Scrabble & Burgers: Am I Back Home Already?

The last two weeks have felt like an awakening from hibernation. What I mean by that is I haven't done much real work for the last two months and now it's time to get going again. The textbook project with my boss, which I expected us to finish in early January, is still in progress. That said, we've taken some large strides recently and it's finally starting to come together. I've mostly been editing existing materials in the text, writing exercises and text, finding photos, and voicing opinions on how the book should be organized and formatted. In addition to the textbook, classes have finally resumed and I'm trying to get back in the groove. Teaching feels the same, but waking from my stupor to prepare materials and exercises for classes has been more of a challenge. Due to some scheduling issues, I only had four classes this last week. There are still a number of kinks to work out and we might have to fill out some of the groups a little more. The last bit of "work" (if you want to call it that) that I've done recently was preparation for the English Language Olympiad. Apparently, there are foreign language olympiads that take place on the university level, then regional and national levels. I don't know the purpose of the olympiads beyond the fact that they show foreign language competencies from different Russian universities and they give some students more reasons to train and practice their language skills. I spent some time this last week giving a handful of students conversational tips and practice. Two of the three top place finishers are my students and they'll compete at the regional stage pretty soon.

Lately, I've also tried to expand my culinary repertoire. Sasha came over one night and we decided to go with an idea that I'd been pondering for some time already. We made cheeseburgers. We made our own ground beef patties, sliced our own cheese, added fresh red onion and lettuce, and put it all on the closest thing to a hamburger bun that I could find at the store. After eating at McDonald's twice in Moscow, a homemade burger reminded me why burgers got so popular in the first place. They were ridiculously delicious. It was a complete success and I'm already looking forward to the next time. Also, you know you did something right when it tastes better without condiments. My second food story was almost another home run, but I messed up the basics. I decided to make chicken teriyaki stir-fry by myself and it was almost another fantastic success, but I messed up the rice. Granted, it was my first time ever making rice in my life and I was only going off of a 5-minute YouTube tutorial. I ended up with a pan of rice mush. On the other hand, the chicken, sauce, and vegetable part turned out pretty great. I didn't follow any particular recipe and just threw in what veggies I had available, which included: red onion, yellow bell pepper, and radishes. Even with mushy rice, the entire meal was very satisfying.

'Murica 

A few days ago, after hearing about this place a few times, I finally made a trip to anti-cafe "Freedom." This is the only anti-cafe I've ever been to, but I really enjoyed it. In a nutshell, it's a place that charges by the minute (2 rubles or about 7 cents) and offers all you can eat cookies, coffee, and tea. In addition to that, they have a number of tables, chairs, and couches for just hanging out, getting on your laptop, or playing board games. There are also a couple rooms with big flat-screen TVs and PlayStation 3 game consoles attached. It's a pretty nifty place. I went with Dasha, a student at my institute who I helped practice for the Olympiad. Once we got there, we met with Lera, a student from one of my groups who actually works at Freedom.

Yesterday, February 23, was actually a Russian holiday: День Защитника Отечества (Day of the Defender of the Fatherland). Obviously, it's a Memorial Day-type, military holiday. However, since generations have passed since the World Wars and many veterans have passed away, this holiday doesn't carry as much weight as there are very few people left to recognize. Now it is primarily recognized as a sort of "Men's Day." On Friday the 22nd, our foreign language department held a small party/gathering to celebrate it. We had food, cake, juice, and some sort of rice vodka that a Chinese teacher brought. All of the women took the opportunity to make wishes for the men in the room, including Ivan, a Chinese teacher, another Russian guy I still don't know, and me. All of us men also received some flash drives as gifts. As someone from a country without a "Men's Day," I was very pleased.

Finally, it's time to tell of my favorite part from the last two weeks. As an avid scrabble fan back in the states, I've always wanted to play the Russian version. I managed to do this once in college, but we didn't even finish the whole game. While shopping at the huge supermarket Metro recently with another teacher, I strolled through the game aisle and found it! Russian Scrabble! Of course I bought it and ended up playing it the very next day with Sasha. It was his first time playing, but nevertheless, I expected to get torn to pieces playing against a native speaker. As it turned out, I actually won! I beat a Russian at Russian Scrabble! Now, of course, there's more to Scrabble than just knowing a lot of words. I understood how to manage the board, look for possibilities, and, in general, how to execute strategy better than he did. Additionally, luck plays a role in which letters you get. Still, I knew enough good Russian words to blow a Russian out of the water. But that's not all! After playing some video games at anti-cafe Freedom, I played a game of Scrabble with Dasha and Lera. We didn't actually finish the game, but decided to add up final scores after getting about 70% of the way done. Who had the most? I did! I can't really count it as an official win since we didn't finish the game, but I'll take it. And just two days ago, Sasha and I had a rematch. Knowing that he was more familiar with rules and strategy, I thought my time for celebration was over. And, in fact, it was very bleak for the first half of the game. Luck was on his side and I fell behind early. However, the tables turned and I made one hell of a comeback to obliterate him once again! I can't even think of the last time I had a comeback in English Scrabble. I've played against Russians three times now and I remain undefeated. As inflated as my ego is right now, I know this string of victories won't continue for long. It's only a matter of time before my smaller vocabulary or a total lack of luck finally does me in. Still, regardless of the result, the game has proven really beneficial for picking up new words. I'm learning about 3-4 new words per game and they're sticking for the most part.

Sweet Victory! Final score - Jared: 286 - Sasha 217

Vladimir & Moscow: Seeing Old Friends

As I write this, I've been back in a state of relative inactivity again. Granted, I've had a cold ever since I got back to Tyumen a few days ago, but there's not much point in talking about that. My trip to Moscow and Vladimir was huge success. I saw the people I wanted to see and squeezed in some sightseeing. First off, I flew into Moscow on Jan. 23rd, hopped on an Aeroexpress train from the airport to a metro station in the center of town, took the metro to Ken's neighborhood and met him there. Ken is a former Fulbrighter who also taught in Tyumen and now lives in Moscow. He was my host for a day before I left for Vladimir. He had something come up, so I was on my own for the afternoon to get a few things done. I went to the Kursky train station first to get my ticket for the next day to Vladimir. No problems there. After that, I went to the Moscow Art Theatre to pick up a souvenir for Jeff back home. And, actually, before I continue, if anybody reading this blog has any requests for Russian souvenirs, let me know. I'm more than happy to try to pick things up for people. Anyway, I went there and asked the box office folk where I could find theatre souvenirs and gifts. They told me they don't exist... However, as I've learned over my time in Russia, if someone tells you one thing, always get a second opinion. You should probably even ask the same person the same question in a different way. Which is what I did. Eventually, I found out that they sell some things during shows on the main stage (which I learned later is not exactly true). At this point, I considered my attempt a failure. However, a random woman suggested that I go to the show on the 29th, because she had seen it and highly recommended it. Well hey, why not? That sounded like a legitimate suggestion, so I bought a ticket.

St. Basil's Cathedral

After that, I had one more stop for the afternoon. I went to Red Square to see if I could finally get inside the famous St. Basil's Cathedral. In my life, I had already been to Red Square a handful of times. I've been inside the Kremlin walls, gone inside GUM, the super ritzy shopping center, and I even saw Lenin's embalmed corpse inside his mausoleum. But I had never been inside the iconic cathedral until that day. I piggy-backed on a tour inside and learned some interesting things. For instance, it's actually a complex of about nine small churches. From the inside, I felt like I was in a castle with thick brick walls and tiny windows. It really was an impressive place and I'm glad I finally got to see it. The only things I haven't hit on Red Square now are the historic armory and the history museum. There's too much to see in Moscow, let alone on Red Square! Before heading back to the apartment, I decided to get a bite to eat. I went to the same McDonald's near Red Square that I visited two years ago. It was jam-packed as usual. I eventually found a seat and it wasn't long before I had to share my table. A couple Azerbaijani girls sat down. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, I finally said something and their eyes lit up at the sound of my obvious accent. They didn't expect me to be foreign because they said I look Russian, which is actually something I disagree with. I get plenty of looks all over Russia that lead me to believe I stick out more than I'd like to think. We had a good conversation in Russian and shared a little bit about ourselves.

One of many views of the inside of St. Basil's.

Later that night, a little while after arriving back to Ken's place, we finally did something together that I wasn't expecting to do on a trip to Moscow. We went to the gym to lift weights. When I think of it now, it's like: "What did you do in Moscow?" "Oh, you know, pumped some iron. Typical vacation stuff." Apparently, he has a membership to a weight room that's a part of a local university. I was expecting a rusty heap of outdated weights and machines, but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and cleanliness. After getting huge, we stopped at a grocery store and had a pretty quiet night back at his place.

The next day, I had to be out of his place by about 10:00 am, but my train wasn't until about 2:00 pm, so I had time to kill. He directed me to a monorail that goes to an old Soviet exhibition center called ВВЦ. It's actually more like a huge outdoor complex full of exhibition halls, food stands, statues, and fountains. It was a really neat area with great architecture, reminiscent of a grandiose Soviet style. I got the feeling the place still got visitors, but it's not exactly in its heyday anymore. A number of the halls housed standard Russian fare, such as barbers and pawnshops. The weather was great. A little snow and not very cold. That said, I still got pretty hot because I was hauling around my luggage throughout the entire stroll. On my way back to the metro to get to the train station, I walked by the cosmonautics museum which has a really impressive rocket monument displayed outside. It would have been interesting to actually pay the museum a visit, but that'll have to wait for a different trip.

I still had to kill a little bit of time once I got to the train station. I've got to say, public transport establishments are not exactly my favorite places to hang out. The air is just so stale and who knows when the seats were last cleaned (if ever). Also, you've got to pay for the bathroom. I really try to avoid public restrooms in gas stations and train stations just out of principle, but they add insult to injury when they charge you $0.30 to a $0.90 just to use it!

The train ride itself was nothing spectacular and actually pretty relaxing. I just looked at the snow-covered countryside and towns I've never heard of before for three hours while listening to music. I did my best to block out the magazine vendors. When we started pulling into Vladimir, oh man, that was when the nostalgia really started to kick in. I saw the city perched up high, overlooking the river. I could see the gold domes of the cathedrals I had walked by so many times. If any passers-by caught me at the right time on the bus stop outside the train station, they would have seen an inexplicable smile on my face. I think it was at that moment that I really grasped the fact that I was back in a familiar city that I was never sure I'd see again when I left two years ago.

The second wave of nostalgia hit me on the bus. It took me down the main drag that I'd gone down a hundred times before. I saw Cathedral Square, Assumption Cathedral, Golden Gates, and all of the other familiar locations in the center of town. The only two changes I detected were a new McDonald's and Traveler's Coffee. I wondered how long Vladimir could last without a McDonald's. Looks like it only took two years. I foresee lower revenue for Mister Hamburger.

Zosya!

Getting to my host family's apartment was pretty great too. Iya, my host mom, greeted me on the first floor and we went up to their place on the seventh in the new elevator. I guess the landlord decided it was time to replace the old plywood elevator and put in something with more metal (and an unnecessarily loud and obnoxious buzzer that goes off way too often). I put my things in my old room that looked almost unchanged. I saw Zosya, the cat, and she was even cuter than I remembered! She was also much smaller than I remembered, which confused me a little bit. For dinner, Iya prepared golubtsy (stuffed cabbage rolls). They were delicious. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the rest of the food she prepared during my stay. Honestly, I don't know how I survived there for four months before. I'm not saying her cooking is inherently bad. It's just that it's a mix of my picky tendencies and some aspects of Russian cuisine I may never get used to. Also, before I continue with any more bouts of nostalgia, it should be pointed out to my readers (or my future self) that Iya and Vladimir, her husband, weren't exactly giddy with my visit. I'm not saying they were upset. It's just that they treated it like like nothing special. But really, this needs context. They're in their mid-seventies, with fading memory, and they've hosted 18 Americans in the last six years. After learning this, I was less surprised that Iya asked me in the elevator if I was Jared or Jack. Still, they wouldn't have invited me if they hadn't wanted to see me. Finally, I was half-convinced the sheets in my room weren't totally clean. But, at that point, what was I really going to do? Nothing can ever be exactly how you want it or expect it when you're in Russia.

The next day, I met up with Judith, a fellow Fulbright English teacher who studied in Vladimir the summer before I got there. We coordinated our trips to Vladimir so we could see our teachers at KORA together. After picking up coffee at Traveler's, we took the old path to school that I hadn't forgot a step of. The chat with our teachers was fantastic. I'll admit, I kind of treated like a test for my Russian skills. I was a bit worried beforehand that my Russian hadn't improved well enough from two years ago. I know it's not the same for everyone, but for me, detecting my language progress and having self-confidence with my skills has always been so difficult. As it turns out, I talked like a champ and they were impressed with how I've come along. Actually, I think one or two of them was more impressed with the fact that I kept talking, which contrasted my more subdued behavior in class. We talked about some of the other students from my group, what they're up to, and how I've been liking my Fulbright in Siberia thus far. They were actually expecting a new group of Americans that same night, so they were also in preparation mode for the new semester. We had lunch in the cafeteria, which felt the exact same except that it was undergoing some remodeling.

After that, Judith and I went to meet up with one of her study abroad pals who works in Vladimir at a place called American Home. They've got around eight or so Americans teaching English there, all of whom are in their early twenties. The house is actually a little piece of America I can guarantee it's the only ranch-style house in the entire city. The main difference is that on the second floor and in the basement it's full of classrooms. After having dinner back with the Reyutts, I went back out again with my fellow Americans to hang out downtown.

Prince Vladimir and Assumption Cathedral

The next day, I stopped by a cafe called Potato Papa (Картофельный Папа), my old weekly refuge for chocolate banana blini and the internet. They weren't so reliable this time and I had to go without the internet, but it was really nice to see some more familiar surroundings. I then went to meet up with Nastya, a tutor and friend from my earlier time in Vladimir. First, we walked around the center of town a bit near Assumption Cathedral and got some tea in the mall. Next, we went ice skating on a soccer field the city converted into a skating rink for the winter. It was twice the size of a normal rink which made someone with no skating skills, such as myself, feel much more comfortable maneuvering around. I probably went to Traveler's Coffee a few too many times over break before coming on this trip. Knowing this, we decided to go to Traveler's anyway. It would seem I can't escape their grasp. This particular Traveler's had one major drawback though: no cinnamon rolls. All in all, I had a great day with Nastya. In general, my trip to Vladimir was big success. I was flooded with nostalgia. There was even a moment when I forgot that I now live in Tyumen. It's that easy to get sucked right back into old routines and surroundings.

Overlooking the river, train tracks, and a part of Vladimir.

On the 27th, Judith and I took a bus back to Moscow. A bus is a good alternative to the train. It costs about the same and takes about as long, but they leave much more frequently. We had a good conversation and got some shuteye. Sometimes I squirm when I speak English in public because I don't like to draw too much attention to myself. But every now and then, I actually enjoy it. I don't really know why. Anyway, this was one of those times I had no problem spewing out English in a bus full of Russians. It was also cool to see all of the other Fulbrighters again. We shared experiences and stories. Some good and some not so good. The hotel decided to take away free internet from the rooms and only provide it in the lobby and conference room. This resulted in a heap of Americans loitering by the front desk the first night. There was no free internet in the lobby for the rest of the trip... Kristen and I caught up and had dinner at a Teremog (Russian fast food) in the local mall. I thought our experiences were actually very similar in terms of living and teaching, with some minor differences. It's good to have that knowledge that a lot of other people are experiencing similar issues but also experiencing a lot of great new things.

On the 28th, we had day one of presentations that went until about 4:30 pm. Some English teachers gave some short presentations, but I was most intrigued by the presentations from the Fulbright research fellows. Some of them were doing some really fascinating studies. It was also very refreshing to hear talks from all sorts of spheres, such as linguistics, history, neuroscience, sociology, and geology (actually, some of these topics were on day two). The rest of the day after the seminar was pretty tame. A small group of us went out to Muchacho's for Panchero's/Chipotle-style burritos and nachos. Man, did that hit the spot.

Outside the theatre.

Day two of the seminar went well with nothing exceptional to report. The real treat of the day was going to going to a play at the Moscow Art Theatre. I didn't have much time so I donned my theatre clothes and set out. Where does one go for dinner in nice slacks before a night at the theatre? You guessed it. McDonald's. I would've felt worse about it since I already had McDonald's once that week and I'm in Moscow where there are so many other choices, but I had little time and I was alone, so it didn't really bother me. At least it wasn't the Red Square McDonald's and I had a change of scenery. First things first, when I got to the theatre, I picked up a program for the night's show: Primadonnas (by Ken Ludwig). I then soaked in the atmosphere for a bit and walked around looking at their wall of fame with pictures of their most accomplished academy graduates and actors. I had one other goal though and that was to get Jeff a souvenir. I asked some of the ladies who work there and one of them told me the only souvenir-type items were in the museum. Fortunately, she took me there, unlocked it, and showed me what they had. The selection was... lacking. The theatre itself sells absolutely no memorabilia and the museum only has a few postcards and books (all of which were in Russian with the exception of one). I got him the only book with any English in it (and you had better like it Jeff!). The coolest moment of my conversation with this lady was in the beginning. She asked me if I was an actor or director. She thought I was some hotshot foreigner. Boy, was she wrong.

So the theatre has three stages: main, small, and new. The show I went to was on the main stage. I had a seat in the front row of the balcony, which was great, and had a good view of the whole place. It was beautiful and all but it looked like it hadn't been changed since the early 1970s. I didn't live in the '70s, but I imagine it looked just like this. The show itself was amazing! It was extremely high-energy, colorful, and pretty damn funny. Because it was high-energy, most of the actors spoke very quickly and I couldn't pick it all up. Fortunately, I understood the majority of it and the rest was understandable just because of the context. During intermission, I walked to the cafe attached to the theatre with all of the other spectators. There were long longs for wine, salmon, and champagne. I just ended up paying way too much for a bottle of water.

After the play, I decided to pay a little night visit to Red Square to see it under the lights. I made a little loop to St. Basil's Cathedral and back and snapped a few pics. Red Square is impressive by day, but magical by night. They do good work with their lighting. Then again, almost any kind of light reflecting off cobblestones looks pretty fantastic.

Left: Gates leading to Red Square. Center: History Museum.

Ice skating on Red Square.

The 30th was a day for English teachers only and it consisted of basically a refresher training course. I picked up a few new ideas and was reminded of a few key principles any good language teacher ought to know. This was also the last day in Moscow for all of us. Some even leaving that night. Kristen was scheduled to leave in the evening, so she, Helen (a Fulbright alumna), and I went out for dinner at an Uzbek restaurant. We had ginger and lemon tea, the likes of which I have never tasted before. It was strong, but wow was it unique and delicious. Also, I'm not quite sure how it happened but we all managed to independently pick the same thing from the menu which was a sort of lamb and rice dish with some really good bread. We also ordered some sort of cheese and tomato croissant-type thing on the side. I finally made it to a real restaurant while on this trip!

January 31st was basically just a travel day. I took the metro to get to the Aeroexpress train for the airport. Paranoid as usual, I gave myself plenty of time to get there and through security which resulted in some time to kill. I talked to a lady selling fancy tea near my gate for a while. She is one of the few pleasant vendors I've ever talked to in this country. The flight was fine. I had the same chicken and rice meal I had when flying in. Luckily, I got Nadya and her husband to pick me up at the airport fairly last minute. She said my Russian had noticeably improved since we last spoke. Since I had just spoken English for three straight days, I didn't really see how that was possible. Language is a weird thing.

Since the trip, I've been fairly lazy again. However, much of my laziness was validated because I had a cold for several days. It was a good excuse to kick back and drink a bunch of tea. More recently, I've started to get back into the swing of work. My schedule is getting finalized and I have more work for my boss' textbook to complete. Here goes the second semester!