Summer Trip to Russia 2018 - Lake Baikal - Part 1

Our kids' visas to Russia expire this September because their passports expire in February.  We had thought about going to visit and when I learned that we will definitely be staying in Kazakhstan for another year, we decided we'd plan a trip in June after school was out and before we headed to Utah for our annual home trip.

One thing that Yulia and I had talked about for a number of years was the possibility of visiting Lake Baikal.  I had read an article about it about two months ago that got me thinking about it again.  The more we looked and thought about it, the better the idea seemed, so Yulia went into planning mode - which is unstoppable - and got us booked for the trip.

Our flight from Astana to Novosibirsk left at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday June 9.  We made it to the airport by bus, checked in, and got onto our plane and to Novosibirsk without any problem.  We made it through passport control at Tolmachevo Airport much faster than two years ago and got outside just in time to catch the bus from the airport to the train station.  We had lots of time until our train left (1:00 a.m.) for Irkutsk, so we checked our bags into the storage area and then went out on the town.  Our first stop was at KFC to eat lunch. After that we walked to the movie theater to see what was playing.  The weather was gray and it was drizzly, so rather than walking a lot, we decided to check on movies first.  Jurassic World was playing in twenty minutes so we bought tickets and watched.  It was a pretty good movie and it is always fun to watch movies in Russian.  The translation was good (something that has improved vastly in the past 15 years) and that was nice.

After the movie, we went outside.  It wasn't drizzling anymore so we walked around a bit - and right into a small protest.  A group was out protesting the proposal to raise the pension age (a proposal that was passed while we were still in Russia), so that was interesting.  It was about time for dinner, so we looked around until we found a little Mongolian place where we tried some new food that was similar to what we have in Kazakhstan, but different and still good.

Novosibirsk. Trying to decide which street to take. 

Came upon this nice fountain...

... and the protesters.

Explorers

We bought some train supplies (cup of noodles, instant mashed potatoes, crackers, water, etc.) and then headed to the station where we got our bags and waited in the waiting room for about 4 hours until the train arrived from Moscow (on its way to Chita), and we boarded.  We were on the train from Sunday morning at 12:30 until Monday morning at 8:30 a.m.  We had a fifty minute stop in Krasnoyarsk in the afternoon on Sunday and so Ludmila (Babushka) came and saw us and bought the kids ice cream, so that was nice.

Riding the trains is one of our kids favorite part every time we are in Russia!

Nika and Lina are playing a game on the top bunk.

Got caught!

Babushka surprised us by showing up at the train station when we stopped for 45 minutes in Krasnoyarsk. Her supplying our kids with ice cream was not such a surprise!

In Irkutsk we caught the bus and then had to walk for about half a mile to the bus station.  Lina was a bit sick so we had to stop and let her rest and drink and use the bathroom.  In the end she felt better and we made it to the bus station and got tickets to Listvyanka (the town right on the coast of Lake Baikal).  While we were sitting we met a woman and her 15 year old daughter who were also going there.  The daughter does home school so the mom and Yulia hit it off and started talking.  In the end numbers were exchanged (they were on the bus that left an hour before ours) and they ended up being our buddies while we were there.

The ride to Listvyanka was interesting.  It was through the mountains and forest.  We came down out of the canyon and drove along the coast of the lake.  Our hotel was only 200 or 300 meters from the bus stop, so we made it there and checked in without any problems.  We went out and looked at the lake up close - it was beautiful and clear and the kids started immediately throwing rocks at it (which is how you know it is good).  Yulia had read about a restaurant that served the best Omul (the local fish for which Lake Baikal is famous) so we went there.  The Shaman cafe was about a mile away and we walked it, so we had plenty of appetite.  The atmosphere was nice - we were on the top floor of the cafe - and the food was really delicious.  All of us ordered the fish.  I ordered mine with mushrooms, Yulia and two girls had theirs with pine-nuts, and two girls had theirs with cheese sauce.

Skipping rocks is the first thing the girls do when they see a big body of water!

One of the many tourist boats.

Lina

Sophie

Lexa

Nika

Everyone was happy with their order.  We also had some great side dishes and salads and so no one left hungry or unsatisfied.  The bill was pretty steep (American prices) but we had good food and a nice start to our trip.

Spencer's dish: omul with mushrooms.

The Dream of Baikal hotel was made out of wood (most buildings are) and felt like a cabin or camping lodge.  The kids' beds were more comfortable than ours, but we had a nice room and views out at the Lake from our windows.  We bought some groceries for breakfast in the morning and settled in.

On our way back to the hotel.

A cloud forming over the lake.

Our hotel "Dream of Baikal".

Inside and out was everything out of wood.

Our room, small but beautiful.

Tuesday morning we slept in until we were all rested, and then we ate breakfast and headed out.  We were soon enticed into taking a ride on a boat (our two youngest were free).  We climbed onto a boat and it took us out around the coast past where the road ended to a secluded rocky beach where some other boats were also going.  The water as we went out was still crystal clear, and it was amazing to see how deep the water became very quickly.  The ride lasted about twenty minutes, and we spent about twenty minutes on shore, and then went back.  While we were ashore, the kids had fun climbing and finding rocks.

A view from our room in the morning.

Ready to embark on an adventure.

Nika

A view of a part of the port. The oval submarine looking building is Nerpinarium. The one with the tallest roof is our hotel.

Love that water!

Our hotel.

And into the lake! The mountains far away are the East Sayan Mountains.

The solar telescope up on the mountain. Baikal has a huge amount of sunny days per year making it a good spot to observe the sun's activity.

The water is so clear, you can see 40 meters deep!

We got out here to walk around a bit and to take some pictures.

These kids would never miss an opportunity to climb!

There were a lot of these butterflies on the bank.

Lexa and Lina found a little cave.

Nika

When we got back, Yulia texted Irina, the woman we'd met the day before, and we found out they were taking a boat tour to the circum Baikal railroad.  We went and booked that trip for a bit later in the afternoon and then ate a snack.  We met up with Irina and her daughter Lera, who really hit it off with our girls - especially Nika.  It turned out that we booked the tours with different companies, so we didn't see each other on the actual tour.

The tour was interesting, but not quite what we thought.  We went further across the lake and stopped at a shoreline where we could climb up to the tracks.  The railroad itself does not work completely anymore since they built a hydroelectric dam in the 1950s and it flooded part of the route.  We went and walked along the tracks and through one of the dozens of tunnels that had been built as part of the original railroad in the late 19th and early 20th century.  It was neat.  On our way back to Listvyanka, the captain stopped the boat, lowered a bucket into the lake and drew it up.  We all drank water right from the lake and it was really good.

We had a couple of American guys on our tour with us.  They had flown to Russia to watch the World Cup and were doing a bit of a tour of Russia while they were there.  We had a good time talking to them.

That still water is almost like a perfect mirror.

Going on another adventure.

The old railroad.

These are called "zharki" in Russian which can be translated as "fire flowers".

The tunnel.

And of course our kids climbed right on top of the tunnel.

There is the light at the end of the tunnel!

Our awesome crew!

Gentle touch of the nature!

Wading in the lake. The temperatures are very cold!

A sun dog on our way back to Listvyanka was a beautiful sight.

We spotted a few nerpas, Baikal freshwater seals.

Drinking Baikal water!

It was unbelievably clear and tasted very good!

After the tour ended we met up with Irina and her daughter and we ate dinner at a little cafe.  The day had been sunny and beautiful and we had really seen the Lake and shore from many different perspectives.  We really enjoyed it.

Dinner with new friends!

Playing on the pier.

It was a great day, full of adventures and memories!

To be continued...

Sadness and joy

At the beginning of June, I with a group of friends went to Alzhir Memorial about 18 miles outside of Astana. Alzhir is one of the main two memorial gulag sites in Kazakhstan. This particular one was a concentration camp for the wives and children (and sisters) of the “betrayers of the homeland” during Stalin’s regime. It served as a political concentration camp for women from all over the Soviet Union. It operated from the1930s to the early 1950s and had several high-profile prisoners including famous artists and actresses. More than 18 thousand women went through this camp. So sad! The museum itself was fairly small but had some interesting artifacts.

The Arch of Sorrow, the entrance to the memorial.

One of the photographs in the museum showing the arriving prisoners.

Depicting a scene of an interrogation by the NKVD.

In the cell.

Map of the Gulag network

The marble wall that goes around the museum with the names of all prisoners that went through this camp.

In the first week of June we also had a party with our friends from church, an embassy family the Holmgrens, since they were moving to their new post in Georgia (the country) this summer. We had a big crew of expats and volunteers. The Holmgrens cooked up a big American breakfast for dinner meal that included waffles with fixings, hash browns, sausage, and real bacon. Bacon is something that you cannot find in Kazakhstan, and Spencer was especially interested in that one. We had a lot of fun and will miss them dearly.

Some of the party goers.

Me with my friend Ramona Stice. They lived in Astana for a couple of years but moved back to the US last summer. They came over for a 2-week visit, and we were very happy to have them even if it was for a short time.

Friends for life!

Our spring family life

We had a few family events this spring. First of all, at the end of April our twins, our youngest, turned big 1-0! From now on they will be in double digits for the rest of their lives! We spread out the celebration over three days due to some scheduling issues. Spencer cooked a birthday dinner for them the night before (deep-fried chicken and buiscuits). Then we had a birthday cake and presents on the morning of their birthday. And finally, the following day we went to our big mall across the street for some fun and dinner. The twins picked to go Everikum (an interactive science museum), so we bought all of them tickets and sent them on their way. They had a lot of fun going through a mirror maze, a haunted maze, playing a variation of paintball and doing some science experiments. Happy birthday, Sophie and Lexa!

The twins asked for a lemon cake with a lemon cream-cheese frosting. Yummy! 

Making a wish.

Going through a mirror maze at the science museum. 

May 9 was a big holiday here – a Victory Day to commemorate a victory in WWII. In the morning I took Lina to pierce her years. A long time ago we told our kids that when they turn 12, they can decide if they want to pierce their ears, and ears only (one hole in each). Lina was turning 12 in June and wanted to do it but she wanted her ears to be healed by the time her birthday rolled around, so I took her in to a beauty salon for her early birthday present. Everything went very well and was painless. A side note: Lina’s birthday rolled in and out but her ears are still going through the healing process. It wasn’t as easy as she imagined!

That afternoon we went to an Ice Show which had a famous Russian figure skater Adelina Sotnikova as a main character (the show was Snow White) who was also an Olympian Champion in 2014 but got hurt the following year and left the sport. Since our kids take figure skating, I thought it would be good for them to see one of the famous stars of this sport. The show was great. Afterwards we walked to our big mall which is just a couple of bus stops from the Hockey Arena where the show was, and we had a celebratory dinner at the Ocean Basket (one of a very few restaurants in our part of Kazakhstan where they serve sea food). We all ordered different kinds of sea food which was pretty good.

Took our seats and now waiting for the show to start.

Snow White with her prince.

Family dinner.

I normally don't post pictures of just food but this plate of squid made in three different ways  from Ocean Basket was pretty delicious.

In May we also had a church activity for Mother's Day where the women of our branch (a small church unit) got together and cooked some tacos and brownies, and had a nice time together.

Here we have Americans, Kazakhs, a Mongolian, a South African and a  couple of Russians if you include me, who is taking this picture.

At the end of May the girls had their end of the year recitals. The guitar one was a concert for just the kids in their class followed by a tea party but the flute one was for the parents, so Spencer and I went to see that one. It was Sophie’s first recital (Lexa had experienced one in her guitar class already), and both of them were very excited. An amazing thing happened: their teacher started the recital right on time! A side note: nothing in Kazakhstan ever starts on time! Ever! We loved their teacher even more for that! The girls did great, and we were very proud of their accomplishments!

Sophie is on the left and Lexa is on the right.

Kids with their teacher whom we absolutely LOVE!!!

Afterwards we called the older girls and asked them to meet us at the … big mall across the street! It seems like the place where our entertainment takes place. We had a little dinner to celebrate the end of the school year and all of the kids’ accomplishments. 

Goodbye school year, hello summer!!!

Our spring university life.

One-third of the summer is gone, and I was sure we just barely stepped into it. Trying to catch up on our blogging is a bit overwhelming, so in this post I will try to hit some highlights from our spring 2018 at NU campus (I decided to do a separate post on our spring as a family).

In March and April, we attended end of the year concerts for the NU Orchestra and NU Choir. Somehow, we got on their VIP lists, so we had very nice seats reserved for us. Yay! Both events are always very well-attended, and it is almost impossible to get the tickets. Both Orchestra and the Choir did an amazing job as always. Spencer and I were talking about how it would be great for them to do a tour in America, showing Kazakh culture. One of my favorite pieces from orchestra was the Believer (Imagine Dragons) played on national Kazakh instruments. The choir did songs from famous musicals which was a lot of fun!

Waiting for the show to start (NU Orchestra)

NU Orchestra (some of the national instruments they play are very cool)

They even had a base guitar! If you want to see some of their pieces, just search on YouTube for NU Orchestra) 

NU Choir had in my opinion their best performance in all of the years we've been here!

Spencer was nominated for Professor of the Year Award (in total only 5 professors from the entire university were nominated), so we went to that fancy Award Ceremony where the students, clubs, and one professor get an award for being awesome. I mean they even rolled out the red carpet, how fancy is that?! And even though Spencer didn’t win the award, the students cheered the loudest for him when his name was read! Another positive outcome of this event was that I got myself a new dress and new shoes! 😊

 

Who are these two handsome people?

At the ceremony we had a front row seats!

We also had our annual award ceremony for our basketball team. As always it was held at our house with a lunch, laughter, and some tears (tears from saying goodbye to our two graduating basketball players). We love our basketball family!

Some of our second year girls

Aigerym  and Ayim, our two graduates this year.

Our basketball family minus Nika who is taking this picture.

NU does a year book (kind of like in any US high school), but this is the first year Spencer decided to get one. Maybe it was because this year was the first year his students that he led from the very first year, graduated. I don’t know, I should ask. But we made it into this year book (besides his picture on the list of the faculty). I think students like him!