Riga

View from the top of a church tower.

Shifting Perspective

I just went on *another* short break, and I'm still trying to catch up with myself. Apologies to all my regular readers. We just went to Riga, Latvia and Vilnius, Lithuania.

As we crossed the Russian border, I felt some release of tension that has accumulated just by living here the past few months. When we got to our hostel in Riga, the staff greeted us with a free beer for each person. You know your frame of reference has changed if life at a hostel seems like a dramatic step up from your current quality of life.

Tap water was drinkable, even without boiling for 10 minutes. Toilets were free, had lids, seats, a steady supply of toilet paper, flushed without overflowing, didn't smell like sewage and bathrooms weren't full of old shoes, newspapers, jars, bottles, cans, drying laundry or pets. Internet access was free, readily available, and lacked bandwith restrictions. Rooms were clean (well those sheets might be questionable) and well-lit. Staff was friendly and customer-service oriented. Coffee and tea were free for all guests.

During the trip, I suffered a bit from reverse culture shock. Everything felt so European. The streets were clean - no snow or dirt. No one spit on the streets. Streets weren't full of drunk, raging alcoholics at all hours of the day. I didn't see any potholes on roads or sidewalks. There was not a general state of disrepair, on streets or in buildings. I didn't see any 14 year olds running around with bottles of beer at 9 am. I was not accosted by a single drunk man. Taxi and bus drivers appeared to be sober.

Restaurants were friendly and seemed to want customers. You didn't have to wait for a long time and they didn't swear at you if they thought your group was too big. Tables weren't reserved for people who never showed up. The kitchen didn't close 90 mins before the restaurant did. Food used spices and salad didn't have mayonnaise on it. Half of the menu did not consist of cigarettes and the various types of vodka, cognac, beer, wine and other alcohol you could buy.

There were no traffic police hovering at 20 foot intervals to fine pedestrians for crossing without a signal, or cars whose drivers hadn't done anything illegal, but looked wealthy enough to pay bribes to avoid any 'trouble'. People on the street smiled, said hello, and even hugged you.

All in all, I was a little cranky on the train back...

I'm Melting

The snow is disappearing rapidly - it's not all gone yet, but will be soon. A very short, very warm winter in Russia. And I still haven't been cross-country skiing. The weather has changed just enough that it's all drizzle, all the time. No sky, lots of clouds. I wonder how winter has fared across the rest of the world.

Those Hooligans

They did it again. I swear, every time I reach a point in this job where I want to pull my hair out, my students set me right again. I've been sitting here trying to grade everyone's midterms, which I should have finished over the weekend. At the height of my exasperation, I learned one of my old students was downstairs looking for me. I stomped down the stairs, resenting the interruption to the moment I was having with my cup of coffee.

Thursday is "International Women's Day". Kind of like mother's day, but for all women. Like Valentine's Day, there's a run on sales of flowers and chocolate. On Wednesday, her college is having some sort of celebration/performance, in which she is taking part. She stopped by because she wanted to invite me to attend as her guest. I hope I can go. Sometime on Wednesday, we head to Moscow to catch the night train to Riga. It would be nice to fit both events in.

Shortly after saying good-bye to her, I was mugged by some of last semester's students, who all said they missed me and planted about 95 kisses on my cheek while hugging all the air out of my lungs.

Hooligans.

San Francisco Style

Even the Bay Area food/fitness lifestyle craze is spreading

A Great Run

Last weekend, we had a small break and I went to St. Petersburg to visit my sister. On the last day of my trip, a large group of us met up at a park for a hash run. During this run, which lasts about 40 minutes, you run as a group, looking for trail markings that tell you which way to go, and yelling "on, on!" to anyone behind you so they know you're headed in the right direction.

You can imagine the facial expressions of the Russians we passed, who were leisurely strolling about on a fairly cold day, as we went tearing by screaming "ON, ON!!". Here are a few pictures of our journey. The forest was beautiful.

After the finish, we trekked back to "CitiBar", across the street from the American Consulate. A great place, they let us stow our gear there during the run, and had real eggs benedict waiting when we got back (I called ahead to see if we could place an order since I had to leave for the train station right after we got back). Food has never tasted so good.

The Mighty Dollar

Perhaps less mighty now, yet the dollar store is everywhere...

The Ants Go Marching One By One....

In case anyone missed this important news flash (taken from FoxNews):

Swiss Troops Accidentally Invade Lichtenstein
ZURICH, Switzerland — What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers from the neutral country wandered more than a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story, but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion. "We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem," Daniel Reist told The Associated Press on Friday. Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.

Interior Ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. "It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something," he said.

Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington, D.C., does not have an army.

A string of luck

So I've been on holiday. Literally and figuratively. I took a small break from all commitments, written, electronic, and otherwise. In the spirit of honoring an "old Russian tradition", I kicked back and did nothing for a bit. It was nice. Now, I'm back. :)

After sending my final paper in, a series of fortunate events happened within the span of 24 hours. First, a package arrived in the mail with a very nice, embroidered jacket from Norwich University enclosed (a gift for finishing the last class). My teacher graded my paper incredibly quickly - sending back an "A" and a note that if I work on it, it might be publishable in the Journal of African Affairs. That night, some of my old students and the other teachers dragged me out to a local cafe, where we bought a bottle of wine and toasted my finishing school. AND I got a lucky ticket on the bus for my first time ever since moving here.

Let me explain. When you buy a bus ticket, it has 6 numbers on it. A "lucky" ticket is one where the sum of the first 3 digits equals the sum of the last 3 digits. (would this ever be a hobby in America?) If you get a lucky ticket, you're supposed to eat it. I didn't eat mine, but I did save it, and I was very excited.

Celebrate

Why? Well, I am celebrating the completion of my master's degree today. You're invited to the party.

Much to the amusement of our security guard, I spent the night on the couch, after staying up until 2 am to finish my final paper.

Urrah! Finis :)

Surreality

Sometimes, the juxtaposition of times and cultures is amazing.

On Sept 11th, there was a huge documentary on TV about the attacks against America. Everyone I knew was watching it. Some of my students came up to me to say they were thinking about America on this day. Newspapers and TV stations stopped by the school to "Interview the Americans and Discuss Their Feelings on the 9/11 Anniversary".

My host family sat me down on the couch with them so we could all watch the documentary together. Although I couldn't follow the words, certainly the story was familiar.

Afterwards, we sat and looked through some of my host mother's old photos, especially the ones from when she was a summer counselor for the Young Pioneers (communist youth organization during the Soviet Union).

How Does That Work, Exactly?

In a surprising presidential election in Turkmenistan, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov won only 89% of the vote. Mr Berdymukhamedov had been acting-president since the death in December of Saparmurat Niyazov, who had ruled the country for more than two decades. The opposition was not allowed to field any candidates.

If you're the only person being voted for 1) what's the point? 2) How do you get anything other than 100% of the vote?

Happy Valentines Day

To all the people I love in my life.

I don't usually "do" anything for this holiday, but some of my students brought chocolates and small cards to class last night. They're currently decorating my desk, which is piled with: apples, peanut butter, flash cards, a Skype headset, a bag of flour, an empty plate, a Big Sur article and Forbes Top 100 Companies to Work For 2007.

Underneath, on the floor: a bag of Starbucks Christmas blend, some Hershey kisses, and The Complete Fitness Ball Workout Kit.

It's like Margaret Thatcher's purse (which famously had everything you ever need in life inside), only on an Ikea table.

This is how I survive my days.

Off With Her Head

Well, that's an easy way to get rid of folks you don't like...

President Authorized to Suspend Governors from Office
"On February 9, Russia’s State Duma will consider in the first reading the bill authorizing the president to suspend from office a governor should he/she face the criminal charges, irrespective of crime’s heaviness. The president will be entitled to remove a governor by application of the prosecutor general."

In the past few years, several governors have been charged with (not convicted of) various "crimes". This tactic has been used since 2004, when Putin enacted a law that did away with all popular elections for governors. Support for such centralized control by the Kremlin was not difficult to gain because of the Beslan school attack.

"Popular or not, an incumbent knows what could happen if he refuses to go quietly: They might be charged with abuse of office or mishandling finances... Samara Governor Konstantin Titov was charged Dec. 30 with endorsing a $10 million loan on preferential terms to a private firm that later disappeared. Vladimir Butov, governor of the Nenets autonomous district, was given a three-year suspended sentence Dec. 31 on charges of beating a traffic policemen. Butov insists that the case is politically motivated..." (from 2004)

Wall

When you first arrive in a foreign country, the noise all around you is like a giant wall. Massive. Impenetrable. In a way, it's cool. Everyone else is restricted to reacting to the meaning of sounds. You can walk down the street in complete freedom. Separate. Independent. Utterly uninformed...

Gradually, cracks form in the surface of the wall. Little words start to slip through. Words for food and time and please and thank you. This is the stage I'm in now.

I think cracks continue to grow, and one day, the wall crumbles so you can see the other side. I wait for this day.

Until then, my Russian teacher has told me that I have no accent. Also no vocabulary. No grammar. But, no accent.