Rock Climbing in Дерново, a trip of firsts and agains

As we approached the small cluster of one-story brick houses, the first sight that caught my eye was a man in a Russian military striped shirt riding his pony. When we stopped at the only shop in town, I had to wait for a family of geese to cross the street in front of me...ну мы приехали в Русскую деревню. The shop woman was so friendly (something one should never expect here. It's not that they're all jerks, they just have a different approach to meeting people), and pointed the way to the cliffs. As we left, the man on his pony rode up, and tethered it to the handrail. The pony, unlike the shopkeeper, was truly Russian, and showed it's nationality by headbutting me.

After finding the cliffs and setting up camp, it was a matter of seconds before I was on the wall...making a fool of myself in front of a bunch of in-shape climbers after a long, long separation from this hobby. I have fallen very far in my climbing ability after about 7 months of not climbing...very far.

This was my first camping trip in Russia, and I was not disappointed. We had classic Russian food...sausage and canned meat on noodles with the options of ketchup or mayonnaise to spice it up. While that may sound disgusting to many of you, it tasted so appropriate on my first camping experience here. We camped under the cliffs in a field near the river that was covered in real grass, the kind you only get on golfing greens; the kind that you can run barefoot on...a rare commodity in Russia. The trip was a regeneration experience for me. On the drive to the town, someone asked me if I saw romance in the fields of Russia, and at the time I answered with a confused 'no.' However, on the way back, after having found a part of myself that I missed, I saw something like what he was talking about. It wasn't so much romance with a person as much as a strange attraction to a country that has sometimes strange quirks, but overall has grown on me.

Brain Fever

As pale sickness does invade your frailer part, the breaches made, in that fair lodging still more clear make the bright guest, your soul, appear. -Edmund Waller

I must have gone outside with wet hair, because I got sick a few days ago (that's how people get sick here, that or catching a draft of wind). Only, as usual, I decided to deny the fact that my body could succumb to something so petty as a virus or bacteria. So naturally, I went running and rock climbing...two days in a row. Before you condemn me as a complete idiot, remember that...no, go ahead, it's true.

The following hours became a blur of only semi-conscious attempts to calm the fire in my throat, and to warm my freezing body. Having a fever is so surreal. It's almost as if you're placed as an observer of life, instead of an active player. I felt completely unable to communicate any substantial thought. Instead, sleeping more than I thought was ever possible, I saw life going by through my sick eyes.

Finally, around 5 am on Easter Sunday (or Palm Sunday, depending on where you live) my fever broke. I was lying in bed absolutely drenched in sweat. It was such a relieving and sudden passing that I could hardly contain myself. Either my eyes were leaking wayward bodily fluids (just like every other facial orifice during my sickness), or I was weeping out of joy. In any case, I made it through the crucible.

Legends of the Hidden Temple - The Levitating Dog Leash of Nostradamus

My roommate, Wesley, turned me to this little treasure. First, let me break the video down for you...meet the dream team of competitive hidden temple exploration. Notice how the girl signals to her teammate where the pendant is, how the boy doesn't miss a step when assembling the silver monkey, uses the key to grab the rope over the pit of despair, and comes out triumphantly winning the cd player, the sports gear, and the trip to mexico. These are the people who are leading America today. Based on this video alone, I think we ought to rename my generation. No more of this generation y business...I'd like to suggest the title "greatest generation of all time," or "GGOAT"s. Many of you are surly thinking, "but isn't there already a greatest generation?" My response is that my greatest generation is a lot less racist, and also did you just see the video I posted? QED. The orange iguanas truly showed the true American spirit through their initiative, creativity, and ingenuity. Kudos you brave, brave children of the GGOAT.

The Thaw

The new background on my blog is titled Оттепель by Фёдор Васильев (The Thaw by Fyodor Vasilyev). I saw this painting at the Tretyakov Museum on a recent visit, and it looks just like Russia in the spring, and it feels like Russia for me right now. I've posted fun things that I enjoy about the country, and I really do love living here, but Russia is no 24 hour carnival. Russians like to say that spring starts on the first of March, even though it still very much feels like winter. Though, spring is never really attractive at first. It's muddy, ugly, and cold...

Yesterday I went to the ice rink at Gorky Park, the largest ice rink in Europe, and saw something that turned my stomach and my conscience. A man had died somehow at the rink, and had been placed on a bench by the police. At first, this wasn't such a shocking sight...people die, and in big cities, you're bound to see this happen (I have seen it quite a bit in the past). I don't find death repulsive in and of itself, but the reactions of passers-by is disenchanting. The man, who was in his forties, looked fairly well-to-do, and was obviously just out for an evening skate. He was well dressed, salt and pepper hair, and had a bit of scruff on his face that was just graying at the tips. What perplexed me about this sight then? It is that no one, not even one person, stopped to gawk at this scene.

We stayed at the rink for about 2 1/2 hours, and the only progress that was made in moving him from the scene was placing a tarp over his freezing, pale body. And skaters, seemingly unaffected, continued to have a great date night, night with the kids, or whatever else they were initially doing. I've always found it disagreeable for people to stand around an accident scene guessing at what might have happened, but when I see the opposite, it's equally grievous. Call it vanity, but a large part of me would like someone to notice if I were to die. Something inside me wants society to notice when I'm gone, it wants to believe that my existence, or the lack thereof, makes a difference. What, then, is better, people who stop and stare at an accident like it's some kind of entertainment, or for an accident to be completely ignored? Don't take this as a cry for help from me, but more as as a representation of a thaw. When the cold winter starts to warm, it reveals the filth beneath, causing one to reconsider what's really important. Summer does come though, eventually...and I've always loved the more green seasons.

I guess my point is come visit Moscow.

Guest Author: An update on Russian politics and little botoxed men-anonymous Russian voice

This post in no way reflects the views of any organization, just the thoughts of the author.

1. Developments of the past few months:
this section will be called "Civil society on Moscow's streets and in Moscow's bars."

The past few months saw a huge rise in numbers of protesters and frequency of protests. They were all peaceful and hopeful and smiley. People came out with even more nerdy slogans and the city even allowed a march which ended in a rally in downtown Moscow. The turnout of the march and rally was astonishing, especially given it was -20 degrees celsius outside. People were dressed like bears! Everyone was red-nosed and hopping up and down to keep warm. This was a musical rally with lots of dancing and walking and moving, lots of white ribbons (the symbol of the opposition), lots of politeness and friendliness and people chanting to literally make their voices heard in a cold and wintery Moscow. The opposition at all these protests since December marched side by side, acknowledging differences amongst themselves but also peacefully standing together with a mutual understanding that there are universal things we can all fight against, like corruption, lack of transparency, unfair elections, a non-legitimate Duma, and an entirely unfree pre-election campaign which did not allow the registration of many candidates, just like the registration of many parties was blocked preceding the Duma elections in December.