Category: "Uncategorized"

Google doesn't trust me

June 28th, 2012

Every day or two here in Russia when I make a search on Google, I get a message saying they are detecting strange activity on my computer, and then American Google makes me do a little security protocol, and then Russian Google does the same. Kind of annoying.

Once you go yeti

July 3rd, 2012

“Are those chocolate?” I asked.

“They are mumble mumble potato mumble,” she replied.

Potato, huh? They kind of look like yeti testicles covered in brown bread crumbs, but what the hell, I'll give 'em a try.

Home. I chomp. OMG! These are a chocolate potato candy! I swoon, I can't stop salivating. Once you go yeti, you'll never go back.

Happy

July 14th, 2012

This last academic year was pretty tough. Fall semester was difficult. At Christmastime I went to my sister's place in Canada, and after a few days to my surprise I found I was suddenly happy again. And then it kind of vanished as the equally intense Spring semester commenced.

And then last night I was so sad. I was having Karen Carpenter flashbacks. She had such an amazing voice, but in the midst of the beauty was all that sadness…

• Rainy days and Mondays
• Superstar
• It’s yesterday once more

And in an interview I once her brother say that the song that most expressed her was, “I know I need to be in love.”

I had such a crush on her in the early 70s. She was cool because even though she was a girl, she played the drums. How neat was that?

And when she died… I was so sad.

And then to deepen my sadness I translated my favorite Lizzie West song into Russian:

http://s167926134.onlinehome.us/doc/prayer.html

And then this morning I was walking to the market when all of the sudden it hit me, “Hey, I'm happy again!” How did it happen? I'm not quite sure. But certainly having fewer tasks has helped. The normal rise and fall of emotions is returning, and I'm very, very grateful.

Swimming in the Volga

July 14th, 2012

In the morning I did some shopping.

  • Handsoap
  • Garlic
  • A garlic press
  • A splatter guard
  • Double-A batteries
  • Khinkali
  • Lastochki, a type of chocolate candy
  • Jack Daniels (for a friend, not me)

Some writing in the early afternoon. Around 4:30 Flyura and Danila picked me at took me to their home just outside of town. Flyura set out dinner, and then the three of us went to the Volga to swim a bit. Wow, things have changed so much. During the Soviet period a picture would immediately tell you that you are in Russia. Now I look around and think that if I avoided signs in Cyrillic, I don't think you could really identify where the beach was.

The water was amazingly warm and in fact «Вода уже цветёт» “The water is already blooming.” That's the Russian way of saying that the water is warm enough that all sorts of water plants and algae are growing like crazy. It's a really nice swim, but as soon as you get home, you kinda wanna shower it off.

Swimming in the mouth of the Kama

July 15th, 2012

Breakfast with блины (Russian pancakes) from scratch by Flyura. Cabbage pie. Potato pie. Jam. Tea. Homemade kefir.

Danila has taken it into his head that he wants to visit the mouth of the Kama river. That's the area where the Kama enters the Volga.

Now, I must tell you that there are three ways to plan a trip. One way is to sorta-kinda get an idea of where you want to go, and then stop occasionally, ask along the way, back track if necessary. Another way is to use the GPS and have no idea where you are going and let the technology work for you. A third way is to obsessive-compulsively map out every possible detail in advance and then hit the road.

We used the first approach. The scenery... if you haven't been to Russia, it's hard to describe. Endless rolling green hills, forest interspersed with fields of wheat, corn, potatoes, hay (and cotton, if I'm not mistaken). For a desert rat like me it's almost like a description of The Shire, except so much broader and bigger.

As we drive we gnosh on potato pies. Dasha, the daughter of the family, is the one who most intensely monitors our path. When something seems amiss, she calls a relative who goes to this place all the time. If we have overshot, then we back track. Effective in the long run. Suddenly Flyura stops the car. She runs out into the middle of a field. When she comes back she has handfuls of herbs and wild peas. How the heck did she spot them while we were driving 100 clicks/hour along the road?

We eventually get to the mouth of the river... sort of. The mouth of the river is actually on the other side of the water. And the water here does not look like a river at all. It looks like a sea. Again the water is blooming. The beach here is all covered with rocks, about the size of sand dollars. They are mostly gypsum, if I understand the word. They still do some gypsum mining around here. It's actually painful to walk out along the rocks in your barefeet and finally get to the point where there is enough water to support us. We swim. We eat the marvelous fried chicken Flyura has prepared, along with sour cream/farmer's cheese pie, rye bread, cucumbers and tea.

Eventually we leave, and Danila persuades us to try to find some local пещеры, which is a word I would normally translate as caves. After much ado, we eventually find the entrance. I suppose I would call these mining tunnels. It's where they previously mined gypsum. Fascinating actually, and so much cooler than the heat outside. If were a kid in this area, I would want to spend all my time here exploring.

The way back to Kazan proceeds much more quickly than the way out, and they drop me off at my apartment, where I throw together a bit of dinner and write.

As usual, I've learned a ton of words on the trip. I'm again impressed by the solidity of this family and their good interactions with each other. I'm again impressed by how Russians take things differently than Americans, how there doesn't have to be a clearly set schedule or necessarily achieved goals to make the day good. A day spent together is a good day, no matter what precisely happens.