russian men sat down at the table next to us. The noticed we were Americans so of course they wanted to chat. These particular Russians were really into Native Americans, and flipped out when Megan said she lived near reservations and knew about Jeronimo.

When our food came, we wolfed down our burgers like savages... and the Russian men asked why we were eating such horrible food! We were shocked. This was delicious food. We told them that it was like American food and we wanted food from our homeland. The guys were really excited for us to try Russian food (which we clearly already have) and enthusiastically bought us a plate of something that I forgot the name of. It was basically strips of raw but smokey-flavored salmon that we put lemon juice and pepper on and ate with black bread. Not going to lie, it was delicious. But we had already eaten a burger and had a beer......

I was SOOO FULLLLLLL. It was ridiculous. But worth it. This was probably the most satisfying meal I've had since being here. Often food in restaurants here comes in reasonable sized portions and I missed ordering something and having an impossibly huge plate of food delivered to me like always happens in America. The Russian admonished us that hamburgers are the reason Americans are fat... but we said they were delicious. And really, for the night, that was all that mattered!

Сок

While drinking my orange juice this morning I turned the carton around to be greeted by these two jokers....

This kid on the top... man. This wouldn't even fly as an acceptable school picture back in my day... and here he is on the back of a juice carton! It reminded me of in Tom & Jerry when the little girl's picture is on the back of the milk carton... except that instead of being lost these kids are talking about how much they love fruit.

And let me tell you, this guy ^^^ loves fruit!

The carton roughly translates to: Why do I love Fruit Garden?

Because delicous! (They don't really use articles in Russian).

The little girl's reason is something like: For beautiful fruits.

As you drink your juice this morning from a boring carton with no goofy children's pictures on it, ponder the many reasons that you love сок (pronounced sock). 

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In case you didn't figure it out from the contextual clues, COK = sock = juice.

Керамика

Ah, керамика... one of my favorite Russian words. Because it is the word for one of my favorite things in the world... ceramics!

Yesterday after all our regular classes, the American students met for a "Ceramics Master Class." I was SO EXCITED. For those hapless readers of my blog who do not know how fully obsessed with ceramics I am, I'm telling you now. I love it. Adore it. Dream of it.

Our adventure began with a descent into the bowels of the dormitory building, down to the basement floor where the laundry room is located. There, we opened an unmarked door and wonder of wonders, a tiny ceramics room was hidden inside! Who knew it had been hiding underneath my bedroom (a few stories below, but close) all along! It was wondrous! Anyways, we met with a ceramics master maker of traditional Russian toys/figures. She gave us a quick demo then we set to work making our own traditional Russian toys. I made a little horse, a little chicken, and a little fish.

Sadly, I took no pictures. Here's a picture I borrowed from the school website, though. Megan and Dylan, my LC pals, are hard at work. They each made a woman, like the one you can see in the foreground.

We made our figurines and left them there to be fired. Next week we'll go back and paint them all pretty traditional Russian-y. It felt so good to have my hands covered in clay again, and we all had a blast playing around with mud. Everyone's stuff turned out really good, too! I can't wait until my next journey back to this magical transient land hidden next to the laundry room and filled with strange figures. It's like a clay-dusty Russian Narnia. 

Выбор

Привет всем! -- Priviet vcem!

That means "hello all" in Russian. I'm going to try to incorporate more Russian phrases in my blogs so you can learn along with me! Feel free to practice at home with your friends. I guess I should give you the real Russian to look at and also the phonetic spellings... the title of this blog post is "Vibor." I won't tell you what it means... hopefully you'll be able to figure it out from the great story I'm about to tell.

So as you all (hopefully) know, yesterday was the election for the next president of the United States of America. You may have listened to it on the radio, watched the live election coverage from the comfort of your couch, or just heard the results on the morning news (depending on how invested you were). What do Americans stranded far from American news in Vladivostok, Russia do? Why, we get fancy invitations to watch the election at the consulate of course!

On Wednesday afternoon after our classes we donned our warm coats, gathered together and got on a bus to head to the consulate for the second time. It was COLD out, as it has been in Russia. But we didn't have to wait long (just long enough for a security check!) before we were in the nice warm consulate munching on snacks and watching the elections (live coverage!) on a big projector screen. It was extra fun because we kept switching between networks and the consulate people were coloring in their own map of how states voted. Interactive elections!

There were some Russian students there who we had met at a "round table discussion" in our RFE class. They'd held a mock election for non-US citizens at the consulate election party, and it seems Russians really love Obama. Of 53 voters 49 voted for Obama. Poor Romney. Anyways, it was nice to chitchat with new American friends and thoughtful English-speaking Russians. Even though I'm not super politically informed, it was neat to see people of all nationalities, ages, and occupations come together for an event.

It will probably be one of my fondest memories of an election. Partly because it was actually enjoyable, and partly because... well, how many people can say they watched the US presidential election from Vladivostok, Russia?

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Выбор = Vibor = Election. Literally means "choice."