Home away from home away from home (Vladivostok)

It seems like such a long time already since I stepped onto the train in Belogorsk, leaving behind Blagoveshchensk, and starting my journey to Vladivostok, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. It seems like even my life in Blagoveshchensk was a lifetime ago, even though in reality, I started my journey on March 11.

That morning, I awoke at 3:30 in the morning, and got in the mini-bus that would take me and our group of Rotarians to the train station in Belogorsk 2 hours away, in order to take the express train to Vladivostok. "Express", however, is a relative term, as it took 22 hours to reach Vladivostok, instead of the 32 hours that it took me to get to Blagoveshchensk from Vladivostok back in August. The train ride was pretty uneventful. I traveled with a group of local Rotarians, and one other Rotaract member, Anton, to go to Vladivostok. Our final destination would be a small seaside town called Nakhodka, where the Russian PETS (Presidential Elect Training Seminar) would be held. On the train, we slept, ate, played some cards, and watched some TV. About halfway in our journey, the train stopped in Khabarovsk for half an hour, and Anton and I walked out of the train to see the area around the train station and stretch our legs. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long in the city, but I am hoping to have a chance to come back to Khabarovsk to visit, as it is an interesting city, and I have several friends who live there and would love to have me come visit.

Our train arrived in Ugolnaya (outside of Vladivostok) early in the morning, and I stepped off the train into the cool morning air. It was cool, but not cold, the first time that I could walk around outside without needing a hat. We packed into a couple of mini-buses and began our 3 hour drive to Nakhodka. As the sky became lighter, the earth that I had left six months earlier revealed itself. I for the first time in six months saw mountains, saw the Pacific Ocean crashing wave by wave into Russia, and smelled the familiar scent of sea salt in the air. As we drove along the coast, the thought occurred to me that my home country, my rodina, was only just on the other side of this ocean, and then I felt the closest to home than I had been in six months.

We arrived in Nakhodka, and right away began our work at PETS. There were Rotarians from all over the east of Russia there, and even a couple Americans (the district governors on the Alaska side). And the funny thing was, all of these Rotarians who I had never met before, already knew me. "So you're the one from Blagoveshchensk". I already had a reputation with them, and they already knew everything about my life in Blagoveshchensk. There were also Retractors from different cities in Russia there. The PETS conference was actually interesting and useful, as I understood 90% of the information that they presented at the conference. One of the nights, I went with the other Retractors to Partizansk, a city an hour away. I met Laura Secor, another American exchange student there. We hung out with the Rotaract group all night. After the PETS conference was over, I helped make presentations about starting new Rotaract and Interact clubs in Nakhodka and in Partizansk. After our last presentation, we drove to Vladivostok, where I met my host family.

For my time in Vladivostok, I am living with the Rubtsov's in Artyom, which is a city about 45 minutes outside of Vladivostok. I am living with Vladimir and Lilia, and a host brother, Kolya, who is 14. They also have a daughter who was an exchange student to the US, and now lives and studies in Canada. They are really nice, and I really enjoyed living with them. They live in their own house there, and they have a German shepherd and a cat, and they keep chickens (which means we always have really fresh eggs).

In Vladivostok, I am going to the lyceum, which Eleonora Trubnikova (the head of the youth exchange program) directs. It is interesting for me, because it is the first time that I have attended an actual Russian "high school", taking different classes. In Vladivostok, I also got to meet up with Gabi, Torrey, Margeux, and Joao, the other exchange students. It was really nice to see them. While I was there, a new exchange student, Mauricio, from Columbia arrived. Everything there- the city, the students, and the new exchange student, reminded me of when I first arrived in Russia in August, knowing nothing. And now I am looking at the very same city, the very same people, through different eyes, with a new perspective, with a new understanding. Before I returned to Vladivostok, I thought that I would be super glad to see all the exchange students, whom I hadn't seen for over six months. But it was funny, when I first saw them, they only wanted to speak in English, and I felt myself gravitating toward the Russians than the Americans. I only wanted to speak Russian, and it took me a while to warm up to wanting to speak English again.

But I saw the city. And what a city it is! It is a bustling port city, the "San Francisco of Russia". There is going to be a big international conference in Vladivostok in 2012, so the city is going through a lot of reconstructions, new roads, bridges, and buildings. It is not a super clean city, but it is full of life and character. The people are more active, brighter in outlook, and more interesting.
During my two week stay in Vladivostok, there were two major blizzards. The first one happened on my first day there, and I was told that I was lucky that it happened, because it covered up all the dirt which had been there only one day earlier. Despite the fact that the blizzard shut down some of the buses and made the roads slick, I got to see the city covered in a clean white blanket of snow. And it was beautiful. I immediately fell in love with the city, the sights, the activity, the people.

In Vladivostok, I used the public bus system extensively. Even in Blagoveshchensk, I didn't use the real buses; I had always taken the marshrutki, like vans that drive around the city. So it was the first time that I really took the "real" bus system in my life. Vladivostok is a bigger city than Blagoveshchensk, and has more foreign brands and shops. They have a "Subway" there, and it was the first time that I had eaten at an American restaurant since I arrived in Russia.

I spent my days in Vlad split pretty evenly with both my Russian and foreign friends. They all wanted to show me the city and hang out with me, and they all gave me a little different view of the city, even though some of the points of interest that they all showed me sometimes intersected. Even though I was in Vladivostok for only two weeks in all, the friendships that I developed with the exchange students, but especially with the Russians, are stronger than most of the friendships that I developed in my six months in Blagoveshchensk. I can definitely say that I have good friends in Vladivostok, and I cannot wait to return to them in June before I leave for the US.

I also spent some time at the US consulate in Vladivostok while I was here. The first day I visited them, I got a small tour of the inside, and then I went to lunch with the consul general, and some of the other officers. The next day, I went to the consulate again to listen to a speech by a Russian-born citizen who immigrated to the US and eventually became an American citizen. Before she left the Soviet Union, she had earned a PhD, but when she arrived in the US, her diploma was not recognized, and she ended up re-earning her PhD in American universities. She arrived in the US with $200, and started working as a cleaning lady. She ended up re-earning her PhD, starting a family, and becoming a citizen. She told her amazing story in Russian, and I understood 99% of everything which she said. After the speech, I went out to eat with the Public Diplomacy Officer and one of the Russians who work at the consulate. Then, on Saturday, they invited me and the other American exchange students to a "Chili cook off" which they were having at their townhouses. There were 8 different chili recipes submitted, along with cornbread, tortilla chips and salsa, and brownies, all things that I hadn't even seen for almost seven months. It was all very delicious, and I enjoyed the company of all the Americans who were there. All of these Americans were there in Vladivostok for different reasons, but we all shared the commonality that we are all in Russia, and it was interesting hearing all the different stories and backgrounds which all ended up in the same place... Russia.

I also found out from the consulate that there is a new spaceport being built in the Amur Oblast, where Blagoveshchensk is, and that the mayor of my host city is actively searching for another city to take part in a "sister city" agreement, most likely with a sister city that has connections with the aerospace industry. I have been talking to some Rotarians and local politicians back home in Columbus to see if any one there would be interested in taking part in a sister city program with Blagoveshchensk, since there is already a tie with the Rotary clubs and through the exchange program.

The last few days of my stay in Vladivostok I spent at an outbound exchange student orientation at the "yunga" camp, the same place where I spent the first few days of my time in Russia back in August. The foreign exchange students in eastern Russia and the Russian outbounds for next year all came to Vladivostok for Orientation. It was really fun to see everyone. We made presentations about our countries, and the Americans told about our home states, held up an American flag, and sang the Star Spangled Banner. It was great. We also had a diskoteka on the last night and we all danced and had a lot of fun. That Sunday after the orientations, Russia moved its clocks forward one hour. But it was not only Russia's clocks that moved forward, but the country itself. The very same morning that Russia moved its clocks forward, Russian president Dmitri Medvedev announced that Russia would consolidate its 11 time zones down to 9 in an attempt to help better unify and connect the opposite ends of the country.

On Monday morning, we all gathered at the Vladivostok International Airport to leave on our Moscow/St. Petersburg trip. We got through security fine, and boarded the plane. We flew with Vladivostok Avia, and had a nine hour flight to Moscow. I slept a little, ate Russian airline food, and watched Russia beneath us, stretching out in all directions. We arrived at the Vnukovo airport outside of Moscow. When we landed and were in the terminal, we learned that there had been two suicide bombings in the Moscow metro while we had been in the air. So the bombings did not affect us, and we would be spending the first 5-6 days of our trip in St. Petersburg anyway. But the events of my trip will all be in my next post...