Russian podiatry services, American obesity, and Halloween

I have to believe that Podiatry must be an excellent profession here in Russia.  I continue to be amazed at the number of women I see in high heels.  These women in shoes, boots, 3, 4, 5, 6 inches and higher walking everywhere.  The women 15-70 years of age priss along the sidewalks day and night in this incredibly beautiful footwear.  That's gotta hurt after a while though...right?  Well, they are sure "steppin out"!

Adding to the fact that many of the women are tall and thin also helps the image of a stylish Russian woman, often with long thin legs. They are obviously proud of their beauty with full right.  When we were in Moscow for the Fulbright meeting, the guys all debated one evening that their city had the best looking women.  John gave a big "shout out" for the well deserved Ufa contingent.

On the other hand...I have just given up on any shopping here in Ufa.  Almost all of the stylish shops (or magazins- as they are called) carry only sizes 0-4.  Now and then you might find a 6...but an 8...well forget it. No need for those around here.

In my classes, the subject of "American obesity" has come up on several occasions.  One of the faculty members that had been to America was appalled at our sizes and the amount of obese people.  She commented to the students that it was disgusting and "maybe your President should do something about it".  I skipped lunch that day...

Well as I write, Mr. John is lecturing on HALLOWEEN!  I brought along this and that for the holiday but he wasn't interested in taking any "props".  I plan to wear my sparkly Halloween shirt (right side out) later today out and about and take my trick or treat bag full of candy to give to some kids at the apartment.  John says to "forget it, the parents will all just think you are some kind of pervert" but the plan is on...

I will keep you posted!

John's teaching

Mr. John's teaching started today.  I was not lecturing so he invited me along to attend his class.  We were met by an escort from the International Office and taken to the School of Foreign Languages at the University.  They were excited to meet John.

The class was a small one of approximately 15 first year students.  They were very shy and quiet.  The teacher asked him to introduce and tell alittle about himself to start.  He was a natural...

It wasn't long and they were asking him many questions.  "What are your hobbies"? "What do American's think of Russians"? "Do you miss your home"?, etc. etc.

He stumbled only once when they asked him if he liked " Eminem" (lol)?
He said he preferred country music which seemed to throw them.

There were several questions on Halloween and how we celebrate.  He punted that one to me, telling them how much I enjoy the holiday.

One girl commented that she had once before had an American tutor and that he had sat on the desk just like Mr. John, they all thought that this was so interesting.  The Russian teacher said she would NEVER sit on a desk...

He teaches 4 more classes this week.

What do you do in Russia on a really cold, gray, cloudy and miserable day?

Take a walk, of course!

We have "cabin (apartment) fever".  The past several days have been cold, dreary and yes...miserable.  The adjustment of coming to Russia from the Sunshine state is wearing alittle.  We decided we had to get out of the apartment today so we planned a walk to one of Ufa's many parks by the river.  We ran into someone we know early on (who speaks very little English/combined with our very little Russian) and off we went.  We walked through rain & sleet (thank goodness, no snow today)!  We walked, and walked and walked.  After 4 hours of walking, we finally begged off and now have returned to our warm apartment with a better attitude.

Adding to our isolation here is our constant language barrier.  We invited my translators over for dinner this weekend with their girlfriends/boyfriends.  It was the first time we had entertained or even had anyone over for a meal at our place.  We make due daily with the basics but this added to our challenge for entertaining. In preparation for my dinner party, I realized we had 6 of everything except forks.  John said "just tell them to bring their own forks (BYOF)". Luckily, I had spotted some blue plastic forks at the market so all was well.  I used the jar from the tomato sauce as a vase for flowers on the table...yes, I know we must sound like rednecks to you!

Not much room in our small refrigerator, but our porch is a great back-up.  No oven...but the two burners on our stove allowed me to whip up a mean spaghetti bolognese.  We had a lovely evening :)

Mr. John  (that is what they call him :) begins teaching this week.  He has been approached by the International Studies program to lecture in some of the English speaking courses.  He has been assigned topics like "meals", "housing", "sports & leisure", "Halloween", "animals".  What a gig, I don't think that this is going to require much in the area of preparation on his part, lol.  He is looking forward to it.

Until next time...I am off to put my aching feet up.

Teaching, President Putin & cold weather

My teaching schedule has been heavy this week.  Since I am given assigned times and subjects for year 1,2,3 4 & 5 medical students it requires a great deal of preparation for lecturing.  I also need to finish the powerpoints well in advance so that I can get them to my new translator to review prior to each lecture.
The classrooms are large and the student numbers run from about 50 to 200 per lecture. As usual, there are many questions and the students are attentive and intelligent.


Walking to the university the day before yesterday, I started seeing policemen just outside of our apartment and stationed on each corner of every street.  John and I have often remarked that we have not seen policemen in Ufa (Moscow yes, due to recent riots, Ufa no), except to direct traffic after a vehicle accident. This seemed really strange.
I walked by the city center and went past a man leaving the hotel which was dressed in traditional attire with a tall leopard fur hat.  Once I got onto campus there were numerous policemen on campus too.  They were all dressed with their gray fur hats like what we saw on Red Square and you see in many pictures of Russia. I asked my translator what was up with all the security and she said she hadn't noticed, "maybe a special dignitary is in town".  We went on to our classes.

Later that evening when John and I were watching the national news (that we cannot understand, by the way...I don't know why we bother) and Ufa comes on.  President Putin was in Ufa!  On the TV it shows him meeting with various governors of the Republics in southern Russia including the man in the leopard hat!

Sadly, earlier this week a suicide bomber was on public transport in Volgograd and set off a bomb that killed and injured many people.   I am sure that this was a concern for President Putin and a scary situation for all of us in Russia.

The weather gets colder by the day.  Standing water is now frozen along the sides of the streets, and everyone is bundled up and wearing big coats, hats and gloves. I keep looking the lovely fur hats in the stores, only to hear a male voice saying "you live in Florida, what are you going to do with a fur hat?".  Oh well...

 

Bashkir theater, more help, and Russian weather

We were given tickets to attend the Bashkir Theater Sunday evening.  I was all excited and John was well...alittle less so. The weather was cold with the wind blowing and pouring rain.  We were uncertain of the location of the theater (no address on the tickets) but thought it was near the university.  We walked for 5 blocks with my umbrella now turning into a black tulip instead of a mushroom.  We stopped someone and asked directions to the theater (actually we said "g-dya" and flashed them the tickets).  They pointed to the direction from which we just came, waving their arms.  We walk the 5 blocks back again pulling out our tickets and showing them to strangers on the street.  They all do the same... point east and wave their hands to keep walking.
We arrive at the theater wet and cold.  John's shoes have leaked as he stepped in a deep puddle of water on the way because the streets were flooding... my trusty back Russian boots are still dry :).

We are welcomed to the theater by a young woman who asks where we are from (!?!).  We check in our coats downstairs and then the young woman delivers us to our exact seats and gives us earphones.  The earphones are used to translate the Bashkir language to Russian.  Hmmm, this only added to our confusion so we opted to listen the play in Bashkir.

The play was delightful.  It was funny and the music was lovely.  The music was much likeTurkish music but with alittle more Russian pep added to it.  The Bashkir language is spoken in a "lispy" kind of way.
Just as the play was about to end, I pulled out my camera and shot a few pictures (without a flash of course) of the beautiful traditional Bashkir costumes.  About this time...a very stern woman's voice from behind my head says "HET!".  OMG, I immediately put my camera down thinking they were going to confiscate it at any moment and haul me out of the theater.  After a few more minutes, (and dirty looks from John) we exited.  I had to walk right by the stern woman so I stated in my best Russian that "I was sorry" (gulp).

As we walked on downstairs to pick up our coats, I feel someone grabbing my arm, oh no (!?!) it was the woman! She pointed to my coat token and took it, pushed through the hundreds of people ahead of us to get our coats and broken umbrella.  She brings them back and actually puts our coats on us.  As we meekly make our way up and out the door...she is there and says "return, pa-schalz-ta (please)" and smiles.  These folks never cease to amaze me!!!

Yesterday, I did lecture prep until after noon.  The sun was shining so we decided to take a trolly ride somewhere we hadn't been previously.  John mapped it all out and we walked the 6-7 blocks to board the trolly.  We pay our 12 rubles and sit back to see the sights.  We ride through neighborhoods, and places in the city we have never seen.  The trolly comes to a stop and the last of the people disembark.  We just sit, waiting for it to make the return back to our initial stop.  The driver gets off,  has a cigarette and questions us in Russian about what we are doing?  The money keeper joins in and tries to help us.  John shows them the map and says we are fine, just sitting and want to return back to our beginning destination.  They shake their heads at us and we understand "were are you from" in Russian so we tell them "America".

After about 5-10 minutes, we start up again and start picking up people along the route.  Soon a very well dressed woman walks up to us and says in very clear English "can I help you?". Puzzled, we say that we are just riding the trollies and are going back to where we started.  She then explains to the woman money keeper and driver.  They all smile at us...probably thinking those silly  Americans!

The sunny day ended with snow in Ufa.  Our weather forecast is for 3 to -5 C all week and it's not yet Halloween, right??? Oh well, what I say is...it's all downhill from here, lol!    

DIY hair

It was bound to happen.  We have been gone now for 7 weeks so our hair is suffering.
A small child on the public bus told his dad that " Santa Claus" was sitting next to him yesterday.  The man explained to John that his little boy thought he was Santa, lol! (or ho, ho, ho!)

I cut John's hair and beard this morning with my thinners and small scissors. Not great, but better.

I had big plans to have my hair done in Moscow at a really posh salon, but couldn't find the time or the salon.  My mother gave me strict instructions prior to leaving for Russia to "not come home as a redhead, all the Russians are redheads". Well...not really mom, but OK.

Unlike John's, my hair requires color and cutting.  For those of you that know me, yes...my hair is short, but I have ALOT of hair. I have been whacking away at it for the past week or so until it now sits on my head. We have had rain for the last few days so that doesn't help the situation.  To make matters worse, the flat iron I brought along will not work with the adapter so its been totally blow dry and go since arrival.
I purchased some color at the grocery store this week and have applied it.  The instructions were in Russian  and the pictures and ingredients didn't add up.  We both reviewed the instructions and packets within the box and were perplexed.  I decided to half everything and see how it would go.
Hmmmmm, the application was very blue and John laughed and teased me about becoming a "blue haired  lady" during my processing. I washed it out and yes, it's alittle on the "cool" side, but it's that time of the year when we all wear hats in Russia!  

The Russian Stare

It's not mean or intimidating. It's not rude or even that direct...but it's always there. Anytime we are out and about, we get it...the "Russian Stare".  We have made a point to not talk when we meet people on the street as a small boy on a bicycle fell off when he turned to watch us as we spoke one day.

It's cold out so we are bundled up like everyone else in our black coats, hats, and boots, but it still it happens...
We cannot figure out how we can still stand out as "different".  Every place we are, they stare.  In Ufa especially, but also in Kazan, although Moscow was less so.

As an example, in Ufa while walking up the street we met two groups of people on the sidewalk. They tried not to be obvious, but they stared as we walked past.  We kept walking and we met a dog on the sidewalk.  We had watched this dog as the other people walked by worried he might be aggressive, but he didn't seem to notice them. As he gets close to us... I couldn't believe it, that darn dog stared us down with the "Russian Stare"!  We laughed all the way back to the apartment. 

Lecturing today was to over 100 medical students.  A large assembly of eager students with many questions and great debate.  The topic was Legal & Ethical Implications of Health Care Practices. My calendar expands each week with requests for more lectures.

We continue to be amazed at how helpful and friendly people are here.  It is not how I imagined Russia and I am so pleased that we have had this experience to discover this. We went for dinner tonight at a new little restaurant and as we entered (without saying ONE word... the hostess said "Please come in, but I am sorry that we do not have an English menu").

As we sat down in the wonderful warm ambiance, we were handed the menus and we pulled out the translators as usual.  A group of young people next to us, asked if they could help.  They shared in broken English that they had been to New York on their honeymoon recently and loved America and it's people.  They thought Americans were so nice to them.
They assisted us with meats ..."chicken"...you want a "whole chicken"?  HET, I say... (this is ridiculous, but I point to my breast!?!)  No chicken breasts they say,  "only duck breast", moving on...."pasta"?  DA, we both order pasta again tonight...and it was delish!

Home Sweet Ufa

We arrived back to our humble abode here in Ufa late this afternoon. As much as we enjoyed the hustle & bustle of Moscow our trip south and east to the Urals was nice. We were up at 6:00 am to take a cab to the Vnukovo airport.  Traffic is very heavy in Moscow and this is just one of their 3 international airports.  We had to schedule 1.5 hours to make the 17 miles by 8:30 for the 10:30 am flight.

It was a pretty hair-raising ride.  As they told us at our Russian briefing..."Russia is the only place in the world where you can drive on the wrong side of the road-and get rear-ended".

John and I were both pleased to see that our plane today back to Ufa did not have props.  We boarded the bus that took us out on the tarmac again and I kept my eyes closed hoping when I opened them there would be a jet this time in front of me.  Bingo, there sat a 737 warmed up and ready to fly, and the two hour flight home was smooth as silk!

Tomorrow is a prep day as I have lectures scheduled for Friday and again next week.  I have also been asked to co-author a section of a manual for physicians here (psychosocial aspects of care) so I have alot of work ahead of me.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new washing machine. We have been told it should be here in "October".  No sight of it so far, so it looks like it is back to the bathtub tomorrow.  I could almost get in the  Christmas spirit around here with the cold temperatures and all stringing, draping and hanging of socks, shirts, pants, undergarments, etc. around the apartment and up on the porches.  Or...I could just be loosing it.........

Fulbright, American Embassy, Russian Tsars & Russian Tragedy

What an incredible time we have had here in Moscow.  Our Fulbright meetings were filled with interesting people and even more interesting discussions. Every scholar except one has been in Russia before and some more than 10 times.  What a wonderful program this program is and how it brings together such fascinating people is  beyond me.
We had the opportunity to visit the American Embassy in Moscow today and even meet our dynamic US Ambassador to Russia.  He is a former Fulbrighter (!) which was especially nice to hear.  I feel as if I am traveling in pretty important circles here...

We managed to make it back to the Kremlin to visit the armory.  I had always wanted to see the Faberge' eggs and finally saw several.  They were so awesome and more beautiful than I could have imagined.  The overall exhibits in the armory were the most extravagant and impressive that I have ever witnessed anywhere.  Catherine the Great's carriages, the clothing, jewelry, crowns, armor, etc., etc. was unbelievable.  We blew out of Red Square in a hurry due to the number of riot police and equipment heading our way with various riots taking place in the past few days in other parts of Moscow.

Unfortunately, while in Moscow we received some sad news.  We were hoping to catch up with Slava, another former exchange student that had lived with John many years ago.  We had seen he and his wife last in St. Louis in 2006 when they visited us, but we had not been able to contact him for several years afterward.  A couple of months prior to leaving for Russia, we sent 2 letters by snail mail hoping he would contact us.  On our 3rd day in Moscow, we received an email from his nephew.  He wrote to tell us that Slava, Larissa & his small daughter Kusha were all killed in a tragic car accident in 2007 when a drunk driver fell asleep and drove a lorry truck into them.  The young man came to our hotel for a cup of coffee with us to share this difficult bit of news.  

Just in the case that you may have forgotten...life is so very precious...enjoy it...

An early flight in the morning back to our city of Ufa for the last half of this unbelievable experience.
Sleep tight...
  

Moscow

We arrived to Moscow, without too much incident via the overnight train from Kazan.  Yes, we were rolled in the night, but our bad for not being more careful. We had our Kupe locked, but someone snuck in and was able to steal our loot right off of us. Creepy...
We are alive and well however to report this good news, just alittle lighter on cash to spend in the big city.

After visiting St. Petersburg several years ago, I couldn't imagine another Russian city in comparison.  I underestimated Moscow.  It too, is just gorgeous with it's many gold domed churches, beautiful architecture and bustling  atmosphere.  We toured the Kremlin, Red Square and many of the cathedrals today.  A special exhibit of the tsars from 1500-1700 was taking place in one of the museums and it was incredible.  It had their clothing, jewel incrusted scepters, mink and gold crowns,  dinning settings, jewelry, etc. 
I was all set to see some of the Faberge eggs (finally mom! -sorry an inside joke between us) but the armory was inaccessible today.  We plan to return tomorrow to try and score the tour.


We have loved traveling on the Moscow metro.  It is well organized, clean, beautiful and FAST!  I made it on initially along with my straps but my bag was still outside when the doors closed.  Frantic, I began pulling on the bag thinking the doors would open.  No luck, finally a young Russian man pried the doors open enough to get my bag into the car.  What a scene, we all laughed afterward but it could have been ugly.

We meet up with fellow scholars starting tomorrow.  I must say we have enjoyed the luxury of the hotel and living large here in Moscow.  I was even able to catch some retail therapy today which was long overdue.            

Kazan

Our short flight to Kazan was in the dark and on a relatively small  (and vintage) prop plane. It was raining as we walked out onto the tarmac and to the plane.  I boarded, put in my earplugs to drown out the noise, and tried to sleep to prevent any panic.The flight was brief and smooth...whew.  We arrived to beautiful blue skies in Kazan and lost two hours via the numerous (there are 9!) Russian zones. We are now on Moscow time.

Kazan is about 150 years older than Moscow and is the capital city of the Tatarstan Republic. Tatars are Russia's largest minority and have descended from the Mongol-Tartar armies of Genghis Khaan and his successors on the middle Volga. Tatars are mostly Muslim and there are more than 2 million living in Tatarstan. While Tatar nationalism is very evident here, it is not known to be radical with the local version of Islam recognized as super moderate. With the addition of the Slavic Russian influence here, the cultural mix makes Kazan especially interesting with magnificent mosques and ancient Russian Orthodox churches sitting side by side. 

Once we settled in our quaint and funky little hotel (thanks tripadvisor.com), we headed out to see the famous Kremlin of Kazan. The Kremlin is the focal point of the city's historic center and was walkable from our place.  From the fort, we could see meeting of the Volga and Kazan rivers below. 

For lunch we opted out of the recommended Tatar cuisine and  itt was instead at a pub of a place off the city square.  Even there, horse, rabbit, tongue and ears were prominent on the menu.  

After more touring, and a short nap, we headed out for dinner to the # 1 recommended restaurant in the city.  It was quite difficult to find and we were forced to ask people on the street twice (basically "pa-zhal-sta" please..."gyde" where is) the place.  It was located on a side street down a  darkish stairwell.  Once you walked in however, it was a contemporary underground all white, beautiful place with white couches, tablecloths, flowers, etc. etc.  It was romantic, warm, cozy, vibrant, and  the best food I have eaten since arriving to Russia.

Walking home we saw a little place called Cuba Libre and had a stop.  Within minutes it was filled with young people Latin dancing, drinking tea & coffee and smoking from large hooka pipes-all to wonderful Cuban music.What a lively and fun little place.  

Arriving back late to our little hotel, the smiling staff were waiting for us to lock the doors for the night.  zzzzzzzzzz

Getting out of Dodge

What a hectic and wonderful day or two! 
My teaching responsibilities for the second group of medical students ended after Tuesday's lecture.  I left as usual to pick up my coat and bag in a nearby office when I was summoned back to the lecture hall.  As I walked in , the students stood in their usual dress of white lab coats and I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of red roses from the director of the hospital/university chair for my teaching.  What a special gesture.
I rushed home on the bus with my big bunch of flowers to work on the the article I promised for publication- which was due at midnight. I had a pick up at 3:20pm to do the welcome speech at the University for those (1,400) incoming freshman and was really feeling the pressure once there.  The auditorium at the university was not large enough to hold this number of students so it was held at a municipal building in Ufa.  I gave a brief welcome along with several other local and international speakers.  The students then presented something like a "variety show".  The different faculties of students presented different skits which were fun with some incredible talent demonstrated.
While on stage,  I was presented with the largest bouquet of flowers I have ever received.  WOW, these Russians really love to give flowers and I love being on the receiving end!
Afterwards, we were invited for a lovely reception and then joined friends out for dinner.

John fell to the pressure to join in on the Russian vodka routine.  From what I have observed (observations only!) vodka is drunk here in shots with little glasses.  Frequently they serve orange/tomato/cranberry juice in a little jug along side but it is just poured and guzzled in one drink. Then they order another, and another, and another...
Thankfully, I got him out of there before too much damage could be had with my publication deadline approaching. He was thanking me over and over as we hit the door saying "get me outta here"!
I made the 12:00am deadline and he made the 4:00 am wake up this morning for our flight to Kazan.  He needed aspirin, I didn't.           

Recovery

Thanks for all the well wishes and we have recovered!

We were invited to the country today by my sponsor and joined she and her family to their dacha or country home in a nearby village.  The weather for the past few days has remained gray, cold and bleak but even the dusting of snow didn't keep folks inside and you could see people along the roads fishing in small lakes and picking carrots in the fields.  We had a lovely traditional meal made from many of the vegetables taken from their garden.
It was nice for us to get out after spending so much time indoors.

Now it's crunch time though...I have a paper due this week for a Russian medical publication, tomorrow I lecture at the hospital, Tuesday I've been asked to deliver a brief welcome speech to the incoming freshman class at the university, and we fly early Wednesday morning to Kazan.
We will be leaving the Urals region of Bashkortostan and then be in the Volga region of Tatarstan. It is about a one-hour flight north and west of Ufa.  Kazan with over 1 million people is known as "the Istanbul of the Volga".

Later tonight we slipped across the street to a restaurant where we have been once before.  There was a young man working before that was able to assist us with the menu when we ordered "snacks" which were sausages for John and some chicken pieces for me.  Tonight, we were thinking of something alittle more filling but the young guy wasn't working. As we sat down, they immediately sent another young man over that spoke some English who offered to help.  He couldn't however, translate the menu.  He took our drink order and returned to say "They say your usual order is chicken and sausage, will that be OK tonight?"  Gotta love it, and yes...we had chicken and sausage :)      
  

Russian Revenge-funny tummy

I was struck early Thursday just ready to leave for work.  I was dressed and became ill so quickly that I laid back down fully dressed in bed thinking it would pass...
After contacting my supervisor that I would be unable to lecture, I undressed and crashed.  Within the hour, John was feeling the same.  He took the couch in one room, me in bed in the other.  We moaned and groaned all day and night.  Multiple trips to the bathroom, nothing would stay down. We are up and around today, but still "iffy".

We contribute the diagnosis to some ground beef/lettuce/tomatoes (???) that I pulled together to make tacos the night before.  It seemed like such a good idea and they were enjoyable at the time.  We had purchased our first "unpackaged" meat and maybe it was that or the lettuce/tomatoes, who knows...whatever it was, it did a number on us.

The temperatures have plummeted here in Ufa.  It was 1 degrees C today (around 34 F) and we see snowflakes now and then.  The past few days have been gray but dry.

We must leave the apartment today to pick up supplies.   Yesterday we discussed "flipping a coin" to see who would have to make the trip out to buy more toilet paper if we ran short- but were spared.

Sunny Florida is sounding pretty good to us about now in our compromised state on a dreary cold day...I realize why we call it home.

One down, one to go

My first teaching cohort  finished today. They were such an enjoyable group of young people and so bright. I have no doubt that the Russian health service will benefit from their good work in the future.  A designated student came to the stage at the end of class and presented me with a framed picture of us in our lab coats taken last week. They then stood and clapped in unison, what a very thoughtful and humbling gesture.  One down, one to go...I start the next cohort tomorrow.
The next assignment will be abbreviated as we fly to Kazan on Wednesday for 2 days and then take the overnight train in to Moscow for several more days before flying back to Ufa the following Wednesday.  Shortly after return,  a new project focused on public health begins.

While I am away, John continues to keep busy with various activities.  First off, the apartment has been upgraded by his domestic-engineering skills.  With a borrowed wrench, a purchased screw driver and super-glue, he has fixed everything that was broken.  The baseboards have been replaced in the bathroom, the kitchen/bath faucets have been removed & cleaned, the kitchen chair seat tightened, the toilet seat lid flipped (the screws were put in upside down), and the TV repaired.

The weather continues to get colder.  The mornings still often bring rain, but clear and sunny afternoons.  We think we saw sleet as we were walking home late from dinner last night (the same restaurant where they handed us the phone to order before...same thing last night, lol!)
Let me clarify, the weather feels cold to us...the Russians consider this "jacket weather". While I am now wearing a ski hat when out, men are out in black leather jackets with black leather or wool hats. Mostly berets or "working hats" that are black wool flat billed baseball looking hats.  The women on the other hand, still dressed to the nines...have brought out the black boots in all possible styles and have graduated to fur.  Not full fur coats, just fur vests so far.  These vests are quite beautiful, stylish and interesting made from different animals... in a "Wilma Flintstone" kinda way...