The Little Things: What Makes Me Happy in Elista

As I mentioned here, I want to create a list of the little things here in Elista that help to not just keep me happy, but keep me sane.  There a great many thing here that can get on my nerves and I tend to focus on these.  It's high time I start focusing on what I LIKE instead of what I don't.  Let's begin.


1.  Getting laundry done without getting yelled at - this seems like it would be something that wouldn't be a problem, but the dorm ladies here are fiercely controlling about when you can and can't use the washing machine downstairs. I'm not here to talk about them though, but rather the great sense of accomplishment and joy I get when I ask if I can do laundry, they say yes, I bring it down and eventually pick it up later.  No hassles, no screaming, no accusations, no requests. Simplicity. I like that.


2.  Mornings when everyone else is at class and I'm the only one on my floor - All the Chinese students on my floor have (generally) 8:30 class and I don't.  So I like to hang out a bit till they've all packed off and then I just relax.  I can use the bathroom and/or shower in peace and sit in my room and do work, etc in peace and without fear of being disturbed. I love it.

3.  Using the shower just after it's been cleaned - The other students on my floor seem to shower in packs, passing the key around from one person to the next so that by the time they're done, it's pretty disgusting (remember...just 1 shower for the whole floor).  So in the mornings when no one is on my floor but me (see #2), the lady *usually* cleans the shower.  I like to wait till she's done and then I've got a nice clean shower that usually has plenty of hot water.


4.  The sunset from my room - The view, from my room, of the sun setting over the Steppe is gorgeous...at least when the weather is nice.  I love being able to watch it go down nice and slow, until it just disappears (wow...that came out a bit dirtier than I had intended).  It's quite beautiful.

5.  Being alone in the teacher's lounge - I like this because it's dead quiet and it's when I feel I'm most productive, at least when it comes to being a teacher/student.


6.  The Temple - Whether it's being around the temple or inside it, the Tibetan Buddhist temple here (the largest in Europe!) is stunning. Its architecture is gorgeous and inside is one of the most peaceful places I've ever been. I must make it there more often!

7. The Pagoda at night - The Pagoda isn't quiet or peaceful, but it makes it seem as if I'm in another place, most notably China.  The Pagoda is at odds with Russian architecture and at night, when it glows red, it's quite the sight.



8.  Piroshki - There's a little place not far from the university that sells delicious cabbage piroshki for about 55 cents apiece.  They are delicious and while I am wary of the fact that I could find hair(s) in them at any moment, it doesn't stop me from swinging by and picking up a couple or 4.


9.  Shashlik at Uralan - Uralan is the big sort of bowling alley/pool hall/arcade/restaurant/night club all rolled into one kind of place in the center of town.  It's a nice place and I feel safe there, but the shashlik they have at the restaurant is delicious. I don't eat that often because it's quite expensive, at least by Elista standards, but that makes it all the better when I do.


10.  Paprika Pringles - Okay, I understand that a lot of these are different foods, but I don't care. I like food.  Anyways, these little bad boys are way overpriced, but they're delicious. I've never seen Paprika flavored Pringles anywhere else and it's a shame because they're good, really good.  On the flip side however, the 'Chili & Cheese' Pringles sound good, but are something I regret buying each time I do.

Even more delicious is absolutely correct

11.  Blogs of other ETAs - These are quite the joy to read as they give me some serious insights into other parts of Russia and the different ways we live and the differences within Russia.  Plus, they're all great writers and I think you should check out their blogs (look to the left here and you'll see a nice little blog roll to get yourself started).


12.  Skype (when it works) - Skype is a godsend, but here in Elista it doesn't always work (the first 4 months, it hardly worked at all). So when it does and I can talk to friends and family back home, I love it. Also, if I have to take care of 'business' back home (I think you all know what that means) then I can use Skype.


Alright Dear Readers, those are just the ones off the top of my head. I'll be adding more to this list in the following days/weeks/months.  For the other ETAs, I'm curious as to what little things keep you going!

My First Buddhist Prayer Session

This past Saturday some of the students at the university offered to take me to the big Buddhist Temple to see what a "service" is like...

This is my first Buddhist service and certainly my first Tibetan Buddhist one and however unlikely an experience it seems it could be, it did indeed happen within Russia.  Elista is the only region in Europe where Buddhism is the main religion and here it is Tibetan Buddhism.  Their temple is also the largest Buddhist temple in Europe and the Dalai Lama has visited here twice since the collapse of the USSR.

Before we could enter the temple, it's tradition to walk around it (on the upper platform), make a small coin donation and spin all the tiny prayer wheels.  There are several large prayer wheels around the temple and several others located throughout the city as well, but it's these that matter.  Anyways, one of my students graciously offered me some coins to lay down, though I had my own and when I tried to tell her no, she refused.  After this experience, it was time to go in.

As expected, there are no hats or shoes allowed in the main part of the temple during the service, this is a pretty common act in my experience in different Buddhist areas.  We walked in and in the middle of the room there were the monks (It's my understanding that all monks travel or have traveled to Tibet to study Buddhism and the language) performing and reading prayers, while on both sides there were many low benches for people to sit on.  

We came in and went to one of the back benches where we just sat down and listened to the prayers.  Some of the students performed some of the rituals as the bells rang as is common in a service, but I, not necessarily being Buddhist and having no clue as to what to do or really what was happening, just sat there and contemplated life.  With the exception of the student next to me continually interrupting me, it was an extremely peaceful experience, one in which I hope to repeat this Saturday and subsequent Saturdays following.  I'm also not sure how long the services usually are, but when we arrived it seemed that it had been in session for some time and we sat there for another 45 minutes.  

Anyways, after the service, everyone lines up and eventually goes through and offers gifts to the monks and is blessed by a monk, offers gifts to different statues of Buddha and other deities (though Buddha is not a god, I think there is a little left over here from the Kalmyk religion pre-dating Tibetan Buddhism in the region, but I'll find out) and at the end you are given water to wash your hands, face and I think hair as well as a bit of candy.  Another item which I didn't quite understand and one in which my students couldn't explain in English, was people kept putting water on a table during the service. After the service, one of my students grabbed a giant bottle of water from the table, telling me it was Saint's Water and that it should never touch the ground and every time I drink from it, I should make a wish.  Not sure of the significance, but I was touched all the same.

Afterwards, we walked around the temple, seeing the museum and taking a small tour (in Russian and most of which I, unfortunately, did not understand) as well as explored the upper level of the temple.  At this point we decided to leave and outside, but still within the temple courtyard, is a small tent set up in the style of Kalmyk people when they still lived as Nomads.  We went inside and the students first offered to buy me a glass of horse milk and then decided it wouldn't be very good at this particular joint (I'm quite grateful for this decision).  Instead they bought me a glass of the local Kalmyk tea, for which I unfortunately cannot remember the name.  Now I had heard that this tea or this type of tea was quite disgusting, but what I drank wasn't awful by any means.  It wasn't great either, but certainly not my least favorite drink (for that think more along the lines of something that starts with a Jaeger and ends with meister or soy milk...yuck).  Anyways, this particular tea is tough to describe.  It reminded me, sort of, like Indian chai only without any of the delicious cinnamon and cardamom flavor (no real flavor at all) and instead of sweet, it's salty.  I was also told that this particular tea was без сахара, meaning it didn't have any sugar.  I'm not sure if it's supposed to have sugar, but it sure couldn't have hurt.

We did quite a bit more after the temple, but it was considerably less exciting and I'll save it for another blog, so until next time Dear Readers....

Buddhism and Mexican Mystery Meat Macaroni...probably not related.

So two totally unrelated topics for this particular blog...at least for the moment.  You shall see dear reader, you shall see.

First and foremost, I went and saw the Buddhist temple here in Elista (though I did not yet have a chance go in).  It's an extremely beautiful temple and extremely out of place.  As I wandered the grounds, I had to keep reminding myself that I was, in fact, still in Russia. I find it especially interesting to see such a thing in Russia when the USSR, as an atheistic state, was so completely oppressive towards religion (though this was generally towards Russian Orthodoxy and Judaism and Buddhism isn't technically a religion, but philosophy - but I digress).

Anyways, it is one of the more nicely kept places I've seen in the two times I've been to Russia and I am extremely to go inside (this weekend - whooo!) and a place I can see myself going quite often.  I've always been quite curious about Buddhism and this would be a great opportunity to learn more and to practice speaking Russian as well.

As far as cooking goes, I had my first experience cooking in my dorm...finally.  I finally acquired all the necessary (well, almost) pieces needed to actually cook a meal.  This includes not just the food, but I had to find a pot or two and some pans, some silverware, a knife and some matches.  Not to the mention the daunting task of buying meat at a Russian market, something I'd be quite terrified to do in English as I have no idea what I'm doing.

Well after assembling my team and buying the necessary food stuffs, I proceeded to cook.  I was a little nervous for some reason and almost managed to forget how to make simple pasta, but luckily I was awake enough to realize I was doing something wrong.  I managed to make some penne and when this was done, I started with the mean.  Perhaps I should first say that I was simply trying to make some sort of spaghetti-pasta-esque type dish, really really really simple.  I have no idea what kind of meat I purchased.  They told me, but I didn't know the word, but it seemed to have the same look and texture of hamburger so I figured what the hell.  Anyways, the meat proved more of a challenge because the burner it was on kept going out, which is extremely frustrating, though I managed to finish it and cook it al the way through...at least I think, I'm not sick yet so that has to count for something.

Next I added my "sauce", which due to an error of not reading the Russian label was not tomato/spaghetti sauce, but rather a tomato sauce with ginormous chunks of read and green peppers that actually tasted much more like salsa than spaghetti sauce.  At this point, however, I didn't much care and threw it in anyways.  By the time it was all said and done, what I ended up with was what I like to call my "Mexican Mystery Meat Macaroni" (even though it wasn't macaroni, it has a nice ring to it).  I have to admit that it didn't taste half bad, though it needed a few other garnishes which I didn't have (onion, salt/pepper, some oregano, etc), but it was sustenance and sustenance that I had created myself.  I think it's safe to say that I was pretty happy both that I had made it and that it didn't kill me!

Now, you may think to yourself, Buddhism and Mexican Mystery Meat Macaroni are completely unrelated and in most respects they are, but I intend on combining the two, well more Buddhism and cooking as opposed to Mx4.  I've been finding myself quite stressed while here, unfortunately, but this is due to a serious language deficiency on my part as well as my university stretching me quite thin on things they'd like to do with me.  As it is, I've decided to take Buddhism into the kitchen.  No, this doesn't mean that I'm going to become a vegetarian, but rather try to go into cooking with a peaceful mind since cooking here is a bit stressful due to lack of tools, lack of space and lack of options.  So I'm hoping after a full-on visit to the Buddhist Temple and perhaps a little meditation, I can cook in peace and hopefully cook well.

Until next time Dear Readers...

Elista....здесь в Элите

So I finally arrived here in Elista.  I have to admit that part of me never actually thought it would happen, that time would speed up and John Cusack would swing by my apartment, pick me up in an RV and take me to a secret location in China where I'd be whisked away aboard a giant ship until the apocalypse had subsided.....

But all apocalyptic jokes aside, I am here in Elista and it's both what I expected and a great deal of what I didn't.  Let's start with what I did expect.  It's hot.  Really hot.  At least compared to Moscow.  The overwhelming majority of people here are of Asian descent, something I was very much expecting and much of the architecture is Asian as well. The food is decidely Russian, which is something I expected since I'm in Russia, but the local Kalmyk cuisine I've tried also seems very Russian, but pleasantly tasty!


There is much more unexpectedness so far though, however. For example, even though the city has a population of approximately 100,000, the city center and city itself feels to me, more like that of a city with maybe 10,000 people.   I'm living, free of charge, in a university dorm, which is a 5 minute walk or so from downtown, from the university and from everything I really need.

I'm also (pleasantly) surprised by the availability of everything.  All the things I could ever need from toiletries to houseware items are readily available and easily accessible.  When I was in St. Petersburg, it seemed I had to travel much farther distances and endure much more of the harshness of the "search" where as here everything is within sight.

I'm also surprised by the exchange of money.  In St. Petersburg you were much more likely to get scolded if you did not put your money in the tray or have exact or close to exact change.  Here, however, the trays are there, but I don't get yelled at (at least not for that, just when I speak Russian...haha) and while exact change is preferred, it doesn't seem to be a big deal (I even used a 1000 ruble note for purchase of around 650 and it wasn't a problem!!! Yay!).

It came as a bit of a shock that they have bowling here (totally flipping awesome!!) and I'm hoping that by the end of the year I can become the Big Lebowski aka The Dude of Elista.  Now I just have find a Walter and a Donny....

I am a little annoyed by some of the beauracratic items of daily life (not being able to obtain a cellphone sim card without my registration for example), but these were not unexpected, nor are they really that inconvenient.

I'm a little unsure as to where the best place to buy good fruit and veggies is, but I'm sure I'll find that out.  Until next time dear readers...