Kazan — summer 2010

This was a stellar day. For a change we had a slightly slower pace of activity. The weather was perfect for an excursion, about 70-75° but breezy and sunny. I actually can hardly remember a more perfect day. Russian student Daniil joined us. He gets along great with our students, and is very good at mutual give and take linguistically.

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Another interesting day. I've found a Russian student, Danil, to work with me a bit on my RWotD blog, which professionally I have to keep running while I'm here. We tried one wi-fi spot, wi-fi down, had to track down another. After blogging stuff is done, we discuss English-Russian differences, cultural things. Danil asks why Americans don't take their shoes off when they come into a house. Heck, I don't know. We just don't, although I suspect it has to do with the easy availability of cleaning tech (vacuums) in the States as early as the 50s, whereas such things were harder to come by in Soviet Russia. Hm. I think people in Victorian England kept their shoes on in the house. I wonder if that is simply holdover habit from Britain? I wonder if Australians and New Zealanders take off their shoes when entering a house? I'll have to ask.

We discuss American indirectness versus Russian directness. Return to University. Daniil asks whether it's true that lots of Americans take anti-depression medication. Strikes him as ridiculous: depression is a normal part of life; you have to deal with it directly. Have lunch with Dilyara, Dasha, Danil, and the CLI students.

In the afternoon we watch Стиляги Stilyagi. Excellent film. Seems to me a cross between Chicago, Fellini's Satyricon (in terms of color usage) and Brazil. The best thing about this film is that the diction in the songs is stellar. You can make out every single word. The play of conformity versus self-expression is exhibited, with emphasis on old Soviet conformity, but still the film has resonances that work with current problems of racism and culture misunderstanding, plus the regrettable desire to see everything conform to one single set of expectations. Bear in mind that I know precisely nothing about film, so take my interpretations with a box of salt.

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Wow, what a day. Exhausting if excellent. After classes in the afternoon we had one of the best lectures I've ever heard in Russia in terms of lectures delivered to foreign students. It covered Russian criminal law, civil law and tax law. The speakers made excellent word choice in terms of selected vocabulary most likely to be understood by non-Russians, although of course with such a technical topic you can't avoid technical terms, and they paced their speech at a rate that was very sensible. Most likely the students didn't realize that because they are only in third-year, but compared to the machine-gun fire rate of other lectures and tours I've had in Russia, this was stellar.

Then we had a three hour break, during which I walked around the nearer portion of Lake Kaban. Took a zillion pictures, but I probably won't have time to go through them until the weekend.

In the evening we went to a play at the Tatar Theater. Very interesting. The play is in Tatar, but simultaneous translation is available by headset in Russian and English. The accent on the English translation at the beginning of the play was so thick as to be almost incomprehensible. The play itself seemed to use dolls/puppets as an analogy for the rich (especailly men) controlling the lives of the poor and women. I suspect Ibsen influence.

An amusing moment... we had a change of classroom for the morning. They blocked off a path on the second floor, so to get to some of the second floor classrooms, you have to go up to the third floor, cross, then go down another staircase. Ah, now this feels like the old Russia that I loved!

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Today for four hours I sat in on one of the Tatar language classes. Competent teacher.

At lunch one of the guys suggested we go to a Chinese restaurant he had spotted. As we approached, it became clear he was talking not about a Chinese restaurant, but about the Chinese Circus. He had read the first word, Chinese, and had bothered to think about the second word, Circus. This is particularly amusing since the Chinese Circus is one of the most well-known sights of the city, immediately identifiable to any child of seven in Kazan.

Later on in the day I headed back to the Chekhov Market near my apartment. Found a cheap set of alphabet blocks and a one-volume encyclopedia I hope to read over the next year.

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