Author: Tom Gillies

(Thursday 22nd September 2011, written same day)

There are no pictures today, and I’m afraid the weather feels like it is changing.

To my surprise, I did pretty well with yesterday’s homework. I was all about the differences between “Seeing, Watching, Hearing and Listening”, with a bit of the present and the past thrown in. It’s reasonably reassuring. I’m making progress. I can ready stuff (from the text book) reasonably well now. I still feel awkward when speaking and naturally listening can be a bit of a challenge. If it’s a recording, often I can work things out after a couple of hearings, but of course the real world doesn’t work like that.

Today’s lessons were a review of what happens to a word when it is the “object” of the sentence. The rules are complicated: it all depends on whether it is singular or plural, masculine, feminine or neuter and whether it is animate or inanimate. Some really strange things happen, not the least of which is that a corpse is animate! How I hate grammar! Then I listened to a recording of some drippy teenage go on about her crush on a rock-star. At least, thank goodness, the rock-star and the band are fictitious. At least, I hope they are.

Then came something, which although awkward, does make a kind of sense. If said “I read ‘War and Peace’ last night”, could you be sure what I meant? If I said “I stopped reading ‘War and Peace’ last night”, would you know if I had finished the book? Russian has a simple way round this ambiguity. The language technicians call it “Perfective” and “Imperfective”. It’s a pain, but useful.

After lunch I did some of did some of my homework, and then it was off to “The museum of the USSR”. This was housed in what would have been a shared flat. It was very interesting and for me emphasised how things have changed. I bought my first souvenirs. Anybody want a fridge magnet of Lenin? I resisted the temptation to buy Stalin!

After that it was back to the school to watch a Soviet comedy titled “The diamond arm”. It was about diamond smugglers, and actually really funny. I can smell dinner cooking, then I have to finish my homework.

Since writing this, I’ve learned that at the time the film was produced (in Soviet times), it was actually legal for Russians to import diamonds and gold INTO Russia (though I doubt they would have had the money). This adds a further layer of irony to the film.

(Thursday 22nd September 2011, written same day)

There are no pictures today, and I’m afraid the weather feels like it is changing.

For some reason, I found Monday depressing. Things have been improving since then. To my surprise, I did pretty well with yesterday’s homework. I was all about the differences between “Seeing, Watching, Hearing and Listening”, with a bit of the present and the past thrown in. It’s reasonably reassuring. I’m making progress.

I can read stuff (from the text book) reasonably well now. I still feel awkward when speaking and naturally listening can be a bit of a challenge. If it’s a recording, often I can work things out after a couple of hearings, but of course the real world doesn’t work like that.

Today’s lessons were a review of what happens to a word when it is the “object” of the sentence. The rules are complicated: it all depends on whether it is singular or plural, masculine, feminine or neuter and whether it is animate or inanimate. Some really strange things happen, not the least of which is that a corpse is animate! How I hate grammar! Then I listened to a recording of some drippy teenage go on about her crush on a rock-star. At least, thank goodness, the rock-star and the band are fictitious. At least, I hope they are.

Then came something, which although awkward, does make a kind of sense. If said “I read ‘War and Peace’ last night”, could you be sure what I meant? If I said “I stopped reading ‘War and Peace’ last night”, would you know if I had finished? Russian has a simple way round this ambiguity. The language technicians call it “Perfective” and “Imperfective”. It’s a pain, but useful.

After lunch I did some of did some of my homework, and then it was off to “The museum of the USSR”. This was housed in what would have been a shared flat. It was very interesting and for me emphasised how things have changed. I bought my first souvenirs. Anybody want a fridge magnet of Lenin? I resisted the temptation to buy Stalin!

After that it was back to the school to watch a Soviet comedy titled “The diamond arm”. It was about diamond smugglers, and actually really funny. My understanding was helped by it having English subtitles!

I can smell dinner cooking, then I have to finish my homework.

(Monday 19th September 2011, written same night)

Something I forgot. On the way to school today, I paused to read the sign a the entrance to a small museum. The was a mongolian looking man outside who invited me inside. I apologised and said that I was on my way to school and that I didn’t have time but that I would come back.

On the way home I saw him again. On the spur of the moment I greeted him and asked if the museum was still open. He said it was, I asked how much and he said it was free. I went inside and was glad that I did. It is a small place. Probably a municipal museum, or a citizens club with some funding. It covers the history of the “Central Rayon” (The “Central” Borough of Novosibirsk). There are only three exhibition rooms. There seem to be three staff; the gentleman, a lady and someone I didn’t really see in an office. The lady was very helpful. She gave me a tour and explained the exhibits. There were:

• “Heroes of the Soviet Union” who came from the area
• History during the Second World War (Great Patriotic War). Novosibirsk was not the front, but was used for treating casualties. Children from Leningrad were evacuated there.
• Soldiers who had served in Afganistan (recent conflict)
• A WW2 fighter pilot who had shot down 100+ planes
• Artefacts from peoples homes

All sorts of stuff from before the Revolution, up to much more recent. It was all about people. The curators were obviously genuinely proud of it (and were entitled to be). The took the time to explain it to a foreigner. I did’t understand everthing, but I understood some. I signed the visitors book. I’m going to take my colleagues along (I did, today 21st Sept).

Almost next door, I popped into what I suppose could be described as an antique shop. Enormous range of prices. Interesting. I’m going back.

(Tuesday 20th September 2011, written up 21st September 2011)

Today was more irregular verbs. I struggle with learning all the words but it’s necessary. While it is quite possible to communicate quite effectively speaking, or writing a limited vocabulary, it is absolutely necessary to be able to “receive” words without constantly going to the dictionary. It makes life hard, but there you are.

Today’s exercises are around the words for “To see”, “To pay”, “To ask” (beg or beseech) and “To clean” (or peel, as in peel fruit). The homework exercise is around some strange character who seems to be in love with potatoes! Also, apparently, the Russian Army have potato peeling competitions!

I’m trying not to be a tourist (I have so much homework that can’t afford the time), but it was such a beautiful day that I decided to join an excursion to “Akademgorodok”. The weather was sunny and the indicators on the buildings said it was 24 deg C.

“Akademgorok” means “Academy Town”. I want to say “City of Scientists”, but that isn’t quite right. It used to be a “closed” town which meant that most Russians weren’t allowed to go there, and you had no chance as a foreigner. It is a few kilometers from Novosibirsk, and we travelled there as passengers on one of the many little buses. These are a cross between a bus and a taxi. Although they are badged “Gaz” (a Russian manufacturer), they are obviously Ford Transits (or perhaps derived from) and seat 15 passengers. They run a fixed route but have no timetable. The driver waits at the terminal stop until the bus is full, or he decides to go. They operate with a fixed fair (35 Rub = 0.88 Eur). They will drop you along the route. They definately have stops to pick up passengers. The road to Akademgorodok is a busy 6 lane dual carriageway (think motorway, but with very variable surface, and side roads). On the way our driver was stopped by the police and fined for “exuberant driving” (my words). None of the other passengers seemed the least concerned. Just one more experience.

The transit van taxi/buses are interesting. I said that there is a flat fare. That isn’t surprising, what is surprising is how it is collected. The fare is 35 rubles. All the passengers get on and take their seats and the van sets off (maybe that should be “takes off”). The passengers collect the money themselves, and pass it up to the passenger who is sitting with his/her back next to the bulkhead, who then passes it through to the driver (who is probably using a mobile phone). If you don’t have the right money, you trade with your neighbours to get the change you need. If that doesn’t work, the driver exchanges money for change until it is all sorted. The whole operation takes place in motion! Can you imagine that working in London? Or for that matter anywhere in Britain? I don’t want to think what would happen if you tried to take a ride without paying. I suppose it might work if you were a charity-case, but not otherwise.

Akademgorodok is essentially a University campus in the woods. Once you are inside the town the roads are fairly quiet. The main road in was pretty peaceful. If you look at a map, you can see that it is not a huge place. It’s quite easy to walk round.

A man called “Lavrentev” is given the credit for founding the town.

The buildings are not particularly interesting architecturally. There is a “Hydrodynamic Institute” (anyone from Feltham remember the “Ship Tank”?), one of the main meeting buildings and library is known as “The house of scientists” and accommodation is provided in blocks of flats of various designs (nothing over 5 storeys tall). The streets have flower beds, and there are paths through the forest.

You can see it was autumn. The leaves on the trees are starting to turn. Akademgorodok must be a very pleasant place to live and work. I have been told it is popular, providing of course that you can find work there.

While we were there there was a market going on.They were selling all sorts of things. Cut flowers, potted plants, mushrooms and berries collected from the forest, fruit, clothes (felt boots, socks, jumpers), arty stuff, and loads of honey!

On the way home I stopped off near Lenin Square, and took a picture of this Compass monument in Novosibirsk. The heraldic animals are from the coat of arms of the city. There is one at each point of the compass. Around the base are the names of cities in Siberia. The message is “Novosibirsk is the centre of Siberia”.

When I got home, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the entrance hall of my flats. It’s not the most welcoming place, but it is clean. This is it on a sunny day. You can’t see it, but the “nose” on some of the stair treads is worn down to the reinforcing bars.

(Monday 19th September 2011, written up same day)

Well that turned out to be more exciting than I expected. No pictures I’m afraid. There was nothing very visual anyway.

It’s Monday, so it’s back to work, not that I ever really stopped. Lessons started with me being asked about what I did at the weekend? In my case that meant: the walking tour of Novosibirsk on Saturday morning/afternoon, the trip to the Opera in the evening, Sunday morning trip to view the River Ob and afternoon trip to see Dali. I’d expected this to happen, so I’d prepared notes. I’m glad I did, but I was subjected to a gentle interrogation, which was directed not at finding out what I did (I’m sure the teachers don’t care that much), but at how I could express what I did. The questioning soon guided be into uncharted territory, but I managed. By-the-way, there is a theatre in Novosibirsk called “Clockwork Orange”, after the Book/Film by Anthony Burgess!

After “What did you do at the weekend” seesion, we moved onto my translation of the text “Granny’s Birthday”. This required my to summarise the decendants on Granny’s family tree. This was followed by my answers to simple questions with yes/no answers, and then questions which required longer answers. This was all about developing my understanding of the “genitive case”. Another way of putting this is “X is the _son of_ Y”, “Q is the _wife of_ R” etc. We identified the imperfections in my understanding and moved on.

Then some exercises about negatives, “not having”. This led to a tragic story of a begger who has lost everything. My homework (apart from doing the translation) is to provide an (imaginary) explanation as to how he lost everything. I did the homework at school, and that is a very good thing.

One of the things which worries me a little in Novosibirsk is that they drive on the right. I’m worried that my reflexes will take me the wrong way. As a result I tend to follow Russians and stay “down stream of them” when crossing the road. Hence I sometimes shadow old ladies. They help me cross the road!

I left school at a little after 17:00. When I got home, there was nobody in. I went out and bought a bottle of mineral water and a bottle of beer (purely to practice my Russian in a shop, you understand). When I returned home, I put them both in the fridge and settled down to do some drills involving “Not having” in Present, Past and Future tenses. I also tucked into some watermelon I’d been told to eat.

When my landlady came in, she asked me if I wanted to go shopping? I said yes. After all, it sounded interesting. It was interesting alright! I thought she meant groceries. I was wrong! The first surprise was when I was asked to get into the landlady’s boss’s car, which already contained her sons. Next stop, the place where she is living while her flat is repaired. We off-load the sons. Next _IKEA_ where she has ordered a carpet for something at one son’s school. My job is to help with the carpet. We have dinner in the IKEA restaurant, then it’s off to the school, where two young fellows are waiting in the dark to take the carpet inside. I get to see a lot of Novosibirsk by night.

Eventful and better than my language drills!

And so to bed.