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Nice sliver of humanity before I got on train. Mom, dad and adult daughter – helped me at the train station – she made me feel like her daughter – wanted to take care of me. Super sweet – funny family – good start to a trans-Siberian trip!
I think I have come to the conclusion that Russia is exhausting. That is if you don’t speak Russian and don’t pay some money to have tours set up – which is definitely not my style. If I come back to Russia again, would prefer to not do it alone – and will come armed with a better dictionary. Otherwise it feels like I am often met with stone cold looks – no matter how friendly I try to be. This mostly seems to be prevalent in the service industry though. I did meet some genuinely good people (I’m sure the service people are genuinely good too) – who were much more interested in being welcoming and interacting – these were other people I met on the train. I met a huge mixture of people on the train who came and went out of my cabin since I was on for the long haul. Very few English speakers - it’s amazing how sharing a beer or some chocolate (and yes, some vodka) will help to break barriers of communication and culture though. I made sure to have a couple of chocolate bars on hand to share just for this purpose. Every time we stopped at a place where we could get off the train for 20 minutes or so, I got off and bought a couple of beers (dirt cheap) extra to bring back on the train as well. There was one of the nights that felt pretty surreal to me. – A group of men got on – stinking drunk – I think the working class type (as opposed to the young swank business man who had earlier that day been my company – he said he enjoyed dark chocolate and good red wine – he left me a nice bar of dark chocolate) – anyway – I think it was about 2 or 3 in the morning – time is a strange thing on that long of a train ride – especially when you roll through 5 time zones – on the train straight for 4 days and it’s staying light very late these days. Needless to say my sleep is all whacked and turned upside down. Anyway, at that point I was sharing the cabin with another woman – she also spoke no English and she was a bit shy – but we ended up having really nice quiet communication with each other – so the drunk guys got on and they were in our cabin – we had 2 empty beds and then I think there was an extra guy who was there with them – just hanging out. They were harmless – and I followed the Russian woman’s lead who didn’t seem concerned. They just wanted to stay up all night in our cabin drinking a lot of vodka and carrying on super loudly – they (including almost everyone I met on the train) got a huge kick out of the fact that I was American – and traveling alone (these 2 facts seemed to be big novelties for a lot of people) – this seemed to be unheard of for most of the people I came across. There was a lot of saying my name to me “Rebecca” – and then a long string of Russian words – and a lot of laughing. I think people seemed to enjoy my company – as I did theirs. These drunken men offered me vodka – but it was like 4 in the morning and wasn’t really feeling it at that point – and sweetly – one of the men seemed to take a protective stance over me and indicated to his friend that I shouldn’t drink. He kept offering things to help me fall back asleep – like his phone to listen to some music under my pillow and covering me up with the blanket (it was pretty funny) – but all I really needed was for them to be quiet and turn the light off – of course I didn’t say this – and continued to laugh and joke with them. At times like this, I realized that a high level of tolerance was critical – and to not be overly paranoid – they were totally harmless. My initial reaction when they got on was to be very guarded – but realized I needed to let this down a bit. The night carried on for a while – but eventually the Providente (sp?) (train lady – there is one responsible for overseeing every carriage) got very angry and let them have it – they were pretty loud. I think another woman – a passenger in a different cabin also let them have it. So, rolling through Siberia on the train at 4 in the morning at that moment was pretty surreal. Met another older man on the train who was only on for about 45 minutes – and he talked my ear off the entire time in Russian – even though he knew I spoke none. I really have no idea what he was talking about – I asked him if he spoke German and he knew a couple of words here and there (I have used German a little bit – both in Poland and Russia as people – particularly older folks seem to know some) and seemed to be saying “arbeiten” a lot (which means to work) – and something about 30 or 30 years. I was confused – and then he wrote something to me in my journal which I have yet to decipher what it says. He was very animated – as many of the folks are that I have come across. – Dad – a side note for you – I mentioned to the young swank business man that my dad had an Uncle who was from Russia and how he used to drink vodka and smell very dark bread while drinking it. He laughed and was certainly familiar with this tradition – and reiterated that traditional bread in Russia is black – and he talked about eating it with the pork fat lathered on – and indeed how it’s good with vodka.
In Listvaynak (village about an hour outside of Irkutsk where I am staying) – I met another group of people – younger folks – partying it up (a lot of drinking going on around here) – they also called me over to join them – very limited English – the one young woman with them was really sweet to me. A couple of the guys kept proclaiming love for me – “Rebecca – I love you” – then lots of laughing – and telling me they wanted to come to America with me – I expressed that I have a boyfriend and that I am quite in love with him – and the one guys response was “but Rebecca – I love you” – pretty amusing. They were lit. With very limited language – the topics of conversation were completely random – from them thinking I was crazy for traveling by myself – to how white my teeth are (?) – to Arnold Schwarzenegger and confirming that he is from CA - to the girl telling me she is breaking up with her boyfriend – and all sorts of other randomness.
Lake Baikal is certainly beautiful – and it is nice to get out of cities. ). I even went for a run yesterday – on a little trail that goes parallel to the lake – so nice. As already mentioned though – the stone cold faces in the service industry don’t seem to change though (of course there are some exceptions to this). I really think though that this a cultural thing – and it’s not necessarily specific to tourists (I have to continually remind myself of this, as I can be overly sensitive sometimes and take things too personally). This aspect of Russia feels very Soviet to me.
I apologize – but I don’t have a ton of pictures. I will post the few that I have once I get the pictures downloaded onto computer. I haven’t felt like always whipping my camera out. The scenery on the train also wasn’t quite what I expected. For me, the word “Siberia” conjured up all sorts of images in my head – and I think I had a certain expectation of unending vastness – when in reality I saw lots of trees and tiny dilapidated villages – and many Soviet style buildings in some bigger towns. Certainly interesting – and this is all captivated in my mind.
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your boyfriend is a lucky guy!
hi lovely lady, thanks for the compliment, i almost feel sorry for all those crushed admirers- I also know the overpowering attraction you command! train sounds interesting, adventurous, and exhausting. glad you got out for a run- need to get some exercise myself... after sleep though. by the way, does everybody get to read my comments here, or just you? can hardly wait to see you, but I don't really have any choice. saturday morning 6am at the UB train station will be early, but not early enough for me... hugs and kisses