A Month in Review 1.1.0

Russian Christmas was one of airports.  Originally I had thought that Orthodox Christmas was on the 8th, not the 7th, but it is not very commonly celebrated here anyway, so by most Russians' opinions I didn't miss too much.  My flight went almost smoothly.  Until it stopped going smoothly.  Though by Russian standards, it probably still counts as smooth.  I got there with my luggage, only a few hours late.  

What happened was this: we took off from Moscow only 45 minutes late.  No explanations are typically given for delays in Russia, and this was no exception.  Finally settled into my seat, I tried the best I could to sleep a bit after an already 20 hour day of carrying my luggage around a major city.  Dozing off, I woke up a few hours later to the pilot telling us something about fog.  I didn't really catch it, as sleepiness and foreign languages don't usually mix well for me.  After 1.5 hours of circling around Barnaul though, the problem became apparent - it was too foggy to land, so the airplane was forced to turn around and head to the nearest city, Novosibirsk, a half hour by plane to the north.  Disgruntled, I decided to go back to sleep.  The benches in the Novosibirsk airport are particularly comfy which made me happy.  I then spent the next 4-5 hours napping, buying souvenirs (hey, an extra city I can say I've been to!) and learning of the loss of the family cat that I never got to meet, but who by all accounts was just about the sweetest feline ever:

Kirbycat the magnificent   

 Finally landing in Barnaul, I arrived at L----'s apartment, met her friend, and attempted to make polite conversation over a quick meal before taking a nap.  In hindsight, the order probably should have been reversed because I 1) dropped my soup all over the floor and 2) decided that "My cat died today" was an appropriate conversation starter with a stranger.  But after I woke up I was functioning normally again.  

Barnaul is a decently large city on Russian standards, by which I mean that if it isn't St. Pete's or Moscow, its usually tiny.  But Barnaul is 20 times the size of Pushchino, so that makes it pretty big for me at the moment.  It was a lovely city, though like all Russian cities it had its share of rundown Soviet housing.  The number of shopping malls astounded me.  I'm not sure I've ever been in a place with more visible malls per capita.  As cities are few and far between in Siberia, people can drive for a full day to buy anything beyond their basic bread and water.  That means, that these cities had best make it worth the while to drive all that way.  And Barnaul does.  Perfume, souvenirs, artwork, designer clothing, cheaper Chinese options, BUBBLE TEA!(so happy!), sushi etc etc.  It's got it all.  

One of the universities in Barnaul, protected by an ever watchful Lenin.

Together, L---- and I wandered the city, sometimes by ourselves, sometimes with her whole fleet of friends and acquaintances.  We went shopping (when in Rome...) ate LOTS of sushi (sort of by accident, but mostly because of a very misleading advertisement) and went adventuring.

Take that giggling waitress who is telling the bartender about us while watching us over her shoulder and cracking up.  We can eat all of your sushi if we really put our minds to it.  Note: each tray held more than one role.

One might ask what 'adventuring' means in Siberia.  Mostly, it has to do with water.  Here are two examples in two different phases.  Take a car, and fill it with people.  Add some teenage boys to the mix.  Drive off somewhere to a different part of the city and find a big ice slide.  Finding pieces of cardboard is nice, but not necessary.  Slide down many times: forwards, backwards, in a row, in a column, standing up, head first, the list goes on.  Around the ice slide will be a huge New Year's tree and a ton of cool snow sculptures:

It's almost midnight!  Make a wish and stick your coin to the ice.  

Couldn't tell you who this guy is, sorry.  

Then, grab your tea, and head up the hill.  There are stairs, don't worry.  But, they aren't cleared, so maybe you should be careful.  And maybe you want to hold the railing so you don't slide down again.  After reaching the top of Everest, you'll be rewarded with a spectacular view of the city.  On the other side of the hill is a new surprise.  Hollywoodesque letters welcome truck drivers to Barnaul as they cross the river far below.  Sitting underneath the letters is the perfect place to drink your delicious tea.

Р for Россия! (Rossiya)

Then to finish the adventure, slide down the steep hill feeling like a rockstar, J-walk over the 4 lane highway (it's night so there are few cars out) squish back into the car and drive home blasting Russian praise music.

That was adventure one: a study of solid water.  Adventure two is an investigation into liquid water.  Liquid water in pools, fountains, and water slides.  And so I was introduced to the indoor waterpark.  I think this possibly might be one of the greatest forms of denial I have ever engaged in: it's not cold outside.  Nope.  Not here in Siberia.  We can go swimming, lay out on beach chairs, go down a selection of water slides and eat dinner in our swim suites next to the pool.  Just be sure to dry your hair before leaving the building.  I've investigated this further, and indoor water parks are quite popular in Russia.  There are at least 4 in Moscow, the largest making it into the top 7 city attractions.  So these are your two coping methods for winter: enjoy it and go sledding, or ignore it and go down water slides inside. Really when it comes down to it, the only difference is the physical state of your water, so I think somebody needs to come up with a way to go sledding on steam and then we'll have a complete range of entertainment options.

Having thoroughly enjoyed my week away, I was prepared to return to the Push (rhymes with sush[i]) and get back into teaching.  And so ends the second installment of this blog post.