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marta 8

  

international women's day is march 8th.  spring is in the air, women worldwide enjoy extra attention from the men in their lives, and the prices of roses in russia skyrocket.  but its a small price to pay for those you care about.  we, of the male species at the consulate, made our plans for the annual event.  the first year we did something pretty simple.  every women at the consulate was met when they arrived for work and was escorted to their office.  along the way they received a rose and had a picture taken with the consul general.  last year we threw a hawaiian party, importing in leis and wearing our best tropical shirts and shorts.  

this year we're going formal again.  on friday, we went with a film festival theme. escorts (with famous russian, english, and american actors 8x10 photos taped to their chest) walked our "celebrity" women down a red carpet where they were filmed, photographed and interviewed by the consul general on their way to the festival awards ceremony. a few introduction speeches were made, thanking the women for all the things they do to make the world a better place.  then came the awards.  we took the idea of a best film of the year award and announced the nominees from all the consulates and the embassy in russian.  each post's film contribution was actually a creative commercial.  i had to spend a few nights on youtube and adscritics.com to come up with enough "nominees".  the criteria:  no speaking since we had a mix of non-english listeners, honor women for what they bring to the world, and also be creative enough to feel like they could actually be a movie.

here a look at what we presented for the women of mission russia:

Yekaterinburg's "The Second Driver"

St. Petersburg's "Jealousy"

Moscow's "First time"

Vladivostok's "Brothers"

and the winner - Vladivostok!

our creative consul affairs officer also contributed a "live" video feed to offer his congratulations to the ladies for winning.  since he was in Magadan that day, a thousand miles away.  he still wanted to help out with the event.  actually it was pre-taped and played on dvd.  the humorous ending showed some obvious give-aways that he was recording this in vlad before he left.  the resulting laughter proved our annual event was once again successful.  

i handed out the "awards", each wrapped in aluminum foil containing a "marta 8th" coffee/tea mug with their photo on it.  i used foil, since i could mold it into some semblance of an award.

it was a lot of planning.  several people were out of the office on leave or training.  so i was a little worn out covering work and coordinating the event.  but we have a great local staff that helped get the food ready, find the awards, work out the video and audio issues, decorate and then put everything together.

it wasn't the oscars, bit it did honor the ladies with a 5-star tribute.

russian first day of spring - march 1st

 

 -new bay bridge under construction-

today's the first day of spring in russia.  doesn't feel like it yet.  but at least we know warm weather is on it's way.  i told my girlfriend the first day of spring in the usa isn't until march 21st/22nd.  she doubted this, saying spring starts on the first, everywhere in the world.  after a couple minutes on-line, i was able to prove i wasn't just making it up.  several continents, like north american, observe the first days during the respective solstice and equinox of the seasons.  she believes this would still cause some confusion in some instances.  i'm still trying to think of examples of how, but can't come up with anything.  now if we were talking about time-zones that'd be different.

don't eat the snow

 

 

after coming back from moscow on saturday, i took lucia out for a walk that afternoon.  our happy little reunion quickly turned into me looking after a sick dog.  she began vomiting and suffering from diarrhea by dinner time.  i didn't know if it was something she ate during the walk but suspected it was a bit of garbage she snuck away with without me noticing. after a sleep free night of watching her and trying to make her comfortable, my girlfriend and i took her to the dog clinic.  after a several questions, the doc said she suspected lucia ate some snow/ice chemical concoction that one of the homeowners had spread out on their driveway to melt the ice.  there's no limitations on what people can use to treat their property so if anyone gets infected by it, they are out of luck and look forward to a few days of misery in bed.  in lucia's case, she probably drank or ate something that basically gave her a case of food poisoning.

the doc gave her several shots of anti-inflammatory drugs along with vitamin shots and anti-biotics.  she gave me instructions on how to care for her with some throat medicine to reduce the inflammation over the next couple days.  although she was still weak, she started showing more signs of life by the time we got to my car.  by the time we got home she was able to move on her own and walked into the house.  she's still weak and moving slow but at least she on the road to recovery. 

it sucks when you encounter problems even during something as simple as a dog walk.  i promised her the next posting would involve a place that actually has somewhere to walk where road-side trash and anti-freeze mickeys are not the norm.

trip to moscow

 

st basil's cathedral in red square

i just returned back from a quick trip to moscow.  i didn't have a chance to do much sightseeing, so i made sure i got up early one morning just so i could walk down to red square.  the marriott wasn't too far away from the square but the temps were cold enough to freeze me to the bone by the time i got there.  after navigating through several underground metro stops, i finally ended up on the square.  it was around 600am and the darkness still held a shadowy grip over all the buildings.  even though the square had several of the buildings lit, i could still barely see other pedestrians walking along.  

i joined some other americans for dinner at a local synagogue one night.  one of my colleagues was going by himself, so i offered to join him. i think this influenced another coworker to check it out also.  so map in hand, we took off down tverskaya st. and found chabad bolshaya bronnaya synagogue off one of the side streets.  the kosher menu was full of traditional russian entrees.  i had a delicious soup with pork, tomatoes, and vegetables along with turkish chicken kebabs.

i had a chance to meet a russian work associate of my girlfriend.  we only had a short time to visit, but he offered to show me more around moscow if i would be there in the future.  i hope to get back again by summer and spend more time getting to know the city.

 

merry christmas, welcome 2010

keeping my head warm . .

 

  

. . with my spiffy new winter hat 

 

yesterday i looked back on how we celebrated all the holidays in vlad.  here's my recap:

• spent xmas eve with my girlfriend.
• spent xmas day at neighbor's house with my girlfriend, my american colleagues and some visiting american students.  our consular affairs officer cooks the greatest meals.
• day after xmas, entertained friends with dinner and a movie.  another chance to use my home theater/projector.  
• new years eve, my house for dinner. spent it with my girlfriend, a friend of hers and our consul affairs officer and his wife/consulate medical nurse.
• new years day, recovering with girlfriend
• day after new years day, my girlfriend, another friend Natasha, and Natasha's boyfriend Аrtom. we had a late dinner together and also celebrated the new year with fireworks they brought.
• sunday after new years, my girlfriend, her god daughter and i went to vlad motor inn for breakfast.

the russian holidays continue over the first week of january.  so i'm enjoying the time off, and like most russians, recovering after all the celebrating.

snow covered city

vladivostok gets another blanket of snow.   

  

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

russian cursing

what do you do when you hear someone swearing in a foreign language?

i haven't gone out of my way to learn how to articulate cussing in russian, but after a couple years you can't help but pick up some of the more colorful adult vernacular.  

today i was sitting at someone's desk, fixing a problem when a nearby co-worker said "блин!".  which is actually the polite way of saying what they really meant to say which was "блядь".    in this case, the english version of sh--t or he-double hockey sticks.  

i played dumb but took notice the person was upset with his computer.  this was quickly verified as i was called over shortly thereafter to fix said problem.  after fixing it, i was tempted to say "see? it's only a computer not a блядь".  but right now it more fun to eavesdrop when no one thinks i'm listening. 

halloween

 

it's that time of year again.  treats for the kids, costume parties, the changing of the seasons.  i have a tradition of playing some of my favorite horror movies before halloween.  not the traditional classics, like the exorcist or the shining, nope.  they have to be zombie related. 

here's the playlist typically

• evil dead trilogy
• night of the living dead - original
• any living dead sequel
• shaun of the dead
• resident evil and any of its sequels

halloween is a recent addition to russia.  many enjoy it here and like the aspects of dressing up in costume.  there's a large party at the vlad motor inn, for parents and children.  each year, the total number of guests have increased dramatically.  on of my co-workers said she almost didn't make it this year since it's become so popular and the tickets were close to being sold out.    

i just realized, i don't have any russian horror movies.  something to check out.  in australia, i watched "wolf creek" and the saw movies (the first saw movie - created by aussies).  

parting advice in case you run into a zombie.  "beat em or burn em, they go up pretty easy." sheriff mcclelland - notld

60th anniversary - the end of the berlin airlift

   

a worthy example of american diplomacy, from history.com - this day in history - sept 30th, 1949

"After 15 months and more than 250,000 flights, the Berlin Airlift officially comes to an end. The airlift was one of the greatest logistical feats in modern history and was one of the crucial events of the early Cold War.

In June 1948, the Soviet Union suddenly blocked all ground traffic into West Berlin, which was located entirely within the Russian zone of occupation in Germany. It was an obvious effort to force the United States, Great Britain, and France (the other occupying powers in Germany) to accept Soviet demands concerning the postwar fate of Germany. As a result of the Soviet blockade, the people of West Berlin were left without food, clothing, or medical supplies. Some U.S. officials pushed for an aggressive response to the Soviet provocation, but cooler heads prevailed and a plan for an airlift of supplies to West Berlin was developed. It was a daunting task: supplying the daily wants and needs of so many civilians would require tons of food and other goods each and every day. On June 26, 1948, the Berlin Airlift began with U.S. pilots and planes carrying the lion's share of the burden. During the next 15 months, 277,264 aircraft landed in West Berlin bringing over 2 million tons of supplies. On September 30, 1949, the last plane--an American C-54--landed in Berlin and unloaded over two tons of coal. Even though the Soviet blockade officially ended in May 1949, it took several more months for the West Berlin economy to recover and the necessary stockpiles of food, medicine, and fuel to be replenished.

The Berlin Airlift was a tremendous Cold War victory for the United States. Without firing a shot, the Americans foiled the Soviet plan to hold West Berlin hostage, while simultaneously demonstrating to the world the "Yankee ingenuity" for which their nation was famous. For the Soviets, the Berlin crisis was an unmitigated disaster. The United States, France, and Great Britain merely hardened their resolve on issues related to Germany, and the world came to see the Russians as international bullies, trying to starve innocent citizens."

st. petersburg

russian word(s) for the day:
"Я был в отпуске" = i was on vacation

so i finally took a week off to spend time in st. petersburg.  you'll see new photos added to my flickr account at:

nomadically's flicker photostream

flights were uneventful there and back again. i flew aeroflot with moscow as a layover. the only bad part was spending a few hours in moscow's sheremetyevo airport on the way back to vlad.  it was a pretty small domestic terminal, so i ran out of things to do while i waited. by the time i was on my last leg of the flight i was so tired i slept through the whole thing.  my girlfriend met me at st pete's airport and it was great to see her after several weeks of being apart.

so here's what we ended up seeing-

1. the hermitage - (pic above: left to right: hermitage theatre, old hermitage, small hermitage, and winter place. new hermitage is behind the old hermitage)
2. church of the savior on blood - alexander ii was mortally wounded during an assassination
3. kazan cathedral
4. saint issacs cathedral
5. peterhof - many outdoor fountains covering a lush park of paths and trees near the sea.
6. tsarskoe selo (the royal villege with alexander pushkin's boyhood school and catherine's palace)
7. nevsky prospekt - main avenue of the city with shops, dining and other tourist haunts
8. boat tour on the neva and city canals.
9. bus tour - during the one rainy day all week.  it helped cover a lot of what we didn't have time to see while on foot.

we covered a lot of ground but there was still so much to see.  i packed for all kinds of weather but ended up wearing summer clothes most of the time.  we only had one rainy day for the week.  besides the sightseeing, we also ate out often to try the local cuisine. my girlfriend took me to eat at Штолли, which had delicious meat and dessert pies.  everywhere we stopped had great food but that one will always come to mind when i think of st pete.

many of the sites we visited were great to see but i'd say, the hermitage and peterhof were the ones that stand out the most for me.  the hermitage consists of several buildings and houses. it had so many exhibits it was impossible to see them all in one day.  we spent six hours going through it but could easily have spent a week there.  think of the smithsonian's collections in d.c. and you get the idea.  

peterhof is outside the city and required a bus ride to get there.  sometimes called "peter's court", it's named after peter the great.  we spent all day walking through the park, checking out the fountains and underground grotto. 

the rest of the week- besides the normal tourist spots we caught the raising of the bridges on the river neva.  around 0120am, people can watch from the river as the street bridges raise for the night to let the ships out of the city.  the ships return early the next morning with their deliveries and the bridges are lowered again for the rest of the day.  they're all lit up so it's easy to see from any distance. if you're driving a car and need to leave the city, it's not so much fun. you're pretty much stuck in the city, unless you want to abandon the car and take a boat across the river.

with so much walking, my shoes gave out and i ended up buying a new pair of sneakers.  i found some adidas that ended up being so comfortable i didn't even know my feet were sore until i took them off at the end of the day.  i also bought a couple pairs of shoes for my girlfriend because she was even getting a little tired of walking in the shoes she brought. 

i picked up some propaganda posters from a local bookstore.  i've been looking for them for awhile and found some that covered everything from popular heath, tourism, and cold war slogans.  once i get some framed i'll post some pics.

i really hated to leave the city on my last day.  i hope to get back again, maybe i'll stop on my way to estonia if i head to tallinn for a visit.  when i got back to vlad, i was still in a state of relaxation for several days afterward. one of my best vacation trips ever..