Blogs from Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia, Europe

Ok this becoming a habit... Greetings from the train from Novosibirsk to Yekaterinburg. This time its a short 21 hour trip so I better start writing. A childhood dream It is said that Russian scientist studied Lenin's brain (fortunately for him once he was dead) for over 40 years to understand why he was such a genius. The same might happen to my brain to understand the twisted logic and selective memory that brought us to Novosibirsk. I don't know if you remember a lot of your geography lessons at school. My memory is bad anyway and I have close to no recollection of my school years but I can clearly remember that we studied the Russian map and where the various natural resources in Russia are (god only knows why we did this. Maybe it ... read more

When I travel through a state or country, I enjoy unearthing famous residents. I would think Siberia would be home to quite a few interesting characters. The list includes Boris Yeltsin, Catherine the Great, Vitas Bering, Rudolf Nureyev, Dmitri Mendeleev, Grigori Rasputin, Raisa Titorenko Gorbachev, Kim Jun Il, Yul Brynner, Boris Godunov, Genghis Khan, and Ivan the Terrible. As a young teenager in high school, I learned much about Mendeleev. He is credited with formulating the periodic table of elements. He created his own periodic table of elements and used it to correct the properties of some already discovered elements and to predict element yet to be discovered. But perhaps most importantly, he was appointed director of the Bureau of Weights and Measures, where he formulated the new state standards for the production of vodka. In ... read more

There is a saying that Russia has two problems: ‘fools and roads’. The poor condition of many roads and causes thereof (including, prominently, corruption), is frequently a topic of conversation here. However, Russia has a couple of advantages regarding roads: it’s a rather flat country and it has lots of space to build them. I’ve been impressed by the number of new roads under construction and have enjoyed whizzing along long, wide, straight, recently build roads. What make driving here difficult are the sudden changes of road quality. A smooth new road will suddenly transform into a gravel track or battered tarmac surface with more hole than pot. I’ve also, since driving in Russia, become a huge fan of road markings. It’s unexpectedly difficult to drive without road markings, especially on a wide road with an ... read more

Today was my last day of studying at the language school, and we were given a test, which I hadn't been looking forward to but was actually quite good for seeing progression. Then we had a small presentation with a certificate, present and recommendations for how to improve in future, and a short round of applause, which was nice. In celebration one of the fellow students, who is Spanish, offered to cook us paella. Eating it made me realise how lucky I am at home to have access to so many different cuisines. I feel like I have exhausted Russian food and in Russia there is not a lot else available. There's pizza and pasta (though it tends to be a Russian take on it), sushi (there are many sushi restaurants in Russia and it is ... read more

One of the women in the family I am staying with (my "sister") teaches English to Russians from her home - all day long there is a stream of students coming and going, about 50% adults and 50% children. The lessons for the younger children are quite intensive - it is not uncommon for them to come for 20 minutes or half an hour 7 days a week (their parents usually sit in on the lessons, which seems the done thing in Russia). A woman I met explained that in Russia parents will often work very hard and stretch their budgets in order to have at least some level of private schooling for their children, because the state system is considered poor and in order to get a good job a good academic record is necessary. ... read more