Happy days are here again

I’ve had a hot shower every day since we’ve left Ol’Hon and it’s been AWESOME. The van driver actually showed up the night before we were set to leave, but we still didn’t leave until 2 p.m. We got back around 7 p.m., and Olga was there to pick me up. She took me over to Natasha’s to get my stuff, and I said goodbye to Il’Ya and Babushka. Natasha and Sasha weren’t there, but I saw Natasha today and hope to see Sasha before I leave. (Natasha’s husband will be away on business until after we leave Russia.)

So, the trip back was pretty uneventful. We stopped at a roadside stand, and one of the woman working there was from Uzbekinstan (sp?) and wanted a picture with us to take back home with her.

After we got to Olga’s, I took a nice, long, hot shower. Then, we had dinner and she started washing my clothes. I only had three pairs of pants, three t-shirts, socks and underwear to wash, but the washing machine is so small it was still at least three loads.

Yesterday was a nice, slow day – much appreciated. I needed to be ready by 1 p.m., so I spent the morning trying to get some pics online and updating my blog (as you already know). It so happened that my being online coordinate with Garett’s Sunday evening, so we got to chat for awhile, which was great. He also figured out what was wrong with my cell phone, so now I can text message and receive incoming calls. It’s still mucho expensive, but it’s nice to have that assurance that it works.

At 1 p.m., Olga came and got me and we walked over to where Bill is staying, just around the way (same complex). The young man in the family he’s staying with (who did a one month internship at an ad agency in Dallas) drove us to Vlad’s studio. We hung out there into the evening, drinking and chatting. Vlad also sketched Mark, which was really neat to watch. He showed us a bunch of his paintings, and some of the works of his father. His dad was an artist during Communism, so he was only allowed to paint Soviet Realism. He got in trouble for a couple of his works that crossed the line (i.e., scantily clad women in the background of a piece, or another piece showing poor Russian children).

That evening, Bill was on a call in talk show. We watched it from the studio, but of course it was all in Russian, so I really have no idea what was going on. Still, we had a great time, and I was completely worn out when we got home.

This morning, I had to be ready by 9 a.m. so we could go to the Linguistic University. There, English, Polish, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, French, Russian as a Second Language, and a couple other languages I can’t think of, are all taught. The students start at age 17 and study for 5 years. We spoke to a class and answered their questions about America and our lives.

After that, off to the countryside to see a Shaman give a ceremony. We stopped at the future site of a museum being planned by a Rotary member. The Shaman was to meet us there. I was expecting an old, weather Buryat man, and instead we were greeted by a middle-aged Russian woman in a track suit and sunglasses. Since she came in like that, it was a little hard to take her seriously… but, she obviously knew what she was doing. She prepared an offering to the spirits of cookies, candy and cigarettes. She donned her regalia, and we stood in a circle as she said her prayers and gave the offering and vodka on the fire. Each of the men stepped up and also gave an offering of vodka. Then, we all lined up and she spewed vodka on our face, down our shirt back and on our head. Yeah – spit it out of her mouth on to us. Weird. Perhaps if I got the whole symbolism thing it wouldn’t seem so odd, but she spit on us.

Anyway, after that, we headed back to town. We killed some time at Vlad’s and then walked over to the Decembrist Museum. Uri (Ora’s host) plays piano there. First, we stopped in at a horse stable – right there in the middle of the city! – where they used the horses to help with invalids and children with mental retardation. Their pupils even compete in the Special Olympics on the horses.

At the museum, there was a concert of some of the music from some famous Russian Opera that I of course am (again) completely clueless about. But, the music was beautiful and we enjoyed ourselves anyway. The concert was over about 8, and Olga brought me home, then we went to a Supermarket where she bought me (among other things) beer and frozen pizza. Yay, America!! :) It’s not as bad as it seems - it was Russian beer and Russian frozen pizza. And, I also had cucumbers and mineral water (a Pepsi product, btw), so that made the dinner even more Russian.

Then another hot shower (woo hoo), some catch up here, it’s 11 p.m., and I’m beat.
I’m going to try to get this online and my new pics, and off to bed. Tomorrow, a Russian prison and another Rotary meeting. If you noticed some weirdness with my pics, apparently unless you have a Pro account, you can only have 200 online at a time with Flickr. Garett graciously upgraded me, so now I have to go in and try and organize all the stuff that is up haphazardly. Perhaps tomorrow… (Seems like I say that a lot, but after all, tomorrow is another day – my nod to Margaret Mitchell). Spakonay Nochi!