Daily life and the House of Special Comforts

The literal translation of the name of the international dorm is the "House of Special Comforts" probably so named because we are very lucky in much of our access. We're close to the city center, have modern bathrooms and showers, have broadband internet in the bedrooms, a clothes washer, a clothes drying room (there are few or no clothes dryers in Russia) and a small army of older women monitoring the door twenty-four hours a day.

As instructors, Hannah and I are very lucky to have our own rooms. Our bedrooms form a little suite unit and we share a toilet, sink and a separate shower. We also have a small entry area where we hang coats, leave shoes (when we remember, Americans tend not to do that as reliably as Russians) and leave communal items like the hot water jug and shared treats.

The beds are twin beds, and come with sheets and one big pillowcover. At least in our case, we received a flat sheet for underneath, another sheet that serves as a blanket cover (if you use it correctly) and a light bed spread. I tend to put the big woolen blanket on over everything each night, and fold it up and store it each day. Generally, the rooms have been wonderfully warm and the beds quite comfortable.

The kitchen is shared by everyone in the dorm, and while the number varies somewhat it usually settles around 25 or so people. I won't lie, I sure have missed my kitchen! When we made Thanksgiving dinner we ran out of room fast. I had to measure the ovens to see if the big goose we had would fit. (I only found baby turkeys, so I knew those would work fine...although I believe the consensus was to call them "small" turkeys so as to feel less, well, cruel?)
Only a certain number of people can actually fit into the eating area of the kitchen as well, and our thanksgiving day dinner did fill to capacity.

The company, of course, was great

including many of our dorm mates and Hannah and my friends from our different faculties.

Ithink T-day did me in for cooking for the rest of my time here, though--it was tough to do without a real kitchen. I'm off to Ulan Ude next Monday, so it won't be hard to avoid anything resembling actual kitchen labor until after I return. And there are lots of cafes in the area, which I also enjoy!

Not surprisingly, our bedrooms are also our offices, especially given the fact that we have internet access here. I don't have an office in the sociology department, so I do most of my work here and just show up there for class and fun! This is the view from my window. I'm also lucky enough to look out on this little park, and have watched the seasonal changes daily.

Now that winter's here all the overdressed children are far more active, so there is a small group of young boys who are usually in the area every afternoon after school, running around. We're still waiting for permanent snow, however, as so far it has consistently melted away--for me with limited choices for winter boots melting is not necessarily a bad thing, although admittedly far less attractive than a light snow cover like this.

Artwalk Izhevsk, 2008

There is a lot of artwork in the region, and we've been able to get to one or two of the galleries or otherwise see some great work. Here are some favorites!

Some of the best art is folk art. At the village we visited, a local woman had done this weaving of the Russian version of the world origin story: the world sits on a bull's horns, and the bull is standing on a whale. No other info on how that story came about, but it's a beautiful picture!

At an Izhevsk gallery: I loved this guy's work, although another American described it as a guy with a fetish for vicious animals. Feel free to take a stand anywhere on that continuum! I like the fact that all of these paintings are done on fabric--bedspreads mostly--which also ensures that they are large in size. The design on the fabric added both texture and form, and sometimes it even contrasts with the animal image. Also, the print works its way in and out of the painted areas, like with these dogs

Other times, like with this giraffe, the pattern in the fabric seems to suggest the animal, and can be clearly seen through the painted areas adding a kind of accent to the lines of the jaw and neck...




With these wolves the fabric pattern looks more like sound waves and blowing snow to me, which also adds movement and depth. (If you get up close to the fabric, it's actually a repeated pattern of ducks in marsh...)

There was also a minimalist painter that we saw, and I quite liked some of his work as well. This one in particular I found quite joyful, which is a word I use very rarely in relation to minimalism....

However, exhibitions are only one way we've seen art--the churches are full of icons inside (no photography) and out. This tiled icon is from St. Michael's, the Izhevsk cathedral. The more colorful renderings seen here are from the interior of St. Basil's in Moscow, which are currently being restored in both shape and brightness. See, it's just so understated on the outside, you really need to have some 'pow' in the interior...

In that (now) cathedral of consumption next to St. Basil's (Goom--the huge arcade mall on Red Square) there was a wonderful display of Italian furniture design. Some wonderful pieces--great shapes and lines...

Back in Izhevsk, the Kalashnikov museum had a really interesting competition for decorative shotgun shell casings. It took me awhile to figure out quite what they were, but the graphics are quite cool on many of these prints...you see the full wrapping on the right, and the shell on the left in each one.
One of my all-time favorite shows, though, has just opened here at the university. It's a collection of "scrolls" done by urdo-finnic ethnic groups in the region, each community contributing what they wanted. It was a wonderful collection!

Sound and Vision, part Два (dva, deux, two)

One of the most fun elements of being here in Izhevsk has been the opportunity to attend a lot of different cultural events. I and generally Hannah, most often with Marina and Farida, have had the opportunity to go to the ballet, the symphony, piano exhibition, and Izhevsk choir. In addition, we've been lucky enough to catch several cultural presentations of traditional singing and dancing.
So, here's what I've got that can be shared! All the usual caveats apply--terrible video, sound not great, bouncing cinematography and fidgety photographer--but I hope you enjoy these brief clips nonetheless...
First, to the ballet. Izhevsk has neither a special ballet theatre (they share with the symphony)or a ballet school, but the nearby city of Perm has a school and Izhevsk's small troupe benefits from that experience. The night we went, they were doing a "Latin" night. The first half was very traditional classical ballet....

...as you can see in both the video and the still shot. I took the photo with no flash, which held the shutter open so the movement shows in the final shot. I kind of like it--with the colors and lights on the stage it looks a bit like an impressionist painting, maybe, if you squint....

The second half of the ballet was Carmen, and you just gotta love that!

Izhevsk has a famous choir, and we've been lucky enough to see them a couple of times. They alternate between classical (Bach, Brahms) and contemporary (Chicago, Elton John), but this particular concert was classical. They also vocalize symphonic parts, rather than just singing traditional pieces. Here's a little excerpt from the concert, where they do a bit from the Nutcracker....BTW no video, too dark!

Once again, they never learn....

We just finished an internat'l education conference at UdSU, and as part of one evening's entertainment, we were treated to jazz and traditional music and food. And yes, we had to participate...musically...at least it was just percussive and thankfully no audio. I was pleased, however, to play with new colleagues: Zoya, a former Russian Fulbright scholar, Olga, from the International Office, and Maria, the director of the International Office.

Just this past week, there was an amazing art opening (noted in previous post, Izhevsk Artwalk 2008) and as part of it, a wonderful Udmurt choir sang traditional songs and performed traditional dances. The women in particular were great. Go ahead and peer as best you can at the traditional costumes, they're really interesting. The two oldest ladies, too, are wearing traditional woolen socks and the woven shoes....

For the life of me, I just can't figure out how to flip these next two videos so they're right side up. So, please tilt your head at a 90 degree angle, clap your hands or sing along and enjoy!

Off to see Yuri and the city of Kazan

So, I've been traveling on and off the last couple of weeks, which has put me a bit behind on blogging. The brief trip to Moscow had distinct benefits--one of which was to see Yuri again, ah bless him the big titanium guy....

The statue really is cool, and much to my surprise (at the time) stands at the Metro stop next to the Russian Academy of Sciences, which as it turned out was where the rural sociology section of the Russian Society of Sociology meetings were being held. Marina (the Dean) got me into the session, and arranged for me to speak to the small group assembled there--it felt very comfortable and rural soc like! There were a couple of dynamic young women, one working in Siberia with whom I exchanged cards. Our focus on development is similar (northern Great Plains and Siberia) as are our population levels (very low) so we had a lot to talk about! A key part of the post-industrial economy in Siberia, too, is the "selling" of space and development of tourism. In addition, they are working to preserve the integrity of indigenous populations, bouncing up and down with the petroleum markets, and trying to hold their small towns together....all quite familiar territory.


The Russian sociology meetings were much like American sociology meetings. At one point, walking into the main conference area, surrounded by outside smokers, and people looking through conference programs, juggling cell phones, arguing theory and generally looking around with serious intent--I just deja vu-ed to recent past American meetings. Very weird....I will say the presentations are more fun. The Russians just go ahead and talk right back to the presenter, there is no such thing as a "question period"--it's ALL a question period if you feel like it! I did of course need translation, and had the able help of some guy named Nikolai who happened to be at the rural soc session, as well as Lisa Gulya, a Fulbright student research awardee (from Fargo by the way), and my colleagues Marina (the Dean) and Tatiana. All in all big fun was had, and it was worth the train ride.
A shorter train ride and longer visit occurred this past week as Hannah and I went to Kazan. The city of Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan, an "autonomous republic" in the Russian Federation--which means they have lots of oil money so are able to ask for more benes than other states (like Udmurtia for example) but have a population which is 52% Russian ethnic so will never be entirely independent. The Tatars themselves are descendents of the Mongols, so ethnically are Asiatic in appearance, and incidentally you can find horse milk in the stores (I do have a picture, yes, but am saving that...and by the way it has a sour, tart taste but I'm told it's very good for the digestion).


Also, Kazan just celebrated their 1000th year as a city in 2005 and there are still remnants from the celebration, the biggest of which is the mosque located in the White Kremlin.


It looks incredible, at night or during the day, even with an itty-bitty Meredith in front of it...

It does not, however, look old, and that's because it isn't. It was just built to celebrate the 1000th, although technically it is a replacement for what was destroyed by Ivan the Terrible when he took Tatarstan. (Remember, St. Basil's cathedral in Red Square was built to celebrate the defeat of the Mongols, and it's central spire was built in particular to celebrate the fall of Kazan and the White Kremlin.)

Much longer in physical existence now, although technically not older in spirit, is the Russian Orthodox church, also within the Kremlin walls. The combination is unique--both are splendid examples of their kind, and are separated by a single string of low buildings. Therefore when entering one, you can always see the other sitting on the horizon, as their entrances face one another.

Kazan also won the Russian Football cup while we were there, so many street celebrations were heard and seen. Tatarstan flags were everywhere, even more common to see than the Russian flag. Also, the Tatar language is widely seen on street signs, store windows, etc...I personally found it hard to tell the difference, as they now use the cyrillic alphabet, rather than arabic script or chinese symbology. We had the chance to meet up with Omar, another Fulbright ETA who lives in Kazan and knows both Russian and Arabic and is learning Tatar, so he was able to point out those finer points....We also were able to go to the theater, which was just great. We had our own box on the side, which made us feel very fabulous, here are Hannah and Omar before the show...



Kazan State University is famous for kicking out both the
young Lenin and the young Tolstoy (for "revolutionary activities"), and both are now commemorated in stone as youth. Kazan therefore boasts the only young Lenin statue as counterpoint to the everpresent old Lenin statue found throughout Russia.



The national museum was both great and bit chaotic. In the middle of this huge space, all of a sudden there was a collection of stuffed animals, betraying no real sense of order or relation. There was a rhea (the African bird, Rhee, no worries...), a beaver, a stoat, a polar bear fetus and a belluga whale. Very odd, and striking for the oddity--although the beluga was something else in and of itself, I must say, not having seen one before...weird creature...
There was also a very interesting exhibit of the history of recuitment posters, awards, uniforms, etc. of the Soviet youth. It made much more sense than random animals as well....



But the city itself was also full of surprises. While we were not surprised to find a lot of construction going on, given recent financial gains, we were surprised to stumble on this little bit of McMansion suburbia right on the banks of the Volga. It made it clear that there are people in Russia with this kind of cash for conspicuous consumption, but also was unusual because these are NOT apartment buildings but single family homes. Even now, the majority of building in Russia is new apartments, not single family dwellings.



You'll note too the wall surrounding the place, and here you can see the gate as well. Guards were patrolling the grounds, and the small guard station is visible on the left hand side of the gate.

So, it's either a brave new world, or a small example of elite privilege? Time and the economy will tell...

Food Court

Well, I know you've all been wondering, 'where are all the food shots? All of her travel photos are always food shots.' Here they are, the multiple forms of food access in Russia. Even now, in November, you can still find some outdoor sellers--most bigger stalls are selling for vegetable dealers, as are the guys in the above photo. However, there are still some baboushka (older women) selling items from their garden. This woman had potatoes, cabbage, garlic, horseradish and carrots yet, plus some of that tomato/horseradish puree that I spoke of earlier in conjunction with banya. This is generally how the baboushka sell. They set up a box and put two to five items on it and replenish from the bags by their side as items sell. However, as it is winter, most individual sellers are kind of out of luck, and most larger sellers have moved indoors....

While Russia is full of standard grocery markets and supermarkets (I've already mentioned MosMart, right?), there are also many, many indoor small booth markets. These remain shopping experiences where you ask the clerk to reach for and gather your items, and then you pay separately (often) at the kacca (western alphabet, cashier) before receiving them. Next to our dorm, there's a multi-booth market where we often will get last minute items, or desperately needed milk, fruit or sour cream.

Everything is sold by weight, not only fruit and veg, but also meat and most fish. What this means is that you can get the meat cut to order everywhere, although prepackaged amounts are available if you like. Most Russians prefer to order by weight, so if you look behind the counter here, you can see where the meat is being cut at the dorm market.

Frozen food, too, is sold by weight, so tends not to be prepackaged in these kinds of outlets--or in most of the supermarkets for that matter. Instead, it is stored in big containers in freezer cases, so you can select how many you want. Most of the food here is some variation on ground meat (either as patties, filling, in breading) or fish (either as patties, filling, in breading). There are also many different kinds of palmini (western alphabet spelling, sort of like Russian ravioli) and frozen pastas as well. Most breads are not frozen, however, and are also available at a bakery shop in the same area.

Of course so are many other things. At these kinds of indoor booth markets, you can get clothing, housewares, DVDs, electronics, toys and magazines and alcohol.

Like most northern climates, the Russian diet is heavy on meats and fish, especially because both can easily be frozen. However, the emphasis on 'fresh' meat and 'fresh' fish can't be overstated. Very often, you can see the meat being cut from the half or quarter cow as you buy. At a tent market in town, we saw this tree stump which was used as a chopping block. Many Americans may be quesy at the thought, but it was perfectly acceptable to Russian consumers. In fact, they could verify the freshness of the meat by seeing it being cut right there...

Also, fish is either frozen whole, or still swimming. I was mostly surprised by the size of the fresh fish, they're really really big! In the display case is a lot of fileted and dried fish (next to the tank) and farther down (not pictured) the many, many frozen whole fish. Lots of shrimp and seafood are also frozen and available by weight of the number of your choosing.

The pigs' feet however (the yellow bits up on the counter) while fresh, have been smoked and have a set price...



These kind of butcher sales are generally connected to one of the collective farms. Very often, booths are rented by the collective farm so they can include direct sales to customers, as well as sell on the general market. Here in Udmurtia people are proud of their local production and like to support it when they can. These "local farms" though are not to be confused with small scale agriculture. Almost all poultry and hog production is confinement, and beef mostly feedlot. It's kind of eerie driving around seeing vast hayfields but almost no animals...but it's the same eerieness present in areas of the US...

Local collective farms are involved in processing too, not just cutting. Farms grind, season and smoke their own sausages and hams, and clean and freeze poultry. At a similar market not far from the campus, they are very overt about "local food" proudly displaying a sign signifying that this is an Udmurt product from Udmurt farms. They sell cheese, butter, milk, cream, smetana (again western alphabet, sour cream) and 'curds' which is kind of a really buttery cottage cheese. Very popular...

Of course, you can also shop for furniture. What makes this little booth store unique (besides being next to the bakery) is that all furniture is made to order. Many Russian flats are very, very small (the "Kruschev flat") so most furniture won't fit. Marina Maletova (interpreter Marina) was explaining to me that to have furniture custom-made here is not expensive, and in fact most people order furniture this way.

Here, they have some floor models to show what they can do, but also a huge rack of fabric samples, and a big book of wood samples inside as well.

In addition, there are several services--shoemakers and repairers, plumbers, electricians...

Oh, but I mustn't forget the bakeries! Russian bakeries are known for savory and sweet pies, and many elaborate kinds of meringue creations.

There is a a fish symbol on top of these savory pies, and in the ice cream cones is a kind of meringue, which also comprises most of the other items in the case. The desserts are very pretty and very wonderful....Russian drink a LOT of tea, so like to have good sweets to go with it. There is no shortage of options!

If the choice is to eat out, most Russians will go to a "cafeteria" which is basically that--a display of already cooked food, which is microwaved to order. The cafeterias are generally good, and very inexpensive. Most salads contain a generous amount of mayonaise--in fact if you ask for salad dressing in Russia you will get mayonnaise. (There are 25 different kinds of mayonnaise in the supermarket, but that's a picture for another day....)

If you have a bit more money (thanks to the American taxpayers, for example), you can go to one of the local coffeehouses or cafes. These are actually quite upscale in presentation, even if still generally affordable. Menus tend to be European influenced, but often have some Russian staples. Just about anything wrapped in pastry or a blini is bound to be good, like this shrimp here....I've also discovered it's smartest to order "greek" salad in order to avoid the ubiquitous mayonnaise. Also, the fresh feta is absolutely amazing.

This grape leaf is covering also an amazingly tasty eggplant concoction...and the lettuce leaf is not only unique but a deep and abiding treat. It's very difficult to find greens in the stores--some lettuce is sold with the roots still attached, perhaps so you can grow your own? I wasn't able to make that work however...

This celery soup was a surprise when served. This isn't a bread bowl, but rather is a big old turnip or rutabaga or something...Food quiz! I just know it's some sort of root vegetable, but would appreciate any authoritative identification--use the comment button!

To finish, a great cup of coffee. All my time on the train has offered me lots of opportunity to take advantage of the great tea and coffee service that comes when you ride 'koupe', although I had been missing the fabled russian glass service until just the other day on the way to Kazan. Very pretty, and even rare in Russia these days...