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)