the banya

Last week Nicholas and I visited a small city, Kiselovsk, located in the neighboring region, about 6 hours from Novosibirsk. We went there to give a couple of presentations at one of the local schools, and also hang out with our friends, Lena and Sasha, who grew up there. (Lena works with us at the academy. She and Sasha were the first people I met when I first got to Novosibirsk). So yeah, we stayed in Sasha’s parent’s house, which is a very large living space by Russian standards, and in general a very pretty house. Especially impressive was finding out that Sasha, his father, and his brothers built the house themselves! (When I told one of my students today how cool it is that they built their own house he told me that there are three things that all Russian men must do in their lives: build a house, plant a tree, and sire a child.) Kiselovsk is located in the heart of Russian coal mining territory. There are coal mines and factories absolutely everywhere, with smoke-stacks belching clouds of dark black smoke on every street corner (which Sasha continually pointed out with a strange sense of pride. Look at us kicking the environment’s ass!). There were dozens of railroad lines used by the coal companies criss-crossing the city. We even saw the hugest truck I’ve ever seen in person hauling coal or something. Most of the people we talked to were occupied in something related to coal mining. A lot of Sasha’s relatives work at a factory where they manufacture explosives used in mining! After giving our presentations we had the treat of experiencing the true Russian banya. A banya is basically like a sauna, but it differs somehow… Russians see a huge difference between the two, and in their eyes, you haven’t really sweated till you’ve been in a Russian banya. Anyways, Nic and I joined Sasha and Lena’s father for an intense banya session. First we sat and sweated really intensely for about 20 minutes, then we beat each other with bundles of birch branches, then we ran out into the backyard and jumped naked in the snow (it was -40 degrees!), then we ran back in, sweated some more and drank beer. It was probably the most perfectly Russian experience I’ve ever had. All of Sasha’s relatives were telling us that now we are “Nastoyashi Siberiki”, or real Siberian men.

Now I’m preparing to embark on another weekend journey, this time to the spectacular city of Tomsk, where fellow ETA, and downright chiller, Jason, lives. We have a 3 day weekend because Monday is the Defenders of the Motherland day, or something like that. So woo hoo! Then on Tuesday I’ll be giving a presentation somewhere in Tomsk about Appalachian music…. Then back to work.