I learned some new words in Russian this past week….Part 1

Most of them were medical terms.

Let me start from the beginning.

Last Sunday we got on a train to go to the Taiga in Arhangelsk, something I had been waiting to do since we first heard about it. The train ride was 16 hours and a lot of fun (pictures of both the train ride and the time in are Arhangelsk have been posted) and involved шахматы (chess), reading Doctor Zhivago, sleeping on the top bunk on a moving train (a formidable task especially for one with a penchant for both sleep talking and sleep walking), and attempting to eat all of the food our бабушки gave us for the train.
Side note: (hence the indent) We were on the train for 16 hours as I said but our host grandmothers gave us enough food for about a month. It was kind of insane. In the two plastic bags that I received I had two or three logs of meat, a full packet of cheese, 2 full lunches, 3 oranges, 2 apples, and enough bread and water to get me through any potential famine that happens to strike Russian поезды (trains) within a 16 hour window. Actually one of the girls, Аня (Anya) in our group had about twice as much as me. But all of this yielded various photographs of me attempting to eat a rather large sandwich so as to not let any of the food go to waste. Also, I lost the шахматы game. Sigh.

Very quickly a bit about the train: We were in the cheapest (and most safe) compartment though now I’m forgetting what they are called in Russian. Each one of these compartments has room for 4 people and is not closed off from anywhere else. So basically there’s one main walking hall that runs through the train and on the left occasionally is the место (place – it sounds better to say this word in Russian, in English saying “place” sounds like you couldn’t think of a more descriptive word and, as I couldn’t, here it appears in Russian) where you stay. It’s a small area but not tiny and lining the two longer sides are cushioned “benches/beds” The two bottom ones are where everyone sits when people are awake and they also can be opened to function as trunks to store чимоданы (bags, suitcases) –a very good idea so that no one steals them. Some distance above each of these are the top beds (where I slept) and in the middle of the room is a small table. Okay, enough about the train, I love Russian trains. (Though I must add that sleeping on one is difficult, I got about 20 minutes the entire night)

We arrived in Архангелск (Arhangelsk) sometime VERY early morning (7? 8?, anyways, it was before 1pm) and there we had an excursion around the city. It’s tough to describe the city as its has multiple feels to it, its at once large and white from all the snow but dirty and with an industrial (not factory industrial just industrial if that makes sense) sense that stems from the shipping ports (its located along a large river). The tour was very interesting and we went to one museum where we clearly told our museum guide we only had an hour and a half before lunch and we wanted to see everything.

And so we ended up standing in front of the VERY first Icon in the VERY first room for an hour. This was as hilarious as it was frustrating and half the time she wasn’t even talking about the icon. But there were some very beautiful paintings we saw in our 30 minute jaunt through the rest of the museum (Айвазовский/Aivazovskii was there so I was thrilled beyond belief).

We then had lunch at a restaurant with a sailor/ocean theme which was exceedingly strange and afterwards we went to an incredibly beautiful area (pictures were taken) where are preserved all of these houses and churches. Its an old village where people lived but the thing that makes it so different is, since metal was so expensive, everything is made out of wood. Everything. I had never seen a wooden church before but this was incredible. Imagine typical Russian architecture of a church but then imagine that completely made from trees in the forest. Like I said, there are pictures.

After that we then took a 4 hour ride to the area we were staying in the Taiga. The road was incredibly bumpy and our group ended up in the back where every few seconds we were catapulted to the ceiling. This was actually very fun.

Oh, another quick thing, there was other people in our tour group too and we all stayed at the hotel together and did the excursions together. They were all Russians and were all really nice. Lets see if I can remember them. There was Таня and her mother from Moscow, Сергей (Sergei) and his wife (they were 20 years old and had already been married for two years) from Arhangelsk, a boyfriend and girlfriend pair that were fine during the day but at night they were drunk and yelling at eachother, and then a 6 year old named Федр (Fyodor) and his mother. In one of the pictures I have constructed the самый сильный дворец в мире (the strongest castle in the world!) with him out of blocks. He also beat me at chess. Sigh.

The next day (Monday) we had our first excursion in the Taiga. I can’t describe how incredibly beautiful, peaceful, pure everything is there. Well I can but I have a lot to write about. Look at the pictures. Our first excursion was in a cave (there are quite a few in the area) and I believe people used to live there. It was incredible and we got to put on a lot of very funny gear including camouflage (so our clothes wouldn’t get dirty), special boots for some (there were none that fit me unfortunately), and a hard hat equipped with a working light). At one point towards the end of the excursion our guide (a great guy who, if you are reading this, Joel Norton, reminded me of you a lot. If you are reading this and you are not Joel Norton I am sorry, I will try to find someone else in Russia who reminds me of you.) Anyways, at oen point he had us turn off all our lights and we stood there in silence and then he told us to think about how we were in one of the few places on earth where there is absolutely no light. It was wonderful. And we stood there for about 15 minutes, our eyes trying desperately to adjust but not seeing anything, just listening to silence and occasionally the voice of our guide as he told us stories and philosophy.

Oh, by the way, all tours, etc, everything was conducted in Russian.

On the way back through the caves there was an underground river we came across. We were told that the water was okay to drink and so some people began taking sips and or gulps. I was one of those people. Remember this point. We will return to it later.

Later on in the day we went and explored two waterfalls and returned back to our “hotel” site at around 5pm.

-End Side A. Please Turn Tape Over to Side B to continue-