The diary of a traveller, entry 10. Part 3 Lake Baikal and Irkutsk

10. November

Approaching Ulan-Ude soon which means just another 7 hours to Irkutsk. More snow and more beautiful scenery to enjoy. Hardly an uninterrupted sleep though last night – quite the opposite in fact. Was woken around 2.30am by the arrival into our wagon of a huge dark brute of a Russian arriving from some god-awful Siberian outpost. Stupendously drunk, of course – had the obligatory 2lt plastic bottle of something. He was carrying two large hold-alls, each the size of a young child, and also a chain saw. Mercifully it remained in its box. After a few attempts at trying to engage with me he finally made it, with some effort, into the bed above my own where he lay making strange noises, breathing rapidly and occasionally shouting. Thankfully it wasn’t long before he was woken by the attendant to disembark at Chita. An experience to say the least.

We picked up two new traveling companions at Ulan-Ude.  Alexander (who looks just like Alexander III) and his wife who are both friendly Orthodox Christians heading to Krasnoyarsk. Alexander speaks very good English and I am very grateful to be able to have a more comfortable conversation for the first time in 48 hours. We have lots to talk about ranging from whether or not I like John Lennon (I said yes thinking it was the right answer – it wasn’t) to his studies of the Koran. We are coming close to Baikal and my stop now.

I was met off the train by my new host Valerii. He decides we should go straight to Listvyanka – so still a bit more traveling to go. Not sure what the plan is from now but I think Valerii will be acting as a tour guide for the next couple of days. I have never seen so many stars in the sky before in my life – not only the water which is clear round here. 

The diary of a traveller, entry 9. Part 3 Lake Baikal and Irkutsk

9 November

Ok nights sleep but not the best. Just me and Valentina in the wagon for the time being. Maybe we’ll pick up a few more passengers along the way. Feel a bit sorry for V. as she obviously wants to have more lengthy conversations but I am pretty much out of Russian words already. Could just repeat everything all over again with different intonation. Stopped off for 20mins at a place called Amazar in the Chita Oblast where I bought some Pirozhki stuffed with potatoes – hardly a culinary extravaganza but they filled a hole. I insisted V. have one.

Bright sunlight streaming into our wagon through the window as the snowscapes unravel before us. A day and a half of this to go. The provodnitsa opened the window briefly so I stuck my head out for 15 gorgeously fresh minutes. I’ve just noticed that in all this beautiful Siberian wilderness there isn’t a hint of any animal wildlife as yet. Not even a bird. Then again, in this vast expanse of country what animal would opt to inhabit the area next to a railway track.

Had my first taste of the £3 vodka I bought in Khabarovsk. Pretty undrinkable it has. I can’t see V. helping me to polish it off anytime soon. But I can’t complain as she keeps feeding me from her vast food stocks. Sitting back in the Ресторан Вагон for my second evening on the #7 train. Same seat by the window, same uncomfortable lip on the table which makes reading a book awkward. Surprising lack of patrons. Not even the French guys back for another helping on non-descript fish and potatoes. Just the female staff and the bald goon who appears to have the controlling interest in this enterprise. The short-haired woman by the bar counts the rubles, the Asian looking waitress serves the beer, and he does the crossword. I keep hearing a lot of Russian pop music where the  male vocalists sing with quite a sinister growling tone: I’m having such an experience right now through someone’s mobile phone. Publically inflicting crap music on others would be a harshly punishable offence in my own version of Singapore. Musically it’s not bad, just the singing which is so grating. As if Phil Spector had made a compilation of the most prison’s most notorious inmates doing their own renditions of catchy tunes.

Poster. Clothes

from Learning Russian

Useful table on the endings

Useful table on the endings of nouns and adjectives in different cases 

Some idioms containing the word 'SOUL' - "душа"

 Душа ушла в пятки. One’s soul has gone into one’s heels.

Someone is very frightened

Душа нараспашку. One’s soul is open (unbuttoned).

Means that a person is very sincere and open, sometimes too open

Излить душу. To pour out one’s soul.

Means to share all your feelings and emotions with someone, to tell someone what worries you in a difficult moment of life

Камень на сердце. A stone on one’s heart.

Means that someone has some problem or a difficult thing he knows or he thinks about; and that makes him depressed or worry or upset 

Easter basket

from here

Paskha traditions in Russia

Paskha (Пасха) - is Easter in Russian.


In Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia there are many very nice traditions for this Holiday. All them create unique culture! Let us see what is that 


1. Going to the Church on SUNDAY night. 
We come to church around 11.30 pm, there start the service, which is at the beginning a bit 'silent' - symbolizing 'waiting for the Resurrection'. Then there is 'Krestiniy Khod' - Крестный ход - it is a walk around the church with burning red candles and with praying. Then the priest shouts 'Christ is risen' - and then all people answer - 'Indeed risen!' 

ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ! - ВОИСТИНУ ВОСКРЕСЕ!

2. Baking KULICH and making PASKHA

Kulich is a traditional cake for Easter. It is cooked in advance on Thursday, on Saturday it is brought to the church to be blessed. It should be eaten starting from Sunday, when the Great Lent ends and the Easter comes. 

Paskha is a traditional dessert made of cottage cheese - tvorog, cream, butter, raisin. It is usually done like a pyramid, which symbolizes the Tomb of Christ

3. Painting eggs 

We paint eggs into different colours, then on Sunday we 'exchange' the eggs. It is indeed very ancient tradition, egg is the symbol of life, and Christ gave us life

4. "Christosovanie' - or kissing each other thrice as congratulation on the Holiday saying ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ! - ВОИСТИНУ ВОСКРЕСЕ

Old Russian Easter postcards

Here is interesting 'gallery' of old style pre-revolution Russian Easter postcards. Enjoy! 

Happy Easter! Christos Voskrese!

picture by Elena Revutskaya

Easter (ПАСХА) is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday, in Russian 'Sunday' - воскресенье -  means Resurrection).

In Orthodoxy the spiritual preparation for Pascha begins with Great Lent, which starts on Clean Monday and lasts for 40 continuous days (including Sundays). The last week of Great Lent (following the fifth Sunday of Great Lent) is called Palm Week, and ends with Lazarus Saturday. The Vespers which begins Lazarus Saturday officially brings Great Lent to a close, although the fast continues through the following week. After Lazarus Saturday comes Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and finally Pascha itself, and the fast is broken immediately after the Paschal Divine Liturgy.

The Paschal Vigil begins with the Midnight Office, which is the last service of the Lenten Triodion and is timed so that it ends a little before midnight on Holy Saturday night.

What is Easter for the Orthodox people and Russia? You may also read it in the Pascal Message of His Holiness KIRILL, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia: 

The feast of Pascha in Holy Russia has always been great and radiant. And now in recent decades it has again returned to many homes and families.

Adjectives, useful information about the endings

Adjective endings (#0024)

1. In Russian we use adjectives to describe nouns. Adjectives, like nouns, have gender and number. They also agree in gender, number and case with the noun they modify. Refer to the individual cases in Russian to see the adjective endings for each case.
2. Before you attempt to learn the endings for adjectives, you should be quite familiar with the Russian spelling rules.
3. The ending an adjective takes will depend on the type of final consonant in its stem.
4. In the masculine form, the adjective ending will also depend on whether the accent is on the stem or on the ending:

gender	example	ending	reason
masculine	новый	-ый	hard stem
	хороший	-ий	spelling rule 1
	большой	-ой	accented ending
	синий	-ий	soft stem
feminine	новая	-ая	hard stem
	хорошая
	большая
	синяя	-яя	soft stem
neuter	новое	-ое	hard stem
	хорошее	-ее	spelling rule 3
	большое	-ое	accented ending
	синее	-ее	soft stem
plural	новые	-ые	hard stem
	хорошие	-ие	spelling rule 3
	большие
	синие	-ие	soft stem

from www.auburn.edu

The diary of a traveller, entry 8

8 November 

Spent last night getting myself syked up for my longest train journey today – something like 49 hours to Irkutsk. Had a really nice stay in Khabarovsk and preferred it to Vladivostok on the whole. Now have a similar length of time on the train.

Sharing with 2 guys at the moment – both in their 30s I would guess. Not much conversation from my skin-head companion. He's a militia I think. Offered me some of his fish which I politely declined because it looked about 3 weeks old. Offered him some of my Cadbury's in return. The other neighbour went off to the restaurant car about 3 hours ago to get steadily drunk. He rolled back into our wagon, just as conversation was beginning to develop between the skin-head and I, and dragged me off with him to have a beer. He ordered 4 before realising he was 20minutes away from his stop. Asked me for a cigarette – when he saw that my cigarettes were from Hong Kong (white filters less common here I think) he wanted to buy them off me. I insisted he take them as a present but he thrust a handful of rubles into my hand before disembarking and leaving his scarf and the flowers he bought was his wife in our wagon. (Skin-head later took these when he disembarked and presumably gave them to his wife.)

Well that was a bit of an ego boost: Went back to the restaurant car for dinner and to read my book (which is inconveniently called 'The American'). The waitress was very nice and we chatted a bit about things in Hong Kong. Then two French guys came in and neither of them spoke or read a word of Russian. There was no English menu so the waitress asked me to translate for them (into English of course). I jokingly asked the waitress if she had a menu in French first. If they understood this then the French guys certainly didn't find it amusing - presumably because they felt that every restaurant carriage on every train should have a menu in French. After a few exchanges between me, them and the waitress they ended up with some kind of variation on fish and chips which I am happy to say they enjoyed! 

Most of the rest of the journey there were only 2 of us in the compartment - me and a very nice lady called Valentina who was also heading to Lake Baikal for a holiday. We got on very well and spoke a fair bit (although I am definitely running out of vocab). She certainly fed me very well and I felt embarrassed at having only dried mangoes and Japanese nuts to offer her in return. 

A man-legend

Yuri Gagarin 

The Panorama of Vladivostok

more here

The diary of a traveller, entry 7

7 November

Got up quite early in order to catch the service at the cathedral. Before then though I was treated to another 'interesting' culinary experience from my host: raw bacon (not parma ham) and Japanese seaweed for breakfast. I expect I will die of food poisoning soon. Luckily lunch was a bit less concerning – my first Russian borsch.

One of the things I hate about coming to foreign countries has to be that they always seem to be playing the crappest music from relatively decent artists – in this case 'You Are Not Alone' by Michael Jackson. Of all of his back-catalogue available they end up playing the worst song. It doesn't matter who it is: Elton, Beatles, Red Hot Chili Peppers etc. they never play their decent stuff. Otherwise this is a fairly pleasant pub where I am currently writing. Just off the main drag. Went to the Art gallery earlier. The frosty woman behind the counter soon warmed up after I spoke some Russian to her – I have been really pleased by people's willingness to engage with you in Russian (even if you only have basic skills).There was a good collection of paintings and sculptures (and of course, old guns). Had a couple of Repin's and some icons from 15th century. And tucked away down this dark corridor was a fantastic 19th century statue of Ivan Grozny seated on his thrown and looking suitably fierce.

Oh, brilliant! They've just broken out the French rap on the juke-box. I miss my CDs.

The diary of a traveller, entry 6

6 November

Went to my first my first cathedral today at the end of Ulitsa Lenina not far from the house. I attempted to draw it, in appalling fashion. Even though I am not religious I find it impossible not to be impressed by the sheer beauty of Russian orthodox churches. Quite a modern building I think but still very traditional in it's style and a large collection of icons. Missed the service but downstairs the air was still rich with the smell of incense so I can't have been far off. Watched a worshipped go up to each icon in turn and kiss the glass before crossing herself. I probably have about 100 more churches to go so I won't spend too long talking about this one. Gave some money to a babushka outside the church who subsequently went off and fed the birds. (People seem a lot more keen on pigeons over here than they are in London).

Afterwards walked down the Amur river for a nice stroll! Hard to believe that China is only on the other side of the river. Passed a few fishermen who seemed to be pretty luckless. Then followed the sounds of European dance music to a cafe I was hoping to get lunch at but it was closed for a wedding. There was a large young crowd outside who were all going at the wine and having a good old time. The groom appeared to be a good foot shorter than the bride and looked about 15yrs old. Went to another cafe on Muravieva-Amurskogo where I had a tasty blini and a beer. After this I ploughed through two museums: the Regional Museum and the War Museum. The regional museum charge 200 RUB extra for foreigners which I think is a bit cheeky – presumably they are trying to keep all knowledge of Russia's far east exclusively for Russians. Although the attendant almost thought I was Russian and was going to charge me local rates – clearly I can say “One ticket, please” without mistakes. My cover was blown though when I asked for a ticket for photos (you have to pay extra). With this privilege I took a few photos of old guns and stuffed animals and then headed off. Back at the flat for Japanese salad with Tatiana whose mother is from the Ukraine.

Russian language day - fairy tale

МОРСКОЙ ЦАРЬ И ВАСИЛИСА ПРЕМУДРАЯ

За тридевять земель, в тридесятом государстве жил-был царь с царицею; детей у них не было. Поехал царь по чужим землям, по дальним сторонам; долгое время дома не бывал; на ту пору родила ему царица сына, Ивана-царевича, а царь про то и не ведает.
Стал он держать путь в свое государство, стал подъезжать к своей земле, а день-то был жаркий-жаркий, солнце так и пекло! И напала на него жажда великая; что ни дать, только бы воды испить! Осмотрелся кругом и видит невдалеке большое озеро; подъехал к озеру, слез с коня, прилег на брюхо и давай глотать студеную воду. Пьет и не чует беды; а царь морской ухватил его за бороду...

The Legends of May

Dear friends!

We are happy to invite you to a month of fairy tales at the Russian Language Center, or "The Legends of May". On every Tuesday of the month you will watch one of the most famous and beloved Russian fairy tales and films.

 All films run with English subtitles and start at 7.30 pm.

You are welcome to bring your children.

People of all languages and ages are welcome!

 3 May – ‘Jack Frost’ \ “Морозко”, 1964, 84 min

10 May – 'Christmas Eve'  \ “Ночь перед Рождеством”, 1961, 70 min

17 May – 'An Ordinary Miracle' \ “Обыкновенное чудо”, 1978, 138 min

24 May – 'Viy' \ “Вий”, 1967, 80 min (not recommended for children under 14)

31 May  - 'Scarlet Sails' \ “Алые паруса”, 1961, 88 min

Information about films is found here www.rlc.hk/legends-of-may

 Admission is free, however please write to us (2teacher@rlc.hk) or call us (2598 8389) to book a seat.

VENUE: Russian Language Center, 701, 7/F, Arion Commercial Centre, No. 2-12 Queen's Road West, Sheung Wan

The diary of a traveller, entry 5

5 November 

So had a pleasant enough night's sleep on the train. Met Pavel on the platform in Vladivostok before boarding: big, smiley, drunken Russian who spoke pretty good English – albeit with a few slurs and a very stereotypical accent. 24 yrs old but looked 44 and accompanied by a 2lt plastic bottle of 11% alc beer. Tomy 'delight' he was in the compartment next to mine. He was clearly delighted to have met an Englishman he could slur away too – we did speak a bit of Russian together but he wasn't a great tutor. To be honest I wasn't really in the mood for a drunken conversations so although I had a couple of beers with him and we played half a game of chess I was relieved when my wagon companions arrived at Ussurisk. Three very nice ladies: Elya and Olya who were both around 40 and nice babushka who's name I didn't get. They were very happy to engage with me in Russian, despite the limitations, and even made me a sandwich for breakfast. Olya was already a grandmother and on her way to see her daughter. They asked me why I wasn't married (good question). I mumbled something about being afraid of children which they found very amusing.

And now in Khabarovsk which is making a good impression on me already. I had to ask a few people for directions to find the flat but they were helpful enough and I eventually found it nestled amongst a complex of Soviet accomodation south of the city centre. This flat is a lot more homely than the one in Vladivostok. Haven't met my host yet but I've met her son (he wasn't the talkative type).

Tatiana, my new host, is a great host. Getting a good vibe from her. She has the Russian equivalent of a PhD and works as a teacher and translator from Chinese to Russian and vice-versa. She has her own idiosyncrasies of course – like serving me sturgeon genitalia (she described it as the 'male equivalent of caviar') together with a carton of red wine for tea. She told me lot's of interesting anecdotes about her passed guests like the Japanese boy who kept photographing every-day objects in the flat like the taps and the umbrellas because they were 'old'. Will have to try and milk some Russian tuition from her before I leave.

 Photos are taken from Richard's Facebook album

The diary of a traveller, entry 4

4 November

Got my first train tonight at 10pm. Checked my bag in at the station before that to save some time. Dmitry cooked me a very tasty breakfast of fried potatoes and some kind of schnitzel washed down with the obligatory salted gerkins and tea with delicious honey from his mother I think. Went to see the WWII memorial - 10's of thousands of names were on the wall for this area alone which is very hard to even comprehend. Afterwards went to the Border Guard Museum which was well worth a visit. I was the only person in the museum and was being tailed around by the security guard in every room I went too - but she was very nice and kept pointing out interesting exhibits. 

Went back to Nostalgia Cafe for dinner before my train - this time they were showing Москва слезам не верит. Nice movie - have the song stuck in my head now. 

On the platform waiting for the train I met Pavel. Big, smilely, drunken Russian who was delighted to meet someone to practice English on. He actually spoke pretty good English although he spoke with a comically steryotypical accent. We did speak some Russian together too but he wasn't a great tutor. I was actually quite relieved when my fellow compartment travellers arrived at Ussuriysk and he had to go back to his own wagon and fall asleep with his 2 lt bottle of beer. I was sharing with three very nice Russian ladies. Elya and Olya were teachers and about 40. The other lady was a lot older (maybe 60). All were very friendly and happy to engage with me in Russian (none of them spoke English) and made me a butterbrot for breakfast. It was a shame to say goodbye to them the next morning when I got into Khabarovsk. 

The diary of a traveller, entry 3

3 November 

Doing well so far. Got the bus into town - a lot warmer today than yesterday. Just need to find somewhere where I can change my old 500 RUB note for nice crisp clean new one which people will accept (the post office didn't seem to think it was legal tender yesterday which was annoying). Success - the Arsenyev Regional Museum are evidentally not such snobs when it comes to the condition of one's bank notes. Happy to admit me to the museum and accept my old 500 RUB's and give me change too! Very nice of them. Nice museum but I preferred the Fortress Museum on the whole.

Real mix of exhibits here including a large and rather morbid collection of stuffed animals. Bears, tigers, leopards. At least 3 or 4 of each, amongst other smaller species. Interesting but to be honest I would prefer to see live versions of the real thing on TV accompanied by a soothing voice over from Sir David Attenborough. Spent a lot of the time in the museum with my nose inside my dictionary busy translating the captions - highlights were the brilliant propaganda pictures from various wars and revolutions.

Stopped in for lunch and кофе с молоком* at a nice little restaurant near the station called Nostalgia Cafe. Had two pirozhkis** - one with apple and one with meat - both very tasty! Although I reckon the place could have done without the TV showing what I guess was a Yul Brynner comedy although it was hard to tell as he appeared to have hair.

*кофе с молоком - coffee with milk
**pirozhki or пирожки - Russian style baked pies 

The flight into space, Yuri Gagarin

a very useful video about the first flight of a man into space

The diary of a traveller, entry 2

Our dear student Richard was keen on Russia and Russian language. At last he decided to make a trip – take Trans-Siberian railway and to see almost all Russia with his own eyes, making stops in major cities of the TSR.


At the same time he was writing his impressions and we are now greatly have to introduce it to you.


So…

2 November 

First full day in Vladivostok. Fairly busy day. I did the infamous visa registration - more of that anon. Got up quite early and headed into town after breakfast - Dmitry was in a hurry today. Poor guy seems to be running around all over the place. Works for a security firm head-officed in Moscow so lots of late calls I guess. I walked down Funina St. (which I think they also call Arbat) and passed the Dynamo stadium. Pretty small for a stadium. The sea-front was virtually deserted. Probably a resutl of the bitter cold. Was very pleased to have brought my hat with me as the wind was vicious today. But soon warmed up after I walked around for a bit. First stop was the Vladivostok Fortress Museum. Wasn't easy to find as it was hidden back off the main road on a hill. Walked too far to begin with and went past an intimidating looking gym that looked like the kind of place that the villain in Rocky IV would have learnt his trade. And then kept coming past this big ferris wheel that was disused and resembled that one in the mission in Call of Duty 4 where you're a sniper in post-nuclear fall out Chernobyl. Anyway it was well worth the walk as it was a nice little museum with a lot of very big guns (both modern and very ancient). It was a fortress that was originally used during the Japanese war. Although there wasn't much on that in the exhibition. There were a load of school children there on a trip and it was helpful to hear the teacher and attendant explaining things to them as it was at the speed and level of complexity that I could just about understand what they were saying.

After that I walked along Svetlanskaya st. This was a nice street and what I imagine was quite a trendy neighbourhood going off the shops and restaurants. Stopped off for lunch at a cafe a bit further on and ate a thoroughly unimpressive pizza. (I meant to go to another place that was recommended but I couldn't find it). Then went to the Funicular Railway - great views of the city from the top. It's basically like a smaller version of the Peak Tram - same gradient but about 1/5 the length. I was dissappointed by the Pacific Fleet - or lack of it I should say. Was expecting to see packs of subs and huge aircraft carriers but could only make out a few destroyers (I am guessing that's what they were). Went back to the flat to meet Dmitry for the visa registration which was a total joke. Basically consisted of cuing in a bank and then a post-office paying a fee in both. At one stage Dmitry even produced a box of chocolates as a bribe for the women in the post-office. I now have about 12 pieces of paper in my passport which I need to keep at all costs!

photos at RIch's profile in facebook

The diary of a traveller, entry 1

Our dear student Richard was keen on Russia and Russian language. At last he decided to make a trip – take Trans-Siberian railway and to see almost all Russia with his own eyes, making stops in major cities of the TSR.

At the same time he was writing his impressions and we are now greatly have to introduce it to you.

So…

The diary of a traveller

1 November Vladivostok -

Up at 5am this morning to catch my plane from Seoul to Vladivostok. I liked the very little of Seoul that I saw (basically one area, Gang Nam). But I reckon I've had my fair share of massive Asian cities for the time-being. Anyway, that's Korea done. Just been dropped off by Dmitry at his apartment in Stoletija Vladivostka. Not seen much at all yet but Dmitry seems like a nice enough chap. Mid 40s, speaks good English, plays the bongos. Weather is mild and totally pleasant: was actually hot in the car on the way over here. I'm hardly staying in what could be called central Valdivostok so gonna head into town now by means of attempting to catch a bus: hopefully this won't prove to be too arduous a task. 

Success! I have succeeded in catching a bus into central Vladivostok. I did overshoot the stop on the return leg but that is easily done given how similar all the buildings on this street look. Pretty uneventful afternoon - bought a Russian sim card. Megafon, which I was advised against getting! But the whole transaction took place in Russian and basically consisted of me saying 'Да' and 'Хорошо' a lot. Hopefully my vocab will pick up a bit more beyond that over the next 40 days. On the plus side I ate my first Russian dish: Pilmeni and they were very tasty. Bus'ed it back to the flat for bread, cheese and sausage with Dmitry which was nice of him. Although I wouldn't call him a laugh-a-minute. 

more photos at RIch's profile in facebook