Ever since my trip to Nefteyugansk,
things have been pretty quiet. It’s been very relaxing and stress-free, but I’ll
admit that a part of me is a little disappointed that I didn't travel anywhere
else between Jan. 4 and Jan. 23. I had plenty of time (and still have some)
between my Nefteyugansk and Vladimir/Moscow trips but I opted to stay in
Tyumen. I’d love to see more of this country but, at the same time, I don’t
really like trip logistics and having more than two trips in one month would
get to be a little much for me. Anyway, with that said, I've still had some fun
in Tyumen over the last couple weeks. I can give a rundown of some of the
things I've done other than the copious amounts of sleeping, computer
game-playing, reading, and tea-drinking.
First off, my boss/coworker, Irina,
invited me over to her place for dinner and to discuss some issues with the
textbook we've been getting ready for publishing. If I forgot to mention it
before, the textbook is for graduate students who need to learn legal English.
Anyway, she made classic Russian salad (which has a totally different name in
Russian than it does translated in any other language: оливье or “olivye”) and she made
stuffed bell peppers. All of it was really good and we topped it off with tea
and leftover New Year’s desserts. Before working on the textbook, she showed me
around a bit and showed me a few pictures from her son’s recent wedding. Also,
for the road, she gave me a jar of her own gooseberry jam, which I haven’t yet
tried (I’m waiting for my raspberry jam to run out).
The next day, Irina, Svetlana (my
colleague who takes me to Metro for groceries sometimes), Roman (their
acquaintance), and I went to Yalutorovsk (Ялуторовск) for a for a
little half-day excursion. We went for a few reasons. First, the town is only
about an hour away from Tyumen so it was easy for Roman to drive us there.
Second, the town is small by Russian standards (between 50,000 and 100,000) and
has only one site worth seeing: a Tatar fortress museum. Third, that day was January
7th which is the Orthodox Christmas. The drive was really beautiful.
About a half of the way there, the highway was lined with snow-covered pine trees
and I had this sudden urge to go for a hike. The other half was wide open
fields which were… less beautiful. Anyway, when we got there, we had to ask a
few pedestrians for directions to the fortress. On two occasions, the people
who helped said either right or left at one point but indicated with their hand
the other direction… Nevertheless, we eventually found it.
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| In this image: wooden tower, spiked wall, wooden sculptures, and church just outside the walls. |
We bought our tickets and had an
excursion throughout the entire complex. We walked up into the gate-tower, saw
a model of what the fortress actually looked like in its entirety, visited a
workshop where they make small cloth dolls and toys, stopped by a view exhibits
that displayed what life was like hundreds of years ago in the area (huts,
medieval weaponry, etc.), and had really delicious, yet unusual tea in a
replica Russian home from a couple hundred years ago. While the tour was pretty
interesting, I've been on a few similar ones in my time in Russia over the last
couple years. The most interesting part was just to see all sorts of neat
wooden architecture.
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| The central square inside the fortress museum. |
We were told that there would be some
sort of performance and we only had an hour to have lunch. We got some advice
from a museum worker where we could go that would be good and fast. We ended up
at a fairly nice looking place. It was clean, had nice tableware, and was
reasonably well-decorated. The one oddity was a stripper pole in the corner.
Then again, it isn't all that odd. I’m in Russia after all and their words for cafe, bar, club, and restaurant are a little looser than ours in English. The thing
that bothered me the most about our lunch though was that we broke one of my
golden rules: “You don’t mess with the people who handle your food.” I wouldn't say anyone from our group was explicitly rude to our host/waiter, but we were
definitely a handful. When I say “we,” I mean Svetlana and Irina. Roman and I
were a little more laid-back. The two ladies were just trying to make sure that
we had the right balance of necessary drinks and food and that it would be
quick enough to return in time for the performance. It resulted in badgering
the guy a little bit to make sure he did his job as effectively as possible. We
all had pelmeni (dumplings) and they were good but not outstanding. I don’t
know for sure if he spit in our tea or anything, but I really doubt that he
did. So we ate our lunch pretty calmly but we were late by about 10-15 minutes.
It didn't matter too much (being late in Russia never really does) and we still
got there during the start.
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| The final part of the children's program. |
As it turns out though, the performance
was specifically for children, which is not what we were promised. We paid
attention for the first ten minutes or so and then kind of just walked around
and took more pictures. Nevertheless, it was nice to have some music and
liveliness in the background, even if it was childish. There was a wooden slide
that they cover in ice in winter and we took a few trips down that. It was a
little lopsided though and I found myself grinding against the wooden railing a
couple times. We also stopped in the souvenir shop and we all got our
obligatory magnets (the most popular and cheap souvenir in Russia). That brings
my magnet count up to three. They also had one tradition in this fortress. If
you walked around the central square three times, your wish would come true. So
we all had a go with that too. Finally, it was time to go.
Getting back into town, Roman, Irina,
and I decided to continue our day at Casa Mia, an Italian joint that I visited
once before with Nadya, her husband, and two others. Since Roman smokes, we sat
in the smoking area of the restaurant. In general, smoking is much more popular
in Russia than in the US and I've experienced a noticeable amount more
second-hand smoke than I’m used to back home. Anyway, my first experience in
this restaurant was average. That is, I ordered some sort of fettuccine alfredo
last time and I wasn't impressed. This time, however, we ordered everything to
share as a group and the food was fantastic. We had thin-crust margherita
pizza, lamb, raw salmon with pesto, and lasagna. It completely changed my opinion
of this place for the better. The conversation was great and I picked up a few
new words. Although, as I write this, I can only recall one of those words.
Really, it’s pretty difficult for me to retain as many new words as I
encounter. I know I've made progress in some respects, but it’s disappointing
nonetheless when I realize how many knew things I’m taught and how relatively
few I actually remember.
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| Ice sculpture of train |
On one of the colder days recently, I
decided to finally go out and get a new sweater. It’s winter in Siberia and
having a choice between only two sweaters is just not satisfactory. I had plans
to go to the a couple of the main shopping centers in the middle of town and,
along the way, I walked through a center plaza by the circus. This is where the
city puts up its big ice sculpture display for the winter. I strolled through
and was impressed by the all of them! I know it's nothing specific to Tyumen. I saw similar ice sculptures in Yalutorovsk and Nefteyugansk, for example. However, it's something you don't see in the united states as widespread as it is here. They know that once they finish the sculptures in December, they'll stand tall and avoiding melting for months. Also, the amount of ice they use is pretty incredible. Then again, they are not in short supply in Siberia. I see it as a way for the city to get festive and to give kids something to do (see slides below). I snapped as many good pictures as I could before the cold finally got the
better of me and forced me inside. I browsed in ЦУМ, which is basically a mall of
high-end, formal clothing stores and overpriced home décor. I didn't find my
sweater there. I then searched around in the area a little bit for a shopping
center that I visited once with Niklas and Nikolai. This building is
approximately four stories with a bunch of small clothing shops crammed
together. The choice was much bigger and more reasonably-priced here. I only
tried on sweaters in one store but I found the right fit for me. The sweater
was just what I was looking for. I had a short chat with the girl in charge.
She was intrigued that I was an American teaching in Tyumen and told me a
little about her English education. I think I even got a discount, but I’m not
really sure.
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| Ice slides in the center of town |
Recently, I also met back up with
Nikolai and he introduced me to a couple of his graduate student buddies. We
went to a bar/restaurant called Yermolaev (Ермолаевь), which is actually a local
chain of breweries. They’re students of history, religion, and politics and the
conversation, therefore, often followed one of those topics. At times, I
understood and contributed. Sometimes, I was completely lost. Part of this was
undoubtedly due to the fact that they knew more than me about many of these
topics, but also because, as Nikolai often pointed out, they spoke with very
conversational and unclear Russian. Again, this was great practice for my
Russian. The restaurant itself, like I said, has a few installations throughout
the city. This one in particular is in a kolkhoz theme. In other words, the
theme of Soviet farms. Given their education, this location made perfect sense.
It was also pretty cozy, but like in Casa Mia, I got a bit more second-hand
smoke than I would've liked.
A few days ago, I also had my first
experience in a coffee shop called Maxim (Максим), which there are also a lot of
in the city. Pavel, my primary contact here, invited me out for food and coffee
and to discuss my upcoming role in the Model United Nations club this spring. I
had a fairly tasty Caesar wrap and the coffee was good, but the real highlight was
the warm apple strudel with vanilla ice cream. Without a doubt, I’ll have to
get it again. It also reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from the film “Inglourious
Basterds.” It’s the scene when the main Nazi antagonist (not Hitler) is in a
restaurant discussing a movie premiere. Anyway, the plot isn't important. In
that scene, he has strudel and ice cream and every time I see it, I get a
strong urge for some of my own. Maxim got it pretty close. I have no doubt that
it’s still better in Germany or France. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it.
Pretty cool stuff brah.
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