Morning with a Local

A few weeks ago I met Margaret, a high school English teacher, at the pool - she sort of magically appeared while I was struggling to understand a woman who, as it turns out, was trying to invite me to her apartment, to see the "best view!!" of Yaroslavl. (Even though I kept saying nye panimayu, nye panimayu, I don't understand ... she kept saying the same thing, a little louder and a little more slowly... that does not help.) Anyways, last week Margaret invited me to go on a tour of Yaroslavl with her, and of course I said yes! So we arranged to meet today. She had left me a note that I picked up at the cashier at the pool yesterday that told me, if I was still interested, to meet her at the bus stop at 7:30am. Eek... early.

I had no idea what to expect or what we were doing exactly, but I managed to roll myself out of bed, down some coffee and get to the bus/trolley stop on time. The plan was to go to her school and join a group of students on a tour of the town, part of a city project to educate youth about the historical significance of Yaroslavl. (It's the city's 1000th birthday in 2010... 1000 years!!) We took the bus and the tram to get to the other side of town, where she showed me her school and introduced me to some other teachers - the school was pretty bare bones ... but looked nice enough, with some flowers and potted plants lining the halls. There was also a security guard stationed at the front door, keeping an eye on all who enter and exit the school. On the way there, I had expressed my amusement/astonishment at the number of security guards in the grocery store... so we laughed when we were met by more security at the school.

Margaret in her classroom

School hallway

By the time we'd done a mini tour of the school, the bus was waiting outside. She introduced me to a few of her English students who were all pretty shy (15 and 16 years old) ... but eventually opened up and started speaking a little bit. Questions they asked me included: Do you like Russia? What is special about Russia for you? And, how many children do you have? (These were the first questions....) And then, what are your hobbies? Will you come back and speak to our class? Of course I said yes, I like Russia... and to the second question, I really didn't know what to say. After thinking about it for a minute, the special thing about being here (maybe it's not really that special) is that it is so different from everywhere else we've lived and visited - it has really been a unique and different experience to say the least. When they asked how many children I had, my first reaction was to ask, "How old do you think I am?!" But then I remembered... people marry young here, and it's pretty normal to have two kids by the time you're 25.

Me, Margaret and some of her students


The gates of the church are inset with unique, one-of-a-kind tiles...

The bus took us to the Volga embankment where we walked around and visited several churches, many of which were built in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the town was very rich as a result of it's status as a central merchant and trading centre. Margaret translated for me, and a group of three or four girls, giggling, asked me questions about life in Canada... and told me a bit about themselves (provoked by my questions.) None of them did any sports - some liked watching tennis, but other than one girl who said she liked running (how many kilometres? one; how often? once a month...) levels of activity were loooow. After a walk around the centre of town, we boarded the bus to take a look at some monuments and churches not as accessible by foot. Margaret and I got off the bus just outside the centre and decided to stop for some tea and a snack before making our way back home. She took me to a very traditional tea house where we had tea, and pancakes and donuts... all very traditional snacks. Yummy ones too! The little spread cost all of 50 rubles, about $2.

Traditional Russian snacks... yum!

We had some great chats, and by talking with her I feel like I've gained much more insight into Russian life than with the talks I've had with Dasha and Daria - the difference must be age and maturity. She talked about how her and her husband still struggle to adapt to the new capitalist system... after having lived under a socialist system for so much of her life, change is difficult. I asked her what she prefers, or what system she thinks is better... and she couldn't answer. She said that both have their advantages, but bottom line, now they have money to eat what they want and have the freedom to travel.... something relatively new for Russian people. (This is also something that most people can't afford to do - visas are expensive and application and payment doesn't guarantee anything). She made a comment at one point, that there should be government regulation in stores - especially coffee shops and restaurants - so that people can't get away with charging $4 for a coffee, or $20 for an entree... I was sort of surprised at first -the government regulating the cost of a latte at Starbucks? I think not - but like she said, she's had a hard time adjusting her mind to a new political system. I guess it's a sort of clash of ideologies, and her generation has to live with one foot in the socialist system of the past, and the other, stepping forward into capitalism.

We talked about salaries, pensions and an economy that is growing... but growing with direct benefits for very few people. Though her salary has increased over the years, it's still not even close to being enough - she said if something were to happen to her husband (an engineer) she really has no idea what she'd do. The article in the weekly English newspaper that I picked up last week lists teachers' salaries ("among the worst") at 8, 788 rubles, which is about $350. So, the salary of a part-time teacher like Margaret (who has been teaching for 30 years) would be no more than $200 a month (I'm guessing). Even though she'd like to retire some time in the near future (I'd say she's in her mid-50s), with a son finishing his first year of university - it's highly unlikely to happen anytime soon. Pensions are around 4000 rubles a month ($120) which is enough for rent, and that's about it - no further encouragement to retire there! Older people here have to work, and if they're unable to... must be supported by their families. And if there is no family to support them? Margaret had no idea. Scary.

Russia's birth rate is declining too... and it's largely a result of the economic situation of the average Russian family - people simply can't afford to have more than one or two children. Putin tagged this problem as Russia's worst - "the most acute problem of contemporary Russia." The low birth-rate is related to economic hardship - the fertility rate here is 1.3 births per woman, whereas 2.1 is what's needed to maintain a stable population (Canada's fertility rate is 1.7 est. - but the population is still growing - thanks to immigration and a low death rate). Death rates are very high too - 15 deaths per 1000 people per year, as compared with 8 deaths per 1000 people in Canada. As I mentioned in a previous post, alcoholism is rampant here - high rates of alcoholism have contributed to a low life expectency for men - 58 years, while women fare considerably better with an average life expectency of 72 (Canada's life expectency for men is 77, and for women, 84). Margaret talked a bit about this problem too.

So.... it was really interesting to talk to her about some of the realities of life here. I love hanging out with Dasha and Daria, but going out for sushi and coffee all of the time seems like something only the rich can afford to do, and it was nice to hear about life from the point of view of someone that seems more aware of ... I don't know... real life? Arg. I don't know. Anyways! We've made plans to do something again on Friday. There is a Russian banya pretty close to both of our places, and I said something about how I really wanted to experience this typical Russian bath-thing before I left (I don't really know what the deal is with these banyas... the only thing that comes to mind is that scene from Eastern Promises... I'm thinking it's not like that at all...) I'm supposed to bring two towels, a head covering (cotton), sandals, soap and ... that's it I think! I'm also going to go speak to her class on Tuesday - on the bus on the way home one of her students called her cell phone to ask her to ask me again if I'd come to talk to the class! Can you imagine a student in Canada calling his/her teacher on their cell phone!? It would have been great to have met Margaret two months ago - I could have busied myself with helping her and her English class... but... better late than never!!

p.s. When looking for Russian and Canadian statistics - the CIA World Factbook was good... wait, am I writing a paper here? Referencing!?!