Nizhny Novgorod: the rest of the story

Friday we had a leisurely breakfast then got started. We headed down into the pedestrian zone and our first stop was at a souvenir vendor’s. The guy was really pleasant and we got into a conversation. When I asked him about foreign tourists In Nizhny, he said that there weren’t too many and he attributed that to fear of the current government. We continued on our way to the Kremlin to walk around because Fouad had not been with us the day before. We had also read that there was a cable car which went across the Volga. We said, if it’s running, we’re going to take a ride. and from where we were standing at the Chkalov steps, we could see the cars moving. So we grabbed the next bus in that direction. There was no signage at all so we had to ask for directions several times. After taking a windy, ice-covered path, we found it. The one-way ride cost,.....are you ready?....$1.40. We would have paid $25 in the States. And you couldn’t buy a round trip ticket. You had to buy a return ticket at the other end. It was a really nice ride in a cabin that could hold 8 if you squeezed together, but there were only 5 of us. It was amazing to see how wide the Volga was. When we got off on the other side, we headed for a little cafe for lunch. The place was called Chashka and does a bang-up business because of the cable cars. After lunch we headed back to the cable car station, bought our tickets and this time had to wait in line about 15 minutes before we got in. There were six of us in the car this time. We were talking English, of course. Fouad happened to look at the guy sitting next to him and the guy smiled. Fouad said later he Knew the guy wasn’t russian because Russians don’t smile. So Fouad asked him where he was from and it turned out he was Egyptian so they conversed in Arabic and when we got back on land, he gave us a ride in his car to the Kremlin. His name was Ihab and he Also spoke excellent English. He works for Catetpillar and the company had sent him To Nizhny where had been living for 5 months and still didn’t know a soul except with the people at work who weren’t extremely sociable. after he left us off at the Kremlin, we visited a couple of churches and then decided to call Ihab and ask him to join us for dinner. He came and picked us up at our place and we drive to a really nice restaurant wher we hung out for three hours. He had some really hair-raising stories to tell about when he was working in Iraq. It really brought home how dangerous the situation in the Middle East is. he sometimes has to come to Kazan on business, so we’re looking forward to meeting him again. We got back to the apartment and went to bed right away because we had to vacate the apartment at 12 on Saturday. I still didn’t sleep well. The place was too hot, the blanket too uncomfortable, and, and, and. I got up at 8 and ran to MacDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin and coffee and came back. We got the place all cleaned up and we still had a little time before the guy came to ch3 k us out, so w3 quickly ran to the post office to mail post cards. We also quickly went down to the nice souvenir man again and bought a few more things. He was as talkative as the day before. So, back at the apartment, the guy comes, makes sure we haven’t damaged anything and we leave. We dragged our suitcases through the pedestrian zone to the Museum of Equipment and Tools. And here’s where I got really ticked off. The day before we had stopped in to ask if would be ok to bring our suitcases and leave them in the cloakroom while we visited the museum. The very nice lady at the d3sk said of course, and there were discounts for students and seniors. “Great”, I say. “I’m a senior.” So, in we walk on Saturday and there’s an older guy at the desk. We deposit our suitcases and go to pay. I tell him I’m a senior and he responds that, I’m not a Russian senior so I can’t get the discount. ok. I’ve had this happen before. Fouad shows how ID and gets his student discount. Sonia tells m3 she’s not even going to try because she’s not a Russian student. And wouldn’t you know it, the jerk offers her a discount without even asking her. Screw him, that discriminating piece of crap. The exhibits themselves wer very interesting. Ther was a lot or technical stuff which Fouad particularly enjoyed and there were some great old Soviet bicycles. There was even an entire room devoted to the Soviet Union. It was worth the visit, but I’m still ticked. After the museum we walked up the street to the New York Restaurant. We walked in dragging our suitcases and you would have though we had just arrived from outer space. I’m not talking big suitcase. We each had one piece of carry-on luggage. The waiter just stared at us. I asked if we could eat. He asked if we wanted to eat downstairs in the Georgian restaurant or upstairs in the American restaurant. We saw American. He says he will go up and check. He doesn’t come back. meanwhile a waitress comes and asks us what we want. We want to eat in the American restaurant. Ok, she says go upstairs. As we are going up, the first waiter comes down and leads us upstairs. There’s not one damn customer up there. What was his problem that he couldn’t take us up right away?! The waitress finally comes and says they only accept cash. No problem. She finally takes our order. I had a great Thai soup and shared a pizza with Sonia. We finally left and took the bus to the House of Books, where I was looking for some Russian language textbooks for myself and ended up buying something in English. Oh well, I’ll try to order what I want online. We still had about four hours to kill before we had to get on the train so we headed to the mall across from the train station. First, we bought Ravil’s birthday present, because his birthday was on the Monday when we got back, then we hun* out in the food court until we had to catch the train. We had the same arrangement as last time. Two lowered bunks in the compartment and one in the aisle. And wouldn’t you know it, we had a group of 11-year -old boys in our wagon. I was already thinking they would be goofing off and loud all night, but by 11 all was quiet. I thought I slept well, but still you notice every little noise and every time the train stops. We got in to Kazan shortly after 6 and got a taxi back to our complex. I was back in bed at 7:30 and slept until 11:30. I had to be downtown at the language club at 1 because Guzel had wanted to see where it was and I told her I would go with here. Sonia, Fouad, Guzel and I, plus about four others. One Russian lady, instead of practicing her English, kept trying to get Guzel to translate for her. That wasn5vexactly the idea of how this club is supposed to work. Still feeling tired, our group left after about two hours. Sonia and I stopped for lunch at Aroma Kafe and then went shopping before heading home and trying to catch up on my sleep. Monday I started teaching my kids about spring, the calendar and the weather. They like to d3cid3 what weather we are having. And they are getting good at “the days of the week” song. Got through the day all right. Came home and took a nap before Sonia and I had to catch the bus to Ravil’s surprise party and Lorene’s really neat apartment downtown. It’s a great apartment, but the entranc3 is down a side street surrounded by a picket fence and it took us ages to ge5 in. Some nice Russian guy tried to help and w3 ended up calling Lorene to come downstairs and find us . It turned out noth to be much of a surprise, but we did have a great time. Lots of good music and laughs. And Lorene made raclette with French cheese to die for. Since we had to be a work early yesterday, Sonia and I got a taxi at midnight. School was fine on Tuesday. My TA is on vacation so I have a sub. she speaks excellent English and is doing a great job. She’s surprised how much English my little guys know. Today we celebrated Alex’s birthday in the party room. Spider-Man was even there, leading the games and making balloon figures fo4 us. It took a little time for the kids to get over being scared of Spider-Man but afte4 they warmed up, they had a good time. And now I’ve finally caught up on everything in the blog. Tomorrow Anna and I have tickets for a jazz concert. That should be fun. One last comment about Nizhny. The people were by-and-large very unfriendly and it mad3 me really appreciate Kazan.