february 14, 2010:
thursday has been a great day. So far we kept ourselves afloat with lots of discipline and “hang-in-slogans”, but on thursday afternoon we finally received good news.
First we received an official invitation for a conversation by the leader of the regional government “providenia region”. During the meeting which lasted almost one hour, we received a special book about chukotka as a thank you for our school visits and speeches. The entire team felt much honored about this special gesture. In return we thanked everybody for their trust. For us, all the visits have been a great pleasure. Afterwards, when i received good news from the capital moscow, and rudi exclaimed a crow because he found strawberry ice in a store, the sun arose again on the night sky. When i also found tea-cakes – my absolute favorites – (the first ones since mid-december), it was as if fireworks started. Alright, alright, i know i am exaggerating. But if you try to put yourself in our position, you understand how great this was for us.
Then it was friday – it was a wonderful morning at around 8 a.m., sunlight was shining through scattered clouds that were floating across the sky, there was a light wind, it is cold, the mountains were glowing in the light of the rising sun, the bay was calm and frozen, it was a feeling of peace, everything is blue/light blue/white. It was the best weather for pictures and for an airplane to start. Yes, finally our spare parts can arrive today!!!
I walk fleet-footedly and elated to my blackberry, awaited the flight information, open the e-mail from bering air and: Arrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!
They cannot come because the landing strip in providenia cannot be cleared from the last two days’ of snow of the blizzard. They say that the next possibility will be monday if not another snow storm comes first. Phuuuh. Breathe, breathe.
So we spent the friday with dinner preparations, cooked for our guests, continued the work on our cars. In the evening we had a very successful dinner with our guests and had “one for the road” in the only bar of the village. Saturday we worked and worked and worked (on the cars of course). Then we went to the banja with our friends as every saturday. Sunday we worked and worked and worked. Then i received a call. The mayor of the city invites us to visit the newly-opened public sauna. We are very happy, also because he picks us up personally and because he prepared everything for our arrival. It is a successful visit. Where else but here takes anybody as much care for their guests as here? We were welcomed by about 30 men in the banja. During this visit, rudi receives his “slap baptism”* and wiping each other off in the snow afterwards is also bearable.
*they call it a russian massage: After three, four minutes in the “oven” and about ten douses, you lay down on the upper level of the banja. Twigs are bound into a bunch. Then you sweep, waggle, press and hit them over your whole body. Some do it themselves, some let themselves be “hit” by others. Most of the time it is done with the side where the leaves are; sometimes with the sticks. It’s nice once you got used to it; but it hurts if you are struggling on the inside. It is hot, almost so that you pass out, when you gasp for breath; it is bearable if you try breathing normally. It renews if you like to do some good to your body in the cold; it is tiring if you don’t. Therefore “very good”.
Because nobody is really any closer to the future as we are (we are kind of in the future), we can tell the americans what is expecting them tomorrow, the world behind us expects the day that we already lived and are looking into the promising soon, i hope, that the americans will fly tomorrow, on sunday, so that we will have received our parts today on monday.
