I am not a leper

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!

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

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

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!!

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

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.

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.