Museum Tour!

I am really interested in exploring and getting to know the city and its history, so Nadya and Olga, my students who will be translators for their careers, have eagerly signed up to be my guides. Today, they took me on a museum tour in Tyumen. Neither Olga nor Nadya have ever been to the museums in Tyumen. I feel like when you live somewhere, you don't explore it like a tourist would, and as a result end up missing some of the cultural attractions the city has to offer. Olga did some research and brought us to a Russian history museum right by our university and then to an art museum in the center of town.

Nadya, Me, Olga

The history museum is apparently a relatively new addition to Tyumen - Svetlana didn't even know it existed! It is a small two room building owned by a collector who began his collection with a single ancient coin. His collection now includes knives, arrows, armor, carafes, dishes, jewellery, money, etc. Some pieces are unique to the Tyumen region, including a few pieces found just two bus stops away.
Olga (a different one), who works for the museum, gave us a personal tour and explained each and every station. She even offered to introduce us to the collector, who will return back to Tyumen in a few days. Olga let us touch many of the pieces, and let us try on pieces of the armor!

European Suit of Armor

Russian Suit of Armor

After our tour of the first museum, we ventured to the center for the art museum. You have to pay to see each exhibit you want to go to, so we opted for the "Mezzotinto" gallery and a doll exhibit. We saw a to see a interesting video of how each piece is made. Little did I know some small images take months to complete! The doll exhibit was held in one small room, but it was interesting to see these handmade dolls, many made by girls as young as 4 years old! I also picked up a set of pictures of Tyumen 100 years ago, and a poster for my apartment for about $4 total.

After a day touring the museums, I made my way back home, blew a fuse (not sure how that happened), and made dinner. Then Sveltana dropped by with my schedule and let me know I have a busy few weeks ahead of me.

I'm only supposed to teach 9 classes per week, so I told Svetlana if I miss one that she should not hesitate to give me extra lessons other weeks. So, this week I have 10 lessons, I leave for Moscow early Saturday morning and will return Tuesday. I will only teach 3 days next week, but I will still have 9 lessons, and a wedding to attend on Friday. Svetlana also gave me positive feedback about my lessons so far - YAY!!!! - and told me there are 2 more groups of students ready to show me around. After I return from Moscow, the following Saturday, the first group will show me a park that is supposed to be beautiful at this time of year. Also, in 3 weekends she told me I will be traveling with Raisa, the dean, to her friend's dacha by a lake in the Urals. I think this next month is just going to fly by!