Khabarovsk to Chita

The city of Khabarovsk.

          After Vladivostok, we took an overnight train to Khabarovsk. We were both surprised at what a beautiful city it was. We especially enjoyed the boardwalk on the river Amur. There was one snag though, when we arrived in the morning to Khabarovsk, we had no accommodations. I had looked for hotel rooms beforehand, but everything was booked. I figured we could find an apartment to rent for a few nights without a problem, but the woman at the apartment desk didn't think she could rent to us because we were foreigners. She was nice enough to call a hotel for us and got us a place to stay. Thinking it wasn't too far, we decided to walk. It ended up being over a mile of walking with our really heavy backpacks. 

View of the River Amur in Khabarovsk.

         We arrived at our new resting place sweaty and tired.  After resting and showering, we took a walk around the city. There was the River Amur, and some beautiful churches and old buildings. We found the Harley Davidson bar, and while we were snapping some photos in front of it, we heard a lot of commotion. A group of Communists marched by, with signs for the return of communism. It was interesting to see such an open display of opposition to the current government.

         The next day we walked around the city some more, saw the bazaar, and went to the regional museum. The museum was a pleasant surprise with many old photos of life in the area, a sizeable collection of WWII artifacts, and numerous sections displaying different periods of the region's history. There were geological pieces, flora and fauna and even a woolly mammoth tusk that was found in the 1950s.

          The next morning we got up early and caught a taxi ride to the train station. Initially, we wanted to go to a city called Birobidzhan, but time did not allow. Birobidzhan is the main city in the Jewish Autonomous region in Russia. During the Stalin era, this region was designated for all of the Jews in Russia to move to. Nowadays, the population is about 11% Jewish and the train station sign is in Hebrew and Russian. Unfortunately, the bus schedule to this town and our train schedule didn't match up, so we didn't get to go there. We did change trains there, but didn't have enough time to snap a photo of the sign. 

           Our train from Khabarovsk to Chita began one of the most memorable parts of our trip thus far. We went kupe this round, so we had two beds in a four bed compartment. We had only one bunkmate who was an Uzbek national, who spoke very little Russian. He had a friend who was in another compartment who was also Uzbek, but spoke good Russian. His name was Sasha and he became our best friend for the next 42 hours to Chita. Sasha acted as a roving ambassador on the train and we never knew what collection of passengers Sasha was going to bring to our compartment next to open and finish a bottle of vodka. He passed the day drinking and telling others that there were Americans on the train. In the middle of the night, we were joined by Fyodor, dad's railroad colleague and our traveling guide. He drives passenger trains here in Russia and he and Dad had much to talk about with me acting as translator. He was on his way to Lake Baikal to enjoy some fishing with an Army buddy. Our train companions were mostly male, and in this part of the world, men talk with other men so Dad was a celebrity and I was much in demand only to serve as his translator. It seemed as though every 5 minutes someone was asking me to tell my father this, or to translate something for Dean. 

Dad, Sasha. Roma. Fyodor and Mischa in our party kupe.

        Several hours before our departure from the train, we had a party of 8 people in our 4 person compartment, and a few others out in the hallway. The party was in full swing, and even though we were not drinking, there was plenty of vodka and beer being passed around. Our new friends knew that we would depart the train in Chita at 3 AM. They insisted on staying awake to see us off. They carried our bags out of the train, there were hugs and handshakes, and a few photos were taken as well. They were worried that we would be bored on the rest of our trip without them, and we worried that they might be right! 

Marchabara (our Uzbek compartment-mate), Fyodor, Sasha and Dad.

        One of our train friends, Mischa, said good-bye to us at about midnight because he was tired and wanted to go to bed. An hour later, he was back in the hallway with a beer, ready to see us off. In a calmer moment, we exchanged autographed money from each of our countries. He has a dollar with our signatures and we have a 50 ruble note with his and Fyodor's signatures. A nice memory of our run in with celebrity status on the Trans-Siberian.

         Once in Chita, we spent a day orienting ourselves to the city. We got a late start, due to our 3 AM arrival that morning. Chita is not an overly beautiful city, but it has some architectural gems, a grand orthodox church and even a Subway sandwich shop! The next day we wanted to see some Buddhist complexes, called Datsyns, with temples, a monk's training school and other buildings of the local Buryat people. We had to take a 2 hour van ride out to a village called Aginskoe. The terrain out to the village offered some spectacular views of mountains lined with birch and pine trees and many grass covered valleys.

Our celebrity status as Americans continued on the van ride to Aginskoe. Two more Russian railroad colleagues of Dad's were in the seats behind us. It was about 9 AM, which was not too early for them to be drinking beer. Once again, my role was relegated to translator for my father. Frequent shoulder taps were followed by requests to translate questions or anecdotes for my father. At one point I took the liberty of answering a question without translating to my dad, and was quickly told that the question was not for me, but for my father. 

Aginskoe Datsan

          In Aginskoe, we found a taxi driver to take us to the datsan, who would wait there while we poked around. It was really beautiful and unlike other architecture in the area. We saw a few Buddhist monks and heard the prayer bells. Once back in the village proper, we went to the village museum, and were given a personal tour of the upstairs. We learned about the Buryat people, and saw pictures from 1991 when the Dalai Lama came to visit the village. Caught the van back to the city, and found a nice Georgian restaurant and ate some tasty eggplant dish for dinner.

Gate to one of the Datsans.

\\The log church in Chita built in 1771.  It also houses the Decemberist Museum.

          

          Spent our last day in Chita at the bazaar, art museum, log church, and the Decemberist museum. We leave on the train tonight to Ulan Ude, where we plan to take in more sights on our way to Lake Baikal.  That's all for now, and I'll try to keep you posted of my travels as translator for Dean's celebrity tour of Eastern Russia. 

Vladivostok

       Our seven weeks of travel has begun.  I met my dad at the Moscow airport on November 1st.  He was nervous that somehow we wouldn't find each other in the massive airport, but we managed to meet up at the gate to our flight to Vladivostok. Not long after we met up, it was time to board our 9 hour flight from Moscow to Vladivostok, in the eastern most part of Russia.  We arrived at about noon on Wednesday.  There was a long cab ride from the airport to the city, including a traffic jam, which our taxi driver navigated with ease.  He safely deposited us at our hotel.  Our hotel was a weird structure that has been built into the side of a cliff.  All you can see from street level is the doorway inside.  Each room has a balcony overlooking the Amursky Gulf.

The view from our hotel room.  Construction site and then the gulf.

 We spent most of our time touring the streets, looking at statues and architecture.  We also admired all of the improvements they are making for a summit of world leaders to take place in September of 2012.  Yesterday, we took a tour of Fort Number 7.  It was one of 16 underground forts the Russians built from the late 1800's to the 1920's.  This particular fort housed about 400 soldiers and allowed them to patrol the nearby waterways from the coast.  Our guide, Gregor, was a character in every sense of the word.  He gave us lanterns to light our way through the dark and damp tunnels in the fort.  He pronounced America and Russia to be friends and we left there with a new buddy.

The view of the bay from Fort Number 7

Dad and our guide Gregor at the entrance to the fort.

Inside the one of the fort's many underground passageways.

Dad at Nicholai's arch.

Today, we walked around some more.  Saw the World War II monument, took the funicular up a hill to get some nice city views and ate some really terrible pizza.  It started to rain a bit, so we headed to the hotel to get some wi-fi and plan other legs of our trip.  We leave on the train tonight to Khabarovsk and will send another update the next time we get internet.

Wall listing names of soldiers who died in WWII from the Vladivostok area.

View of the city.

     

I think it's gonna be a long, long, time...

Dear Readers,

I said goodbye to Petropavlovsk on Tuesday, the 25th. The emotional toll of saying goodbye to friends, fellow volunteers, and my students was heavy. It was raining when I left, and a friend told me that Mother Nature was crying about my departure as well. Following my last 31 hour train ride, in Kazakhstan at least, I arrived in Almaty. I'm now going through the Peace Corps' Close of Service process (paperwork, giving stool samples, etc.). It's crazy to think that my service is coming to an end. There were times that it went by really slowly, but these past two months have flown by.
After a few days here, doing paperwork and visiting friends and my old host family, I'll board a plane bound for Russia on November 1st. My dad and I will meet in Moscow at the airport, then fly immediately to Vladivostok to begin our trip on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, on through to Mongolia, and then further south into China. Following seven weeks of travel, we'll land in Boston on December 21st. I'm overjoyed to go back to the U.S.; the land of bagels, Mexican food, English speakers, and free speech, where I haven't been for more than two years. However, the thought of leaving here and not knowing when, if ever, I will return has been sad to think about.
I've moved several times in my adult life, but most of those places are easy enough to get back to. The possibility always remained that I would go back and visit friends and favorite haunts. I have both of those things here in Petropavlovsk, but the likelihood of coming back and the logistics make leaving here seem very permanent and final.
My students and colleagues at the orphanage kept asking when I would go back to America. I told them that I would leave them on October 25th. They told me I should come back, but if I don't they'll write me and maybe one day visit me in America. I hope that comes true. Of all the things I will miss in Kazakhstan, it is the people that I will miss most.
I have been really busy these last few months, and have been bad about updating this blog. As I got used to life here, it was harder to find topics to write about. Also, blogs are blocked here and it was difficult to gain access sometimes. Excuses aside, I hope you have enjoyed reading my posts, and maybe I will include some updates from our trip. Thanks for reading and hope to see you stateside soon!

I'll leave you with a list of things I will miss and things I'm looking forward to.

Things I will miss:
- the craziness of public transportation
- speaking Russian all of the time
- local friends and Peace Corps Volunteers
- being a celebrity, just because I'm American
- Russian food/Uighur food

Things I'm looking forward to:
- being able to drive myself places
- speaking English
- family and friends
- blending in
- real vegetarian food!

Where Is My Mind?

      

      Here it is, the blog post you've been waiting for!  Yes, it's that time of year again.  Time to shed all fears about the cold, having wet hair outside, catching pneumonia and dive in to the frozen Ishim River.  Yes folks, I'm talking about Kreshenya.  Loyal readers (all 3 of you) may remember a post from last January about some crazy volunteers and local folks who jumped in the river in -30 degree weather.  Around these parts, that day is known as Kreshenya.  It's a religious holiday for those in the Russian Orthodox faith and is supposed to act as a "re-baptism".  Believers do it once a year on January 19th.  The water is believed to be holy on this day and folks who don't take the plunge take some water to keep in their homes for the year.  They use it to calm crying babies, ward away sickness, etc.   

The frozen Ishim River on Kreshenya.

       A lot of local people who are not of this faith also participate in the festivities because people do believe that dipping in the river keeps you healthy for one year.  In past years, volunteers have invited other volunteers from around Kazakhstan to participate in the fun.  I did the same, and found 8 brave souls willing to make the trek up to Petropavlovsk.  They helped out at my orphanage and did teacher trainings so that their time up here would also be work related.  My students really enjoyed having them around and I'll post soon about that.  

Waling single file on our short detour to the river.

    
     We gathered at around 11 AM to get the bus out to the river.  Some miscommunication with the conductor meant we got out about 2 stops to early.  No worries, we just added another 10-15 minutes to our journey in some pretty cold weather.  On the bright-side, my friends got to see a little more of my city.  We got a few stares from the locals.  It's not everyday that a giant group of Americans comes traipsing through your neighborhood. 



Waiting my turn to get some water. 

    We arrived at the river, and I was surprised to see a large number of people there.  Last year is was probably -35C or more.  This year it was closer to -27C/-16F, and so more people came to participate.  My counterpart from the orphanage had to work and couldn't make it to the river.  She asked me to bring her some water, which was our first order of business. 



Getting the water with bare hands. 
Makes you think twice about jumping in!



My Russian tutor Lena, and me.

    Once we had the water it was time to do the dip.  About 10 of us were dipping so we decided to go in shifts.  We needed to be quick bcause we knew once people had dipped they would want to get out of there quicly and go to the banya (kind of like a sauna).  I kind of handn't decided if I would really do this, so I was able to procrastinate a little more when I scored a spot in the second shift.  



    I prepared myself for the worst, and thought I would feel like dying when I got out of the water, so I was pleasantly surprised that this experience wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  My fingers and toes were not happy with me, but other than that, it wasn't that bad.  I was glad I participated, as this was my last opportunity to do so.  It was nice to share this experience with some equally crazy volunteers.  So, enjoy these frozen photos and leave some comments.  If this post doesn't generate some comments, I don't know what will!

This guy makes it look easy.

Waiting my turn...

Testing the waters...

Are we having fun yet?

Afterward, my feet wouldn't work.  I needed help to put my  flip flops on!



After the dip, some really cold volunteers got on the marshrutka  and headed straight for the sauna!  The look on Hannah's face (on the right) says it all!





Reflections and the Road Ahead

      Two updates in one week!  What is going on?  Well, there have been a lot of changes here in the past month and the upcoming months will yield a few more.  Thought I should keep you guys updated.  So after my family left in September, I attended a conference with my training mates at the Peace Corps office in Almaty.  We got to bring one person from our workplace and learned some new information to apply at our sites.  As always, it was good for the 9 of us to get together and here about the good work that everyone is doing.  It was also helpful for my work situation and I seem to have more freedom this year. 

     After the training, I went back to site ready to start work on some real projects.  I started this school year more confident in my Russian skills and with a greater understanding of what I wanted to accomplish in my time at the orphanage.  I got a few clubs up and running and want to start a volunteer group, but have had a few road blocks in my way.  My project will hopefully be successful, but is kind of on hold until December. 
    
      October brought a lot of changes.  Two of my site mates, Niall and Katie, had finished their two years in Petropavlovsk as Peace Corps Volunteers and have left the city.  Niall left early in October as he had some job prospects in the U.S.  Katie left at the end of October and she and I will travel together to Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey.  It is really hard to imagine Petro without them, but time will tell.  I moved into Katie's apartment and left my host family that I have lived with for one year.  That was really hard on all of us, but it was time to live on my own.  Those Americans and their love for independence...

      While I'm on vaction with Katie, the new group of volunteers will come up to their sites on November 7th.  In my city, we will get one new volunteer and two more volunteers in surrounding villages.  It will be nice to have some new faces in our neck of the woods.  It's hard to believe that one year ago, I came up to Petropavlovsk for the first time as a newly sworn-in Peace Corps Volunteer. 

    It's been a crazy year, but one I wouldn't trade for anything.  It was a dream of mine for a long time to join the Peace Corps and while it hasn't been easy, I have no regrets.  This has probably been the most challenging thing I've ever done.  It's difficult to describe what makes it so challenging, maybe it's the language barrier, the new surroundings, different culture, 24/7 work environment, who knows?  Regardless of the challenges, it's still a lot of fun: meeting new people, having crazy experiences, working with kids, exploring cultural differences and similarities, among other things. 

     So, I have one year left.  There is a lot I want to accomplish in that time so that I can leave here next November feeling like I made good use of my time.  Then I can return home to all of you and share my crazy stories in person! 

9/16/2010

Johnsons in Kazakhstan!  Most of you have read Sarah's blog about my family's trip to Kazakhstan.   If not, I'll direct you there to read all about our trip: http://sarahjb.posterous.com/   I've decided not to rehash it here, since she did such a great job of describing everything. 

We had a busy two weeks as we traveled from Almaty to Shymkent to Astana to Petropavlovsk.  It was great to see my family and words cannot express what it meant to see them after all this time.  I'm lucky they traveled here to see me, and I know the 24 hour train trip, squat toilets, and stiff beds were not their idea of a relaxing vacation.  They were good sports and they left with a greater understanding of my life here and met some great people on the way.  So enjoy some photo highlights of our trip and I'll post an update soon.  In the meantime, if you happen to run into my parents I hear they have a 200+ photo album of their journey.  They may even ask you to look at it, so beware!  Make your excuses early, unless you have a few hours to spare...

Mom in wearing some traditional dress in Almaty.

Turkestan Mausoleum

The "sardine can", otherwise known as our train to Astana.

Baiterek Monument in Astana.  It has become a national symbol for Kazakhstan.  You can take an elevator up it and look out over Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan). 

Some modern buildings in Astana.  The city has been greatly built up since being named the new capital in 1997.

My apartment building in Petropavlovsk

My counterpart and some of our students on the first day of school.

Some of the kids at our orphanage, waiting for the 1st day of school festivities to start.

Two of our students, Indira and Olya doing a dance for our opening bell ceremony at school.

Us at the art museum in Petropavlovsk

My host mom and sister in Petro.  Ready for the 1st day of school.

Me and some of our 1st and 2nd graders.  They are so cute!

Dad at the bazaar in Petro.

Dad dressed up like Ablai Khan.

Sarah wearing a traditional Turkmen hat. 

  

Our last photo together for a while...It was a fun visit!

Walking in the rain in Enbek to visit my first host family.

My host mom and my mom making noodles from scratch.

Feast that greeted us in Enbek, prepared by my host family from training.

The main bazaar in Shymkent.  If you can't find it here, you don't need it!

Sarah's getting a call on her cell phone cookie.  These were her favorite.

Sarah, Stacey , my host mom, her son and his new wife, Guzyela, me, Dad

Toasting to new friends in Enbek.  It was neat that my real family got the chance to meet my host family from training.  We had a great time visiting them, and my family got to experience village life!  Can you say outhouse?

World War II monument in Almaty

View of Almaty from Kok Tobe Cable Car

Family we met at the cable car.  They were very excited to meet and be photographed with Americans.

Train to Shymkent.  Tight quarters, but a nice ride!

Selling melons in Shymkent

Dried fruit and nuts at the bazaar in Shymkent

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Turkestan Mausoleum

Flea market in Shymkent.  There you could buy old soviet coins, car parts, busts of Lenin, pots and pans, anything you could imagine!

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