1 October, 2008
If you have been eagerly awaiting the next installment on this ever-so-riveting blog, I apologize. I have been on a Middlebury Excursion the past week, in Perm, which made communication with the outside world a tad difficult. Hooray Vacations!
We began our adventure last Friday, on the train! Trains are probably the coolest way to travel, soooo much more comfortable than an airplane. The excitement of this novel form of transportation wore off slightly as time went on, 22 straight hours in 3rd class tends to do that. 3rd class means that everyone in the «Вагон» or car is all in there together, though instead of seats we had bed-like benches. There are no walls or sound barriers, so privacy is at a minimum. My group had a really good time though, talking with the nice people nearby, and attempting to ignore the drunken ones. This second was harder than it sounds, since there were so many of them. I was awoken rather unpleasantly by one particular one who couldn’t find his way to the bathroom, and ended up relieving himself in the hallway right next to my bed. Waaaaay more Russian than I wanted/needed to see in the wee hours of the morning. (Or ever really) Other than that, the train trip was a lot of fun.
The next day we spent looking at the sights of Kungur. (That makes Kungur sound so much bigger than it is in reality) The coolest thing (literally) in Kungur is the Ice Cave. Before I go on, I should explain that my relationship with caves is a complicated one. Whenever I am not in them, I think that they are the coolest things ever. Whenever I actually find myself inside one however, all I can think of is that I was foolish to ever even look at one. So while the Kungur Ice Cave is fabulous, I can tell you very little about it. This is due to a) I was having trouble breathing, and b) the tour was in Russian. Together those factors are very effective at impeding understanding. All I know is that when they opened the door at the end of the tour, the sunlight was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. I took a picture- to remind me of the Glory that is God- always taking care of me. After the harrowing cave episode, there really wasn’t much left to Kungur.
Our next stop was Perm. This is a huge industrial city, and is described in Lonely Planet as “one of the most depressing cities on earth.” I can’t say that I blame them- Perm is a big city with lots of neat things to do and see, but it may be the ugliest city I have ever seen. I managed to have a lot of fun though- mostly because our group is awesome. We did a lot of walking around, checking out bars and restaurants. Tim had a birthday- which was a lot of fun. I almost got talked into going to a strip club for that- but that plan thankfully fell through. Also a strange part of that trip was the fact that there were several Iranian men in our hotel. I have never felt as dirty as I did when those men looked at me. Somehow my extremely dirty jeans and turtle-neck were transformed into the sexiest lingerie. *shudders* I have a whole new level of respect for Muslim women.
While in Perm our group also visited a gulag former “Perm 36.” While we were there, it was raining, which I felt was appropriate. It was a truly ghastly place in its day. Once we felt sufficiently depressed, the group headed back. Then Middlebury treated us to a ballet, Prokofiev’s «Золушка» (Cinderella). It was absolutely wonderful, and a fitting end to a fun vacation.
Whew. That was quite the post! :D
No comments:
Post a Comment