On the road

This weekend I will be visiting Kazan, the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. More updates from Nizhny and that trip when I return next week...

(Flag of Kazan)

Shashlik

Last weekend Dima, Ksusha (the host couple with which I am staying) and two American friends relaxed on the bank of the Volga. It was a much appreciated day of rest after a series of excursions to various museums in the area. Dima grilled the shashlik, kebabs popular in Russia and across Central Asia (and very tasty!). Lisa (the family dog) enjoyed playing in the water. Pics below:

Enjoying a picnic on the Volga.

Dima patiently keeping an eye on the shashlik.

Lisa swimming.

The Volga

Updates - finally! Sorry for the delays.

Two weeks ago our group took a short boat trip along the Volga. This afforded a wonderful panaromic view of Nizhny Novgorod and its environs. We had beautiful weather and the pleasant company of several students from the Linguistic University. As part of the choir, a mix of Russian and American songs (lots of Beatles) could be heard from our boat. Below are some pictures:

View of kremlin walls from Volga River.

Industrial bank of Volga River

A mix of Russian and American songs

View from the Window

No matter where I have traveled one of the first things I often do upon arrival is set up my desk or small work station. Space is important to me because I often lose or forget things - an organized area helps keep me on track and maintain some sense of familiarity amidst the extraordinory. The most important aspect to a good desk for me is a window with a good view nearby. I still remember several of my desk spaces at Notre Dame (the best being my senior year and a good view across sports fields that are now becoming homes to new residence halls). My desk in Turkmenistan looked through the veranda into our enclosed court yard and modest garden. Unfortunately my desk in DC is rather limited in view since I reside in a basement apartment. Here in Nizhny Novgorod, on the 11th floor of an old Soviet apartment building, the Volga stretches across my view.

Posted here are two pictures from the view of my window. You can see the large apartment buildings, which one friend on this trip commented look as if they are falling back into the earth. Or that the earth is reclaiming them, vines and trees growing into the cracks of deteriorating cement.

Regardless of what is happening along its embankment, the Volga River continues to flow past. Thursday I will have the opportunity to take a boat ride and observe Nizhny from a distance. More to come from that....

добро пожаловать в Нижний Новгород!

After nearly a week I have finally reached Nizhny Novgorod (N.N.), the city in which I shall study and live these next two months. N.N. is situated about 250 miles east of Moscow, located at the point the Volga and Oka River meet. It reminds me in some ways of my home town of Pittsburgh and our three rivers. The old Kremlin and the major section of the modern city are built at the point where the Oka flows into the Volga. Another major section also spans along the opposite side of the Oka River.

I will be living with a young couple (actully 2 years younger than I!) in a comfortable apartment only about 15 minutes via bus from the university. Both strike me as gentle people, Dmitri a manager at a firm, Ksenia finishing her university degree and looking for a job. I look forward to more interesting conversations as my Russian improves. For now I do much listening and we have been discussing the basics of books and movies.

With this, my second host family experience, I'm noticing that same initial process of getting to know one another and become familiar with one anothers' routines - all without the ability to express some of the most important points through language. I am again impressed by the patience of the host couple to simply let things happen and through our bumping into one another sketch out a plan to co-habitate the same space.

Today I also strolled around the town, but first had to buy a sweater. It's been very cold since my arrival (~8C/50F), but we should be getting up to ~16/60 soon. Under a very cloudy sky, I walked around the town's Kremlin and also around the main shopping area. Local shops stand side-by-side with Puma and Addidas shops. Pizza stands can also be found (including Sbarro), along with a good number of cafes and bars.

Tomorrow morning lessons will begin. Pictures of Nizhny and other interesting (I hope) tales to come.

Peter's City

Legend holds that Peter the Great arrived on the barren marshlands where the Neva river runs into the Baltic Sea in 1703. He was looking for a site to build a fort to defend against the Swedes. As he approached the coast he dismounted from his horse and cut two strips of peat, arranged them in a cross and declared, "Here shall be a town." (See Ch. 1 of Orlando Figes' Natasha's Dance for more on St. Petersburg). Peter, who had traveled throughout Europe in his youth - Amsterdam, England, France, Italy, was determined to connect what he viewed as a provincial land with the great empires of Europe. He brought back designers and eventually imported materials to construct his Venice on the Baltic Sea.

Today St. Petersburg is a shadow of any glorious past it may have once enjoyed. Three grand prospekts burst forth from the Admiralty and run the length of the city. What would it have felt like to ride in horse and carriage along these routes below the towering buildings? Of course, via bus or car the effect is less intimidating, but nonetheless there is a bit of the greatness still pushing down on one's spirit as he or she walks along Nevsky Prospekt.

Compared to other cities of the former Soviet Union, St. Petersburg still maintains a prominent place. It is far more developed than many areas and far more international. English is, for good or for bad, everywhere. In fact, I make this post from a McDonalds next to the hotel. And, throughout the city major renovations are occuring. Amidst the many billboards and posted signs one that could fit quite well would be "Rocciya, budet skoro!" (Russia, coming soon!)
Attached with this post is a slideshow of images from the city. Many were taken from a boat ride along the canals and on the Neva River. As this is the time of year during which "White Lights" occur, the excursion at 10pm was still an ideal time for taking photos. Let me know your impressions.

I leave tomorrow for Nizhny Novgorod via Moscow. More from there...

A Preface by Pushkin

This evening I shall finally depart for St. Petersburg via Frankfurt. Two days of orientation are at an end in the U.S.A., two more to occur on the Neva River. Then one additional flight via Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod.

Despite some initial frustrations, this slow transition is helpful (a) after a long semester and (b) to slowly transition out of English and into Russian. We are asked to take a Russian-only pledge, with the few exceptions being an evening read to refresh and email/blogs. I'm still unsure of how this blog will develop, but perhaps as the details of the program become more obvious, so will my thoughts. For now I leave you with the dedication of Alexander Pushkin's poem "Eugene Onegin," since all things Russian should now become the focus of these entries...

Heedless of the proud world's enjoyment,
I prize the attention of my friends,
and only wish that my employment
could have been turned to worthier ends -
worthier of you in the perfection
your soul displays, in holy dreams,
in simple but sublime reflection,
in limpid verse that lives and gleams.
But, as it is, this pied collection
begs your indulgence - it's been spun
from threads both sad and humoristic,
themes populor or idealistic,
products of carefree hours, of fun,
of sleeplessness, faint inspirations,
of powers unripe, or on the wane,
of reason's icy intimations,
and records of a heart in pain.

P.S.: Pictures will be added soon.