On the Bus

The following is a partial transcript of a (Russian) conversation on the bus:

Sunday, 22 Feb 2009

10:51 am
(Chelovek enters the marshrutka and takes the seat behind Americanetz. Chelovek taps Americanetz on the shoulder and hands him a 50 ruble note.)
Chelovek: One person.
Americanetz: (Nods, passes the 50 ruble note to the next person, who passes the note to the next person, who passes the note to the next person, who passes the note to the bus driver.)

10:54 am
Chelovek (to Americanetz): Where ---- money ---- ----?
Americanetz: I don't know.
Chelovek: You ---- ---- ask ---- money ----?
Americanetz: I'm sorry, I don't speak Russian. I'm learning to speak Russian, but I don't speak well.
Chelovek: ----?
Chelovek (to driver): ---- ---- money -- -------!
Driver: --- ------ -- ----! (Fishes out several notes and coins from the dashboard, passes the money back to Americanetz, who passes the money to Chelovek.)

10:56 am
Chelovek (to Americanetz): You not Russian fellow? You German fellow?
Americanetz: No, I'm not Russian. I'm American.
Chelovek: ----- German -----. You ----- German -----. ---- ----- -- ----.
Americanetz: I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Chelovek: You German?
Americanetz: No, I'm not German. I'm American.
Chelovek: American? Ah! ----! Boosh ---- ---- Abama ---- president. ---- Boosh president ---- ---! Abama.
Americanetz: Yes, Obama is president, now.
Chelovek: Abama ---- -- -----.
Americanetz: Yes, I hope Obama will be a good president.
Chelovek: ----- Abama ----- --- -- ----- president ---- --- ...
Americanetz: I'm sorry, I don't understand.

11:01 am
Chelovek: --- -- ------ --- --------?
Americanetz: I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Chelovek: What you --- -- ------ doing in Anapa?
Americanetz: What am I doing?
Chelovek: Yes, why you here?
Americanetz: I'm a teacher. I will be teaching English in Anapa.
Chelovek: You're an English teacher? In Anapa?
Americanetz: Yes, an English teacher. (Looking out the window). This is my stop. Good bye.
Chelovek: Good bye.

I'm calling this exchange a draw, since I couldn't pass on his request to the driver. I also missed most of his rant/rave/whatever about presidents Bush and Obama, but then he didn't seem to be looking for a response. Current score: Ryan-2, Inquisitive Russian People-3.

LAN Party!

Pastor Victor asked me to organize a "Cyber Club" (that's LAN party, to you gringos) at church. So I did, last Saturday night. I made the announcement in church the previous Sunday and Victor translated for the congregation. During the week I gathered some games (Counter Strike and Battlefield 1942) and made arrangements to borrow Victors wireless hub. Come Saturday, Victor and I went to the store and bought some sausage, bread, and cookies. Victor made me order the sausage from the deli, in Russian. Victor says he can tell I'm not Russian because I always say "please" and "thank you." Cyber Club was a big success and a lot of fun. We had 12 people show up, including 4 grrlz from church. They weren't really gamers, but it looked like they had fun, also. We wrapped things up a little after 10 pm, cleaned up the church, and went home. Good times. Next time Anton, Pasha, and Evgeny don't get to be on the same team.

A Trip to the Coast

A week and a half ago Nikolai and Galina, my neighbors, were kind enough to take me down the coast on a Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we left after I got back from church. Our first stop was a "holy" spring in a small town, Varvaravka, just up and over the hill from Su-Pseh. The spring had been blessed by the Orthodox church and the waters are supposed to have some healing properties. There is a small shrine set up next to the spring with some flowers and icons. Nikolai filled up some water jugs while Galina and I took a quick walk up to the new church that is being build above the spring. I took some pictures of the church, the cow, and the spring.

Our next stop was a viewpoint looking out over the sea, near a war memorial. The memorial is for a captain Kalinin who successfully repelled the fascist invaders (presumably with some help) during the Great Patriotic War. The Nazi's did lay siege to Novorossiysk down the coast for most of a year (300,000 people died), so the locals here were understandably pleased with the good captain. Traveling through Russia you will find war memorials in every hamlet, village, and city and along each road in between. They're everywhere. They're well kept and always adorned with flowers. Everybody here lost somebody in the Great Patriotic War, it must have been horrific. America is very blessed in that we haven't had a war on our own soil (excepting Attu and Kiska) in 150 years.

After the memorial, we piled into the growly Lada and went to Bolshoi Utrish on coast. It's a beautiful little spot. Nikolai and Galina come here fairly often and come to swim here during the summer to get away from the tourists in Anapa. We walked along some trails for a little while. There is a huge cliff here that is said to have been the cliff that Prometheus was chained to in the ancient Greek myth. It was also incredibly windy, I'd guess a sustained 40 mph (I think that's 2000 km/h). There were many windsurfers playing on the waves. We walked around the point for a little while, near the Delpinarium (the dolphin circus, as Nikolai calls it), and out to the lighthouse and chapel. A beautiful Sunday afternoon, if a tad bit windy, and it was a lot of fun hanging out with Nikolai and Galina. They're wonderful people, I'm very blessed to have them as landlords. They're coming over to my place for dinner tomorrow night, I'm making hamburgers. I hope that they'll attend church with me sometime.

My Bible Doesn't Have a Book of Jacob... Part 2

The lovely Marcia comes to the rescue: the Greek New Testament has the book of Jacobus, not James. The English translators must have chosen James over Jacob for some reason. The first half of this article, http://www.tentmaker.org/Dew/Dew7/D7-TheBookOfJacob.html, talks about how the switch from Jacobus to James may have occurred. Interesting. The Russian translation of the Bible sticks with the original Greek name, Jacob. I don't hold to the second half of the article. I'm not familiar with the Tentmakers, but a quick perusal suggests they're a universalist group of some sort.

My Bible Doesn't Have a Book of Jacob...

I went to a bible study at church, tonight. We talked for a little while before the study began and had tea and treats. Pasha talked some about his recent trip to America. When things got under way, everyone opened their Russian bibles to the book of Yakov. At first, I didn't recognize the name. Yakov? Some of the Russian names of the books of the Bible are a little different than the English names, but I can usually figure it out after a few moments. Yakov? That sounds a lot like Jacob. I asked the lady sitting next to me and she confirmed that it was, indeed, the book of Jacob. My bible doesn't have a book of Jacob. My first thought was maybe this was one of the apocrypha, but I've got the apocrypha at home and there is no book of Jacob. Pastor Victor, ever vigilant, noticed my confusion and also stated (in English) that tonight were were studying the book of Jacob. The book appeared to be near the end of the Bible, so I asked if he really meant the book of Jude. "No, the book of Jacob", Victor responded. "Um, my Bible doesn't have a book of Jacob. What are we studying?", I said. I think somebody repeated what I had said in Russian, the other 10 Russian people had stopped talking and were now watching me. At this point I was wondering where this new book of the Bible had come from and the Russians were probably wondering why I had bought such an obviously defective Bible. "The book of Jacob, it comes after Hebrews", persisted Victor. "After Hebrews... You mean James?", I asked. It took a few moments, but we got it sorted out. The book of James in the English bible is the book of Jacob in the Russian bible. Who knew? Perhaps Jacob is the closest equivilant to the English name James and the translators used Jacob, instead. We all had a good laugh. This isn't the first time I've completely stopped conversation in a room here in Russia, it probably won't be the last. Fun times. Some days, the learning curve feels pretty steep.

Ryan in Russia

I'm on a blogging rampage, today... Marcia asked for a picture of me in Russia, so here's a picture. Mom probably wants a picture, too, so here's a picture. Yup, alive and well. Don't worry, Mom, I'm not eating SPAM anymore. A friend took this shot of me when we were down by the Black Sea, feeding the swans.

Ask the American, he knows...

While walking around several people have stopped me to ask questions. I must stick out somehow (probably the running shoes). Several weeks ago a driver pulled off the road onto the sidewalk (almost hitting me) to ask me directions to somewhere. I think he was asking directions, I couldn't understand a word he said. I wasn't much help. Judging by the look on his face, he seemed both annoyed and amused that of the hundreds of people walking around he had picked the ignorant American to ask directions of. I had another biker looking guy (I didn't know Russia had bikers) ask me for a cigarette or a light or something smoking related. Again, this guy seemed to think it funny that he had found an American. Just two days ago another man stopped me to ask the time. This time I both understood the question and was able to answer in Russian. The fellow went on his way none the wiser. Less the wiser, perhaps, since I gave him a very inexact time. I rounded up 17 minutes to the next hour because 3 pm is easier to say than 2:43 pm (don't tell my Russian teacher). No biggie, both of us walked away happy. Ryan-1, Inquisitive Russian People-2.

The Road to Anapa

My house is 4 or 5 kilometers (how far is that in miles?) from the church in Anapa. I don't have a car, so I often end up wallking or taking the marshutka (small buses). It's a 50 minute walk, depending on snow and dogs. It's a good walk, I enjoy it. Between Anapa and Su-Pseh there is a 2km section of flat, straight road that runs across a grassy field and past some vineyards. This stretch of road is pretty dangerous. I see people speeding all the time and passing 2 sometimes 3 cars at a time (the tractors and old military trucks can cause a real backup) and zipping back into their lane just in the nick of time. Sadly, not every driver is as skillful as they would like to believe. There are several memorials along the way. The sidewalk isn't completely safe, either, though is separated from the road. I almost got pegged by a guy riding a motorcyle on the sidewalk one day. I can appreciate his not wanting to drive on the road, but he could have slowed down a little... In these pictures, Su-Pseh is the town with the radar domes on the hill and Anapa is the city with the red/white smokestack.

Completed Reading the Bible

I recently completed reading the Bible (cover to cover) for the first time, which I think is pretty cool. It took me a year and a half, I was taking my time. I'd read most of the Bible at various times in the past, but never all the way through in a continous fashion. I began my journey on my last visit to Russia, actually, and took a somewhat roundabout route. I started with Ezekiel and went through Malachi, then doubled back to Genesis and went through Lamentations. Then I tackled the New Testament. What an awesome book. Sex, murder, mystery, epic battles, poetry, prophesy, divine visitations, creation, salvation, ... No wonder it's been a best seller for 2,000 years.

A Visit to the Technical College

I got to visit the local technical college, today. My landlord, Nikolai, is a professor of economics there. The college has an English program and Nikolai arranged for me to come in and speak to 2 different classes. It was a lot of fun. The teacher seemed pretty happy to have me there. I don't think she's had an opportunity to bring in a native English speaker, before. The students were all in the management program, training to work in the hotel and tourism industry in Anapa. Anapa is a resort city that receives many visitors from Europe and the management program has a foreign language requirement (English or German). It was a question/answer session for both classes, I didn't present a lesson or anything. Apparantly, I'm the first American person that the students had ever met. The students had prepared questions in advance: where was I born, what did I study in school, what do I like about Russia, what's the average salary of a manager in America, am I married, why live in Russia, why live in Su-Pseh, etc. It was a fun time. I got to ask the students some questions, also, and they wanted to hear me speak in Russian, also. It was also a good opportunity to tell the students about why I moved to Russia and to share a little about the church in Anapa. Perhaps I might be able to get a job at the technical college. I don't know, I'd have to ask Nikolai about it. Nikolai seemed pretty happy that I was able to come and speak at his school and I was happy to oblige. Nikolai, and his wife Galina, have been incredibly helpful to me and are wonderful people. I hope to coninue developing my relationship with them.

Where I Live

I live in a small village called Su-Pseh, about 2 km south of the city of Anapa. Su-Pseh has a population of ~10,000 people, 20,000 dogs, and 3000 roosters. There are some geese, goats, and cows, too. I've noticed that all the dogs (yes, all 20,000) bark at once between 8 am and 8:10 am. The dogs all live outside in the yard and I think they bark at kids walking to school in the morning. They're pretty noisy, I call them my "doggy alarm clock." Most of the streets in Su-Pseh are unpaved and there are no sidewalks, so you need to pay attention while walking around on the streets. I've dropped in to several of the small stores (called magazines) and have found the people to be pretty helpful and friendly. Houses in Russia are usually built of concrete or brick, which is different than the US (we use wood a lot). Another big difference is that they run the gas lines above ground and you see the yellow pipes running all over the place. A lot of people still burn wood or cow dung for heat, so there is usually smoke in the air. I've seen people burning garbage or yard waste in their yards, too. I've seen a number of covered wells with buckets around town, I'm guessing Su-Pseh didn't get running water until fairly recently. The two pictures show my back yard and my street (my house is on the left with the green fence).