Last Two Weeks

Last week our Kirovian counterparts came to Kazan for a four-day visit. These are the students, also on our program, who spoke no Russian at all when they came to Kirov, a smaller city 16 hours north of us. We showed them the ever-impressive Kremlin, took them to the Intellect Cafe (an excellent establishment with chessboards and free refills on tea), and went bowling. Then the next day we went to an art museum, a skating rink, and to a Tatar-language play at the Theatre Kamal. Then the next day we went on an excursion to Bulgar, home of the ancient Bulgars who settled Kazan and whose descendants now live in Bulgaria. We walked around the new Bulgar, a sizeable village, and the old Bulgar with its ancient ruins. We also waged some epic snow fights, made animal friends, and had an amazingly quiet few minutes by the banks of the frozen Volga. The next day we went to Boogie-Woogie Pizza, another excellent find, and then we said our goodbyes. The next day, as part of our birthday celebrations for Kelsey, we watched "Kniga Masterov," or "Book of the Masters," the first Russian Disney film. It was an interesting combination of Russian and Disney fairy-tale elements: Baba Yaga, mermaids, princesses, the water of life, and happy endings all around.

Swine flu has overtaken the city, so this past week all the students except us have been "quarantined," meaning they don't have class. On Wednesday, this crazy dance teacher coerced Sam, Ian and I into working lights for a concert for the rector's birthday. I use the word "concert" loosely, charitably. It turned out to be three and a half hours of speeches, set to the ubiquitous disco remix of "Pirates of the Caribbean," interspersed with occasional karaoke numbers. Doing silly things with the spotlights soon lost its charm. We thought it was done, and then the rector got up and made his own speech, which was actually pretty good...the man had something to say about being a teacher.

After all this ridiculousness, we went to see "Czar," a kind of psychological thriller about the life and craziness of Ivan the Terrible. It was gory and incomprehensible.

Friday night I had a gig at The Leprechaun, Kazan's only Irish pub. It was pretty low-key; I just played my limited Irish repertoire for about half an hour.

Today I went and saw an excellent concert of folk music and culture. Really great stuff. It was mostly folk singing in various regional styles. It was all pretty loud and strident, with interesting harmonies and vocal techniques.

So that's been the past two weeks for me. Just over a month remains. I have nothing profound to say right now. I'm having a great time.

Working with our Russian student-tutors, who help us tackle challenging grammar and review the stuff we already know.

The view from the Kremlin at sunset, which happens at 3:30 in the afternoon these days.

Bulgar - home of the ancient Bulgars. These were some fun ruins.

Us on a tank at Victory Park.