Life on the train – part I – travel companions and language challenges

So last Monday night I boarded train number #010, going from Moscow to Irkutsk, also known as “Baikal”. First misconception I’d like to clear up at this point: there is NO such thing as THE transiberian train that is crossing Siberia, but numerous trains running on three main lines. For example I could have also taken train # 002 Moscow to Vladivostok, but # 010 seemed better to fit into my itinerary. And I have to say it was all true what my book said about the “Baikal” being one of the best options in terms of service and cleanliness- I was amazed at the standard is has! But to this a little bit later…

Initially, I had been a little bit worried about what kind of travel companions would share the “kupe” with me, since you hear all kind of stories. But up until now I was really lucky! I had 3 Russian women in my compartment for most of the time travelling to Novosibirsk. All three of them understood little tiny bits of English, and as we discovered on the way, one of them spoke Italian. We had a mix of : English, Russian, Italian, and sign language, which was actually quite effective, believe it or not!

My Russian unfortunately is rather limited: by now I can read the Cyrillic letters, I can count to ten, I can say hello, thank you, and I know some other random words. I knew that it would be a challenge to a come to a country where I don’t speak the language, I was prepared to use my hand and feet to make myself understood, but still I find it very frustrating to not be able to really communicate with people, it somehow limits the experience. Sometimes I understand what people want to tell me, but I can’t speak enough of Russian to answer them. I told myself that next time I come I want to be able to speak a little bit at least! Everything here is written in Russian, apart from the airport I haven’t seen one English sign at all and people do hardly speak English or sometimes they are too afraid to talk. The fact that nothing is written in English makes travelling tougher, without my Russian translators I would have been lost a few times already. But one somehow manages, I just have to be much more attentive on where I’m going for example, because I can’t ask for directions.

More on how spends the hours on the train you will find in my next posting, I'm off to bed. Good night.

At the red square

Days 2-4: Moscow part II

Although in the meanwhile I’m already in Novosibirsk I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you about the rest of my time in Moscow.

So last Saturday morning we headed off for the city centre of Moscow to do some more “serious” ;-) sightseeing. And believe me sights there are enough of in Moscow! First stop: “point zero” just in front of red square. And as we are standing there watching people throwing coins over their shoulders while silently expressing a wish the want to become true, I see this guy that looks familiar to me. As it turns out, him and me were chatting while waiting for hours in front of the Russian embassy in Switzerland ! So we met again by chance in the middle of Moscow. Sometimes the world is only a village, isn’t it? !

For the most of the weekend Dave joined us (Zhenia, Maja, Olga, Shashaank and myself) in our adventures around Moscow: visiting Red square, The Arbat – Moscow’s La Rambla or Sacre Coeur district if you want-, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Kremlin, and St.Basils Cathedral as well as Izymaylovsky Park. We were really lucky with the weather, for most parts the sun was shining, only the occasional shower every now and then. But when it rain in Russia, it pours!

It was really good to be with people who knew the place and the history, especially since my book didn’t cover Moscow all that extensively! I loved being at a place with so much history and I feel really sad that my knowledge around Russian history and culture as well as Orthodox religion is so limited. I have bought myself a small picture book of the Kremlin, so that I can do at least a little bit of background reading. Next time I come back I want to know more, so I can get out more when I see the things. Thus, on the last day when we went to see St.Basil Cathedrale I allowed myself the luxury of an audio guide and I have to say, it was worth every single Ruble!

I want to come back to Russia that is sure, there is so much I haven’t seen yet: the big museums in Moscow, parts of the Kremlin, I want to see a ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre, futher I want to visit St.Petersburg and finally I’d like go and see Lenin! Lenin? Why that? Despite being there for 4 days I didn’t have the opportunity to visit his mausoleum: on Friday and Saturday it was already closed, on Sunday there were too many people waiting in the line, and on Monday Lenin doesn’t work…;-)
(the former history student in me gets the better of me at the moment- old passions rarely die quickly)

In between all this sightseeing I even got some time to meet up with AIESECers from Moscow with whom I spend an evening talking and discussing.

The time really flew by and on Monday night it was then time to get on the train to Novosibirsk!

Day 1& 2: getting to know Moscow as well as Russian food

The adventure has begun! I'm sitting here in the Member Committee office of AIESEC in Rubek (Russia, Belarus, Khasachstan), reflecting on my very first two days of being in Russia, and there is already so much on my mind that I don't even know where to start.

I arrived yesterday in the afternoon after a very uneventful plane trip, that I spent sleeping most of the time, due to the fact that I had been packing up to 2.30 am and I had to get up at 4.45 am to catch my train.

Immigration procedures were smoother than expected despite the almost shocking unfriendliness of the customs officer. - Russian authorities/ embassies really provoke the impression that tourists are tolerated, but not really welcome. That statement however, is not at all true for my hosts! The Russian AIESECers I met so far are role models when it comes to hospitality!

Yesterday after arriving at the flat, I first got to taste some Russian food: ‘pelmeni’- they look and taste a bit like ravioli, but just much more filling. So far I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of food. Today I got to taste another specialty which is called ‘borscht’, a beetroot soup that includes other vegetables, chopped ham and a bit of sour cream, yam. J As I have learned so far, Russian eating culture is a lot about meat, and it is also ridiculously cheap in comparison to Switzerland. Russian ice-cream is also very nice, as I figured out today. The only thing that I’m not really sure whether I like it or not is a brown , a bit like dark beer looking drink, based on bread, with an indefinable taste that is called ‘kvas’.

Also yesterday we visited ‘VDNKh’ , formerly called the ‘USSR Economic Achievements Exhibition’ which is commonly abbreviated in Russian to VDNKh. It is the country's largest museum, and has a huge park containing national pavilions for all the republics of the USSR, fountains, aircraft and rockets amongst other things, as well as amusement-park rides. Today it has now been renamed the All-Russia Exhibition Centre - but everyone continues to call it the VDNKh. After strolling around in there for a few hours, we got home after midnight, where I fell straight into my bed- tired but really happy and excited about the things to come.

run up to my trip: the last three weeks before leaving

I haven't been updating my blog lately, since the 3 weeks after my term finished belonged to the busier ones I have had in a while. But the busyness resulted from doing lots of things with family and friends and not so much the work aspect, although my job as the WENA conference coordinator keeps me busier than I first imagined. It feels somehow strange to for once have different priorities, to have time to do things like going to the alpine openair movies (www.riederalp.ch), going to concerts, drinking red wine on a pedalo on lake Lucerne.

I went to this really rocking blues concert in the Bernese Oberland, one of the best concerts I have ever been to. The band is called Philipp Fankhauser www.philippfankhauser.com and if you ever have the opportunity to hear him perform: GO! Live the band is absolutely amazing!

As we are on giving recommendations: if you haven't seen the movie called ' Les Chorists' then I would urge you to see it! Very intelligent movie, good music, good actors.

My last recommendation for today: don't loose your bag, with all essential things in it! I lost my handbag with my cell phone, my keys, my old passport and some money in it. Only 3 weeks after I had my wallet stolen in the Netherlands, I managed to leave my handbag on the train. (this is only a very simplified version of putting it, in reality it had a longer story to it) Still, there are two things left to report: first I got my cell phone and my keys back and my current passport I had taken out the very same morning of the day when I lost it. Just imagine what would have happened if that hadn't been the case: I could have scraped my trip, since it had all the visas in it! There wouldn't have been any way to recover them in such a short period of time. So I have been more than just lucky! Or another way of putting it: more luck than brains...

Other than that the preparations for my trip kept me busy: going to the doctors, queuing in front of the Russian embassy for the visa, exchanging money, shopping, figuring out options for my one week stay in Mongolia, communicating with the travel agency, writing to my hosts I have on the way, reading in my many lonely planets. I have to admit, that I completely underestimated the prep time such a trip takes. Still, it is one of the things utterly enjoyed! in German you would say 'Vorfreude ist die beste Freude'!
But now let the adventure begin...- but to that tonight or tomorrow. Now I'm off to see Moscow city centre! Yiiha!

travel overview

PART I

My trip will start on the 22nd of July early

in the moring when I'll be boarding the plane to Russia

4 days Moscow

2 days train

4 days Novobirsk and sourroundings

2 days train

1 Day Irkutsk

2 days train

1 week Mongolia

1.5 days train

4 days Beijing and sourroundings

1.5 days train

3 days Hongkong

PLANE to India :-)

PART II

still under construction...

moving out

moving my stuff from the AIESEC office

Last Saturday I spent a considerable amount of time packing and moving my stuff from the office to Fribourg. It was unbelievable how much I have accumulated in only two years: it almost seemed as if I had my entire household to move...;-)

What you see in foreground that looks the Swiss map is actually one of the coolest presents I EVER got! It is like an advent calendar, each of the local committees of AIESEC Switzerland has a little window in which I found a little present. - It was given to me at the farewell party that we had two weeks ago. I was truly touched and it means a lot to me! Thank you everybody for that! A special thank you goes to you Nadja since I know you were the initiator :-)

The new team has already started to change the office- it already doesn't feel like "my" office anymore. But I guess I will have to get used to it. However, letting things go has never been one of my strenghts. ..

The End is the Beginning is the End

the end.

Yesterday I also had my last exam before the summer, so now I'm a free woman..;-)

It is the beginning of a new area in my life: (hopefully) new job, new focus, new adventures coming up. Feels good. - However, I want to take time to reflect on the experience. That's one more reason why I'm looking forward to my trip on the transsiberian railway: time to think and reflect.

For the moment being though I focus on more "wordly" tasks, the ones I have been neglecting lately: cleaning the office and my room, finally filling out my tax form, filing...

The next three weeks before I leave are already filled: seeing friends, spending time with my family and relatives, running around buying stuff for my trip, doing stuff for my new job as conference coordinator, booking hotels, getting the mongolian visa, finishing off stuff for AIESEC...

I will keep you posted :-)