So now I have moved (temporarily) to Siberia, could have never thought that I would move from Amsterdam via Oradea, Uppsala, Forli to Novosibirsk.
Flashbacks, comparisons, memories and so many great people along the way.
A miracle and a picture of Dutch tulips gave me a great start here in the middle of the Russian Federation. One week ago I was welcomed at 5 am by Marina and Sasha, friends of the Russian couple from Moscow I sat next to in the airplane from Düsseldorf to Moscow. The picture of tulips on my desktop started the conversation which led to an incredible start of my life in Russia…
Have drunk lots of tea, green tea, my favourite, have spent hours in the Novosibirsk propka, traffic jam, next to Marina in her car, and have somehow gotten used to Russian eating habits and times, or rather the fact that there are no exact times for meal and that it is not unusual to start the day with smoked fish and potatoes.
In the meantime I am trying to stay floated when it comes to the Russian language, the odd (young) person that speaks English, or (older) person that speaks German is like having found a small deserted island where I can breath and concentrate less. But I am sure that Marina will not let me go before I speak Russian properly J
It is 25 degrees and the sun i
s shining, who told me Siberia is cold?!Novosibirsk is big, nearly 2 million people and a ‘city of the future’ as someone commented here. I don’t have to miss anything when it comes to food, clothes or furniture, there is everything here, even Ikea has planted one of its blue-yellow buildings, having stopped all production and sale of local companies.
Marina, Sasha and their son Vania live in Berdsk, ‘a real Russian town’, 30 km south of Novosibirsk, close to the Ob-sea, close to the ‘Datsha’s’ of the city and old people. Last night I was introduced with the Russian ‘bannia’ or sauna, indescribable but wonderful, followed by a lot of vodka (it is a rule to eat something after a shot of vodka, meat, cheese, cucumber, otherwise you get drunk (too fast)) and Russian songs.
Tomorrow starts university or more importantly, Russian language classes, can’t wait.
