Terrific NYT Article

I think this is probably one of the best news articles I have ever read about Russia (it's from Oct. 16, I just forgot to mention it), entitled "Darkness on the Edge of Monotown." It fully encapsulates the enormous risks shrouding the Russian econo-political system right now. For clarification, the city of Irkutsk is a major city (a surprisingly wealthy one at that - coal), not a monotown as described by this article which are still predominant in this country. The financial crisis has put enormous pressure on everyday people just to get by, and the government is significantly concerned about further unrest. Russia is a truly fascinating country and it's changing so quickly - often it is easy to forget that its been less than 20 years since communism. Had I been born a generation earlier, this country would still be closed to foreigners. Take your best guess at what's going to happen: clearly no one knows, but I'll be among the first.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/opinion/17aron.html?scp=34&sq=russia&st=cse

Russian History 101: Wait a second, aren't a few years missing?

What better way to understand the history of the Irkutsk Oblast than a trip to the history museum? The exhibits in the Irkutsk History were quite informative and there were plenty of interesting photos which were great for supplementing the limited amount of information I was able to obtain from their accompanying Russian language captions, but what was even more confusing than deciphering the language were the large gaps in covered history. History of early indigenous cultures? Check. Early colonial history? Check. Imperial Czarist era? Check. World War One? A little bit, revolution, somewhat. Russo-Japanese War - Completely missing - maybe it wasn't that important anyways. But did anything important happen from 1917-1939? Apparently not, because according to the exhibition material from these twenty or so years (maybe 3 photos) everyone was happy and living well in the young communist country. Regional history of Eastern Siberia of this era as a major gulag hub is curiously and surreptitiously missing.

Having researched the Soviet 1930s extensively last year in college I was more surprised than I probably should have been. Historical reconciliation, dealing with the dark, dark past is far from complete in Russia. During the 1990s, the Russian government and society at large made significant strides towards reopening painful memories of revolution, civil war, and the catastrophic effects of 1930s Stalinist revolution; today most of those progressive movements have been reversed by a more conservative government which has been far less inclined to openly discuss these emotionally difficult historical topics. The 1930s were the formative years of Soviet society, culture, and government, so for a museum to be missing an entire twenty years of crucial solidifying Soviet history sends a message about how open this country is to dealing with reconciliation. For more on this topic, here's an NYT article I used last year: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/world/europe/27archives.html

History is everywhere here, not just in the museum, and most of it is untold (and certainly most Russians are unaware). Perhaps the best example I know of is Olkhon Island - see my first blog post from 6 weeks ago - beautiful Lake Baikal, surreal skies, magnificent cliffs, and unique wildlife. Like many places in this country which could normally be considered uninhabitable, the 1930s was an era of enormous upheaval as people were exiled not just to Baikal (they would have been comparatively lucky) but to the furthest geographical reaches of the Soviet Union, places which were actually uninhabitable. For the people exiled to Olkhon, the island was very much a prison, and strangely enough, today it is an ecological tourism paradise.

I asked some of my students about the missing 20+ years in the museum and their response was that some years ago there was a fire so maybe that explains it. Fire seems to explain a lot of things in Siberia, after all, almost all structures are made of wood.

Big News! The biggest and most important event in my life over the past 3 weeks has been moving into the Obschezhite, or dormitory, which will be my residence for the next 9 months. The good news: it's very, very close to where I work, and it's very, very cheap. The bad news: The building itself is damn disgusting - (BUT!) my room, which is normally reserved for foreign professors, is extremely generous, especially by Russian standards. Unlike the rest of the building, my apartment is recently renovated, and I have two rooms to myself. I use the word apartment seriously here, as I have 2 rooms and a bathroom (all to myself). So while my good friends live in squalor downstairs, for example, 4 germans to two bedrooms, I live in 2 rooms, each larger than their entire combined area. To put it simply, I live like a king compared to everyone else in my building.

Previously, I lived in an apartment in the center of Irkutsk, which was nice being located in the center, where there are things to do, but it was loud and full of obnoxiously drunk people everyday after approximately 8pm. Not to mention, I had an extremely difficult time sleeping because I was awoken maybe every other night by stray dogs barking/fighting/harassing the foreigner living on Kievskaya (me). I've always thought that dogs were secretly super-intelligent, and these Russian dogs were undoubtedly aware that a foreigner was living in their territory. They absolutely went out of their way to make sure my sleeping schedule was severely disrupted. However, now that I live at Universitetskiy, which is much quieter, I don't have to worry about being woken up by stray dogs at four in the morning; instead they have been replaced by Russians who enjoy blasting techno music from their lada's. Still annoying, but a good trade none the less.

The best part about being here is knowing that my Russian language skills are definitely improving, albeit slowly. I am definitely not a natural language learner, but already in 6 weeks I have made significant progress. When I arrived, having not spoken Russian for more than a year, I was hardly able to say more than 'My name is..' or 'I would like to buy that..' Now I can actually have real conversations, and about real things!.. Not just what kinds of food I like or that I have two dogs at home or that I hate the service in our university cafeteria. For better or worse, I am more or less able to communicate, including my my many complaints.

Despite the minor inconveniences, all is well. My classes are particularly rewarding as I have never before had a 'job' which I actually looked forward to! I actually enjoy working; last week I introduced my students to American college life by hosting a film screening for the movie Animal House. Students definitely did not understand the word plays but at least they understood the situational humor. "Double Secret Probation?" Что?? American and Russian humor are just about as different as their respective educational systems. In almost every way Russian universities are absolutely not comparable to the American education system - I'll skip over the details but basically there is nothing in common. Generally, Russian college students are more similar to American high schoolers. I am trying in the process of introducing them to educational material which is more interesting than traditional university materials which have been used for decades. Last week - John Belushi; Next week - Halloween! Really I don't know how successful this will be because this grandiose holiday is not widely celebrated in Russia so I am going to attempt to boost awareness. More to come on this topic next week.

New Update!

So its been about 4 weeks or so since I last posted, partially due of laziness, but also because my internet account ran out of cash and I was in Moscow for a week, which was sweet! But now I'm back in Irkutsk and a lot has changed! Having been gone for one week, I can definitely feel winter coming along, of which I am quite scared. More about that in a few weeks, but for now, the major change is that I moved out of my apartment in the center of the city into the university's dormitory, conveniently located right next to where I teach. I've been given a room normally reserved for highly esteemed foreign professors, which means I basically live in a spacious two room hotel room whereas most students live in much less generous quarters.

Over the past few weeks I've had a few nice trips around the city of Irkutsk as well as back to Baikal. The university doesn't have any problem with classes being cancelled for field trips, and my students took me on a tour of the city, mainly to the river embankment and some downtown churches. Only one or two important buildings actually survive from the 19th century because of a fire which destroyed 80% of the city.

Fifth year students and me by the river Angara, which is the only river which flows out of Baikal.

As I mentioned above, classes are easily cancelled, so it was no problem when a few teachers wanted to take me to Listviyanka, about 40 minutes away from Irkutsk and the nearest point on Lake Baikal. What's better than teaching on fridays? How about drinking beer on top of a mountain with half a dozen coworkers overlooking the world's greatest lake? I love my job... I also got to see Nerpa seals for the first time, albeit they were in an aquarium as seeing Nerpa in the wild is extremely difficult - although I am quite tempted to try sometime in the spring when it's warm enough to go hiking around the lake - we'll see if I'm able.

Below: Friday afternoon - way better than classes!

My highly esteemed coworker, Olga, is personally responsible for me having been sent to Siberia... Us with Baikal below!

Nerpa! - Mother and daughter seals which were, apparently, hurt by hunters but then saved by the museum and now they live in this tank.

The following weekend (two weekends ago) I went to a student's dacha for a few days, also near Listviyanka, or about 15 minutes away from Baikal. Dachas, or Russian summer houses, are generally traditionally spartan, for example, heating and electricity are not seen as necessities. However, this particular dacha was luxurious as the student's family is planning on moving in year round sometime soon.

Above: The Angara River at sunset from a forest next to the dacha.

Below: From Listviyanka, on a clear day, you can see across a narrow part of the lake to snow capped mountains. I like this photo and a few others in particular because the mountains look like they're hovering over the fog, over the lake. Really the lake has a mysterious effect on individuals and it's easy to understand why various indigenous cultures saw the lake as so spiritually important.

Above: Me with two of my fifth year students.

Below: Dacha! (Most Russian dachas are little more than log cabins - this one was quite nice)