Going to the market

We decided to cook big dinners for the holidays, so it was the occasion to go to the market in town for our shopping. I never went to the market in the 2+ years that I have been in Novosibirsk, because I was quite happy with the frozen pizzas from the store down my street. That was before I had my menus revised by Katya... Of course, now, I eat much healthier food. For example, this is what we brought back from the market for our snacks:

What's on the left is not rotten tomatoes, it is "hurma". They are actually quite rotten, otherwise they taste bad. I think they are called "kaki" in France, but here, we have got many sorts of them, all of them requiring to be rotten before being eaten. We took 2 kilograms of those because it is such a delicacy and because there is no concern about them perishing any further. On the right, this is our "tvorog" that we now eat for breakfast. It is a kind of cottage cheese. I am not an expert and I can't tell what makes a good tvorog vs a bad tvorog, but I was told the one we got from the market was a very good one. So we took 1 kilogram of it.

We also bought a duck from the lady butcher, and 2 kg of beef for the beef bourguignon that I prepared for the Christmas eve dinner. See the good meat at the market below.

So as you see, we can find almost everything at the market... except pearl onions, which can't be found anywhere in Siberia apparently. So I have to change my recipe for beef bourguignon.

Happy holidays!

Schnauzer's hell

I bet you probably figure that hell is full of creepy creatures like snakes, spiders and crawling little bugs... But there is another belief that hell is populated with animals that you have abused or been bad with, and you're sent to hell so they can retaliate on you for the eternity. If this is true, then I am afraid I just had a glimpse of what hell is going to be like for me... I've been bad with our schnauzer Urmik and I know should stop throwing him in the 3-ft deep snow and watch him struggle. So yes, I saw what's coming for me when we went to the Siberian dog show this Saturday. I brought back a small video of it below, but I should warn you that it is not for the faints of heart, and that parental guidance is strongly suggested before you let your children watch these puppies.

So maybe if I get my little bunny Tim back , I can abuse him bad enough so that by the time it is my turn, hell is populated with bunnies and not schnauzers? (I don't think I'll make it to Heaven, I might as well change tactics).

Real hockey

Last Sunday we decided to go watch a game of "real" hockey. "Real" implies that, unlike my Monday night games, the teams are composed of players who know how to skate backwards and stop, and who don't try to get rid of the puck like it's a hot potato whenever they get it. The other difference is that it costs 500 rubles to watch (while you can come watch us play for free in Berdsk on Monday nights).
The game was showing Sibir (that's the name of the Novosibirsk team) against a team from Kazakhstan (Baris) . Sibir won easily, 6-3 if I remember well. "Real" hockey is quite impressive to watch: the players skate fast, they pass each other the puck faster than I will ever be able to shoot, and they hit each other quite hard. I guess it's easier to hit someone when you don't have to worry about being hit back the Monday after.
To make up for the lack of entertainment provided on Monday nights by the beginners who accidentaly run in the walls or fall hard on their butt, "real" hockey uses cheer leaders who get animated every time the game stops. Not as fun, but interesting enough to get the crowd all cheered up. That's a good trick we'll have to keep in mind if we want to start charging on Mondays.

My life with Urmik

Urmik is the schnauzer that has recently come from Moscow to live with me, here in Akademgorodok. I know that this move represented a lot of sacrifices for him and I am very grateful he left behind his many friends and his chewed soggy bone, and spent a night in a bag in an airplane to come here.

I lack the precise vocabulary and the theoretical knowledge to describe exactly Urmik and how he fits in the Schnauzer race. I believe Urmik is a blend of D 615GY and D698BL, but a cuter version.

Schnauzers in general (if I can assume that Urmik is a representative sample from his race) adapt quite well to Siberian conditions. It seems the perfect place for them to practice their favorite hobbies such as chasing snowballs. A hobby we also appreciate as it does not require any extra equipment or gear, provides hours of fun and gets Urmik very exhausted and he leaves us alone after that.

Urmik also likes the long walks on the frozen lake. An occasion for us to take good pictures while Urmik feels the connections with his cousins the wolves and huskies.



Walking on the frozen lake is a bit cold to my taste, and I still am a bit apprehensive that Urmik takes a giant leak and melts the ice while we are in the middle of the lake. So we are still working on building mutual trust...

Halloweeeen!!

Look at these creepy dishes that we prepared for a small Halloween gathering at our place.

Note it's not so easy to export Halloween in Siberia, because the stores don't carry the basics: no chemical coloring agents for food, no jello to make the classical oozy brain snacks. For a moment, I even thought I'd have to stuff the olives with paprika myself, like the Greeks were probably doing 2000 years ago. So without the basics to do the typical Halloween recipes that can be found on Google, we had to think hard to get our creativity going. I was happy that Katya turned out to be very imaginative about creepy stuffs, which is a quality I appreciate on a once-a-year basis.

Finger foods were a blast. Everybody drank the old witch's brew like if it were milk. And the mushrooms with pepper made very nice little eyes... As for the caviar-made pumpkins, it's a treat that you won't find in the US.

Happy Halloween!

A happy event

A happy event for me: my girlfriend Katya and I decided to move in together. Actually, she is the one moving in, and me, I just sit and wait. Katya comes from Moscow, she is smart, pretty, lovely, sweet, she reads my blog, she wears green and I wear orange, and I am sure we will be very happy together. She arrives tomorrow.

As you see, we both blend in pretty well, and we look very happy.

As part of the deal, her dog Urmik will also move in, and I am looking forward to him coming as well. I think I'll be better with a dog than I was with the fish and the rabbit. At least I should be able to pet him. If we can't manage, I'll send Urmik to Ian and Nikki who do a good job at rehabilitating pets I have traumatized.

In her new job in Novosibirsk, Katya will travel over Siberia a lot so I expect to have interesting stories to tell.

A lesson about hockey

It's been about 7 weeks now that I have started playing hockey regularly. It is time to make a first assessment of my skills.
For the people who don't remember the colors of my outfit, and who have never seen me skating, I am attaching this little movie to show that you don't need a camera with high resolution, or you don't even need to see my face to recognize me on the ice:

As you can see, my style is quite eloquent: I skate as fast as I can, forward, straight, and I use the walls to stop. Still, to help you spot me in the other movies: I have a red shirt, blue shorts, a white helmet, and usually I really have to fight hard to get the puck because my teammates don't pass it to me.

Now, there are times when the same set of skills -skating straight, not stopping- can give a good impression.

That's pretty much the coolest move I did in 7 weeks. I call it the "Big Dive". A word of caution: don't overuse it. The "Big Dive" becomes predictable, and therefore much less effective, once you do it 3 times in a row or more.

So, to me, hockey is mostly about falling at the right time, without too much damage.
A last little movie to show how I can handle the puck when I get it:

Well, OK... That movie was taken during the warm-up, before the game started... but it is promising, no? Note that I got back to a leftie stick after I hesitated between a rightie and a leftie for the first few sessions.

Thanks Natasha for the movies. Next movie is my first goal... Stay tuned (for a long time).

The japanese garden

Fall is a beautiful season to wander around the gardens of Akademgorodok. All trees seem to compete to expose their nicest colors for a few days, before October swallows all red, yellow, orange nuances and wraps the whole nature in a gray veil. So there was no better time to go and visit the japanese garden by the botanical institute. Actually, there would have been a better time... since the garden closes at 4pm and we arrived there shortly after 4pm. However this time, the security guard was nice enough to come out of his little shack and let us visit the park for 50 rubles.
The visit of the garden is well worth 50 rubles. And, contrary to other national parks and places where you wonder if they really need the money, here, it is obvious they need the money. It must cost a pile to keep building up their collection of empty alcohol bottles and buying the old steel bed frames, that are the main recurrent themes of the garden. Past the handful of bonzai trees that give the park its name, one can tour the main part which I guess is built around the theme of "post-war Nagazaki". There are a few signs saying :"Smile, you are on camera" are displayed prominently, just in case you had an impulse of steeling a cement bag or an old tire from the park.

So overall... if I were writing a guidebook I think I would give this park a nice little symbol that says:"to avoid". It is not better than on the other side of the fence, outside the park, where you don't have to pay to walk in the landfills.

The half marathon... the easy part.

So, let me tell you about the actual half-marathon that Jonathan, Erika and I ran on Saturday. It was a different experience than the races I had back in the U.S 3-4 years ago. First, one should notice the redundancy in the trail. I am copying the the map below:The run consisted in going 6 loops along Krasni Prospekt, the main street of Novosibirsk. That's 12 times going along the street and passing Lenin's statue on Lenin square. As a fan of Lenin, I say "Spassibo, Novosibirsk. Thank you". But as a runner, I say: Novosibirsk, what are you doing? You have at least 2 other streets without giant potholes... Use them and make a loop! Look at what France did years ago: it expanded the "Tour de France" race beyond its main avenue, the Champs Elysee... It really helped attracting more participants.

Another peculiarity of this race is that they had the girls starting before the guys. Girls started at 10:00 am and guys at 10:07am. So at 9:57am, one of the organizers called the girls at the starting line. It first looked like this:
Erika (the one with the white shirt) felt a bit confused, but then she realized she had a chance to cross the finish line in the top 3. That's when they called the other girls (maybe 50 to 60?), and Erika saw her chances of winning the race dropping. The girls finally started. It looked like this:Erika got a good start, not far behind the front girls. But later she let them take their distance and eventually she did not win the race...

Finally the guys started. Jonathan (172) and I (149) were ready and motivated to finish this race quick (maybe in 3 loops?). Apologies to Mr 260, whom I did not intent to embarrass by posting pictures of him while relaxing, but I really don't have time to crop this picture tonight.

So we waited quite some time before they allowed us to run and catch up with the girls. I started to feel tired again and this picture got me yawning without covering my mouth with my hand. What a lack of etiquette (isn't it, Mr 269?)
I got a few more pictures of the guys before the start, but I'm sure you'll understand why I won't post more. So let's get to the actual race.
Well, doing 6 loops has the advantage of taking away any feeling of surprise after the second loop, and lets you refine the strategy loop after loop. But there are only so many strategies for a poorly trained runner, so mine was to actually run as fast as I could all the time without getting too tired. It worked all right. But the one who got all the attention was Erika. Here is a small movie of her impressive finish:

The MC went to congratulate her for her finish. and was surprised to find out she was Italian. "You're not Russian? Italian! She is Italian! Not Russian..." and blah blah blah. Obviously he was not a professional journalist. Any decent reporter would have asked better questions, such as: "With such a strong finish, one can wonder whether you really gave as much as you could in the rest of the race. Any advice for the young participants on how to better manage efforts during the run?"


I did not receive such a warm welcome when I crossed the finish-line. They treated me like the guy who borrowed the electronic chip a 1h39min too long and must return it straight away rather than a runner.
As for Jonathan, he finished the race limping. All the attention he got was some condescending remarks from some other participants.
Well, overall, it was an interesting experience. I can't tell whether I'll sign up next year. More photos of the actual race are below... Enjoy.
A special thanks to our supporting team, Natasha, Nadine and Nicolas! And visit Erika's Novosibirsk International Cultural Exchange site for her account of the race.

The most difficult half-marathon

Today, I ran the half-marathon of Novosibirsk. Jonathan, Erika and I had planned that for about 6 weeks, which is a decent amount of time to prepare physically for the race (21.1 km). However, it is quite tight to go through the administrative hurdles in order to participate to the race. It looks easy on paper: all you need is
(i) a medical certificate dated after Aug 20 that you are apt to run the race,
(ii) a registration form completely filled out, and
(iii) a receipt of the bank where you went to do a transfer of 300 rubles to the bank account of the race organizer. Finally, before the race, you need to bring these 3 documents to the race organizers.
That's where running a half-marathon in Siberia is turning into a team sport; here is the list of the people to whom I say a "big thanks" for helping me doing this race:
-the lady at the bank who told me that the information about the bank account given on the race's website was erroneous, and she could not do the transfer
-my beloved girlfriend Katya who called the race organizers to know the exact reference of the bank account to which the money had to be transferred (in addition, she received a "big thanks" from the race organizers who had not figured out until then why nobody had signed up for the race, until Katya told them about the error)
-My doctor Alexey at work who accepted to sign and stamp a document that said I was in good health to run the race;
-Erika, who logged in 2 days before the race and found out the last-minute small-print announcement that the start of the race was moved from 1pm to 10 am.
-and of course, the support team (Nadine, Nicolas and Natasha) who got up early to cheer us during the race.

Here is the list of the people whom I do NOT thank:
-the lady from the organizing committee at office 1, who estimated that Dr Alexey was not a proper doctor to evaluate that I was in good shape, and who wouldn't let us run the race. She was of the opinion that, in addition to the official "physician" stamp and signature, Dr Alexey should have put an official stamp of the clinic he was working in. We called Dr Alexey on the phone and the lady lashed out at him like he was a worthless piece of s--t, and still wouldn't accept us in the race. After I showed her a printout of the registration rules, which said that a doctor from a workplace was entitled to sign such document, she took the printout from me, read it (probably for the first time) and accept my application on the condition that I write in Russian and sign: "I am healthy" (which must have read: 'I am hell-sy', because she did not look pleased with my Russian grammar when I handed out the form).
-the lady from the organizing committee at office 2,who estimated that foreigners must pay more than Russian participants and did not accept the bank receipt I handed out to her. Here again, a printout of the registration rules which I carried with me helped me out. Still, she had to call 2 higher authorities before letting me in.
-the lady from the organizing committee at office 3, who had me rewrite all the information on the registration cards on separate pieces of papers, and called me at work later on for additional information.
-the organizing committee who changed the time of the race 2 days before the race

The hardest part of the race was done when we were approved to sign in. I'll tell you about the easy part (the race) in my next post. That was interesting too...

A corrida? No, a train

Driving around Akademgorodok requires the highest attention.There is a railroad crossing on the way to work which is always open to car traffic... Never saw a single wagon on it in 16 months... until today. This morning, they decided to use the railroad for a train. No luck, the barrier does not work properly, so the lady came out with a flag of the size of a handkerchief to stop the cars passing by at high speed. A chance that this morning, I was forced to take the taxi, because I would definitely missed that lady's sign and would have come to a close encounter with the train...

Looking at it on the bright side: Thanks to my Niva for breaking down today.

First game...

So, I survived my first Monday evening hockey game. I did not leave a single tooth or drop of blood behind... The only thing I left was maybe a bit of self-esteem. It was a 1h30 min game, 6 against 6, which was enough for me to get totally exhausted. I was by far the worse player on the rink. Was it embarassing? Yeah, sure, but it does not rank in the top 5 of my most embarassing moments. Not even when a teammate gave me his stick, explaining me I was probably left-handed and I was using a rightie stick. I am happy I did not have to tell him I bought this rightie stick after someone else told me exactly the opposite when I played with a leftie stick last year... I guess my game is just difficult to read. How well did I do? I stopped the puck twice with my big shorts and I passed the puck to my teammate for a goal once, with my stick. And that's only the first game of the season!

You wanna play hockey? OK

While summer is fading away, I have to look for a new seasonal hobby for the long and cold winter. Yes, I could go back to cross country skiing (and I will) but I also need something a bit more social. And of course, any other activity which does not require bulky and expensive gear is of no interest for me. Dog sledding would qualify... I'd make a minimum of 10 friends, I'd be the boss, and the gear is interesting, but I don't want to feed dogs 7 days of the week for merely one afternoon of fun. So I am signing up for hockey instead. Yes, I played hockey 2 years ago, so it is not entirely new, but I stopped when I saw a head-on collision just in front of me, and the sight of blood on the rink had me look for tamer winter activities. But this time, I got the full protective gear, including for my head. If there is blood on the rink, that won't be mine (or at least, not from the head). More details? I am joining a team who has red jersey (or so I was told). Hopefully they will let me play. I am starting tomorrow (every Monday at 21:30). That's as much as I know for now.

Back from vacation... first week end.

I got back from Corsica on Monday, just in time to enjoy the end of the summer in Akademgorodok. It seems my body is already getting prepared for the winter by peeling off the nice tanned skin, which I like but won't be of any use against cold. I also did my part for the preparation, by starting early on building up my seasonal layer of blubber.
A few good news were awaiting me as I got back: first, the customer service is still on an improving trend, as I noticed when the cab driver offered me a cigarette when he lighted one for himself. (Thanks man, I appreciate you don't want me developing a lung cancer from passive smoking). Then, upon arrival at the apartment, I was happy to see they did not cut off the cold water, which is a significant improvement from last time I got back from a trip.
So, I am now back in my little retreat, and I had to adjust to spending the week-end by myself again. I resisted the idea of going to the local train museum, a treat which I keep for myself for when I feel really down. I thought about upgrading my blog to include a wildlife encounters tracking system. That was after I saw a hedgehog last night. But I might as well insert a jpeg that shows rat: 1, chipmunk: 1, hedgehog: 1, and leave it alone for the next 12 months, and find something better to do with my time.
So I decided to put my kayak on my car and go to the river between Berdsk and Iskitim. There, it is quite nice with a nice coastline and less nudists than near Akademgorodok. It is also very quiet in the morning, with only a few birds shrieking and circling in the air, and catching fish every now and then (birds and fish were not going to qualify in my wildlife tracking system, by the way). Still, there are interesting sights, like planes floating by under high power electric lines.

So, overall, it was a nice week end. It is good to be back. And I promise... that was my last post on me kayaking around. Have a good one.

Temporary closed...

Howdy. I need a vacation, so I decided to trade my computer screen for sunscreen for the next 2 weeks in Corsica. Stay tuned. Cheers.

A week-end in Saint Petersburg

I discovered another side of Russia when I visited saint Petersburg a couple of weeks ago. Strolling in the streets of Saint Petersburg, it is difficult to fathom that we are in the same country of Novosibirsk. Not just because it is a five hour flight away, but also because the city has so much to offer. Many palaces, museums, canals... all this with 24-hour day light. Definitely a city I recommend to visit.
Highlights of my tour: the walks along the canals, the visit of the cathedral of "the resurrection of Christ", the night tour of the city to go see the rising bridges... See pictures below if you do not believe me.



Also, here is a little movie showing the party mood on the Neva river at 2am, during the cruise to see the rising bridges... a very popular tour that attracts many boats.



I'll have to go back though, because I was not able to visit the Ermitage museum (the queue was too long). Unfortunately, when I mention I was in saint Petersburg to the people around me , the only question I get is: 'did you go to the Ermitage?" and only little interest for the other things that I saw.

Home sweet home...

Aaah... Such a pleasure to come home after having been away for a few weeks to inhospitable foreign countries. There is really no place like a home. Thanks to the local authorities for making sure I was not going to get too emotional when coming back, by placing a sweet welcome note on my door that says "no hot water for the next 13 days" and "no electricity today" (by the way, don't waste your time trying to find the Russian equivalent of "apologies" or "sorry" on the picture below). My attempt at getting any water out of my pipes had me conclude that the term "hot water" was loosely defined and really stands for just "water". Myself, I may have to define more loosely my criterion for 'dirty laundry' and screen again the content of my suitcase for decent smelling clothes for the next few days if I can't get any water soon.

Resourcefulness

I was going to go kayaking today, but it was too cold, too windy, too cloudy, too wet, and the lake had too many waves. It would not have been reasonable, so I just stayed on the shore and watched other people have fun. Good opportunity to realize I was not the coolest kid on the lake. These guys below were cruising along the beach with an engine powered pedalo. A nice demonstration of engineering and resourcefulness. I bet on a nice day they must pick up girls easy...

Ouch!

That's what you get from spending the afternoon on the lake without putting on socks and sun screen. More colors in the living room... A lesson I should have learned by now, after doing the same mistake so many times.

Kayaking on the lake

We felt it was a waste to have the Ob sea next to our place, and not being able to use it for navigation. So Christian and I decided to buy kayaks... You'd think with such a beautiful sea and people being so close to nature, the place would be swarming with kayaks, right? Well, no. People don't have kayaks here. We had to get the kayaks sent from Moscow by the Transsiberian on its way to Ulan Bator. The train arrived on Thursday, and we were very excited and went to the train station ahead of time to make sure we'd get them. A good way for us to learn that all train schedules in Russia are in Moscow time, and also to remind us that there is a 3-hour time difference between Moscow and Novosibirsk. But we got our boats in the end...


You should know that as of today, the pristine water of the Ob has been kayaked by 2 people only: Christian and me. We could have made it 3 if we had let the drunk guy swimming toward us use our boat for 5 minutes as he asked us, but we're jerks and we don't want to jump in the cold water for 5 minutes while the guy figures out how to use the paddles. But let's not get this little story ruin our beautiful day.

So today was the big day: we met at the beach behind the Lada dealership, a primary spot for getting our boats wet. And off we went...



Boy, if the locals only knew what they were missing! If you think there is only dull coast and flat water to explore... there is so much more to see here. A kayak tour on the lake is the opportunity to discover magnificent reefs and architectural gems left by previous generations. No further than 20 minutes after our start, we discovered beautiful cement blocks. How were they brought there and why? Mistery... woooohh... So many questions left unanswered.

Anyway, why travel half way across the Earth to go to places like Tulum or Macchu Picchu, when here you have more recent constructions, in a more advanced state of degradation?

And what a blast to glide between those cement and steel structures! See how Christian just found the perfect spot, protected by blocks of cement and steel, to practice his flipping technique...


And here, a buswreck, probably left there intentionally as a breeding ground for fish...


There are even dark caves to explore, where the fauna includes moth and mosquitoes of the size of actual butterflies. Also, it's amazing how the steel is reminiscent of real stalactites...


Well, that was it for the first day. We got our load of fresh air and nature, and made it back after 5 hours of paddling. Next time, we should try to go paddle in an actual industrial zone to gauge the difference.

It is not that bad on the other side of the Ural

I am posting here some of my pictures of Moscow, in an attempt to convince my local friends that Moscow is not that bad. That's right, it is not in the center of Russia, and you have to walk a long way to go pick mushrooms or to get some birch tree sap. They also don't have the Ob sea to go swimming for the 2-week summer. But it is beautiful, and it is very easy to get real close to people in the subway. Only perks...

No more getting lost on my bike

Today, May 9th, I went for my first bike tour of the year. Snow is 99.5% gone (still, I spotted a few patches), the weather is nice and warm, and I recently had my tickborne encephalitis shot, so I was all prepared to go. Plus now... no more getting lost in the woods or the villages of datchas since I got my little GPS. You can see below that my bike ride was still quite erratic, but God knows where I would have ended up this time without being tracked by satellites. Hopefully not in one of the famous secret cities...

What is going to happen to the technopark?

With the crisis on going, I was curious about what happened to the project of building a Technopark in Akademgorodok. 'Technopark" is a major project to make the regional innovation economy leading in home and foreign markets of high technology, using Siberian science potential." A model of the building hosting the Novosibirsk Technopark is presented below, and you can find more info about this exciting initiative here.

I was looking forward to the erection of this building, which looks great and would certainly host a good cafeteria. So, I started worrying about its status when I saw the crisis smacking Russia in the face. I was relieved when I found this headline on the web (here):

"NOVOSIBIRSK AND KEMEROVO TO CONTINUE BUILDING THE TECHNOPARKS"

Not only is it a good news in itself, but reading the small script (always a good practice around here) turned out to be even more interesting:

The project of the creation of technoparks in Russia is actually suspended. [...] The concept of technoparks is too far from the initial purpose. [...] The most terrible is that not one region, which participates in the program, has a concept and a business- plan of its technoparks. The regions entirely do not have understanding what technoparks are [...]. In one of the regions in the project of technoparks provided not only the territories for an Expo-center and hotels, but even place for the cemetery.Of nine regions to pretend to the state money, only Novosibirsk and Kemerovo will benefit from it.

OK... So the project is still coming to Novosibirsk! Why did I even worry?

Yuck...

In many places around the world, spring rhymes with flowers, colors, happiness and loving season. Here, it rhymes with mud, dirt, wet feet, and tick-borne encephalitis. The pictures below show the slush and mud that announce the end of the winter. The melting snow also reveals piles of garbage that were nicely covered by snow until now... No, it is not a nice sight. The whole Siberia is transforming into a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other nasty bugs ready to feast on our blood as soon as the snow is gone.

Still... somehow, I am happy spring is here!