This may not be an actual blog post, but I would like to inform people that I just put up like a bunch of photos on facebook. So, go look and see.

Tonight I plan on trying to make Fajita Burritos. They won’t be just like they should because I don’t have Cilantro, and I know that equal parts mint and parsley are a substitute, but, they don’t even have mint here! Atleast not yet they don’t. So, no mojitos for us either. Tortillas also really don’t exist here either, but they do have a tortilla like substance. So, tonight I am giving it a shot. I am going to have the corn salsa, the rice made with parsley and a little lemon juice, the fried green, red, and yellow peppers, so hopefully it will be good. I also got “Mexico Sauce” which I am hoping is salsa.

So yeah, other than that I don’t much time to say anything else. I will be filling everyone in the latest happenings in just a bit (day or two, or maybe this weekend).

Also, this past weekend I was not abducted by aliens, I went to Байкальск where I did not go skiing, but I did slide down a mountain on my ass.

AWAY!

I know I am behind on blogs, and that I don’t have enough time tonight to cover any certain topic, so here is a preview to get you excited about what is to come.

Next time; see!

Vodka soaked bread and guitar with real Russian students!

What happens on a four day weekend!

listvyanka!

Cars on ice!

Blini in the kitchen!

I am now allergic to honey!

Pickle and hard boiled egg sandwiches!

The other crazy S that I eat!

Everything I miss about America!

Men’s Day!

It’s cold again!

Loads of laundry!

VK!

and most importantly

Jews In Space!

AWAY!

The other day I was going to my class, and I just wanted to take a 10 руб marshrutka to the university, because many of the marshrutkas are beginning to charge 12. So, I saw one, marshrutka # 90, and on it I saw Гост-Ангара, which is the hotel right across the square from the university.

I got on the marshrutka and all seemed well. We were going in the right direction, when suddenly we turned a different way than normal, or so I thought. Up until this point the marshrutkas that I had rode were always encased in ice, and I could not see out the windows. So, how was I to know that we were heading far far away from campus?

I passed a tank, a war plane, and another Всё Будет ОК, which I guess most of you might not know about yet because I have not blogged about my first trip to Всё Будет ОК, so it will remain a mystery until then.

Finally the marshrutka stopped and everyone got out. I looked out the non-iced window and saw none other than the airport.

After a few minutes the marshrutka driver came back and asked me what I was doing, and I told him I got the wrong marshrutka and that I wanted to go to the Гост-Ангара. He told me that we would go there, but it would take 50 minutes.

I had no other choice than to just sit on the marshrutka and wait. Sure, I could have caught another marshrutka, but I already missed my class, and then I would have to pay even more. So, I stayed on the marshrutka and 50 minutes later I arrived.

If that were not enough marshrutka troubles for one day, on the way back home the marshrutka broke down four times. The driver kept trying to get the engine going, but it would not start. The inside of the marshrutka was making noises that reminded me of The Poseidon Adventure. Part of me wanted to get off before it exploded, but the part of me wanted to stay so I could see how long it would take to get home.

The marshrutka’s engine woes ended up adding an extra 30 minutes on to my return commute, and we all got dropped off about a 10 minute walk before my dorm. The good news? We did not have to pay.

And there you have it, more things to read and comment on. I will try to get around to blogging about last weekend, but we shall see.

AWAY!

As the temperatures in Irkutsk warm up, things have begun to melt. The streets are pure dark gray slush, and the side walks have been mostly chopped free of their snow ice. I am going to miss the permanent snow ice that I had gotten so used to walking on. Though, I doubt it is gone forever, there is still plenty of time for snow, and more snow, and more freezing weather. I mean, it has not even broken -1 degrees Celsius yet.

Kirov Square is melting too, all the ice sculptures appear to be on their last legs, and there are big holes in the structure of the giant ice slide. There are more people on the streets, and there are dudes on the roofs of building throwing snow off with big snow brooms.

If Amanda were here, she would have a million on the job stories to do. The guys who sweep the sidewalks with brooms made of sticks, they guys who use garden tools to chip away the 5 inch thick snow ice, the guys on the roofs of buildings. They have to rope off areas on the side walks to make room for the massive amounts of snow being thrown off. I hope to get pictures and videos eventually. The other day huge sheets of snow and ice were falling of the sloped roofs of the small vendors stands outside of the university. It is crazy times. I see men shoveling snow into wheel barrows, and then dumping those wheel barrows into large trucks. I would like to find there those trucks are going, because I bet there is a metric-shitload of snow there. But, they probably just melt it and put it back into the water supply.

Also with the warmer weather comes less layers, and without tucking two shirts, and wearing my thermal pants, my jeans, and new kick ass slacks don’t fit quite well anymore. I need a belt. I have heard of a great clothing store near the central market that has $5 belts, so I need to go to there.

AWAY!

I was uploading pictures Friday night, and I feel asleep while typing Amanda a valentine’s email. I woke up with a lot less time to get ready than I thought I would, but I had to get the email done and send it off. It was not as long as I had hoped, but it got the message of love across.

So, I throw all my stuff into my book bag and we start a walkin and take the marshrutka to the train station. This time I remembered my outlet converter so I would be able to charge my camera’s battery without having to ask to borrow someone else’s.

The train ride was uneventful. There was the beautiful never ending Siberian landscape to look at, and several small gatherings of buildings that are the villages dotted along the train tracks

Since we got or tickets on different days, the party was split up into two different train cars. So, Anna went to go get Jean-Jacques and Alison, but she never came back.

While we were waiting Raya busted out two large grape fruits and began to cut them up with her pocket knife, I totally need to get me one of those. She offered me some, and I was reluctant because I have only tasted grape fruit juice, and I hated it. But, in my desire to experience new life experiences I ate a slice. It tasted kind of like the juice I had drank many years ago in the states, but it was a lot better.

I then went to check on Anna and the others. Walking from one train car to the next is quite a trip. You can see in between the cars, and feel how both cars are bouncing around differently from each other, creating a really freaky sensation if you stand on both at the same time.

I made it to car four, we were in car 6, or maybe it was the other way around. We sat around talking for a bit, and Anna took some pictures of me and Jean-Jacques with my camera. They then left me and Alison to go the other car, I told them I would help watch their stuff while I was gone, and I think at that point me and Alison fell asleep.

I woke up when the train stopped at some random train station, and then Jean-Jacques came back, and I decided to return to my car, because the windows in this car were really really dirty and I could not take pictures out of them, but the windows in my car were a lot cleaner.

I returned to find most people reading or sleeping. And so went the rest of the train ride.

We arrived in Ulan-Ude, and met up with Jean-Jacques friend whose name I always forget. He walked us to our hostel, and we went to our rooms to put our things down. We then went out to find some food.

All of the good places that he suggested turned out to be closed for the day, and one of them told us that they were out of food. We guessed that they did not want to serve a party of eight foreigners.

We finally found a place with decent food and decent prices. We ate beet salad and their version of vinaigrette and stuff salad, and twenty pieces of bread, and the main course were these crazy little meat dumplings with soup inside. So, you had to bite a little whole in the dough shell, and suck out the oniony soup that was on the inside. They were quite the treat.

We then walked around for a little bit, and walked out onto the river that was frozen, but you could not even tell because there was like five inches of snow covering it. Next we hit up a store to buy breakfast and beer. I did not get anything because I was on a budget trip, and I only wanted to spend money on travel, the hostel, and whatever restaurants that we would end up going to.

The whole time in the store we got followed by the crazy suspicious workers, and I guess I looked even more suspicious because I want not actually picking anything up to buy. We left with our goods, and went back to the hostel. There we met up in one of the girl’s rooms to drink. Everyone then started speaking all the languages they know besides Russian and English, so I was pretty out of the loop, but Anna came to sit next to me and share some of her beer.

There was some English speaking going on, and Jean-Jacques as usual said some funny things in English. When our acquaintance left, we decided that we would all go to bed and get up early to go to the Buddhist temple that was about 30 minutes outside the city.

So, to bed we went and I think I will make this blog a two or three parter to keep them from being a mile long.

AWAY!

I am week behind on blogs, and a lot of S happened, but obviously I cannot spend all my time recounting things I have just lived through for everyone to read and then comment on.

Monday:

I got home from Ольхон. I went shopping with Anna and got stuff to make noodles and tomato sauce, some bread, a big thing of shampoo and some laundry detergent. Done.

Tuesday:

I went to classes, learned some stuff, I think I ran into Sasha and we made plans to do stuff on Friday. I went to my History of Siberia class in the huge lecture hall, which was an experience, no one was paying attention, and it was just a giant projection with the teacher reading from the back of the room over a loudspeaker. What else happened? I don’t remember.

Wednesday:

I can’t think of anything interesting that happened on Wednesday, so I guess now is a good time to mention that over the weekend I found out that my suitcase would never get to me, but that it would be sent back to STL and my parents would have to get it from the airport. So, thanks everyone for helping me get my luggage back to Missouri. It was kinda like Apollo 13, another movie I wish I could watch, along with Jurassic Park. And I have some choice words for Aeroflot and that bitch at the POA office who took my 1000 Руб probably knowing that it would not do any good at all. I would say go to hell, but they already live here. Haha, I joke, I like it here, but only for a visit.

Wait a second, I remember what happened Wednesday! Raya and I went to a Chinese restaurant with our Chinese classmates and our professor.

During our wild and zany linguistics class one of our more talkative classmates somehow got onto the topic of going out to eat after class together with our professor. So after class I thought we were going to leave, but we did not, turns out the rest of the students had another class that we did not have, so me and Raya went to the cafeteria to wait an hour for their class to be done. There were ran into Alison, I think, anyway, a few minutes later I get a call from Jun Song, I know that is not his name, but I think it is close, he gave me his email, so if I look it up, I bet I would then have his name, and spelled properly too.

So, he calls me and is like, “hey class was canceled, we are leaving now.” Only thing is, I could not understand him at all, so Raya took the phone and figured that out. So, off we went. We took a bus to a stop that I had never been to before, got out and walk into a giant outdoor market that was also connected to indoor shops. After weaving in and out, we find ourselves outside a totally non-descript red building that you would never in a million years suspect to be the home of appetizing Chinese cuisine.

We sat down at a table with a giant lazy suzan and the students ask us what we like, and we told them to order whatever.

First to come is tea, in these crazy little green tea cups with a face on them. Then the food starts to roll out, and just looking at it you knew that it would be very good.

I learned from Raya that when the Chinese take people out to eat, they always order one more dish than there all people out of a sign of respect. Also, when the toasting begins, the person who is the most important would go first, and then the next person, and the next and so on. And for some reason sometimes you are only supposed to drink half you glass, but I did not know that was what they were saying until it was all gone.  Oh, they bought us all beers, that is what we were toasting with.

So the food kept spinning round and round, and I would to grab some with my chopsticks, which by the end of the meal I had relatively good chopstick abilities. Almost everything was unbelievably tasty, except for this one dish of greens, I did not care for that. I wanted to eat until I burst, but I was making quite a mess as I chopsticked food from the center of the table back to my plate, plus I was really stuffed and I did not want to push it.

There was this weird almost BBQ’d eggplant dish, lots of meat, potato stuff, peppers, spicy cabbage, and tons more that I could not begin to describe. I was incredibly nice of the students to invite us all out to eat. According to Raya it must have been really expensive because after they paid with a prearranged wad of money, they ended up needing 3000 Руб more, or about $60 USD.

After the meal we thanked them, and we went our separate ways back out through the market.

Thursday:

I woke up really early on Thursday to the sound of a key in my door. I was very startled and a little bit freaked out. I was wondering if maybe the cleaning lady was coming in, but then I remember that just a few days earlier that I had seen two 404 keys up on the wall, and I thought then that maybe, just maybe I was about to get a roommate. And so it was, Dominik from Poland came into my room with some woman, I guess from IGLU, and were speaking in Russian while I just sat upright in my bed looking blankly around the room.

When they went to go register him, he said, “what is your name, I will be back in two hours, my name is Dominik, I am from Poland.”

So, I went to class a few hours later, and then afterwards we were meeting with our professor from the Chinese restaurant experience and he would take us to a масленица party, whose location was hidden in the bowls of Irkutsk and only he knew the way.

We found him in the main entrance hall and off we went. It was not far from the school, and soon we were watching some crazy people in crazy costumes dancing around and singing. It got old really fast, even though they were calling up volunteers to participate in sack races and blini flipping contests. I got some pics, I am sure you have seen them, maybe.

There were food vendors, and Raya and Alison had bought themselves a Блин с творогом and it looked hot and очень вкуснее (ending might be wrong on that one).

Anyway, I wanted one too, but the whole time I thought I was waiting to be served, about a million old ladies jumped in and ordered their блины или кексы и чаи. Finally one of my friendly acquaintances came over and got the vendors attention for me, but then we had the hardest time telling her that I wanted Блин с творогом. It might have been because I was asking for two, and there was only left, but I eventually got my Блин с творогом and it was really really hot.

So, in my pocket it went, and then I noticed that everyone had left. It was only me, Alison, and our friendly acquaintance whose name I will learn, and then let you know. We were walking back when Alison decided she wanted to take some pictures, so I decided to wait up with her and take some pictures myself.

This is when we decided to slide down the ice slide and take pictures of each other. It turns out that I am just bad at slides, even slides made of pure ice. I did not go very fast, and my ass was freezing. Now, if I remember correctly, McKinnon is the best at going down slides, so I think he would like it here, because this entire city is like a big game of shoots at ladders.

After taking pictures my hands were freezing, lucky for me, I had a flaming hot Блин in my coat pocket, the perfect hand warmer.

When I got back to the общежитие I ate my hand warmer and it was fantastic.  Once I was in my room I began to wonder what my new roommates name was again, I did not remember. But, I was looking at his luggage, when I saw his name again, all was well.

Friday:

Today was the day that Sasha had invited me to come over to his house for pizza, and he also wanted me to come to his English classes. I thought this would be interesting, so I came.

Sasha took me to meet his friends, or at least his classmates, I finally remembered that his friend that looks like Dean Winchester is actually named Слава, or pronounced like that. When I look it up in the dictionary it means like glory and fame, I don’t know much about Russian names; maybe he gave it to himself to feel more important.

In the students first class they had to read this page about cross cultural stuff, it was a lot like my cross cultural journalism class, except condensed into one semi-useless bit of information.

The teacher said that she loved my pronunciation, and would like it if I were to read the pages for the students to listen to a native speaker.

So, there I was reading an English textbook to a small classroom of rowdy college aged Russian students who were not really paying attention but talking amongst themselves or playing with their phones. Sure, the teacher did get them to be quiet for a little bit.

After each section, the teacher would ask me to describe that aspect of culture in America. Such as attitudes about time, about gestures, about clothing, business encounters, and so on. I tried to answer as best as I could, but imagine me trying to explain American culture to anyone, especially people who ask me is everything that occurs in American movies actually happened in real life.

Слава seemed especially happy to learn that fraternities actually exist. “And they do a lot of drinking?” he asked.

When class was over we went back outside to entrance of the Б building when Sasha continued to introduce me to people. I met his first year teacher who wanted my email to see if I could come to some of her classes as well. The only problem is, I think she wrote my email wrong, and every time I tried to point it out, she did not understand me.

I was like, “it’s @ g mail . com, you wrote over the G with your @ symbol.” And then she would be like, “yes, thanks for your email.”

Our next class was in the computer lab. The students had to look up stuff about world cultures on Wikipedia, or other online resources and then give a presentation in English. I got online and email some things to Justin that I needed to email, and then I Google Buzzed a little bit just for shits and giggles.

So, class was over, and it was time to go. Me and Sasha got on the bus and went back to his house. On the way back he told me that he used to live in a nice flat really close to where I am living now. He told of their long time family friend, who asked for money to buy a car, took the money, and was never seen again. I really did not know what to say, so I let him keep on talking.

Back at his house I met his brother, and his brother’s fiancé, and his grandma. She making pizza, but not the kind of pizza any of us would recognize. It was really good, but tasted nothing like pizza. I also had some chocolate milk, which tasted more like melted chocolate bars and milk, so it was great, but weird to drink at the same time.

On the TV was some Russian game show called “Marry You” or something like that. It was a really weird show and I did not watch it much, but at one point one of the contestants starting dancing and singing with the guy. As Sasha told me, there are either three girls and one guy, or vice versa, and if they choose each other, they get married, or at least walk off the camera together.

We then went to Sasha’s room where we listened to music, Russian music, dance club music, Lady Gaga and we had a good time. We read news articles and I got his world perspective, which was very interesting.

We also watched an episode of this show call “school” and apparently it is really controversial because it “shows things how they really are.” I guess there is a lot of random violence, sexual harassment, and blatant racism and vomiting in Russian high schools. Of course, it could not be much worse than one show about Canadian high school, and I am pleasantly surprised that I cannot remember what it was called. Melody High? Oh wait, Degrassi, never mind, it was hidden somewhere deep inside.

Sasha also wanted me to try Coke and tell him if it was different here than in the US. So, he came back with a snickers and a large bottle of Coke. It tasted really good, but I thought that was because of the tea and boiled water that I had been drinking for the last three weeks. I told him I thought it was the same and he was disappointed, when I talked to my friends at the dorm they told me that is sweeter because they use real sugar here.

Anyway, it was getting late so I said thanks to his mom, who had come home from work, and he walked me to the bus stop and I went back home.

Everyone was drinking in the kitchen when I got back, I joined them for a little chat, and then I went to bed.

Oh, and earlier that morning, we had gone to the travel agency by our dorm and bought train tickets to Ulan-Ude. We will be spending one night there and then coming back early Monday morning.

This blog ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would, I am going to go ahead and throw it up there like it is, because I have class in 40 minutes and I need to hustle.

AWAY!

The next day Kaitlin was the first to rise and shine, and I was up shortly after. Anna said she would meet us at the bistro, and I went ahead to meet up with Kaitlin.

Kaitlin and I sat around silently drinking tea, and eating our breakfast of blini and eggs, while she read her book.

After a while Kaitlin went back to get Anna. Finally Becca came in and told us that Brendan was accepted into Columbia, which was his top choice, so big congrats to Brendan for joining the IV League.

He will be living in NYC for the next five years; so maybe, just maybe we will be able to meet up again if me and Amanda happen to be living there too. Also there is a good chance we would vacation there, and then I would still like to meet up with them again. Unless of course something were to happen over the next 4 months that would make us hate each other.

Anyway, so eventually Brendan rolls in and we congratulate him on his very outstanding achievement. He took so long getting in for breakfast because he was busy sending and receiving emails.

After lunch, we went back to our rooms to nap. At some point we decided that we would go for a walk to the store. When we reached an intersection we parted ways. Anna and Kaitlin went to the store, and I went to the frozen harbor to take pictures.

I went out on a broken pier, and the only footsteps in the snow were that of a dog. I wanted out to the very edge and took a lot of pictures. The entire pier was covered in ice, it was quite a sight.

I soon got bored with the non-moving frozen boats, and went back the bistro. There Kaitlin and Anna were chatting it up with some new faces.

There was the guy from Ireland, or Scotland, he reminded me of a guy straight out of father ted. He kept saying things like, “what is the time just now,” and “what kind of food are they serving for lunch just now,” and, “what is up with airport food just now.”

I wish I could remember his name, but he was traveling from his home east to all around the world. He took a year off of work so he could see the world, and I guess Lake Baikal was on his list of places to see. He had met a South Korean on the way to Baikal, who was moving in the opposite direction on the Transiberian.

The guy from Scotland told us that on the train he was showing Russian pictures on his camera, when they found one of him dressed as a Tibetan monk, and they thought that he was, so, they laden him with many gifts of mir and gold.

The was a woman from Tibet who has live in New Zealand for the last 8 years , and a couple from the French part of Canada. We all sat around drinking tea talking about our travel plans, and all of the places that everyone had already been.

Turns out that everyone else there had been to many places before coming to Irkutsk, and unless you count the other side of Niagara falls, this is the first time I have been out of the USA.

It was really interesting being in that little bistro with so many people who came from all over the world, heading in every which way on the Trans-Siberian railroad.

Anyway, this day was really not that interesting, and by now it happened a week ago, so the point is, lots of people, from all over the world, in a café.

We all went back out to the Shaman Rocks, and Anna and I helped hoist Brendan up on top of the boat, and then Brendan and I helped Anna up. Kaitlin, Becca, and Brendan tried to help me up, but it was too icy, and my arms to weak to get me up on top of that boat. It was a little embarrassing but mostly disappointing, I really wanted to get up on the boat.

We also explored the tall rocks on the shore of the ice lake, and Brendan and I discussed movies we like, both good and bad. It turns out we both have a thing for Red Dawn. This came up because the rocks here reminded me of the rock on which the young highs school guerrillas would write the names of their dead.

We also talked about the Big Lebowski. I never noticed that Donnie leaves one pin standing right before he dies, and that is foreshadowing. So, next time I watch it, I will totally check that out.

Thinking about these movies makes me home sick, so, we went back to Nikita’s.

So, we had another delicious meal and had another good night of sleep.

The next day I got up early to take photographs of the Shaman Rocks at dawn. I then went to the café for breakfast.

We then packed up and headed to the marshrutka to leave. On the way back Anna used my camera to take pictures of outside the windshield as she was sitting in the front passenger seat.

After we crossed the lake, we stopped at the other side to wait for our transfer. That driver did not deserve 300 Руб from each of us for driving only that far. The next ride, which lasted 5 hours cost us 400 Руб a piece.

It was at this stop that I got the picture of the toilet, and that seemingly out of place grave of that one guy overlooking the lake.

The ride back was pretty bad. My feet were pretty cold and we were packed in even tighter than the way there, and we did not stop at a halfway point either. I sat next to this asshole who kept on pushing me and this lady more and more into the side of the vehicle while he listened to his annoying music, I really wanted to tell him off near the end, or beat him over the head with his sony ericsson phone.

We were 13 kilometers outside of Irkutsk when they decided to pull over on the side of the road and take a smoke break while they refilled the gas tank.

Soon enough we were back in Irkutsk and our amazing trip to Ольхон was over. It felt good to finally be back in a place that I could call home.

AWAY!

These blogs are getting really back logged, so I am going to try and speed things up… maybe

So, we had dinner, there was fish, there was soup, there was bread, there was tea. After dinner we were going to get our drink on. Had a few rounds of vodka, and then we realized we needed more. So, Brendan went to the store, and I went with him, buddy system, you see.

We got back, and the girls had been talking to the neighboring tables. We then poured some vodka for the Russian couple that was staying at Nikita’s too. The guy was an Irkutsk native, and his woman was a Moscow lady.

After about 8 rounds of vodka, the Russian couple invited us to their banya time. We had our own banya time scheduled, but it was in the free banya, which did not have a large hang out room like the pay banya. The pay banya was 300 rubles per hour, or something like that. Anyway, we gladly accepted. The French couple was also invited, but they declined the offer.

We were soon kicked from the bistro and we went back to ours rooms to get ready to go. The Anna and Kaitlin changed into their swimming suits, but I did not have one, so I decided to wear my boxers.

I leave for the banya wearing only one layer of clothing, I guess maybe it was the vodka, but I was not cold. It was actually kind of refreshing.

We are the first ones there, and Anna and Kaitlin leave to go get Becca and Brendan. While they are gone the Russians come in and bring with them more alcohol, and towels and blankets for us to use in the banya.

Once we are all together Brendan looks at the towels, and says something along the lines of, “oh, looks like we’re doing this the Russian way.”

The Russian way meant without clothes, only towels. So, the girls go behind a screen and wrap the bed sheets around themselves, and I put my towel around my waist and slid off my boxers.

The banya is really hot, and small, and really hot. I am sitting directly in front of the stove, and I have to cover my face with my hands to avoid the feeling that it is being burned off. Then, the Russian, who I believe to be called Alexei, threw some water on to the hot stones.

Immediately my entire body with hit with a flaming wave of unbearable heat, and I was sweating like a pack of dogs.

A few people left the room right away, and I left with the middle crowd. I want to say that the last two people to join us were Alexei and Anna.

We then cracked open more beers and sat around talking. I was sitting in the corner talking to Becca who was sitting on the end of the bench. When Anna and Kaitlin got up from the bench at the same time, Becca went crashing to the ground and the other end of the bench went straight up into the air.

After recomposing ourselves, we went back into the steam room. This time I was able to stay in much longer, I think, it was either the second time or the last time. Anyway, when Alexei went to throw some water on the rocks, we all freaked out were like “nooooooo!” So he held off for then.

He would warn us next time, and some of the party did leave before the burning air could engulf them.

Back outside in the socializing room we continued to drink and to talk. Then the girls decided to leave. I left a few minutes later because I did not want to wake them up when I came back. So, I put on my thermal pants and shirt and went out into the -30 Celsius air.

They say that the effects of alcohol are multiplied when in the banya, and I believe that I concur. I was briskly jogging back to my room, and I felt like I was running on sponges.

I got back to the room and there was no one to be found. I decided to wait around for a bit, but when no one came, I went to Becca’s room to see if they were hanging out there. No one was there either, so I went back to the banya.

They had all returned to the banya, and I would find out later that I missed out on one crazy Becca running through the snow in her swim suit. In an attempt to retrieve Becca to her room, Anna tackled her. By the next day Becca would be sporting several bruises.

Also, for some reason Becca and Anna had their tooth brushes with them when I returned to be banya.

We then ran back to our room, but Anna then noticed that her coat was still at the banya, I said I would go back and get it for her. So, back I ran across the sponges in the frozen air. But, when I got there, there was no coat. Me and Becca had a really odd conversation about the coat, and how it was ok, and that nothing bad would happen to it.

Becca and Brendan then went to the Russians room to spend some more time with them. I went back the room and told Anna that I could not find her coat. She then remembered that it was left in the Brendan and Becca’s room and that she would get it in the morning.

We all then went to bed, and I felt great, if not still a little bit dizzy.

AWAY!

The next day we woke up, brushed our teeth and washed it down with water from a bucket, and then that water was drained into another bucket.

We put on our layers and went to the bistro to meet Becca and Brendan for breakfast. Breakfast was a surprisingly tasty cream of wheat like substance, and we had fried eggs, and hard boiled eggs, bread, and of course, blinni with winterberry jam.

I slathered the jam on my blinni without thinking, it looked purple, so I thought it was grape, then I noticed it looked like blackberries, but when I tasted it, it was none of those, it was way better. I had to ask Becca what it was, and she was pretty sure it was winterberry.

After breakfast the woman who appeared to be the main organizer at Nikita’s came out and collected payment for the excursion. 500 Руб, or 15 USD was the price. We had debated on whether we wanted to go or not, but we decided that we had paid to come this far, might as well and go and see shit.

The marshrutka drove down the road, and then turned on to the lake. We drove to a large rock in the middle of the lake, and took some pictures. Anna and Kaitlin had received a little bit of frost bite the previous day on their noses, but Anna more so than Kaitlin, so I was letting Anna use my face mask that I got for pushing carts with.

“I look so charming,” she would say, along with a myriad of other sarcastic things about how she looked in a camo face mask, but she welcomed the protection it brought to her nose and would wear it for the rest of the weekend.

At the giant rock, me and Brendan kept wanting to break huge icicles, but Becca would have none of it. It made me smile, because it reminded me of Amanda, and how she would have said the same things if she was witnessing me attack natural beauty.

We had thought that the driver had told us to walk all the way around the rock, but it seemed like that would take a long time. Me and Brendan were up for it, but when we turned around we saw that the girls were all ready heading back and quite far along with it.

Back at the marshrutkas we took a group picture (which I totally need to get from whoever has it) and then got back inside and took off. We would be driving in the middle of the lake for the next three hours, with nothing to guide our way, almost nothing. At one point there was an evergreen tree placed seemingly innocently in the middle of lake Baikal, but apparently it was a road sign.

Driving on a frozen lake is like nothing I had ever done before, you know, besides the previous day. But this day was different. The other day there were visible tire tracks in the snow, and it was a relatively straight shot, but out here in the ice fields we had to fight for our wheels. It had snowed over night, covering any tracks that might have existed.

One might think that a frozen lake would be nice and smooth, like a glass of coke that was left in the freezer too long, or something like that. But no, there are large cracks that get covered with snow that you don’t know are there until your head is bouncing off the ceiling. And sometimes there are huge cracks that the driver will not even attempt to drive over. Sometimes the driver would get out and inspect the ice up close before deciding whether to give it a go or not. At one point the marshrutka we were driving with got stuck in a snow bank and it was pulled out by rope, and Brendan and some French women pushed it out. I got it on video, which no one will be seeing any time soon.

Driving on, we got to what looked like the inside of an ice maker reservoir from an ants perspective, ok, not an ant, but maybe a sparrow, or Chihuahua. The point is that the wind in these parts of the lake is so strong that it cannot freeze smooth like the rest of the lake. Jagged ice rocks stick out everywhere, like a never ending field of snow covered rocks that are actually ice.

At first we drove around them, but eventually we had to drive over a large patch of the jagged ice fields and boy was that a hoot. We were bouncing around the inside of the marshrutka like the dice inside the trouble bubble, and to make things worse, we could not stop laughing. It got to a point where it was no longer funny and we just tried to keep from falling on each other.

The vehicle stopped for a second time. Here the driver told us that we were at the tooth, and the three brothers. I don’t know if it was the tooth, plus three separate brothers, or if they were all tooth brothers altogether.

I got a lot of pictures, and some of the people in the party who will remain nameless really had to go to the bathroom, so they went inside on the caves and went. I probably should have gone myself, but I decided against it.

We then drove to another location, and this time it appeared that were at the end of the road, it was never ending jagged ice fields from that point on.  At the bottom of the cliffs there were enormous amounts of ice slabs layered all over each other. It was quite a sight, the entire excursion was a sight, impossible to justly describe, and the pictures do not do it justice either. There is not a lens wide enough to capture the pure isolation and barrenness of a never ending frozen lake surrounded by mountains.

The only thing missing was Amanda. Everyone knows how romantic I find bleak, frozen winter landscapes, and if you didn’t you do now. But, Amanda would have hated it, as she hates winter and the cold, and especially fish.

So, at this last location I feel it necessary to climb all over the jagged ice slabs, which are very slippery. At one point I stepped on one, and it totally broke under my weight into a billion little pieces, and I went smashing onto the ice. I slipped and fell like two more times out on the ice.

When I noticed everyone heading back to the marshrutkas I tried to catch up, and my foot slid right into a crack that ended with a giant spike of ice what went into my foot. Ok, not into it, but it left a mark, it hurt to put shoes on for the next five days.

Finally back at the marshrutka looked at in surprise as I was covered in snow. I then brushed myself off and joined the rest of the crew inside. Lunch was being served. Metal bowls, with foil packets containing fish and potatoes, and a simple cheese sandwich. I had been eating only a little of the fish, but the cold really takes a lot out of you, so I tried to eat as much as I could.

We were then given tea and little pastry treats. It was then time to go.

On the way back we drove on more jagged ice fields, and my pedometer phone registered 16045 steps that day, so, that is roughly how many times we were jostled around in the marshrutka.

When we arrived at the pine tree, we stopped and the driver made a phone call. From the Russian that was known by Brendan, we knew that he was telling someone to drive with the wind, and that the sun was on the right. A few minutes later a black dot in the distance grew bigger, it was the other marshrutka, they had gotten lost.

We then continued all the way back to Хужир. We had the driver drop us off at the store, but the other group got dropped off in the harbor, which was full of frozen boats, with their torn and faded Russian flags waving in the breeze.

At the store vodka was purchased, and then we went back to Nikita’s to rest our weary feet and bodies and to wait for dinner.

AWAY!

After stepping out into the snow at Nikita’s Homestead from the marshrutka, we went into the reception building, where each of us paid 2400 Руб for the three nights we would be staying there.  So, that is around 80 USD, and for three nights that is not horrible. Becca, or someone, did say that that is the most money for lodging that you will ever spend in Siberia.

We were then shown to our rooms. There were several large lodgings, when you first enter; there are four doors inside a small entrance hall. One is a bathroom, one is supposed to be a shower, and then there are two rooms. Becca and Brendan had a nice large room with a wood burning stove that kept it extremely hot.

The rest of us had a room heated by one small electric heater, which as we would later find out, was plenty to keep us more than toasty. There was a small sink like structure that held a bucket inside to collect spent water, and in the corner there was another bucket with a plastic pan inside for doling out the water.

The bathroom was a tiny room, with a toilet, a heater, and a huge barrel of water, which had to be panned into the toilet to flush it.

The entire island is without running water, and they just got electricity in like 2002, which I think I said in my last blog, but deal with it. I also read that the recent boom in tourism is causing a problem with trash on the island.

Whenever they needed to refill things with water, they would stretch a hose from the reservoir all over the homestead and fill up the water barrels. If it were not for the 1^st rate food, I would have thought that we were living in a 3^rd world country, with the dilapidated buildings and people, and the millions of stray dogs inhabiting the village.

After we put our stuff down, we headed off to the food getting place, the sign outside read “Bistro, Francias.”

I thought that the food would be like the motel 6 brunch bar, with its OJ, plain bagels, and the like, but I was pleasantly surprised.

We were served large portions of soup, some noodle stuff, and a whole fish, some kind of slaw, and unlimited bread and tea. I think we could also get seconds, but I was stuffed.

Next we walked to the store to buy beer, and when the beer was safely locked in our rooms, we walked out to the shaman rocks. This place was amazing; imagine giant rocks sticking out of a giant frozen lake in the middle of a giant frozen landscape, with frozenness as far as the eye can see.

The first night we were there we got to see a spectacular sunset and had the clearest skies that we would have for the rest of the trip.

For some reason there is a large rusted boat just sitting there on the ice, and I got some pictures of it, which… you may or may not see any time soon. I have to either resize them so I can upload more, or I need to get online at school and upload them from flash drive there.

So, we went back, ate dinner; potato and dill deliciousness with fish, and a cold beet nastiness. It was also served with these delicious bread products, probably the best tasting bread I have ever tasted.

In the bistro with us was a Russian couple, a group of French tourists, and people from other various places.

After dinner there was a folk music show, by this old guy with bad teeth and an accordion, and some songs he had singers who were dressed in what I am guessing is traditional clothing. The accordion guy would be like, “now imagine you are in the Ukraine, and in Ukrainian language.”

The music was really wonderful; I love accordions and the sweet sweet music they produce. I was just sitting there in that little building, surrounded by peoples from all over the world, and listening to this music when I was hit with one of the most indescribable feelings I have ever had. It was then that I finally realized that I was no longer in Kansas anymore and whether I turn out to be right or wrong; these next four months were going to one hell of a trip.

Soon afterward we returned to our rooms and we went to bed. We had signed up for an excursion the next day, and it leaves at 11:00. By the time we were all tucked it, it was really hot in the room, and that night I would dream that I had won a marshrutka in a Russian game show, and I was now a taxi driver, offering trips for only 3 rubles, and Amanda was next to me in the passenger seat.

AWAY!