Around the World 2014: To Russia Without Russian

The most frustrating part of this trip is our lack of any Russian language skills with the added complication of the Cyrillic alphabet. Thanks to my shipboard friend, Igor, I have the numbers; some niceties-hello, please, thank you; and some motorcycle needs-gas, oil, air but not much else which makes it hard to communicate. Conversely, very few people have any English at all. Try ordering your next meal in a restaurant without words or pictures and you'll get the idea. But in spite of it all, we do manage to connect.

In the beginning, in the far east, we found people quite cool and in some cases, downright rude, as Ross has described. Particularly if they were behind a counter. Checking into our first hotel in Vladivostok, we encountered a scowling young woman who proceeded to snatch documents from our hands, slam them down on a counter and throw our passports back at us! Welcome to Russia! Now more than half way across, we arrived in Kemerovo and one of the staff came rushing out saying "welcome!" and inviting us to have tea before we registered. They then had another customer come over to translate the menu for us. So our opinions have changed even though we still run into some less then friendly types.

In Chita, we met a wonderful couple who helped Ross get some motorcycle oil which entailed driving all over town and ended up with a lovely lunch near our hotel. Their 8 year old daughter, Violet, was with them and the discussion turned to her English lessons which resulted in RuthAnn (a retired English teacher) being invited to that days's class where she taught the kids a song and joined in a game. They rewarded her with a rendition of their national anthem, and a bouquet of flowers! I had given Violet a Canada pin and she took off her barette her mother had made her and gave it to me.

Yesterday, we were having a coffee break in a truck stop where I was approached by a man interested in the bikes and us. He was from Chechnya on his way to Omsk. We couldn't communicate too well but managed some basics and I gave him a Canada pin, our sticker, and shook hands. I then joined the others in the cafe. By now there was quite a crowd around the bikes and one of the guys went out to make sure they were ok. Just then, my new friend came in with a new pair of woolen gloves for me! So there you go-instead of them taking something, I was given something.

Another time, I wanted to take a picture of a cute little kid and his Mom said ok but he was having no part of me or my Canada pin. I chased him around the car till he jumped in and locked the door. His Dad went and got him but he wiggled down and ran to his Mom, hands on hips, yelling and wagging a finger. His Dad looked over at me, shrugged his shoulders and said "He's Russian. " as if that explained it all.

We have also learned that they all are not trying to kill us on the road and in fact often help us with passing slow moving vehicles or getting through tight spots. There have been no instances of road rage at all and we are frequently greeted with honks and waves. It is not uncommon to look over at the car passing you to find you are being filmed! Many times when we were trying to find a hotel, people have stopped to help and then led us their behind their vehicle.

So we are discovering that people here are not much different than people everywhere. Hope we are giving them the same impression of Westerners!