A small break :-)

Tomorrow morning the AH server will be shut down, in order for it to be upgraded... this means no internet access for me on either Friday or Saturday. On Saturday night, four of us will be hopping on the Tans-Siberian Railroad, and we will spend three full days on a train as we head into Eastern Russia. On the morning of May 3rd we will arrive in Irkutsk, Russia, where someone from our hotel will meet us and take us to Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal. We will spend three nights (four days) on the island, and hopefully we'll get to go on some excursions. On the evening of May 6th, we'll return to Irkutsk, where we'll spend two nights before catching a plane to Moscow and then a train to Vladimir (both on May 8th). Classes at the AH start on May 10th - whew! I'll try and post again on May 9th. See you then! (Eleven days without internet access.... I may very well go mad!)

Last Conversation Class

I had my last conversation class today. As you can see, they brought a *ton* of food (mostly sweets) and we didn't discuss any specific topic, we just chatted about various things. Lots of fun! I'm going to miss them - we always had such great classes. One of my students (the girl you can't really see, because her head is kind of blocked) is going to the States next month, through the Work and Travel program. She'll be in Maryland, but I'm going to try to meet up with her when I'm home in July. How fun would that be? Also, at the end of the class the student seated farthest to the left of the picture asked me if I would be willing to tutor her twice a week during the summer, because she'll be going to England at the end of the summer and needs more practice. Of course I agreed :-) It's looking like my two months this summer will be busier than my four months this semester put together!

From my window at night

A visit to a Russian Dentist

For a while now, I've been having slight pain in one of my teeth on the lower right-hand side of my mouth, but only when I eat something really sweet. Of course, as really sweet treats are a staple of my diet here (those of you who saw me over the Christmas holidays should remember the plentiful bounty of dark chocolate I brought home with me!), this means that several times a day I think "Ow! Cavity!" Anyway, a while back B went to the dentist and had a $25 root canal, at which point I figured it would be foolish of me not to have this taken care of here. Anyway, the dentist (who is a friend of Galya's) was very nice, and the facility was very modern and not scary in the least. (My last dental experience was in San Diego and it was terrifying, and I truly thought I'd never see a dentist again after that!) Anyhow, it turns out that I don't have any cavities, although the enamel is worn down on my right side, making my teeth sensitive. So, she coated my teeth with some sort of enamel, and I'm supposed to go back in two weeks for a check up. It was an altogether pleasant experience, which cost me roughly $4.

Happy Easter!

No, I'm not a week late... Russian Orthodoxy celebrates Easter (or Paskha) a week later than Western Christan churches celebrate Easter. Why? I don't know. (Feel free to enlighten me! My students said it has something to do with the phases of the moon, although to the best of my knowledge, the scheduling of Western Easter is based on lunar cycles, so I'm not really sure how this works...) Anyway, several people have written to ask me how Russians celebrate Easter, and whether or not they have any pseudo-pagan traditions (i.e. the Easter Bunny) incorporated into their Easter celebration. Well, as far as I can tell (from both last Wednesday's Easter-topic in my conversation class and living with a Russian babushka), Paskha is a purely religious holiday, without much in the way of pagan-holdovers tacked on.

Russians do color eggs, and while nowadays egg-dye kits can be found in some stores, they prefer the traditional method of coloring eggs: boiling them with onion skins to produce eggs of a dark red color, which symbolizes the blood of Jesus. (And as both my students and Nina Mikhailovna said, this is a more natural way coloring eggs, and is therefore healthier.) Traditional Easter foods consist of these eggs, plus two different cakes, one called a Paskha and the other called a Kulich, which can either be purchased at a store or baked at home. Many Russians take these foods to church on the Saturday before Paskha to be blessed. (Yesterday I saw crowds of people laden with such foodstuffs heading to the various cathedrals around the city.) There is some very big and important Orthodox celebration at all of the churches at midnight (between Saturday and Sunday), although I know nothing about what it entails.

This morning, Nina M prepared a bit of an Easter feast for me for breakfast: a Paskha, a Kulich, dyed eggs, a box of chocolates, and ham and cheese sandwiches. Tons of food and quite delicious. So there you go, my little bit of knowledge on Easter traditions in Russia ends here.

Eggs boiling in onion leaves. This requires brown eggs to begin with.
After Nina M boiled them, she let them sit in the onion leaves for about
24 hours and then boiled them again.

The end result.

An Easter cake with Easter eggs.

The looked really cool when peeled.

Times they are a changin'

Today was the last "real" class of the semester. We had our oral exam (all of my students passed!) and reviewed for the written exam, which is next class. The final "class" is actually a party, so I don't really count it as a "real" class.

We got our schedules for next semester today. The summer semester is a short, intensive semester, where classes meet three times a week (as opposed to two) for three hours at a time (as opposed to one and a half), and we have classes for two months (as opposed to four). I'll be teaching A1, which is the third level (as opposed to Z2, which is the second level), so there's a chance that I'll have some of the same students. (Of course, about half of my students are waiting until the Fall Semester to continue their studies, so I'll be getting some new students too.) Of course, this means I'll have to watch Forrest Gump twice a day, three times a week, for two months. Have I mentioned how I hate this film? Sigh.

And speaking of changes, the New Teachers have been hired for next year. It's so strange to think of the AH without the eight of us. (J is the only one staying on for a second year.) It's also unbelievably strange to think that in nine weeks I'll be in the US, in my house, doing home-improvement projects and preparing to go to Korea yet again. On one hand I'm very concerned that I have to finish doing everything that it's possible to do here in Vladimir before I leave, although at the same time, every night I dream about my new house and things I need to buy for it (like new locks). I'm stuck in weird temporal limbo between one adventure and two new ones.

Spring is here!

Look! Flowers! in the American Home's front yard!

Another sign of spring: the city is again filled with cats.

The city's ancient ramparts, so recently covered in snow
(a favorite spot for sledding) are turning green.
(the city's ancient Golden Gates, built 1164, are in the background)

Golden Gates...

Golden Gates

Cupolas of the Nikityaskaya Church (built 1762)

All hands, Subbotnik!

Today we Subbotniked. What, you ask, is a Subbotnik? Well, SnowSquare has an excellent description of the Russian (er, Soviet...) Subbotnik tradition, which you should read before you read what I have to say about Subbotniking (which is actually very little...)

We (the AH teachers and the Russian staff) all arrived at 10:00 this morning, and began to tackle the mountain of trash that was revealed in the back yard and on the hill (part of the city's ancient ramparts) behind the AH's back yard. By 1:00, all trash was gone, flowers were re-planted, and the yard was raked. (No, I didn't really understand the yard-raking.) I have no pics for you, although Alexei shot a bunch, so perhaps at some point I'll be able to share those with you.

After Subbotnik, we were all rewarded with excellent, fresh, homemade lentil soup.... yum.

A Plethora of Pictures

Hold on to you seats, ladies and gentlemen (or perhaps go and get yourself a snack or something) - see, I've got twenty-five photos for you in this post, and they may take a while for all of them to load. This afternoon, as the weather was still wonderful, I decided to take the bus out to Dobroye for the purpose of photographing some things, both interesting and mundane, which I'd spotted when I was out there last night. So here goes:

Butterfly apartments


Other Soviet-era decor.

Buildings in the suburbs tend to look pretty much the same.


At least the sky was beautiful.


An up-close shot of some random balconies.


Update: Thanks to Maxim for telling me the name of this church:
Mikhaila-Arkangela Church


Mikhaila-Arkangela Church


Mikhaila-Arkangela Church


Mikhaila-Arkangela Church


Bird!!


Konstantino-Sabinsky Church (also in Dobroye)


Konstantino-Sabinsky Church

Konstantino-Sabinsky Church


Konstantino-Sabinsky Church


Konstantino-Sabinsky Church


Konstantino-Sabinsky Church


Konstantino-Sabinsky Church


Konstantino-Sabinsky Church


Knyaz-Vladimirskaya Church (built 1785)


Knyaz-Vladimirskaya Church


Knyaz-Vladimirskaya Church


Knyaz-Vladimirskaya Church


Knyaz-Vladimirskaya Church and Cemetery


No smoking at the cemetery.


Knyaz-Vladimirskaya Cemetery

I speak Russian better when I'm trashed.

Last night I went "v gosti" to another student's home. It wasn't nearly as awkward as the last time I did such a thing, since this time I was visiting a student who was roughly my age, not shy, and who speaks really good English. (This is a student from my Wednesday night conversation class.) My student, Vera, lives with her husband Zhenya, six year old son Alyosha, and her parents (this is a very common living arrangement in Russia) out in Dobroye, one of the far-outlying regions of the city. (On my way there I actually noticed some things I want to photograph, so I may head out that way later on today, assuming the weather holds, to get some shots.) Anyway, everyone was incredibly friendly and jovial... made even more so by the fact that the parents kept insisting we drink vodka. Of course, after several shots of good Russian vodka, I start babbling in Russian... which I guess is okay - always good to practice, right? I think perhaps that's why my Russian improved so much the last time I was here: I spent most of my seven months in St. Pete sloshy. I guess I just don't drink as much in my old age. That and when I was in St. Pete I didn't spend seven days a week at an English language school surrounded by native English speakers and ESL students. Sigh. Anyway, my visit was quite a lot of fun. Here are some photos:

Vera and me

Zhenya and me

Vera's mom and me

Random Photos

We are suffering from some horrible weather curse. During the week, when I have to spend nearly all my time within the confines of the American Home, the weather is gorgeous; on the weekends... the weather turns to shite. I'm wishing that I hadn't wasted my Thursday afternoon walk home on the most boring stretch of road in Vladimir. (For those of you who know the city, I walked north on Oktyabrsky, hung a left at the Bely Dom, walked over to Fakel, and then south to Ploschad Pobedy.) Yes, I wasted this unbelievably beautiful day on an unbelievably boring stroll. And today is not one of those days for walking outside... But here are the most interesting things I found on my walk.

Nationalist Graffiti

No clue as to what this is.
It's not really all that interesting, but at the time I was desperate.

Nikityaskaya Church (built 1762) as seen across a construction zone.

Pictures from recent walks

When the weather is sunny and dry (prime time to bust out with my crazy new boots), do I wear them? Well.... I am really enjoying being able to go for long walks, and let's just say those shoes were *not* designed with comfort in mind. So instead, I've been slipping into my tennis shoes and going for as many long walks as I can. Below are some photos I took last night and this morning.

Sunset over Victory Square and the Eternal Flame
(In honor of WWII)


The moon was full last night.


Stretenskaya Church, built 1807


Stretenskaya Church


Cat on a hot tin roof.


Can you believe this building is in Vladimir? I am in love!

Punks and Girly-Girls vs. Sloppy Dressers, Hot Topic and The GAP

I received numerous comments about the punk rock show the other day, with one comment in particular comparing the punk movement in Russia to the commercialized punk image sold at stores like Hot Topic. I also received an email from my friend C (which, sadly, I accidentally deleted) in reference to the notion of Punks in Russia. His comment was that perhaps Russian "punks" are simply the sloppily-dressed kids, as opposed to those who put time and care into their appearance.

I suppose now would be a good time to remind everyone first off that I am not one of those people who takes photos of people she doesn't know, no matter how interesting looking or otherwise photogenic they might be. I wish I could do this, but every time I see someone I don't know, but whom I would love to photograph, I get all shy. I can't bring myself to just snap a picture and hope they don't yell at me (seriously, what would you do if some random person you didn't know started photographing you?). Of course, the other way to deal with this type of scenario is to simply ask for permission to take the photo... but that leads us into the whole issue I have with talking to people I don't know. What issue? Well, I don't talk to people I don't know. Yes, I'm a bit of a nut-ball, but that's just way the cookie crumbles and the genes align.

That being said, let's return to the punk rock show. The only clear-shot I got of anyone was the shot of Elena and Nika (re-posted below), who are the students G and I had accompanied to the show. We know them, we're friends with them, and I don't mind asking them to pose for a picture. Based on appearance alone, these two girls are highly unusual for Russian teenage females. They're wearing very little makeup (Nika might not be wearing any), they haven't fixed their hair, they're wearing plain, simple shirts. (You can't see the homemade Sex Pistols tags and other punkish stuff that Elena in particular has used to decorate her pants and her backpack.) Now, in the States, no one would give these two a second glance. They're just normal teenagers. But in Russia, this isn't just a case of being a little sloppily dressed, this is a huge statement.

As I mentioned above, I don't take pics of people I don't know, and to be honest, the only Russian chic I spend much of my free time with is L, and she's totally an exception to every norm possible (this is meant as a compliment), and as such she doesn't make for a good example of your typical Russian female. I found a pic from last semester of me with Natasha, one of my former students (posted below). I think you'll get the point, although even she isn't as dolled up as many Russian ladies frequently are. (I am *so* dumpy and unattractive next to this girl!)

Russian women are hot. And damn sexy. And no, it isn't because we American ladies are fat, ugly lard balls (as certain people have told me). Granted a lot of it is nature (who'd-a-thunk this frigid weather would breed such beauties?), but a lot of it is the packaging. Russian females spend a lot of time on their appearance: Dyeing and styling their hair, appliying make-up, squeezing into impossibly tight and often highly revealing clothes, and finally slipping into ridiculous spiked heels that make my new boots look tame by comparison. Now don't get me wrong; I don't disapprove of this style (and I've bought a lot of really cool clothes here). I do, however, think the pressure to dress as a hyper-feminine sex-pot might be a bit too strong. I know there's been a lot of talk in the media in the States in recent years about teens dressing "too sexy" - let's just say it's nothing like they do here.

But back to Elena and Nika. They have chosen to be different. Even though the picture of them doesn't show them to be all that different from the average American teen, they are vastly different from average Russian girls their age. As a result, they are shunned and mistreated by their peers (G and I have witnessed this in their classes at the AH), and by strangers on the street (I witnessed this the other day). They have chosen the punk music scene as an outlet for their difference, and as a place where they fit in. This is far more punk, more defiant, than strolling down to Hot Topic and buying a commercial, pre-packaged, punk image.

Sorry, this post is kinda rambling and jumping all over the place, but.... back to the way most Russian women dress, and why most American women don't dress that way. My co-workers and I have talked about this a lot. For one thing (and men - you might not be aware of the following, but it's true), in the US, there's a lot of value attached to the idea of "natural beauty" - you might dye your hair, apply a ton of makeup and wear a push-up bra, but the end result is such that you look "naturally beautiful." The idea is for people to think your hair is naturally that color, you boobs are naturally that big and your face is naturally fresh and makeupless. Of course, people who do things like dye their hair pink or purple or black or wear funky makeup and whatnot are not (usually) shunned, they're not considered by, shall we say, fashion mags, to be beautiful. In the US, there's also this idea of "dressing your age." My mom often tells me that I shouldn't dress quite so much like a teenager. She has also been known to make derisive comments about women above a certain age who sport what she considers to be a "young" woman's hairdo. Of course, considering how short my mom's skirts always are.... ;-)

Anyway, in Russia, it's pretty much the opposite. It seems that most women dye their hair. How do I know this? Well (aside from the rootlines...) they dye their hair all sorts of colors. Black. Purple. Blue. Red. Colors that are blatantly fake. And the idea of makeup isn't "natural beauty" it seems instead to be the "Look! I'm wearing makeup! Therefore I'm pretty!" concept. Women of all ages (well, until they become the mythical babushka) dress all sexpot. It's nothing unusual to see middle aged women in short skirts, tight, see-through shirts, and knee-high leather boots on stiletto heels.

Let's take shopping in Russia. Dobryak, the biggest warehouse/market/shopping center in Vladimir, is filled to the brim with clothes. I love shopping there, even though I continually come out of there with things I don't need. Clothes in Dobryak tend to fall into two different categories: Sexpot or Babushka. Meanwhile, US malls are littered with the GAP and GAP knock-offs.

Is there a point to this post? Probably not. I don't dress like typical-anything anyway. But it's interesting to think about.