Getting Around Town

For me, one of the highlights of this trip so far has been riding the marshrutka [muh-SHREWT-kuh] from our apartment to the downtown and back. This is truly an experience that cannot be fully captured by photo or video, so allow me to describe it to you.

The marshrutka is a repurposed van that acts as a mini-bus, running on a set route around town. The 10-12 seats come in different arrangements, and sometimes there is a pole installed for "standing" passengers. I put "standing" in quotation marks because it's a van, so if you're taller than 5'0" you can't actually fully stand. For about 10 rubles (less than 20 U.S. cents), you can ride as far as you'd like. The marshrutkas are used by people of all ages.

Most marshrutka drivers are young men who seem to have trained at the Fast and the Furious school of driving. They are heavy-footed, weave erratically around giant potholes, have little patience for pedestrians, and use the horn generously. Many set the soundtrack to a pulsing techno pop that gives the stifling, crowded, jostling ride a nice, surreal ambience.

There is a second marshrutka employee who sits just inside the sliding back door, which she opens and closes at all the stops. In addition to opening and closing the door, this woman is also responsible for collecting fares, calling out stops, and physically hauling you into the van if you are elderly, carrying a child, or a timid American who is not sure one more body can possibly fit.

Once the last passenger is in, the sliding door slams shut and the marshrutka takes off like a gunshot, so you'd better sit down fast if you don't want to be thrown into someone's lap. Not that it would matter, as any concept you have of "personal space" ceases to exist aboard the marshrutka. The tangle of bodies on a packed marshrutka feels what I imagine a championship game of Twister to be like.

It's really difficult to capture the "smush" on camera,
especially since I'm usually a part of it.

You don't pay as you're getting on, rather you take your seat and then hand your money to the door operator once the marshrutka gets moving. If you're seated in the back, you just pass your money up from passenger to passenger, and they pass your change back if needed.

*  *  *

Last Friday we boarded our marshrutka - the Number 12 - at a popular stop downtown. About 10 people got on ahead of us (in addition to the passengers who were already there), and when we stepped up to the door we weren't sure they could take two more people. As I turned to ask Ted if we should wait for the next van, the door operator emphatically waved me in. I stepped up and crouch-walked into an aisle space between two seats to "stand" for the 5-10 minute ride. Ted folded himself in half and climbed into the tight space left in the marshrutka doorway. Before I could even steel myself for the uncomfortable ride ahead, the door operator waved two more people into the van. I think I actually laughed out loud.

The woman next to me offered up a portion of her European-sized seat (read: not made for American-sized rear ends), on which I could fit exactly 1/16 of my right butt cheek so that I was essentially just wall-sitting against the side of her seat. The three people in the seat next to the door operator found a sliver of space for Ted to also lean his backside against. This opened up just enough space so that the girl who got on after us could pick her way through people's feet and bags to bend-stand in the middle of the van, and the guy who got on behind her climbed into the door well, also hunched over. This guy's forehead was approximately 2 inches from my forehead as I squatted in the aisle, and I'd say Ted's hand, pressing against his leg as he wall-sat, was even closer to this guy's private area. No matter. Like I said, "personal space" does not exist here.

The marshrutka took off, and I managed to get an armhold on a seat to the left and behind me in order to stay upright as we went around the traffic circles. The thought of us crashing and the ensuing dog-pile kept my mind off the muscles burning in my thighs, buttocks, and left arm, and I just kept praying that no one else would want to get on at the next stop, because surely this door operator would find a way to squeeze them in. I tried to take a headcount but couldn't see behind me for the 2-3 large male passengers who were hunched over in the aisle. I'm sure there were at least 20 people aboard.

There is one marshrutka van that is our favorite, for the no-nonsense but good-natured door operator. The first time we rode with her was another crowded marshrutka day. I didn't think we'd fit, but she hauled me in and sat me down next to her once she realized I didn't understand Russian and had no idea what she was directing me to do. Then she was trying to explain to Ted - who was again doubled over in the doorway - where to put his feet and hands. He wasn't getting it, so she went ahead and pushed and pulled his feet, legs, and body into the correct position (right foot in the door well, left butt cheek leaning against the handrail for stability). This lady is only half Ted's size, and I think it was pretty entertaining for everyone aboard (she would make a really good coxswain, Ted thinks).

My attempt to photograph Ted standing in the marshrutka doorway.

Anyway, she recognized us the next time we were waiting at a stop once she slid the marshrutka door open. She smiled in a way that told us, yes, they'd all had a good laugh about us after our last ride. We were able to talk to her a couple days later when the marshrutka was strangely empty (it was like we were in the Twighlight Zone), and she even let me photograph her:

That bit of cushion leftover on her seat is where she sat me down the first
day when all the other seats and standing room were full.That was the day
I learned it was okay to practically sit in someone's lap on the marshrutka.

I'm really enjoying these day-to-day interactions and experiences, especially since the people we see most often now recognize us and watch out for us (especially me since I speak no Russian!). We'll be writing about more of these kinds of experiences in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

How did we get here?

The interior of the central pagoda (taken by Ted in 2010)

My first visit to Kalmykia was in February and March 2010. On that trip I was conducting research for my dissertation on Buddhism in Russia. I did interviews and focus groups with local residents, and worked with Valeriy on organizing a 300-person survey (which he helped carry out later that summer). This work resulted in a publication on the competing interpretations of Buddhism's revival in Kalmykia (linked here). To spare you from reading it, the central argument is that these interpretations depend on whom you ask; religious leaders in the republic worry that the revival is broad but not deep, while everyday believers are ok with not being experts on Buddhism and rather see the religion as an important part of their national identity.

Valeriy and Ted outside Kalmyk State University

I'm really excited to be back and to be here with Mackenzie. She is great at documenting daily life, something that I miss with my head in the academic clouds. And the experience of sharing a place that is special to me with her has been more rewarding than I anticipated.

So what exactly are we doing here? I was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award from the U.S. Department of State to conduct research and teach a class at Kalmyk State University. The class is still coming together. The topic that I've proposed to the university is the cultural geography of Kalmykia and Russia--i.e. how the religious landscape has evolved over the quarter-century since communism. This is evident in our experience in Elista, where we see stupas, pagodas, statues of Buddha, and the central temple every day.

Stupa (right) and prayer flags at the traffic circle near our apartment

Central Temple:  The Golden Abode

With respect to research, over the four months my aim is to conduct approximately 30 interviews with older Kalmyks. I'm specifically interested in those who remember or were born during the deportation (from December 1943 until 1956-57, the entire Kalmyk population was resettled to various locations; I'll write more on this later). I'm also interested in talking to those who have memories of what life was like in the Soviet Union, specifically with respect to Buddhism.

The idea is to get a sense of Buddhism's role in the recent history of the Kalmyks as part of a larger book project, which will tell the story of Kalmyk Buddhism in history (during the Soviet period), minority (after the end of the USSR, since 1991), and diaspora (among the Kalmyk American population that lives primarily in New Jersey and Pennsylvania). I'll be sure to provide more updates as the research progresses, and I'll fill in some of the details I've introduced here.

International Women's Day

Clearly I am very good at showing Ted where to point the camera.

Happy March 8! It's International Women's Day here in Russia, so everyone had the day off work and school to celebrate.

Central square downtown, with pagoda

I don't know much about Women's Day, so I've included here a little background information from another website:

Russian women first observed International Women’s Day on March 2, 1913. They held a demonstration in St Petersburg, which was then Russia’s capital, demanding the right to vote. On March 8, 1917 (February 23, 1917 of the then used Julian calendar), women organized another mass demonstration. Many historians believe this became the start of the Russian Revolution. The Russian Emperor Nicholas II stepped down from the throne four days after the demonstration, and the provisional government granted Russian women the right to vote.
International Women’s Day has been a national holiday in Russia since 1918. It became a non-labor day in 1965. International Women’s Day remained a public holiday in the Russia after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Today it is a holiday to honor motherhood, beauty, and spring. International Women’s Day is also celebrated in other countries around the world.

Very cool! Here in Elista, there were decorations and performances in the central square surrounding the pagoda. We arrived a little late (we couldn't find any information about what time things got started!), but we managed to catch the traditional dances at the end of the public celebration.

Almost every woman was carrying one or two tulips, which could be bought out of buckets on many street corners around town.

This seems to be a family holiday, and once the performances were finished most families hung out around the square or went for a walk along the "promenade". I don't know the proper name for this walkway, but it's a wide path set away from the road that passes many monuments, stupas, and statues.

Like I said, "promenade"

As you can see, the weather was beautiful today - very sunny and about 50 degrees. The wind here is cold, but as long as you have a hat or a hood to keep your ears warm it's very pleasant to be outside.

I hope you had a wonderful March 8 wherever you are!

My Women's Day gift from Ted

Accommodations

We have finally settled in here. The weather has been mild, with some sun and some overcast days and temperatures in the 40s. Most of our time has been spent at the university and in our apartment. We are usually chaperoned around town in Valeriy's car, but we've also tried out the marshrutka (van-buses), which we'll cover in another post.

Today I'd like to write about our accommodations and the area surrounding our building.

Our apartment is in a dormitory that mostly houses students with families and married couples. It is more than enough room for the two of us, and it is well-kept. There is a washing machine and ironing board in a common area, as well as an eating area with refrigerators - perhaps for larger items that don't fit in the mini-fridges within the apartments?

We are situated near the outskirts of town, so there's not much around us:

View across the street from the apartment building

View behind the apartment building

We are anxious for Spring to arrive, because it seems there are lots of rose bushes and probably other flowers planted around the front of our building. Apparently Kalmykia is awash with tulips in the springtime. Right now the predominant color is BROWN.

The street next to us is lined with garages. Valeriy says that some hold cars and others are used for storage
(just like in the U.S.!). The large pipe in the foreground probably carries water to this area.

From our road, we can see the khurul (Kalmyk word for Buddhist temple, pronounced HOO-rool) on the horizon

Upon entering the apartment building there is a sort of "house mother" who sits at a front desk and can help out with anything we need. When we need our linens washed, we take them to her and she takes care of it (the washing machine is not big enough for things like bed sheets). If we want someone else to clean the floors in our apartment, she takes care of it. If we want to arrange for a delivery, she takes care of it. If someone in another apartment is being too noisy late at night, we tell her and she takes care of it. She's kind of like a mother, cleaning lady, and mafia boss all wrapped up into one.

"House Mother" not pictured (we don't have that kind of a relationship yet...)

The hallways and common areas are filled with potted plants, to my great pleasure. I love houseplants, and the space would feel too clinical without them.

The common area is filled with people in the evenings - older people watching the news
(TV mounted on the wall to the right, out of the picture), children running around shrieking, etc.

Our apartment is on the first floor, at the end of the hall. It consists of a bedroom, office, kitchen, and bathroom (the toilet is in a separate area than the shower/sink).

We have a very nice office where Ted can do his work and I can write blog posts.

The bed is actually two twin beds pushed together with two separate comforters covered in duvet-type pockets. That seems to be the way they do it here in Russia, with the two covers. I like it because Ted can be a covers hog sometimes, and this way I don't have to fight him. :) The pillows are large and square rather than rectangular like pillows in the U.S.

View of the bathroom(s), to the left of the entryway

We have to sit or squat in the tub to take a shower, because otherwise water goes everywhere - the tub is not flush with the tiled wall. There's a handheld shower head, so you have to strategically turn the water on and off, with sudsing up or shaving done in between rinses. It's not too bad, actually, and probably saves a lot of water.

Hope you're not claustrophobic, because the "throne room" is a tight space!

To the right of the bathroom(s) is the kitchen. The stovetop works well, but using the oven trips the circuit breaker, so we have a microwave for "baking", which we keep in the cupboard when not in use because there's not a lot of counter space. We use a cafeteria tray as a drying rack and an electric kettle to boil water. 

Here you can see what we look like eating dinner in our pajamas at night:

Just beyond the kitchen, we have a small porch with a clothesline:

We need to get with the program and hang some laundry up outside!

The heat in this building seems to be kept at maximum temperature throughout the day and night - perhaps for families with children - so we have our windows open a good 50% of the time to cool off. The outside temperatures have so far been pretty mild, with no snow accumulation despite a couple flurries the day we arrived. We asked our international office guide whether people around here ever talk about climate change, and he answered, "All the time."

Today we are planning to go to a restaurant for a special dinner with Valeriy to celebrate our arrival. Posts about Kalmyk food coming soon!

Check-up or Check Out

It has been a whirlwind of activity since we landed in Elista, Kalmykia on Sunday: getting settled in our apartment, a Kalmyk holiday, registering with the dormitory and the university, seeing doctors for local health insurance, meeting many, many people...

The jet lag is wearing off, but we've still been needing a nap every afternoon - especially Ted who has been working in two languages, translating for me and trying to understand all the important information we're being given.

We have an excellent host in Valeriy (val-AIR-ee), Ted's Kalmyk friend from a previous visit. Valeriy is a professor of philosophy at Kalmyk State University and seems to know everybody in town. He has been very generous with his time, driving us all over Elista (a small city), helping us get set up with phone SIM cards, taking us grocery shopping, introducing us to people at the university, etc. He's about a foot shorter than Ted and walks twice as fast - a busy man!

Upon our arrival, Valeriy took us to his house, where his wife and mother had cooked us an amazing meal of plov (pilaf) and dumplings, compote (juice) made from berries his mother picked on the outskirts of the city, and Kalmyk tea (a milky, salty, buttery tea that I think is an acquired taste...).

I hardly know what to write about since so much has happened since we arrived! I feel that I can sympathize just the tiniest bit with the refugees, immigrants, and international students who come to the U.S. in that it has been a confusing, exhausting, and sometimes even scary experience "moving" to this unfamiliar land with its unfamiliar language and customs. 

Today, for example, Ted and I were required to get our blood drawn and chests x-rayed in order to qualify for the local health insurance (recommended by the Fulbright office). We first went to the free clinic to get our blood drawn - a scary prospect knowing that we'd be stuck with needles! 

Government run free clinic

Upon entering the building, we stepped into a long hallway lined on one side with benches full to capacity of people waiting to see the doctor. We were soon ushered into a small room where two nurses quickly sat us down on a bench and instructed us to roll up our sleeves. There wasn't time to freak out until the needle was already in our vein, but everything was clean and fresh - don't worry.

Once the blood was drawn, we were told to hold a cotton ball against the puncture site and bend our elbow - not too unlike the U.S. except that we were given no band-aid to hold the cotton ball in place. Instead, we were required to deposit the cotton ball in a waste bin before leaving. Apparently there is a half a million ruble fine for taking that little cotton ball out of the building because it is tainted with blood. 

After that we walked to the next clinic where we would have our chests x-rayed to check for tuberculosis. Valeriy says professors at the university have to do this every year in order to keep their job because they interact with students. 

The second clinic was more like an American hospital, though there were some differences. Patients have to wear little plastic booties on their shoes, for instance, except that Ted couldn't get them over his giant feet! 

When you check in at this hospital you are given a card - like a hotel key card - that opens a little turnstile gate leading to the area of the hospital you are visiting. You have to check your coat with a woman at the coat check before going into your designated area (coat checks are seen in many places around here, including the Buddhist temple). 

Don't be fooled by the DMV-style number machine and signs - everyone just pushes to the front to check in.

When it was my turn to be x-rayed, I was told by the male technician to undress my top half and put my hair up (Ted was not allowed in the room with me to translate, so this was communicated to me through miming). There are no robes for privacy, just bare top. The x-ray itself took only a moment, and I was given a print-out of my lungs and an all-clear a few minutes later. 

It was all very quick and smooth (we had a chaperone from the university's international office to guide us through all this) and mostly painless, but it was a little overwhelming nonetheless. We didn't understand why we had to go through this - especially since Ted had a full physical in the U.S. as a Fulbright requirement - and medical facilities operate just a little bit differently here than we're used to. [Ted's Note: There's a trust-but-verify mentality here; for example, if our blood test turned up positive for certain diseases we'd have to leave the country right away. The U.S. has the same policy.] I couldn't help think about how scary it must be for immigrants who don't have an advocate or chaperone to hold their hand, so to speak. You really have to put your trust in the people who are poking, prodding, and x-raying you! 

So that was just over an hour of our day. There's simply too much to write about in one post, so look for more updates later in the week!

-Mackenzie

(The post title was Ted's idea)

We're Here!

Outside the Moscow Airport

Jet lag has a firm grip on us this morning, but we are here in Russia. Last night we stayed in a Ramada Inn near the Moscow Airport, and later this morning we will head back to the airport for our flight to Elista - our final destination. There are only three flights per week from Moscow to Elista, so we'll leave plenty of time for getting to the airport and checking in.

Ted missed this flight the last time he came to Kalmykia, and his luggage missed the flight from the U.S. to Moscow. So he spent three days wearing the same clothes, holed up in a hotel, waiting for his luggage and the next flight to Elista. I am determined to avoid this fate.

We'll have more to say after we get to Elista and settle in. Tomorrow is a major holiday in Kalmykia - Mongolian New Year - and we are hoping to participate in some of the festivities!

Tea and pretzels welcome visitors to the hotel

Our king size hotel bed has two twin size comforters,
which is BRILLIANT. I didn't have to fight for covers
at all last night!

Quick Pronunciation Guide

It has come to my attention that some of you might like a quick lesson on the pronunciation of the city and region we'll be traveling to. :)

We'll be in the city of Elista [el-ee-STA] in the Republic of Kalmykia [kal-MEE-keeya]. Things and people from Kalmykia are labeled "Kalmyk" [KAL-mik].

I hope that helps!