All About Kazan...The Longest Post in the World!

Okay, so the Internet is up and running again! Yay! David said that if you don't pay enough for the month, the Internet company slows your Internet down. That's crazy. So, he paid more money today, and it's back working. Crazy Russian Internet.

Where do I even begin to describe Kazan? I suppose I'll start at the beginning. This is going to be a very long post, let me tell you...

Four other teachers and I met at the metro. (In the red is Laura H., an earth science teacher at HCA and an English teacher at a seminary in Moscow. Next to her is Gail, the librarian at HCA. In the yellow is Laura M. who will soon be Laura R. She is a 4th-grade teacher. In the blue vest is Christiana who is the elementary school principal.) We headed to the train station. When we got there, I immediately noticed a difference in the type of people at the train station. They are earthier than the ones you see on the metro every day. They are less trendy and more sweaty. They are thicker, stouter, and less graceful than the citified folk of Moscow.

After showing my passport and train ticket to the lady, I got on the train. Like any train, the halls are narrow. We had to push our way around the other people, and finally we found our compartment. The others were assigned to be together, and I was assigned to be in a compartment of strangers. Christiana took my spot with the strangers instead since this was my first time on an overnight train. Heck, this was my first time on a train -- period. (Touring the Chattanooga Choo Choo doesn't count.) We had a lot of fun being silly as we waited for the train to leave. Its scheduled departure date was 10:30 p.m. Russian pop and rap music blasted at us as the train began to move. We had to wait 45 minutes for the bathroom to open. I asked Christiana why, and she said because Moscow has restrictions about train dumpings. "What???" I said. Then she explained to me that when you go the bathroom on the train, it flushes underneath the train onto the tracks. You can't do that within Moscow city limits, but once the train is in the countryside, the bathroom is open for miles...

Around 11:30 p.m. they shut off the lights. The two bottom benches turn into beds which is where I slept. I put my purse underneath my pillow to safeguard it. All the compartments are connected and opened to one another, so there is no place you can sleep where something is safe from other people. I woke up several times during the night to ensure that my purse was still there. I didn't sleep well at all. If the train stopped or slowed down, I'd wake up. And that seemed to be at least every two or three hours. If I needed to turn to readjust myself on the narrow bench, I'd wake up as well. It was NOT comfortable at all.


We got up and had our tea. The woman asked for 20 rubles, but I think she pocketed some of it for herself. On the train ride back, tea was only 11 rubles. I'm getting braver at speaking Russian to Russians. I asked for tea myself. "Chorney chai s' saharom." That means "black tea with sugar."

I have a theory about languages. It's not a new theory. I just have the theory as well. Laura H. wrote a paper on it years ago, so I know it's not a new theory. I'm not that smart. This is what I've discovered. When I want to speak Russian, my high school German comes out. When I ordered tea, I almost said "chorney chai mit saharom." Mit is the German word for "with." I should email Mr. Tollett, my German high school teacher. He'd be so proud that being in Russia is helping my German.

For a few hours before we arrived, I was able to take in the Russian countryside and see small towns here and there.

A lot of the little towns had very colorful houses. I was surprised. I would have expected...oh, grey. I expect everything in Russia to be grey.

When we got to Kazan, there were tons of men badgering us, asking us if we wanted a "Tahxi" ride. "Nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet," we said. Over and over.

Fortunately, there is a family in Moscow that used to live in Kazan, and they still have their apartment there. So, we were able to stay at their empty apartment for about 500 rubles each for the whole weekend (about $14). They had mattresses, towels, etc. So, that was an unexpected surprise for this trip. Plus, it was in the center of the city, so we were close to the train station (about a 15 minute walk).

Here below is the apartment building we stayed in. Very Sovietesque in my opinion. Our door was metal.


Kazan is a haunting city. I say that for a number of reasons. First, it is a city of one million people and yet it felt empty and lifeless. It tries to attract tourists. It makes its claim in many areas, but it is a lonely city. I felt a heaviness there that I do not feel in Moscow. Simply, Kazan seems depressing. There are different things that make it seem like an unhappy, almost unearthly place.

First, in Moscow, there are pigeons everywhere. In Kazan, they have a lot of pigeons too, but mostly they have crows. And their crowing is eerie in the empty, silent streets. I say empty, but I guess I mean that metaphorically or something. There were people in the streets, but the streets were empty in another way. It's hard to describe it. They just felt empty. People walking around. Every store open and selling something, but no one buying. Have you ever seen the indie flick "Wristcutters"? It's a bizarre movie that Michael and I watched once. It's about people who commit suicide and the "place" they go when they die. It's an alternate reality that is very empty, lifeless, and meaningless. It may be an overstatement to use that to describe Kazan, but I was honestly reminded of that movie when I was in Kazan.

Many of the buildings in Kazan are falling apart. They have no windows, but are filled with furniture, papers, and and TONS of trash all lying everywhere.

Some parts of Kazan seemed like a ghost town -- as if people just got tired of the building and decided to up and leave. The sidewalks are covered in dark, brown-black slush and snow. There aren't nearly as many street cleaners as there are in Moscow.

Here are some pictures that might show you why I feel like Kazan is empty...

Muddy, slushy snow.

On Friday after we got to the apartment we tried to de-nastify ourselves from the germy train. So, we took showers and got ready for the day. The bathroom and hallway in the apartment have heated floors. You'd love it, Mom. And "heated" is an understatement. They were rather toasty.

Then we headed out and made our way to the Kazan Kremlin. The most famous building in the Kremlin is the blue-domed mosque. Its name is Qolsharif mosque and is the largest one in Russia. The original mosque was destroyed by Ivan the Terrible in the 1500s, but it was rebuilt the 1990s.

The mosque is more beautiful at night than it is during the day. Inside it is unbelievable. We were not allowed to take pictures though. Our heads had to be covered, and we had to put plastic bags on our feet so that we wouldn't track in muddy slush. At the mosque, we went upstairs to the balcony where we could watch below. For some time we just watched two men bow, stand, bow, stand, bow, stand. Over and over and over.

In front of the Kremlin.


The statue outside the Kremlin. I love it.

Inside the Kremlin.

Soyembika Tower. It is a mosque and a leaning tower all in one! No one is sure when it was built. Possibly as far as back as the 1500s.

The Annunciation Cathedral. (I got reprimanded in here by the "store worker" for not having my head covered.)

The two architects of Kazan in front of the Annunciation Cathedral.

Inside the Kremlin at night.

The mosque is gorgeous at night. It kind of reminds me of the Disneyworld castle.

The mosque.

The door to the mosque. Kazan has more signs in English than Moscow does. Moscow has restrictions about signs in English. The first language on the door is the Tatar language which is the official language of Tatarstan. Second word is in Russian. The third word you should be able to figure out... ;)

Laura M. left her mark outside the mosque.

After that we went to some shops in the Kremlin wall. There are probably 20 kiosks built into the wall that are selling all sorts of things Kazan-related. I bought a purple pashmina for myself, and I got a few things for some friends and family members.

After that we went to a history museum and an art gallery. There were a lot of paintings I really liked. I wrote some of the names down in Russian, so maybe I will try to track them down online to repost here. We'll see.

As we made our way through the art gallery, poor Laura H. got attacked (verbally) by one of the men who worked there. He found out she spoke Russian and took his chance to complain to an American about America. He was very rude to her. It's interesting though. People can have completely different responses to you when they find out you are from America. One of the women who was monitoring one hall of the gallery was really happy we were American. She wanted to know if any of us were from Texas because she had family that was living there now. Christiana told her that I used to live in Texas. So, there. A point of connection. And that made her smile at me. :)

When we walked through the museum and art gallery, there was a woman in each room to monitor. That is normal in my book of cultural protocol, but what's not normal is that they keep the lights off unless there is someone there. So, if you go into a room, the lights mysteriously turn on. And Russian lights take at least several seconds to turn on, and each light comes on one at a time. So, it's pretty funny, but I felt bad that those women had to sit in silence and in the dark, waiting for someone to come in so they could turn the lights on. What a boring job.

The only time I felt like there was happiness or vitality in Kazan was on Saturday, St. Valentine's Day. Russians do celebrate Valentine's Day. I was surprised when I found that out. On Saturday we walked all over Kazan to see various churches and mosques. While we were in the main shopping square, a group of Kazan State University students brought hundreds of red balloons. They set up some writing easels and put posters on them. One said "I love..." This was where people would write the things they loved. The second one said "I know what love is. Da -- Nyet." If you knew what love is, you wrote your name underneath Da. If you didn't know what love is, then you wrote your name underneath Nyet. I got a piece of chocolate from one of the students for signing. He was so happy that Americans wrote their name on the poster. Christiana, who speaks the best Russian in our group, asked him what this was for, and he said, "Why not! It is St. Valentine's Day!" You can see where I signed my name below.

I know what love is!


People chatting and having fun at the center of the city on Valentine's Day.

On Saturday we did a few other things. We visited a church which, I think, is called the Church of Peter and Paul, but there was no sign to indicate its name. We were using an oldish map and guessing our way around Kazan. Something we noticed about the Orthodox churches in Kazan is that the icons are much darker. In one church, Jesus and Mary looked black. People in Kazan tend to look darker anyway, so I thought maybe it was because of the Kazan culture and Tatar people; however, I was soon informed by Laura M. who is an artist and former art teacher that it is simply because they aren't maintaining and restoring the icons. Most of the churches in Kazan did seem run down.

Inside the basement of the church there was the kids' Sunday School class. An 11-year-old did this painting, and I thought it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

Outside the church. Writing in snow is a new fav of mine.

So, later we found a sign for a wax museum. We kept following sign after sign until it took us into an alley a bit off the main walkway. So, we got there, and a ticket was 100 rubles. We were going back and forth...a wax museum? Is it worth 100 rubles (about three bucks)? We decided to go for it just so we could say we had gone.

It was so much fun. It was definitely the highlight of the day. Mosques, churches, old buildings...don't compare to a wax museum where you get to take funny pictures and laugh about how real they look. Wax museums are more conducive to creating memories and laughter.
The guy who worked there spoke decent English, and he said to me, "You can touch! You can touch, but not their skin. You can touch the body though." Haha. So, we touched the body and took several fun pics.

Good ol' Jack Sparrow made an appearance...

Somebody still loves you Boris Yeltsin!!!!

Salvador Dali. Cuh-reepy!!!

Meeting Russia's new president.

Meeting America's old president. When the guy saw me taking this picture, he said, "Just for fun, just for fun." I think he liked us, but he knew that this wax representation of Bush was definitely disrespectful. All the other Russian leaders looked their best in their snappy suits, and here they put Bush, all tan and orange, in an awkward position...and in an army suit. So, I think he was trying to say, "We don't like your (old) president, but we like you. So, it's just for fun." Haha...

From Hitler....

....to Yoda. (Shrek & Fiona were there too, but I forgot to take a picture.)

Christiana with Catherine the Great.

Eventually, we went to an outside market. Seriously, it was like a Wal-Mart, but made up of kiosks...out in the cold. There were TONS of dried fruit kiosks. I got half a kilo of dried apricots for 100 rubles. They are so good. I have been eating them for lunch all week.

Laura M. said this pomegranate looked like a flower.
Laura H. said it looked like a massacre.

The toiletries kiosk. (There was even an underwear kiosk, a curtains kiosk, a hair accessories kiosk....etc. Seriously...an outside Wal-Mart!)

The fish department.

Later we took a tour of the metro. We kind of laughed about the "Kazan metro" because it only has six stations. Moscow has 177 stations. We shouldn't laugh though. You have to be a big city in general to even HAVE a metro. Their metro was newer, but less high-tech. You use plastic tokens to get on, but in Moscow you have a paper card which you scan over a green sensor circle which tells you how many more rides you have.

Anyway, the Kazan metro is fairly pretty. I took some pictures...

The guardian dragon of the Kazan metro?

I got yelled at by the guard for this picture! (You're not allowed to take pics in the metro... LAME.)

I learned a new fact on my trip. The Orthodox cross in Kazan has three bars. I thought it was for the Trinity, but it's not. The top one is for the sign above Jesus' head. The second one is for his arms. The third one is for his feet, which is always slightly crooked.

Here I am, cup of tea in hand!

This is a tall Orthodox tower on the main shopping street. The door was open, so we went in, but you could only get to the third floor.

Eating dinner together in the apartment...

This is me and Laura H. Laura is from Iowa. She's super cool, and her Russian is fantastic. We're hoping to set up a movie/pizza outing soon. This picture is funny because Laura M. was taking it because there is a sign in the far background that says "Big and Tasty" in Russian, and I protested because I didn't want that sign to be misinterpreted as a label. We were at McDonald's.

So, speaking of McDonald's. Laura H. said, "Hey, they're hiring. You could work here." And I said, "As if I'd understand a word they said." But really, I could work there. All of the names of the stuff on the menu are the same...essentially. They're all in the Cyrillic alphabet, but they are the English words. A McFlurry is still a McFlurry. It's just pronounced with a Russian accent: Mahk-Floor-ee. A Big Mac is pronounced Beeg-Mahk. I could totally work at MahkDohnald's.

Here is Kazan State University. I sent a postcard of this to Prof. Thomas at school. Definitely not the prettiest spot in Kazan...looks like a D.C. building, but hey -- Tolstoy graduated from here....as did Lenin. His statue is right across that street.

And here he is now. Lenin. Although they had his original name on the statue for some reason.

Indiana Jeans?

I don't know what language this is, but it looks beautiful.

When we started to head home to the apartment one day, we passed by a mosque during the call to prayer. I took an opportunity to record it. To me...it's a creepy sound. Not because it's a Muslim call to prayer, but because it simply sounds creepy. Monotone, nasally, loud. And imagine the call to prayer echoing through the streets along with the call of the crows.

There was one thing that happened on the trip that I'll never forget. We were on the bus headed to the apartment, and two little boys who looked Middle Eastern got on. The bus conductor who collects your rubles did not go near them to collect money. Then one of the boys starts singing a Muslim song. It sounded a lot like the call to prayer, but with a stronger melody. Then, he walked the aisle of the bus, and people gave him money. The conductor gave some bus money to him too. I cried...for the beauty of it...the fact that he was little and unknowing...for his enchanting song...for his little face as he looked for money. I have no idea if he was genuinely in need or not. That doesn't really matter. He was precious, and his song broke my heart.

On the way back to Moscow, Laura H. and I had to sleep up top in a compartment with two other strangers. The other three had to sleep in the compartment next to ours. Their fourth person was a guy probably not much older than me...painfully thin. His face was all splotchy, and his eyes red. He looked like he was on drugs. Anyway, I have this theory that if Russians hear you speak English, they also think you are blind. On Monday morning, as we were eating our boiled eggs and dried apricots for breakfast, talking casually....this guy starts to strip down. There he goes...taking off his pants and his shirt, and he's sitting in his briefs next to poor Laura M. Seriously, if we five girls can go a whole night and morning without changing clothes, there is no reason this guy couldn't have waited. And I thought I was high maintenance....

I have another story to prove my theory about Russians thinking English-speakers are blind. We were at a restaurant, and two men were observing our group, just watching quietly. Then, the two men start pointing at me very noticeably, and they see me look at them. So they know that they are in my direct line of vision. Whatever. I was always taught to not point and to not stare, and I think that's the best policy.

I have one more story. (Sorry, I know. So many!) We were on the bus, and this little girl is staring at us endlessly, and finally, she turns to her mom and says in Russian, "They're foreigners! They're foreigners! They're speaking a funny language!" Haha. Christiana translated for me. I love stuff like that.

Something similar to that happened to me a few weeks ago. This little girl was in line in front of me at a restaurant, and she wasn't moving. So, in a Russian fashion, I simply push forward...like all Russians do. Then she turns to me and starts spouting all sorts of things off to me. Then Andrea told me that she said, "You are a very bad person!" Her father then said something to her, and Andrea said that he said, "Why is she bad? She didn't do anything bad." Haha...

Okay, so this has been a really long post. I am very sorry.

Please continue to pray for me. My throat is starting to hurt really badly. Several of my students are sick, and I feel like I'm getting sick.

My first full week of teaching was hard, but good. I love my students more than words can say. They are wonderful. They are far too energetic, but in their disrespect, they are respectful. I can't really describe it. They are beautiful...precious....and far too smart for me. I just love them.

Overall, I am so blessed to be here. Russia is a gift. God is increasing my faith everyday. I love Him, and I am His helpless child.

Much Love,
Meredith