Posts tagged with "урал"

On the Border: на границе Европы-Азии!

Posted by josefina 3 Comments
Apr 25 2010

«Монумент на границе Европы-Азии» [the (new) monument on the border between Europe and Asia] «на московском тракте» [on the highway to Moscow (from Siberia)].

Have you ever dreamed of being in two places at one and the same time? «На Урале» [in the Ural Mountains] all your dreams can come true – including this one! Russia is great country in many, many ways; one way in which it is great is that it spans more than one continent: «Россия расположена и в Европе, и в Азии» [Russia is located both in Europe and in Asia]. Everybody’s favorite country has its historical core as well as most of its population (72%), economic activity and political institutions (such as its capital city «Москва» [Moscow]) in Europe, yet geographically most of the territory (71%) is actually in Asia. Most people are aware of the fact that «граница между Европой и Азией» [the border between Europe and Asia] goes somewhere in the Ural Mountains. Very few know exactly where this «граница находится» [border is located]. Maybe no one actually knows. It is ‘generally accepted’ that the border follows along the river «Урал» [Ural] but not everywhere in the Urals is this general acceptance respected. Like for example in «Екатеринбург» [Yekaterinburg], where I live. Our local historians have – according to what I have been told by them – decided that the border between Europe and Asia is located not far from Yekaterinburg, some 50 kilometers to the west, near the town of «Первоуральск» [Pervoural'sk]. This is of course a very convenient decision. Already in Soviet times a big and flashy «монумент» [monument] was built on the site in honor of its prestigious location on the border, so that tourists could go visit it and take pictures of themselves with their legs «в разных частях мира» [in different parts of the world]. But with time it turned out that this monument had been built not in the ‘right’ spot. Not that it wasn’t ‘officially’ on the border, but that it was located by «старомосковский тракт» [the old highway to Moscow]. When the new highway to Moscow was finished this monument found itself more than a little bit off – adding to this that the old highway was in such a terrible shape that not even the most humble Russian would want to risk taking foreign tourists on it. The old highway is still in a terrible shape; yesterday when we drove back on it my professor repeated the good old Russian proverb «у России две беды – дураки и дороги» [Russia has two sorrows – fools and roads] twice. But this problem was easily solved: a new monument was built on the new highway. The new monument is not only «скромнее» [more humble] than the old one but also more ‘American’ – it is complete with a gift shop and a snack bar and has plenty of places where one can pose for pictures as well as many of benches for «туристы» [pl. tourists] to have a rest on in the nearby wood. If the old monument was all about RUSSIA being on the border – it is «гордо» [proudly] topped by the two-headed eagle – then the new one is more about FRIENDSHIP between countries over the same border. Take a look at the picture below from the site of the new monument:

The same beautiful and hopeful message written in three languages on one and the same pole: «на азиатской стороне» [on the Asian side] «написано по-китайски» [it is written in Chinese], «на европейской стороне» [on the European side] «написано по-английски» [it is written in English] and «в середине» [in the middle] «написано по-русски» [it is written in Russian].

Even though the border between Europe and Asia is only a short car ride away from Yekaterinburg – where I have lived «с августа 2006 (две тысячи шестого) года» [since August 2006] – I had not visited it until yesterday. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it is because it is the one thing that all tourists visiting this city MUST do, but I’ve never felt like I’ve been a «туристка» [fem. tourist] here. Also I don’t have a car – «у меня даже водительских прав нет!» [I don't even have a driver's license!] – and this could have played a large role as to why I never went there for so many years. But I can highly recommend visiting it, even though it is just a place marked by some local historians and the ‘real’ border between Europe and Asia could just as well be somewhere entirely else. If you want to be really sure that you have had one foot both in Europe as well as in Asia at one and the same time, then you should visit «Оренбург» [Orenburg] in the Southern Urals which is a true «пограничный город» [boundary; frontier town]: it belongs to both Europe and Asia at one and the same time. It is also the town where Pushkin’s prose masterpiece «Капитанская дочка» [“The Captain’s Daughter”] is set – and now you have two solid reasons for why to go there! But no, I haven’t been there either…

A snapshot of the ‘old’ monument taken from a European perspective.

The locals here usually don’t say the whole phrase «граница Европы-Азии» [the border of Europe and Asia] but shorten it simply as «Европа-Азия» [Europe-Asia]. I guess that makes a lot of sense because that’s just what it is. Russians here sometimes say things like:

«Поехали на Европу-Азию!» [Let’s go to (the border between) Europe and Asia!]

«Мы были на Европе-Азии» [We were at (the border between) Europe and Asia].

Here I am –with one foot «в Европе» [in Europe] and the other «в Азии» [in Asia]. But all of me is still «в России» [in Russia]… Sometimes when I think of the fact that I’ve lived in ASIA since February 2005 I get puzzled: is Russia really Asia? Yes and no. That it is IN Asia, well, that’s a given – isn’t it?

Have you ever visited the border between Europe and Asia? If yes – where? If no – then maybe you’ve been on two places at one and the same time somewhere else?

«Пилорама 2009» [Pilorama 2009]

Posted by josefina No Comments
Jul 26 2009

Only on the way back from «Международный форум Пилорама» [The International Forum Pilorama] held in the village «Кучино» [Kuchino] outside and on the territory of formerly GULAG camp, presently museum of political repressions «Пермь-36» [Perm'-36], did I see a real-life (as apart from online) advertisement for it. Inside a bus stop in «Чусовой» [Chusovoy], which is the nearest town…

It’s been over a week since the last post here on the Russian blog, something for which I am very sorry and I hope that you can forgive me for not making it all the way to a computer – or, more correctly, to a computer with internet – during the entire previous week. The first half of it was spent visiting a close friend and her family in the city of «Курган» [Kurgan] which is located in the only part of the world that bears the name of «Зауралье» [a word that could be translated as ‘behind the Urals']. I had only just barely got on the bus back to Yekaterinburg on Thursday – traveling by bus in Russia can only be recommended to the truly brave and it is not even close to as romantic as riding the train in Russia – when a friend of mine called and asked if I would want to go with him to a festival called «Пилорама» ["Pilorama"] that would take place during the weekend on the premises of the famous GULAG museum «Пермь-36» ["Perm-36"]. My friend, who is also a foreigner in Russia just like me, doesn’t speak Russian, had never visited the museum before and told me that he would not go without me. It was the second time I heard about this festival. The first time I heard about it had been only a week before; on Thursday when I was walking in the footsteps of Shalamov in «Соликамск» [Solikamsk]. There I had – surprisingly enough – managed to run into the former director of the town’s regional museum and as she had given me a tour of everything there is to see in Solikamsk, she told me about the annual event “Pilorama” at everyone’s favorite museum of political repressions. I pondered going there on my own, but decided against it as I do not own a tent and going there would involve tenting. In retrospect I’m very glad that I didn’t go there on my own, as on my own I would have taken the bus there and probably not succeeded in getting a seat on one since there were many thousands of visitors to this event. And more than a few of them came on buses that kept pouring in during both the first and the second day. I was surprised to see so many people there, since I had paid more attention to the whole GULAG themed part of this civic forum, and managed to not notice what many others – especially «молодёжь» [youth; young people] – came there for in the first place: «концерты!» [concerts!].

Here is some art painted on one of the walls inside the former camp’s territory. The prisoner is writing the word «протест» [protest] while on the back of the fly it says «статья 58 (пятьдесят восьмая):10» [Article 58:10]. This infamous article cost many millions of people their lives during Stalin’s rule. The number 10 of this article in the USSR’s «уголовный кодекс» [penal code] stood for ‘Anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation’. Also written are the ironic phrases «истребительно-трудовые (лагеря)» [destructive-work (camps)] and «пятилетку за три года» [the five year plan in three years].

 

A view of the «палаточное поле» [field for tenting] as the sun sets only close to midnight this far north in the Urals… And more and more people gather to listen to the concerts of several different Russian bands playing in the open air until midnight… (This picture was not taken by me, but by Matthias Tödt. Just so you know – I’m only borrowing it because he takes better pictures than my camera does).

 

Both I and my German friend were very surprised to find that this building – which during the festival served as «гостиница» [hotel] for the VIP-guests – is currently used as a neurological clinic… Is this really the right kind of condition for a building to be used for medical purposes? Or am I just being overly sensitive again?

I fully understand if some faithful readers of this blog are thinking: «Хватит ГУЛАГа уже!» ["Enough with the GULAG already!"] right now, and I promise you that this is the last post I’ll be writing on this subject for a while (even though I personally think this is a highly important subject which deserves to be observed often and written about a lot and talked about everywhere and discussed even more than this). One of the things that surprised me most about this international forum, or civic festival – call it as you may – was how diverse in age the visitors there were. Teenagers mixed with old people and whole families with not just their kids but also their dogs were seen everywhere and it made the place look like a true scene of traditional Russian «народное гульяние» [people's outdoor party; festival; celebration], usually something that happens in this country on dates like «9 мая» [9th of May], «12 июня» [12th of June] or «день города» [‘The City's Day' - every Russian town, both tiny and huge, have their own ‘day', more often than not it falls on a date during the short but intense Russian summer]. I had never before seen it happen on a field outside a former GULAG camp located in a place that closely resembles ‘the middle of nowhere’. It was a very impressive view. What was also impressive was Pilorama’s large program – not only were there several different concerts by Russian groups, but also many movies, many discussion groups, quite a few theatrical plays shown on stage and exhibitions in the barracks. During Pilorama excursions of the camp was for free; though an excursion is not that expensive if you are unable to visit the museum during the last weekend in July. One could also buy many rare books in Russian on GULAG camps. One exhibition was about German concentration camps, another about Russian writers who spent time in the Soviet concentration camp system (yes, Shalamov was presented among them). All in all, the organization of this event could not have been better. Only one thing could’ve been improved – the weather… it rained from time to time both during the first and the second day. Due to the rain I didn’t stay for the last, third, day, but what I managed to see I was very pleased with.

Of course, I understand that many of the young people that went there did so because they wanted to spend time with their friends – camping, drinking beer and listening to free rock concerts. But that is as a matter of fact the right approach if you want to raise awereness about this kind of things among young people in Russia today. Maybe while drinking beer and listening to their favorite band these kids will take a moment or two to think about this country’s past. And maybe go on an excursion. And maybe listen to one of the political discussions. And maybe think some more. And – who knows? – maybe that’s where «гражданское чувство России» [Russia's civic feeling] begins?

A Russian Small Town: «Верхний Тагил» [Verkhny, or 'Upper', Tagil]

Posted by josefina No Comments
Jul 10 2009

 The last post about a trip to a «деревня» [village], or more correctly a «посёлок» [settlement] in the Russian region of «южный Урал» [Southern Urals] is followed up today as we continue our exploration of a part of Russia that I’ve come to love dearly after three years here: «Урал» [the Ural Mountains]! Today’s journey takes us deeper into the region of «средний Урал» [the Central Urals] and to «Верхний Тагил» [Verkhny, or ‘Upper', Tagil]. This place is named after the river it stands on – «Тагил» [Tagil]. Another city, much bigger in population, located another hour’s drive north and also named after this river is «Нижний Тагил» [Nizhny, or ‘Lower', Tagil]. How come Verkhny Tagil is the ‘upper’ one, when it’s ‘lower’ on the map, you might be wondering? Because the river Tagil runs from south to north, thus making Verkhny Tagil ‘upper’ according to the river. (I’m sorry that this piece of Google Maps that I stole is not entirely clear – anyway, today’s town is marked by the little blue bubble…)

For two reasons July 2009 will be spent by me traveling the beautiful region of «Урал» [the Urals]: 1) because it is where I live (thus it is always close-by) and I know many Russians in different towns in the Urals, thus I can «ездить к ним в гости» [travel to visit them]; and 2) because this region has lovely nature – it is not all «горы» [mountains]. Do please make a note, by the way, of the fact that the Russian name for the region – «Урал» – leaves out the ‘mountains’ part, something present in many other languages, in English for example. In Russian you say «Урал» and with that you feel content and rest assured that people will understand what place on this Earth of ours that you have in mind. Do also note that the locative case (let’s also not forget the Russian name for this case: «предложный падеж») form of this word is «на Урале» [in the Urals (lit. ON the Urals)]. This means that you must also change «предлог» [preposition] when asking the important question: «откуда?» [from where?] and answer it with: «с Урала» [from the Urals], using everyone’s favorite «родительный падеж» [genitive case]. Last week I visited the village/settlement of «Полетаево» [Poletaevo] located south of the city «Челябинск» [Chelyabinsk] and returned with a rather disturbed by the depressing impression the Russian countryside made on me. This week I’ve returned from another Ural ‘sojourn’ with a much more positive impression and restored some of my lost faith in Russia as a country. After all, there are a million sides to every story, just as every coin can be flipped in a thousand different angles, thus a country such huge in size and population as Russia can never be summed up by one visit to one place, one talk with one person or one read of one novel. This country has made itself famous by never siezing to be complex, by enldessly contiuing to surprise and never failing to amaze. That’s why one should never be fooled into thinking anything is ‘set in stone’ in this country just because you have half a decade of experience living here. But that’s the fun about, right? That’s why we keep learning about Russia, isn’t it? Because we remain constantly fascinated by the Eastern Motherland? Because we can never really «поставить точку» [to finish; close the books on] this country?

This is, incidentially, the lesson I learned after visiting «Верхний Тагил» [Verkny Tagil] for one day (yesterday) and one night. It is indeed a «маленький город» [small town] located «на среднем Урале» [in the Middle Urals] about two hours north-west of Yekaterinburg. Today’s post is a picture post about what one is bound to found in a Russian small town – with example pictures from the lovely small town of Verkhny Tagil!

«Итак, начнём!» [Let's begin!]

Памятник Великой Отечественной войне.

In every Russian town – no matter how small or distant it may be – there is a «памятник Великой Отечественной войне» [monument in honor of the Great Patriotic War]. Here it might look like this war lasted a very, very long time – between the years 1917 and 1945 – but that’s just because the year 1941 is hidden behind the soldiers.

Завод.

Many Russian smaller cities are built around one large factory, something called «градообразующий завод» [this could be translated as ‘a factory that creates a town']. When such factories ‘die’ the result is that the town built around them also dies (sad, but true). Verkhny Tagil is built around «Верхнетагильская ГРЭС - тепловая электростанция» where half of the town’s population works.

Баня.

Of course every town has to have a «баня» [public bath]! This one works between 14 and 22 and have separate days for women and men. Make sure to check this while planning your visit there!

Краеведческий музей.

Russian towns – once again, no matter how small or distant from civilization they may be – are very proud of their local history. That’s why you’ll find a «краеведческий музей» [regional museum] that’s always worth a visit. Sometimes you’ll be lucky to find it in such a great state as the one above – newly painted in a beautiful shade of blue.

Церковь.

I’m not sure that every Russian town – due to the fact that «коммунизм» [communism] brought with it «принуждённый атеизм» [forced atheism] when this country was known as «Советский Союз» [Soviet Union] – has a «церковь» [church] yet. But what I know is that small town churches are constantly being either restored or built in Russia today, and that the one pictured above in Verkhny Tagil survived all the 70 years of communism without ever loosing its initial function.

Next week will take me to Красновишерск [Krasnovishersk]. Anyone who can guess what (or who?) makes me want to travel even further up north in the Urals?

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