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!
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!
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