After a month of training, classes, and miscellaneous adventures in Moscow (and other cities of Western Russia), I finally arrived in Vladivostok this morning. The taxi ride alone to Moscow's Sheremyetevo-1 through rush hour traffic seemed almost as long as the ten-hour flight here to the capital of Primorskii Krai, Russia's Far Eastern province. But somehow, 5,000 miles and two full days of traveling later, here I am enjoying the luxury of dial-up internet and bad Russian television in my very own dorm room on the other side of Siberia. (And you think I'm kidding about this being luxurious.)
I have to admit that before coming to Russia, I had envisioned, well, a much smaller country. And no, I don't just mean to say that I was surprised by how much ground this country covers (and I was: it is, after all, the largest country in the world with respect to territory). All of my cultural familiarity with Russia-- its literature, cuisine, arts, language, history-- had been pretty neatly bounded in the east by the Ural mountains. The Urals might even be a generous designation. Very rarely would my imagination wander into that vast realm of Siberia, and never-- ever-- beyond it. In an enormous country where the tremendous majority of its population, economy, and admistration resides in just two northwestern cities, it's perhaps difficult to avoid this mentality even among Russian citizens-- much less among less-informed Westerners such as myself!
And yet here I am, almost twice the distance of the United States away from Moscow and St. Petersburg, eager, I guess, to be proven wrong again and again as I learn about-- and experience for myself-- life in Russia from the Far East. Hopefully, this blog will serve as a readable account of what I imagine will be a simultaneously humbling and exciting year.
So far, I've been to the newsstand and my bedroom. And gee, who's not humbled and excited by experiences like that? :)
Tomorrow I meet with the dean of the foreign languages department (ie: my boss), and in a few more days I'll start teaching my first English classes. In the meantime, I'll also try to post some photos and thoughts from the highlights from my month with the other Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov Veliky, and Ryazan. 'Til then!
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P.S. The title of this post comes from the very lovely sign two of the English teachers who came to pick me up from airport made in anticipation of my arrival.
