Sent to Siberia

So we set off for Siberia. “It will take between 3 and 4 hours to fly there”, they said. Seven hours later, after a brief stop off in The Urals, we arrived in Siberia. This time the casino wasn’t in the hotel, instead it was right next door. Because we arrived so much later than planned we had dinner at about 10.30pm and went to bed. We were also introduced to our translator. Not that we really needed a translator because the person I had gone with could speak really good Russian, but it was good to give him a bit of a break from constantly translating for me. Our translator was an 18 year old university student and her English was really good, although she didn’t think so. Anyway, after dinner we had finished eating we all retired for the night, I went to bed and a lot of other people went to the bar to top up on the copious amounts of alcohol they had already consumed over the previous day or so.

The next day we finally headed off to do some work, not that there weren’t various work related things prior to that but this was the ‘formal’ part. So putting on my walking boots, walking trousers and waterproof trousers seemed a bit out of kilter, but it was what we had been advised to do, so off we went. After another long journey, this time by coach, we arrived at out destination. Incidentally, if you have ever had a car stolen that has totally disappeared without trace, I may have spotted it in Siberia because there were lots of right hand drive cars there, which no-one seemed to be able to explain why that was the case when I asked them about it.

We had a massive lunch that day, including lots of vodka (not that I had any) and many toasts. There were also various gifts given out and, whilst I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, being given a large wooden bear wasn’t entirely practical. I had to go and collect this from someone very official looking, whilst I by contrast was looking rather more unkempt wearing my mucky walking trousers. By the time lunch was over, it was time to head back to the hotel.

They gave us a brief tour of the local area on the way back. Siberia was actually quite beautiful. Lots of greenery and nice views. We were in quite a populated area and there was a reasonable bit of culture if you wanted to go to the theatre and so on. Mind you, as they exiled lots of people who were of an artistic persuasion maybe that isn’t much of a surprise. It also wasn’t particularly cold there. It does get very cold as winter draws in but it was in the low to mid teens temperature wise while we were there. In fact it feels colder where I live at the moment because my landlady doesn’t seem to think there is any need to put the heating on at the moment. Maybe she thinks I am used to living in extreme conditions.

Anyway, dinner was served about an hour after we got back. Another big meal… They seem to have so many courses. Usually there was lots of meat and salads on the table and we started with that. Then they brought out soup, then a main dish – but everything was in such large quantities and if you didn’t have enough food on your plate, the waiting staff would put extra items on there, to ensure you didn’t fade away.

It was that evening that some chap got me to dance. Dancing isn’t really my thing, but he was very proficient, so I just followed his lead and tried not to look completely inept. As I was the only woman there, it did mean I got more attention – whether some of the toasts, or being asked to dance or people singing to me... I’m not generally keen on being the centre of attention but it seemed impolite to make a fuss, so I just tried to take it all in my stride.

Then it was time for bed and to prepare for the long return journey back to Moscow the next day.