Well well well, after nearly 4 months in good old Mother Russia, I've gotten some adventure down and a good sense for more adventures. For this reason I've decided it's about (freaking time) for a mission statement, for the remaining 5 months )))
Get to Denmark n back without Vulcano issues for Christmas
AGAIN Iceland has some crazy vulcanoes about to go crazy - for this reason I've had to request my Icelandic fellow volunteer to please get the message to the others on Iceland to keep this under control 'till I get back to Russia after Christmas!
Get presents w. me to Denmark/get all presents before flight in 3 days!!
I think this is pretty selfexplainatory )))
Be English teacher in Russian Uni
I already got offered (and accepted) this job, but as it is with all things Russian, you can't be sure it will happen, before it's actually happend!
Get Medvedev portrait in Sankt Petersburg
"...a couple of years ago, I got really drunk in a bar in Saint Petersbourg. It was the night before the elections when Medvedev was candidate the first time. The owner of the bar gave me his Putin-Portrait as a present because he said he need to buy a Medvedev-Portrait anyway. I still have this mildly smiling Putin at home" a story I just got from a former volunteer. Now, in just 3 month, this will have happend 4 years ago, as the next election takes place in March 2012. Since we all know Putin will "win", I figure this bartender will have to switch portait again, and I'm gonna be there when he does!!!
Iceskate on Volga with Vodka bottle!
Do I even have to explain myself here??? In just a month or so it will be safe (read: minus 20) to walk on the Volga river´s ice. When that time comes you know where to find me ;)
Snowboard in Russian mountains
Unlike most vest Europeans I've never been skiing or snowboarding (Denmark might be in the North, but we have no montains). I think it's 'bout time. Besides, how often do you get the chance to snowboarding in the Russian mountains really?
See Sankt Petersburg
.. Get drunk, get Medvedev portrait, (meet friends, enjoy the city).
Write ONLY in Russian smilies whenever possible!
In Russia smilies have been cut down to just the brakets. It took me and my roomies quite a while to figure out all the text messages full of "))))"'s, but appearantly it translates into some along the lines of ":) :) :) :)". As this is about as annoying as LOL, ROFL and LMAO, I have to start learning!
Horseride in snow with Russian hat! //w.picture for facebook
Ever seen doctor Zhivago? If so you don't need to ask - if not GO SEE IT!!! ;)))
SPEAK SOME GOD DAMN RUSSIAN (((
Because I still fucking don't, Блядь!
Sunday 18 December 2011
Saturday 3 December 2011
3 December: An Unofficial Education
Just a short update. After 4 months here, I have experienced a lot of good as well as bad things here. Unfortunately the worst has continuesly been my job :( I was prepared already from home, that this job would certainly not be the easiest, but what I did not expect is just how untrue my job description was. Fact is I'm not assianting the primary caretakers of the downsyndrome children, I'm am the primary and - for the most part - only caretaker of these children. I do at least 3 trained peoples jobs alone, without any traning. I never got even the slightest information/instruction at work, ever. Unfortunately it is the rule, rather than the exception here in Russia that mentally handicapped people - be they children or adults - are just treated as inconvinient "things" that needs to be storraged the cheapest possible place, and held down as much as possible without any consideration to the longterm effects, or their emotions.
Any and all other bad experiences I've had in Russia I can deal with, and they do not give me the desire to go home. Even the really bad ones. This one does, and as if right now, after several empty promisses of help/change/fair treatment for the staff/assistance, I have decided that unless something significantly changes in terms of my work/my work is changed, I will not stay here for the remaning 5 months. I will not sacrifice my mental and physical health for another 5 months, nor will I be part of the Russian way of treating downsyndrome chilren - I am put in situations which I can not possiblely have the resources to handle and at this point, I sometimes act in pure fustration. The result means that I do become part of this Russian way, and I can slowly but steadily feel my integrety being knocked overboard.
I have shortly read up on downsyndrome both before and after I came to Russia for my job, but tonight I have decided to do an extensive research on downsyndrome children in hoping that, what might become my last couple of weeks here in Russia, I will have all possible knowledge that I can gain on my own, on how to handle downsyndrome children in the best way for both them and me. I doubt that it will make my work manageable, but as my mother always say to me "Lidt har også ret!", which basically means that "A little is better than nothing!". It's funny how, the older I get, the more I realise the true wisdome to many of the things my mother told me as a child - Russia is certainly speeding up this process.
Any and all other bad experiences I've had in Russia I can deal with, and they do not give me the desire to go home. Even the really bad ones. This one does, and as if right now, after several empty promisses of help/change/fair treatment for the staff/assistance, I have decided that unless something significantly changes in terms of my work/my work is changed, I will not stay here for the remaning 5 months. I will not sacrifice my mental and physical health for another 5 months, nor will I be part of the Russian way of treating downsyndrome chilren - I am put in situations which I can not possiblely have the resources to handle and at this point, I sometimes act in pure fustration. The result means that I do become part of this Russian way, and I can slowly but steadily feel my integrety being knocked overboard.
I have shortly read up on downsyndrome both before and after I came to Russia for my job, but tonight I have decided to do an extensive research on downsyndrome children in hoping that, what might become my last couple of weeks here in Russia, I will have all possible knowledge that I can gain on my own, on how to handle downsyndrome children in the best way for both them and me. I doubt that it will make my work manageable, but as my mother always say to me "Lidt har også ret!", which basically means that "A little is better than nothing!". It's funny how, the older I get, the more I realise the true wisdome to many of the things my mother told me as a child - Russia is certainly speeding up this process.
Saturday 12 November 2011
12 November: All Quiet on the Western Front
It’s been nearly a month since Denis moved, and nearly 2 months since Clara moved from this apartment. Sabrina and I have finding our own rutines, and is making this “home” bit by bit. I must say I have come to like it. A 3 roomed apartment (excl. kitchen), just for the two of us, is not bad for two volunteers. Although we only use Denis´ (messy) room for things in our rooms we don’t like, such as a mid90s tv in the middle of my room. And after overcoming our better judgements we’ve managed to clean/disinfect the bathroom and the toilet, and even better: we’re nearly done cleaning/disin.. the entire kictchen! Cleaning this apartment after Denis´ yearlong neglect must be the biggest cleaning project in memory of mankind!
Luckily the weather has gotten better since last: From -12°C and harsh wind to 0°C, snow and mild wind, hurrah! Nevertheless that hasn’t stopped me from going out and getting myself some winterboots. Fluffy, warm and pretty they are best pair of shoes I’ve ever had! I also invested in some winterfriendly tights. So a total of 4000 Rubbels spent in the last week on keeping me warm. Speaking of which, the kidney and throat inflammations are starting to wear off. 5 days more on medicine and then I should be back to health.
We had a bit of issues (according to Anastasia) with Denis´ mother, but they seem to have been solved now. Previously we thought that Denis´s mum lived with his brother next door, but apparently she does not. Up on ‘till 1pm this day we thought Denis´ mum was the old lady (approx. 65+ years old), who regularly often visits Denis´ older brother and his wife next door - so you can imagine our surprise when a women in her early 50s rang our doorbell today and introduced herself as “Denis mama!”, and thereafter spend 10 minutes grabbing some of her winterclothes and sowing stuff like she did this every Saturday. But not to say that she was rude or uncomfortable, she wasn't.
It feels like I can finally say I’m starting to pick up a bit of Russian (not thanks to my host organisation, but) thanks to Alexa and “Rosetta Stone”, which is a brilliant program to learn languages. I have also started to use Rosetta stone to get some proper German skills (Danes a taught a little German in middle school), and I must say learning Germans goes fast!
Work is still a bummer, and I’m still used as 3 professionals rather than 1 volunteer. I’ve only been to work once since I got sick. The first thing I did after that day (Tuesday) was to call in sick for the rest of this week.
Oh, and speaking of reflection, I’ve decided to rename this blog into something that felt more fitting: “Glamorous Retrospect”, from the quote “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect” by Paul Theroux, Which couldn't be more true.
But yes, for now, all quiet and calm for us westerners occupying southwestern Russia.
Luckily the weather has gotten better since last: From -12°C and harsh wind to 0°C, snow and mild wind, hurrah! Nevertheless that hasn’t stopped me from going out and getting myself some winterboots. Fluffy, warm and pretty they are best pair of shoes I’ve ever had! I also invested in some winterfriendly tights. So a total of 4000 Rubbels spent in the last week on keeping me warm. Speaking of which, the kidney and throat inflammations are starting to wear off. 5 days more on medicine and then I should be back to health.
We had a bit of issues (according to Anastasia) with Denis´ mother, but they seem to have been solved now. Previously we thought that Denis´s mum lived with his brother next door, but apparently she does not. Up on ‘till 1pm this day we thought Denis´ mum was the old lady (approx. 65+ years old), who regularly often visits Denis´ older brother and his wife next door - so you can imagine our surprise when a women in her early 50s rang our doorbell today and introduced herself as “Denis mama!”, and thereafter spend 10 minutes grabbing some of her winterclothes and sowing stuff like she did this every Saturday. But not to say that she was rude or uncomfortable, she wasn't.
It feels like I can finally say I’m starting to pick up a bit of Russian (not thanks to my host organisation, but) thanks to Alexa and “Rosetta Stone”, which is a brilliant program to learn languages. I have also started to use Rosetta stone to get some proper German skills (Danes a taught a little German in middle school), and I must say learning Germans goes fast!Work is still a bummer, and I’m still used as 3 professionals rather than 1 volunteer. I’ve only been to work once since I got sick. The first thing I did after that day (Tuesday) was to call in sick for the rest of this week.
Last but not least I bought a ticket home (a return ticket!) so that I can spend Christmas with my family back home. The prospect of this break in my EVS really makes the bad things seem easier to overcome: In the middle of my 9 months here I will now have 2 weeks of normalcy. I look forward to going home for 2 weeks. While I don’t have problems with being far away from friends and family - Skype (which is a Danish invention btw!) doesn’t exactly make it easier to miss people - I do however miss the convenience of my life back home: No language barriers, to know the system, to know the mentality, to know people all over the country, quality public transport (and my recently sold car!) and being able to go where I please. But I asked for different, I asked for new perspective and I asked for adventure, and I got it! So I’m not complaining, I'm just reflecting.
Oh, and speaking of reflection, I’ve decided to rename this blog into something that felt more fitting: “Glamorous Retrospect”, from the quote “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect” by Paul Theroux, Which couldn't be more true.
But yes, for now, all quiet and calm for us westerners occupying southwestern Russia.
Sunday 6 November 2011
6 November: Father Frost arrives
Saturday 29 October 2011
26 October: De-Denisnasation and Other Good Things
(I know that in some of my posts - incl. this one - the date in the title does not match the date in the bottom. This is simply because many of my posts are writting while my internet is down, and are therefore posted a while after they are written).
What a difference a day makes! Finally Denis has left the build (and Russia)! After Clara moved the Denis only got worse and worse to live with. He’s been telling us off for the strangest things (for example, our desire to dry the dishes after we cleaned them, instead of putting them in the wooden cupboards soaking wet). His attitude went from friendly but insecure (.. as well as illogic and ignorant) to snooty, un comfortable and bigheaded. Clearly he expected to housemaids worshipping him, and not two EVS volunteers with brains. One thing living abroad has taught be about myself is that Danes are much better at being outspoken about issues to people's faces (also known as better at stepping up and being the "mean boogieman/mummy"), so obviously when Clara left I was a little on my own, as Germans are much more quitet and suttle and conflictshy, leaving me to take charge of the uncomfortable conversations with Denis. Luckily for me Sabrina has, since she got here about 1½ month ago, been a little Danishfied in terms of conflict by yours truely. So now, while she is certainly still very different from me, I am starting to appreciate her as person and as a flat mate.
So what else is new? Well first of all, another Dane has arrived in Samara! After over 10 years of existence Clara and I were the first Danish volunteers our hosting organisation has ever had, and now!, half of their volunteers this year are Danes. Unlike the rest of us volunteers here this Dane, Johannes, is a guy. He lives approx. right between Clara´s place and mine. His host “family” is a friend of Clara´s mentor. I have been at this place twice now. The first time was with Sabrina and Katja, nearly two weeks ago, to watch Lord of the Rings in German and eat our first Russian pizzas. The second time was a few days after, to meet Johannes, who had just arrived. The first time was slightly awkward as we were left there alone by Katya for the first long while and didn’t know these guys (however there was one slightly “interesting” couch surfer visiting them from Skt. Petersburg, a rather talented photographer). The second time was quite cozy, we all played “Village” a funny group game, and through that broke much of the ice with both Johannes/his mentor/Katya’s friends. A+ for that evening! (..to be continued)
29 October: Continued..
Additionally I finally settled on a name for this blog (The EVS Adventure!) and now I am boggling my mind to come up with a suitable design. It’s a bit difficult to find time to blog as you can see on the time between my last couple of posts. One thing that did however help going back to blogging is the being sick from work for about 2 weeks now, that would be thanks to a pair of kidneys that apparently doesn’t appreciate the Russian weather, so for nearly 2 weeks (after I was forced to the hospital despite insisting “IT’S JUST THE FLU!!!” to everyone) I have now been heavily medicated, low on energy and so faint that I have been outside only 4 times (excl. trips to the hospital), 3 of the times was just 20 meters to the market to buy food. The last time was when going to the ballet I mentioned in my previous post (by the way, Russian ballet = MUCH RECOMMENDED!).
So as I mentioned before Denis has just moved, and we have now started a project (which we had been looking forward to start for what feels like years!) of “de-Denisnasation”, as I call it, of the apartment (Nikita Khrushchev had “de-Stalinasation” I figured we’d have “de-Denisnasation”). This “de-Denisnasation” represents 3 aspects of change:
1) The most important step is CLEANING! This apartment is the dirtiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life (and I’ve seen some really nasty things), and everything must be scrubbed and disinfected! Since Sabrina and I keep getting sick we decided to start with the kitchen as it is where we storage, prepare and eat our food. Every item in the entire kitchen is literally sticky and dirty. The cleaning has been going for 4 days now, and we’re not even halfway through!
2) Redecorating: The whole apartment just looks gloomy and depressed, and after living here for nearly two months both Sabrina and I have had enough, and started to spot small things that can make a world of difference, for example, the curtains in the kitchen was pinned together so you never saw an inch of daylight in the room. After Denis moved, we no longer have to concern with the fact that he insisted the curtains stays closed, and we now have daylight and a view uplifting the whole room. The redecorating has also called for some investments; we have been out buying things such as a new tablecloth (this was also partially for hygienic reasons as the old one wasn’t just ugly but impossible to clean properly).
3) Introducing a system: “Anyone can control order, it takes a genius to control chaos” is one of my favourite saying, but in Denis´ case there was no such control of the chaos, just pure laziness. And the last of system in this apartment is really both scary and frustrating – so Sabrina and I have decided to create system as we go on the cleaning! It’s now starting to become possible to find what you are looking for (and without touching something sticky!).
Next to me is sitting this nice and newly baked banana cake (in a pie form we discovered while cleaning the kitchen – also the only ovenproof dish in the apartment). This cake is the first thing that’s been baked in the oven since we moved here – and my first time using a gas oven! To make me even prouder, the cake is baked on what we in Denmark refer to as “gefül”, meaning that it is based on estimates rather than aquracy. We have no measuring jugs or anything else of that kind so I’ve been looking up German translations of grams in to cups (not the UK/US measurement units but real cups), only I has no idea what size the Germans expects your cups to be.. and I don’t really understand much German. Nevertheless the cake has come out great! :D
So I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me, I have a cake to eat!
Пока! :)
What a difference a day makes! Finally Denis has left the build (and Russia)! After Clara moved the Denis only got worse and worse to live with. He’s been telling us off for the strangest things (for example, our desire to dry the dishes after we cleaned them, instead of putting them in the wooden cupboards soaking wet). His attitude went from friendly but insecure (.. as well as illogic and ignorant) to snooty, un comfortable and bigheaded. Clearly he expected to housemaids worshipping him, and not two EVS volunteers with brains. One thing living abroad has taught be about myself is that Danes are much better at being outspoken about issues to people's faces (also known as better at stepping up and being the "mean boogieman/mummy"), so obviously when Clara left I was a little on my own, as Germans are much more quitet and suttle and conflictshy, leaving me to take charge of the uncomfortable conversations with Denis. Luckily for me Sabrina has, since she got here about 1½ month ago, been a little Danishfied in terms of conflict by yours truely. So now, while she is certainly still very different from me, I am starting to appreciate her as person and as a flat mate.
So what else is new? Well first of all, another Dane has arrived in Samara! After over 10 years of existence Clara and I were the first Danish volunteers our hosting organisation has ever had, and now!, half of their volunteers this year are Danes. Unlike the rest of us volunteers here this Dane, Johannes, is a guy. He lives approx. right between Clara´s place and mine. His host “family” is a friend of Clara´s mentor. I have been at this place twice now. The first time was with Sabrina and Katja, nearly two weeks ago, to watch Lord of the Rings in German and eat our first Russian pizzas. The second time was a few days after, to meet Johannes, who had just arrived. The first time was slightly awkward as we were left there alone by Katya for the first long while and didn’t know these guys (however there was one slightly “interesting” couch surfer visiting them from Skt. Petersburg, a rather talented photographer). The second time was quite cozy, we all played “Village” a funny group game, and through that broke much of the ice with both Johannes/his mentor/Katya’s friends. A+ for that evening! (..to be continued)
29 October: Continued..
Additionally I finally settled on a name for this blog (The EVS Adventure!) and now I am boggling my mind to come up with a suitable design. It’s a bit difficult to find time to blog as you can see on the time between my last couple of posts. One thing that did however help going back to blogging is the being sick from work for about 2 weeks now, that would be thanks to a pair of kidneys that apparently doesn’t appreciate the Russian weather, so for nearly 2 weeks (after I was forced to the hospital despite insisting “IT’S JUST THE FLU!!!” to everyone) I have now been heavily medicated, low on energy and so faint that I have been outside only 4 times (excl. trips to the hospital), 3 of the times was just 20 meters to the market to buy food. The last time was when going to the ballet I mentioned in my previous post (by the way, Russian ballet = MUCH RECOMMENDED!).
So as I mentioned before Denis has just moved, and we have now started a project (which we had been looking forward to start for what feels like years!) of “de-Denisnasation”, as I call it, of the apartment (Nikita Khrushchev had “de-Stalinasation” I figured we’d have “de-Denisnasation”). This “de-Denisnasation” represents 3 aspects of change:
2) Redecorating: The whole apartment just looks gloomy and depressed, and after living here for nearly two months both Sabrina and I have had enough, and started to spot small things that can make a world of difference, for example, the curtains in the kitchen was pinned together so you never saw an inch of daylight in the room. After Denis moved, we no longer have to concern with the fact that he insisted the curtains stays closed, and we now have daylight and a view uplifting the whole room. The redecorating has also called for some investments; we have been out buying things such as a new tablecloth (this was also partially for hygienic reasons as the old one wasn’t just ugly but impossible to clean properly).
3) Introducing a system: “Anyone can control order, it takes a genius to control chaos” is one of my favourite saying, but in Denis´ case there was no such control of the chaos, just pure laziness. And the last of system in this apartment is really both scary and frustrating – so Sabrina and I have decided to create system as we go on the cleaning! It’s now starting to become possible to find what you are looking for (and without touching something sticky!).
So I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me, I have a cake to eat!
Пока! :)
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