Good days for sliding

I received a phone call almost every Sunday morning for the last few months. It was my friend Valera, breaking the news: "it's too cold to ski today." Ukhta had a very chilly February. Temperatures reached down to 40 below (that's Celsius or Fahrenheit) a few times and froze pretty consistently around -22 F
(pun intended). We decided that it would have to be warmer than -4 F if we wanted to get out to the woods and feel the chill pressing on our faces when we locked our skis into the cross-country tracks running downhill. So, we waited.

During the months of waiting, I slid around a few times on the ice-skating rink only 100 meters from my place. Iolanta had been an figure skater in childhood, but hadn't been on a rink in years. One night in January, I was walking around sorta bummed that I had spent the whole day indoors, heard music coming from behind the university's athletic center and followed it. The rink looked so inviting. I called Iolanta and we beelined there. The workers handling skate rentals got a kick out of my New York State driver's license that I handed them in exchange for the skates. Since then, they always welcome us by name and are happy to chat.

But, back to skis.... March's weather has been so beautiful. The temperatures have been sliding up and down between 17 F and 33 F this past week, to the delight of almost everyone. (Some people have told me that they would rather the temperatures stay really cold, so that we don't have any of this melting mess). So, last Saturday, my friend and I finally got out to the woods with skis, poles and boots. Although I had told him that I can ski (I mean, I can), I was slip-sliding all over the place while just trying to skate. Fell three times, but each time with laughs. The sun was shining and we were far enough away from the city and factories that the air felt fresh. I was so happy to be standing in snow, surrounded by pine trees. It's very rare that I leave the city for the forest outside of Ukhta, and I was craving nature. At a fork, we went left, and bushwhacked a little to get a good view of the city from a hilltop. We took our skis off and ran up a steep hill where there was an even better view, and lots of pieces of thick cardboard. Of course. I have seen this on multiple occasions. Cardboard sitting at the tops or bottoms of hills here, just waiting for someone to sit on top of it and speed-slide down a slope. So, we sled.

Funnily enough, I was invited to ski the next morning, too. By eight a.m., I was sitting with a teacher from the lyceum and her friend in a turquoise cottage in Airport, a town aptly named after the nearby airport that flies and receives a plane once a day, to and from Moscow. By nine, we heated up the cottage, and got on the skies--this time, classic style. We slid slowly, stopping many times to talk or admire the forest. The teacher in front found some cardboard in the woods, stopped, ripped it into a suitable size to be sat on and shoved it up her coat for later use on some hill. The cottage had gotten really cozy by the time we came back, so we sat and relaxed before heading back to our days in the city. The two women sang songs in old voices, sliding back and forth between tunes in Russian and those in other languages: Belorussian, Ukrainian and Komi.

These are good days for sliding.

Women's Day!

I get a little confused on days like this. Today is Saturday, a regular weekend day. But, the ladies at work asked if I could come into work today to celebrate. Of course I said yes. What are we celebrating? International Women's Day.

With a name that starts with International, I'd think that the 8th of March (the official day of the holiday) would be something I knew more about before I came to Russia. I'd heard that the day existed and knew that March is considered Women's History Month in America, but that's about it. For me there was no big fanfare or hurrah. Here, there's no way anyone could not know about it. In fact, International Women's Day is a national holiday--which basically means no school, no work. Leading up to the holiday, I am congratulated everywhere I go with a "Happy Upcoming Holiday" (you can't say "Happy Women's Day"-- or any other holiday or birthday for that matter--until the actual day of the happening) and sometimes a tulip or two.

The holiday itself wasn't what confused me. What confused me was why we are celebrating today--the holiday isn't for another 3 days. When I was invited into the office, I thought we might collect on the weekend solely to party in celebration of us-women. Maybe we'd run free through the halls of our institution like rebels on an off day just because we could. What I didn't realize until midnight last night when a friend said he would need to go to bed to get enough sleep before work, was that today is a work day. An official work day for all. That's why I was invited into work today.

So, my daydream of women bouncing off the walls of an otherwise empty large Soviet-style cement building on a Saturday did not come true. The logic of the Saturday workday is this--if everyone goes to work today, then no one will have to go to work on Monday. And, as we already have Tuesday off because of International Women's Day, we can all have a three day weekend: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

And, regardless of work, we also partied. At noon in the international office we ordered a 2 kg pizza from the cafeteria on the basement floor of the building and loudly celebrated. Nadya and I then took a taxi over to her husband's work where there was a large performance of singers, dancers and jokesters. We had to show our passports to get into the business building. The guards looked at mine, said, "what is this?" then asked me to show my Russian passport, not my American one. After this performance, we booked it back over to the university by hailing a car to take us over. A man pulled over, took us to the main campus and only made us pay 40 rubles. A formal taxi in Ukhta charges 60 rubles ($2 American). At the main campus, we had our third party of the day--sushi and tea with co-workers of an office connected to ours.

Women worked a half-day today, men a whole day. At least for workers at the university. (Teachers are probably an exception, working all the time).

So, now I still have three days of weekend ahead of me. I didn't know it was coming. On Tuesday, the 8th, I will go to the Miss University competition held at Ukhta's main performance center: "The Palace of Culture." The girls competing have been preparing for months. For the university, it's a big event. The rector with be on the judge panel. 

What does winter look like?

Here are some photos from my recent walks around Ukhta. Today, Nadya told me that it takes an American to point out how beautiful this city can be.

I love the look of winter here.

Along Chibyu River in Vzrosly (Adult) Park

I love Ukhta graffiti in Adult Park 

"Lenin is Always with Us," Lenin with a nice snow hairdo

Playing in Children's Park

Walking home from yoga

Outside of town - Zeryunova

What's under there? The building in the back is the main campus of the university. 

The wedding locks on the longest bridge in town

What does Sunday look like?

I wasn't sure that I wanted to wake up right at nine today (I was at a four-year-old's birthday party until late last night), but Iolanta's call for yoga pulled me up out of bed, into the super-warm clothing I put on every day and then out into the not-so-cold weather. Again, not-so-cold means about 0 degrees Fahrenheit - but, really, no joke, that doesn't feel too cold to me anymore. It's good walking weather.

That started my Sunday. Here's how it continued:

I wasn't able to balance on my hands with my knees resting on my elbows today in yoga. Жаль! But, hey, what's new?

Blini - you could call them crepes - waited for me next. Iolanta filled them with tvorog (farmer's cheesy/cottage cheesy??) and then fried them. I put berry jam and honey on top. I love this meal, especially in a friend's kitchen listening to family small talk.

Next, I was invited to sing with a small choir that meets on the eighth floor of one campus building with a great view of the snowy city and surroundings. This was my first day singing with them. I liked how we first sang around the piano, then in our own circle facing inward, then outward. After singing, four of us got tea at the new pizza place around the corner. It's the second Senor Pomidor in town.

Next, focused Russian. A few months ago, I asked an English teacher at the university to be my Russian language tutor. This was my first class back after the long vacation. She works a lot on my pronunciation of hard and soft sounds, gives me grammar exercises, listening and summarizing practice, and we watch segments of a 1961 Soviet comedy - "Devchata." Today, after pointing to an article that I read in one of the university's publications about students taking exams, Olga told me something fun. The night before exams, students, praying that they will do well the next day, often open the small corner window that's in all big windows here, and scream халява (meaning, give me a freebie) 3 three times while waving the little booklet which contains all of there grades, written and signed by teachers. They do this right at midnight. I will definitely make sure to open my window at midnight some nights for a chance to hear these calls.

Next, my weekly Sunday meeting with a group of four students who are preparing to go to America this summer for work. They will go with the program Work and Travel, which sets them up with employers in the US. Usually we meet in the cafe across the road from my apartment, but tonight I invited them to my place. I wanted to host, and found myself preparing by running to the store for the regular 5 liter bottle of water to make our tea with and then putting candies on the table--neither which I could have done without. Usually, our meetings just consist of questioning and answering, sometimes role playing, hanging out with the English language. They can have pretty interesting questions for me about how things are done in America, how people carry themselves, what type of laws are there, etc. Today, though, I read little puzzle stories, had them repeat them and then answer them. They sat on my couch for practically two hours with scrunched up, thinking faces. We finished up the evening by playing a game of Bananagrams. Great game! It's been a hit with every group I've taken it to.

So now, it's night time. I ran to the store right before 11 when it closed, but it was out of milk and eggs, both. There was something extra which I hadn't seen before, though: a dog, hanging out around the noodles and sausage section. No one seemed to be too bothered. It was probably too cold for it to hang out on the streets, so I don't blame it for sneaking inside. I would also. And, I do - very often. When I'm out for a walk, I sneak into stores for the sake of warming up my toes.

That's my Sunday.

Thanks for reading. 

February apprenticeship

Happy 2011! And, while I'm at it, Happy February!

I'm a little late to greet the new year. But, February 1st is the beginning of the new semester, new teaching groups, new classes offered to me through Ukhta.... And I've actually made some resolutions. Not for the new year, but for this next chunk of my stay in Russia, starting right now. (And, no, of course I will not tell you my resolutions.)

So, I'm going go into February like it's something new.

I started this new February with a surprise (but all-in-all pleasant) home visit from a doctor, a low key day around my apartment, a visitor for tea, and a hour and a half knitting lessons from the guard who sits at the entrance of the dormitory. I decided to hang out on her couch for a while as an apprentice while she retaught me how to hold my hands around the needles. It's fun watching the interactions between the students and families who enter the dormitory and this guard...especially right at 11pm when she has to close up the building. She starts to speak up louder, telling whoever is in the shower that they better get out. She tells the girl who wants to get milk at the store quickly before she locks the entrance that she better run fast and only get milk, no alcohol or anything. She gives an eye to the people who straggle in five minutes after 11, or just a friendly tease. I'm so curious about these women who work at the door. They have such authority and so much knowledge of what goes on in the building. I think I'll be apprenticing a little more.

Yoga

For about a month and a half now, yoga has been part of my weekly routine. I usually go two or three times a week to a fitness club on "Factory road" with my friend Iolanta. It's great to have a yoga partner--we wake each other up in the morning and encourage each other to go to class. The first day I met Iolanta (after a lecture I gave to her public relations class at the university), I told her that I just started yoga. In a city of about 120,000 people, I was fairly surprised when she said that she goes to the exact yoga classes that I had tested out. She started about 6 months ago. We've been going together ever since that day.

Class is fun. I'm finally getting a hold of all the words I need to understand the exercises in class. That doesn't mean I'm able to repeat all the Russian yoga jargon, but can recognize it, for sure. Sometimes I giggle a little when I misunderstand a command and go one way while everyone else goes another. It happens. (It's like when I played French horn in an orchestra in Finland and sometimes tooted the horn in the wrong spot because I couldn't count in Finnish fast enough).

The gym seems to be the only place in Ukhta that sells Indian spices. At least that's what my friends tell me--and they are much more experienced with shopping for food around here. I've been checking grocery stores for more spices without too much luck. Does this mean that there is a higher demand for spicy foods among athletic people in Ukhta than among nonathletic people in Ukhta?

Integration

Last Tuesday, high school students came from all over Komi Republic (and from Labytnangi, as well) to present research projects at a conference called Integration. The conference was held at the local Technical Lyceum. Every Wednesday, I lead some classes and an English Club for high school students at this lyceum. Being a familiar face at the school, I was asked to judge the student presentations in the International Language section of this conference.

We listened to 14 presentations, only three which were not in English but Russian. Topics included: ghosts-believers in England, the history of the American dollar bill and how video games can help Russian youth learn English. I was fairly impressed by the students' language skills and the extent of some of their research. One girl, knowing she wanted to participate in this conference last summer, interviewed people during a trip to England in August.

I was also impressed by the awards ceremony at the end of the event. Everything--the MCs, dances, songs, short films--was very well choreographed and in a beautiful hall that I had never seen before in the university. (I'm always surprised by what the university holds). As the one native English speaker around, I almost had to act as Queen Elizabeth during the ceremony (right after the actor Karl Marx), but was let off the hook when another teacher wore an ornate dress. I presented the International Language awards, instead.