A City of Green

I arrived safely in Tomsk on Friday. The flight into the city was spectacular. For as far as the eye could see, forests stretched out into the horizon. Fog hung over the River Tom. The airport is quite small. There is a large advertisement over the main building which reads in bold red letters: Space for advertisement.

My host family has been very hospitable so far. I was a little worried at first because they did not show up at the pre-arranged spot to greet me . In addition, they have a cat. I am allergic to cats. However, my dog Ortino appears to have done an adequate job in preparing me for hairs and such things, and I have had no problems so far. I live on the top floor of a typical Soviet cement building. My Russian mother and father are business people. They recently opened a grocery shop not far from where I live. Yesterday, I visited it for the first time and bought a pirozhok (Russian pastry) with cabbage in order to support the store. We then all went to visit the grave of the babushka of Olga Evgenevna (my host mother). In Tomsk, they have a tradition of visiting the graves of relatives the day before Pentecost. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in a real Russian cemetery: overgrown, chaotic, flowers everywhere. In Siberia, it is too cold to grow flowers, so on the side of the road there were a large number of stands selling fake flowers: roses, daffodils, chrysanthemums - every color and size imaginable. Olga bought a bunch of the fake flowers and placed them in the dirt above her grandmother's grave. She then took out a cloth and proceeded to wipe off the dirt that had accumulated around the grave over the past year. Hundreds of other people were doing the same thing all around us. Her cleaning accomplished, Olga took out a piece of cake and some pirozhki. We ate and chatted by the grave of the grandmother. It was a wonderful moment, in the shade of a birch tree forest. After about ten minutes, we departed leaving behind the cake and a number of pirozhki.

I had my first chance to walk around the city yesterday afternoon with the group. The locals say that Tomsk is the Petersburg of Siberia. Vadim's (my host father's) mother explained to me that in the summer, Tomsk is a "city of green". I had a very favorable first impression. The river is gorgeous in the sun. The university is surrounded by parks lined with birch trees. The locals all seem to be in an awfully good mood, taking advantage of the rare good weather.

Tomorrow, it is suppossed to be quite hot. Olga explained to me that Tomsk is located in the midst of a number of swamps and that the mosquitoe season probably will be starting in earnest starting tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Warmest regards to all, s prazdnikom vsem na den svyatoe troitse, and Happy Father's Day, dad!