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!