In front of the doorway sits a woman behind a desk. When you hand her your American passport, the woman with dyed-orange hair looks up at you over her glasses, taking a curious, but not-long-enough-to-make-it-an-impolite-stare glance at the face of a foreigner. The American's face looks back at her, with indifferent melancholy. The American has been given the not-quite-stare many times before. However, this time is his last. The American is tired, even though he got more than enough of his eight hours of sleep last night. In fact, he slept like a baby. The fatigue he is feeling now has been ten months coming. He has been awake, constantly moving, constantly learning and experiencing for almost a year, and now he is about to fall asleep, although this sleep will not be as sound as his last. He will be woken up in the middle of the night several times... by Korea, Los Angeles, Chicago. When he finally wakes up from this sleep, it will be like the last ten months had been the long dream that you have in the 5 minutes between the ring of your alarm clock and the snooze. Did that really happen? All of his friends and family are still here, he's in my own bed, and today looks like another sunny day... the woman with the dyed orange hair stamps his passport and waves him on, slightly annoyed that this foreigner is holding up her line. He looks back at the friends that may or may have not come to the airport to see him off. And then he disappears through the doorway.
This is the doorway that is the start of the security checkpoint in the Vladivostok Airport which has already swallowed so many of my friends in the past few days. My friends are already all there on the other side of the doorway, and I, tomorrow, will join them.
310 days...
13 cities...
2 countries...
-36 degrees...
Many friends...
Even more memories...
And a whole lotta' Russia
Do Svidaniya! Until we meet again!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A Bittersweet Goodbye
The last little amount of time that anyone has left in any place should be enjoyed, appreciated, and lived to the fullest. That is the approach that I have been taking to the last few weeks of my exchange in Russia.
Since I left Blagoveshchensk almost three weeks ago, I have been keeping busy. When I first arrived in Vladivostok, I attended the Rotary District Conference. The exchange students did an opening ceremony holding flags and telling about ourselves in Russian. One of the nights, we took a boat to Russkiy Ostrov, or “Russian Island” off the coast of Vladivostok. As we were leaving the shores of the city, the sun was shining, but while underway, we plowed straight into a huge wall of fog. However, the fog didn’t ruin the party, and we had a fun time full of good food (including lamb, scallops, and fresh crab), and singing and dancing. Afterwards, I went to a nightclub with some of the exchange students.
Since November, I have wanted to take a trip to the city of Khabarovsk, between Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok, but it never worked out. However, after the Rotary conference, I had a chance to go visit, so I seized the opportunity and bought a train ticket to Khabarovsk. I lived in Khabarovsk for almost a week with some good friends in Rotaract. They showed me the city, took me to do interesting things, and gave me a good time. While I was there, I was going non-stop the whole time, barely taking time to sleep. I walked with them all day, seeing the city, and stayed up almost all night just hanging out. I went to a bar and heard “Big Max” sing some jazz and blues, I saw a museum, I walked along the Amur River, met a lot of new friends, learned how to skateboard (kind of), and went to different parks to hang out and grill food. It was really hot while I was there, and I drank a lot of kvas (a kind of cold carbonated drink made from bread), that we bought from the street vendors set up all over the city. I had a great time and made some good friends in Khabarovsk, which I will really miss.
The day after I got back to Vladivostok, it was one of the exchange student’s birthday, and we decided to celebrate by going camping out on the beach. The day that we decided to go, it was raining all day, and we weren’t sure if we would go or not, but all the food was already bought, the tents lugged across the city, and we were all together, so we went. The whole trip was planned on very little time, without a lot of foresight. I found out as we were leaving that I was the only one with any substantial camping experience, having gone camping with my parents in California since I was little. We got to the beach outside of Vladivostok, and amid the rain started setting up camp. We had ten people and three tents, which we set up surprisingly fast. After setting up camp, we were hungry, so the girls prepared some meat, cheese, and vegetables to make buterbrod (open faced sandwiches). After that, I went with Laura Secor to try to find dry firewood from the forest. We actually found a good amount of not too damp wood, and got sufficiently wet ourselves in the process of walking around in the damp grass and bushes. We came back and got a fire started which we were able to keep going all night, despite the drizzling rain. The trip actually turned out pretty good and it was fun, but not even the fire could keep us completely dry, and at 2AM, some of us decided to call a taxi to come take us home so that we didn’t have to sleep in the damp and cold.
One day later that week, the two Lauras (Secor and Lopez) were at Subway, and happened to run into a young British traveler trying to order a sub. They helped him order his sub in Russian, and then invited him to come walk with us. Matt, 23, from Britain, was traveling from Australia all the way back to Britain over land. He had just arrived in Vladivostok from Korea, and was departing that night to go non-stop to Moscow on train, an eight-day ordeal. We walked around the city, showing him Vladivostok, and telling him interesting things about Russia that we picked up during our year here. We also took him to a billiard hall to play some pool. When we departed, he thanked us dearly and said that we made his time in Vladivostok worthwhile and memorable.
That night, I helped Gabi cook a homemade dinner of hamburgers, mac and cheese, and French fries for her host family. Despite some initial hamburger-making-failings we finally got everything done and were able to enjoy an almost-all-American almost-like-home meal, washed down with some very-Russian drinks.
The next day, we had the Graduation Ball of the Lyceum that all the exchange students here attended, and to which I was invited to. All the girls were wearing ballroom dresses and the already beautiful Russian girls looked even more so. All the guys were wearing suits and cleaned up pretty nice too. The ball was held in the Hotel Hyundai, the fanciest hotel in the city. At first, we took a lot of pictures, then we did an opening ballroom dance, called the bolognaise, at around 7PM. After that, we ate, the students performed different songs and acts and received their diplomas. After that, the room turned into a discotheque, and they had a DJ and a live band that played all night long. We danced and partied all night long, until 5AM the next morning. Then we all walked to the dark, quiet harbor and greeted the sunrise, which is a tradition for Russian school graduates. It was such an incredible experience to stay up all night to greet the sunrise. The whole evening was an unforgettable experience, and one of the best of my exchange.
Then, my friends started leaving. It is already the last week of June, and that means that all the exchange students are starting to all fly back home. The first of my friends to leave was Torrey, who left to go back to Virginia on Sunday. We all went to the airport with him to see him off. It was a very sad and touching experience. I couldn’t cry, but I felt this deep pang in the middle of my chest, seeing my friend leave. It wasn’t completely sad though, because I know that I will be able to see him again someday once we are all back in the US. On Wednesday, Laura Lopez is going back to Chicago, on Thursday, Gabi is leaving for Pennsylvania, and on Friday, I myself and Laura Secor will be leaving to go back to Ohio and Oregon, respectively. The last few days we have spent together, walking around the city, hearing each other’s voices, and listening to each other’s jokes for one last time.
The feeling is bittersweet — we are all together one last time in order to all collectively say goodbye to each other, to say goodbye to a city, a country, and an overall way of life which has become so familiar to us, while fully knowing that in a few days time this same bittersweet feeling will return to us as we, now apart, will greet our old friends, and the city, the country, and the overall way of life that we said goodbye to on a similar hot summer day 10 months ago, and which have now become for us so completely unfamiliar and foreign.
Since I left Blagoveshchensk almost three weeks ago, I have been keeping busy. When I first arrived in Vladivostok, I attended the Rotary District Conference. The exchange students did an opening ceremony holding flags and telling about ourselves in Russian. One of the nights, we took a boat to Russkiy Ostrov, or “Russian Island” off the coast of Vladivostok. As we were leaving the shores of the city, the sun was shining, but while underway, we plowed straight into a huge wall of fog. However, the fog didn’t ruin the party, and we had a fun time full of good food (including lamb, scallops, and fresh crab), and singing and dancing. Afterwards, I went to a nightclub with some of the exchange students.
Since November, I have wanted to take a trip to the city of Khabarovsk, between Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok, but it never worked out. However, after the Rotary conference, I had a chance to go visit, so I seized the opportunity and bought a train ticket to Khabarovsk. I lived in Khabarovsk for almost a week with some good friends in Rotaract. They showed me the city, took me to do interesting things, and gave me a good time. While I was there, I was going non-stop the whole time, barely taking time to sleep. I walked with them all day, seeing the city, and stayed up almost all night just hanging out. I went to a bar and heard “Big Max” sing some jazz and blues, I saw a museum, I walked along the Amur River, met a lot of new friends, learned how to skateboard (kind of), and went to different parks to hang out and grill food. It was really hot while I was there, and I drank a lot of kvas (a kind of cold carbonated drink made from bread), that we bought from the street vendors set up all over the city. I had a great time and made some good friends in Khabarovsk, which I will really miss.
The day after I got back to Vladivostok, it was one of the exchange student’s birthday, and we decided to celebrate by going camping out on the beach. The day that we decided to go, it was raining all day, and we weren’t sure if we would go or not, but all the food was already bought, the tents lugged across the city, and we were all together, so we went. The whole trip was planned on very little time, without a lot of foresight. I found out as we were leaving that I was the only one with any substantial camping experience, having gone camping with my parents in California since I was little. We got to the beach outside of Vladivostok, and amid the rain started setting up camp. We had ten people and three tents, which we set up surprisingly fast. After setting up camp, we were hungry, so the girls prepared some meat, cheese, and vegetables to make buterbrod (open faced sandwiches). After that, I went with Laura Secor to try to find dry firewood from the forest. We actually found a good amount of not too damp wood, and got sufficiently wet ourselves in the process of walking around in the damp grass and bushes. We came back and got a fire started which we were able to keep going all night, despite the drizzling rain. The trip actually turned out pretty good and it was fun, but not even the fire could keep us completely dry, and at 2AM, some of us decided to call a taxi to come take us home so that we didn’t have to sleep in the damp and cold.
One day later that week, the two Lauras (Secor and Lopez) were at Subway, and happened to run into a young British traveler trying to order a sub. They helped him order his sub in Russian, and then invited him to come walk with us. Matt, 23, from Britain, was traveling from Australia all the way back to Britain over land. He had just arrived in Vladivostok from Korea, and was departing that night to go non-stop to Moscow on train, an eight-day ordeal. We walked around the city, showing him Vladivostok, and telling him interesting things about Russia that we picked up during our year here. We also took him to a billiard hall to play some pool. When we departed, he thanked us dearly and said that we made his time in Vladivostok worthwhile and memorable.
That night, I helped Gabi cook a homemade dinner of hamburgers, mac and cheese, and French fries for her host family. Despite some initial hamburger-making-failings we finally got everything done and were able to enjoy an almost-all-American almost-like-home meal, washed down with some very-Russian drinks.
The next day, we had the Graduation Ball of the Lyceum that all the exchange students here attended, and to which I was invited to. All the girls were wearing ballroom dresses and the already beautiful Russian girls looked even more so. All the guys were wearing suits and cleaned up pretty nice too. The ball was held in the Hotel Hyundai, the fanciest hotel in the city. At first, we took a lot of pictures, then we did an opening ballroom dance, called the bolognaise, at around 7PM. After that, we ate, the students performed different songs and acts and received their diplomas. After that, the room turned into a discotheque, and they had a DJ and a live band that played all night long. We danced and partied all night long, until 5AM the next morning. Then we all walked to the dark, quiet harbor and greeted the sunrise, which is a tradition for Russian school graduates. It was such an incredible experience to stay up all night to greet the sunrise. The whole evening was an unforgettable experience, and one of the best of my exchange.
Then, my friends started leaving. It is already the last week of June, and that means that all the exchange students are starting to all fly back home. The first of my friends to leave was Torrey, who left to go back to Virginia on Sunday. We all went to the airport with him to see him off. It was a very sad and touching experience. I couldn’t cry, but I felt this deep pang in the middle of my chest, seeing my friend leave. It wasn’t completely sad though, because I know that I will be able to see him again someday once we are all back in the US. On Wednesday, Laura Lopez is going back to Chicago, on Thursday, Gabi is leaving for Pennsylvania, and on Friday, I myself and Laura Secor will be leaving to go back to Ohio and Oregon, respectively. The last few days we have spent together, walking around the city, hearing each other’s voices, and listening to each other’s jokes for one last time.
The feeling is bittersweet — we are all together one last time in order to all collectively say goodbye to each other, to say goodbye to a city, a country, and an overall way of life which has become so familiar to us, while fully knowing that in a few days time this same bittersweet feeling will return to us as we, now apart, will greet our old friends, and the city, the country, and the overall way of life that we said goodbye to on a similar hot summer day 10 months ago, and which have now become for us so completely unfamiliar and foreign.
Monday, June 14, 2010
An ending, part 2
On June 7, I said goodbye to my host city of Blagoveshchensk for the last time. Most of the day I spent finishing up my packing, taking occasional breaks to go outside and walk around the streets and along the river, taking in the sights one last time. Finally, by 9 PM, I was ready, and at 9:30, we got in a taxi and went to the train station. I was leaving Blagoveshchensk to go to Vladivostok for a Rotary conference, so there were some Rotarians traveling with me. But when we got to the train station, many more Rotarians were there, and also a group of Rotaracters, my friends, were there. In all, there had to have been around thirty people who came to say goodbye to me. My friends and previous host families were there. We took a lot of photos, they gave me some last minute gifts, and we said our goodbyes. While we were saying goodbye, I didn't cry, although I had wanted to. My second host family, the Murzakovs, whom I really liked and got attached to, was there.
One of the Rotarians, who had always helped me out during the year, gave me a small souvenir, with an engraving on the back. When I showed one of the other Rotarians this gift, he was surprised, because he said that the other Rotarian is usually kind of reserved and doesn't connect a lot with people, but that I must have really connected with him and been seen as almost like a son to him. When I boarded the train, I stood by the window and looked out at all of them. I sang them a verse out of the Russian song "Katusha".
As the train finally started moving, my friends started running after me, alongside the train, shouting their goodbyes, with the Rotarians and host families watching from a distance.
I didn't realize what all these people meant to me until the train had rolled out of the station, and the clickety-clack of the train moving into the darkness replaced the departing shouts and goodbyes of the friends with whom I had spent the last 9 and a half months of my life.
Standing in the corridor of the train, staring out of the now dark window, the full heavy reality of my departure suddenly crashed down upon me, as if falling from a great height. It hit me so unexpectedly, and I let out a loud sigh. It was a sigh of sadness, of relief, of pain -- the kind of sigh that you let out when you are tired after having just put down a heavy burden that you have carried a long way. It was a sigh that one may use to break the silence, when he doesn't know exactly what to say, even though he wants to say it to somebody, to anybody, to share what he is feeling. It is a sigh that sums up all his emotions, in a single expulsion of breath.
I looked over at Larisa, my first host mother, who was also standing in the corridor of the train with me. She also looked back at me, and just smiled.
One of the Rotarians, who had always helped me out during the year, gave me a small souvenir, with an engraving on the back. When I showed one of the other Rotarians this gift, he was surprised, because he said that the other Rotarian is usually kind of reserved and doesn't connect a lot with people, but that I must have really connected with him and been seen as almost like a son to him. When I boarded the train, I stood by the window and looked out at all of them. I sang them a verse out of the Russian song "Katusha".
As the train finally started moving, my friends started running after me, alongside the train, shouting their goodbyes, with the Rotarians and host families watching from a distance.
I didn't realize what all these people meant to me until the train had rolled out of the station, and the clickety-clack of the train moving into the darkness replaced the departing shouts and goodbyes of the friends with whom I had spent the last 9 and a half months of my life.
Standing in the corridor of the train, staring out of the now dark window, the full heavy reality of my departure suddenly crashed down upon me, as if falling from a great height. It hit me so unexpectedly, and I let out a loud sigh. It was a sigh of sadness, of relief, of pain -- the kind of sigh that you let out when you are tired after having just put down a heavy burden that you have carried a long way. It was a sigh that one may use to break the silence, when he doesn't know exactly what to say, even though he wants to say it to somebody, to anybody, to share what he is feeling. It is a sigh that sums up all his emotions, in a single expulsion of breath.
I looked over at Larisa, my first host mother, who was also standing in the corridor of the train with me. She also looked back at me, and just smiled.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
An ending, part 1
Tomorrow, I am leaving my host city of Blagoveshchensk. Forever. It still hasn't really hit me, that I will no longer walk along the streets or see the people who have become so familiar to me in the last 10 months. But maybe that is because of the fact that although I am soon departing my host city, I still have about three weeks left in Russia. Tomorrow I will be boarding a train for Vladivostok, where there will be a Rotary conference, and where I will be living for the last three weeks of my Russian life. Many adventures and old friends await me in Vladivostok, and while I am excited to go there, I also can't help thinking about the last few weeks I have spent here since I got back from China.
Summer has finally arrived in Blagoveshchensk, complete with daily temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius. I have been trying to take full advantage of this warm weather by getting outdoors as much as I can. Our classes at the university have already finished, so now I am free every day. The past couple of weekends, I have been spending a lot of time at different dachas or barbeques. Two weeks ago, I went to the dacha of one of the Rotarians, where we ate delicious shashlik, walked along the Zeya river, played ping-pong, relaxed in a Russian banya, and discussed deep philosophical issues. The next day, I went horseback riding with a different group. We rode all day, fording rivers, along the beach, through green grassy fields that moved with the blowing wind, and along small ridges and hills. By the end of the day, my whole body was shaken and sore, I was sunburnt, and I had had such a great time.
I have also had some time to see a few more concerts. A few days after having gotten back from China, I went to go see Bi-2 in concert. Bi-2 is a Russian rock band, and I thoroughly enjoyed their music and the concert. This past weekend, I also went to a smaller concert of a local rock band called Perekryostok, which means "intersection". It was held in a small bar, it was loud, and it was also a great concert. Last weekend I also went to another barbeque with Rotary out in a park, where they welcomed two new members into their club. I helped out with the grilling, and we had great food and a fun group of people.
On Thursday, two Americans arrived in Blagoveshchensk, and came to live with my host family here in our apartment. Clyde and Vivian are an older couple from Alaska, who are Rotarians and will be going to the Vladivostok conference with us. My host parents speak some English, but I have also been translating for the Americans. It has been funny though. Russian has become almost more automatic for me now than English, so sometimes when I am translating something for Clyde and Vivian, I will start talking at them in Russian and not realize it. And of course they have no idea what I'm saying.
On Thursday night, I did my farewell presentation for my Rotary club. We went to a Chinese restaurant, and I made a slide show with pictures from my entire exchange year. I talked in Russian for almost an entire hour. I told about my life here, I told jokes; I thanked them for everything they have done. They presented me with gifts, and I also gave them gifts. It was all very emotional, and I will be sad to leave them.
On Friday, I traveled to the Bureiskaya GES, which is a hydro-electric dam about four hours away from Blagoveshchenk. It was a long bus ride, but it was definitely worth seeing. We got to go inside the generator room, which is basically a big empty hall, except for six big generators protruding from the floor. The whole hall was filled with a low rumbling hum, and I reached down and placed my palm on the floor, and could feel the vibration of the entire station working, the water pouring down, and the generators spinning. It was one of those feelings that I will never forget.
That night, once I returned, I went to dinner with Alexander Udod and his wife. Alexander Udod was the Russian politician whom I taught about the American political system and political jargon before his month and a half long legislative exchange program in Washington DC. He recently returned and invited me to dinner to thank me and tell me about his experience. We went to an Armenian restaurant. I had never had Armenian food before, but it was really delicious.
But now I'm getting ready to leave, excited to go, but also sad at the same time. I just know that I'm going to make the most of what little time i have left.
Summer has finally arrived in Blagoveshchensk, complete with daily temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius. I have been trying to take full advantage of this warm weather by getting outdoors as much as I can. Our classes at the university have already finished, so now I am free every day. The past couple of weekends, I have been spending a lot of time at different dachas or barbeques. Two weeks ago, I went to the dacha of one of the Rotarians, where we ate delicious shashlik, walked along the Zeya river, played ping-pong, relaxed in a Russian banya, and discussed deep philosophical issues. The next day, I went horseback riding with a different group. We rode all day, fording rivers, along the beach, through green grassy fields that moved with the blowing wind, and along small ridges and hills. By the end of the day, my whole body was shaken and sore, I was sunburnt, and I had had such a great time.
I have also had some time to see a few more concerts. A few days after having gotten back from China, I went to go see Bi-2 in concert. Bi-2 is a Russian rock band, and I thoroughly enjoyed their music and the concert. This past weekend, I also went to a smaller concert of a local rock band called Perekryostok, which means "intersection". It was held in a small bar, it was loud, and it was also a great concert. Last weekend I also went to another barbeque with Rotary out in a park, where they welcomed two new members into their club. I helped out with the grilling, and we had great food and a fun group of people.
On Thursday, two Americans arrived in Blagoveshchensk, and came to live with my host family here in our apartment. Clyde and Vivian are an older couple from Alaska, who are Rotarians and will be going to the Vladivostok conference with us. My host parents speak some English, but I have also been translating for the Americans. It has been funny though. Russian has become almost more automatic for me now than English, so sometimes when I am translating something for Clyde and Vivian, I will start talking at them in Russian and not realize it. And of course they have no idea what I'm saying.
On Thursday night, I did my farewell presentation for my Rotary club. We went to a Chinese restaurant, and I made a slide show with pictures from my entire exchange year. I talked in Russian for almost an entire hour. I told about my life here, I told jokes; I thanked them for everything they have done. They presented me with gifts, and I also gave them gifts. It was all very emotional, and I will be sad to leave them.
On Friday, I traveled to the Bureiskaya GES, which is a hydro-electric dam about four hours away from Blagoveshchenk. It was a long bus ride, but it was definitely worth seeing. We got to go inside the generator room, which is basically a big empty hall, except for six big generators protruding from the floor. The whole hall was filled with a low rumbling hum, and I reached down and placed my palm on the floor, and could feel the vibration of the entire station working, the water pouring down, and the generators spinning. It was one of those feelings that I will never forget.
That night, once I returned, I went to dinner with Alexander Udod and his wife. Alexander Udod was the Russian politician whom I taught about the American political system and political jargon before his month and a half long legislative exchange program in Washington DC. He recently returned and invited me to dinner to thank me and tell me about his experience. We went to an Armenian restaurant. I had never had Armenian food before, but it was really delicious.
But now I'm getting ready to leave, excited to go, but also sad at the same time. I just know that I'm going to make the most of what little time i have left.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Greg goes to China
So last week I returned from my great adventure in China. I traveled to three different Chinese cities (Heihe, Haerbin, and Beijing) for a week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only was it my first time in China, but my first time in any Asian country. It was super interesting and I would love to go back some time.
So on the afternoon of Monday May 10, I went to the Russian travel agency from which we were leaving. I traveled to China with a group of 12 Russian tourists. This meant that my trip to China was even more interesting, because I wasn't just seeing China as any old tourist, but from the point of view of a Russian tourist, complete with Russian commentary. When we had all piled onto the bus to go to the border control, our tour guide, Liza, told everyone on the bus that "This time we have a special tourist coming with us... an American!"
When we got to the border checkpoint to cross the river into China, Liza explained to all of us the procedure for going through customs, and told me that I would go first, because my situation is more difficult. You see, there is an agreement between the local Russian and Chinese governments that Russians don't need a Chinese visa to cross the border into Heihe, the city across the river. But I'm an American, so that means that I had to get a visa (and a fairly expensive one at that). So I went up to one of the desks and handed the customs agent my American passport. She kind of looked at me funny. I guess it isn't every day that Americans pass through Blagoveshchensk to go to China. She asked if I spoke Russian, and I said yes, and we started talking about random stuff as she stamped and evaluated all my documents. I got through the customs, and then we went out on the shore of the river to board the hovercrafts to cross the river. They use hovercrafts because not all of the underlying ice had melted yet, and it wasn't safe for ships to cross. But it was really interesting to ride in the hovercraft. So we crossed the river, and for the first time in eight and a half months, I got to see what my host city looks like from the other side of the river. Then we went into the Chinese customs, which wasn't as easy. I think this must have been the first time an American had passed through their border, because as soon as I handed my passport to the Chinese customs officer, her already stern-looking face became even sterner, and she said something in Chinese that sounded to me like "Oh, shit!" She started looking at my passport really carefully as if it were fake, and looked back and forth from my passport picture (which was taken over 4 years ago and really looks nothing like me) to my face. She called over one of her military-clad comrades, who took my passport into another room. Fifteen minutes later, he finally returned and waved me through.
So I had made it to China. Heihe is larger than Blagoveshchensk, but is not nearly as interesting. We all went to a big shopping center called "Hua Fu", and they let us walk around and shop for a couple of hours. Finally after 18 years of buying stuff "Made in China", I could see what it was all about and get it straight from the source. T-shirts in China are funny. The Chinese think that English is "cool", so they put it on their T-shirts, even if the English words on them don't really mean anything in particular. For example, I found a shirt that read "Me pimpstyle" and had a bunch of random other words in what looked like was Dutch. This shirt I found rather humorous, and actually ended up buying it for the heck of it.
That night after dinner, we went on the train station to take the overnight train to Haerbin. Now let me tell you, Chinese trains are pretty great. Now I know that no one back home cares, because Americans never travel by train, but having logged over 100 hours on Russian trains myself, I can judge. The Chinese trains have smooth rails that don't go "Clickety-clack" the whole way, they have air conditioning, they have TVs, carpets, and semi-decent toilets and washrooms (all of which Russian trains don't really have for the most part).
We arrived in Haerbin early the next morning. At 4 million inhabitants, Haerbin is a big enough city, with a lot of sights and things to do. We were only there for a day, but we did a lot. We got to ride a big ski-lift type thing over the Sungari River, and got a great view of the city. We went to the Haerbin "Polarland" where they have polar bears, penguins, seals, sharks, dolphins, and other seafood whatnot. After that, we went to the Siberian Tiger Park. We rode in a safari-type bus through the tiger land, and got to see some tigers up close and personal. There at the park, we also got to see a Liger (a lion and tiger mixed), which I had previously thought only existed as a joke from the film "Napoleon Dynamite". After that, we went to see a silk factory, and then we went to the Haerbin TV tower. At the top of the tower, the floor is made of glass, so you can look down at China 300 meters below you. It was cool. Later that night, we got on another train and made our way to Beijing.
The next morning, we arrived in Beijing and immediately went to go eat breakfast at... McDonalds of all places. As I was enjoying my Big Breakfast™, I looked out the window and enjoyed the view of a huge, modern and bustling city. With over 12 million inhabitants, Beijing is huge, and I hadn't seen anything lke it for a long time, even Moscow doesn't compare. As I sat there, I thought about the impression that this city is making on the Russians I was with. I have traveled a bit, and I have been in big, modern cities before, but even for me, Beijing was an amazing city. I couldn't even imagine what was going through the minds of the Russians, some of which who have only been in small Russian Siberian cities all their lives. This city, with it's cleanliness, hundreds of skyscrapers, bright, diverse architecture (as compared to the hundreds of 6-story, gray concrete apartment blocks built with the same blueprint that scatter our Russian hometown), and other signs of high technology and 1-st class citiness, must seem almost fairy-tale like to some of the Russians.
Our first day in Beijing (or Pekin as it is called by the Russians), we went to go see Tiananmen Square. It was huge, and interesting to be were the famous "tank man" stood some 30 years ago. Even though I was traveling with a group of other white-skinned tourists, somehow the Chinese picked me out as something else or just thought that I looked good or something, because a few different Chinese on the square asked to take their picture with me. Maybe I just look too American or something. After Tiananmen Square, we walked to the National Center for Performing Arts, which is a huge metal and glass dome-shaped structure surrounded by a moat. The only way to enter is to go underground, under the moat, where they have a glass ceiling and you can see the water rippling above you. Inside the huge outer shell are several separate buildings holding theaters and concert halls. We even got to listen to an orchestra reciting and an opera singer practicing. Inside the building, everything is made of wood and marble, which I ended up knocking on. Ever since I have been in Russia, I have gotten this bad habit of knocking on wood/stone/marble decoration to see if it is real. You see, in Russia, whenever something looks like expensive marble or wood paneling, 80% of the time it is really linoleum or some sort of plastic composite made to look like wood or marble. Anyway, as a result of my knocking, I found out that all of the material in the center was real whatever it looked like. Which, for some reason, was sort of comforting to me. That evening, we went to go see the show "The Legend of Kung-Fu" which was really cool with all of its martial arts acrobatics.
The next day, I climbed the Great Wall of China, which was indescribably cool. The steps for the most part are really steep, and even going at the fast pace that I usually walk, it took me about 40 minutes to get all the way to the top. But it was well worth it, as the view was spectacular, and I had just climbed the great wall. Before I had left, my parents had told me over skype that they had heard that you can even buy a Coke now at the top of the great wall, and how strange it was. Well, I confirmed that you actually can buy a Coca-Cola (and several other drinks) on the top of the great wall by buying one and enjoying it on the way back down.
After that, we went back into the city and say all the Olympic structures left over from 2008. I saw the "bird's nest" stadium, the "water cube" aquatic center, and a big office building that is shaped like the Olympic torch. After seeing all that stuff, we went to a Chinese tea ceremony, where were tried a bunch of different types of tea. Then we went to a flying acrobatics show which was really amazing and fun. That night, I decided to go for a walk, as walking through cities at night is somewhat of a hobby for me. I found a large pedestrian street with large stores on either side. It was really cool just to walk through and enjoy the sights of all the buildings lit up in various colored signs and TV screens. I also found a side street that looks like a stereotypical Chinatown with all the red hanging lamps along the street, and vendors selling all types of Chinese meat on skewers and noodles. I also found a foreign book store and even though I had told myself that I didn't want to learn any Chinese and that it wasn't interesting, I bought a small Chinese survival dictionary. I am somewhat of a language aficionado, and couldn't help learning some of the characters and basic phrases. I returned to the hotel and went to bed.
When I woke up the next morning, I could barely move. My whole body was stiff and sore, my nose was plugged, my ears were full of fluid, I had a headache and a sore throat. I was sick, but I managed to get out of bread, eat breakfast, and get on the bus. We went to a natural hot spring, and relaxed there for a while. Then we went back into the city to do some shopping, and I was able to end off some postcards. Then I started getting chills, and I decided to go sleep in the bus. When I woke up a few hours later, I had a fever. They bought me some Tylenol, which I took. They also brought me a thermometer, and I had a temperature of at least 100 degrees. I went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning I woke up, still not feeling all that good. We had free time until noon, and I had wanted to get up early and do some exploring on our final day, but it didn't happen. I did really want to see the subway system though, so I managed to walk to the nearest station, buy a ticket, and ride the metro one station and back. Later that day, we went to the World Park, where they have miniature replicas of famous buildings from all over the world. After that, the tourists did some more shopping, and I did some more sleeping. We got on the train that night and returned to Haerbin.
The next day in Haerbin, we had all to ourselves, which meant I slept most of the day, and then in the evening went walking around the river shoreline, which was very beautiful. There were dozens of kites in the air everywhere, and it was a nice sunny day.
The next morning, we arrived in Heihe, ate breakfast, and went back across the border, this time on a boat instead of a hovercraft. So thus ended my adventure in China. My trip to China really changed my opinion of the country and of the Chinese people themselves. Before my trip, I had a different opinion about the Chinese people (based on the Chinese who live in my host city), but after seeing people from a different part of the country, my opinion changed. I am very glad that I went, and would love to return again to explore more of the country.
By the way, I went to the doctor after I got back, and found out that I had strep throat and tonsillitis, and started on medicine right away, and now I'm all better.
So on the afternoon of Monday May 10, I went to the Russian travel agency from which we were leaving. I traveled to China with a group of 12 Russian tourists. This meant that my trip to China was even more interesting, because I wasn't just seeing China as any old tourist, but from the point of view of a Russian tourist, complete with Russian commentary. When we had all piled onto the bus to go to the border control, our tour guide, Liza, told everyone on the bus that "This time we have a special tourist coming with us... an American!"
When we got to the border checkpoint to cross the river into China, Liza explained to all of us the procedure for going through customs, and told me that I would go first, because my situation is more difficult. You see, there is an agreement between the local Russian and Chinese governments that Russians don't need a Chinese visa to cross the border into Heihe, the city across the river. But I'm an American, so that means that I had to get a visa (and a fairly expensive one at that). So I went up to one of the desks and handed the customs agent my American passport. She kind of looked at me funny. I guess it isn't every day that Americans pass through Blagoveshchensk to go to China. She asked if I spoke Russian, and I said yes, and we started talking about random stuff as she stamped and evaluated all my documents. I got through the customs, and then we went out on the shore of the river to board the hovercrafts to cross the river. They use hovercrafts because not all of the underlying ice had melted yet, and it wasn't safe for ships to cross. But it was really interesting to ride in the hovercraft. So we crossed the river, and for the first time in eight and a half months, I got to see what my host city looks like from the other side of the river. Then we went into the Chinese customs, which wasn't as easy. I think this must have been the first time an American had passed through their border, because as soon as I handed my passport to the Chinese customs officer, her already stern-looking face became even sterner, and she said something in Chinese that sounded to me like "Oh, shit!" She started looking at my passport really carefully as if it were fake, and looked back and forth from my passport picture (which was taken over 4 years ago and really looks nothing like me) to my face. She called over one of her military-clad comrades, who took my passport into another room. Fifteen minutes later, he finally returned and waved me through.
So I had made it to China. Heihe is larger than Blagoveshchensk, but is not nearly as interesting. We all went to a big shopping center called "Hua Fu", and they let us walk around and shop for a couple of hours. Finally after 18 years of buying stuff "Made in China", I could see what it was all about and get it straight from the source. T-shirts in China are funny. The Chinese think that English is "cool", so they put it on their T-shirts, even if the English words on them don't really mean anything in particular. For example, I found a shirt that read "Me pimpstyle" and had a bunch of random other words in what looked like was Dutch. This shirt I found rather humorous, and actually ended up buying it for the heck of it.
That night after dinner, we went on the train station to take the overnight train to Haerbin. Now let me tell you, Chinese trains are pretty great. Now I know that no one back home cares, because Americans never travel by train, but having logged over 100 hours on Russian trains myself, I can judge. The Chinese trains have smooth rails that don't go "Clickety-clack" the whole way, they have air conditioning, they have TVs, carpets, and semi-decent toilets and washrooms (all of which Russian trains don't really have for the most part).
We arrived in Haerbin early the next morning. At 4 million inhabitants, Haerbin is a big enough city, with a lot of sights and things to do. We were only there for a day, but we did a lot. We got to ride a big ski-lift type thing over the Sungari River, and got a great view of the city. We went to the Haerbin "Polarland" where they have polar bears, penguins, seals, sharks, dolphins, and other seafood whatnot. After that, we went to the Siberian Tiger Park. We rode in a safari-type bus through the tiger land, and got to see some tigers up close and personal. There at the park, we also got to see a Liger (a lion and tiger mixed), which I had previously thought only existed as a joke from the film "Napoleon Dynamite". After that, we went to see a silk factory, and then we went to the Haerbin TV tower. At the top of the tower, the floor is made of glass, so you can look down at China 300 meters below you. It was cool. Later that night, we got on another train and made our way to Beijing.
The next morning, we arrived in Beijing and immediately went to go eat breakfast at... McDonalds of all places. As I was enjoying my Big Breakfast™, I looked out the window and enjoyed the view of a huge, modern and bustling city. With over 12 million inhabitants, Beijing is huge, and I hadn't seen anything lke it for a long time, even Moscow doesn't compare. As I sat there, I thought about the impression that this city is making on the Russians I was with. I have traveled a bit, and I have been in big, modern cities before, but even for me, Beijing was an amazing city. I couldn't even imagine what was going through the minds of the Russians, some of which who have only been in small Russian Siberian cities all their lives. This city, with it's cleanliness, hundreds of skyscrapers, bright, diverse architecture (as compared to the hundreds of 6-story, gray concrete apartment blocks built with the same blueprint that scatter our Russian hometown), and other signs of high technology and 1-st class citiness, must seem almost fairy-tale like to some of the Russians.
Our first day in Beijing (or Pekin as it is called by the Russians), we went to go see Tiananmen Square. It was huge, and interesting to be were the famous "tank man" stood some 30 years ago. Even though I was traveling with a group of other white-skinned tourists, somehow the Chinese picked me out as something else or just thought that I looked good or something, because a few different Chinese on the square asked to take their picture with me. Maybe I just look too American or something. After Tiananmen Square, we walked to the National Center for Performing Arts, which is a huge metal and glass dome-shaped structure surrounded by a moat. The only way to enter is to go underground, under the moat, where they have a glass ceiling and you can see the water rippling above you. Inside the huge outer shell are several separate buildings holding theaters and concert halls. We even got to listen to an orchestra reciting and an opera singer practicing. Inside the building, everything is made of wood and marble, which I ended up knocking on. Ever since I have been in Russia, I have gotten this bad habit of knocking on wood/stone/marble decoration to see if it is real. You see, in Russia, whenever something looks like expensive marble or wood paneling, 80% of the time it is really linoleum or some sort of plastic composite made to look like wood or marble. Anyway, as a result of my knocking, I found out that all of the material in the center was real whatever it looked like. Which, for some reason, was sort of comforting to me. That evening, we went to go see the show "The Legend of Kung-Fu" which was really cool with all of its martial arts acrobatics.
The next day, I climbed the Great Wall of China, which was indescribably cool. The steps for the most part are really steep, and even going at the fast pace that I usually walk, it took me about 40 minutes to get all the way to the top. But it was well worth it, as the view was spectacular, and I had just climbed the great wall. Before I had left, my parents had told me over skype that they had heard that you can even buy a Coke now at the top of the great wall, and how strange it was. Well, I confirmed that you actually can buy a Coca-Cola (and several other drinks) on the top of the great wall by buying one and enjoying it on the way back down.
After that, we went back into the city and say all the Olympic structures left over from 2008. I saw the "bird's nest" stadium, the "water cube" aquatic center, and a big office building that is shaped like the Olympic torch. After seeing all that stuff, we went to a Chinese tea ceremony, where were tried a bunch of different types of tea. Then we went to a flying acrobatics show which was really amazing and fun. That night, I decided to go for a walk, as walking through cities at night is somewhat of a hobby for me. I found a large pedestrian street with large stores on either side. It was really cool just to walk through and enjoy the sights of all the buildings lit up in various colored signs and TV screens. I also found a side street that looks like a stereotypical Chinatown with all the red hanging lamps along the street, and vendors selling all types of Chinese meat on skewers and noodles. I also found a foreign book store and even though I had told myself that I didn't want to learn any Chinese and that it wasn't interesting, I bought a small Chinese survival dictionary. I am somewhat of a language aficionado, and couldn't help learning some of the characters and basic phrases. I returned to the hotel and went to bed.
When I woke up the next morning, I could barely move. My whole body was stiff and sore, my nose was plugged, my ears were full of fluid, I had a headache and a sore throat. I was sick, but I managed to get out of bread, eat breakfast, and get on the bus. We went to a natural hot spring, and relaxed there for a while. Then we went back into the city to do some shopping, and I was able to end off some postcards. Then I started getting chills, and I decided to go sleep in the bus. When I woke up a few hours later, I had a fever. They bought me some Tylenol, which I took. They also brought me a thermometer, and I had a temperature of at least 100 degrees. I went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning I woke up, still not feeling all that good. We had free time until noon, and I had wanted to get up early and do some exploring on our final day, but it didn't happen. I did really want to see the subway system though, so I managed to walk to the nearest station, buy a ticket, and ride the metro one station and back. Later that day, we went to the World Park, where they have miniature replicas of famous buildings from all over the world. After that, the tourists did some more shopping, and I did some more sleeping. We got on the train that night and returned to Haerbin.
The next day in Haerbin, we had all to ourselves, which meant I slept most of the day, and then in the evening went walking around the river shoreline, which was very beautiful. There were dozens of kites in the air everywhere, and it was a nice sunny day.
The next morning, we arrived in Heihe, ate breakfast, and went back across the border, this time on a boat instead of a hovercraft. So thus ended my adventure in China. My trip to China really changed my opinion of the country and of the Chinese people themselves. Before my trip, I had a different opinion about the Chinese people (based on the Chinese who live in my host city), but after seeing people from a different part of the country, my opinion changed. I am very glad that I went, and would love to return again to explore more of the country.
By the way, I went to the doctor after I got back, and found out that I had strep throat and tonsillitis, and started on medicine right away, and now I'm all better.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Chinese Negotiations and the Minnisota Vikings make an appearance in Blagoveshchensk
So I decided to get in shape. And to do this, I decided to run. Now running wasn't my first choice, and isn't particularly my favorite thing to do, but I don't really have other options. Biking would be my first choice, and I see plenty of bikes on the streets every day, but the problem is that no one I know owns one. Or maybe I could try rollerblading. The problem with that is that I never learned how to rollerblade, and I also don't own rollerblades. So that left me with running. All you need to do to run is yourself and a pair of running shoes. Even this posed a slight problem, as the only shoes that I had with me, besides my winter boots, are a pair of beat-up Sketchers which are fine for walking around, but would probably destroy my feet if I tried anything above the level of speed-walking.
Luckily, I have a Chinese market in my city. All of our shoes (including my Sketchers) are made in China anyway, so I figured that getting them straight from the manufacturer would be the cheapest way to get in shape.
So on Saturday morning, I went to the Chinese market. You walk into a large building, and Chinese products are all laid out in front of you in endless alleyways of sunglasses, coats, women’s underwear, shoes, toys, and even Chinese food. There is just so much stuff there. And buying it is like a game.
Believe it or not, there is actually a special technique to shopping at the Chinese market. This wasn't my first time there, but today was the first time that I was there alone, without a Russian to help me do the shopping or negotiating. Before I went, I told my host parents of my intentions, and they gave me a few pointers. "When you first go in, don't stop anywhere. Just look around the entire place first and scout out where you are going to do the bargaining. Never pay the first price that they offer you. Always name a price a little below half of their offer and then move up to half and don't go above that. If they don't want to negotiate, just start to walk away, and they will usually start lowering the price. But you have to be careful, because sometimes they will start following you and getting aggressive. And you don't want to let them know that you are not Russian, otherwise they will never negotiate." This last bit of advice was not particularly worrying-- I probably speak better Russian than them anyway and they aren't going to notice if I don't conjugate a verb correctly. Even if I told them that I was from the United States, they probably wouldn't understand anyway.
So I went, and I scouted. I stopped in at one of the stalls I saw. I looked at some of the running shoes on the wall.
"You like? What size are you? I will find for you!" said the Chinese proprietor of the stall.
"45" I said, using the European metric measurement that was printed on the tongue of my Sketchers. She brought them, they were too small. She didn't have anything bigger.
So I went to the next stall. I tried on a pair of 46's but they were still a little small.
"Do you have anything bigger?" I asked. He did. He had 47s. So I tried them on, and they fit well, but they were made of black leather with no ventilation.
"They fit? Good! So you will buy?" He excitedly prodded me.
"Yes they fit, but I'm going to be running and I want them to breathe."
"They won't! Don't worry! They are good quality!" I think he thought that I said I didn't want them to break. I repeated that I wanted them to breathe, and started taking them off, but go the same response. When I started to walk away, he got mad. "They fit! Why don't you buy?! They fit!" he started yelling at me. "I know. But I want to look around more, at other shoes." I calmly responded, even cracking a friendly smile. It didn't faze him.
"Just name your price! What price do you want? You will buy!" He said glaring at me.
"Good bye" I said, and walked away as fast as I could.
I went into another shop and tried some on, and the sales guy started getting aggressive too. But then my phone rang. It was my friend Vika, and we started talking. It gave me a perfect excuse to get away without being nagged.
Finally I went to the fourth booth. I found a nice pair of running shoes, ventilated, and with air cushions. I asked for 47's to try on. She kind of looked at me, because 47 is already really big and hard to find. "Fine" she said "I'll be back. Stay here." she was gone a long time. She finally came back.
"Are these 47's?" I asked. I looked at the tongue. The four was intact, but the second number had been scratched out. In both shoes. I tried them on anyway. They fit, and were comfortable. I wanted to buy them. I asked how much. She said 2,600 rubles (about $90). This was a lot, even if I bargained it down half. I had wanted to pay somewhere around 500 rubles for shoes, and I didn’t even have that much with me.
"Oh" I said, disappointed "I was looking for something cheaper"
"I can make discount for you!" She said eagerly. "But I wanted shoes around 500 rubles, so maybe I could look at another pair"
"How about 1,600?" she said "It's a good price"
"You don’t understand... I only bought 500 rubles with me. I don’t have 1,600."
"1,000 then!" She replied.
"I can't pay that." I repeated.
"Look and see how much you have!" she ordered.
I looked. I had 1000; I told her I had 700.
"That's too low! Minimum 800, but I'm already losing money!!"
"750!" I tried.
"No! 800 minimum. It is already not profitable for me!"
"Fine 800" I conceded. She already had the shoes in a bag. She took my money counted it, and returned to her position at the stall without looking back. I walked out with my new running shoes in a plastic baggie, feeling pretty good about myself. I had just negotiated a 2,600 ruble ($90) pair of shoes down to 800 ($26). It was a little more than I had wanted to pay in the first place, but I felt content with my purchase and my new mastery of bargaining skills. Even my host parents were impressed when I told them how much I talked it down.
So the next morning, I woke up early and went running, and I looked pretty American while I was at it. Jogging in itself is still not super popular in Russia, and is actually pretty American, I have been told. Plus I had my big headphones on, and as sporting the "Minnesota Vikings" T-shirt which Ethan (who conveniently happens to be from Minnesota) gave me as a present while we were in Vladivostok together. I ran about 3 miles in all, along the river embankment. When I returned home, I hurt. This was the first serious physical activity that I had done in 8 months, and my muscles were aching all over. But it felt good to get a good lung-pounding workout in again, and I was just glad that I survived.
Luckily, I have a Chinese market in my city. All of our shoes (including my Sketchers) are made in China anyway, so I figured that getting them straight from the manufacturer would be the cheapest way to get in shape.
So on Saturday morning, I went to the Chinese market. You walk into a large building, and Chinese products are all laid out in front of you in endless alleyways of sunglasses, coats, women’s underwear, shoes, toys, and even Chinese food. There is just so much stuff there. And buying it is like a game.
Believe it or not, there is actually a special technique to shopping at the Chinese market. This wasn't my first time there, but today was the first time that I was there alone, without a Russian to help me do the shopping or negotiating. Before I went, I told my host parents of my intentions, and they gave me a few pointers. "When you first go in, don't stop anywhere. Just look around the entire place first and scout out where you are going to do the bargaining. Never pay the first price that they offer you. Always name a price a little below half of their offer and then move up to half and don't go above that. If they don't want to negotiate, just start to walk away, and they will usually start lowering the price. But you have to be careful, because sometimes they will start following you and getting aggressive. And you don't want to let them know that you are not Russian, otherwise they will never negotiate." This last bit of advice was not particularly worrying-- I probably speak better Russian than them anyway and they aren't going to notice if I don't conjugate a verb correctly. Even if I told them that I was from the United States, they probably wouldn't understand anyway.
So I went, and I scouted. I stopped in at one of the stalls I saw. I looked at some of the running shoes on the wall.
"You like? What size are you? I will find for you!" said the Chinese proprietor of the stall.
"45" I said, using the European metric measurement that was printed on the tongue of my Sketchers. She brought them, they were too small. She didn't have anything bigger.
So I went to the next stall. I tried on a pair of 46's but they were still a little small.
"Do you have anything bigger?" I asked. He did. He had 47s. So I tried them on, and they fit well, but they were made of black leather with no ventilation.
"They fit? Good! So you will buy?" He excitedly prodded me.
"Yes they fit, but I'm going to be running and I want them to breathe."
"They won't! Don't worry! They are good quality!" I think he thought that I said I didn't want them to break. I repeated that I wanted them to breathe, and started taking them off, but go the same response. When I started to walk away, he got mad. "They fit! Why don't you buy?! They fit!" he started yelling at me. "I know. But I want to look around more, at other shoes." I calmly responded, even cracking a friendly smile. It didn't faze him.
"Just name your price! What price do you want? You will buy!" He said glaring at me.
"Good bye" I said, and walked away as fast as I could.
I went into another shop and tried some on, and the sales guy started getting aggressive too. But then my phone rang. It was my friend Vika, and we started talking. It gave me a perfect excuse to get away without being nagged.
Finally I went to the fourth booth. I found a nice pair of running shoes, ventilated, and with air cushions. I asked for 47's to try on. She kind of looked at me, because 47 is already really big and hard to find. "Fine" she said "I'll be back. Stay here." she was gone a long time. She finally came back.
"Are these 47's?" I asked. I looked at the tongue. The four was intact, but the second number had been scratched out. In both shoes. I tried them on anyway. They fit, and were comfortable. I wanted to buy them. I asked how much. She said 2,600 rubles (about $90). This was a lot, even if I bargained it down half. I had wanted to pay somewhere around 500 rubles for shoes, and I didn’t even have that much with me.
"Oh" I said, disappointed "I was looking for something cheaper"
"I can make discount for you!" She said eagerly. "But I wanted shoes around 500 rubles, so maybe I could look at another pair"
"How about 1,600?" she said "It's a good price"
"You don’t understand... I only bought 500 rubles with me. I don’t have 1,600."
"1,000 then!" She replied.
"I can't pay that." I repeated.
"Look and see how much you have!" she ordered.
I looked. I had 1000; I told her I had 700.
"That's too low! Minimum 800, but I'm already losing money!!"
"750!" I tried.
"No! 800 minimum. It is already not profitable for me!"
"Fine 800" I conceded. She already had the shoes in a bag. She took my money counted it, and returned to her position at the stall without looking back. I walked out with my new running shoes in a plastic baggie, feeling pretty good about myself. I had just negotiated a 2,600 ruble ($90) pair of shoes down to 800 ($26). It was a little more than I had wanted to pay in the first place, but I felt content with my purchase and my new mastery of bargaining skills. Even my host parents were impressed when I told them how much I talked it down.
So the next morning, I woke up early and went running, and I looked pretty American while I was at it. Jogging in itself is still not super popular in Russia, and is actually pretty American, I have been told. Plus I had my big headphones on, and as sporting the "Minnesota Vikings" T-shirt which Ethan (who conveniently happens to be from Minnesota) gave me as a present while we were in Vladivostok together. I ran about 3 miles in all, along the river embankment. When I returned home, I hurt. This was the first serious physical activity that I had done in 8 months, and my muscles were aching all over. But it felt good to get a good lung-pounding workout in again, and I was just glad that I survived.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Exploding refrigerators
So Wednesday evening, I went to my choir class at the university at 6 PM. When I entered the building, I showed my pass to the lady at the front desk
(Now let me first tell you about these passes... I got back to Blagoveshchensk on April 14, and on April 15, I started back at the university. As I walked into the university that morning and started to walk though the turnstile, a big, calloused hand hit me in the chest and stopped me in my tracks. "Pass" said the big security guard in military uniform whose hand had just stopped me. "What pass?" I said, a little annoyed, as I was already late coming in. "Your student pass. You need a pass to get in."
"Listen," I said, "I've been coming here every day for the last seven months and no one has ever asked me for a pass before!" (Plus I don't have a pass or any kind of student ID from the university). He just pointed to a notice on the wall next to the entrance. I read it. "Starting April 15, all students will be required to show their student passes to gain admittance to the building." Oh crap. Well today was April 15, and I didn't have a pass. "I was out of town for a month," I explained, "but I could call my teacher and have her explain that I'm a student here." And I started to pull out my phone, but by this time I was already holding up a line of people behind me, and he just said "Go, go... but get a pass as soon as you can!" So I got through, and asked my teacher about getting one, but she said that it would take a few days. Apparently, they started requiring passes because of the terrorist bombings in the Moscow metro that happened while I was in Moscow. So for the next few days while I was waiting for my pass to be done, I got in the building either whenever one of my friends working as entrance security, letting me though with a handshake and a "privyet", or by one of my friends seeing me in the entrance lobby and ushering me though, saying that I am a student, despite the protests of the old lady that sits in the booth at the turnstile.)
So anyway, I went to the university for my music class on Wednesday at six o'clock, and as I was walking through the turnstile, flashed my pass at the old lady in the booth. "You don’t need to show me your pass..." she said. "Thank God that we don't have to go through that hassle anymore" I thought. She continued "... because they cancelled all the classes because of the fire. There's nowhere for you to go." "What?!" I exclaimed, "what happened?" "There was a fire here a little earlier. Now go home!“ she ordered me with her stern old-lady voice. She wasn’t going to tell me any details, so I just left and walked back home. When I arrived the next day, all of the floors, walls, chairs, and desks in my corpus were covered with a layer of black soot, none of the lights were working, and there was the lingering smell of smoke in the hallways. I learned that on the second floor, in one of the labs, a refrigerator filled with chemicals caught on fire and exploded. It blew out a couple windows, covered everything in soot, and knocked out some of the electricity, but no one was hurt and only one or two rooms were damaged (thanks to, in part, the fact that the whole building is basically built of 2 foot thick layers of concrete).
The next morning there were brigades of students armed with buckets of water, rags, and bright yellow plastic gloves roaming the sooty halls, trying to clean everything up. It was an interesting experience, the result of which our teacher decided to conduct class out on the street, which meant that we walked around the city and talked in Russian for a few hours.
(Now let me first tell you about these passes... I got back to Blagoveshchensk on April 14, and on April 15, I started back at the university. As I walked into the university that morning and started to walk though the turnstile, a big, calloused hand hit me in the chest and stopped me in my tracks. "Pass" said the big security guard in military uniform whose hand had just stopped me. "What pass?" I said, a little annoyed, as I was already late coming in. "Your student pass. You need a pass to get in."
"Listen," I said, "I've been coming here every day for the last seven months and no one has ever asked me for a pass before!" (Plus I don't have a pass or any kind of student ID from the university). He just pointed to a notice on the wall next to the entrance. I read it. "Starting April 15, all students will be required to show their student passes to gain admittance to the building." Oh crap. Well today was April 15, and I didn't have a pass. "I was out of town for a month," I explained, "but I could call my teacher and have her explain that I'm a student here." And I started to pull out my phone, but by this time I was already holding up a line of people behind me, and he just said "Go, go... but get a pass as soon as you can!" So I got through, and asked my teacher about getting one, but she said that it would take a few days. Apparently, they started requiring passes because of the terrorist bombings in the Moscow metro that happened while I was in Moscow. So for the next few days while I was waiting for my pass to be done, I got in the building either whenever one of my friends working as entrance security, letting me though with a handshake and a "privyet", or by one of my friends seeing me in the entrance lobby and ushering me though, saying that I am a student, despite the protests of the old lady that sits in the booth at the turnstile.)
So anyway, I went to the university for my music class on Wednesday at six o'clock, and as I was walking through the turnstile, flashed my pass at the old lady in the booth. "You don’t need to show me your pass..." she said. "Thank God that we don't have to go through that hassle anymore" I thought. She continued "... because they cancelled all the classes because of the fire. There's nowhere for you to go." "What?!" I exclaimed, "what happened?" "There was a fire here a little earlier. Now go home!“ she ordered me with her stern old-lady voice. She wasn’t going to tell me any details, so I just left and walked back home. When I arrived the next day, all of the floors, walls, chairs, and desks in my corpus were covered with a layer of black soot, none of the lights were working, and there was the lingering smell of smoke in the hallways. I learned that on the second floor, in one of the labs, a refrigerator filled with chemicals caught on fire and exploded. It blew out a couple windows, covered everything in soot, and knocked out some of the electricity, but no one was hurt and only one or two rooms were damaged (thanks to, in part, the fact that the whole building is basically built of 2 foot thick layers of concrete).
The next morning there were brigades of students armed with buckets of water, rags, and bright yellow plastic gloves roaming the sooty halls, trying to clean everything up. It was an interesting experience, the result of which our teacher decided to conduct class out on the street, which meant that we walked around the city and talked in Russian for a few hours.
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