Visiting new and old russian towns...

Once again the picture of Masha...sorry, that is an error, but this time please give more attention to the palace building in classic soviet stile and the typical sovietical park with the large avenue. That Dserchinsk is a very old town you can see on the flag... :-) The other pics are from Vladimir and Susdal, two of the oldest towns in Russia, they have more than 1000 years, there are a lot of interesting monasteries and churches to visit.

Gorodez-Day of the first snow!

The 5th of November I had a day off because the official hollyday in honnor of the unity of russian people (memory of the liberation of Moscow from the polish by the popular army in the 17. century) felt on sunday 4. November and the people claimed to have an additional day off. :-) So I was enjoying this day off together with some guys of the ecological organization Selony Parus. We went by train to Gorodez, a small ancient town about one hour northwards from Nizhny Novgorod. It was a really nice day, very lovely small town, old wooden houses and nice churches, view over the "Gorkien Sea", an artificial lake, and what was the best of all, it was the first day we had real snow! Since then this snow has not dissappeared and it will probably stay to the end of March...

Sights in Nizny Novgorod

To be honest, there is not so much of historical or cultural interest to see in Nizny Novgorod, but still, some sights there are and if you are not asking to much, so you can find pretty much nice places and even very much not so nice, but interesting places. Here just some of them. Churches (there are a lot of them) and the Nizhny Novgorod Kreml (fortress) in the background. On the third pic the mainbuilding of the bank and the forth one shwows the view over the Oka River, that you have from the University back yard. It is great to have this amazing view so closed of where I am living. If I feel kind of depressed, some times I just go for a tiny walk there and I immediately feel better :-)

Autumn in Nizhny Novgorod

At least...in the evening of 4th of September, after whole month eastward travelling by bus and train I arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. And now I am here allready more than 3 months...Unfortunately the weather now is not that nice as it was the first three weeks, but anyway. Just wanted to show the beautiful side of russian towns. The trees along the streets and the huge parks, the large rivers...September in Nizhny was wonderful...maybe you can imagine a little bit looking at my pictures...One of the nicest parks in town is very closed to the student home, it is named: Shweizaria, which means, who didn;t guess it: Switzerland! :-) as you imagine, allthough it is a very nice place, it hasn't lot in common with real Switzerland. Anyway in September and early october I went there for a walk some times with Ilija or Genia, once or twice we ate there in a small restaurant Shashlik or hot soup...Not so much time ago I went for a walk there with Sasha and Katja, it is still beautiful place, and you can see over the frozen Oka River. Unfortunately the wind at the shore is very strong...so it gets quickly to cold...

Moscow - Finally in Russia!!

I have been arriving in Moscow, not knowing yet where I was going to sleep. All I had was a paper with some phone nombers of friends of Sam, the Hospitalityclub-guy, at whose place I as staying in Kiev. So the first few hours after my arrival in Moscow I spent them at the trainstation, looking for possibilities to call or e-mail, buying and traying different phonecards and bad-working internetplaces. I also had to find a place, where I could leave my luggage for some hours and I needed to buy my ticket to Nizhny Novgorod for the next day. What a surprise! No ticket for the next day, I had to buy for a day later, which meant I had to ask Sams friends to host me not only for one, but even for thwo nights... And I still couldnt reach them at noon...At about 1 o' clock I just got fed up, decided to enjoy my time in Moscow, even if I didnt know where to sleep, bought a metro ticket, and went to discover the city...It happend to be the anniversary-day of the city, so there were many events on all the squares...I was walking around, enjoying it...Oh yes, and in the VanillaskyCafe I had some very nice japanese cousins for lunch! :-)

In the evening I met one of Sams friends and it was no problem to stay there for two nights. So first russian experiences where very positive!

About sighseeing und travelling in soviet trains

I have been staying about 5 days in Kiev, more than in any other city on my trip and I didnt visit all the churches and museums that seem to be worth it...But I visited all the statues in memory of some war or some legend or any soviet or national heroe or event...It seems as if in all former soviet countries they really love this kind of statues for every thing. I don't really understand why they have so much of them and not all ar that nice, but still in Kiev I felt like I absolutetly had to visit them, especially the one you see on the picture. It is a statue in the honor of the mythological founders of Kiev and the first russian empire, the Kiever Rus. I was searching this statue more than two hours, walking along the huge Dnepr river and asking people where I could find it. And you know why I absolutely had to see it? Just because its picture was on one of our russian-language exercises that our dear teacher Yurovski gave us last year in University, when we were reading about old russian history...See what a interested student I am! :-)
Anyway, beside of the statues I also visited the Kiever Lavra a huge monastery complex, including many interesting churches and museums. I spent there a whole day. Anyway, time went by very fast and finally it was 1. of sept. and my russian visas validity started! So I bought a ticket to the nighttrain Kiev-Moskva... This night train was really modern one, but still it differs from westeuropean ones. It is a pretty complicated thing to get a train ticket in Ukraine or Russia, you need to ask early enough and you need passport and so one...but once you got it, the trains are just much cosier than ours. So even in this modern ukrainian night train there where carpets with flowers and we got tea in this lovely old-fashioned cups. I had a funny neighbour that night, guy from Moscow, who had travelled to Kiev just for one day, for a date with a girl he met in a chatroom...They definitely have an other understanding of Distance than we have... 22 hours in a train just to spend 8 hours together with an unknown girl! ...

Northwards to Kiev

Some more illustrations of Odessa...Part of my international youthhostel-friends standing next to a typical sovietic heroe-statue... an other orthodox church, and a little boy playing superman in the backyard of the jewish-museum...

the next orthodox church stands 6 hours by bus southwards in the ukrainian Capital. There was no more trainticket avaible, so I had to go there by bus, which is not as confortable as soviet trains but as cheap. I Kiev is such a lot to see, so there will follow some more pics... I was staying in Kiev at a very interesting Hospitalitclub-Place. Sam was one of the leaders in the orange revolution...so it was very intersting to talk with him about Ukraina and the countrys position between western Europe and Russia...to illustrate this, a pic of the palace of foreign ministery in Kiev...

Black sea pearl-Odessa!!!

Sooo long time I was waiting for it. To see the sea again and feel like in real summer holydays, and finally it got through. After one day more in Chisinau I at least got my visa and was able to travel forder eastweards. As it was so nice at Nastjas place, and they where so friendly people, hosting me that nice (see picture where all the family is sitting around the table, eating placenta, typical moldavian food), I asked Nastja and her boyfriend Andrej, who also was at the camp in Calarasi, if they wanted to spent some days in Odessa together with me. Both have never been there and they really wanted to, so we spent two days together all the 3 of us. Most of all we wanted to see the sea. Especially as Andrej and Nastja havent seen it at all or very, very long time ago...And we saw it and enjoyed swimming there, allthough I can't really recomend Odessas beaches, they are overcrowded and dirty, but anyway. The whole athmosphere in Odessa is really nice, just holyday-feeling!

After Nastja and Andrej went back I spent two days more in Odessa strowling around with some spanish, a polish and a costarican guy that I met in the youthhostel. Really funny company! Toghether withthem we discovered more cultural parts of the city, where visiting the undergorund, where soldiers in first and second world wars where hiding (there was even kind of a church, see picture) and the jewish museum.

more impressions of Moldova

As I have been almost 2 weeks in Moldova, there are of course some more pictures...I didn't plan to stay there that long, but it was not possible to leave earlier, as I had to get my russian visa at the russian embassy in Chisinau. Because Tanias parents during the summer are working at a christian summper camp outside the town Calarasi, I was living there...there was not really place for me there, so that is why the second week I was participating in the youth camp taking place there, which was by the way really great experience! As I don't speak roumanian I tried to communicate in russian, it was really hard, but the girls where incredibly nice and helpful! So you can see here some pics of this camp and on the last photo Nastjas little sister. Nastja is one of the girls of our house in the camp. Very nice girl! As I had to go to Chisinau once more for my visa and I didn't now where to stay there, she just invited me to her place. That was great, such a lovely family, I just felt at home :-)

And some photos from Moldava

How read my article of course better understands what you see on this pictures. There are photos from Chisinau, the capital, the parlament building in soviet style, a orthodox church and me and my friend Tania on a huge square with fountain. The other pics are from the little town Calarasi, where Tanias family lives. I hope they give you some impressions of what Moldavia looks live...I havent been in russian village in summer, but of what I saw in winter, it looks pretty similar...old buses, goats and chickens on the street...wooden houses...

Some friends... :-)

I thought maybe you would like to know whith whom I am spending my free time here...So that s some pictures showing some of my russian friends. There is Anya, who I met trough Hospitalityclub, she is studying in one university with me and we are often meeting for a walk, drinking tea or going to cinema. It is also at here place I am mostly using internet :-). Then there is Masha. She is studying together with me. On the picture you see her on the background of the palace of culture of chimicals in her hometown Dserchinsk, where I spent two weekends togheter with her. On the last pic you see my friends Ilja and Genia from the Studenthome. We were cooking hotwine, as you can guess from the picture it was a rather funny evening. :-)

About Moldova

Okay, as my english is getting worse and worse and as I hate to reread my posts to correct them about Moldavia I am not going to write any more than this german text, which I wrote for the local newspaper in St.Gallen. Sorry no-german-speaking friends...

Zu Besuch in Moldawien

Bereits die Bahnfahrt von Bukarest nach Chisnia ist ein Erlebnis. Die Schlafwagen sind eingerichtet wie eine typische moldawische Stube: Bunte Teppiche im Gang und in den Abteilen, gelbe Vorhänge und geblümelte Bettwäsche. So gemütlich ist kein westeuropäischer Nachtzug. Im moldawischen Grenzstädtchen Ungheni gibt es zwei Stunden Aufenthalt: Wagen für Wagen wird auf einen neuen Rolluntersatz gehoben. Moldawien ist ehemalige Sowjetrepublik und die sowjetischen Eisenbahnschienen sind 20 cm breiter als die internationale Norm. Morgens um neun fährt der Zug in Chisinau ein. Zwischen den imposanten Bauten aus der Sowjetzeit sind auch einige gelbgestrichene Steinbauten aus dem 19. Jahrhundert und orthodoxe Kirchen mit Zwiebeltürmen. In einem Stadtteil breiten riesige Märkte aus. Von der Zahnbürste bis zum Fernseher ist alles zu haben. Den breiten Alleen entlang fahren überfüllte Busse. Das Ticket für einen Leu, knapp zehn Rappen, verkauft einem die Kontrolleurin direkt im Bus. Die Fahrt im Minibus, einem ausgebeulten, zwölfplätzigen Mercedesbus von Chisinau in die Provinzhauptstadt Calarasi kostet 16 Leu, etwas mehr als einen Franken. Die wenigsten besitzen ein eigenes Auto. Das Benzin ist zu teuer.

Der Minibus fährt, sobald alle Plätze besetzt sind. Das kann zehn Minuten oder zwei Stunden dauern. Die Landschaft ist hügelig wie das Appenzellerland aber die Vegetation ist wilder, die Hügelkuppen sind bewaldet. Manchmal sind Maisfelder oder Weinberge zu sehen. Am Strassenrand werden Wassermelonen zum Verkauf angeboten. Bei Tania Smolenschi zu Hause werden sie zum Dessert gegessen. «Es ist Wassermelonen-Saison » sagt Tania. « In Moldawien essen wir Früchte stets nur zur Saison, ausserhalb sind sie gar nicht zu kaufen ». Ich habe Tania während ihres Austauschsemesters in der Schweiz kennen gelernet. Jetzt reise ich für ein Studiensemester nach Russland. Auf meiner Reise besuche ich sie und ihre Familie in Calarasi.

Es mache keinen Sinn Moldawien mit der Schweiz zu vergleichen, sagt Tania. Es können nicht die selben Kriterien angewandt werden. Das Leben in Moldawien ist von anderen Sorgen geprägt als in der Schweiz. Obwohl die Löhne zehnfach tiefer sind, kosten Kleider oder Schuhe beinahe dasselbe wie in der Schweiz. Und « es gibt nie Ausverkauf », sagt Tania. Viele Moldawier wandern nach Westeuropa aus um für ihre Familie Geld zu verdienen. Dieses heimgesandte Geld mache den grössten Anteil des nationalen Bruttosozialprodukt aus, sagt Tania. Sie selbst studiert in Rumänien. Das Nachbarland gehört zur EU. Tania erhofft sich dadurch bessere Berufschancen.

In der Schweiz hat Tania die vielfältigen Freizeitangebote und die gesellschaftliche Verankererung des Sportes geschätzt. « Sogar Pensionierte sind in Sportclubs aktiv, Grossmütter fahren Velo, Bussinessmänner sind mit einem Trottinet unterwegs. Hier würde man mich schon für verrückt halten, wenn ich durch mein Quartier joggen würde ». Tania Quartier ist typisch für eine moldawische Kleinstadt. Nur die Hauptstrasse ist geteert. Die Seitenstrassen sind holprig und gleichen nach einem Regenguss einem Flussbett. Ein Mann treibt eine Ziegenherde vor sich hin. Vor einem Haus steht eine einfache Holzkutsche. An einem Tümpel sitzen Kinder und angeln. Entlang der Strassen stehen grüne Holzlattenzäune. Die Häuser sind aus grauem Stein, einstöckig und die Dächer sind mit scherenschnittartig-verziertem Blechwerk geschmückt. Immer wieder steht am Strassenrand ein überdachter Ziehbrunnen. « Viele Familien haben kein fliessend Wasser, sie teilen sich einen Ziehbrunnen in der Nachbarschaft».

Die Schweizer seien offener und unbesorgter als die Moldawier, sagt Tania. Die Gastfreundschaft hingegen ist in Moldawien wichtiger als in der Schweiz. Freunde und Verwandte werden häufig eingeladen und beinahe täglich gibt es spontanen Besuch, der gleich zum Essen miteingeladen wird. Eine moldawische Spezialität sind Sarmales: mit einer Mischung aus Reis-und Rindfleisch gefüllte Rebenblätter. Am Sonntag gibt es Schaschlik, grillierte Fleischspiesschen. Nach dem Essen bringt Tanias Mutter eine Schale gerösteter Sonnenblumenkerne auf den Gartentisch. « In der Schweiz ist das wohl Vogelfutter », scherzt Tanias Vater. Familie und Gäste knacken die Kerne zwischen den Zähnen, spucken die Schalen ins Gras.

And three pictures from Bucarest: First one: REMONT. Every where in eastern Europe there is eternal Remont, means restauration, repairing...All people inviting me in there houses in Moldavia, Ukraine or in Russia, beg to pardon the mess in there flat, caused by remont, Hostels in Odessa and Museums in Nishny Novgorod are closed because of remont, on the mainstreet in Bucarest and in Nizhny as well, there ist remont...In Bucarest this remont was particulary interesting as there were only women working there and to say the trouth they were talking and smoking but not really working either...Other typicall eastern-european thing I met for the first time in Bucarest: Orthodoxe Churches and last picture: The famous house of parliments in Bucarest. They tell it has as many floors underground as "upper"ground...Unfortunately I was too tired to visit it...I had slept very few on the train from Budapest to Bucarest.