The Countdown

This may be our last blog from the great country of Russia!!! I think I can speak for us all when I say this has been an amazing and wonderful experience. We have all experienced the ups and downs of such a trip but as we near the end we are both excited to get home to our loved ones and sad that it has come to an end! On one hand it has gone by so fast but on the other we feel like we have been away forever. We have been told that Russia is the land of contradictions and I am beginning to feel that this sentiment may be rubbing off on us as well.
We have our final presentation this evening at the District Conference here in St. Petersburg and then we will are finally going to get our boat ride. Sarah is especially excited about the trip on the river. I look forward to seeing everyone and can't wait to tell you all about the trip and beware I have over a thousand pictures!!! I'll try to post once more, who knows if we will even sleep tonight!!!! Have I told you that it is only dark for a few hours??? Craziness!! :)

Impressions of Russia

For the past month we have been guests of Rotarians in Ivanovo, Vladimir, Moscow, Cherepovets, and Saint Petersburg, while Rotarians in Massachusetts and Rhode Island hosted a team of Russians. At Rotary meetings we talked about ourselves, our homes, families, and work places. Here’s a list of some of the people I’d like to thank and some of my impressions of Russia after this exchange. This was a special dream of our District Governor Steve Silverman and his wife Amy-Jo, both of whom are of Russian heritage, and who worked with Russian District Governor Vladimir Vasilkov for overcome obstacles to make this dream come true.

I remember how welcome it was to connect with Thomas Kaufman at Domodoevo Airport when we landed, who treated us to pizza, and helped with getting us off to Ivanovo.

The first place I stayed was with Viktor and Nadezhda Dormidontova’s. At their beautiful home we experienced the Russian banya for the first time, and sat for hours around a fire, eating, drinking, and enjoying the company of a circle of friends. We had a very interesting visit to the old village of Plyos where I think someone tried to marry us in an izba. Her son Alexei gave us a memorable night time tour of Ivanovo’s monuments and night clubs.

In Vladimir we toured the city and nearby Suzdal, seeing many recently restored churches and monasteries. I am especially grateful to Colonel Viktor Lebedev who made sure we got a close up view of the Victory Day celebration in the main square. The size and solemnity of the occasion reminded us the great sacrifices Russia made to defeat fascism. By restoring its monuments and remembering its dead, Russia showed me it is a nation that remembers its past to build a better future. I also will never forget a five minute visit to the cottage of Sergey Nikonorev’s aunt which turned into dinner with three shots of vodka. The vodka bottle didn’t have a label, but it was very good.

In Moscow we saw the famous Red Square and made use of its very impressive transit system. In museums I saw many ornate treasures, clothes, and coaches from a ruling class which may have taken more than its fair share of society’s resources, and was swept away. I am grateful for the two days Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Aaron Blomme spent with us, showing us the graveyard by Novoe Dorimdetovo Monastery, where writers, composers, and artists are given equal honor to politicians and generals in death. Aaron is Russian Orthodox and he took us to Mass where we saw firsthand a spiritual revival in Russia.

In Cherepovets no effort was spared to make our trip interesting and full of activity. They were a hard working club with many members and their friends feeding, housing and entertaining us. We got to tour the Severstal steel mill, through the efforts of incoming president Svetlana Chelnokova and her husband Pavel. It is quite honestly not a particularly beautiful place, but our modern life such requires such places and those who work there. They also hosted a fishing trip at their nearby dacha. We were no threat to the fish, but again there was a circle of friends, lots of food and drink, and good conversation. At the end of our stay president Sergey Murshkin and I agreed to start a book exchange program of English and Russian books with his Rotary club and mine, because there are a lot of people there who want to improve their English language skills, and I will look for opportunities to get Russian language courses in my town.

Here in St. Petersburg we had the pleasure of meeting President D. K. Lee’s representative Dan Moores and his wife Shirley. We have been guests of the White Nights Rotary Club and the International Rotary Club. Rotarians Natalya Nikolaeva, Irina Zavolokina, and Marina Drobysheva have taken us to every major tourist attraction in the city. Igor Gorshkov arranged a very interesting tour for John and I of a business incubator for applied science affiliated with the local polytechnic university. For me, the moving thing was the opportunity to see the ballet Swan Lake in Russia. I just lost my mother last summer, and Tchaikovsky was her favorite composer. Listening to the solo violin and harp while Odette twirled by the lake brought a tear to my eye.

I really appreciate GSE chair Eugenia Lebedeva for her efforts in the overall co-ordination of the program and in Ivanovo. I hope we have been good guests. Just as this city bears the stamp of Peter the First, this country bears the stamp of the years of communism, years of obligatory collective action under central control. Americans were frightened of the USSR, because we didn’t want this system imposed on us. Today, thankfully Russia is changing and for us those fears no longer exist. Our mission is to maintain the contacts we have made this month, return to America and say that Rotary is active in Russia, and that the idea of voluntary collective action initiated by local clubs, the best way to make dreams real, is alive and well.

Final Stop... St. Petersburg

We arrived in St. Petersburg Monday morning on an overnight train from Cherepovets. I am really going to miss my host family, it was such a good match and we had a great time together. We are staying at the St. Petersburg Hotel and we are thankful for these accomodations during our last week in Russia. We have two rooms with the girls in one and the boys in the other.
It is Wednesday and so far we have toured quite a bit of the city. Yesterday we visited Petergof, which according to Robin greatly resembles Versaille. Everything is big and grand. There were many statues and fountains to see and the weather was beautiful. Last night after our Rotary meeting we went on a city excursion in search of something to eat and drink. It was fun walking around the city but I do believe we were a bit lost. Sarah volunteered to ask a bus driver where we could find a bar and with five words of Russian got us pointed in the right direction. "Itvinitz, gdye horosho bar, spasiba." (Excuse me, where good bar, thanks.) It worked and using hand signals we were pointed to a main street. At the same time John was texting someone who lives here in hopes of finding the street. Needless to say we finally found a cafe that we decided looked good and we stopped. The menu was in Russian but we had been walking for so long that we decided we would figure it out. The waiter took pitty on us and found a waitress that spoke a little English. We ordered an appetizer of garlic bread and cheese and a few drinks... piva and vina (beer and wine). I ordered a BLT because even though we had eaten dinner I was still hungry. NO surprise there. Sarah wanted fries and it was really funny because she was pointing to the picture and the waitress kept saying what sounded like "free", and we thought, "Wow, why are they free". We finally realized that she was saying "frite" which is the word for "fries" but without the 't' sound. Anyway, we did not get free fries but we did get free champagne. Come to find out there is a little dance floor inside and free champagne for the ladies until midnight!!! It was a good trip out and only just starting to get dark on our way back. It is only dark for a few hours here this time of year which is strange for us but I do not think it has really bothered any of us all that much.
I am really looking forward to getting home. Only a few days left and it has really been a trip of a lifetime but it has been a long trip and we have done so much. I have really tried to do everything because I do not want to miss anything but I am starting to feel tired and will need to sleep for about a week when we return!!! I will also have to detox from all of the caffeine.

Fun in Cherepovets!

The past day here has been great. As a result of the bad weather, I was taken to both a History and Cultural Museum in town. Afterwards, we toured a bit more, and Robin got to take a peek inside a pharmacy--and even take a picture!

After our tour, we went home and I made a traditional dinner with Olga and her friends Anne and Julia before heading out to the local nightclub. I must admit, Olga and Anne are incredible dancers who put us all to shame!

Me and Julia making dinner.

At the nightclub with Jen and Olga.

Olga and Anne dancing--the best in the club!









Tonight we are on the train to St. Pete!
xoxo,
Sarah

Hash House Harriers Adventure

This all happened on Sunday, May 17th after attending a Russian Orthodox Mass in the morning and getting right with God.

My Rotary guide for my professional day was Gordon, the secretary of the Moscow International Rotary Club, a financial consultant in Moscow who had worked for many years with the World Bank, and at the end of the day he invited me and anyone from the team who wanted to come with me to the regular weekly meeting of the “Hash House Harriers”. There would be about a six kilometer run and a barbeque afterwards, with beer, with a contribution of 250 rubles (or somewhere between $8 and $9). I felt confident I could get my money’s worth of the grub and grog, and I hadn’t had a chance to run since I left the sanitarium on the outskirts of Vladimir. Plus, I had nothing better to do in Moscow on a Sunday afternoon. I met Gordon in front of one of the seven Stalin skyscrapers on the Garden Ring.

John and Jen decided to come along, but as they were delayed we agreed to meet at the Yugo Zapadny Metro stop.

We rode the Metro to Yugo Zapadny station where about 30 English speaking expatriates and their significant others were gathering. We had to take a short bus trip to Ul’yanskovy Park where the run was being held; Gordon and I hung back a bit to wait for John and Jen, who made excellent time across the city and found us with no problem.

Gordon explained to me that the “Hash House Harriers”, was started by British troops in Malaya in the 1930s who after some long term drinking decided to do some long distance running to cure their hangovers … and then have a few beers. It had absolulely no formal organization, but they do have a presence in most major cities in the world now and a presence on the World Wide Web. They have been called “a drinking club with a running problem”. I was excited to join them because I hadn’t had a chance to do much drinking in Russia.

On the bus ride we Gordon pointed out the Russian Pentagon, and some former missile sites.

We got off the bus at the sign of the car on a pole.

Ul’yanskovy Park is a large, heavily wooded tract of land by the outer ring of apartment blocks. We walked by horse stables (during the run the trail of horses was easy to find) and into a soggy field.

There the rules were laid out by the “Mismanager” of the contest who was wearing a large funny hat. A trail of flour had been laid in the forest, fields,, and pathways of the park by the “hares”. Two strapping young Marines were carrying backpacks full of beer. When runners came upon a spot of flour, they were to yell “On On”. That made them sound something like a pack of hounds. From time to time the trail would lead to a circle sign. At the circle the pack had to fan out to find the trail. Whoever found the trail had to yell “All On” and the pack would follow. Sometimes a trail would end in a dead end marked with three X’s. Then it was back to the circle to find the right trail. This was actually an old English schoolboys’ game called “the Paper Chase” and I thought it was thoroughly fun.

We ran up and down hills, over streams and along pathways yelling “on on” to the astonished looks of the local Moscow citizenry, old folks, young lovers, mothers pushing baby carriages. We came upon a band of teenaged beer drinkers by a brook who began singing raucous songs and hooting at us. Since we outnumbered them greatly, peace prevailed. At one point we got to the monument of the 158th Cavalry where they assembled for the march on Berlin during the Great Patriotic War from 1941 to 1945. There we stopped and shared the beer from the Marines’ backpacks. Then it was on to the barbeque.

At the barbeque everyone was introduced by their nicknames, or the case of me and other first timers “Just” plus their first name (so I was “Just Mike”).


We were then brought into the middle of the circle for the initiation. The mismanager was their in his funny big hat, joined by the chefs (and hares) who were wearing pink bunny ears. There we were asked embarrassing questions. My answer was “the Missionary position because I had converted a lot of women”, which drew derisive hoots and jeers. John and Jen hadn’t shown up, and I was about to get Gordon to call them on their cellphones when they arrived somewhat bedraggled with wet feet. We discovered this group without rules had actually a lot of silly rules (like saying the T (thinking) word, or pointing. These infractions had to be dealt with by drinking a “pot” of beer down and putting the cup upside down on your head.

We had our fill of food, and John and Jen were finally happy.

We snuck out of the party with Gordon about 9 PM. We thanked him for a wonderful time and went our separate ways on the Metro. Back at the hostel we met up with Robin, Sarah, and Aaron, and had a pleasant evening together until just past 3 AM.

Slavic Games

This is a short couple minute video showing our group excursion to the town of Sizma and playing the ancient Slavic games. Anyone interested in seeing more games that we played let me know.

Pictures from our Latest Excursions in Cherepovets

Visiting a local museum in Sizma




The group at our official welcome at the city government building. We were given gifts and shown a video of the town!




Jen sitting on a rock that is suppose to promote fertility. I was just being a good sport!!!




Touring the city of Cherepovets




Sarah Robin and I in a Russian Izba