Eastern Promises

Back to work

2011-02-21T20:20:00.003+06:00

Hello everyone,

Yes, it has been a while since I posted anything in here, and you might even think I am no longer in Russia. Well, if that's what you think you couldn't be further from the truth. I am still here, hanging on... and there is no sign that I going to leave any time soon: I now have my little routine which includes 2 walks a day with Urmik, 3 or 4 teacups a day (extra watery please) and weekly borsch with extra sour cream that I now manage to eat without staining my shirt. Even the yearly display of snow sculptures is becoming a routine, but since you guys are just dying to see them, here they are. Because the camera battery emptied unexpectedly fast before I managed to take good shots of all the sculptures, I went outside the day after and also made my own little snowy piece of art that I included in the slide show below.

Consider this post as a warm up for all the amazing stories about my crazy adventures that await me this year. I'll try to keep you guys updated between 2 dog walks.

1, 2... and 3!

2010-11-11T21:30:00.000+06:00

I have now officialy completed my 3rd year in Siberia. That is a happy event. I can now celebrate that I am 3 years closer to leaving than when I arrived. Tadaa.

It is funny how I did not notice that I actually spent 3 years here. You wouldn't notice either if you heard me speaking Russian, in fact I am still struggling with sentences other than the subject-verb-complement type. Still, I get better everyday and God knows where I will stop. I may not even stop at all, maybe I'll keep on moving asymptotically toward the holy grail -intermediate level-. What will I then do with all my Russian language skills once I leave Russia? Keeping up the level by practicing with Urmik? That won't do it... Call me a condescending jerk, but the truth is that Urmik is not even a the subject-verb-complement level yet. 'Verb only' is good enough for all the messages I usually convey to Urmik (run, shut up, eat, get off the couch) and he gives me a confused look when I try to initiate him to more complex phrasal construction (like "mais qui c'est le gros toutou a son pepere?").

What else will I get out of those 3 years beside the semantics to talk to Urmik? Hmmm... character? I guess living in a bureaucratic country with very cold climate is good to build character, which is nice if you still want to build character at 34. And I also grew a thicker skin by living in cold in Siberia. Literally.

The highlight of my 3 years here is that I met Katya. She was well worth a few frostbites, and if I had to do it again, I'd give away a few toes all over again without hesitation just to meet her. Katya and I are now going to get married so we can stay together for life. We will do this in Moscow once all our preparative paperworks is done -no big party, sorry, just something between me and her. Still, that will be a happy event... May the 4th year bring more happy event to us (and to all y'all).

Fall

2010-10-02T18:03:00.001+07:00

It's that time again: fall. Fall in Siberia is so inspiring, it's almost like I am getting some spiritual experience. The yellow, the red, the green... Wow. Cool.

I know I already posted pictures from fall the past 2 years, but you guys are creatures of habits and you won't mind looking at similar pictures again. This time, we took them not just from the botanical garden down the street, but we also went all the way to the sea to get them; the Ob Sea, that is, which is down the other street from our place. As usual, it includes pictures from Urmik, whose black and white fur fits every season.

Irkutsk and the legend of Baikal

2010-09-26T17:23:00.007+07:00

Going to Irkutsk and visit Katya's family was also the occasion to visit the city and the surroundings in more depth than I did 2 years ago. The center of Irkutsk is rather pretty in fact, with nice avenues and buildings with nice shops.

We strolled along the avenues past the local statue of Lenin all the way to the embankment of the Angara past the statue of the tsar Nikolai 2.

We walked along the river, which have buildings of unique architecture, that can’t be seen anywhere else.

One example of unique architecture from Irkutsk

We also spent some time at the open air museum of architecture and ethnography at the settlement of Tal-tsy which is half way between Irkutsk and the Lake Baikal. The museum is primarily made of houses from villages that were submerged with the building of the dam on the Angara in Irkutsk. We had a very quiet and relaxing day with tasty snacks.

Then we drove all the way to Listvyanka, the city where the Baikal flows in the Angara. We had dinner at the “Legend of Baikal”, a restaurant with patio that faces an infamous landmark related in many legends of Baikal: The shaman rock right at the river inlet. To understand the essence of the legend, you have to know a couple of things about the Lake, which I am cultured enough -and kind enough- to tell you: the lake has 336 rivers that flow to it, and only one that flows out of it… the Angara, which flows to the Yenisei river. So here is the legend. Spoiler alert: I’ll skip many of the epics and suspense of the legend and I go straight to the point. Mister Old Baikal had 337 daughters until one of them, Ms Angara, decided to leave to because she fell in love with Mr Yenisey. Mister Baikal was not happy and threw a giant granite stone at Angara, but it was too late… Angara had already made her way between the hills and was already happily flowing to Mr Yenisey.

Now you know the legend… you can see the rock!

See the legendary rock in the center of the picture.

Of course, since the dam has been built in Irkutsk, the level of the Angara has gone up and the rock is largely submerged. It is about 2 ft higher than the level of the water, so it is not so impressive. You need a much bigger lense than mine to make a decent picture of it. Are you happy now, grumpy mister Baikal?

See below more pictures from Irkutsk and its surroundings.

When you cannot prevent a risk, mitigate it.

2010-06-16T22:12:00.002+07:00

Who said that safety standards in Russia are low? Obviously, someone very oblivious to his surroundings in the critical moments... See the picture below to see how pro-activity rules when it comes to mitigate head injuries in the toilets.

Admire the attention for details in placing safeguards at the strategic places: on the ceiling for tall people, on the wall for people in a hurry. No more going to the restrooms with a hard hat and a mouth guard for me!

Sent from my iPhone

Saratov

2010-06-06T18:21:00.005+07:00

We went to Saratov to say Hi to Katya's family. I'll skip the details about the family... just in case they read this blog, let me say that they are all extremely nice people, very welcoming and that it was a pleasure to meet them all.
About the city: Until the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, Saratov was designated a "closed city", off limits to foreigners because of the aircraft manufacturing facility in the city. With the end of the Soviet Union, they stopped manufacturing their Yak planes, but you can still fly in one if you go to Saratov (in fact, you have to).
To all the foreigners who could not go to Saratov during all these years, let me tell you, you missed a very interesting city. The architecture of the city dating from the XIX century is beautiful and there seems to be many cultural events happening all the time (I did not stay there long enough to really benefit from all the culture there): there is a beautiful museum (Radishevski museum) from outside, but they say inside it is nice too. There are many parks... and of course, there is Volga, omnipresent and which is over 3 km wide (ca 2 miles).
The weather was beautiful, we walked a lot, so I am bringing back a few pictures from there. Please share with all foreigners who could not go there until 1992.

Rediscovering the world with new eyes: wildlife

2010-05-16T19:46:00.012+07:00

I used to think there was no wildlife around Akademgorodok. That was before I got into photography. Oh! I used to be such a banal pointer-and-shooter, oblivious to the beauty of nature surrounding me. How could I just go around like that and watch the world through 7.1 Megapixels only? Why did nobody tell me about features other than the "Auto" mode? Am I the first one to open my eyes beyond what's on my old tiny LCD screen? Are we all walking through life, blind to the beauty around us just because the Auto mode of our camera does not have the right shutter speed or aperture?

I now have a big heavy camera with many buttons. It's black, it has many features, and I look very cool when I walk with it. And the Auto mode works great. And now I see the world from another perspective. Let's just take wildlife as an example (our first example of what I believe will be a long series): What I thought was a tamed schnauzer is now revealed to me as a fierce predator. Look how he nearly breaks that branch by the strength of his jaws! and how he rests on the beach like a... wild thing that he is!

And look at these birds: isn't that wild? That's not your grandma's chicken, I can tell you that.

And with my new camera, even toads that copulate look good...

I am so excited about the new dimension that is now open to me with this big black camera. More beautiful pictures on your way very soon...

Snow in May, wrong start of the day

2010-05-13T21:39:00.003+07:00

Here is the snow we got yesterday (May 12). I also included Urmik in the background as a reference for you to gauge the amount of snow...

Sent from my iPhone

Saving energy

2010-05-11T21:29:00.003+07:00

Who is the bright guy in Russia who decided that central heating needs to be shut down in the spring, once the temperature exceeds 8degC for a week? Nobody else wants to write an addendum to that policy saying that central heating must be switched back on if the temperature drops below zero and if snow is falling? It's freezing here!

The May 9th Parade

2010-05-10T20:48:00.009+07:00

The whole city has transformed for the May 9th parade, the biggest event in the year. Billboards and giant pictures are on display in all the streets and on the buildings.

The excitement has built up for days now, and I could hardly sleep the night before. We woke up early to try to beat the crowd and get good spots. Obviously, we failed, and when we arrived, all good spots were already taken.

So here is what we can bring back from our celebration day:

A few pictures from the back stage, taken minutes before the parade:

Girls adjusting their combat outfit,

-The regiment of orange berets,

-Some other regiment, more friendly,

-And the typical police car with the front hood open (nothing really different from an everyday picture).

And here some pictures we managed to take by stretching our arms really high:

Conclusion: In spite of my really cool new camera, I was not able to get a decent picture from this memorable day. Plus the new camera is a bit too heavy for the 'stretched-arm-picture mode'. Next year I will go with a periscope instead of a camera. Still, it was a nice day to be outside and we had good shashliks by the river.

Ice fishing

2010-04-15T20:40:00.007+07:00

Last Sunday, the weather finally gave hint of the summer approaching. We decided to go for a walk on the frozen lake and see if the fishing season was good. As you can see on the picture, the level of water has dropped significantly, which should be a good omen for the fishermen (less water means a higher density of fish, any fisherman knows that). Uh, and the other thing is that there is still a decent 4-ft layer of ice on the lake, which is another good news for my friends the fishermen who still have a few nice days in their ice-fishing season.

We met a few fishermen carrying their drills, walking large distances to find their good spots.

So let me give you a few tricks about fishing I learned just by observation (by not speaking the language I sharpened my skills of learning by observation dramatically in the last 2 years):

-How to recognize fishermen on the way to fishing versus fishermen on the way back? Not so easy: the amount of fish they carry can be misleading, as these guys like to snack on salted fish while they fish for more... (Ice-fishing is a sustainable activity). The trick is in the way they walk: A good fisherman always walk straight to his fishing spot. Most fishermen have vodka-induced staggering walk on the way back.
-How to use bait fish with worms frozen hard by subzero temperatures?Simply put the worms in a plastic bag with no hole, and suck on the plastic bag not too hard until you feel that the worm softens up.
-How to recognize a good spot for ice-fishing? Not so easy either, there appears to be different strategies prevailing on the Ob Sea:

-the first strategy is to look for spots where there already are other fishermen.

Here, the logic is that so many fishermen can't be wrong about the quality of a spot, so you too should go drill there and dip your worm. By the way, reusing a pre-drilled hole from someone else is not a widespread practice, since everybody carries his own drill. I think there is a certain pride from catching fish from your own hole.
-the second strategy consists in looking for spots where there are no fisherman. It is radically different from the first approach, but the logic is also solid: No competing fisherman means more fish for you, so you should go and drill there. Between these 2 extreme strategies, a wide range of intermediate solutions also work, i.e chosing spots where there are only a few fishermen proving that it is a good spot for fish, but not enough people to catch all the fish, so you can also go and drill there.In brief, the main criterion for a good spot is to make sure that there is water on the other side of the ice where you are drilling.

Well, in the end, the one who enjoyed the walk the most was still Urmik. He was quite impervious to fishing strategies and just enjoys running aimlessly on the ice. Good doggie.

The Transiberian from your couch

2010-03-07T10:25:00.004+06:00

You want to travel by train from Moscow to Vladivostok, but you're not sure whether you are ready for the 10+ days without a shower and the smell of salted fish from your neighbor's zakouskis? Here is a cool link for you: http://www.google.ru/intl/ru/landing/transsib/en.html

Click anywhere on the blue line on the map representing the railroad, and you can see a movie from 7 to 30 minutes of what you would actually see from the left window of the Transiberian, with nobody to tell you not to lean outside. Strangely enough, on the left window, it is always daylight, always sunny, and always summer.

So, chose the soundtrack (the page proposes rumble from wheels, Russian radio, or the full audio version of War and Peace...), sit back and relax.

Stuck...

2010-02-21T10:01:00.005+06:00

Having a road accident in Russia is really something you want to avoid... more than in other countries: Russian law requires the drivers involved in the accident to leave their cars exactly as they are at the time of impact until the police agents arrive and record all the necessary elements. Knowing there is only a handful of police agents who are qualified to investigate the accidents in the whole Novosibirsk, you're up for a few hours of waiting. That's plenty of time to get to know the person you just bumped into. It's also plenty of time to face the angry look of the other drivers you are blocking, if you happen to block all the lanes like the accident I spotted the other day.

I think it is all part of the country's road safety policy, that aims at decreasing the accident rate by public humiliation. The look on those poor people's face stuck on the road is reminiscent of the look I saw on stray dogs that got stuck while copulating in public, trying to maintain dignity in an embarrassing situation, and waiting for a relief out of their control.

It hasn't happened to me yet (I mean, the road accident). I am touching some wood for it not to happen, and sharpening my defensive driving skills every day on my commute.

Happy birthday to me

2010-02-14T11:28:00.003+06:00

Thanks to everybody who thought about my birthday and sent me their wishes, by mail, phone, facebook, or face to face... It added a bit of warmth to this cold winter. I had lots of fun in the various little parties and celebrations. A special thanks to the people who gave me a little gift, either at the office or at the little party last night. Definitely, I will not forget where those gifts came from when I will look back at them a few years from now.

Now I feel ready and geared up for another eventful year in Novosibirsk!

Ice sculptures 2010

2010-01-17T13:44:00.002+06:00

Every year, during the holiday season, there are beautiful ice sculptures to go see in Novosibirsk. By the Ob river, one can see the ice-city, a type of city fair built in ice, with a different theme every year; and in downtown, artists from different Russian cities compete for the best sculpture. This year, we waited for the weather to warm up a bit before going there. We finally gave in and drove to the city last night once we understood that the thermometer would not exceed -25C for the next few weeks.
The ice-city by the river was built around the "ice age" theme, very appropriate for the season. I wished I took more pictures, but the battery of my camera did not like the -28C and lost power really fast. Still, you can see that the statues of the main characters of the ice age movie were pretty well done. I was impressed and I did not regret paying the 100 ruble entrance fee, even if we did not stay more than 10 minutes before we rushed back to the car to warm up our frozen fingers and toes.

The sculptures in downtown are more artistic. See the slide show below:

I believe the sculpture which won the contest was the butt-like pair of pears, but don't quote me on this one.
If you want to see these sculptures, don't worry, no need to hurry up. They are exposed until it gets warm.

The truth about Belokurikha

2010-01-07T13:30:00.015+06:00

We decided to spend the week-end of January 1st in Belokurikha, a resort at 450km south of Novosibirsk. As we prepared our trip, and talked with others, we heard a lot of interesting rumors about this place:

1-There is a micro climate in Belokurikha because it is exposed to southern winds from Kazakhstan that keep the place warm. In the summer, they even grow water melons.

A picture of the microclimate in Belokurikha,

with the slopes in the background.

2-The website shows that the skiing is great there, with one chairlift... but at the same time, we heard from acquaintances that it is a terrible place to ski: the slopes suck and the lift up costs ca. 250 rubles per ride (ca $8).

3-There are lots of prostitutes in the street who hand you their contact card.

Myths or facts? Here are my conclusions:

1- If the wind was coming from Kazakhstan, then I'll have to conclude that winters in Kazakhstan are also cold. Yes, the weather was warmer than in Novo, but we still had to ski by -28degC in the morning. When I was on the chairlift, I was really hoping for that Kazakhstan wind to stop, because it was F** cold. Katya's nose was so cold that it built a white layer of frost.

That's Katya and her white nose.

2-The chairlift says in big letters that the ride is 250 rubles. But if you read the fine print, it says that with skis or snowboard, it is only 100 rubles. Too bad for our acquaintances who, 2 weeks ago, did not read the fine print and decided not to ski because of the cost.

100 rubles is a good price for a very slow 25-minute ride uphill, on a metallic chair with an excellent heat transfer coefficient, optimized to suck your entire body heat by the time you reach the top. We got so cold that at each ride, we had to stop for a 130 ruble glut wine on top of the hill, and then again at the bottom. So in the end, the ride up is expensive.

The chairlift of Death.

The skiing in Belokurikha is OK. The slope is steep, so it only takes 7 minutes to reach the bottom and be ready to sit again on the chairlift.

3- I did not see any prostitute in the street. I would not have been able to take their contact card with my hands frozen in my mittens anyway.

Our reservation in the hotel had everything included. After our first prison-like lunch (see picture below), we skipped the other meals and went to the restaurant instead. It turns out that the resort is nice, with good restaurants.

All inclusive meal at the hotel.

Cabbage soup and beef tongue.

In the end, on a scale from 1 to 10, I'll give the place a 5, mainly to reward their nice effort. I can't really blame the place for not getting more of that warm Kazakh wind. To make it a world class resort (as it is claimed in the resort's website), I suggest they work on the reliability of their power grid, so that 'all inclusive' also includes the electricity with the meal at the restaurant. Eating Chinese food in the dark with chopsticks was tricky.

More pictures of Belokurikha here:

Going to the market

2009-12-26T18:13:00.006+06:00

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

2009-12-14T21:52:00.006+06:00

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

2009-11-29T18:25:00.001+06:00

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

2009-11-15T10:09:00.008+06:00

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!!

2009-11-01T17:56:00.006+06:00

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

2009-10-10T19:12:00.006+07:00

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

2009-10-07T23:01:00.005+07:00

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

2009-10-03T20:56:00.004+07:00

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.

2009-09-14T06:48:00.019+07:00

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

2009-09-12T19:22:00.007+07:00

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

2009-08-26T21:04:00.004+07:00

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...

2009-08-18T19:09:00.001+07:00

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

2009-08-16T21:57:00.000+07:00

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.

2009-08-02T20:10:00.001+07:00

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...

2009-07-10T00:30:00.002+07:00

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

2009-07-05T12:26:00.006+07:00

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...

2009-06-30T23:36:00.003+07:00

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

2009-06-07T16:01:00.001+07:00

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!

2009-05-31T17:45:00.000+07:00

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

2009-05-30T20:27:00.007+07:00

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

2009-05-25T21:41:00.004+07:00

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

2009-05-09T19:39:00.000+07:00

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?

2009-04-19T20:21:00.006+07:00

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...

2009-04-04T21:06:00.001+07:00

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!

My first visit to the dentist

2009-03-28T17:20:00.002+06:00

Oh boy I was scared to go to the dentist here. Last time I was in a medical place in a country where I did not fully understand the language, I failed to convey I wanted a full anesthesia before the Bavarian surgeon fixed my broken nose with his bare hands...
It turns out the experience was great. The office was all new and shiny and the staff was very nice and helpful. I asked for teeth cleaning, and the dentist counted my teeth (24), took her calculator and typed 24*120 rubles to calculate my total bill. I was very appreciative of this simple and reliable pricing model. I was also comforted by the fact that her financial incentive was in line with me keeping as many teeth as possible during the intervention. To seal the deal, I simply opened my mouth and let her work on my teeth.

The first beach party 2009

2009-03-22T20:48:00.002+06:00

The 2009 beach season has officially begun, and we were not going to miss this opportunity to put on our light clothes and go play by the lake.
I am embedding a few pictures below to show how the lake looks like in the early part of the season. It sets a new and challenging benchmark for "white sand beach", doesn't it?

It was also our chance to go see the island that is 1.5 km away from the embankment, without swimming. We put on our skis and went to have a peek "on the other side". Simply amazing: more birch trees, more cement blocks and steel. It also sets a new benchmark for "a remote isolated island", doesn't it?

The end of winter!!

2009-03-02T23:05:00.002+06:00

We officially celebrated the end of winter last Sunday. If you ask me, I think it is a bit early, and one has to be pretty visionary to foresee the end of winter when it is -13C outside. But I didn't want to bring other people down, so I put on my light winter jacket, my 1-layer nylon winter hat, I shut up and went to the local school to celebrate like everybody else.
The celebration of the end of winter is called "Maslenitsa". It actually corresponds to the celebration before the great Lent. Maslenitsa represents the last chance to partake of dairy products (lactose intolerant people, this is litteraly your last chance), and those social activities that are not appropriate during the more prayerful, sober and introspective Lenten season.

During the Maslenitsa at school, the activities included:
-wearing colorful dresses and sing with friends.
-eating home-made chicken soup, pastries and blini.

-burning Lady Maslenitsa and dancing around in circles while holding hands. At the end, Lady Maslenitsa's ashes are buried in the snow to "fertilize the crops". Very enjoyable...

Now, it is all done, and I am ready to enter a period of sober, introspective Lenten season.

Some more local food: the zakuski.

2009-02-28T22:57:00.000+06:00

Time to revisit one of my favorite topics: the local food. This time, I will talk about what I should have talked in the first place: the zakuski, which mean "starters", or "hors d'oeuvre" for the posh and the French.
My entire blog could be about zakuskis, because Russians have a lot of them. Almost as many as soups. Here are my favorites so far. And I will probably stick to these ones, because I am tired with experimenting with new food by trial and error.

The "blini c ikroy" (that's pancakes with red caviar): a reliable starter. It goes well with vodka, although the pancake is not required.

The raw salmon plate: this is very common around here. They actually have several types of salmon, but don't ask me differentiating them... (Once again, if you want more exhaustive accounts about Russia, I recommend you to expand your reading material beyond this blog). This salmon goes well with a good white wine. No need to recommend a specific wine, you'll have to go with whichever wine is available (very possibly the one that is slightly more expensive than the one you meant to order).

The fish plate: again, you'll have to appreciate my minimalist approach when it comes to describe what's actually in the plate. There is salmon (or trout? here they have the same color) and two other fish. I can spot pretty precisely the lettuce and the lemon though. Well, anyway, it is tasty.

The assortment of meat: I can't say that one is my favorite. They always have beef tongue in this assotment plates. Tongue is actually very popular here, and the amount of tongue served in restaurants far exceeds the amount of all other pieces of beef combined. I haven't spotted cattle around Novosibirsk, but I suspect that they are genetically modified to have huge tongues and just a little of everything else. Still, the tongue is good with the horseraddish mustard.

Enjoy... Thanks for reading.

The records and achievements of Novosibirsk

2009-02-15T17:13:00.008+06:00

Thoughtful friends got me a wonderful gift for my birthday: the book of records and achievements of Novosibirsk. It is an exhaustive and instructive collection of records of our city, which I am proud of sharing with you today. I appreciate that each record comes with a synopsis in English, which makes it easier for me to understand the meaning, if not always the actual essence of the achievement. Of course, one could flip through the book and list them one by one, but I am reporting only the most significant ones... allow me to use my own criteria for "significant". By the way, I am reproducing the titles word for word:

-The Club of the Cheerful and Sharp-Witted with Most Titles in the World. Someone in that bunch of cheerful people is not joking about keeping track of titles. I wonder how susceptible they would be if another club of sharp -witted were to contest the validity of this record.
-The Most Titled Sportsman in Russia Among Helicopter Sport Masters. His titles include golden medals at championship of Siberia, Russia, USSR.
-The Owner of the Biggest In Russia Collection of Candies and Chocolate wrappings and Alcohol Drinks Labels. He owns more than 13,000 candy wrappings, 1,000 chocolate bar wrappings and more than 10,000 beers, wine and cognac labels. Wanna meet the champion? Look for the drunk guy with really bad teeth.
-The Only Museum of Historical Relations between Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk. I wonder why Saint Petersburg is not interested in hosting a similar museum.
-The Longest Compass Needle in Russia. For this one, you will have to use the same sense of imagination as the one required for making out animals in the clouds: it turns out that the central street of Novosibirsk goes North / South over 6,5 km. Thanks to the editors for providing this high level illustration for our understanding.

-The first Winner of All-Russia Competition between Children's Institutions of Extended Education. This one has to be put in perspective with another achievement reported separately: The Only School of Extended Education in Russia that Makes Programs for Children.
-The Greatest number of Printed Publications and their Copies about Novosibirsk. No reason to be shy about that one.

Hit by the financial crisis.

2009-02-03T23:15:00.006+06:00

The financial crisis has terrible consequences in Russia. Every new day brings its loads of news about layoffs, banking system collapsing, commodity prices dropping... But even worse, the inflation which is running high, has the pricetag of my camembert going up faster than it takes for the actual camembert to liquefy. At this rate, I won't be able to keep up with my french lifestyle for very long. Maybe I should go on strike?

Trying to work out in the winter

2009-02-01T22:05:00.000+06:00

Today, I needed some fresh air, but the weather was too cold and the snow was sticking to my skis, so I decided to go running instead. It was really fun because the longer I ran, the less I could see because of the ice forming on my eyelashes (my standard for "fun" has considerably lowered in the past 18 months).

For the scientifically minded: the white frost on my face comes from the vapor I exhale at 37C from my mouth and condenses on my face, my hat and my scarf at -25C. Boy that was good... You can't get that on a Wii fit.
Sorry for not smiling on my picture. The muscles are frozen. The inside smile is what counts.

Ski lesson

2009-01-18T23:43:00.008+06:00

I improved my skiing in powder during my vacation in Sheregesh, but Katya (the cameraman) thinks I can still use some work on estimating distances. Look closely and watch how I managed to take off my skis and snatch her wallet in the process though.

Going to winter sports is more interesting here

2009-01-12T23:22:00.009+06:00

I spent part of the holidays in the ski resort of Sheregesh, 600 km south east of Novosibirsk. If you google for the word "Sheregesh", this is what you can find:

"If you are not a Siberian, you will probably have the only single reason to go to Sheregesh; the local snow, which is unique. Starting from the beginning of November until the beginning of March there's at least 1 m of high quality snow. The local powder is dry and fast and is considered to be the best snow in Russia. However, the snowboarders have to survive [...] the famous Siberian frost, and lack of apres ski. Sheregesh is a remote miners settlement in Siberia near Novokuznetsk (Kuzbass mines). About twenty years ago the ski resort was built at the nearby Zelenaya mountain. With the growing popularity of ski and snowboard in Russia the town itself has been transforming gradually. It is expanding with new cafes and hotels, catering for more and more tourists each year."

(http://www.worldsnowboardguide.com/resorts/russia/sheregesh/index.cfm)

With all my respect, I would like to bring a few nuances to the description from "world snowboard guide". My first comment is that in "transforming gradually", the keyword is "gradually": Sheregesh is not Dubai. Let's say that in the last 20 years, Sheregesh managed to keep its soviet charm and identity while growing at a controlled pace (pretty much the pace of a conservative UNESCO world heritage site). The pictures I am bringing back show the highlights of Sheregesh: not so much new cafes and hotels, but more the Khrouchtchovkas (buildings from the Khrouchtchev era) and chimneys spitting smoke and fog in the skies of the gornaia choria. My advice to the traveller (snowboarder or not) is to rent an apartment in the city of Sheregesh rather than a room in the hotel. Renting an apartment implies busting the owners out of their lodging for a few days, who kindly leave all their belongings in the apartment against a small pile of cash: that includes wet towels in the bathroom, curly hair on the soap, and art pieces of a taste that is surprisingly... "avant-gardiste" for a miners settlement. Living directly in the city also allows enjoying local life, which seems to revolve around drinking, watching TV and making shashliks.
So overall, there is much more than one only single reason to go to Sheregesh... See you there!

For the sake of completeness

2009-01-12T00:06:00.000+06:00

Three weeks ago, I wrote about how Russia was a great country for soups... well, that was before we ordered the fish soup from a restaurant that was recommended to me. Here is what we got:

If you are not sure about what you ordered because of the language barrier, this soup has the advantage of being self explanatory: it is indeed a fish soup. The recipe? I can't tell for sure, but that must include boiling water, adding onions and a fish, and serving hot. This soup is called "Ucha", certainly named after the sound that people make when they choke on a fish bone (Ucha! Ucha!).

I wonder what the chicken soup looks like in that restaurant.

What do you want for Christmas? -a tow rope.

2008-12-30T00:46:00.003+06:00

How could I live for so long without a tow rope? You may think it is good only to get out of snowbanks, but today I used mine to get out of... the covered parking of the Auchan supermarket. When I came out of Auchan with my shooping cart loaded with nice food for the holidays, for some obscure reason, all the cars in the parking lot of Auchan had their remote alarm disabled. People were out of their cars, helpless...It looked very much like a scene in a super-hero movie where the bad guy comes up with a new weapon that disables all electonic devices.
What sucked is that I had left my big winter jacket in my car because it is too cumbersome and too hot to wear in the supermarket, and I could not open my car with my remote. So I was freezing my butt. I tried to use my manual key, but for a reason that is too long to explain here, I had to pour hot tea on the keyhole the day before, which then froze, so there was no way I could open my car. So I went back to Auchan to get de-icer, which allowed me to open my door. But that was only half the work, because my alarm prevented me from starting the car. A nice couple helped me by towing me with my towing rope, out of the covered parking lot to a safe radio-wave free zone where I could start my car. Whoever you are, nice people, thanks to both of you for helping me out tonight.
So in the end, that was a good reminder that this place is always full of surprises. Lesson learned? don't stop the engine when you go shopping...

The great country of soups

2008-12-18T21:57:00.000+06:00

More on the food that I depend on to keep warm and fit... this time I'll write about the russian soups: soups are to Russia what pastas are to Italy, cheeses to France, and Frito pies to USA. The variety of soups is quite large in Russia, and I am on a mission to try them all. Tough mission, particularly cuz I already have my favorites. Here they are.

1- the Logman
I like the name of that one, which sounds like a soup made for real men from the logging industry. It is not a genuine russian soup though, I think it may be kazak but I am too lazy to Google if it's real true. It is a mix of meat, potatoes, pasta, carrots and water. It is hard to eat it without staining one's shirt, because the pasta drips all the time on the way from the plate to the mouth. That's why I recommend to eat it with a brown, orange and yellow shirt.

2-The solianka
I like that one very much too, because it is a chunky one. It is tomato based, with plenty of meat and a nice layer of oily fat on top, and water. That one keeps you warm. They also put olives, a slice of lemon, and a spoonful of cream. A little bit like a warm bloody mary, with more meat and with the vodka on the side...

3- The borsch
You probably heard of that one. I think it is Ukrainian. It is a beetroot soup, with chunks of meat and water. They usually add a spoonful of cream on that one too, just to make sure you get your load of calories.

3- The unknown soup in a bread bowl
I don't know the name of that last one: it contains cabbage, other veggies, dill (the favorite herb in Russia), and water. It comes in a bread bowl a bit like the clam chowder that I got in San Francisco, except this one is not sourdough. You don't have to eat the whole bread, because that is a lot of food... and the soup is only the appetizer, so leave some room for the beef tongue that's coming.

I wish you all a happy holiday. Stay warm. Eat more soup.

Nightlife

2008-12-14T10:13:00.002+06:00

A scene of my exciting life in Novosibirsk, with the baby boomer generation. No comment.

dT/dt very steep

2008-12-01T21:31:00.002+06:00

In 24 hours, the temperature went down 26degC. That was easy to calculate, because yesterday it was zero degC. Good bye, leather gloves and one-layer winter hats. Any good side to this cold, dry weather? Well, tonight, the dry air had my nose bleeding, but the blood froze inside my nostril so I stayed clean.
And more generally, in the morning I will get an early notice when my fly is inadvertently left open before I arrive to the office.

It is the same mistake...

2008-11-23T13:47:00.007+06:00

This week, I decided that classic cross-country skiing sucked, and that skating cross country skiing must be so much better. For my friends unfamiliar with the subtle differences between classic and skating skiing, I am providing a graphical explanation below:

And I also decided that buying the required gear must be the most difficult part in starting this new activity. So I went and spent my money on a pair of skis which look very much like the skis I bought last year for conventional skiing, but twice as expensive, and a new pair of shoes. This is not the first time I spend my money for expensive gear, thinking that the technical know-how will come naturally... and then realizing that either I don't have the skill, or that I don't like the activity. Had I paused for a minute to reflect, this is what I could have recollected from my history:
-at the age of 9, I was designated goal-keeper by my classmates for the recess soccer games (Designating someone as a goal keeper is a diplomatic way of conveying that you are really bad on the field and that one more demotion sends you playing with the girls). The first thing I did was buying a pair of goal-keeper gloves, convinced that with those, I'd be the next "Joel Bats". Next thing I know I was playing "Dungeons and dragons" with the other nerds of my school.
-later in life, I picked up tennis. I had very promising skills, and clearly, my progression was only limited by the low quality of my gear. So I bought a new racket (brand "Lacoste")... Later, I quit tennis after a long 5-year "plateau", with the highest reward being the finalist in the double mixed tournament of Miribel.
Other examples of impulsive purchases of sport items include my clothes for triathlon (I never ran a triathlon), a high-end heart-rate monitor loaded with cool features which I never used, the expensive clip pedals for my bicycle which I must have used 5 times in total, my russian sports car...
End of the story: the new skis specially made for skating don't make skating easy. I can't really say yet I like the sport... any activity where I fall in public more than 2 times within 30 minutes is not likely to be my favorite activity. And I can't get that duck-like step right. Maybe it's because I don't have those lycra stretchy pants that look really cool and don't impair the leg movement?

Siberian Exiles

2008-11-22T11:18:00.002+06:00

Ilia contacted me for an interview about living in siberia: it is all here:
http://metkere.com/en/2008/11/siberian-exiles.html

Lost in the dark

2008-11-15T18:16:00.002+06:00

It fell over a foot of snow since last week, and it was time to inaugurate the ski season. So I brushed the dust off my cross-country skis and went for a tour in the forest. What a great pleasure to glide on the white snow, accompanied only by the squishing sound of the skis, and the light friction of my socks against my skin at the heels... It felt so good after 2K that I decided to deviate from the usual route and follow the 10K track. That's where things got wrong: unfortunately, I did not realize that it was well after 4pm when i took this decision. Soon enough I could see the light fading as I passed birch tree after birch tree, and intersection after intersection. I kept on pushing, as the tracks I followed became less and less defined.
It was nearly dark when I saw a very debatable indication for the 10 vs 15K track... I reflected for a minute before choosing left or right, knowing that a wrong decision would cost me a finger or a toe (did I mention I overestimated the temperature when I left, so I did not wear clothes warm enough?). I took a left, which turned out to be the right decision and kept on pushing, and at that stage I did no longer enjoy the friction of my damn socks against my heels. It is not such a good feeling to be alone out there in the dark, not knowing if I was on the right trail, with no friend or wife to blame for the bad situation.
In the end, I made it safely back to civilization, with little damage other than some more erosion of my confidence in leadership skills, and of the skin at the back of my heels.

Note: the supporting pictures I took with my phone for this story got corrupted... blame Motorola for it.

Food food food (#1)

2008-11-08T14:33:00.001+06:00

Long time no see. I was out of the country for work, using the last opportunity to travel before the economic crisis has the local airlines lowering their safety standards. I just made it back, and to my surprise, no snow is yet sticking on the ground, but as I am typing, snowflakes are starting to fall and I expect to see the first patches of snow sticking to the ground sometimes today. However... snow falling in Siberia in November is no longer an event that deserves a blog post, so let's move on.
With absence of interesting facts to report, I decided to start talking about the food that we can find in Siberia. This first article is about the food I had in Buryatie, in central Siberia. The pictures below should wake up your appetite, so grab something in your fridge before going further.

Below, you can see a typical meal that you can have in many restaurant in Buryatie.

On the left, a fish salad: yes, this is Omoul... served raw with onion, green onion, and a bit of seasoning. This is appropriately called "Omoul salad".
On the right, you can see "posies": these are giant raviolis filled with meat and onion, and greasy juice... Mmmmh. Note the absence of silverware: you are supposed to eat that thing with your fingers following a well-defined technique: first have a small bite and suck out the greasy juice (watch your shirt). Then just eat the rest and lick your fingers, and say "Vkusna!" (that means "delicious", and saying it will keep you out of trouble).

Then comes dessert: The traditional dessert all over Russia is a "blin", and when you have several of them, you use the plural form and these are "blini". It is filled with whatever you like, but last time I suggested to fill one with ice-cream, I was met with uncomprehension, so just ask for honey to avoid any embarassment. Also, don't even try to have blini without tea, or people will look at you like you have ink on your nose. On the right, this is a picture of typical "buryat" tea, which is mixed with milk, butter and salt, so don't order it if you are lactose intolerant (I don't recommend lactose intolerant people to come to Siberia overall, as they put cream absolutely everywhere). You can try this buryat tea at home and tell me what you think. I don't like tea in the first place, and the dairy products they mixed it with did not make it better.

Good appetite. More siberian food is coming your way in the next weeks.

I am not a leper

2008-10-20T22:08:00.002+07:00

As part of my Russian visa renewal, I was tested for leprosy last week. This was in addition to my HIV and tuberculosis tests. No need to argue that I still have all my fingers and my mere skin problems are a bit of redness after shaving, I had to go. So I hid my little bell and left my long coat at home and complied with the rule. It turns out I am not a leper. Even if it did not really come as a surprise, that was still a relief. The doctor made a visual inspection of my arms and back, and in spite of his expertise, could not detect any more symptoms of leprosy than I did. So I was able to go back to work.
I shall come back with more interesting story next time. Maybe about a medical test for bubonic plague or scurvy. Russian authorities would help me making better plots with more suspense if they actually tested diseases that are still around in the 21st century.

Happy first year anniversary!

2008-10-11T01:29:00.004+07:00

Already 1 year that I am in Siberia. Geezz, time flies by. So I guess it is time to look back at the 2007/2008 season and make a small assessment. Let’s go with the really obvious first: this first year was full of discoveries: dipping my skinny body in the frozen Ob Sea, spending days and nights in a cave, exfoliating my skin and clean the clogged pores at the bania… One thing I can say is that I changed my hobbies since I arrived. No more jogging in lycra in the steamy heat. Overall, that’s fine with me. Running in Houston is actually boring like hell, I just did it because Men’s Health magazine said it was cool to suffer. Here, I might have less free time (yes, I have a job that keeps me busy), but I spend it more wisely, as suggested by my captivating blog .

It has been refreshing to live in a place with seasons, it is really like different worlds between the summer and the winter. I like the summer better, but I did not realize that before moving here, so I can’t really complain. The winter is also fun, as long as you don’t mind runny nose, cold fingers and wearing 4 layers of clothes….and the winter in May is really at the edge of what my sense of fun can support.

One thing I don’t talk about too much in my blog is the people I have met here, and whom I hang around with. In my blog, it seems like all Siberia is centered around me (which is almost true geographically speaking). But in reality, I have met really amazing people and I have very good friends here. I won’t name them just because they all begged me never to mention their name in my blog (that might endanger their future political career, who knows?), but they exist, and they’re real humans, not just bunnies like before. Still, my good ol’ friends are what I miss the most, and there is plenty of evenings that I would rather be spending on a good ol’ food fight rather than staring at the buildings from the Soviet times. But I don’t regret being here, and sometimes I feel there is nowhere else I’d rather be than here, where I have time to contemplate and procrastinate while eating cheese.

I can’t really mix very well with the locals yet, though… only with those who use regular verbs at the present time, who articulate very well and don’t mind repeating things twice. You probably understand it reduces my potential circle of acquaintance to a very small population… But I work on my Russian skills. One day, I will speak perfect Russian, and then everything will be easier: I’ll be able to order my steak medium rare on one side and rare on the other, and complain when the salad is served after the soup.

My secret to live here happily? Develop a taste for cabbage and take things lightly. The inefficiencies of the system are just there to make things more fun. It would be so boring to live in a place that does not require a stamped printout of a e-ticket to travel, that does not ask to register by the authorities when being in a city for 3 days, that provides hot water every day, that provides electricity without cutoff, or where you don’t have to register your car at the army. That’s how I look at it.

Thanks for reading my blog and for keeping up with me for the coming year… As for US presidents, the second term might really be the f....d up one. Let's see...

Mushrooming

2008-10-05T21:24:00.004+07:00

Today I tried another very popular hobby in Novosibirsk: Mushrooming. It may sound like I was just passively growing mould and funghi on my body, but it is in reality an activity that consists in picking mushrooms. It is done in the forest, at the fall season. I thought everything worked pretty much as planned... we found a forest (not very difficult around here)... but I did not realize that October 5th is already the end of the fall season under this latitude. So we did not find a single mushroom. Still, I had decided that this post was going to be about me picking mushrooms, and I was not going to give up that easily. So we took a picture of me acting like I am picking a mushroom in the forest. Then, I blew in a plastic bag to pretend I had a full bag of mushrooms, and I showed it to the camera. The best part of the day was when I was offered lunch by an expert mushroomer, who picked his mushrooms a few weeks ago, and opened a can of mushrooms just for me.
I hope this proves skeptical people that I am not wasting my time here in Siberia and that I always find something constructive to do with my week-ends.

A real fall

2008-09-30T07:29:00.003+07:00

Since I was told last year that I arrived in Siberia one week too late to see the best season, I was looking forward to the last week of September to see what it would look like. It looks really good. Other things I was told and I wanted to check:
"In Akademgorodok, there is a season called Indian summer. It lasts all September and it is warm ..." That is true, given that this statement was given to me by -20C in December. But coming from summer, it is cold.
"In Akademgorodok, in the fall, the sky is always blue." That's true only if we assume that the fall started and ended last Saturday. Otherwise it is gray, dark, windy and rainy.
"In Akademgorodok, the trees are wonderful in the fall". That's right. And i am embedding a few pictures to prove it. But with the wind and the rain, it does not last for very long.
"After one year in Russia, you will speak Russian very good". No comment.

The first snow!!

2008-09-17T09:56:00.005+07:00

Believe me or not, today, we saw the first snowflakes of the season... It is 3°C outside, and they still look like heavy and wet rather than light and fluffy (Damn global warming, it even spoils snowflakes). I tried to take pictures with my cell phone, but they are not good, so I just stole a picture from someone else (see below).
I guess that marks the end of the hurricane season here. My friends from Houston, I am thinking about you and I hope Ike did not affect you too much. Cheers...

A cool place to chill out

2008-09-14T19:31:00.000+07:00

The comments on my last post clearly indicate that, by letting my soft side coming out on my blog, I am confusing my male-based audience, and this without expanding my female-based audience by the slightiest epsilon. So back to more male-oriented posts: The pictures below include alcohol, a blond girl at a bar and a furry animal, which should satisfy my redneck friends who like watching girls and drink alcohol and shoot critters. It is a bar in Novosibirsk, which is not that great, primarily because it is -15C inside. The staff is nice enough to give away some coats and gloves, but I wasted a new haircut and ironing my dressy shirt by going there and looking like everybody else. Anyway, there was nobody else... too cold... And they only serve Vodka and strong drinks. I think this place is not going to last. We did not last there too long either...

A Sunday at the datcha.

2008-09-11T22:06:00.005+07:00

Finally I got to go to a datcha. A datcha is a kind of cabin,where the locals spend their week ends and sometimes their whole summer. My coworker and friend Dmitry invited me to his datcha near the town of Isskitim. There we had the last shashliks of the season in a beautiful garden, full of exuberant flowers which show off their colors before the long and cold winter. You can see the pictures of my quiet Sunday afternoon below, with a few shots of the garden flowers.
By the way, i do not recommend to try the berries that almost look like blackberries on the picture. It doesn't taste like much first, but then it leaves a sour taste for very long in the mouth. I should have listened to my friends when they told me these berries were not edible... but they looked so good and juicy. You guys don't realize how lucky you are to have a friend who is nice enough to try all these disgusting things and share his experience with you.

Fallready

2008-08-31T17:17:00.000+07:00

Just when I started to get used to the summer... what do I see? Leaves that turn yellowish, signature of the fall season to start. This was a short summer. If only I had known, I would have spent more time outside rather than on my computer pretending I am writing something informative while I am only procrastinating.
Bye bye summer... Thanks for passing by. Just give me a ring next time so I make sure I don't miss you. Here's a short salute to the new season:

Ferns are getting brown,
Mama deer has abandoned her fawn
Squirrels are busy getting the last nuts off the ground
Fall has arrived and I am feeling down...yawn.

-B. L.

Always too soon for tarasoon

2008-08-24T19:13:00.002+07:00

I realized I closed a bit prematurely the chapter about my vacations on the lake Baikal, so allow me to come back to it and relate some stories for you, even if it is already 10 days old. Today I will tell you about one of the worst experiences I ever had under the sun: trying tarasoon.

Tarasoon is a drink that may look harmless when presented in a small innocent glass... and since it is a buryat specialty you have to go to a yurta to go drink it, and the whole thing is almost attractive and you would be tempted to try. Even when the locals tell you that it is made from milk of a mare, that has been curdled and then distilled, you may still think "Well, why not? Curdled mare milk might just be a source of nutrients that has been mistakenly overlooked in the western world..."
Mares can sleep quietly out of Buryatie. Tarasoon will never be popular. Proof? Type "tarasoon" in google and nothing will come up. Only under "tarasun", it comes listed in the 3rd page. And what does it say? Here you go:
"Prayers are offered and sacrifices made to all the Heavenly Burkans [...]. People [..]ask the spirits, especially Sagadé U!gu!gun, for rain, good crops, and children. When they ask the gods for children they offer Sagadé U!gu!gun twenty pots of tarasun [...]"
(from http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/jss/jss14.htm)
See? Even the buryats don't drink it! They give Sagade U!Gu!Gun 20 pots of it! And I can tell you that Sagade U!Gu!Gun must be sorry. I am sure he regrets not having applied as God in other places such as Scotland or France. I tried Tarasoon... from the glass you see on the picture, I drank about 1/10th. From the face I made after drinking it, I kept wrinkles that will never disappear. Describing the taste while remaining polite is a challenge, so I will just say that it tastes like someone already drank it before. I guess it tastes like distilled curdled mare milk is supposed to taste like.
May this blog serve as warning to all tourists who feel adventurous enough to try Tarasoon. Let Sagade U!Gu!Gun have it, and have a Stella instead.

Tough time for Niva

2008-08-20T23:21:00.004+07:00

I have not talked about my Niva for a while, so i thought I'd mention it again today. Niva had some small issues with the transfer case when, in an attempt to show off the 4x4 abilities of Niva to my parents, I must have inadvertently damaged the transfer case over a stone in the Altai mountains. I also inadvertently drove about 800km with it before going to the mechanics, which apparently did not help. No matter how much progress i made in Russian these last 4-5 days, it was still difficult to convince the mechanics that breaking the transfer case and driving the shortest distance that was separating me from him should have been covered by the warranty (the same warranty that did not cover filling up the car with diesel... I definitely should have read between the lines when I signed up).

Well, anyway, I figured that, since my car breaks down so often, I should enjoy it to its full potential in the short periods when it is good shape... So I went out with my friends Tim, Cedric, and Mandy, all of them enthusiastic owners of Niva, and we kicked around some mud. My Niva definitely showed better performance than theirs, mainly because of the new roof rack that I installed and which looks pretty damn cool.

Below, a failed attempt at going up a muddy hill. I wish the movie showed better how steep that was... It was so steep, and I was going so fast, that when I finally passed the hill (not shown, for some reasons) I literally experienced zero gravity for a few seconds. That's how bad that was.

Si c'est si bien, Baikal les voir!

2008-08-16T21:22:00.003+07:00

A place like lake Baikal deserved a good French pun as a title for my short section about it. Enough poems, songs and legends have already been written about Lake Baikal and there is no need for one more stylish account of how nice that is. So I'll get to the point: The lake is nice and big, and there is a shitload of beautiful sceneries of landscape not yet spoiled by man.

During the 4 days we spent there, our HQ was located on Olkhone island, where we (we=my parents and me) had all the comfort we needed: a room for three, a bania at 2km for our daily session of sweating and exfoliating, and ecological restrooms across the potato field. We lived like kings. Food mainly consisted of omoul, the infamous fish from the lake: so we had raw omoul salads, steamed omoul, grilled omoul, smoked omoul, dry omoul, fried omoul with potatoes and finally, omoul soup. When omouls are not on a table or in someone's stomach, they roam freely in the lake where they serve as food for the "nerpa", the freshwater seal from the lake Baikal. Nerpas have it easier than the omouls: There is no dish based on nerpa, whose goal in life is mainly to serve as an attraction for tourists like me who cross half the lake to see him behaving like a regular seal, except that it's a big deal because it is the only seal leaving in fresh water.

Well, I have tried to be very down to earth with my post, but I need to be honest... I still have very vivid images of the lake in my mind, because it is such a wonderful place. Here is a small movie that should convey better how great it is there... (I recommend to pump up the volume)

By the way, if you want to go there, I recommend you to contact the agency "Baikal Nature". They are cool, young, knowledgeable and flexible...and they also speak French...what else can you ask?

The woolly mammoths of Akademgorodok

2008-08-07T00:05:00.000+07:00

It took me about 9 months to discover the mammoths of Akademgorodok, hidden in the back of the building across the street from Traveller's coffee (that building is sometimes referred to as the Institute of Acheology and Ethnography... still, if you are looking for it, it is easier to ask about "the building across Traveller's"). That is about 6 months to even know that there were mammoths in my town, and 3 to motivate myself to go see them.
2 specimens of Mammoth primigenius are exposed in the hallway of the institute, and displayed free of charge for the people who enjoy a bit of culture over a double fat free latte. I believe they are woolly mammoths, but the wool has long gone off the skelettons of these guys, so it is hard to tell. So is the trump, which probably drifted away from the mammoth's nose along with the melting glacier at the end of the ice age (that is pure speculation from my part, don't quote this as a scientific fact).
Note the extra effort by the zealous staff to make them look more realistic by placing plastic dinosaurs and alligators at the feet of the giant beast.

The eclipse

2008-08-03T11:41:00.002+07:00

Unless your only source of information about Novosibirsk is this present blog, you should have known that a total solar eclipse was planned in Novosibirsk on August 1st 2008. A good occasion to go for another boat tour on the Ob and watch the eclipse from a place with no risk of anything hiding our sight.
I thought I had been in a total eclipse before (1999, France). Either I was not at the right location, or maybe eclipses in the western world are not that impressive, but in the end, my expectations were not that high. I was expecting something like that:
What you are looking at is a picture taken proactively prior to the real eclipse. It is my right-hand side finger, the tip of which happens to coincide with the diameter of the sun. I thought this was similar to what I was going to experience, so you'll understand that I joined the boat expedition more for the shahsliks and the beer than the astronomical experience.

Well, what we saw was much more impressive (if you don't believe me, ask the other 10,000 tourists flocking to Novosibirsk for the occasion):

That's what we saw... but the eclipse is in fact much more than the Moon going in front of the Sun: until the sun is 100% covered, the light is pretty much normal. But then, at once, it is like someone switches off the light and you can see the stars. And everything goes dark:
On the left, this is minutes before the eclipse (no photoshop). On the right, this is during the 2 minutes of the full eclipse (no photoshop).

In the end, this turned out to be a magnificent experience, almost spiritual... And I also had beer and shashlik on the boat so I really had a great day.

On Loooove boaaaat… Na na na na na na na na na

2008-07-21T20:50:00.000+07:00

This Friday, after a tiring week at work we decided to do boat tour on the river Ob. The goal was simply to enjoy the river in its liquid state while it lasts. I was not expecting the tour to be so nice: what a beautiful and inspiring moment… almost spiritual. The light was almost perfect (I hardly had to warmify the pictures to give them this yellow light), and the boat was slightly too fast for the mosquitoes and horseflies to keep up with us… perfect. It felt like on the Love Boat TV series, which the not so young among you must remember…. I was expecting to see the doc, Gopher or the captain’s red hair daughter to show up at any time. The boat went upstream to a tiny island with a name I don’t remember (Ob Island HV554 or something like that) and the cool kids left the boat to spend the night on the island. I could have spent the night out too, no question about that, but I had this 5000-piece puzzle of a DNA molecule at home which I really wanted to complete.

I am posting a few pictures of the trip below. You will see the sunset by the longest bridge of Siberia (still, just long enough to connect both ends of the river), some guys fishing, a nice picture of a power plant shining in the sunlight... All that within a 60 minute boat ride.

Scenes of the Volga

2008-07-16T23:33:00.001+07:00

I had the chance to spend a magnificent week end by the beautiful river "Volga", in the city of Kostromo. It is about 250km from Moscow. Why would I go all the way there while I have the beautiful river "Ob" right by my place? Well, look at the shots below. How could I resist? I enjoyed the many opportunities the city can offer:

Enjoy the beautiful beach, only minutes from the highway.

Relax or challenge yourself with all sorts of activities, also minutes only from the highway.

Discover the local fauna (minutes from the highway).

Finally, the town center and its highlights.

Now, being serious for a second: I had a splendid week-end there. The long evenings on the banks, with seagulls warming their butts on the lamps, and the charms of the city made it really nice. I am ready to go back there in a second.

A peaceful Saturday eve

2008-07-06T13:53:00.004+07:00

I am back in Novosibirsk after a short trip in the UK... Good time there by the way, but out of he scope of my blog. You'll have to contact me directly to know how I spent my time in the Highlands of Scotland and know about my time in Wimbledon and Cambridge.
So for my second day back in the city, I decided to spend the evening in Novosibirsk on Saturday, just wandering around in the parks and enjoying the calm and relaxing atmosphere of a late summer evening. So I went and I walked around Lenine's square, in the very same parks where they have the snow sculptures during the winter, and watched for random things. This was a pleasant moment, as the temperature is very nice and people enjoy being outside and socializing in the parks. (Myself, I am not really socializing much yet, as my conversation is very limited, but I tried to be in harmony with the overall atmosphere by walking slowly and smiling. I hope the locals appreciate the effort.). The pictures below are random shots around Lenine square: the parks, the opera, the three lads and some more bear pictures.

And finally, this little show from our local Central Park, right in the heart of the city. Far from Manhattan, but the similarities are striking, aren't they?

Congrats to Russia!

2008-06-22T23:41:00.004+07:00

Last night, Russia won 3-1 against Holland, the same team that won 4-1 against France. The nerdiest among you will reckon that if Chasles's relationship applies as in the vectorial world, that means that Russia virtually won 7-2 against France... And this happens only weeks after Russia won the Eurovision contest! (a contest where the French guy was singing in English...geezzz, it is not easy to be French this year). Anyway, it feels good to have Russia giving a flavor of humility to Holland, the so-called "other country of cheese".
But: what's left that we can beat the Russians at? Mmmmh... not much as long as there are no contests of safe driving and even stairs building.

A nice week-end in Tomsk

2008-06-15T22:34:00.002+07:00

In a sudden change of mind, I decided to spend the week end in Tomsk with friends. Tomsk is a city located at about 250km North of Novosibirsk. If you happened to like Jules Verne, then the name of Tomsk should have rung a bell to you. This is the city where Jules had the bad guys (the Tatars) burning the eyes of Michel Strogoff, who was being accused of being a Russian spy (a Russian spy... how original. come on, Tatars, you can be more creative than that. And, don't you think Michel is a terrible first name for a Russian spy?) Anyway, I don’t mean to ruin the story if you haven’t read it, but it turns out that the Tatars did not burn the eyes of Michel well enough, and Michel Strogoff recovers his sight a few pages later. This being said, I don’t know if Michel had time to have a peek at the city before being caught: it is a very beautiful city actually. Lots of students, lots of historical buildings and museums, and a beautiful university campus. Have a look at the pictures I posted… Also, the monument in the honor of the soldiers who fell during WW2 is impressive and commands respect. The whole city clashes with the idea that I had so far about Siberian cities and their massive square buildings. And I did not see any sign of the lake used for storing nuclear waste near the city, which is mentioned in my guidebook. Probably some ecologist propaganda again…

So what did we do in Tomsk? We walked all day, stopped for coffees here and there, enjoyed the nice weather, and then we switched to beer at around 8pm, and went to a Tomskian club. Can't do that in any city, can you?

Spring is here for good

2008-06-08T21:53:00.003+07:00

Spring has settled for good now in Novosibirsk: here some pictures of the countryside around Akademgorodok where we are going for bikeride every week end, and a few pictures in Akademgorodok. I don’t recommend you watch these pictures at work if you are in an open space environment, as your Ooohs! and Aaahs! may attract the attention of your coworkers. Enjoy. I will be posting pictures of winter very soon again.

Sign of summer

2008-06-01T16:52:00.000+07:00

Summer is coming. Beside temperature rising up, days getting longer and skirts getting shorter, a reliable sign of the arrival of summer is the barrel of KBAC (pronounce "Kvass") popping up at most of the street corners. KBAC is a drink made with bread and water, which is not as bad as it sounds. It tastes a bit like a beer on its way to become a beer...or something like that. Its alcohol content is near zero, meaning don't buy KBAC only for your Saturday night party, because things could get boring very quickly.
The barrel of KBAC comes with a baboushka, a past middle aged lady who serves the drink and makes faces when you don't have change. Baboushkas have signed an exclusivity contract with the authorities to serve KBAC. Or so it seems...(or maybe drinking lots of KBAC makes aging faster?)
A 0.4 liter glass of KBAC is about 15 roubles ($0.60), which is a fair price for wet bread.

Just when I thought I was having a bad day

2008-05-25T23:39:00.000+07:00

In Siberia, there are always things to cheer you up when you look around. Sometimes it is a bear, sometimes a nice woodpecker or a flower, and sometimes it is a bunch of helpless guys losing their wheel in a mud puddle. I don't think I ever realized how useless a jack can be in mud. These guys will probably remember their Sunday, and the group of english speaking mountainbikers who passed by making smart comments and taking pictures. That was about all the help we could offer without getting dirt on ourselves, though.

Real bears: scary...

2008-05-22T23:43:00.000+07:00

It has been my intent for a long time to publish a post with all the bear seeings I would make in Siberia. I had kept all bear pictures in a separate folder and I thought I would release them all at once so that people would think I live in a really dangerous place. So here we go... Ta daa.

I am not sure these pictures have the intended effect... but they are pretty much all the bears I saw since I came here, with the exception of the ground bear steak I had at the cafeteria on the way to Krasnoiarsk. The 2-D bear was in Sheregesh. The other ones look like the bears from the fairy tale with Goldilocks who eats all their food and drinks their soup and sleeps in their bed... I hope she made it.
I have to confess I am not really doing an effort to look for bears. I am happy with the cats and dogs I see around town already.
Thanks for reading my blog. I know the effort does not always pay...

Deep in Altai

2008-05-12T23:22:00.001+07:00

Guess to whom this nice pair of legs belongs to? And guess where they were laying at the time I took this picture? If you think these are my legs facing towards Mongolia, then you are right. Mongolia is just a couple of hundred km behind my feet. I just passed 3 days in Altai, a beautiful region only hours away from Novosibirsk. We were lucky the summer finally decided to show up and we had a nice and sunny week end. Actually, the pair of legs you are looking at with delight now turned redish and the skin is about to peel off.
The people there very much look like asian (Mongol type). There are animals left in the wild pretty much everywhere. The picture below shows horses, but believe me, I also saw cows, sheeps and goats. Simply amazing...
Altai is beautiful, particularly because it is empty and far from everything. Again, that's a feeling that I had not got anywhere in the U.S in the last years. And if I knew how to use my camera, I would have taken beautiful pictures of the sky at night with its thousands of stars.
I plan to go back there in the summer with my bicycle this time...I first need to get back in shape because the nice legs you are staring at lost much of their thrusting power during the cold winter.

A new website about Novosibirsk

2008-05-04T10:13:00.001+07:00

For people who are interested in Novosibirsk beyond my small adventures, here is a all new webiste that has lots of goof stuffs in English:
http://novosibirskguide.com/
I thought I'd give them a hand by posting this link in my own blog. I hope their server is up to the task of handling all visitors that will swarm to their site after reading this blogpost.
Now, for the people who still doubt that there are things to do around here, let me quote them (under "Around Novosibirsk"):
"Here is an ordinary picture a traveler may occasionally come across in the Novosibirsk region: fields, birch groves, a brook and a tiny village nearby. Such delightful landscapes can be observed as far as only 10 km away from the city line. If one gazes at the direction of South-East long enough he or she might soon find that some massifs start peeping in the distance. The West, in its turn, is well-known for its salt and mud lakes. [...] Unfortunately, local tourist agencies hardly offer any tours around the region with the only exception of trips to the abovementioned lakes. "

Hmmm...another good one:
"“Apart from significant natural sights, the Novosibirsk region is saturated with industrial landscapes enchanting a viewer with the grandeur of their scales.”

So, book your flight tickets now before prices go up!

Labor day in Siberia

2008-05-01T08:15:00.000+07:00

Local Labor day jokes:

-How do you say "Labor day" in Russian?
-Another cold and snowy day...

-What is the traditional wish for the 1st of May in Siberia?
-"I wish I had not put my summer tires back on last week."

A break and then I will continue

2008-04-27T13:53:00.000+07:00

This week end is pretty calm. I mainly reorganized the layout of my apartment so that I have more room around my computer. Wireless expanded my options. And I also figured out how to plug my PSP system to my TV, and defintely FIFA 2007 is more interesting on the big screen TV...which explains why the blog post is short this time. Other things to report? mmmmh. I went to the hairdresser and answered the door to an old lady who is looking for her family members who said that they moved to my address. Obviously, Russian language is very hard, even for the natives, to the point that it affects family relationships.
Since I have nothing of interest to post, I would like to remind you all that your comments make me happy. So go ahead and post a little message. Obviously quality is not a criterion to write something in this blog, so don't feel bad if you think you are not good enough...Last post had 9 comments, with 3 of them being mine, one spam, and 2 from Ian (yes I still make a distinction between spam and Ian's comments). I think you can do better...

Mission Impossible

2008-04-21T22:30:00.000+07:00

Last night I decided to finally set up my wireless connection. I had failed about 2 months ago when I bought my routeur and tried for the first time, and I decided to give it one more shot...this time, a real one, where I'd try everything. I spent 2 hours last night messing with the IP addresses, DNS servers, subnet masks and so on rather than enjoying a beer with my friends. After 2 hours of failed attempts, I gave up and decided to go back to my good ol' wire. I went to bed with a feeling of failure and being worthless. But it all changed today afternoon, when I received a phone call from my russian coworker who helped me with setting my internet account 6 months ago. She asked me if I did anything last night with my internet connection. Ashamed, but honest, I confessed I tried to set up the wireless connection with no success...she answered: "Well, your service provider is looking for you because last night, you broke the internet connection for your whole district and they want to charge you for the damage you created. There are still apartments without internet connection because of you...there is someone wanting to meet you at your place in 30 minutes."
I went back to my place. The cable guy was there and came in my place to set up my internet connection, and charged me 600 roubles before going fixing the internet connection at each of my neighbors, to whom I would like to apologize in this blog which I now write wirelessly.
Sorry neighbors. Thanks for the good story though. Now, if anybody can tell me how messing with my own IP address can cause failure of internet at the district's level, I am curious to hear the explanation. I am not satisfied this time with the traditional "because it's Russia".

My week-end in a cave

2008-04-16T23:14:00.000+07:00

I could make the story very long... and I will in a next post. But for now I prefer posting the movie of our week end near Krasnoiarsk... In brief: a very intense week end with little sleep, a long walk on a frozen lake, a visit of a cave for 36 hours with lots of ice and bats and cold...and nobody else but the 4 of us.

Shashlik season has started

2008-04-03T22:03:00.000+07:00

You might think it is a bit early in the season for barbequeing, just by looking at the people kite-snowboarding on the thick layer of ice covering the lake... But it is not too early for the local variant of BBQ: the shashlik. Shashlik means "kabob" or brochette, and is made with marinated meat to be eaten with pickled onions and sauce. It tastes awesome ("Vkusno", in Russian), and the fire keeps you warm. I already went shashlicking 2 times and I quite enjoy it, at least as much as I used to enjoy the BBQ+swimming pool parties in Texas, but with more clothes on, and without a cooler full of beer.
In the background of the first picture, you can also see little black dots: those are fishers who dig holes through the ice to find fish. I guess the fishing season stops after the first casualty falling through the ice, which is estimated to be about mid-May.

All right... and one more picture just to show you that Siberia looks nice when you look at it from the right angle:

Tyumen part 2 - the nightlife for the lucky ones

2008-03-27T21:12:00.000+06:00

I am enjoying my week in Tyumen, which is definitely a nice little city with lots of coffee places and restaurants. Last night was bowling night with my colleagues (where I managed to extend the Stella Artois peak long enough to score a good 127, before it screwed my ability to shoot straight in the second game). After that we went to a place called "Kaliant house" (the house of waterpipes). There, my friends asked me to go in and ask for a table, as they thought I had more chances to get one as a foreigner than they would as locals. I quickly rehearsed the necessary sentences in Russian to do so, went in, and asked for the table. There, the bouncer told me bluntly that they had "face control policy", and that I did not qualify.
I was not told which exact criterion I failed...was it a specific part of my face or my face as a whole? It took my friends to discuss for a while (in real russian) for us to get in, while I was crying in a corner of the room for this is the first time that I could not go in a pub because of my face.
In the end, I don't know what my friends said (What would you say: "that's not his real face"?, "Come on, the accident was already bad enough in itself, don't rub it in"), but the manager of the place came in and decided to let me in...
The official version is that when I try to speak russian, I sound like I am drunk, so the security did not want to let me in. So, lesson learned: "Be sober and don't try too hard to speak the language".

A tour in Tyumen...

2008-03-23T20:22:00.000+06:00

I used the opportunity of a business trip to visit Tyumen, a city near the Ural region to do a bit of tourism today. Below, some pictures I took today during a walk in this charming town, but that I unfortunately chose to visit while the snow is melting and making big muddy puddles. The highlights are:
-lots of old typical wooden houses, like they had at the end of XIX century.
-the bridge of love, where the lovers put locks on the barrier of the bridge to symbolize the way that true love feels (being locked in the cold wind above 100 feet of void).
-orthodox churches
Not in the pictures: how the only shoes I brought for the 1-week long trip are now soaked and muddy, the delicious pub food I missed for so long, and that I enjoyed with a pint of HARP at the local irish pub “O’Brian’s”.

The Bania

2008-03-17T22:30:00.000+06:00

One nice way of passing the long and cold winter nights is to go to the Bania, the russian equivalent of sauna, picnic and sado masochist boot camp all at once. The concept is simple: you rent a small 2-story house, with the ground floor being the oven and the second floor being the 3-room sauna, where you can bring your drinks and food. For 2 to 3 hours, you go from overheated room to not so overheated room, pouring some over cold water over your body from time to time and whipping your friends with the branches of a miraculous tree which have an exfoliating effect. Where is the fun part in this? Well, it is still better than being cold outside with a skin that has not been exfoliated I guess.

Behind the awesome cars, you can see the wooden house with the host, whose role is to make sure that it is really hot in there. On the right, this is the not so hot room with the branches on the bench.

The 2nd hottest room in the house with more branches and a bucket of really cold water. On the right, that's me, ready to be exfoliated for the 4th time that night.

Sheregesch

2008-03-16T22:54:00.000+06:00

I had heard about it for such a long time: Sheregesch, the ultimate ski resort. Pronounce its name and you'll see the local snowboarders have their eyes shining and their mouth watering with awe. Sheregesh is definitely pretty cool, with soft and fluffy snow that you don't get in lot of places in Europe. And the skiing between the trees is definitely awesome... "between" is the keyword here, that my good friend Aigul did not get apparently. She left patches of skin and some blood on a pine tree she met on the way down, and thought she broke a rib. A glass of vodka over lunch at the cafe at the top of the hill helped her see all this in a positive way.
The Niva rode the 1600km round trip without issue, which added to the good quality of the week end.

Towing the Niva-lesson 2

2008-03-06T07:31:00.000+06:00

Definitely, a good training for towing vehicles is required before driving a Niva around here. About 24 hours after i got Niva back from the mechanics, here I go and screw up again. I managed to get the car stuck in a snowbank on my way back from skiing in Tanaii, at 11pm, on a little road that I took as a shortcut in spite of all my passengers unanimously voting against it.
Note the different configuration this time to tow the car out... you won't find it in the user manual. As a result, I broke the rope. Before that, we tried several old tricks, like shoveling the snow from behind the tires, or teaching my good friend Aigul how to put a car in reverse so that I could help pushing the car out... We gave up quickly on that option when Aigul asked which pedal was the brake and how to operate a stick.
I want to thank that one car that drove by 5 minutes later with a good cable which we attached to the plow to get out.

Niva can ride on 2 wheels

2008-02-28T20:45:00.000+06:00

As a good Lada, Niva can ride on its 2 rear wheels very well. This is its first trip to the mechanics, after I mistreated her with inadvertendly filling her tank with diesel instead of gasoline. My fault? Not entirely. The gas pump was labeled in Russian.
The bad thing is that my car was towed from work, and the entire office knows I made a mistake. They now know I am human, my cover is blown.

A dull week-end

2008-02-23T13:59:00.000+06:00

I am afraid I will not report anything exciting this week. Sure, I went to the hair dresser this morning, but who wants to know about that? The risk of coming out with a Russian mullet is still high, even after reviewing the "going to the hairdresser" vocabulary section of my book, but I paid close attention while the lady worked on my neck, and I am safe now.
I will keep my eyes open for anything worth reporting in here. Stay tuned.

Ski by night

2008-02-18T23:13:00.000+06:00

Between Akademgorodok and the city, there are other places to ski than just Klioutchi, which, as you could see on my recent pictures, is not all that great. I went yesterday to Inia. That is already a bit better. It is actually quite good if you want to spend the evening there after work (it is open until 10pm) and there is pretty much nobody on the slopes after 7pm.
My pictures are not that good, however, note the awesome black car parked on the paking lot (right hand side picture).
Thanks to my sponsor, "Test Center", a nice little shop next to work, managed by a retired geologist and a physicist, and which rents gear for quite cheap.

My first new car

2008-02-06T22:41:00.000+06:00

Some remains of the materialistic and individualist sides of my personality that i grew in Texas... I decided to buy a car. This is my first new car by the way (contrary to what you may think, my Toyota Tercel was second hand). A little summary of my day at the Russian CarMax, which sounds like Karl Marx, and I brainstormed for a long time today trying to make a good pun out of that, but I could not find anything... So I give you the raw material for a good joke as extra gift.

First, note that the selection is great. The models vary by color, which you can hardly notice because of the snow.
These little cars go fo 170,000 rubles/piece. It is still twice as much as my previous car, and it does not come with airbag. Definitely a good choice if you don't mind the condescending attitude of valets at the parking lot when you hand over the keys.

I just closed a good deal, which calls for a nice and firm handshake. I must say that the car dealer has good reasons to be happy, since I just gave him a pile of cash that pays for 60% of the car. With roubles, that is a nice pile of 1,000 notes.

And that's my new car, which is also my best friend from now on... maybe it will also be my girlfriend if things keep on going the same way, but that's another story. It is a Chevy Niva. It is a 4*4 with a powerful 1.7L engine. It is a variant of the infamous Lada Niva, which guarantees a good reliability.

More pictures of me and Niva in the next weeks!

Skiing in Klioutchi

2008-02-02T18:10:00.000+06:00

Klioutchi is 5km away from Academgorodok. This is where we went skiing today with friends. It is not very big (you can see the bottom and the top of the resort on that 1st picture). But it is a nice way to get some fresh air (like we don't get enough of it already...).
Anyway, it was a nice little hang out, and they have good shashlik (=kabobs), for when you want to have a break and warm up your extremities. And look at this beautiful siberian landscape! those birch trees are so pretty! and there are so many of them!
Tomorrow, I go night skiing near the city. I can't wait. Don't expect any good picture though.

What's hot on Fridays?

2008-01-21T23:29:00.000+06:00

Yeah, yeah, I know, ice sculptures are real nice too look at, but that's now how you imagine I spend my Friday nights in Akademgorodok. So, here is a typical Friday night around here...

1- Make sure the temperature is not above -28C, and you gather a group of friends at about midnight by the New York Pizza.

2- Go to the Ob Sea, and find a good spot for digging an ice hole. Yes, that's right, it can be hard to walk on the lake covered by over 1 meter of snow, and the digging with axes is long and tedious...

3- The security guards show up. I thought we were going to get busted, but they just made sure we knew what we were doing. I thought that was a trick question: the answer seemed obvious enough to me: "It is 1am, -28C and we are digging an ice hole with axes". I would rather question if they knew what they were doing, at patrolling a 4000km2 lake at 1 am and then not even busting the people that dig holes.

4- Well... we give up on our first hole: the ice is too thick and the security guards told us
about a nice ice hole on the other side of the lake. So we gather our stuffs (mainly axes) and walk back to the cars and drive around the lake.

5-We stop by a church to ask the directions to the ice hole. Time goes by. I feel like a walrus looking for an ice hole and running out of patience... Except I am on the right side of the ice layer and that the polar bears won't get me when I find the hole.

6- 2am: the HOLE! I hesitate for 5 minutes, and then, under peer pressure, I go for it. That's where these wonderful shots of me were taken.

No resemblance with Brigitte Bardot running on the beach of St Tropez.. I would say it looks more like the end of Titanic. Going in is hard. The body parts that have me huff and puff when going in a water at 18C are tying a big knot in my throat. And then the hardest is when you go outside and the ice sticks under the feet, the wind freezes the layer of water over your whole body and you can't find the damn sleeves of your freaking sweater! I had to take my underpants off by the way, which I did without any concern about what other might think. I think in the process I got cured from my recurrent nightmares of being at the public swimming pool all naked with my classmates looking at me.

6- Once done, go back 1/2 mile to where the cars are parked and drink some cognac. Then party until 5am and call it a night. Get some rest before next week.

Some really cool ice sculptures

2008-01-20T22:29:00.000+06:00

These sculptures are currently in display in Novosibirsk's center. They are really cool.