Finally Blogging!

Greetings from Tolyatti!

I am now more than three weeks into my Russian adventures, where I am working as an English Teaching Assistant at Tolyatti State University. Tolyatti is a medium-size metropolitan (roughly 800,000 people) situated right on the Volga river in the Samara region of Russia. This is a southern region—a fact that I will be increasingly grateful for as the winter months approach. For my fellow Russian history nerds, Tolyatti used to be the Russian Imperial city, Stravopol-na-Volga. A flood destroyed the city in 1970s, and it was then rebuilt to be the “ideal Soviet city”. Tolyatti is currently best known for being the hub of the Russian automobile world, as it is the home of “Autovas,” Russia’s signature car company. I don’t have exact stats on the percentage of Tolyatti citizens employed by Autovas, but let’s just say that without exception every person I have met who is NOT employed by the University, calls the infamous pink-and-blue auto plant his home.



Despite its ideal Sovietness and the fact that it’s sister city is Detroit, Michigan, Tolyatti does in fact have its moments of beauty. Many of the area’s original forests have been preserved, and a series of parks and squares punctuate the city. Best of all, it’s got the Volga. With a killer combo of sandy beaches and tall, picturesque mountains, the Volga puts even our fabulous great lakes to shame. I’ve foolishly left my camera behind on all my excursions, but I this site will not be without Volga pictures for long!


This is the lovely "Founder's Monument" on the Volga in Tolyatti

I’ve just finished my third week of teaching classes at the University (I know, this blog is shamefully overdue, sorry!), and so far, it’s a pretty sweet deal. I basically get to come to school every day and tell people about my country and all the great stuff in it. Right now I teach courses on American film, music, politics, history, and modern life. I like the material, but I love the students. I’m working with several different departments, so on any given day I could be working with a small seminar of fifth-year students (the Russian equivilant of “seniors”) who are nearly fluent in English, OR I could be giving a giant lecture to the first year automechanic students. This latter group is one of my favorites to work with. Picture an auditorium filled with about 50 or 60 students. These students are in the “first course”, which for Russia means 17-year olds. These students have not had much English training, so their knowledge is limited to very basic vocabulary. For added fun, there are no girls in the automechanic department, so this is a group composed entirely of rowdy boys. And it’s my job to keep them focused. For an hour and a half. I like this group not only because they present me with a teaching challenge, but also because they’re a lot of fun. By the way, collectively their favorite American film is “Scary Movie”…yes, in Russia they do have “Twilight”, but no, they do not like it.

As most of you know, I’m a big fan of anecdotes (I even got a little anecdoty in my intro paragraph above, oops!). So, from now on, my blog entries will most likely be a series of stories of moments from my weeks here that I hope will be interesting to you. I’ve included some of my early stories below. Note: for some of you, a few of these anecdotes will be repeats from my previous form of communication, the mass email…sorry about that, but a lot of this is new information too!

*A Special Sneak Peek!: There is nothing the Tolyatti student body loves more than its beloved Formula One racing team. Each year, the senior automechanic students create a race car and compete in an international competition. Last year, they won! The creation of the car is very hush-hush and on the DL, and few people are able to see it before the big unveiling in February. Thus, the color of the car becomes this big, widely-speculated upon secret. It just so happens that my coordinator Lena is BFF with the head of the Automechanic department, so I got to be one of the first to get a sneak peek of this year's car! I have great respect for this priviledge, so I won't reveal the color even here on this blog. But I will say this: getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the famous Formula One garage from a bunch of good-looking Russian guys? Yeah, I've had worse days:-)


*Becoming a “Greebcheek”: The biggest shock people have received from me, as an American, is that I have never been mushroom picking. Though Tolyatti is a very industrial city, there are actually extensive areas of forests, and mushroom picking is probably the single most popular weekend activity! My coordinator, Lena, invited me to their dacha (cottage) a few weekends ago, and I had my first mushroom picking experience. I’m well on my way to becoming a “greebcheek” (гривчик)—pro mushroom picker—not my original reason to come to Russia, but hey, I’ll take it!

*My “Russian Opponent”: Every Russian I have met so far has been incredibly welcoming and pleasant. This even extends to my new friend Slava—a middle-aged Russian military man, currently on leave. He’s the husband of one of my colleagues (Sveta, so yes, together they are Sveta and Slava), and he gave us a lift downtown one day. I hopped in the back of his car, and was in the process of introducing myself when he turned to me and urgently inquired, in Russian and in rapid succession: “Why does the US think it has a right to have troops in Eastern Europe?” “Why does the US always take Georgia’s side?” “Why does the US think it won the second world war? Clearly, Russia won the second World War!” “Why do Americans think they can elect a black president?” He was perfectly pleasant about all this, just genuinely curious about the US and its erratic behavior. Though this was definitely a test of my diplomatic and Russian skills, we actually had a pretty interesting discussion for the ten minutes we were in the car. Oh yeah, this was also my second day in the countryJ Last weekend, I had the truly enjoyable experience of going with Sveta and Slava to the Autovas Museum—a museum of historical Russian weaponry. Believe me, I couldn’t have asked for a more knowledgeable or enthusiastic tour guide. Slava was a ton of fun…he continued to ask my opinion of the Russian tanks and boats, and was sure that I could not possibly think that the US ever had such fine machines. He had Sveta take our picture so my friends from home could see “my Russian opponent” (the pic is below). Then, he bought me a beer.

Me and my "Russian Opponent"...in front of a MiG, of course!

*Blending: One of the most surprising things about my Russian experience so far is the degree to which I seem to blend in. I am constantly asked for directions, or for information about the University or town. I had a hunch that perhaps I was being mistaken for a native, and later this suspicion was confirmed. On my first day, my colleague Tanya’s husband Anton (who also works at the University) spotted me walking around and speaking in English with one of the professors, a woman in her mid-40s. He heard our English and, correctly assuming why we were speaking it, told his wife that he had seen their new American teacher. “How old is she?” Tanya asked, she hadn’t met me yet. “She’s a middle aged woman,” he responded, “She was being shown around by a young Russian girl.” Guess I really do look Russian after all:-)

*Dancin’ in the Moonlight: A couple of weekends ago, I had my first Tolyatti nightlife experience. Lena and her friends took me to a nightclub….an outdoor nightclub….an outdoor nightclub in the middle of the woods. The music left a little something to be desired, but all in all it was pretty freakin’ cool. In addition to the general festive atmosphere, I’ve now had the priviledge of seeing Russian males dance. To my beloved American male friends, I have good news. Even the least coordinated among you could easily take any Russian on his best day. The highlight was definitely when everybody on the dance floor sang along to Ace-of-Base’s “All That She Wants”, the DJ’s most popular song choice of the night The 80s and 90s are alive and well in Russia!

*Hangin' at the Pivnitza: Last week my lovely new friends took me to a popular local spot, called the "Pivnitza" (Meaning "beer drinker"). It's good to know that the student's quest for a good/cheap food and drink is something that internationally, we all have in common. Something they had that we don't: little cards that you can send to other tables. They have boxes you can check such as "have we met before?", "Want to talk?", and my favorite, "your check is on me!"...brilliant idea!

New Friends!

That's all for today, more photos from the museum trip are below...stay tuned for more adventures from Russia!

Thanks for reading:-)