End of the Semster...

...is upon us. I wanted to post some pictures of me and my classes before heading for Ukraine for vacation, but we are losing Internet here shortly, so I guess it will have to wait until later. It might be a few days before I get a chance to get on and blog!

R.I.P. Boris Nikolayevich

It will be interesting to see how the Russian government and people react to Yeltsin's death and how his funeral and things go. I think it will be interesting because it will bring memories of the rough years of the 90's back to the forefront. You have to give him some credit for helping to bring down a totalitarian state with a minium of violence and blodshed. (You can imagine the "Yugoslavia in 11 time-zones" nightmare."

NYT on Yeltsin's Death

Gates Showed Up in Moscow to talk to the Russians about missle defence.

We'll Always Have...Murom

This weekend Sara, Joanna, Eric, and I took a little trip to Murom at the invitation of the English teachers and students at the local college. We left Vladimir at what seemed like the crack of dawn on Saturday morning on the 2.5-3 hour bumpy bus ride. The afternoon we spent listening, and judging, presentations by some of the students followed by by some more presentations and so on. In the evening we went to stay with host-students and their families. Each of us had a different one. I spent the evening hanging out with my host and her friends at a cafe, talking about the kinds of things that we usually talk about when meeting Russians for the first time. Sunday morning we took a little walk around the city and such. It was pretty cold and rainy and by the end I was ready to hop back on the bus to Vladimir and get home to a hot meal, a shower, and a book. All in all, despite a few moments, it was nice to get out and do something and see a place we've never been.

As is my habit, here's some news:
More Fun With Media and NGO's

News Will Be Happy, Or Else!

Commentary on Russian-American Relations

Commentary from the NYT on Chukotka and Russia's Far Northern expanses.

Опять политика...

This article in The Moscow Times gives a pretty good impression of the situation here in the wake of the government's crackdown on last weekend's tiny protests. The powers that be seem nervous. It goes a long way to explaining the government's reaction to opposition and the reaction to events in Ukraine and other world events.

Also, here's an interesting article about Eastern Europe and it's growing position as an outsourcing area for Western Europe-based businesses.

...and Monday Morning

I've got a picture from last week's trip to Bogolyubovo. Picture credit to Molly.

Also, another picture from a while back when we were in Moscow, also one of Molly's.

Russian language news seems to play it as a few members of a "radical opposition," painting anyone who would oppose the current order as an extremist. For those who can read Russian there is Rambler.ru which makes things sound orderly.
On the other hand, there is The Moscow Times on this weeekend's festivities, which seem chaotic. Also interesting is this story, by a photographer who was swept up by the police and then released. I wasn't there, so I'll leave it to you to decide.

P.S. The NYT

Also, let's save polar bears by killing them.

Sunday...

...this week, I'm not working on Sunday, just killing some time on the Internet before heading of to spend some time relaxing and reading in our favorite cafe. It's sunny, but cold, so the thought of spending a lot of time outside is a non-starter.

Also, if you didn't catch this, you might want to read about Moscow events from yesterday in this story from the NYT

P.S. There's another related article that just appeared.

Bogolyobovo

Today was Wednesday and we had a little bit of free time, so Nicole, Molly, and I headed for Bogolyobovo. It's a small village just to the east of Vladimir that was once the seat of the aptly named Andrei Bogolyobsky (the Pious). It's is most famous for the little white church in the picture. It is praised by many as the epitome of medieval architecture in this part of Russia. The location, at the confluence of two rivers, adds something to it too. It took is a long while of tromping around (part of the time on the wrong side of the river) to get on the right side and on the path to the church. When we headed back to the AH, we arrived just in time for Russian lunch, which was delicious. In addition to lunch, we were celebrating Molly's birthday, which is today. ;)

Also, Jessa, to answer your question: Yes, there is "Russian Dressing" on Russian salads. Russian salads rarely have any lettuce in them. The constant ingredient is the dressing. By dressing, I mean "mayonnaise." I'm not a big fan of mayonnaise anyway, so it's like a holiday when we find way to order vegetables in a restaurant that lack this all-important ingredient in every salad.

Where's My Hair?

So after having had one haircut since I got here in August (and that one months ago) I finally broke down and went and got a haircut. If you know me, you know that it's usually pretty short, but I had gotten used to looking like the fifth-Beatle or somthing like that. So, here are the before and after pics:

Politics Again

Yushchenko's Opinion Piece about why he chose to call for elections. There is also a piece in The Moscow Times about the Situation in Kiyv. As an American I am inclined to see it from the pro-Western Yushchenko's point of view, but clearly there are a lot of people in the country who support Yanukovich.

Here in Vladimir, winter has made an attempt to return as the temperature plunged yesterday and there were patches of snow here and there on the ground and on buildings this morning: another day in paradise.

More Ukraine

More Ukraine Fun Another article in The New York Times about what seems to be a developing Ukrainian political crisis.

Here'sWhat The Moscow Times has to say about it.

It's hard to tell right now, but it seems like the normal growing pains of a functioning, if tumultuous, democracy. This is of course in stark contrast the politics of many of the other post-Soviet countries.

Other than that, a warm, sunny day at work.

Bagpipes?

Molly, Nicole, and I were headed to the coffee shop Sunday afternoon for a cup of coffee and some relaxation when we came upon this guy:
I'm not sure how a bagpipe-playing guy showed up in Vladimir, but we put down a few rubles and listened for a few minutes.

Here's a picture of Nicole and Molly that I snapped at the same time. We're all sad because we are going to be losing our Nicole at the end of the month as she goes back to the States to claim her Master's and find what is known as a "real job!"

Also in the news today is more political turmoil in neighboring Ukraine. The pro-Western president, Yushchenko, is facing an over-assertive parliament and it's leader, the pro-Russian Yanukovich. (You might remember that Yanukovich is the guy who was Yushchenko's opponent in the presidential election back in 2004.) As a result of a further strengthening of the opposition majority, Yushchenko is calling for new parliamentary elections late next month. It may not be as scandalous as Italian politics, but it is very interesting because Ukraine is riding the balance between pro-Western, EU-facing influences and East-leaning, pro-Russian ones. Read All About It

April Begins

It's hard to believe that March has come and gone and April is here. We've had some of the best weather I can imagine lately. It's been sunny and cool for two weeks straight now.

Yesterday I gave a presentation here at the American Home about College Sports, something near and dear to might heart that doesn't really exist here. We followed that up with Rudy and a game of whiffle ball in the back yard. All in all, a fun day. Other than that, we have several busy weeks to finish up this semester. We've got about two and a half weeks of class and then a week and a half of exams and other semester ending fun! The good part is ten or so days vacation at the end of April/beginning of May.

So in all, another Sunday afternoon to work a little, read a little, and hang out a little before diving back into another week of the madness that is the AH.

Here's a Contrast

Pro-Kremlin Nashi Youth Organization Rally in Moscow

Not-so-pro-KremlinRally in Nizhniy Novgorod broken up.

Blogger Ate My Last Post...

...so this is what I have. I was writing about a man who somehow managed to break into the Moscow Zoo, get drunk on a bottle of vodka he brought with him, get into a fight with a rare owl in its cage, and then fall to his death. I suppose it's possible that 's what happened, but it seems fishy to me. Unfortunately, the Moscow Times' stories are archived very quickly, so I can't link back to it. Amanda has a little about it too.

There was apparently yet another fire in Russia. This one at a nightclub in Moscow. Add this to the one at a pensioners' home in the south and the mine explosion in the Kuzbass and it's been a rough week for Russia. NYT

An Update, a Little Belated

It's been a while since I blogged. Not a lot to report, just very busy. Things are great. Spring has finally come. The last couple of days have been the beginning of Spring. There was little grass to be seen in the AH yard on Monday morning due to snow, but by yesterday afternoon it was all gone due to a couple of Sunny, 50 degree days. Today is much the same. A beautiful day and I took advantage of it to walk a good part of the way to work!

Also, there are a couple of News stories I thought I would link to:
I wrote a while back about conditions and education in Russia's university system.University Students in Revolt not just in some out of the way place, but at MGU, which is like the Harvard, Yale, and MIT of Russia.

Also, more on the Curbing of Russian Media. It's still in process, but it seems that each year of Putin brings less and less independent and critical media.

Finally, a couple of recent tragedies. If you missed, there was a Fire at a Retirement Home and a Mine Explosion, both of which claimed many victims.

Election Day Results

Election Day Results are in and, not surprisingly, United Russia cleaned up. I like the part where the leader of United Russia is indignant that they only won in 13 of 14 regions and is demanding that the governor of that one region be sacked.

As I said before in my post about Petersburg, most of the advertising there was for United Russia and what little was not was for the other party that backs the Kremlin, "Just Russia." (See the picture below of me with Plushenko: He's endorsing "Just Russia.") The powers that be seem to be trying to play it as if these two parties oppose each other, with United Russia, the majority, as a center-right group and Just Russia a center-left "opposition." I'm not sure exactly what they oppose though, because they clearly support the Kremlin and Putin. Oh well, the winds of Russian politics are never easy top read. It seems that the Kremlin is trying to build a two party system and force out the two real, but very weak, oppositions, the liberal Yobloko (Apple) and the Communists, who are a long way from being a power, but are popular amongst older folks.

In large part, these are judged by most commentators to be a dress for the federal legislative elections in the fall, followed by the presidential contest next spring. We'll just have to tune in again and see how it unfolds.

Education System

Reforming the Russian Educational System which is the same system that operated during Soviet times. For example, we went a few weeks ago to sit in on a lecture of an introductory literature class. It was just that; a lecture. There were no questions and no pauses during the entire hour and a half. The professor clearly knew her stuff, but I'm not sure how much the students will learn by writing down everything she said and then repeating it in a few months when it comes time for the exams.

My limited experience observing it and talking to students and Russians in general is that it has some serious problems. Two of these is that it is narrow and vocational. Once you finish high school and enter the university, you enter into one department and one "specialty" which you are set into. It's hard to change and you don't take very many classes at all that are outside that field. It is in this way very different from the ideal of a liberal education that we pursue in America. There's no such thing as the student who switches from Chemistry to Philosophy and Biblical Studies in the middle of their third year of college. (I knew a girl who did it.) It just can't happen here.

They are talking about changing the system so that it is different in many ways from the American scheme, but much more flexible than the current scheme. I think it seems like a good idea, but implementing it may be very difficult.

Petersburg Adventure

So, back from our trip to Petersburg and back to the real world. Molly and I had a great time. I love Petersburg more every time I visit it and look forward to having a chance to live there some day for a while. We saw a lot of fun stuff, wandered around, and hung out in cafes and things. As you can see from this traditional "Aaron with coffee" picture, I decided that the beard was getting too itchy and shaved it.


One of the cool things that we found was this group of lions. The real marble lions are on an embankment overlooking the Neva not far away. These replicas had been painted by various groups, including some young students, which was pretty cool. We took pictures next to a couple of our favorites.





Another prominent feature of the city was election posters. The trick is that even though there were many parties running, only two actually had campaign materials out. Surprise, they were the two pro-Kremlin parties. In Indiana, I often get told I look like Larry Bird or Peyton Manning. (My common response is to say that I wish I could play and or get paid like they do.) In Russia, I am told that I look like Evgeniy Plyushenko, the Olympic Gold Medalist figure skater.

Along the way we visited a museum to Anna Akhmatova, the poet and searched out several used bookshops where we made interesting discoveries like Czech textbooks and books on Soviet economics.





All in all it was a great trip and we had a blast. The weather was typically Petersburg-like, but other than that we had a great time. This last picture is from one of our evening walks in search of a bar that has been opened in the boiler room where our favorite Russian rock singer, Viktor Tsoi, worked. Come to find out, it was a block from where I used to live when I was a student in Petersburg. Sadly, the bar was closed because of a private party there.

We caught the train back to Vladimir on Saturday night and arrived before the crack of dawn, a little tired but happy!

Fun With Balloons, or: Off to Petersburg

Just a funny picture I took the other day. Fun with balloons! Clearly we are easy to entertain.

On a more serious note, here's an interesting commentary column from BBC.com that I found. Mostly about ostentatious spending and ostentatious consumption of energy resources, both of which are clear to anyone who visits Russia, especially Moscow.

BBC Commentary

We also have our train to Petersburg to catch tonight. As you can tell, I am very excited as this is the second time I've blogged about it and we haven't even left. On an interesting side note, the train we are taking goes from Nizhniy Novgorod to Petersburg via Vladimir and Moscow. But there's a catch. Even though Nizhniy changed its name over a decade ago, the train schedules still call it by its Soviet name, Gorky. I love this country.

"Monday Morning Coming Down...."

The weekend was good, but busy. Friday we gave exams for the second day. I actually enjoy exams; even though they are a lot of work to grade, it is nice to be able to more acurrately guage where our students are. Sometimes they surprise us!

On Saturday, we had a celebration at the restaurant next door in honor of the two Russian holidays, honoring men and women respectively. Other than that, we've spent a lot of time grading exams and evaluating our students' progress. We have class tomorrow and then we are off on the night train to Petersburg for several days' rest and relaxation in what is pretty much my favorite city. I'll try to post some pictures and things as soon as I can.

In other news, spring has made a slight appearance. We've had some above freezing weather and the snow has melted some. If this is it for winter, we got of lucky with only about 6 weeks of the really hard stuff.