Dad Here - Guest Post

Megan has invited me to contribute to her blog as a guest. I am Megan’s father, Gary. Sue and I arrived at the Novosibirsk Siberia airport on Friday afternoon where Matt picked us up and arranged for a taxi to transport us back to their apartment about 25 minutes away to their apartment downtown. The crowded public buses, trams and trains are not the place to take up space with luggage (resupplies of family essentials) brought from home. Besides that, the taxi only cost $2.35.

First observation, it was cold, about -18F at the warmest part of the day and windy. Visibility was about 2 mile maximum, not because of smog but because of what I called frozen fog. Second observation, all the car tires were studded to enable them to get traction on the frozen road surface. Siberia does not use salt on roads so it is what I called a permafrost roadway.

Saturday morning the sun did not rise until 9:45 AM. But we were well underway by 9:00 AM by bus to get to the Aquarium at 10:00 when they

opened. Did I mention that it was -24 F and a 40 minute ride in an unheated vintage bus and then a 15 minute walk to see some fish. Really the aquarium was the finest that I had ever seen, and a great show with dolphins, sea lions and a walrus. It was well worth the cold adventure to get across town which is typical for Novosibirskans everyday as they trek to work or for groceries. By afternoon when we started back to the apartment it was up to -16 F with sunshine and only a slight breeze. Almost balmy.

Sue and I stayed in the brother’s batch and will be using it our entire stay. They were away on visits and will return after we leave at end of January.

This morning was our first Sunday in Russia, still pitch dark out until first dawn light at 9:30. Sue and I went over to Matt and Megan’s a little before 9:00 AM, they live in the same apartment building as the brothers but we had to go outside to a different entrance to get up to M&M’s place. The hallways in Russian apartments go up vertically with apartments on each side unlike the USA that has horizontal hallways which waste space.

Onto the #2 tram, a heated transport this time, at 9:10 AM for a 1/2 hour

pleasant ride to the second to the last stop and a 2 block walk to Aleksei’s and Nadya’s apartment for our time together. 6 adults and 3 children under 4 years old. Aleksei and Nadya with their 2 year old son Metvei were from Kazakhstan. Songs shared the same music, but had different page numbers and words. So we all sang in our native languages, voices and hearts blended as one.

Matt and Aleksei translated to and from Russian and English for us mono linguists and we all had bread to spare. We stayed for a traditional Russian meal of simmered beef in gravy served over boiled barley, rye bread and a carrot cucumber garlic salad. For desert I had a slice of rye bread with butter and honey, everyone else had some chocolate things. By 1:00 it had been a big day for all the little ones and we needed to be on our way back to home base on the tram. It was a very profitable day made possible by our Father and His Son.