Siberian Express

We only rode on a train once in our first five months in Russia, and that was when we arrived. Since moving to Novokuznetsk we've ridden a train several times to attend conferences or go on a visa trip. Most of the time we get a купе (pronounced coo-peh, a private sleeping compartment) on an overnight train to and from N'sibirsk. It takes about 7 hours and we can mostly sleep through the stops along the way. The купе is heated. Very heated. Russians really love their heat. You kind of have to experience it to fully understand. The купе ends up feeling like a sauna only without the dry part, because by the time you get to your destination, you're pretty well soaked! When we traveled in October we told the conductor it was too warm and asked her to turn the heat down. She turned it off and we were just fine! I'm sure she thought we were crazy. We haven't dared to ask for that since because it's gotten much colder outside and the купе would be too cold for us by the time we got to our destination. The combination of too much heat, frequent stops along the way and the short night make it so we arrive rather tired, but not bored. When we arrive they don't announce the stop. We just have to pay attention and when the train stops around the scheduled time, we get off. Often the train creeps into the station and sometimes it takes us a few minutes to realize that the train has fully stopped.

For one of our trips they had us take a day train and we got regular seats. They just happened to be in first class. The trip was delightful. Snow was swirling and flying past the windows, just like you'd expect to see in Siberia. Some of the time a movie was playing on TVs mounted throughout the train car. No one had earphones; everyone could watch it or try to ignore as they wanted. Since we don't understand Russian, it was easy for us to ignore. We think our car had a different movie than the one next to us. We're not sure because we weren't really following the movie, but it looked like the actors and scenery were different when we walked through.

The seats we got for our day train were in a family car. A couple of rows of seats had been taken out and a carpeted play area installed. Our seats just happened to be right across from the play area. We enjoyed watching the kids have fun.

We thought it was cute that they treated the play area like their home--notice the boots on the floor at the entrance

Just after Dave snapped these pictures, we noticed a sign saying pictures weren't allowed. It was the international no sign (a red circle with a line through it) with a picture of a camera, so we couldn't claim we didn't know what it said. We're glad no one paid any attention to what he was doing.

Something we don't understand is their security. When we enter the train station in N'sibirsk, we go through a metal detector. It isn't turned on and the guards don't check any of the bags. However, after we get off the train we go through a metal detector that is turned on. We haven't figured that one out yet. In Novokuznetsk the train station is closed because they're remodeling so everyone walks around the end of the building, never going through any security. A couple of years ago we took Amtrak and never had to go through any kind of security, so any security at a train station seems strange to us.

This week's Russianism:
Do you know how cold the metal toilet seat is in an unheated restroom on the Siberian Express in the middle of winter?

In case you're totally lacking in imagination, here's what the metal door on our building looks like right now. The white around the edges isn't decorative paint! This was in the middle of the day--there's even more frost on it in the morning.

Siberian Winter

We've recently learned how spoiled we were to arrive in Russia when we did. It was cold when we first got here, but warmed up into the 70s very quickly. Nearly ten months later we're learning why Siberia has the reputation it does.

We have been very blessed with a warm fall and winter this year. Warm, meaning warmer than usual for Siberia, not the balmy weather you've been experiencing in Salt Lake. According to one weather website, last winter here the temperatures averaged about 15 F degrees colder than they've been this year. We've been lovin' it. However, many of the younger missionaries (whose bones don't creak yet) have been praying for the opportunity to experience winter in all its frozen glory, and our reprieve has ended. There have been a few times when the temperature hovered around -30 F overnight. It generally gets up to -25 during the day, and sometimes even warmer. Because of our extremely limited language skills, in the past we've been glad senior couples have different responsibilities and don't knock on doors or street contact. Now we're glad for another reason not go have to be out in such cold weather.

There is a lot of frozen beauty. Dave's been busy snapping pictures around the city.


We've mentioned before that there is a delightful sense of personal responsibility here. They don't worry about obstacles on the walkways--that's for individuals to watch out for and avoid. At times they knock icicles off the eaves, and they do temporarily block off the sidewalk while they're doing it. That's the extent of it. They don't clean up below. No one is bothered by it and they all just walk around whatever is there.


Remember that cute little enclosed balcony area in our apartment we told you about back in October (our post on 10/9)? And that it isn't heated or insulated? There was so much cold air streaming into our bedroom that we finally put blankets over the opening. Yes, blankets. One wasn't enough. Now the balcony is fully enclosed. The temperature behind the blankets keeps dropping. Right now it's about 16 F. Between the blankets and an extra portable heater, our room stays at about 68 F. The windows in the apartment are in sets--one window on the outside and then about a 3" gap and another window. In November Dave weatherstripped both sets of windows on the balcony, and it's still that cold.

The weatherstripped double windows on the balcony

The sun through the icy window

Last Wednesday was something like "National Baptism Day" when people cut holes in the ice and swim in the river. It's supposed to be a very healthy thing to do. We were told the rivers throughout all of Russia are clean and pure and holy on that day. We heard about 200 people took the dive in Novokuznetsk. We weren't among them. We wish we'd heard about it before it happened so we could watch, but at the same time we're relieved we didn't know, 'cause that meant we didn't have to go outside!

Even with cold temperatures the Russians go about their activities as normal, just all bundled up. They don't seem to mind being out in the cold. Many Russians are surprised that we have so much snow and temperatures that drop below 0 F in Salt Lake. A few people in our group at English Club in Barnaul thought we were exaggerating when we told them that there are places in the US and Canada that get as cold as here; they honestly thought that there's no way temperatures get to -40 anywhere outside of Siberia.

They don't use snow melt or salt on the walks, although sometimes they do throw down a little gravel mixed with dirt on busy walkways and by some bus stops. In a few places we can see that the walk in front of a doorway is swept (they can't sweep off the hard-packed snow, but the loose stuff on top has been swept away.) Things are often icy and slippery, but they take it all in stride. We've been surprised that we don't see a lot of people slipping around. However, the snow isn't very slippery when temperatures get so cold, but ice is just as slippery. They clear the roads every night, mostly with a series of a kind of street sweeper, and then haul away the snow that accumulates at the edges. There are very few icy patches on the roads and they go away quickly. Drivers don't seem to have any problems. So far we haven't seen more accidents than we did a few months ago, even though we often see cars zip along. We think all the tires must have studs.

This week in Novokuznetsk:
We're getting lots of use out of our warm winter outerwear. They really know how to dress for the cold! We thought you might be interested in seeing how we stay warm and manage to get around.

Dave's coat has a removable down liner, so it's good for cold weather and really cold weather.

Dave's "shapka" (hat)

Ready to go. Men really do wear the ear flaps like that. However, Dave can pull them together under his chin for a little more warmth if it gets much colder.

Boots are essential. Most women have several pair. Arline has one pair for wet and muddy and not so cold days (middle) and one pair for really cold days (on the right). The dots on the bottom are spikes that make it so we're not afraid to go anywhere. They're on stretchable rubber that slips over the boot/shoe like the old galoshes used to do.

Dave's boots are very warm with extra fur inside, and the zipper makes it easy to slip them off and on. It's especially nice since we do that every time we go in someone's home.

This cute little hat is essential, even under the hood of the coat. When it's not too cold, the hat is warm enough without the hood. However, Arline still wears her ear bags (individual ear muffs) under the hat.

The fur around the hood is all black. The white is ice from Arline's breath during a 10-minute walk. She's been amazed at how the fur around the hood keeps her face warm, even when it's so cold.

P.S. Christmas continues. This week we got a care package and 3 Christmas cards that may very well have been sitting in N'sibirsk since shortly after we came back from our visa trip. Christmas, the season that keeps on giving, what with slow mail service to Russia!

Helsinki and Christmas Eve

The Christmas season is Arline's favorite time of year. That may be why we're enjoying being able to stretch the holidays out!

First, our visa trip.

Visa trips are wonderfully refreshing, and going to Helsinki at Christmas is something we've been looking forward to for a while. We were a little surprised that we didn't see a lot of Christmas decorations at first, and especially no big decorated trees in the park, and none of the Christmas kiosks we'd been told about. Many of the bare tree branches in the park were wrapped in little lights, but there were no big evergreens. However, the longer we were there, the more we saw. The day we left we went into a couple of malls (there are LOTS of malls in downtown Helsinki), and those were well decorated. Of course, many homes had the little European window Christmas trees--the inverted V with 7 lights. And we saw one lady in the traditional green robe with candles on her head. Even the fact that she was on a billboard didn't detract from the Christmasy feel!

We kept forgetting to take the camera when we went out so we didn't get pictures of the Christmas decorations. Guess we're not really in the tourist mode.

The weather in Helsinki was great. There was a little rain/snow one day. We really enjoyed how warm 35 F is. Before we left we checked the forecast and it said it was going to be 20-50 degrees warmer in Helsinki than in Novokuznetsk, depending on the time of day. We took our Utah winter coats and gloves and left the long johns home.

The shortest day of the year hit while we were in Helsinki. The official sunrise was at 9:23, although it didn't really get light for more than an hour after that, kind of like in Novokuznetsk. Sunset was at 3:12 and it was fully dark before 4:00 pm. Daylight in Novokuznetsk was a little longer, but not much. This picture was taken from our apartment window at 10:00 am a few days before we left. Yay--the darkest days of our mission are behind us now!As usual, going to the temple was wonderful. Because there are no LDS temples* in Russia, sometimes we forget just how much it means to us. It is the highlight of our visa trips.
*They call their Russian churches with the gold onion domes "temples" so we can't really say there are no temples in Russia.

Now on to other holiday stuff.

We got back from our visa trip on Christmas Eve day. The branch members had planned a nice Christmas party, and they decorated the church while we were gone. There was a program with scriptures, stories, lots of music, and of course food.

Vladimir did a nice job of the scripture readings

They had invited lots of people and we ended up with more at the party than we usually have for church. Most of these people are members or investigators, but some of them we'd never seen before and we haven't seen them since, but they seemed to enjoy themselves. This is most of the people who were there. We have a couple of camera-shy people and a couple of photographers.

They had as much fun undecorating as they did at the party!

Yulia and Kirill playing with the props

Elder Terry was like this for about as long as it took the shutter to
click; Elders Kelly, Marcy and White nearly dropped him.

Elder Terry

I don't know if Elder White was disappointed we took the decorations
down or if he was being The Grinch

Then on Christmas Day the elders came to our home to eat and open their gifts.

Elder White (top left), Elder Marcy (top right)
Elder Terry (bottom left) and Elder Kelly (bottom right)

Elder Kelly's birthday was the next week and he got to open more gifts!

In Novokuznetsk they have lots of little Christmas lights up. Year 'round. They're really decoration lights. Whatever, we like them and will continue to enjoy them.

The Russians celebrate another holiday this time of year--the Old New Year. It falls on January 13 or 14, depending on the year. At first we thought this was saying goodbye to last year, but we found out that they celebrate two new years--one for the Gregorian calendar and one for the Julian calendar that they used to use in Russia. We heard LOTS of popping throughout the evening but didn't see any fireworks. Midnight was quiet. A few people talked about going to parties, but it's a minor celebration. Many government workers have been off for the last two weeks for the holiday season, but will have to go back to work tomorrow.


This week in Russia:
It's really more than just this week, but it is a recent development. Because of the baptism we had last month of a 16-year-old girl, we now need to have a Young Women's program. Guess who gets to head it up. Yup, Arline. She was released as 2nd counselor in Relief Society after just two weeks so she could be called as the YW President (and Counselor, and Adviser, and Secretary, and Personal Progress Leader, and Camp Director, basically everything except to be the young woman--she's a little too old for that). There are two 20-year-olds who are joining in, so that makes things a little easier--the more the merrier, and lessons don't sound so much like a lecture. Unfortunately one of them is moving to Moscow in 3 weeks. Anyway, it's a big change from her usual calling at home--nursery leader. She's learning about the program right along with the Young Women.

3/4 of our "Young Women"

Merry Christmas--again!

We didn't post pictures last week, so we're making up for it this week.

The Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7, and it's strictly a religious holiday. Hence, stores are open and it's business as usual. However, to show respect for Pravislavian religion, the missionaries didn't contact or do missionary work. The Elders came over to our home to eat and visit. District meeting is usually held on Fridays, but we held it on Saturday instead. All in all, it was a nice, relaxed day.

This last week we've learned a little more about the way they celebrate the holiday season in Russia. Someone told us that they've adopted and adapted all the non-religious things from a typical American Christmas and celebrate them on January 1. For example, Father Frost, not Santa Claus, brings gifts for the new year, and that's when they exchange gifts. They have New Years decorations.

Most of the cities have ice and snow sculptures done in a park or on a plaza. We enjoyed seeing the ones in Novokuznetsk last week. The weather little cool, but not bad. This was the temperature when we first got there:
(Of course that's -13 Celsius. It sounds much warmer in Fahrenheit--a balmy 7 degrees.

The entrance to the plaza

Happy New Year! (directly translated, it says "with new year")

The rest of the snow sculptures are pretty tall

Father Frost

We've never heard anything about a Mother Frost, but we're guessing this is like Mrs. Claus

No, those aren't warts on the dragon. They press kopecks into the sculptures. We're guessing that's like throwing pennies in a fountain.
The decorative tops to the walls and a few of the sculptures are made with blocks of ice. They had "trees" made out of ice around the light poles, like on the right side of this picture.


At the center of the plaza was a BIG New Year's tree. After it got dark the lights flashed and changed colors.




We'd been told about the ice slides but didn't quite grasp what they were like until we saw them for ourselves. They're made of snow; the slide surface is turned to ice by all the sliding. The kids were having a lot of fun, but we didn't see any adults sliding down. They had slides in different areas. This slide started out about 10 feet high.
Some of the kids climbed the stairs at the back and others climbed up along the side of the slide.

They have little vinyl fanny paddles for sleds

Some of the kids used whatever was available--plastic grocery bags, bits of cardboard, or nothing! We were very impressed with the balance some of them had as they slid down on their feet.
As we walked around we saw a slide for younger kids. It was only about half as high and was a little less steep. After watching for a few minutes we realized there was a matching slide on the other side.

Fun ride for the kids, hard for the parents to push
It appeared there was no charge to ride around the plaza in this sleigh.

The celebration continues! We've heard fireworks every night this past week. We're wondering how long they will continue. Next Friday they celebrate the old new year (Julian calendar).

This week in Russia:
Before we left home a few people gave us money to use as we saw fit. It's been hard for us to find a way to use the money in a manner that would be accepted in this culture, not offend anyone or be mishandled. We gave some money to a lady who was between jobs; we thought it was enough for groceries for a month, but it was gone the first time she went shopping, blown on extravagances. The culture really is to live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself. Recently we tried to make a donation for Father Frost gifts to an orphanage. The RS president was making the arrangements through the orphanage and they were all for it until they found out the group wanting to donate the gifts was a church. They turned us down flat. No way, no how. It didn't matter that there were no strings attached, that it was to be anonymous and no one except the orphanage officials would know where it came from. They simply were no longer interested in gifts for the children. We are learning every day that things are done very differently here.

The piano (keyboard) at the branch has presented at bit of a problem. From time to time it would suddenly turn itself off for no discernible reason. The pianist would turn it back on, reset the settings, and within a minute it would turn off again. That would be repeated over and over until A) eventually it would stay on or B) the pianist would give up. We were given permission to get a new one, but it took quite a few emails back and forth to Novosibirsk to find out how to get the money--they don't do purchase orders here. After about three months we finally got it all figured out. A member who plays in church when he isn't working spent a lot of time on his own and narrowed the search down to two pianos. He took us with him to make the final decision. He thought one piano was just under the 40,000 rubles limit we'd been given and the other was just over that. It ended up that they were both slightly more. We went ahead and got the one he recommended and made up the difference with some of the money that had been given to us by family and friends. That's probably not how you thought it would be used, but it will be a blessing to a lot of people for years to come. The music will go on for a long time, thanks to you!

The old keyboard is now in our apartment and will be used for FHE. In theory, it's also available to Arline to practice so she can fill in when the pianist can't make to church, but it's going to take her a L-O-N-G time to get good enough to do that. Fortunately we've got a simplified hymn book that should make it a little easier.