January Travels: Vladimir, Suzdal, and Moscow Mid-Year Seminar

A few fellow Fulbrighters, Bryan (ETA- Moscow), Nicky (ETA – Belgorod), Liz (ETA-Tolyatti), Thaddeus (Moscow) and Emily (Moscow), and I decided to make some plans to travel before our mid-year seminar in Moscow in January. We planned to go to Vladimir and Suzdal, which are two cities in the “Golden Ring", a very ancient part of Russia.

Before setting out for our first stop, Vladimir, we all met in Moscow. I hadn’t met Emily or Thaddeus before our trip, but the night before we left, our group all got together at their place and prepared a delicious feast of roasted chicken, mac and cheese, and broccoli.

The next morning we set out for Vladimir. We had a great time just exploring the sights, especially our visit to a 12th century church that happened to be having a service while we were there. Equally awesome was the impromptu dance party later that evening. After finishing our sightseeing for the day, we went back to the hotel and had dinner in an Armenian restaurant. Our group came in at the end of a wedding reception that was celebrating with some karaoke. The group clearly had been celebrating a while, but still they were mostly friendly, and challenged Thaddeus to a dance off. Soon the rest of us joined in on the fun before eventually calling it a night.

The next day we saw a few more things and on our way to lunch before going to Suzdal we bumped into Suzanne, a former classmate and friend of Bryan, Thaddeus, and Liz! Suzanne is studying abroad in Vladimir. She joined us for lunch came along to Suzdal where she introduced us to her friends Ira, Olga, Olga, Grisha and more. This was a lucky coincidence. Suzdal is an amazing city. Incredibly picturesque with a rich history. We also had the luck of having unofficial tour guides. The first night in Suzdal we were invited to Olga’s home and her mother prepared some bread with caviar, tea, and brought out some homemade cherry liquor. We watched a movie Olga and Grisha put together before heading to the hostel. The next day we explored again, tried some of the famed “meduhvukah” (mildly alcoholic honey beer), and spent the rest of our night in a local café. Our last day in Suzdal the other Olga took us around the city for a bit and brought us to a ceramics factory where we took a class! Our time in these two cities was incredible and some of my best memories in Russia thus far. It was sad to go, but I left with some new friends and I hope to return in the spring.

We spent the remainder of the week in Moscow at our mid-year seminar. This seminar was more relaxed than the first one and really interesting. We got to listen to a variety of presentations about different projects and experiences in different cities and we also had time for fun as well. I stuck around for the weekend after the seminar and explored some new and familiar sights in Moscow, including the zoo and Red Square, before heading back to Tyumen.

***Please note that most of these are not my photos, but were taken by friends on the trip!***



Strike a Pose

Pose 2

Pose 3

Nicky & the windmill

Russian Hospitality

Vladimir



Me after one of my many falls

Me attempting and failing at pottery

Kremlin in Suzdal. We ate lunch at the 300 year old restaurant here!

Trading Center in Suzdal

Liz and Nicky on the train from Moscow to Vladimir!

January in Tyumen

January went by surprisingly fast. I was free of my teaching duties for the month, but my schedule filled up quickly. I spent only two weeks in Tyumen before travelling for about a week and a half. After a few days in Moscow, I arrived back in Tyumen on the 5th and finally let my body rest and readjust to the 10-hour time change – just in time for Russian Christmas.

Most Russians are Orthodox and Orthodox Christmas is on January 7th. Christmas in Russia is largely a religious holiday, and people do not exchange gifts (they do that on New Years Eve), they just attend church – which has a different meaning for them than for me. I didn’t attend a ceremony, but instead joined Grunya and Sergey in one of the oldest churches in Tyumen “Trinity Monastery”. I more just observed than anything. In Orthodox Churches women must cover their heads, there are no pews and you walk around, light candles, and pray by icons – no statues in the Orthodox religion.

A few days later I got to partake in another Russian "tradition" with Grunya and Sergey: sledding in the forest. This was really fun! There is a hill in a nearby forest - cleared of trees of course – and sort of a sledding park. There were 3 slides and three different icy tracks. We climbed to the top of the slides, sat on our improv cardboard sleds, and flewwww down the track. It was great and we stayed until we couldn’t take the cold anymore!

Over the next week or so I spent my time in a few different ways. I lead a teacher roundtable, gave presentations at a couple global classrooms, celebrated journalists’ day complete with Russian karaoke, went to Yekaterinburg, visited a new discussion club, and went to a greco-roman wrestling competition.

I’m not sure if I’ve written about Global Classrooms (there are 2 kinds), but in this case I went to one of the high schools in Tyumen and gave a few presentations about different aspects about life in America. Pavel, the Russian Fulbrighter, coordinates these presentations. I mentioned to Pavel that I had wanted to visit Yekaterinburg, a city that is about 5 hours away from Tyumen by train. He was leading a delegation of students to NYC for two weeks and in order to get visas, they needed to take a trip to the US Consulate in Yekaterinburg. He invited me to tag along for the day, and said one of the students would be able to show me around in the evening. It was rough making it to the train station by 6:30am because the night before was “Journalists’ Day”, and Grunya, who is a journalist, invited me to the celebration. I wasn’t there too long, but stayed long enough to sing Russian karaoke! Anyway, the next day, we took the train to Yekaterinburg and had a quick lunch before heading to the Consulate. While the group was waiting for interviews, I decided to ask to see the English language office. I felt a bit bad about showing up without warning, but all of the employees were really friendly and let me stock up on some additional teaching materials. The rest of the group went back to Tyumen, but Sofia and I stayed behind. She showed me around Yekaterinburg for a few hours which was nice and then we took an overnight train back to Tyumen. On the way to Yekaterinburg, I made a new friend, who invited me to a discussion club where I could meet some Americans. I had only met two in my 5 months here and really briefly, so it was a nice opportunity for me to meet some new Americans and English speakers.

Below are some photos from Yekaterinburg!

Siberian Winter: How do you like our frost?

I mentioned some of the most common questions I am asked by Russians a while back. Well, after this winter, which was one of the coldest winters Tyumen had experienced in years, “How do you like our frost?” is definitely one to be added to the list.

Russians have a great way to describe their harsh winters. They call it “the frost”.  It is definitely a more than an appropriate word, seeing as the whole of Russia (well, parts of it) literally becomes frozen.  This happens not because it snows so much (it doesn't), but because the snow that does fall doesn't melt.

Winter, by Russian standards, officially begins on December 1st and continues until March 1st.  Winter temperatures in Russia, according to my standards (aka the averages in NJ/PA), began as early as September and subsided in April.  Winter in Tyumen was quite frigid, although not as cold as in other parts of the vast Siberia. Still, the temperatures in Tyumen plummeted well below zero and remained below freezing for the entire duration of winter.  We had stretches of days where the temperatures hovered around -30F. While it might be tough to fathom what that is like, believe it or not so long as you dress for it, it is bearable in short bursts.  It feels really cold, but after a certain point you don't notice the cold, just other sensations. For example, I noticed my eyelashes would freeze as soon as I stepped outside and that it was more difficult to breathe.

In addition to becoming familiar with the new sensations associated with this cold, I also became familiar with different lifestyle changes. For one, Tyumen morphed into a winter wonderland complete with beautiful ice sculptures and skating in the city center and great sledding and skiing nearby.  The ice did bring hazardous conditions for walking and driving! I didn't really understand how either walking or driving (or living) would be possible. Obvioulsy they are, but just a bit more challenging. Cars have special winter tires, but the roads don't get salted nor do they appear to be plowed much, accidents are more frequent - and they take HOURS to fix - this is true even when the weather is fine, and sometimes cars take forever to start/they don't start.

Tyumen residents did all seem to have these awesome remote car starters, so you won't freeze while waiting for the heat to kick in. Walking is definitely a challenge. I had made it my goal to not have to go to a hospital while I'm here, but winter put this goal to the test. With my lack of skill at walking on ice in combination with my lack of coordination and lack of patience to walk slowly, I managed to have some serious "winter wipeouts".  My final wipeout count was 18. Luckily, although my body endured some abuse, bruises were the worst of my injuries.

Along with a lengthy winter came much shorter days than those back home.  The sun would rise as late as 9am and set as early as 3:30pm. It was interesting to experience such short days. I actually noticed the impact that less daylight had on me. For example, I found myself getting a lot more sleep in the winter because without realizing it, I started going to bed earlier. The short days were more fascinating than anything, and while I missed sunshine and warmth, I knew that long days and summer "white nights", which are absolutely incredible, would arrive soon enough.

Another observation about winter in Russia is that EVERYONE wears fur here. While I knew this, it was just a little bit surprising to see it for myself. While all the fur here might not fly in the US, it's most definitely a necessity here. People definitely dress appropriately for the winter, which is something I had to learn how to do. I felt ridiculous in my big coat, but I fit right in, and it was sufficiently warm. In addition to wearing my big winter coat, I never left the house without my winter boots aka lined with fur (fall boots, on the other hand if you're wondering, are boots without fur), thick wool socks, wool tights underneath my pants, a big warm scarf wrapped around my face, two hats, and super warm wool mittens called "vareshki". It would take me about 10 minutes to put this all on in the morning and the same amount of time to take it all off. Once I had all my layers on, the temps were bearable for short periods of time, but I did experience weird sensations like my eyelashes and the inside of my nose freezing, difficulty breathing, and rapid freezingness.

Enduring a “Siberian winter” was for some reason one of the biggest sources of anxiety for me. I realize this is absolutely ridiculous, but I pictured myself getting locked out or lost and getting frost-bite or hypothermia. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had worried myself that it might be. Although this "frost" is totally survivable and didn't prevent me from going about my daily routine, I am glad winter is over! I know there are many Russians who would agree!

Moscow in January – Part 1

I arrived back in Russia on the 2nd. I took the train from the airport to the metro and Bryan, the ETA based in Moscow, met me at the metro and then we set out for Godzillas Hostel. Coincidentally, his friend and his friend's sister were actually in Moscow staying at the same hostel – and as it turned out - in the same dorm! Russia, I've decided is an incredibly small world - more on that in another post. Bryan and I toured the new Tretyakov, dined at Shokoladnitsa, met up with Andrew, a Fulbright doing research in Moscow, and we went out for a drink at an Irish pub. The next day, Nicky, the Fulbright ETA in Belgorod came through Moscow on her way back from her family vacation in Greece! Nicky joined me in the hostel and we met up with Bryan's friends and Andrew again to explore more of the city including the most fantastic pastry shop in perhaps all of Russia, oh, and an incredible toy store where we reverted to approximately age 5 and played with remote control cars and Wii.

My trip home was great and I was sad to say goodbye, but I think my short trip in Moscow was the perfect transition back to Russia!

Home Sweet Home

It is a long way home. Home is pretty much exactly on the complete other side of the planet. I almost could not have gone further or so it seems. I left for the airport before the crack of dawn around 5 am local time. My flight arrived in Moscow early so I relaxed in the airport and excitedly awaited to board my flight home.

This time around the transatlantic flight was relaxing. I knew that as soon as I landed and found my parents that there would be a Chipotle Fajita Burrito with a side of chips and guac AND a WaWa hoagie just waiting for me. Yes, I am a fat kid with a minor addiction to Mexican food – guacamole in particular.

Even though my flight landed at 6pm and after some 30 hours of traveling – I decided nothing was going to stop me from going out with my amazing friends in Philly that night. I should mention that I am extremely lucky to have such an amazing group of friends. Melissa, who lives in NYC, was leaving the next day for a family trip, and Sarah, from Chicago by way of DC, was supposed to fly home to Chicago the same day I got in. So to celebrate Eva’s birthday and my short return home, both changed their plans and made the trip to Philly for the night. It was SUCH a good night and one that still puts a smile on my face.

The rest of the week at home was pretty great. I got to see my entire family and spent lots of time with friends. It was a really great week and it went by so quickly. It almost felt like I wasn’t even home and that it was just a dream. I went from one completely different world to another and didn’t give myself really anytime for it to sink in before it was already time to head back. I left for Russia on January 1. That was a poor choice seeing as New Years Eve is December 31. Still, everything worked out and I was really glad to be able to have a much needed week at home. Also, on my way back to Tyumen, I stuck around Moscow for a few extra days which was just what I needed to ease me back into reality!

December

December was a better month than I could have asked for. By December I was fully into the swing of things and thriving in my routine, and I’d also become really attached to and enamored with Tyumen. Despite the onset of “winter” (also known as the "frost" or in my opinion "absurd cold"), my spirits were high. Life was great and I was also looking forward to what was in store in the near future. That would be a week-long trip home to NJ for Christmas and New Years, followed by an entire month off from teaching in January – more than half of which I would spend traveling.

In honor of the holiday season, I focused on teaching about/discussing traditions for Christmas and New Year. Russians don’t celebrate Christmas the way Americans do. Christmas in Russia is on January 7th. Christmas is strictly a religious holiday and people just go to church – and not necessarily to attend a mass. New Years, however, is a different story. They celebrate New Years like we celebrate our Christmas – with presents, songs, a "New Years" tree (a Christmas tree - just with a different name), and their version of Santa – “Father Frost” (in Russian: d-yed mah-rose) and his “Snow Granddaughter” (in Russian: sneg-ur-och-ka). Most families celebrate together until midnight, and then after the clock strikes 12, young people will join their friends at their homes or in clubs or bars, for example.

Every month I lead a culture roundtable for all of the English teachers in my department. For December, I suggested we have a small holiday party. Everyone brought a dish and my department gave me two unexpected and really beautiful presents (or as some Russians would say “presented with some gifts”) an elephant (it's Russian tradition apparently) and a painting framed in jade. They also gave very warm holiday wishes – warmer than I would have even expected! I was really touched by their hospitality, for thinking of me and for making me feel so welcomed and included.

The gift exchanges didn’t stop there, some of my students even gave me a gift (even after I gave them their exam!), Grunya and Sergey gave me traditional house shoes, and I was also given a book about architecture of the wooden houses (I love them) in Tyumen by the director of the library!

Additionally, I hosted a cookie baking party with the American Corner group in my flat (I guess I speak British now). I felt that cookies at Christmas were essential. I had intended to make some of the cookies my Italian grandmother and aunt make, but after realizing that was too complicated and I didn’t have the right ingredients, I settled on chocolate chip cookies w/m&ms!

So after a pretty great month and various festivities leading up to the holiday I left Russia for the US on December 23!

I'm back!

Please forgive me for the extended hiatus. I’ve neglected this blog for wayyyyy too long. I really cannot believe it is now May. I must say, time flies when you’re having fun. I have been very busy living a pretty fabulous Russian life rather than writing about it. Still, I cannot let it go on any longer (I want to remember this stuff, too), so now is a good time to catch you up on what has been going on in my life for the past couple of months! The updates will hopefully be coming out over the next week or so...so check back soon!