Nearly Christmas
Robbie's report from Siberia:
Hello,
I hope everybody is well. Not much news here, still snowy but not really so cold, only -17 this morning but it felt like +5 in Ireland. I had Monday off work because of “Constitution Day” on Sunday which was nice- when I said it to dedushka (the Russian Granddad) he said “What constitution?” and I said your constitution and he just grumbled and muttered something. Not widely celebrated, just by all the places that you would need to have open such as banks etc. I was thinking recently that nothing bad has really happened to me since I came back to Russia- which is worrying because I only have 4 weeks left here and I am afraid that something bad might happen. Mel the American girl had her wallet (with credit cards) and digital camera stolen out of her bag on the bus on Saturday, fortunately they did not take her passport which in Russia would have been the biggest nightmare and there are hardly any shops in Novosibirsk that take credit cards and she did not have much cash but she misses her digital camera. So after she cancelled her cards there was not much she could do. There is little point in going to the police here, they are either useless or corrupt or both. I also never mentioned the plight of Damian from South Africa who left to go home 2 weeks ago. He had to fly from here to Moscow and then onwards, when he was checking in for his flight to London from Moscow they told him he could not leave Russia because his visa (for Russia) was not in order. So after staying here since last February he was sent back to Novosibirsk to fix the problem, he ended up being in Russia an extra week before he was able to get out. Only in this bloody country will they make it more difficult to leave the country as a foreigner than get in. I felt a bit bad because when he was saying goodbye to us the last time, he said something like “Well I’m leaving Russia now” and I said something to the effect of “You are not out until you go past immigration in Moscow” - should have kept my mouth shut.
Read more!
Speaking of people leaving, another foreigner left on Saturday- Stefan from Germany, who one had the sense that he never actually used money- he was one of those people who just did not need it- his camper van in Germany is converted to run on vegetable oil or something like that and he was always claims insurance for his “hiking equipment” which always goes “missing” anytime he is in Russia which enables him to pay for flights. They only hurdle he could not overcome was the fact that he was not given BaFOeG (German student grant) for the time he was here because they only pay it if you are in the European part of Russia- I felt a bit sorry for him when he told me but not anymore- chances are he was swindling them also. Anyway it was his leaving party on Friday night but we went to a Mexican restaurant beforehand. (I am giving the impression that we went for him but we went without him, just a couple of us) This was a) quite a shock to find in Siberia b) very good and c) completely wonderful because I forgot for 2 hours I was here! We really went because Andy and Carrie (two “volunteers” i.e. CIAers) were going back home after being here for about a month. Basically all foreigners here are thought of by each other as potential spies but these 2 were especially dubious, being American and unable to describe what exactly they were doing here. But very nice people, Carrie was very funny, dirty minded and a bit of an alcoholic and Andy was good at fixing things (handy in Russia) and a little bit cute, well very nice really. Anyway Stefan was on the Aeroflot flight that leaves at 6 in the morning which means you have to leave at 3 in the night (no automatic check in kiosks in Tolmachevo Airport yet and I’m not keeping my fingers crossed either) but Andy and Carrie were on Siberian Airlines in the evening so we could have breakfast with them and give them a hug goodbye- Carrie gave me an electric shock because of her nylon top and Andy gave a very very long nice hug also (not just to me though- to all of us). Anyway after a couple of hours of delay they were heading on their way to Moscow and all its big glitzy sights and ultimately, home for Christmas. Saturday evening- feeling a little tired after the party the night before I went for dinner with Mel, Elizabeth (the old one from France) and Marina (from Uzbekistan I think- although that is the least remarkable thing about this thing) we went to Jilie Bilie Russian restaurant which is so cute inside and all the staff are in traditional Russian costumes (it is a bit Disney like) and when we left it was snowing and everything seamed so nice, then Me and Mel said goodbye to the other two (I will be spending Christmas with Elizabeth and a duck as we are the only foreigners here who like a drink and will be staying for Christmas) So we went back to Anna’s place to watch a movie- at the weekends I move in with Anna because of the grandparents getting too repressive for me. So we watched a very scary movie which I did not like because I am a girl when it comes to things like that, so I spent most of the time under a blanket. Anyway as a Christmas present for Mel, Anna and Grig (my washing machine saviour) I brought them to a Russian musical on Sunday afternoon called NEP (New Economic Plan)- not what one might think of as the most exiting title for a musical but it really was great, set in the 1920’s and very very soviet (even Stalin was in it) with lots of dancing and some really great songs- beets Andrew L Weber any day. Went for a pint in the Irish bar on Lenin Street afterwards and then went home and invited Marina (from above) and Misha (nice Russian guy) to watch a video as well as drink. We watched Wild Things- which we should have known with Marina around was a mistake, for you see Marina is a sex crazed bisexual 20 year old from Uzbekistan who’s mission in life is to convert everyone to bisexuality, preferably by force. So her victims that night were Mel and me. After watching that video we ended up playing strip spin the bottle which got a bit scary after awhile, poor Mel had to kiss her for 1 minute and I had to lick Anna’s tit- even scarier than the video from the night before. You will unfortunately not be getting the photos from that evening attached in this email. (Unrelated) We bought these huge 3 liter jars of juice from the supermarket which were dirt cheap, unfortunately when we got home we could not open them because you need a special utensil to do it, so we had to drill a hole in the lid, equalise the pressure and them pull of the lid- most difficult thing I have ever done, like opening a tin without a tin opener -took about 15 minutes, but it was very good juice- just tasted like mashed up apples, anyway on Monday night we all drank a little too much of this juice and the resulting colonic explosions were heard by all in poor Anna’s badly ventilated apartment. So that was my weekend- as I said nothing new or interesting here, same old miserable life! I am only here for 24 more days and only 12 of them are work days! Hope you’re all not sick of Christmas by now, no decorations here really- bit sad!
Hello,
I hope everybody is well. Not much news here, still snowy but not really so cold, only -17 this morning but it felt like +5 in Ireland. I had Monday off work because of “Constitution Day” on Sunday which was nice- when I said it to dedushka (the Russian Granddad) he said “What constitution?” and I said your constitution and he just grumbled and muttered something. Not widely celebrated, just by all the places that you would need to have open such as banks etc. I was thinking recently that nothing bad has really happened to me since I came back to Russia- which is worrying because I only have 4 weeks left here and I am afraid that something bad might happen. Mel the American girl had her wallet (with credit cards) and digital camera stolen out of her bag on the bus on Saturday, fortunately they did not take her passport which in Russia would have been the biggest nightmare and there are hardly any shops in Novosibirsk that take credit cards and she did not have much cash but she misses her digital camera. So after she cancelled her cards there was not much she could do. There is little point in going to the police here, they are either useless or corrupt or both. I also never mentioned the plight of Damian from South Africa who left to go home 2 weeks ago. He had to fly from here to Moscow and then onwards, when he was checking in for his flight to London from Moscow they told him he could not leave Russia because his visa (for Russia) was not in order. So after staying here since last February he was sent back to Novosibirsk to fix the problem, he ended up being in Russia an extra week before he was able to get out. Only in this bloody country will they make it more difficult to leave the country as a foreigner than get in. I felt a bit bad because when he was saying goodbye to us the last time, he said something like “Well I’m leaving Russia now” and I said something to the effect of “You are not out until you go past immigration in Moscow” - should have kept my mouth shut.
Read more!
Speaking of people leaving, another foreigner left on Saturday- Stefan from Germany, who one had the sense that he never actually used money- he was one of those people who just did not need it- his camper van in Germany is converted to run on vegetable oil or something like that and he was always claims insurance for his “hiking equipment” which always goes “missing” anytime he is in Russia which enables him to pay for flights. They only hurdle he could not overcome was the fact that he was not given BaFOeG (German student grant) for the time he was here because they only pay it if you are in the European part of Russia- I felt a bit sorry for him when he told me but not anymore- chances are he was swindling them also. Anyway it was his leaving party on Friday night but we went to a Mexican restaurant beforehand. (I am giving the impression that we went for him but we went without him, just a couple of us) This was a) quite a shock to find in Siberia b) very good and c) completely wonderful because I forgot for 2 hours I was here! We really went because Andy and Carrie (two “volunteers” i.e. CIAers) were going back home after being here for about a month. Basically all foreigners here are thought of by each other as potential spies but these 2 were especially dubious, being American and unable to describe what exactly they were doing here. But very nice people, Carrie was very funny, dirty minded and a bit of an alcoholic and Andy was good at fixing things (handy in Russia) and a little bit cute, well very nice really. Anyway Stefan was on the Aeroflot flight that leaves at 6 in the morning which means you have to leave at 3 in the night (no automatic check in kiosks in Tolmachevo Airport yet and I’m not keeping my fingers crossed either) but Andy and Carrie were on Siberian Airlines in the evening so we could have breakfast with them and give them a hug goodbye- Carrie gave me an electric shock because of her nylon top and Andy gave a very very long nice hug also (not just to me though- to all of us). Anyway after a couple of hours of delay they were heading on their way to Moscow and all its big glitzy sights and ultimately, home for Christmas. Saturday evening- feeling a little tired after the party the night before I went for dinner with Mel, Elizabeth (the old one from France) and Marina (from Uzbekistan I think- although that is the least remarkable thing about this thing) we went to Jilie Bilie Russian restaurant which is so cute inside and all the staff are in traditional Russian costumes (it is a bit Disney like) and when we left it was snowing and everything seamed so nice, then Me and Mel said goodbye to the other two (I will be spending Christmas with Elizabeth and a duck as we are the only foreigners here who like a drink and will be staying for Christmas) So we went back to Anna’s place to watch a movie- at the weekends I move in with Anna because of the grandparents getting too repressive for me. So we watched a very scary movie which I did not like because I am a girl when it comes to things like that, so I spent most of the time under a blanket. Anyway as a Christmas present for Mel, Anna and Grig (my washing machine saviour) I brought them to a Russian musical on Sunday afternoon called NEP (New Economic Plan)- not what one might think of as the most exiting title for a musical but it really was great, set in the 1920’s and very very soviet (even Stalin was in it) with lots of dancing and some really great songs- beets Andrew L Weber any day. Went for a pint in the Irish bar on Lenin Street afterwards and then went home and invited Marina (from above) and Misha (nice Russian guy) to watch a video as well as drink. We watched Wild Things- which we should have known with Marina around was a mistake, for you see Marina is a sex crazed bisexual 20 year old from Uzbekistan who’s mission in life is to convert everyone to bisexuality, preferably by force. So her victims that night were Mel and me. After watching that video we ended up playing strip spin the bottle which got a bit scary after awhile, poor Mel had to kiss her for 1 minute and I had to lick Anna’s tit- even scarier than the video from the night before. You will unfortunately not be getting the photos from that evening attached in this email. (Unrelated) We bought these huge 3 liter jars of juice from the supermarket which were dirt cheap, unfortunately when we got home we could not open them because you need a special utensil to do it, so we had to drill a hole in the lid, equalise the pressure and them pull of the lid- most difficult thing I have ever done, like opening a tin without a tin opener -took about 15 minutes, but it was very good juice- just tasted like mashed up apples, anyway on Monday night we all drank a little too much of this juice and the resulting colonic explosions were heard by all in poor Anna’s badly ventilated apartment. So that was my weekend- as I said nothing new or interesting here, same old miserable life! I am only here for 24 more days and only 12 of them are work days! Hope you’re all not sick of Christmas by now, no decorations here really- bit sad!
posted by Anna at
12:41 PM
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