If they made shirts that said “I <3 Chita,” I would buy one and wear it all the time. ‘NICE’ & ‘TRAIN’. Two words that up to now I hadn’t considered being utterable in the same sentence. Nevertheless. The train was nice (that is, from Ulan-Ude to Chita). Relatively speaking, of course. Yes, the Russian [...]
Archive for March, 2010
Spring Break (Days 2-3): Chita rocks
Posted: March 31, 2010 in Far East (Spring), Out of TownTags: Assumption Cathedral, Baskin Robbins, Chita, daylight savings time, Decembrists, food, huge green tube, Jerusalem, Lenin, museum, Siberian culture, Sovietism, Subway, train, Ukranian cuisine
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Spring Break (Day 1): ‘Trevoga’ redeemed in U.U.
Posted: March 28, 2010 in Far East (Spring)Tags: Buryatia, cold, datsan, friends, guide book, hotel, Irish, jungle animal, Lenin, Lenin head, museum, тревога, трудность, Russian MTV, Snow, Sovietism, train, WiFi
Russians have a word (“trevoga”) for the spiritual qualms that you experience before traveling until you’re safely seated on your train/plane seat. I call it stress. Whatever it is, I feel it. The day of our departure, I went straight from classes to my internship, and then straight to choir rehearsal, leaving early around 8 [...]
I don’t know why (and neither does our coordinator), but Midd decided to give us half a month of vacation: our trip to Severobaikalsk (posts coming soon) and an 11-day spring break. Two weeks in between–just enough to recover from the first trip and getting ready for the second–have left me stressed a bit, and [...]
Elections Updates: SURPRISE(s)!
Posted: March 16, 2010 in ИркутскTags: decemb, elections, host fam, Irkutsk, politics, president, Russia and Eastern European Society, Sputnik, surprise
SURPRISE #1. Since I was unopposed, I have won my election and am excited to have been named president of Sputnik for the 2010-2011 year. Hooray! Thanks for your support (?). Note: No bribes were involved in this. I swear. SURPRISE #2. Since Irkutskites, so they say, are heirs of the revolutionary spirit of their [...]
More elections (Vote for me!)
Posted: March 14, 2010 in Иркутск, Student LifeTags: elections, Middlebury, New Years, politics, president, Russia and Eastern European Society, Sovietism, Sputnik
Today from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Irkutskians (Irkutskites? The Irkutskese? …”Irkutyanye” in Russian…) are taking to the polls to vote for their mayor. Unfortunately for believers (such as myself) in a free, democratic process, the fact that Moscow administration chose (and probably funded) Sergei Serebryannikov to the top of the contender list, pairing him in [...]
Weeks 24-25: Taking responsibility, a lesson in grammar
Posted: March 1, 2010 in Иркутск, Quotable, Student LifeTags: $, Baikal, bribes, culture shock, занятии, earthquake, English, grammar, high culture, Irkutsk Philharmonic, Litterateur's House, passive voice, responsibility, Severobaikalsk, Snow
In grammar class, we are learning about how using passive voice and impersonal expressions is a good thing. In the Russian language, you are supposed to put the blame on an invisible, mystical (neuter gendered) something. The Star Wars “Force,” if you will. (And no, it’s not God, for God is male in the Russian [...]
