Friday, July 01, 2005 Well, almost a week of movies & tea after work hasn’t had me in bed or sleeping any earlier, but I’m more relaxed when I get into bed.
I straightened my hair today for the first time in a while.
The security guy called “Prrudunce!” (frigging Nelly is in DEEP trouble!) & told me he liked my curly hair yesterday! Then he fished around in his pocket & presented me a pretty little piece of coral from the Black Sea. He’s been sober at work since I fed him.
I wonder if I can get the coral strung to wear as a necklace? Then I wonder if I can ‘gift’ it back to him when I leave? He probably won’t wear it. The men don’t seem to wear trendy necklaces, preferring gold chains with crucifixes.
Alexander & I talked about mushrooms tonight. They’re starting to sprout in the forests. Finally, I understand why there are so many varieties here compared to NZ. In fact, we have many varieties that look the same, but in NZ, we call them toadstools & don’t touch them. Here, people know how to treat & prepare them so they’re no longer poisonous, salting, marinating or cooking..generally as soon as they reach home..these ‘shrooms need immediate attention..shelf time increases toxins. Alexander has never eaten raw mushrooms so I showed him the ones we eat raw. I went into raptures describing breakfast with bacon, sausages, hash browns, eggs, crispy fresh bread & grilled ‘flats’ with basil pesto & flavoured olive oil; he cracked up! “Hahahaha; Prue, you love your food, why are you so small?!” Ha! I’ve grown a Russian “dairy roll” around my hips since my arrival!
What luck! There’s a big wedding tonight to coincide with my mandatory early morning start tomorrow! I’m indulging in a bottle of German ‘sleep’, with optimistic but misleading “Qualitätswein” on the label. No, I’m just an uneducated pagan; the picture of the Virgin Mary & baby Jesus are proof this is indeed “Qualitätswein”! Pffff!
It seems every day this week hot water has been slow to flow from the shower, so every day my heart has suffered a brief seizure..is today the day? I think I have 5 days of heated showers left, and then it’ll be a MONTH of cold bathing. I NEED to find a plug of some sort for my hand basin so I can fill it with boiling water for warm sponge baths! Waaaaah! I’m such a sook!
Saturday, July 02, 2005 I have no idea why, but I woke at 6am, thank goodness! An hour later than my alarm was set for..the stupid thing didn’t go off! A mad scatter to shower, dress while guzzling a cup of coffee & be ready to hit the road for Khanty-Mansisk. Pack on back, I was pounding down the stairs when my phone went off; I didn’t bother to look for it ‘cos I knew it would be Alex or Vadim telling me they were at the gate!
We’re all knackered & if we were honest would all flag today. I’m suffering sleep deprivation from last night’s wedding which lasted ‘til 3am; Alex caught up with friends last night, hit beer & G&T’s, got home at 2am & is feeling seedy..still has glassy eyes; Vadim had a 1:1 date with beer until midnight..lucky for us all, Vadim’s the driver!
Surgut showed all the promise of a gorgeous day; the further west we drove, the darker the day became; undaunted, we’re a ‘chipper’ bunch ‘cos the boys are tour guides & we’re all explorers!
This trip was more relaxing for me; Vadim’s a good driver..safe but speedy (right up my alley), his car’s comfortable, & the company was excellent!
Our first stop was the ski resort & international biathlon venue for the region. Not quite like ‘home’ but the location & buildings bore some similarities, Mozzie Central though! The boys were intrigued to learn NZ has forests of pine to rival these here, plus beautiful native ones.
Finally, you get to see my two favourite boys/students/buddies here!
Vadim took my camera off me, had me lined up for a shot, gave me the ‘peace’ sign which I returned, then he turned his hand & gave me the ‘two-finger-salute’ so I turned my hand & tucked my index-finger..I wish I had the camera because Alex & Vadim fell apart! No photo of me either!
Next stop was the original Russian Orthodox Church in town (400 years old, a new one is being built now; obviously, it’s beautiful too but…). We popped into the grounds so I could grab a pic of the memorial to Tsar Alexander 1st. Alex wanted to take me inside the church, but all I’ve got is my NZ cap (unsuitable head-dress for a woman) & I’m wearing a tank-top. He whizzed inside to ask & “all is ok, they have suitable ‘equipment’ for you”, meaning a couple of fugly unmatching scarves..one for my head & another to cover my brazen shoulders & chest! “No photos though!”
It’s a beautiful place, with incredibly old artwork. Today I realised I haven’t seen pews in either of the churches I’ve visited. People stand throughout services, only the very old or infirm may sit.
Unable to resist, as we were leaving, Alex whispered to me to turn the flash off & sneak a photo. I said, “No, I’ll get killed!” He insisted, ran interference with the guards, while I snapped a ‘quickie’ & we scurried out! The photo doesn’t do the place justice, but it’s a beaut memory!
I’d never have done it on my own, Alex being Russian, a believer & therefore giving me semi-sanction made it easier to flout the rules! I'll consider doing it again too.
After that; native Khanty & Mansi spot; a similar concept to Whakarewarewa/Buried Village/can’t remember the name of the Aboriginal place just out of Cairns (Jaborghai?).
People from these races demonstrate traditional craft & visitors can view replicas of their summer & winter homes.
There are massive numbers of mozzies & midges here..you know the “Australian Wave”? Well there’s a “Siberian Wave”, it’s more frequent & is often followed by a ‘rub’..to squash the cretins that got past the wave or to soothe your latest bite!
These people are TINY & I felt like ‘Gulliver’s wife’ with them. They survive as they have for hundreds of years, in the taiga (forest). They don’t ‘work’; they simply hunt, fish & live almost entirely separate from ‘civilisation’ & the 21st century. Their diet mainly consists of raw meat & fish, though the brief summer provides them with berries, mushrooms & other herbivorous fodder unavailable during the rest of the year. They’re pagan & rely on shamans for healing & spiritual guidance. If you’ve read Jean M Auel’s “Clan of the Cave Bear” series, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how these people live! Today there are about 22,500 Khanty, fewer than 14,000 of whom speak any Khanty dialect fluently; there are about 8,400 Mansi but only about 3,000 of them speak a Mansi dialect fluently. (Sean, I told you a load of bollocks on Wednesday..the stats I gave you related to some other linguistic stuff..sorry!)
Let me see, do I need to explain the photos further?
Check it out..I’m 164cm or almost 5’4”. I tower over these women; my legs don’t fit under their tables; the shot of me in native garb.. I’m sitting on my feet; my hostess is comfortably sitting on a stool with her knees under the table..I’m a bit behind her & still I’m taller!
The furs on the table are fox, except for the front one, which is sable (coarse & yukky to touch, I don’t know what the fuss is about!) The furs are sewn together with animal sinew; the ‘needle’ is a piece of bone with a split at one end.
A woman brought me a stool so I didn’t have to sit on the grass. The senior woman of the group (she looks 100, but I’m told the usual life span of these people is fifty years due to their poor diet & difficult lifestyle) invited me to sit while she played music for me. Her instrument was much like a ’Jews harp’ but made of sinew (probably fox). She told me I could buy one for 50 roubles & I was tempted, but there’s no way I could bring it back to NZ. I planned just to give her the money but the boys whisked me away before I could.
Then she showed me a beaded neck & chest adornment. It’s heavy! I was encouraged to put it on..what a mission! I worked it out in the end, but being the ‘giant’ I am it was a tight fit!
Next, the woman who does the beadwork joined us & said she was going to sing for me a song about love & marriage. A mixture of monotonous droning & nasal wailing, & it seemed endless! SIMPLY AWFUL!
NEVERTHELESS, all this was enormously special; none of the other visitors received any of this treatment. It’s ‘women’s’ stuff so Alex & Vadim had to keep their distance for most of it, Alex was grudgingly tolerated to act as interpreter a couple of times.
The summer home we visited was a Mansi one & is just one small room (smaller than a standard living room in NZ or Oz). Khanty’s & Mansi’s are different races though their traditions & lifestyles are similar. There are separate areas for men & women in the home, though they join at one corner of the room. This woman explained that neither race wears jewellery of gold or silver because only gods do, hence the beaded gear.
The Hungarian girlies were ‘off their chops’; when we arrived they were guzzling beer. The pots contained meat that we could have bought for lunch. They also had fish available..air-dried for a couple of weeks, then smoked. No such thing as a refrigerated display case, the food was presented covered merely with mozzies & humidity! Ugh! My little buddy on my right (left of the pic) didn’t want to let me go..she wrapped her arms around my waist, & no matter how much I tried to follow Vadim & Alex out of there, she was hanging on to me from behind & dragging her feet! The boys gently extricated me, got to the car & wet themselves..”those women like their beer, they’ve been drinking for a while, we think they’d like you to join them! What do you think, Prue?”
Into town & down to the Irtysh river. I really liked the statue! The river terminal is in the shape of a riverboat. I took a pic of that, but I thought you might be more interested in seeing ‘Khanty-Mansisk’ in Cyrillic (is it any wonder I still can’t read Russian?) Overlooking the town is this amazing pyramid shaped structure, a tribute to the native people of the region.
The three of us now have ‘snakes’ gnawing at our bellies & it’s my responsibility to guide us to last week’s German restaurant..I can’t find my way out of a paper bag!
“OK, go right, now straight ahead, eek, we should have turned left back there, go left now!”
“Prue, we can’t, these lights say we must go forward or right!”
“Do you trust me to get us there?”
“Yes”
“Fools! Keep circling; right, right, left, left, left, I’ll recognize something soon! STOP! NOW! There it is!”
And, wouldn’t you know it? the place isn’t open for another 40 minutes! We explored MY children’s playground & had fun on the swings; hit the restaurant door not a second late!
Re-fuelled, it was time to hit the road for Surgut. So, the Oil & Gas Museum remains unexplored for now; probably best saved for winter anyway!
Safely delivered to Planeta & there’s another wedding..my initial reaction was “oh no”, but I’m so tired I doubt it’s actually going to disturb me.
Ni-ni..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Oh, hahahahahahaha, I’ve GOT to tell you this! Mayster arrived at Planeta before I got inside. He was wearing casual knit shorts; for a sizeable, solid bloke he has the skinniest pins I think I’ve EVER seen on a man..they make mine look like Jonah Lomu’s! I’ll never look at him completely seriously again.
Sunday, July 03, 2005 I’ve had an especially quiet day in my room..I must have eaten something ‘poisonous’ yesterday because I have a very unhappy tummy today! Or, perhaps I’m reacting to the mozzie bites covering every part of my body!!
Vadim called to say he’d collect me at 8pm because there’s a free concert in one of the town squares..a band from Moscow, who also spent several years in Aussie, called B1 (or is it B2? I heard both names, either way I don’t know them). They played for about 90 minutes & were pretty good. The lead singer fancies himself a cross between Michael Hutchence & Bono & the crowd are happy to concur. No aroma of marijuana at this concert, just beer breath at every turn & the ground is an obstacle course of empty cans & bottles.
I met Vadim’s best mates, Sergei & Constantine. Sergei speaks English & is a dentist. Hoorah! I’ll get my teeth done now I’ve met a dentist I can trust! My NZ dentist told me to get my teeth done here.
That’s me for now. My anticipated early night has turned into another late one writing this.
Monday, July 04, 2005 Nothing short of bathing in an icy mountain river for a month could have prepared me for my cold shower today! Hell’s teeth it was cold! Clearly even the cold water supply is usually slightly heated. Just wetting my hair for washing gave me one of those headaches you get when you eat ice-cream or dive into a really cold lake or river. I threw my body under the shower for about 2 seconds then had to give up. I boiled the kettle & had a sponge bath in the end – yuk, Yuk, YUK!
Suffice to say, I beat a hasty path to the shops & bought a big plastic basin so I can have a ‘bath’ for the next three weeks.
I have a ‘neighbour’ tonight..poor woman, I wonder if she knows what’s in store for her!
I showed Alexander a couple of the photos from the native Khanty-Mansi area because he’s very interested in them. He was taken with the pic of the two Khanty women sitting at the fur table “The one on the right is ME, Alexander!” Wide eyes & open mouthed gaping! Very funny!
He gave me a lesson about eating fish in Siberia. Never, never agree to eat fish unless you know for sure how it’s been prepared. Fish have a ‘greebly’ that attacks your liver unless the fish has been prepared properly, either cooked at a high temperature for 30 minutes, salted & left to stand for a few days, or salted & dried for a couple of weeks. Thank goodness I don’t like fish!
Vadim arrived next & wanted to see the photos & copy them.
He hurt his back last week & in spite of a couple of massages seems to be getting worse. He wasn’t in the mood for much conversation so we browsed my music library. He’s doesn’t know of Cat Stevens, Good Charlotte, Incubus, Marvin Gaye, Matchbox 20, Silverchair, or Violent Femmes just to name a few, nor has he heard of The Rocky Horror Picture Show! Cat Stevens & Marvin Gaye are the ones that floor me!
Tuesday, July 05, 2005 Oooh-er, it’s good to have friends in the right places, even if they’re only ‘big smile & warm eye contact’ buddies!
To make a long story short, I was conned into working through the summer months, and now I've been hit with the news that the reward for my diligence is a minimum 50% cut in pay!
The message I’ve been given is that Ludmila, the accountant, has docked Vasily because he hasn’t been coming to work (he’s an angry man now!), & I’ve been paid my usual salary..she’s cooked the books! I’ve been given clear & strict instructions not to be tricked into letting on. Fine by me, I’ve earned this money! The same working hours, no meals, no hot water! I think I deserve a bonus!
Now I know there’s definitely a substitute for me, I’ve finally weakened & bought a couple of plants for my room. I’m sure Juneen will appreciate the homely touch; I certainly am!
Every week or so my room gets a mini-make-over (generally a gift from someone, sometimes an improvement from my own recycling, very occasionally I blow a couple of dollars); every one of these wee additions puts my stamp on the place & makes the room ‘Prue’s home’ & my sanctuary, especially now I’m ‘tough’ about acceptable visiting hours.
My ‘neighbour’ had her door open when I finished work. I took my bucket ‘bath’ to show her & offer her the use of. She speaks a little English so I managed to get the message through without difficulty. I’m not sure she’s too keen though.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005 I’m doing ok with the bucket bath, though it takes a couple of hours to get ready now I have to boil numerous jugs of water to fill it. After just three days I’m already giving thought to cutting my hair (still washing it every day but paranoia strikes already..does it smell?) I’m also considering ‘dreads’ .. can you imagine the look on Vasily’s face if I did? Actually, I’d love photos of each of your faces too if it happened! Very tempting!
As you can see, I use the term ‘bath’ lightly! It’s still a sponge bath that I have, but it’s hot & the basin allows me to dunk my hair for rinsing; once I’m as clean as I can get I empty the basin over myself for a ‘full’ & final rinse off. This chapter of my book will be entitled “Three Weeks Camping Siberian Style” or perhaps “Camping in Surgut”!
Speaking of the book, it was going to have a predictable title, something like “Prudy’s Siberian Adventure” but I really think it could rate as a “Carry On …” story! Sorry young’uns, you won’t get the joke. “Carry On …” was a series of Pommie slap-stick books & movies when I was young!
If you don’t hear from me in the next 3-weeks don’t fret; my basin will have split & I’ll be an ice-statue in the shower! If after 4 weeks I haven’t written, call the Embassy & get them to send someone with a heater to thaw me out!
2nd Trimester..week 9
Another week over & I’ve just realised I’m more than half way through my Siberian jaunt!
Thursday, 7 July 2005 I can’t think of anything! Yes I can, just a small thing; I’ve discovered Russians think referring to New Zealanders as “Kiwis” is insulting. Vadim was rocked to learn we call ourselves Kiwis with pride! It’s not the first time someone has hinted that it may be bad, but it’s the first time I’ve got the message.
Friday, 8 July 2005 Alexander brought me a small cedar branch, complete with cones & oozing sap tonight. It’s very similar to pine but the needles are softer & the cones are charcoal grey; this is where pine-nuts come from apparently. My branch is happily sitting in a bottle of water in the entrance to my room; I’d hoped it would give off a lovely scent but it doesn’t.
I’d planned a series of lessons about parties with the Elementary Group. The warm-up was to be a general discussion about personal choice of dishes to serve for guests. Bless them, they jumped the gun & each came armed with their favourite recipe. Cop a load of this one:- 1st layer, 1kg red caviar; 2nd layer, 1kg black caviar; 3rd layer, 1 cooked lobster, shredded. Pour over 1 bottle of cognac, top with chopped nuts to taste & serve. FLIP! Talk about diets of the rich & famous! The caviar is worth about US$700 here! Personally, I’d pick out the lobster chunks & ditch the rest! Unless the caviar was ‘wasabied’, though I doubt wasabi & cognac are good companions.
The other recipes were far more financially realistic; I’m only interested in two & am saving them for my homecoming!
In return, I told them about my ‘humble’ orange & onion salad; mango, coriander & chilli salad; & salmon with oyster & soy sauces. HORROR! Fruit & spice? Freak NZer!
In the photo: Albina Riskylova, Marina Puz, Irina Kanadova, Sergei Kanadov, Me, Elena Nutretsova & Vitaliy Nutretsov.
Saturday, 9 July 2005 I was supposed to go shopping with Alex today to buy a water heater but Nelly phoned on Thursday night to instruct me to be ready to go to her dacha at 10:30am. We’re celebrating Victor’s birthday for the next 36 hours.
It was a good day spent with Nelly, Victor, Valla & Olga.
We had a yummy lunch..deliciously tender chicken shasliks, & lots of different salads, including a soggy brown bread crust salad..sounds disgusting, didn’t look too appetising, but was ok..a bit like soggy bruschetta. I’ll make it once for you, just for the experience, & then you can decide if it bears repeating.
Compulsory vodka shots (no sipping allowed today), made bearable by slices of lemon eaten immediately after each shot (actually, very refreshing!)
Shots, coming so early in the day & in rapid succession, had me tipsy very quickly.
Nelly force-fed me a strawberry from the garden; it looked un-ripe to me but was delicious..sweet & juicy.
Banya time & Olga has disappeared. She’s a VERY big girl & worries about showing her body (I can relate to that, even as a small girl). I was the last to enter the banya & shatter me, Valla’s ‘bold & beautiful’ in all her nakedness, just like Nelly (am I missing something? Are Kiwi women a suppressed bunch..or is it just me?) Not one peep from the girls about my tightly wrapped towel.
Valla likes a HOT banya, so the temp was cranked up to a 120C. I’d packed my ‘Kiwi’ cap for banya, & hair control on Sunday; sadly it lacked banya value at that temp..my ears were on fire! I only managed the one sitting as I fell asleep during the first cooling off period (a massive wedding party at Planeta until the late wee hours, followed by lunchtime vodka were the cause).
‘Luckily’ for me, I woke up just in time for post banya vodka shots. Bed!
Sunday, 10 July 2005 Vadim promised me I wouldn’t see another spider at Nelly’s dacha because there aren’t many here. I’m a freaking magnet then; I woke to find another monster practicing its boogie moves around my head! Up, dressed, packed & ready to return to Planeta by 6am..come on Nelly & Victor, rattle your dags!
(five ‘antsy’ hours later) It’s Nelly’s turn to suggest vodka with breakfast. They assured me I’d be sober & fume-free for Dmitri’s visit tonight & were disappointed when I still refused.
Monday, 11 July 2005 I washed my jeans yesterday & they’re not dry yet so I was forced to don a skirt. It was a gorgeous day so I went for a four-hour walk. I was shocked to discover the temp was only 16C..my skirt is a light cotton arrangement, I had bare legs & was wearing just a little tank top & felt hot..my blood must have thickened!
There are lots of road & footpath repairs going on at the moment; picks, ropes & carrabena’s required to climb to the path from where I’d crossed the road, I was tiptoeing across a ruggedly metalled stretch when one of the road crew broke rank & came to talk to me. The usual, “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Russian…English…New Zealand”, conversation. He was all set to pick me up & carry me to safer ground, encouraged & supported by his mates; very gallant!
Independent chick that I am, I opted to complete my tip-toe trek! Every step closely followed by the boys, just in case…!
I FOUND PINOT GRIS TODAY! I feel faint anticipating opening this little treasure! If it’s good I may be forced to drop my reformed behaviour & become a regular imbiber, until stocks are depleted.
OK, its common practice to hit the public banya’s while the hot water is off, & I’d planned to do so, but not now! Alexander talked tonight about the process. There are three rooms; the hot one, the cool-down one & the locker room. You ditch your clothes & towel in the locker room (obviously), then spend the next two to three hours hopping between the hot & cool-down rooms, entirely naked, no towel, no nothing, the whole time. In the cool-down room you sit around in all your glory drinking tea or beer..with a couple of hundred other people. NO BLINKING WAY!
Vadim thought it bizarre but hilarious when I told him about yesterday’s spider. “You must be special to them!”
I described the tiny, tiny, tiny wee red spider’s we have in NZ (Mum & Dad told me they were ‘money-spiders’) & said they’re the only spiders I’m not afraid of.
“No, I don’t understand Prue! I don’t know them.”
I was all set to take him through the lyrics of some songs & explain their meaning; instead he e-mailed the lyrics website address from me to him & we spent an hour oohing & aahing over pictures of Great Barrier Reef.
Tuesday, 12 July 2005 Aside from dubious hygiene, I’m finding my new daily ‘bathing’ routine kind of relaxing. In the hour it takes to boil six kettles of water I potter about my room, tidying, rearranging, cleaning (general girly/nesting behaviour), & drinking coffee.
It was a funny day; alternately overcast & sunny. Back to jeans & off for another walk; I got lost & ended up walking in circles. I called into my favourite (though expensive & seldom visited) market; was warmly received by my shoe-shop man & introduced to a bloke who thought he could speak English but greeted me in German instead! I responded in my best (though very dim & vague) 2nd year High School German. Hahaha!
Next stop, the fruit & veg area. A new keeper for me, he was wonderful! “Don’t buy that melon today, it’s awful, try this one instead; yes, those apples are good (bollocks they are, they’re cooking apples! It’s just lucky I recognise them from ‘home’ & like eating them!); the plums are ok, but try these (they look like green plums); the grapes? Well done English! No you mustn’t buy that thing & there’s nothing I can substitute it with.” People want me to buy peaches wherever I go..I just don’t rate them, home or here.
The green ‘plums’ are not plums at all! They have a stone like a peach & taste a bit like a nectarine. They’re sweet & JUICY (my 1st one squirted all over me & the footpath). None of my students have seen them before but we’ve all decided they’re a hybrid peach or nectarine.
The melon looks a bit like a cross between a honey dew & a babaco, but it’s flavour is similar to pineapple (though nicer, I don’t like pineapple).
South African mandarins are YUMMY!
Damn, the fruit is good here when it’s fresh & available, & I’m assured there are plenty of treats still to come! White cherries, Asian melons, watermelons, & cowberries, to name a few, most available now, but they’ll be at their best in about a month.
Elementary Group again tonight & more party talk. Theme parties: they know about ‘Back to School’ & ‘Halloween’ dress-ups, Chinese horoscope ‘the year of the …’ is popular, but Vice-Versa, Bad-Taste, & Angels & Devils were a mystery! I flagged trying to explain the likes of ‘P’ parties; too hard basket!
Hen & Stag nights here are spent drinking, smoking & dancing in clubs, & frolicking in banya’s. Ball & Chains, strippers & other Down Under antics were absorbed with looks of incredulity (I refrained from describing grooms being dropped into sacks of live eels..oh never mind, Aucklanders won’t get that either!)
Ok, back to food. “Prue, do you like fungus?”
“Yes I love mushrooms! Have you tried them uncooked?” Horrified gasps from the group; Russian exclamations regarding Kiwi ‘queerness’, & probably comparing us to Khanty/Mansi ‘basic living’. If I can lay my hands on some fresh ‘shrooms I’ll show them!
Conflict with Alex tonight..I gave him his birthday present..cash (tradition) & a bottle of port (my gratitude). We spent 20-minutes, each beating our hearts..him saying “no” & me saying “yes” to the cash. He won the battle, but I WILL WIN THE WAR (it’s my FAMILY tradition!)
Wednesday, 13 July 2005 Umm-umumumumumumm… Lordy, lordy, the weather is odd. Hot, cold, sunny, dark gloomy clouds, calm, blustering winds..all in the space of an hour! I’m a dizzy bint!
I’m a fraud! I met Dmitri tonight & we talked about the gym. I nonchalantly tossed him “dumb-bells, curls, flies, crunches, sets, rep’s, ab’s & biceps”. Now he thinks I’m a gym-bunny!
I spent the remainder of the night reading about Stalin, Trotsky, Lenin, their associated friends & foe; Gorbachev, Yeltsin & the ascension of Putin.
Did you know both Stalin & Lenin changed their names, along with loads of their mates?
Lots of the ‘founding revolutionaries’ were Jews; yet anti-semitism was sanctioned in Russia, along with anti-anything religious!
Were these revolutionaries all victims of pious paedophiles I wonder? Stalin went to a theological college & was on his way to becoming a priest!
Heavy, but compelling reading!
Bely Noiche are abating..I fell into bed & found, to my delight, a dark sky out my window..oh, bring it on! I know dark nights will bring freezing temperatures, but I’m aching for a decent sleep..there’s always my sleeping bag, numerous polyprop layers, my new heater, institute heating &, if desperate, I can close the windows to combat the cold!
Thursday, 14 July 2005 Wacko! There’s another wedding tomorrow night so the kitchen’s in service today & tomorrow..I’m being loaded up with soup & macaroni & I’m prepared for minimal sleep tomorrow night.
It’s Lyuba’s birthday today. Alex had told me Lyuba, Olya & he often exchange e-mail & text messages in English (Lyuba speaks very little English, Olya next to none, but they can read & write!)
I composed a very bad ‘poem’ for Lyuba that I sent via text, & received an effusive reply from her.
When Alex turned up tonight I told him; he grinned & told me he’d got Lyuba’s birth date wrong..it’s next month! What a crack-up..now I have to think of something new to send for her real birthday! Damn, damn, damn, I’m not good at this ‘stuff’ anymore!
Catching fresh air & sun this afternoon I had an unexpected ‘Forrest Gump’ moment..a pretty little feather caught by the breeze swirled, floated & circled above me for about five-minutes..mesmerising!
Just before Alex arrived, I spotted a ‘money spider’; I was trying to catch it when he turned up. He didn’t know what it was!
I’VE GOT TO FIND ANOTHER ONE FOR VADIM!
Yakutia, where Vadim is, has been struck with dual disasters..torrential rain & blustering winds, resulting in failed communications on one side; forest fires covering 7,000 hectares on the other. The fires are the biggest concern; settlements are threatened by fire & hungry wild life seeking food..hungry bears & wolves being the greater worry!
I’m ‘over’ the ‘party’ theme for the Elementary’s. Like so many topics I come up with, this world is so removed from the one I know, & the students are so diverse, we hit a dead-end. Marina is a stereotypical blonde with a penchant for tequila slammers & party games (suppressed groans); Sergei is an intellectual ‘manly-man’, ex-career-army, loves vodka, playing cards & telling jokes (there’s intelligence & fun there if you dig, but the ‘girls’ roll their eyes & dismiss him as a ‘Russian man’); Irina, Sergei’s wife, has abdicated from ‘life’..her world consists of her son & work..she takes no time to be herself (yawn!..been there, done that, learned some lessons!); Albina is a vivacious woman..can have fun with the likes of Sergei but likes some sophistication too (I’m with her!)
I’ve had ‘odd’ food cravings tonight. Reminiscent of the ‘licorice wrapped in cheese slices’ moments in Port Douglas three years ago, tonight I’m driven to cashew nuts & unpeeled lemon slices wrapped in cucumber & fennel flavoured cheese..TASTY!
Get away with your ‘hormonal’ accusations..these cravings must be based on dietary deficiencies! Proper meals are few & far between at the moment.
Trimester 2..week 10
Friday, 15 July 2005 I think I’m trying to succumb to a tummy-bug; I’ve been really seedy all day & during both lessons tonight I had moments where I thought I was going to make a dash for the loos (you know it, the unexpected gush of hot saliva that frequently precedes an undignified display of affection to white porcelain!)
The Elementary class was the worst because they’d brought tea & sweets. “I hope nobody gets between me & the doorway!”
Students poorly dealt with & dispatched I hit my bed in spite of the wedding downstairs.
Saturday, 16 July 2005 I was supposed to go ‘shrooming with Alex, Olya & Lyuba today but by 4am I knew I couldn’t leave the safety of my ‘just-in-case’ bedside bowl & relatively close bathroom for some time yet. I’m anti ‘those bowls’, but considering I need to make it through two double locked doors & shoulder-barge a sticky bathroom door before getting to the toilet door, it’s just plain common-sense to have one here!
I sent a text to Alex begging off. Bugger, bugger, bugger! I REALLY wanted to go. I haven’t been ‘shrooming in NZ for years (it was fun with Mum & Dad), to miss out here is really disappointing!
I surfaced after 4pm..still achy, shaky, & fragile, only to be accosted by Tatiana Petrovna offering me fish soup & humidity seasoned meat; ‘green-gilled’ walk/lurch/gulp/walk back to my lair! Belly finally in-check again & nose pinched, I tiptoed past the kitchen to my original destination..office & internet.
I’ve ALWAYS had a cast-iron belly & am not enjoying these regular trips down ‘Chundery Lane’! Dunno what the cause is (assuming it’s a single assailant), there are numerous possibilities.. poor food-hygiene tops the list..there’s no discernable change in handling from mid-winter to mid-summer. Pre-prepared & partially cooked food is left on the bench for 8-10 hours before final cooking & serving.
Burst septic tanks encountered on every walk probably have nothing to do with it..but, I reckon I know what London smelled like in the days of emptying chamber pots out the window! Pheeyeeeew!
I could be reacting to the mozzie coils I’m burning.
Actually, I’ve decided it’s a combination of the food & the coils now.
Another wedding tonight but I’ve closed my window & that’s reduced some of the noise..blimmin hot though!
Sunday, 17 July 2005 I had a very troubled sleep last night, brought about by a distraught man screaming at one of the apartment blocks opposite. I’m taking a guess that a woman was the cause. He vented for a couple of hours, until his mates managed to drag him away, but I could still hear him in the distance. It was very upsetting! After the 1st hour, I was considering getting dressed & going to give him a hug, or tell him to “man-up, move on & SHUT UP!” I did neither of course.
Next, a car arrived & tooted its horn for a while, then 5-minutes peace, followed by loud & agitated conversation for half an hour. Manners people, please! Finally, they departed, only to return an hour later to continue the tooting! Oh for goodness sake, SORT IT OUT!
In the meantime, I could still hear that shattered bloke! Rotten cow! I’m sure a man that devastated can’t be a ‘bad guy’.
It’s been a yucky day today, overcast, humid as anything, with occasional bursts of rain. I was feeling stir-crazy after being confined to Planeta for most of the weekend so I packed my rain jacket & went walking for a couple of hours. I thought I’d try to find Lingva Centre again according to the map Alex & Vadim drew for me, but I drew a blank again. At the end, I decided to go into a restaurant & shout myself a real meal..tender pork strips in a white sauce, hot chips (comfort), a tasty salad of gherkins, red capsicum, green & black olives with strips of beef, & a spunky big man at the next table to swap occasional peeps with. I departed with a grin & a very happy belly!
I think I should go there every couple of days so I can eat some proper food; the place is cheap, always packed, so the food has a fast turn-over & I’m less likely to be hit with bellyaches..well that’s my theory anyway! I can get a grilled steak there too (drool!)
Last stop before home was my local market/mall with the intention of buying a cooked chicken, but no..the only one available was sitting on top of the display case keeping tepid by the lights beneath. No, no, no!
Instead, I went to the laundry/toiletry shop & bought a lipstick for -89c (it’s good too, honest! I only want it for a blusher anyway) & a couple of hairclips I just couldn’t resist, cute little lizards! How cool!!!
It bucketed down about 5-minutes after I got home..aren’t I a clever girl then?!
No sign of Dmitri tonight though I’m not too surprised, I think he’s afraid of rain.
I was heading back to the building after emptying my rubbish when tonight’s security fella came out armed with a truncheon (& I know he always wears a knife too cos I’ve seen him sharpening it). I stopped to watch where he was going & was unsettled to see him stop at the blokes who’ve been working here recently. One had stopped me earlier to ask the time, the other to ask me if I worked here when I was returning from the bins. I don’t know if the security fella was just being a red-neck, cautious & nervous cos he’s not a proper security man, or if there really was cause to be wary, whatever, I decided to leave emptying my office bin until tomorrow when a proper security guy is here (Monday to Saturday security wear guns & they all like me!)
Hahahaha, I’m probably safer with Mr Sunday-Surly..at least I can’t be shot by mistake or considered an unfortunate but necessary sacrifice!
I can’t believe I now accept being surrounded by armed men so flippantly. It was only a couple of months ago my mouth went dry at the sight! This is NOT positive character building!!
Notwithstanding the anti-mozzie plug-in (can’t ‘do’ the coils tonight,) I have the mosquito world’s equivalent of Al-Qaeda’s airborne bombing division in my room! I’m alternating between sitting on my chair writing to you, & standing on it so I can blast the brutes with my can of Raid..with little effect!
My close range, full-frontal attacks just make them go “eeyew, nasty wind & fog at 2 metres!” Sometimes their goggles fog up & they crash into the ceiling a few times (they’re big enough to sound like blowflies!) It’s a good thing cos concussion slows them enough that I can crush them with my bare hands when they come in on their next approach!
Upon closer inspection & with the help of Abby Lingvo I’ve discovered my Raid is for moths & caterpillars! Bummer! Back to the shops tomorrow.
I really should’ve bought a pocket-sized electronic translator. There’s lots of ‘bad press’ about them for classroom language learning, but I’ve decided they have merit on the street & in the shops. Elementary Group Sergei cracks me up sometimes with the things his comes up with. Thursday’s gem was “Is your boss a ‘greedy guts’?” I haven’t heard ‘greedy guts’ for years!
Humpf, the moths think my Raid is merely foggy air turbulence too! Whatever happened to Pea-Beau?
Monday, 18 July 2005 “One more week to go, one more week to go, hi ho the derry-o, one more week to go!" Counting down to douche (shower) day!
The 1st week I was focussed on finding the most efficient way of getting my bath together; last week I was enjoying pottering during the process; this week I’m locking the main door to my area so I can leave the bathroom door open & listen to music while I scrub. Diana Krall “Love Scenes” & “All For You” this morning! It’s an almost perfect way to start the day!
I was outside this afternoon, catching sun, fresh air & playing with a feather in the breeze. The security guy must’ve been watching my antics on camera, cos he came out to see what I was up to. He burst out laughing when I handed him the feather, shook his head (loopy Kiwi), & went back inside.
Only one lesson tonight & I feel like I’m on holiday!
Alexander taught me three things tonight; 1st I now know which key to hit when I type something someone’s handwritten & come across a letter that looks like a ‘z’..on the Russian keyboard it’s the key that looks like a ‘3’. It may seem a small thing, but it’ll save me heaps of frustration, guesswork, & wrong words! The cause of my trouble is that Russian's have 2 alphabets..one for handwriting & one for typing. Weird man!
2nd was a lesson on why the atmosphere here is low in oxygen. 90% of this area is rivers, lakes, & swamps. Swamp water has no oxygen of its own so draws it from the atmosphere! Simple really..so why aren’t the swamps filled in then, I ask?
Are you interested in these educational snippets?
3rd where Planeta is on my Surgut map, where ‘Big Ben’ & the main monument are, & how to get to Lingva Centre. I’ve taken the ‘scenic route’ for almost every lone excursion since my arrival! What sense of direction? Am I really in Russia, or somewhere in the wastelands of Greenland? Campbell Island perhaps? The exercise has been good anyway.
He brought me jokes Friday & today.
1st Person: “Summer in Surgut this year was very warm”
2nd Person: “Yes, but the good thing was it fell on the weekend!”
And a true story from Surgut just this year:
In March, a lobby ATM was stolen from a shopping mall. The thieves told mall staff they were there to run tests on the machine. They tinkered around for a while, then told staff there was something wrong with the machine & must take it away for servicing. Ok!
In May, a 2nd ATM was stolen from another mall in the same manner!
The thieves haven’t been caught.
Last joke:
The Japanese have developed a robot that locates thieves.
In Japan, it took 5-minutes for the robot to find 100 thieves.
In the USA, it took 5-minutes for the robot to find 200 thieves.
In Russia, it took 5-minutes to steal the robot.
He also brought me an e-book he’d printed, ”The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown. 240 A4 pages of escapism & relaxation in English. Da de-da!
I haven’t mentioned my dog since I got him. He remains good for a cuddle; somehow, he provides extra warmth on cold nights; & he’s a dream to read in bed with; not once has he complained about being shoved behind my pillow! Once I’m up & my bed’s made, he still looks very handsome wherever he lies on it. I LOVE him!
No internet access today, I’m hoping it’s merely due to the odd weather. Cell phones are struggling anyway.
I’m multi-tasking tonight. Writing to you, nesting, making a monster ‘To Do’ list, & trying to come up with a workable plan to accommodate 3 Planeta groups instead of 2, without working 7-days a week, or losing my existing private students & at the same time trying to find the time to fit in possibly 3 new private students..zoiks!
I bought a 2nd anti-mozzie plug in today..quite a fancy little number & hopefully with 2 of them pumping out whatever they do I’ll get some peace. Just in case, I also have a pressurised can of death that I tested earlier on a couple of blowflies..WOW!
Only one mozzie made it through tonight, he was ‘punchy’ & quickly smashed!
You ‘have to be here’ to really appreciate the truth of my mozzie busting pic.
Tuesday, 19 July 2005 If my internet access doesn’t come right in time or before I send this, Hannah Faumuina-Barrett, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Girl! I hope it’s your best ever!!
Not bad food or mozzie coils, my belly enemy is the water! Scrubbing teeth & washing fruit has become hazardous while the hot water supply is turned off for maintenance on all aspects of source. I wish someone had thought to warn me BEFORE it made me sick!
I forgot to tell you last week, Marina brought her son, Igor (poor little blighter!), for lessons. He’s sooooooo gorgeous, 13 years old & by far the best speaker in the group. Last week he’d just returned from 28 days in Malta learning English.
Tonight he & Marina arrived with 5 helium-filled balloons for my birthday! I was thrilled to bits & stunned when they told me Marina’s husband was the one who remembered & reminded them to get something for me..I haven’t even met the man!
Tonight’s lesson was from a book at their request; some ‘work alone’ exercises, some ‘work with each other’ exercises & a ‘work with me’ exercise. It felt like a real cop out because of the tiny amount of effort required from me. Still, if I’m to survive the schedule I could have for the rest of the year this kind of teaching will be a god-send! An added bonus are the couple of exercises that require the students to translate English questions & phrases into Russian..wahoo, free language lessons for me! I should’ve done this since February! Learning curve!!
I couldn’t help myself when it came to practicing ‘Australia’ & ‘Australian’..I told them the ‘L’ was pronounced as a ‘Y’ in Oz. Crinkled brows & tilted heads to start with, bright eyes, & laughter at the end.
Next came Alex, but just for 30 minutes. He & the girls didn’t go ‘shrooming on Saturday because I couldn’t make it.
The poor man has had friends staying since before his birthday & he’s only had 4 hours sleep each night. They leave Thursday morning at 3am, so I suggested he skip tomorrow, but he’s determined to come..”Prue, it’s your birthday, I must come!!” He told me the weather for the rest of the week will be fine, hot (26C – 28C), & windless. (gasp) I’m going to have my 1st ever summer birthday!
I asked Alex to teach me how to request a vacuum cleaner, bucket, & mop tonight. My ‘home territory’ is FILTHY, as is the classroom. He coached me through it, then, when he was leaving, he stopped & instructed the girl at the security desk to arrange a cleaner for me. Bless!
There are many tongue-tangling combinations in the Russian language, but there’s one sound I just CAN’T master. It resembles a combination of the Maori ‘ng’, the Aussie ’aaee’ (as in ‘maaeete’ [mate]), & a touch of the French ‘L’, but it comes from somewhere past your tonsils. The closest I can get to it is by tucking my chin so I have 10 of them, puffing my throat so I look like a bullfrog, jutting my lower jaw, & choking on my own tongue. It’s IMPOSSIBLE! I always end up laughing & wailing “I CAN’T DO THAT ONE!!!”
To get vacuum, mop & bucket means I’d have to master this sound 4 times in quick succession! Actually, my attempts would probably be successful very quickly because it’s likely I’d throw up!
I call it ‘frog’ when I’m transcribing, & the 3 ‘r’ combination tells me I must roll (like the Scots).
“Pazhalsta, vwe nye magli b(frog) prrropy(frog)lyesoceet’ my-you komnatu, e poma(frog)te poly(frog), e ubrrright’ mussarrr?”
Go on, have a go! If I got anywhere near to describing how to make the ‘frog’ sound, you’ll be heaving before you know it!
No wonder there are so many puny people here; from infancy, they lose their breakfast & lunch trying to talk!
I’m a much happier ‘camper’ at the moment. I’ve wound down from the 18 hours a day, 6 days a week demands of the last few months, have had some ‘quiet & alone’ time, & internet performance is slowly improving, so I’ve heard from lots of you today, though my ability to ‘send’ remains intermittent.
FINALLY, I have the proper contact number here! It’s +73462326801. I don’t know what the code for Russia is..the phone book will tell you.
If you’re going to call you need to let me know the day & time so I can be waiting by the phone.
When they answer say “Pazhalsta, on-glesky, Noviya Zeelandia (ADD “Ovstralia” if that’s where you’re calling from), Prudence spa-cee-bor” Say it SLOWLY!!!
I‘m more than happy to split the cost of the call (internet banking is a wondrous thing!) Don’t think I’m being stingy; one 10-minute call from here to you will cost me a quarter of my months salary, so it’s cheaper for me to pay you to call!
I called Nelly tonight & had to chuckle. A month ago she only ever said “yes”, now she’s a definite “yeah” woman, & says it with real pizzazz!
Wednesday, 20 July 2005 The day has dawned..I’m 44 years old! I decided to be a ‘lady’ today in honour of the occasion & dressed in my long pretty skirt.
The weather has been very kind, as have the people I know here.
The first person I saw today was security guy, Denyis (finally, I have his name), & he greeted me with “Happy Birthday Prue”..who told him?
Next came Tatiana Petrovna & her husband & they wished me happy birthday in Russian.
Nelly & Victor arrived; Victor stopped in his tracks when he saw me, “Prudence, you are beautiful!” Ha, he’s just despaired of ever seeing me in something other than jeans!
I’d planned to take them to my room for tea & cake but was thwarted because Tatiana Petrovna & Svetlana Anatolovna have flowers, cards & a gift for me from the Planeta staff, plus a bottle of bubbles for us to drink. I contributed cake, Kama Sutra tea (yes, I hear your sniggers..Victor’s too, but it’s the first black tea I’ve ever been able to stomach & it’s infused with cherry) & karkadar tea (made from hibiscus flowers, my favourite tea here).
Nelly & Victor had flowers for me too.
Their daughter Natalya, & granddaughter Helena sent a Russian skin care pack (I’m rapt cos the brands I’m familiar with just don’t cut it in this climate).
Nelly gave me a strappy black & gold top, & a hanky, “because you never have one of your own!” Hahahaha, it’s true! I don’t think there’s a box of tissues, let alone a dainty hanky, able to contain my nose here! Hot or cold weather, active or inactive, feeding frenzies at any time; my snorer runs like a tap!).
Victor gave me a necklace & earrings (my 1st = favourite gift today!) Spotted months ago & secretly coveted, I can’t believe they’re now mine!
As a family, they gave me a set of three bowls that sit on a rack, for my future kitchen (‘traditional Russian ‘craft’, I can’t remember the name of this stuff’; Perry & Sean, do you know?..my 2nd favourite gift today!) For twisty ties, rubber bands, washers & screws I think. Very cool!!
Their friend, Valla, sent me a photo album with the first few pages filled with photos of me among various friends of theirs, with Valla of course, & a few surprise snaps of me alone (other 1st = favourite gift today).
At this rate, I’m going to need a container to ship all my treasures home!
I looked at some of these pics (man my hair’s grown!) & saw how different I appear amongst locals. I played the “spot the difference” game; mine is a ‘pixie’ face compared to theirs. In the shots where everyone is smiling, I think my smile makes my eyes crinkle from my cheeks up..their eyes seem to smile from their eyebrows down. In general, my eyes are bigger, & ooh-err, my mouth curls up when it smiles here (down-under it looks like a horizontal gash!). Of course, these observations come from comparing my face to those 20 years my senior; now I want to see a series of pics with me & my 20-odd year old babies, followed by shots with those of my generation.
At the end, my room was trashed..wrapping paper, envelopes, bags, gifts, leaves & petals everywhere!
Alex arrived with … flowers (thank goodness I hoard jars & pretty wine bottles) & a bottle of French rose, that I suspect was prohibitively expensive here. I’d like to keep it, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to (No, it’s not a discipline issue, people! It’s an import, packing & excess baggage issue.) The flowers are lily’s & have a perfume ‘to die for’!
Throughout the day, I received text messages from Alex, Olya, Lyuba, Irene & Sasha in Russia (can the ‘poet’ jokes) & a phone call from Vadim all the way from Mierny, East Siberia (I can’t find it on the map to give the right spelling).
Texts from Oz & NZ were opened with trepidation..yep, a few tears!
E-mails & e-cards from Oz & NZ were discovered later in the day & read more ‘staunchly’..fortified with bubbles & aware that greeting students with mascara’d cheeks is not ‘cool’!
Mid-lesson with Alexander, Toni & Mark phoned from Oz..I sooooooooooo wanted to talk, but that’s not what he pays me for. That said, Alexander didn’t know it was my birthday. Toni, you’ll be thrilled to know he heard you singing “Happy Birthday” & echoed yours & Marks wishes & love. He also mentioned that you’re very cute the way you sing! Thank goodness you didn’t give your customary ‘Marilyn Monroe’ rendition..he’d have vaporised through to PD in search of the little Antipodean mermaid/vamp!
I’m used to skirting questions about my birthday, but here that’s not an option. Knowing about & acknowledging birthdays is very important. Text messages, birthday cards, face-to-face wishes & speeches have a common theme; “I/We wish you good health, wealth, good luck, & (for the singles) love in your near future!”
The photo album from Valla has mixed blessings. I’ve been working on albums of my own for each of my special people, so the elements of surprise & originality are gone, but Valla’s has given me ideas, & I’m encouraged by my own enjoyment!
Unlike many, I don’t have an issue with ‘new decade’ birthdays; I HATE the ‘hump’ year in a decade though, so have expressed a little concern about next year (YES I KNOW, it’s a whole year away!) I’m told a woman turning 45 is a ‘berry’ again, meaning she’s fresh, ripe & sweet for the second time. Fingers crossed that’ll be the case, as opposed to becoming a ‘walnut’ after this difficult climate! So far I think I’m doing ok, but if push comes to shove, I’m always the idiot that’s ready to ‘gear up’ for ‘… busting’ & good times!
Thursday, 21 July 2005 Pant, pant..with the start of this week’s message, I’m really on the countdown to a shower..I can smell it (no, IT not me..I have standards, even in the face of adversity!)
Oh joy, oh bliss, I’ve woken with a settled tummy!
I stepped out of the bathroom today & noticed the door out of my territory was open & assumed Nelly had been to check on me. I dropped bathing paraphernalia in my room & went back for my dishes. A wee voice went “tuk tuk” & I stepped out to find Vladimir standing there (oh no, I’m gloriously clad in a towel! What to do? Squeak & leap back into the bathroom, or brazen it out? Too late, he’s seen me now so I may as well be tough!) Little poppet, he’d come to invite me to join them roller-blading one evening. I thanked him very much but explained I’m still working every night.
Another bunch of flowers today, from Sergei & Irina; plus three gorgeous roses (“to match your top”) from Albina. Sergei’s speech was “I wish you health, wealth, happiness, & to be as beautiful as these flowers!” Thanks chief, the best I can hope for is that I don’t further wilt as quickly as the flowers will!
Stass presented me with a hand made wooden Orthodox talisman necklace, Jesus on the front, & a special prayer for me on the back.
Friday, 22 July 2005 I decided to attach Stass’s talisman to a belt loop on my jeans & tuck it into my ‘fob’ pocket. It’s a good compromise.
I sat outside in the sun today & read some of the book Alexander gave me. I must’ve been an unusual sight because I had a small audience for almost the entire time. A woman with a baby stood under the trees & watched, a youngish man standing on the steps of Planeta craned his neck for a while before moving down to the driveway for a better view, & a really old babushka strolled back & forth before finding a spot under the trees as well. A car arrived & the driver got out & stood watching for a while too! It was a bit distracting but slowly I’m growing accustomed to stares. After an hour, they’d had enough & one by one departed.
An hour after that, it was time for me to go indoors. The old babushka was standing at the bottom of the steps; I smiled & turned to climb them, but she started to speak to me. When I said I don’t understand Russian, she asked if I’m English. When I said NZ she gasped, & hand on heart she breathlessly said a whole lot of stuff then blessed me by ‘Father, Son, & Holy Ghosting’ me Orthodox style, & beamed. I squeezed her hand & thanked her very much. Now, she’s a woman I’d dearly love to be able to talk to; she must have a tonne of stories to tell me, even more interesting than those I’ve already heard! Where’re my translators when I need them?
A text from Vadim today “G’day Prue! How’re you, how do you spend your birthday?” (I told you I’d get people saying “G’day”! FIGJAM!!) My reply ended with ;oD He came back with “what does oD mean?” I replied “ ;oD is my wink, & big smile.” With the big nose in the middle, it must be my caricature I reckon!
I bought myself a birthday present today. I mentioned cool candles when I was shopping for Natasha’s birthday present a while ago. Today I spotted the perfect holder for them! I shot off to the ‘candle’ shop to see if they were still there & was in luck (I’m going to indulge in a bitchy moment … I handed 4 candles to the shop girl, she grabbed her calculator, keyed the price & multiplied by 4 = [gasp] 400 roubles! I’m a terrible mathematician myself but that’s just tragic!) Backtracked to grab the holder, & hey presto I have a styley table arrangement! Right up my alley, twists & turns but at the end of it straight as..just like me!
I know shouldn’t’ve spent this money, but I’m a Cancerian chick, what can I say? Nesting’s what I do, they were really cheap, there have to be some indulgences along the way, & I’m a sucker for candlelight!
That’s it! I’ll buy these 2 ‘things’ for myself as souvenirs from every country! A lizard &/or something to do with candles!
Birthdays for Sergei & Irene today, I sent them each a text message. I provided tea, cake, & Rafaello sweets so we could celebrate with Sergei during tonight’s lesson.
Shatter me! There’s no wedding tonight..what will I do with myself? Watch a DVD? Peacefully read? Sleep? Surely not?! Birthday blessings & angels are ‘sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkly dusting’ me tonight!
I couldn’t resist; I lit the candles & they’re gorgeous! They’re not ‘drippers’ but they burn FAST!
11:16 PM Max & Natasha just called from the Black Sea to wish me happy birthday. Next year I want a call from Toni & Natasha singing “Happy Birthday” together; I’m going to record it & makes heaps of money!
Saturday, 23 July 2005 I’ve had an awesome day!
I spent the first half out in the sun finishing Alexander’s book. I’d originally planned to take a rug & lie on the grass, but reconnaissance changed my mind. The grass is quite long & I was afraid of spiders, ticks, & snakes. I settled for perching on the wall that runs along the steps.
At 3pm, Alex & Olya collected me to go walking. We stopped at Baskin Robbins for ice cream & milkshakes first though because they’re both hung-over.
We walked to the forest I found last month. It’s just gorgeous! It has many ponds, some stagnant (heaven for kids), some alive & loaded with lilies. Locals have made feeders & bird boxes & attached them to the trees. There was one daggy pigeon sitting proudly in the doorway of her box; I could have reached out & touched her I was so close. She stayed, we left!
We found some mushrooms. Wow, these are nothing like the ones we eat in NZ. The stems are strong & fibrous & don’t come out of the ground easily, the caps are corky inside. The only shroom I saw that looked anything like ours on the inside is poisonous!
We picked wild blueberries & I was told to eat the lot (yummy!) “Hahahaha, Prue you have blue teeth & tongue now!” Brutes!
I tasted a fresh ribena berry, brusnika (cowberry), wild rose berry, & cranberry, though none are ripe yet.
Unsure whether they’re huge ants or termites, but the critters we saw were building a massive mound..& they bite!
Birds & mozzies everywhere.
The best for last, we saw a chipmunk! A tiny wee thing, he scampered across a bridge, through some grass & up a tree. We stood quiet, & close to the tree & he finally came back down, stopping on a branch right in front of us. Wow, wow, WOW! So cute! I grinned inanely for the next 30-minutes & tripped over myself heaps of times looking back!
On the way out we stopped for a beer, a ride on the ferris wheel (one slow loop & a cool view of the city is what you get for $3), & a look in an art shop. Some cool prints in there!
Into a restaurant for deep fried mozzarella & bacon balls, salad & another beer; then home.
That ant bite started out itchy, but as the night has worn on my foot has swollen, it’s changed colour, aches, throbs, & is on fire (new task for my dog; overnight foot elevation, good boy!) I’ve also developed a bloody great itchy rash on the back of my neck.
Sunday, 24 July 2005 Hi ho, hi ho, there’s just one sleep to go, before I have my nice hot ‘douche’, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho…
I got enough internet time early today to start reading about the latest terrorist attacks in London & Egypt. The world’s going crazy!
Judy, when the first attack happened in London you suggested I stay in Surgut to be safe. The trouble is, I’ve just been told Surgut Neftegas is the largest private oil producer in Russia, & has a net profit greater than Kuwait (the country, not the city!) I’m ‘languishing’ in a pretty strategic part of the country. Gun-toting men & paranoid security surround me & it's no wonder. Russia is the greatest oil producing country in the world (this is news to me too – ignoramus!)
Vadim collected me this afternoon for a BBQ with Sergei (the dentist) & Constantine (the stock broker); today’s pork shasliks rival Victor’s birthday chicken shasliks for 1st place ‘fantastic’!
Constantine’s girlfriend, Helena joined us a little later.
I cast my eyes further afield to watch families enjoying the sun. Clearly, the short Surgutian summer doesn’t justify frivolous expenditure on bikinis. Women in mismatched panties & bra’s surrounded me; there were some mammoth-proportioned butts wobbling about in G-strings, lacey of course! To add perspective, the temperature had DROPPED to +36C by 4pm! I’d been worried about impropriety & folding up my tank top to catch a breeze in front of my student..pfffff! That bridge over ‘prudence’ is slow to build!
Vadim asked if I was ok in the sun & heat..I assured him it was all-good, put my arm against his & said, “I’ll be as brown as you soon!” Hahahaha; he said, “My skin’s not brown, that’s dirt..I haven’t hot water!” Clown!
Vadim enviously mentioned our BBQ’s & that we have them at home; having sampled the results, & seeing a Russian BBQ being dismantled for transporting today, I’m not convinced we’ve got it right! Certainly our home surroundings are nicer, but it’s not easy to pack up & BBQ away from home. Ka-ching! I wonder how much it’d cost to buy a BBQ here & ship it home? Ooooh, it’s a very tempting thought! An alternative, & probably cheaper, option is to take photos of a dismantled one so I can get one made when I return. The whole thing breaks down to something close in size to a ‘folio’ sized lever arch folder. Admittedly, you only make 5 – 8 shasliks at a time, but that just means slow dining..very relaxing & healthy. I WANT ONE!!
Vadim & I had to laugh: he was doing the ‘manly’ blowing on coals & fanning thing on one side of the bar-b; I decided to help by getting on my knees & blowing from the other side, & was told, “No, it’s ok, I’ll do it!” I stood up, & guess whose side of the BBQ immediately started to perform! Struts, taunts, & puny bicep flexing ensued..”I may speak English, but I’m a very handy woman!”
Wa-oh, it’s just occurred to me that maybe, in my eagerness to help, I’m getting it wrong here! There are clearly defined male/female roles, & I should’ve worked it out earlier. It’s just that I’m so used to hands-on contribution or being in control, day-to-day I have few practical chores, & I’m aching to feel normal & useful. Bugger! Oh, to hell with it, I am who I am!
On the way back to Planeta Vadim asked if I have a big apartment. I described my room & he asked “what about your kitchen, is it good?” When I told him I don’t have a kitchen he was horrified & wanted to know how I’m feeding myself.
Next he asked if I like my job; I’ve asked myself lots of times this year.
Yes, I like this job.
I don’t like working at Planeta; lack of basic resources prevents me from doing a proper job, I feel the students don’t get their money’s worth, & while I can confidently say I’m damned good with blackboard, chalk & me, there’s got to be more development for myself as a teacher.
I tell you every week how great I think the place & people are. My experience so far has way outstripped the best testimonials, & proven many fallacies.
I’m interested to see if I feel the same about other European countries & the Asian ones when I get there. I hope Surgut hasn’t spoiled me for my future adventures!
Prepared to meet Dmitri..& he cancelled at the last minute! I could punch him for this tonight! You could’ve phoned after-all Ben! Grrrrrr.
Hannah & Rachel, I hope your e-cards got through to you. Phone & internet access remains intermittent in spite of the great weather now & strange things happened when I hit ‘send’ for your cards.
A text message from Vadim just after 8pm telling me to check my hot water. Scorch marks down the stairs & through the halls; I have water from the hot tap now, but it’s still cold. I can feel it coming though, & my pores & hair are twitching in anticipation!
Monday, 25 July 2005 Wee Prudy-roody leaped from her cot, banged doors, two doors, sporting green cloth; crashed into the bathroom, turned on the spout, today’s the day for that hot ‘douche’, it’s been a tiresome bout!
Admittedly, it was still 2-hours from bed to clean; it took continuous tap running for that long before the hot water came through but … YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!I’M CLEAN & I SMELL UTTERLY GOOD, HEAD TO TOE, NO RESERVATIONS!
I’ll be back in a minute; I’m just going for another one!
And another!!
And another!!!
Will I dissolve if I catch up on three weeks worth of showers today?
If I didn’t know about Juneen I’d’ve taken those basins outside for ceremonial burning!
The sponges went though! I’d bought a nice new one especially for today!
On my way out this afternoon, Tatiana Petrovna grabbed me & demanded I have lunch with her. I’m glad I did cos we had grechka; yummo, I haven’t had any since the holidays began.
I’ve never seen buckwheat in NZ; does anyone know if it’s available?
Finally, I’ve found the Lingva Centre! They hope to have a woman from Manchester come to teach in September & October. I gave the Deputy Director my name & contact details for this woman. The DD asked if I had free time in my schedule to do some work for them. I declined for now (they only offer 2-month contracts), but offered to visit & talk to the teachers & classes. They only offer 2-month contracts because foreigners can’t handle the climate for a full year; 2-months are sufficient at the beginning of the school year to generate enthusiasm, & at the end of the school year guest teachers are used for proficiency assessments. I’ll keep in touch though because if Alex gets a job elsewhere & Vadim goes to Moscow I could have time up my sleeve.
On the way to the Lingva Centre, I finally gave in & bought 3 pairs of summer shoes, of which 1 pair will definitely do for work, the 2nd pair will pass at a pinch, & both 2nd & 3rd pairs will serve as casuals & gym shoes (50% off sales made for good buys). My feet are burning up in the shoes & boots I have, & I’m ruining my expensive little red numbers traipsing through forests & around dachas.
The poor security guy in this shop was rapidly dissolving inside his bulletproof vest with the late afternoon’s +28C (as was I in my lightweight gear!) He spoke a little English, so we had a bit of a chat, a nice guy.
New words for Alexander tonight: spinner, lure, cast, singlet, strap marks; he was telling me about fishing over the weekend. ‘Strap marks’ is probably not the right way to describe what a man gets from wearing a singlet in the sun; he was struggling to describe his ‘problem’ so I flashed him mine & he asked what I call this ‘predicament’.
Any suggestions/help Southern Men?
Vadim gave me a necklace from Yakutia tonight, made entirely of reindeer ‘bits’. Leather thong, carved bone surrounded by fur. I’m not about to make a further spectacle of myself by attempting a fashion statement, but it’s cool nonetheless.
It’s going to cost me a small fortune with MAF getting some of my stuff treated so I can keep them!
Vadim’s suffering from sunburn today & asked if I’m ok. I told him he has soft Russian skin, unlike my Kiwi Teflon coating!
I got him to mark on my Surgut map the places he’s taken me. Frig I’m hopeless when it comes to direction! At least now, I can see where I’ve been & will be able to talk ‘intelligently’ about locations when I return.
I copied yesterday’s photos for him & he showed me pics from his trip last week. The pics I’ve attached of the mine are not his (confidentiality & all that) but it’s too amazing not to show you what I’ve found! Of course bigger pics are more effective. They can’t mine from this ‘pit’ anymore due to accumulation of deadly gases, so there’s a shaft that runs vertically parallel. I asked why the problem doesn’t occur in the parallel shaft. His answer didn’t make sense to me because I can see no difference..& that’s why I’m an itinerant teacher & he’s a geologist!
I’ve taken to changing my desktop wallpaper weekly. At least once a week someone from each class peeks at my lappy & gives an “ooh err” which brings the rest running. It started with a photo of you Ben, then the All Blacks battling a pride of Lions (pic supplied by Hannah). After that came a pic of a golden lab drinking/fighting a sprinkler (thanks Lynne!) Vadim asked where I get them from & wanted to see more. I showed him my favourites then finally gathered courage to show him the “How Not To Photograph Your Cat” one. He just about wet himself..clearly quicker on the uptake than me! He begged me to copy it to his flash card.
3:33 AM No sign of the rain that’s been promised for the last 40-hours..my room’s a sweatbox (sauna, rather than banya conditions) & it’s impossible to sleep!
Tuesday, 26 July 2005 Denyis called into the institute today to shoot the breeze with this week’s security guy, Yvgeny. He stopped me to say he thinks I’m a good woman, my smile makes him feel happy, he likes my curly hair, & would I give him private English lessons. He can’t afford me & asked for a 50% discount, at the same time letting me know he’d like some of my time on a more personal level (the missing 50% of my fee would be made up for by his stud prowess no doubt); at the very least I’m bound to soften in the face of all this flattery! I suggested free, informal lessons when he’s working here. In the end I agreed to give him a lesson tomorrow..I’ll find out then how sincere he is about learning English. Today he was tanked, he probably won’t even remember tomorrow!
I received an e-mail from Vadim today with an animal pic attached “to add to your ‘Stuff’ folder!” I went in search of an ‘extreme sport’ picture to send back. I found a really cool shot of whale watching in Kaikoura..quick cat, one crew member on deck, one crew member lying across a whale’s tail! Shatter me, if it’s true I WANT TO DO THAT!
Separately, Alex & Vadim each spotted a used syringe in the bin outside. Both expressed concern about my security & wellbeing. With Alex, I shrugged it off & said many people walk through here day & night. With Vadim, I said it was mine, showed my blood donor vein & we had a good laugh.
I’ve a couple of suspects for the syringe given the time frame of its appearance (I’ve pinned it down to 30 minutes max)..I really hope I’m wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's Denyis's. It doesn't feel good thinking I'm being guarded by a junky armed to the eyeballs!
Vadim brought me more pics tonight..if I didn’t know better I’d swear they came from Waikato Uni! I’ve attached my faves!
To buy a Russian BBQ will set me back NZ$17. I REALLY WANT ONE!
30-seconds of rain today, just enough to turn my straight hair into a pom-pom! What a waste of 45-minutes this morning! It’s steamy, steamy, steamy at the moment; I know I’ll kick myself when it happens, but at the moment I just wish it would rain! It’s like being in Port Douglas during a ‘dry’ wet season..brooding, heavy & tense, merely breathing breaks a sweat; for goodness sake don’t move!
Waah, I have to move, I need to go to the loo!
Damn, I love when I swish my hair & it smells good..still revelling in shower moments!
Wednesday, 27 July 2005 I was dredged from my bed by an SOS text from Vadim. “Prue, check your e-mail, please hellp (sic) me, this may be my only chance!” I threw on clothes & cap, grabbed my lappy & shot upstairs to see what the emergency was. He’d written a job application letter in English & needed me to “make it right”. He’d done a pretty good job & I only changed a couple of small things. When I sent it back to him, I made a couple of recommendations for attention grabbing & he sent me a text “I’m your debitor Prue!” Ooooh, I just want to squeeze his cheeks he’s so cute!
Back to my room for a shower & clean clothes.
Has anyone heard of ‘phishing’? E-mails from strangers & unknown orgs, sometimes flagged as SPAM. I’m being inundated with these pesky messages, & deleting them without opening them..Robert K Lee keeps offering me Viagra in his subject line. I ran the e-mail address of a new one through an internet search & that’s how I learned about ‘phishing’. It’s an internet fraud and/or identity theft scheme. I’ve found this website very helpful:- www.fraudalert.com
Two flags: if you click on a link in a message that takes you to a blank window, you may have been ‘phished’. You should always type a URL yourself rather than clicking on a link. If you reply to a message & receive a “no such mailbox” notification, you’ve been ‘phished’.
Ugh, someone’s taken the syringe from the bin.
No sign of Denyis today; I’m sure you’re all as surprised as me.
Thursday, 28 July 2005 I forgot to show you my 'cool candles' last
week.
I've got a new cat! Really, she's a stray that turned up this afternoon. She's white with gorgeous silver flashes (like moonlight on the ocean) & her eyes are tan. Smoochy & chatty, I think she's a well-educated young lady cos she seems to understand English as well as Russian.
Yvgeny broke his customary staunch attitude & squatted down to talk, laugh & play with her for half an hour (now I really like him).
She curled up on my lap for a couple of hours while I read. When I was emptying my rubbish, she ran after me like a puppy. I smuggled a chicken drummy to her & hopefully she'll still be around tomorrow so I can get a photo of her. There's a wedding tomorrow night so unless I can smuggle her into my room she'll be gone by Saturday. I
wonder if Yvgeny will help me?
While Yvgeny was playing with Bely (his name for her), there were some teenagers smashing bottles in the trees. It bugs me; people walk their dogs & kiddies through there. I was striding over to tell them to cut it out when a woman stopped me & urgently told me "Nyet!" I took her advice reluctantly; if the locals are too afraid to deal with it, it's probably not a good idea for me to try.
Friday, 29 July 2005 This week, students, & friends alike have told me this summer is one out of the bag! There've been waaaaaaaay too many days where the temperature has climbed over +25C, let alone the numerous days that've hit the high-+30's. It's fine by me, & I keep telling them I've brought this great summer with me. What I struggle with is the INCREASE in temp after 9pm! Striding the streets & breaking a sweat in 26C at 4pm is acceptable. Melting in 30-32C at 7pm is rough. Dissolving in 34-36C from 10pm until 2am is just wrong! I'm in Siberia for goodness sake!!
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd ever resort to sitting around in
just knickers & bra (or less) in any country (without a sexy man at hand,
that is), but here I am. What do you do next to get cool once there's
nothing left to take off?
Watch this space next week ... the forecast is for 16C ... I'll REALLY be
moaning!
Boohoo, no cat! I'm not really surprised.
There's been a gang of 'gnomes' indulging in a 'garden party' for the last 2
nights outside my room. Their party starts about 1am each night; they warm
up by 2 or 3am, and hit their straps by about 5am, plenty of high-decibel
singing, all quiet by 7am.
I hope my cat's ok; they did something very nasty to a dog around 5 this
morning!
I DON'T LIKE THESE PEOPLE! I'm fairly certain they're vagrants, here for the
summer. They speak a mixture of Russian & something else; occasionally I
hear English words.
It's hard being unable to poke my head out the window or door to tell
people to bog off or have a 'go' about the animals.
I must've just about driven Yvgeny mad today.
Out for a ciggie & do my customary climate/clothing check; in to make the
necessary adjustments, grab pouch, bags, & glasses.
Out to shop for Albina's farewell gift, & groceries; in with no gift, but to
unpack groceries.
Out to get more groceries (there's only so much I can grab at a time without
a car) & grab Plan B gift; in without gift, but to unpack Stage II
groceries.
Out for a ciggie & brain wracking for Plan C gift ideas; in for money pouch.
Out to buy gift; in with gift, FINALLY!
Out for celebratory ciggie; in for "klyuchy spacebo" (key thanks).
Four trips back & forth from my room to classroom setting up cake, kettle,
cups, saucers, & sundry other essential paraphernalia (I need a Pak'n'Save
trolley!) for 'farewell' lesson.
Out for last ciggie before 'school' starts for the night, "Bugger, I forgot
my camera!"; in & sprint to my room for camera, where I realised I needed my
lappy as well. Loaded & heading down the stairs I realised I needed to check
photo locations outside (I REFUSE to have another photo taken in that ugly classroom!)
Back to Yvgeny, dropped my lappy, signalled 2-minutes, out for a reccy, &
finally in! Plugging in & setting up my lappy I realised I'd forgotten the
cable to transfer photos from camera to lappy - "Buggery bollocks!" another
trip to & from my room.
Actually, I've driven myself mad today!
How cool, I get to make four reverse trips clearing up the 'tea party' at
the end of lessons, circumnavigating wedding guests & hospo staff all the
while. I'm sure I've done a marathon today!
I looked through the trees today & found the 'garden parties' include BBQ's,
but without 'equipment'..the gnomes are just building fires on the ground
under the trees. Fab! I hope the fire extinguisher is 'safety approved &
current', cos there's no way the fire brigade will understand me. That's a
nonsensical thought..I don't even know the number for the fire brigade!
Vadim arrived just as I was finishing my last lap, and he had my cat!
Unfortunately, there wasn't time for photos or feeding, & no possibility of
smuggling her to my room. Please let her be here tomorrow!
Vadim needed help with a new document in English, and again my contribution
was negligible. Once more, he's my 'debitor' ("it's 'debtor' Vadim, & you're
not!")
At 10pm (temp +36C) we went out for beer (oh yeah, baby!), mucsun, battered
deep-fried camembert (AMAZING), & shrimps with caviar tucked between their
legs (oh so sweet & juicy!)
Mucsun is a delicacy; saltwater fish that spawns in the freshwater rivers of
Surgut, eaten raw, & I mean RAW! You mix salt, pepper, & lemon juice on your
plate then dip a bite-sized piece of mucsun & chew. No 'pussy, Southern
Hemispheroid' marinating for hours! I was terrified I'd heave on the 1st
mouthful, but it was all good, yummy actually! I think it helped that they
served the fish still slightly frozen, which worked to suppress the strong
fishy smell & flavour.
We had a great time, regaling each other with tales our shameful 'drunken'
moments, & comparing cool aspects of Russia, Oz & NZ. Vadim's stories of
Egypt & Finland had me aching to visit both!
We talked about democracy & capitalism, & the fact that they come with their
own form of propaganda. We talked about the Russian policy of 'all but'
compulsory National Army Service (he got out of it from being a boxer &
suffering 3 concussions) vs. NZ & Oz voluntary service.
At the end, Vadim pronounced me a 'hippy'! He's not the first here to do so,
& certainly plenty of you in NZ have made the same judgment, but for
different reasons.
I've fretted that I'm not doing a good job with Vadim cos his English is
still loaded with errors & our sessions often revolve around music, fun
times, smut, slang & bad language, but tonight I realised how much he's
improved. We spent 5-hours talking freely (if not perfectly) about some
difficult & 'mature' topics. When he first came to me, he couldn't get
through an hour without referring to his dictionary with each rudimentary
sentence.
I can only assume my casual approach & willingness to talk 'crap' keeps him
interested. Every meeting generates a Russian word or phrase he can't
translate to English, but by the next time we meet, he's sorted it out.
I got home at about 2:30am & all was quiet. The wedding was over & there was
no 'garden party'.
It's almost 3:30am now &, 'poohs & wees', the garden party has started full
throttle; they've obviously warmed up elsewhere.
How can I get this to stop? These gnomes are going to be the death of me!
They show every indication of being a 7-day-a-week event. My fangs are
dropping & horns are starting to peep out!
Will squirting Dettol on Russian gnomes be as effective as it is on Far
North Queensland cane toads?
Scratch the earlier predicted moan about the cold weather to come ... the
garden parties are bound to stop, & even if they don't, the cooler nights
are sure to induce 'comfort coma's'! I say, "Bring it on!!"
5:04 AM Hoowaaaaah! The gnomes obviously peaked too early. All has gone
quiet so I'm off to my hot bed!
Saturday, 30 July 2005 9:00 AM "NOOOOOOO! It's too early!" I awoke
to the sounds of the wedding party resuming!
By 11am 'The Macaraina', followed immediately by 'The Chicken Dance' were
pumping out. Good grief!
Vadim, Sergei, & Constantine invited me to join them for swimming, sun, &
fresh air. I went in search of 'that bikini' I said I wouldn't buy, & opted
for a pair of shorts for a third of the price.
Eeeyew, white legs! Frigging UGLY knees too! However, they work & that's the
most important thing aye?!
When we arrived at the planned destination it was like looking at a picture
of Waikiki beach; wall to wall people, standing room only!
On we drove until we found a quieter spot by a 'lake' (Vadim assured me it
was a swamp!), accessed by driving on a sand track, bellying all the way. I
don't know if you can enlarge the first shot of the 'lake' enough to see the
surroundings clearly, but the second shot shows the back of the 'beach' &
the oil rigs watching over us!
It wasn't quiet for long; we'd arrived!
Clowning around, with the 'trendy' beats of Ah-Ha loudly backing us. We'd
only been there a short time when massive rolls of thunder started, but the
storm went around us. Hot & steamy, I 'got over myself' & folded up my top
(I don't know what I was worried about last week! Drongo!!).
Sergei wanted to know what "sanseyuvbengon" means. He had me stumped for a
while, until I realised what he was talking about, a song.."Sergei, it's
'Since you've been gone ...'"
Time to go home; so the car wouldn't get stuck, Constantine, Sergei, & I
walked out. Ha! Nice thought! Vadim forgot to take the handbrake off &
buried the car!
We spent over an hour digging sand out from under the car, sweating like
horses, getting absolutely filthy, & laughing! As you can imagine, the boys
were appalled to find me head down, bum up excavating too, & begged me to
stop. No way! This's a hoot!!
Boys singing Russian songs accompanied our hard graft until they ran out of
breath.
Sergei cracked everyone up by proclaiming this a safari, Siberia style, in
honour of me!
Huffing & grunting towards the end, I managed to gasp "Vadim, maladyets!"
(You've done well!)
"Hahahaha, thank you Prue!" Funnier still, he translated my Russian comment
into English for Sergei & Constantine, without thinking what he was doing.
Dick!
Enough sand judged to've been dug out (for the 3rd time), I was instructed
to get behind the wheel (Vadim's & Constantine's efforts behind the wheel
had resulted in deeper trouble!)
(blood rush) "Really? Waahoooo! Excuse me..." I stripped off my top to wipe
the sand from arms, legs, back, belly, & face (RIP 'prudence'.) I haven't
been in the driver's seat since the beginning of Feb & I miss driving!
20-seconds of revved-up joy!
Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of our predicament; I was too filthy,
greasy, & sandy to touch my camera. Hilarious though! Why pay a gym
subscription when you can dig a car out of sand for free?!
The car safely back on solid ground, we trudged back to the lake for a
cleansing swim, my first for the day because of my still unhealed belly button piercing. I decided cleaning up in a swamp lake was the lesser of 2 evils.
They were surprised that I'm a 'good' swimmer..pfff it's just that the bottom didn't bear touching (slimy & weedy with 'who knows what' critters waiting for my toes..UGH!)
I was delivered back to Planeta wearing a spare T-shirt of Vadim's; the
wedding's still going & a couple of blokes outside called to me "Deyushka!
(Young woman! [God, I LOVE it! At my age, 'Zhenshena' (Woman) is the correct
form of address. I'm staying! Hahahahahahaha!]) ...
A couple of young guys called me 'Deyushka' on Friday, asked if I'm a
student & were surprised to learn I'm a teacher. Sunglasses & caps are great
for hiding wrinkles!
They stopped their car next to me on one of my treks to the shops & offered
me a ride..sweeties!
12:10 AM The wedding's finally over..an amazing demonstration of
'staying power', I'm suitably impressed! Russian weddings always run for two
days, but this's been the first one to use Planeta exclusively, since I've
been here.
We're having a wild electrical storm & it's pouring with rain. Ha! Take
that, gnomes! They arrived, played for 20-minutes, were soaked, & left. YES!
Find somewhere else to party & let me sleep!!!
Sunday, 31 July 2005 Another hot, hot day, with a heavy sky but
no rain.
I've started reading The Da Vinci Code again, but accompanied by Encarta &
internet searches this time.
For the life of me, I can't see the spare hand wielding a dagger in Da
Vinci's "Last Supper."
If the person sitting on the right of Jesus is Mary Magdalene, which of the
Apostles is missing? Judas I think cos there's no black guy in the painting,
& JC Superstar (both the film & the NZ stage production) clearly showed me
Judas was a coloured guy! So where is he? The loo? Pissed to bits under the
table? Or, taking the photo? No timer function on cameras in those days!
The book contains plenty of questionable stuff (obviously, it's a novel!),
but it poses some interesting alternatives to popular belief that I find
more credible; no offence intended.
Yeah, why are Christianity & its cousins so heavily weighted in favour of
men, when pagans & so-called 'uncivilised' cultures worship both masculine
AND feminine gods?
How come Eve was such a bad b*tch for 'luring' Adam to eat the forbidden
fruit? Where were his brains at the time? Oh yeah, that's right, doing their
job plumping up his fig leaf!
If Eve was created from one of Adam's ribs, then arguably she was a clone &
only acting on the inclinations & instincts of her root (unintentional pun,
but I like it!), so was she really to blame? Was this the 1st warning of the
folly of genetic modification? The 2nd warning following quickly with the
dysfunctional behaviour of Cain!
Pagan hippy, that's me!
Da Vinci was a clever, interesting, & naughty rooster.
10:46 PM Bless them, the thunder gods are going for broke; big loud
claps, close enough to set car alarms off & make Planeta vibrate! It can't
be long before the rain gods come to play too! If I'm lucky, the storm will
last all night, cool the air, & keep the gnomes away.
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