It's June, in Canada that means warm weather; in Vladivostok, that means fog. Sometimes the fog lifts in the afternoon, but often the days are moist, misty, and overcast. The only downside of living near the ocean!
I finished teaching my classes and have only two exams left, one today in the afternoon and a second... I'm not sure when. That's the sort of disorganization that I was warned about, and am getting used to.
Getting used to? I only have two weeks left, and soon I'll be returning back to Canada where everyone follows the book and I don't have to worry about whether I'll have students, hot water, or electricity.
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| Mind you, the fog can be inspiring! |
Extra time, and lots of it, should be used wisely. Let me introduce you to my two most recent adventures:
Okay, fine, beautiful scenery, a river...
That's more like it!
With a few of the teachers from the department, and a couple of friends, I made my way down the Partizanks River on a raft. We stopped halfway to heat our water-logged bread and sausages over a make-shift fire. When we got back into our boats we sang Russian songs and to their great amusement I sang in French; we floated lazily along, the current was so strong we barely needed any effort to keep moving. The day was pleasant and warm, the trees had just bloomed fluorescent green leaves, the sky was infinitely blue.
I think I smiled the entire time, and then the entire time home...
Afterwards I took a couple of days to go back to the farm. We stopped by
Dina's village on our way, and as Dina gave a private English lesson
(ironic?) I took a little walk.
After I took a picture of this magnificent water well, a man wearing an army suit who had just been throwing some stones at some yappy dogs, asked me abruptly why I had taken the picture. I smiled prettily and explained that I was a foreigner, and then explained I had never seen a well before and wondered if he could show me how it worked. He nodded with a smile and I cranked the handle to draw up the bucket. Despite the enchanting setting, the water was disappointingly not very tasty. Nu, spasibo! (well, thanks anyway!)
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| Views from above. Most of the houses are made from wood and called "izpas." They usually consist of two rooms or so and are brightly coloured on the outside, sometimes with lace trimming around the windows and the roof. |
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| The village sits in a valley on the sea. |
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| Fascinating flowers. |
When we got to the farm, we had tea immediately as usual. Then I had a look at the tall hill in the near distance and said to Dina: "Let's climb that hill." Dina had no such dream, but thankfully her acquaintance, a horse trainer from Uzbekistan, had been waiting 10 years to climb it. After some coercion, and then after getting some water from the spring, we set out. "It will only take you another 30 minutes from here!" claimed the Russian cowboy, Sergei, as we passed him and his herd. Hmm... how about 4 hours!
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| The dream unconquered. And some horses. |
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| A boy who lives at the farm also came with us. Technically he was our guide. |
It was around this point, as we took a break in the shade, that Dina and the dog she was carrying were beginning to feel tired.
And it was about at this point that we left Dina, the dog, and the boy behind.
The trek was long and arduous, we took two breaks in the shade. At one
point I was literally climbing a vertical rock face and barely making my way forward as the peak seemed ever so close, and yet ever so far...
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| Ooh, a double-headed orange lily! Always time to pick some flowers. |
Can you imagine my surprise when I am about to break to the crest of the hill and I hear a voice speaking--someone is already at the top! Who can it be? With much effort I pull myself up and am shocked to see Dina, looking as if she has been waiting some time, and Vlad who is flying a makeshift flag--they've gotten there first! How can it be?
Dina explains: as she watched us disappear to the left of the hill to make our way to the top, it occurred to her that it would be wonderful to beat us there. So she immediately came up with the idea of the flag and told Vlad to find a stick. Then they took the shortest way up to the right and ran as quickly as they could. She wanted to make sure she had some time to catch her breath before we arrived... cunning and conniving!
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| As Dina would say: "Oh great, now I've killed my dream." Time to find a new one! |
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| Real food. |
The day ended by sitting around the fire as Saib pulled together a very tasty Uzbek broth of meat, potatoes, carrots... and, unfortunately, no cabbage. Then more singing as usual.
