Strap in folks — I’ve spent the last three days in Yekaterinburg and I’ve got some things to say about it.
Today I am grateful for:
The enthusiasm of 150+ participants at a speaking club in Yekaterinburg.
Do you know the story of Betty and Barney Hill? The couple who claimed to have been abducted by aliens in 1961 while driving through rural New Hampshire? Because a very large group of Russians now know this story after I was asked on the spot to share something that makes my hometown unique.
If you have had literally any kind of interaction with me, you probably know that I’m not much of a talker. And from there, you can probably draw the conclusion that I’m not great a public speaker (But I’m getting better! Progress, people.). For that reason, teaching and conversation clubs are difficult for me — all that attention sort of short circuits my brain and suddenly I’m fixated on an alien abduction story or whatever else.
Girl power, amiright?
BUT I do love meeting and exchanging stories with new people of all different backgrounds. This speaking club was really amazing — it’s organized each month by the U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg and it’s HUGE. What I love about speaking clubs, in general, is that everyone wants to be there; typically no one is being forced by a professor or whoever else to show up. Each person shows up for themselves, and I think that that’s really admirable. This club meeting had a spectacular range of age and proficiency, and it was so wonderful to speak so many different kinds of people.
The club meeting started with four women and myself sharing about ourselves and why we’re in Russia, followed by a quick Q&A session (“What do you think of Russian men?” was a bold question but I commend the asker for not holding back.) And then came the fun part — we moved from table to table, each with 10-15 people, and we just had free conversations. We talked a lot about holidays, how Thanksgiving is similar or different to the Russian New Year; I talked about my experiences with my outing club and they, with knowing smirks, told me to look up the story of Dyatlov Pass; we talked about Black Friday and how stores in Russia will have many “Black Friday” sales throughout the year.
Dinner with diplomats.
Someone brought these Reese’s Cups and Double-Stufffed Oreos to Russia from the U.S. months in advance just for Thanksgiving and I am so grateful for that foresight.
So we went to Yekaterinburg at the invitation of the US Consul General to celebrate Thanksgiving with the few Americans who are living and working in this part of the world. You should know that Yekaterinburg’s US General ConsuI’s name is Amy Storrow and Amy Storrow is the most wonderful and welcoming woman you could hope to spend Thanksgiving with. She had a career in creative writing before joining the foreign service, and that in itself I love. We celebrated in her home, with her cat and a whole host of characters connected to the State Department. There was Anya, a Fulbright researcher who speaks the most beautiful Russian of any America I’ve ever met; Tony, the diplomatic security guy who had all sorts of good stories; Ben, the super friendly 16 year old who vaguely reminds me of a golden retriever (in a good way, obviously!); Matthew, the Public Affairs Officer who seemed so genuinely interested in our experiences living in Russia so far; Ivan (whose role at the consulate I’m actually not too sure about), who was well-dressed and laidback and most importantly an alum of Syracuse (Go Orange!) and so many other folks. t’s funny to think about spending Thanksgiving with a group of strangers, but it’s funnier to think that these folks never felt like a group of strangers to begin with.
And don’t get me wrong, I like Russian food, but I was surprised and elated that nothing we ate for dinner tasted even remotely Russian. No dill, no mayonnaise, but real homemade mac ‘n’ cheese, pecan pie, and sweet potato casserole (I literally have not seen a single sweet potato in the three months I’ve been here).
So anyway, I’m grateful to have spent my favorite holiday with a wonderful group of people but I’m even more grateful to know that such kind and brilliant people are the ones representing our country in this part of the world.
Seeing the sights, learning some history.
I couldn’t get enough of the trams. I’m not sure what it is about them, but I could stand on a street corner all day and watch them go by. We have them in Novosibirsk too, but the sheer number of trams in Yekaterinburg just floored me. They just zipped up and down the streets with occasional sparks flying from the overhead wires. After landing in Yekaterinburg at 6:30am, Siobhan and I dropped our bags off at our hotel and set off into the city as the sun was still trying to make its way up and over the horizon. I fell in love with the trams as we were walking to the Church on Spilled Blood.
The Church on Spilled Blood is a Russian Orthodox Church that was built on the site where the Romanovs were killed. If you don’t know the story of the Romanovs, you should read up or check out “The Last Czars” on Netflix. It’s a real heartachey kind of story. In short, the family was imprisoned after the February revolution and then killed in Yekaterinburg in 1918 because the Bolsheviks were afraid the White Army would come to occupy the city. Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and all five of their children were shot in the basement of an engineer’s house. The bodies were initially dropped in a pit near a mine (they were soon moved to a different location so they couldn’t be so easily found.). There is now a monastery at the site of this pit, with seven chapels built around the site, one for each member of the family. Each year, on the anniversary of the murders, there is an all-night service at the Church on Spilled Blood and at dawn, everyone walks four hours to the Ganina Yama Monastery.
Not breaking any bones while climbing up onto the Europe/Asia border monument.
The thing was just real slippery.
Also I guess we missed the memo about bringing ribbons — there must have been thousands tied to the fences and trees, I think for good luck.
Safe travels to and from and all around.
I’m really grateful to have been granted this time off from teaching so that I could go connect with other English learners as well as other Americans. As much as I love Novosibirsk, it was nice to see a different part of the country and experience something with fresh eyes. I’m a super anxious traveler, but getting around here is a lot easier than in the states, and I’m grateful for that, too. This trip definitely sparked a little Dan-Eldon energy in me and I’m excited to start planning my next Russia excursion.
