My whole Russian Visa Fiasco started in April when I first applied for a visa at the Russian Embassy in Moldova. Failure sent me to Ukraine, Finland, and finally to Estonia where I was able to acquire a visa! However, success didn't feel as it should have being that my 30 day visa had turned into 9 days, and my seven city itinerary had turned into two.
Despite my disappointment in the length of the Russian leg of my trip, I could not stop smiling while going through the airport song-and-dance to get to my first Siberian city, Novosibirsk.
I got to the airport in Riga, Latvia four hours early expecting problems. Just as my brilliant mind had prepared me, so I received my problems. I wasn't in the computer for the flight. I complained that I had done everything online and that there were no paper tickets, it was all electrical. I even showed her all the numbers I had written down from the confirmation email I received. "Those are billing numbers, not flight reservation numbers," she politely informed me. I had to hold in my thought of, 'Well, what the hell do you think I paid for?' Soon enough, however, she managed to locate someone on the phone who could verify that indeed I did pay for a ticket. Thanks! I arrived to Moscow at 10 pm and had four hours to find my connecting flight. Turns out, I needed all four hours.
Sitting in the Sheremetyevo airport, I stared at the flight information screen, dumbfounded at not being able to find my connection. After some time, I managed to find an information booth that still had a worker inside. She informed me that I was at the wrong terminal and that I'd have to take a bus to number 2. OK. Standing at the bus stop, I couldn't help but notice that no buses were coming. Hmmm. In super rough Russian I asked a gal standing near me if she new when the bus came. "Very rarely." she responded. Super. I went back inside and located a different information booth and asked again about my connecting flight. Banking on good old Russian inconsistency, I was rewarded with shuttle transfer information! In less than an hour, I was at terminal 2, standing in another security line.
I had forgotten to pour out my water when I got up to the x-ray machine and figured that security would simply confiscate it when I got there. Nope. My one liter water bottle was 2/3 full and the lady behind the x-ray let it slide! She said something to me, but upon seeing my patented smile-of-confusion that I gave her, she just turned to her colleague, shrugged and laughed. So I continued on to the gate.
I stood in a small room with a bunch of other people waiting for the shuttle to take us to the plane. I could see three no-smoking signs from where I stood. I could also see six people huddled around a trash can just beneath one of the signs - all of them smoking. The ticket guy walked through and said what I thought to be, "Hey, dumbasses, can't you see the signs? They say 'No Smoking!'" But perhaps he said something more to the affect of, "Hello." because the six smokers just looked up at him and then continued smoking.
After my lengthy night flight and quite a few time zones later, I found myself in Novosibirsk - the capital of Siberia and the center of Russia! I chose Novosibirsk as one of my two Russian cities because it's the hub for science in Russia. I had big dreams of setting up a discussion group with some science students or scientists to talk about the history of Russia's contributions to science. My host's brother was a PhD in physics. Her other brother, and her father were PhDs in Chemistry. My host was a fantastic gal that studied marketing, and she showed me a very unique side of Russia.
First on our agenda was a cat show. Not super scientific, but interesting in a certain light. Judges from all over Russia and one from Germany scored the cats of wacky cat-owners. I've never seen so much stress in a room over whether or not you could shake the brains out of a cat and have it not hiss or swipe at you. Pet-people are strange. Next up, was a cosmetics show.
Just as bizarre as the cat show, the cosmetics show was something I've never experienced. I was one of only three guys in the crowd, which to me was cool but seeing their faces I could tell they didn't share my opinion. The show was marketed as an instructional deal that my host's friend scored tickets to. But it ended up being a big sales pitch with mild entertainment and lunch. At least the lunch was nice. I spent my last remaining time in Novosibirsk with my host and her friends at the city's 115th birthday celebration! It was a wild event! Streets were closed down and stages were erected all over the center. On the stages were different kinds of performances - youth dance teams that competed against each other, orchestras and opera singers, as well as some pop stars singing their silly pop music! It was a high energy day that not even the rain could spoil. The dance team competitions were my favorite. Different styles of Russian dance, traditional and modern, done with such enthusiasm and grace! I could have watched them forever!
My host took me to the train station for my departure from Novosibirsk. I took a leg of the Trans Siberian Railway that lasted 32.5 hours! Upon finding my place on the train, I discovered that two people were sitting in it. This was because their beds were above mine and mine was the communal area. So I got to share!
I really didn't know how anything worked, but before long the people near my place were all engaged in conversation with me. No one, of course, spoke English. We relied on my Bulgarian skills, which were taxed to the max! I felt like I was speaking like a beginner all over again - But I guess that's because I was. I was a beginning Russian speaker!
We managed to chat about all kinds of things - what I was doing there, politics, food, jokes, vodka, etc. The food thing was fun - All through Russia I was asked about cheeseburgers in America. "Is that why all Americans are fat?" and "Do you normally eat cheeseburgers for breakfast?" were common questions I received. I guess they're as blind as my question of, "Will someone please drink vodka with me?" I didn't get one single chance to try Russian vodka with Russians. I couldn't even find anyone that drank it. Sure there were stories... But no one wanted to drink with me. As the 32.5 hours of time progressed, I became "Andrewsha" to my new friends. The 'sha' ending on the name is a cute way of talking to your friends. I arrived in Irkutsk late at night and had problems finding my host, but eventually I managed. My time in Irkutsk was largely not worth writing about, except for another festival that I happened upon. I'm lucky that way.
The Boyatski Festival celebrated the Asian tribes/people of Russia. They did all kinds of performances and blew my mind with what they could get their bodies to do! My favorite was the three person jump-rope! Dang!
Finally, my visa was set to expire so I jumped on another train bound for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It lasted 34 hours, but my time was easily spent conversing with a young couple on their honeymoon. He was from Australia and she was from Ireland. They'd been living in England and were taking a few months to travel to Australia. We shared travel stories and laughs - and finally, a bottle of vodka!I had come to Russia with only a few days to find a project. I had hoped for a discussion group about science as a means to enter the mentality here and gain a new perspective. As I sat on the train with my new friends, telling them all about my Russian experience, I realized that my visa issues, festivals, shows, hosts, and adventures spoke loads about Russia itself. I smiled at the thought of being able to learn so much from a country in such a little amount of time. And with that I mentally prepared myself for my final destination - Mongolia!
A Mongolian police officer joined us in our cabin for the border crossing. He had been a participant in the Boyatski Festival in Irkutsk. As we crossed, Mongolian customs officials boarded the train, collected our passports, opened our bags, and searched the cabin. Our new buddy, grabbed our half-finished bottle of vodka from under some blankets where we hid it. I thought he was going to rat us out! I was pissed! But before I knew it, he was bribing the head customs officer with our vodka! He poured a big glass for him and the officer sat down with us. Hell if I was gonna let him drink all our vodka so I grabbed the mug and took some down between his sips! Ha! It was the wildest thing, ever! And our cabin mate did the same thing with the next official that came in, too!
Our vodka disappeared quickly, but I didn't complain because how often do you get a chance to drink with border officials?! We figure our buddy was bribing the officials because he was transporting weapons from the festival and didn't want to have to explain them. It worked. If you can't drink vodka with Russians, by heck, you certainly can with Mongolian border officials! Mongolia ought to be an interesting place.
1 comments:
Cheeseburgers for breakfast?! Brilliant!
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