Siberia, Russia Part 3 – Communist Planes and Defining “Fluent”

Written by Rick Chapo


Continued from page 1

Our flight consisted of about 100 people. Of these, 90 percent were Russians. Grae and I counted as two andrepparttar remaining five or so people were religious volunteers going to convertrepparttar 140110 godless masses. They appeared to be having no luck onrepparttar 140111 plane, but Grae and I were able to strike up a few conversations.

I must say thatrepparttar 140112 Russians onrepparttar 140113 plane were extremely nice and very honest. While honesty is generally a good thing, their frankness made me a bit uncomfortable. First, there was a clear consensus that we were out of our mind for agreeing to go to Chita. “You are going WHERE?!” was followed by a lot of whispering between Russians and bulging eyes. Since I doubtedrepparttar 140114 pilot would be willing to turnrepparttar 140115 plane around, this wasn’t particularly comforting.

Our conversations raised an additional problem regardingrepparttar 140116 definition of “fluent”. In my mind, being fluent in a language meant that one could get directions, tell boring stories, etc., inrepparttar 140117 language in question. It quickly became clear that Grae’s definition of “fluent” was something less. This was verified when he turned to me and said, “Man, I’ve forgotten a lot.”

Great. Khabarovsk was only a few hours a way. But that’s a story to be told in Part 4 of this series…

Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of small, compact travel journals, hiking journals, rock climbing journals, fly fishing journals, bird watching journals and more. This story series is being created from journals entries in a Nomad Travel Journal. Visit Siberian Intercultural Bridges at http://www.siberian-bridges.org to find out more about teaching in Siberia.


Siberia, Russia Part 2 – Where Are We and What Day Is It?

Written by Rick Chapo


Continued from page 1
he speaks fluent Russian. This is a big relief as I had spent a lot ofrepparttar previous evening contemplating my Russian skills. That is to say, I had none. I couldn’t even pronouncerepparttar 140109 name of city we would land in, Khabarovsk. I nearly had a panic attack duringrepparttar 140110 night when I bolted up in bed uponrepparttar 140111 realization that I would have no way of knowing how to get torepparttar 140112 train or when to get off. You see,repparttar 140113 Russian language is based onrepparttar 140114 Cyrillic alphabet. There is no way to wingrepparttar 140115 Cyrillic alphabet. For example,repparttar 140116 letter “y” is pronounced “ch” as in Charlie. I was in definite trouble. Wouldrepparttar 140117 rest of my life be spent riding around aimlessly on trains? The continued grinning of Tom Dickinson didn’t make me feel any better.

Our flight from Seattle to Anchorage was uneventful. Yes, we flew Alaska Airlines. While waiting for our connection in Anchorage, two thoughts kept running though my head. First, isn’t Aeroflotrepparttar 140118 airline with allrepparttar 140119 crashes? Second, how did a man from Kentucky become fluent in Russian? I mean, what about his accent? I was feeling less confident about my translator and decided to investigate. I started rubbing my temples when he told me that he had never been to Russia. Alas, there was no turning back. Trust me, I tried. But that’s a story to be told in Part 3 of this nomad adventure travel series…

Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of small, compact travel journals, hiking journals, rock climbing journals, fly fishing journals, bird watching journals and more. This story series is being created from journals entries in a Nomad Travel Journal. Visit Siberian Intercultural Bridges at http://www.siberian-bridges.org to find out more about teaching in Siberia.


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