I am grateful for:
Getting some good practice in the art of sleeping on long flights but still waking up in time for the food cart. And also safely arriving in Russia.
I left Thornton, New Hampshire at 4 am on September 8, 2019. Here’s a picture my mother insisted on making when she dropped me off at the bus that would take me to Boston Logan Airport.
St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square.
I didn’t get to Moscow until a little after 2 pm (local time!) the next day. The really fun thing about the Fly America Act is that you get to spend a lot of quality time at different airports for your layovers. After 6 hours at JFK and 3 hours at Vienna International Airport and lots of sky-time in between, I was really over the moon to be in Moscow. But not quite excited enough to fight through my jet lag — I immediately fell asleep at the hotel and woke up at 9 pm. I then walked to the nearest store to by supplies for a cheese sandwich, walked a little bit further to Red Square, walked back to the hotel to make my sandwich, and then promptly fell asleep again. Truly a 10/10 Monday night.
So anyways, the reason I was in Moscow to begin with was for our orientation, which I really enjoyed. It was chance to meet all the other Fulbright ETAs in Russia (if any of you are reading this I hope you are ~thriving~ in your respective city) and a full three days spent at the United States Embassy to talk about teaching methodologies, what it’s like to live abroad, and person to person diplomacy.
On September 14, just before 7 am, I landed in Novosibirsk! It was a balmy 36* F.
I never know what to do with my hands.
Dorm decor and potential inspiration for a future tattoo.
Olesya, who teaches at Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University and is in charge of coordinating with the university’s Fulbright grantee, picked me up at the airport to bring me to my dorm. I’ll write more about Olesya in my next post — she’s absolutely the most wonderful human being. The last tenant of my room had left up some of their dorm decor. I love it a lot.
A damp day with Dima.
This piece is from an exhibition called “Dirty Women” (Гразные Женщины). The Artist is Olya Posuh and the title is translated to “A Woman Must Sit At Home And Make Borscht.” It’s rad as hell.
We hadn’t even made it to the dorm from the airport when Olesya connected me with one of her students who had volunteered to hang out with me the next day. Dima messaged me on VK, the Russian version of Facebook, and we agreed to meet up by the folklore museum downtown. There happened to be an art festival in the city, so we went from exhibit to exhibit, running to each building through periods of torrential downpour. We saw some really amazing pieces, everything from augmented reality to sculpture to some live music.
Dima is brilliant and very kind and a joy to be around. He spent his entire afternoon showing me around (even though he had already spent his morning working as an English tutor!), pointing out the best coffee shops and other important things. Between my jet-laggedness and introvertedness and the initial creepings of homesickness I was a little bit of a mess, but Dima truly made me feel welcome in this new city. AND he showed a wonderful, small cafe where we each got a big bowl of pho. Just a really pleasant day with a real standup guy.
Being here with a Barnaul Buddy.
Siobhan and I met earlier this summer when we both happened to be doing a language program in Barnaul (which is only a few hours’ drive from Novosibirsk). She’s also here as a Fulbright ETA, and it’s pretty wacky that we both happened to be placed in Novosibirsk. It’s also a little wacky that we both spent undergrad at universities in upstate New York and our hometowns are only about an hour apart in the States.
Siobhan ran a 5k! I joined some of the students and faculty from her university to watch the race.
I feel so lucky to be sharing this experience with a friend like Siobhan. She is smart and funny and loves memes and raccoons. We’re now living together in a wonderful apartment in the city center, and I’m grateful to have someone to come home and drink tea with each night.
The phrase, “молодец, молодец, как соленый огурец”
This is my most favorite phrase. I heard it for the first time last summer and a new friend this week brought it back to the forefront of my mind. It translates to, “Good work, good work, like a pickle.” Obviously it sounds better in Russian as it rhymes. But still, makes me smile every time.
So there’s some insight into what the start of this 10-month adventure has been like. I hope all you sky deer out there are achieving good wishes, tune in next week for more on birthdays (cheers to 22!), sports tourism, and a trip to the zoo.