Ahoy!!!

On Caitlin's final weekend we got the chance to go sailing in a handmade sailboat on Lake Turg. Our new friends Ольга and Артур who run a private school program invited us onto their friends boat to sail to a mysterious island.

Our captain, Эдвард (Edward) and his boat "supreme".

Vera Island, our destination.

An Orthodox Cross on the highest point on the island.

The couple, inside some ancient caves. There are places like this all over the island and also remnants of actual dwellings as well.

On the ride home we had a beautiful susnset, but no wind and no engine. So, what else to do but sing Russian folk songs a cappella!

Ганина Яма Monastery

After the Tsar and family were killed, their bodies were buried outside of Ekaterinburg in a well in the middle of the forest. Today this site has been turned into a monastery by the Russian Orthodox Church. It's name is Ganina Yama. The site is very serene and peaceful and all sound is lost in the middle of the birch forest.

Camping at Lake Turg

Last week I went camping at our local gem of a lake, озеро Тургояк (Lake Turgoyak). I finally took up the invitation from our friend Михайл (Michael). He spends his summer camping at the lake alongside other families and friends from in town.

With Caitlin still sick at home, I set out on my bike. I got a good workout riding for an hour to get the campsite. The food tasted even better after that.

A traditional Russian soup: potato, bologna-like meat, onions, carrot, dill (essential) and a chicken broth. The cook also added some spice which made this soup out of this world.

A marshmellow like thing filled with caramel, which is not as sweet or liquid as the caramel sauce we have in the US.

Another essential for any Russian gathering: чай (tea). It's actually not as exciting as the pic above, we are just boiling water :) but I really do enjoy the tradition. It seems when ever we go someplace with Russians, you must at least have чай.

After being stuffed with delicious food and meeting some of the people camping with Михайл, we went "next door" and meet up with another set of campers who traveled to the Urals from the Moscow region. By this time it was getting dark, so the fire was kicked up a notch and guitars were brought out. Then begins hours of singing Russian folk songs around the campfire.

Morning mist over the lake

Turgayak Town

Екатеринбург

A few weekends ago (see post date), we went to visit the beautiful city of Ekaterinburg. It is 5 hours north of Миасс by bus. We were on a mission: celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary and delivery some gifts from America to some mutual friends.

When people in Ekat heard that it was our anniversary they decided to through a huge party for us!! Russians are so wonderful!

Ok, fine, it was actually the birthday of the city that weekend. The main street Улица Ленина (Lenin Street) was closed to traffic. There were people everyone, food stands, balloons and tons of music, both new and old.

On the bridge crossing река Исеть (Iset River), newly weds place locks with their names engraved on them.

Traditional Russian music from ethnic minorities (I think). This was great stuff! The women have jingly things sown into their clothes so their bodies become an instrument when they dance.

Does it mean that I am not cool if I think accordian is one of the best instruments ever?

And of course, no Russian city would be complete without Lenin watching over the residents.

Later on we went to a Serbian restaurant. Caitlin is preparing to devour this plate o' meat. It was a bit too much for us, but really delicious none the less.

The owner was a great guy, a Serb who has lived most of his life in Russia and who recently moved to Ekat. Yours truely with a traditional Serbian hat and jug of alchohol.

An American style mall with an interesting facade.

This church was built on the site of the execution of the last Russian Tsar and his family in 1918.

Our new friends: Olga and Stas. One of the wonderful Russian ladies (Hello Anna!) who I practiced Russian with in Newton is from Ekat originally. She was so execited to learn we would be near her birthplace and her long time friend Olga. We got in touch with them and they took us around town and out for lunch. They were wonderful hosts!

We had a great anniversary weekend in this wonderful city, happy 1 year anniversary to us!

My Daily Routine

Walk by an old лада. I want to drive this car.

Walk by Пиво из кег ("beer from keg"). I'm told it has tasty beer. I like the unintended environmental aspect: you bring your own bottles and they fill 'em.

Then ключ на дверь, open door number #1.

Open door #2.

Take off my shoes. This is a very common practice in Russian homes and offices - the use of what are essentially slippers. They are not as soft and fluffy like the bedroom variety you know of in the US.

The Russian variety is more along the lines of sandals but for indoor use only. Our office has storage just for this purpose. Using slippers keeps the place very clean by cutting down on tracking mud and dirt around. And nowadays there is plenty of mud here thanks to several days of rain.

Yes, I know, I have a sharp fashion sense.

Here are some window shots. Above is towards our apartment.

Out the front of our building.


A bit to the right, the open market and the super market.

A Visit to a Russian Vegetable Garden

On a dreary Saturday afternoon I had my day brightened with a visit to a traditional Russian veggie garden, called a дача (dacha). Each one consists of a small plot of land with a perhaps a small hand-made house, for storing supplies or providing shelter after a long day. It is common for a family to own one of these gardens and to reap it's harvest all summer long.


There are clusters of these gardens on the edges of the city. From our hike on Перевал, we could see these places all around Миасс. The photo above shows one such cluster.

On this trip my friend Артем took me to the дача of his wife's parents, Владимир Петрович and Любовь Викторовна. We walked from my apartment for about 30 minutes, following a dirt road that runs parallel to the big above-ground pipes which carry heat and hot water.

There are entire neighborhoods of дачи, we are walking down the "street" where our дача is located.

Our destination

Their дача was hand made by Владимир, who is a quite skilled with his hands. He used to make traditional ovens when he was younger so I'm sure he made short work of building this two floor abode. Артем didn't have the key to open up the house so those pics will have to wait until Caitlin and I return in a few weeks.


Владимир and Любовь have constructed several green houses over some of their veggies, here Артем is watering the tomatoes. Almost everything here is hand made, using good ol' Russian ingenuity. They are cultivating everything from veggies like tomatoes, cukes, cabbage, apples, pears to flowers and herbs.

I've come to realize that sometimes the most boring places or activities for a Russian can be the most exciting for a foreigner like Caitlin or I. Артем spent many long hours at a дача when he was a kid, so visiting this place to water some plants is a chore or an excuse to get into the woods. But for me it was a pleasure and a privilege because I can see first hand an intimate part of Russian life here in the Urals. The same also held true when we were in Ethiopia. Our most favorite trip was when we spent 1 hour with the grandmother of our friend, Maha. We sat in her home, we drank tea with her, we saw her farm and her work animals. We were able to glimpse what daily life for her family is like.

Chelyabinsk 8/3-8/5

R to L: Tatyana, Jon, Natalia

Chelyabinsk was such a modern city, I felt like someone moving from Vermont to Boston. Our home for 3 days 8/3-8/5, Hotel Victoria was top notch, very classy. Our first stop was to work. The office here is much bigger, multiple floors and so modern. We went out for business lunch where I had traditional soup and modern pizza, it was awesome, accept Jon is annoyed that instead of saying lunch in Russian on the menu it is transliterated to say “business lunch” биснис лунч.

We had met the classy, brilliant and beautiful Natalia and Tatyana at the company picnic, the two women Jon would be training the next few days who are now our friends. They are amazing and took us out to a classy traditional restaurant where we sat on the patio. It was located in this one very pretty part of the city that reminds me of Faneuil Hall. It is a stone walkway shut down to traffic with plenty of shopping, music and souvenir vendors.


The women took us around on a tour. I made sure I hit it up the next day for a shopping extravaganza, treating myself to some cute clothes for my birthday. We also walked through a park to see their former alma mater. We learned how competitive it is for a job and how rigorous the interview process is. We also learned how smart and talented these women are: Tatyana being a math scholar and former mathematics teacher; Natalia being a Information Technologies major. Both can program even thought their job position is software tester, both studied English at university as well. Not only are they brilliant, they are certainly the best tour guides!

Natalia's University (A Technology and Engineering School)

Cool Chelyabinsk Church now an Organ Concert Hall

On Wednesday, we went out for Chinese food at an amazing restaurant: Dragon. Again, we were completely impressed.


But the kicker for me was the fancy grocery store that blew trader Joes and whole foods out of the water with their array of gourmet naturals and savory prepared foods section. I ate my foot as all the food products I had told legends about thinking were only found in the US abounded the aisles. I’m talkin’ lobster tails, orange marmalade, maple syrup, fresh mozzerela, and basil. I was so excited, I got in trouble for taking pictures of the store. I spent over an hour here with my jaw open, muttering in awe in English (scaring many, I’m sure). There was a drawback though: the basil cost I kid you not $20 USD! Right there, it was a luxury store, but some items were out of reach, unlike at Trader Joes. ALSO- they were missing chocolate chips and peanut butter. I asked for them and they brought me over to the chocolate covered potato chips! My day ended for a cool 1000 rubles with only 6 treasures: fresh sunflower seed bread, pasta sauce, hot sauce (burritos here we come), sweet and sour Chinese pomegranate sauce, birch tree juice, and marmalade and chocolates for friends.

Note the Traditional Wedding Swan Bread!
Hot Russian Delights- Mmmm!

We had a great time in Chelyabinsk, but I am glad we are in Miass because of the nature here. It’s more different from home and therefore exciting for us. Plus, the bus system is so easy here because really there is one main road. In Chelly, I ended up riding buses in the wrong direction until they would turn around and bring me back to where I was trying to go. One bus ride was over an hour. Oy vey.

Met Gorbechev while out shopping.