 |
| My Fist Picture of the Soviet Flag |
It was a near surreal feeling to have finally landed in the
Soviet Union, better known in my childhood as “The Evil Empire”. However,
looking around Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, people looked far from “evil”, in
fact they looked downright humble. As we exited the arrival hall we saw a sign
reading “Bellevue High School USSR Tour”. The man holding the sign was our tour
guide for our two-week adventure through the Soviet Union, Vasily. Vasily was
an interesting guy, he was tall, had gray hair with a giant white streak
through it and spoke softly.
However, there was nothing soft about him as he
laid down the law to our group the moment we entered the bus. Shortly after welcoming
us to the USSR, he launched into how the Soviet Union had two ways of
exchanging currency: one you could do it through a bank and two you could it
exchange through the black market. The difference was the black market gave the
consumer a MUCH better deal but came with a big risk in that it was illegal. He
bluntly warned us young kids that if “you choose to get yourselves into it (the
blackmarket), then you can get yourselves out of it”. So, I guess black market
exchange was out of the picture. Oh well!
 |
| Shopping "Where, what to buy" |
When we arrived in the USSR, the Soviet economy was in a
nosedive and everything from consumer goods to basic food was scarce, making
for a bleak life. Although, there had been a number of different reforms
implemented through the years, mainly: Glasnost’ (meaning openness) and
Perestroika (re-building), President Mikhail Gorbachev’s government was holding
by a mere thread. Due to the scarcity of goods people were forced to wait in
line for hours, many times only to reach the front of the line to find nothing!
Whenever people saw long snaking lines outside of stores a certain mob
mentality set in; people assumed there must be a magical “pot of gold at the
end of the rainbow” line. Alas, usually it was stale bread or day old
chicken meat.
 |
| Red Square, Savior Tower |
The first several days of our trip consisted of sightseeing
around Moscow where our group visited Red Square, St. Basil’s (the famous
cathedral with the multi-color “onion shaped domes”), The Kremlin, the famous
shopping street Arbat (once home to many famous Russian authors and poets) and
many other well-known Moscow landmarks. In 1991, Moscow was far from its
current 2013 incarnation of glitz, glamour, and clogged streets. Rather, it was
mostly a grey, drab, Soviet styled city dotted with Stalin era/Soviet gray
buildings and old pre-revolutionary (1917) landmarks.
On day four, we drove to the Moscow suburb of Zelenograd
meaning “Green City”, where we would stay with host families. Everyone was
excited to meet his or her host families. I was a bit nervous but nonetheless
looking forward to the intense experience of culture and language immersion! As
we exited the bus standing in front of us was a big crowd of Russians, giving
us teenagers the feeling as if we were rock stars. We were matched with our
respective host families, mine were a couple who had three daughters and lived
about four miles down the road in a three bedroom flat in the 10th
region (each city is divided into small numbered regions).
 |
| Blocks of apartments in Zelenograd |
When we arrived at their apartment I was instantly treated
to Russian hospitality where I was showered with gifts, given a lavish dinner
and treated like a Tsar. The next few days were spent touring the city, discussing
Soviet vs. American life while sitting around the kitchen table, and just
hanging out. Everyone was so fascinated by what I had to say, mainly due to the
fact that unlike today where American culture saturates daily Russian life, in
1991 people just did not know that much about American life besides what they’d
heard from the heavily censored Soviet media. In Soviet days there were only
two daily newspapers, Pravda (meaning “truth”) and Izvestia (meaning “news”)
prompting Soviets to joke that there was “no truth in Pravda and no news in
Izvestia”.
Before I continue I want to clarify some terminology that
may confuse readers. When I refer to “Soviet” I mean the people and republics of
the former USSR, which included the 15 republics, now all independent nations.
When I refer to Russians, I am referring to The Russian Federation and its
citizens.
After several days of full cultural and language immersion,
it was time to say “до свидания”/good-bye
to my host family. With heavy hearts we hugged goodbye, promising to keep in
touch. The mood on the bus was melancholy with everyone quietly reflecting on
their time with their host families.
Our next stop was Domodedevo Airport in South Moscow for an
afternoon flight down to the Central Asian city of Tashkent, the capital of the
Uzbek SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic) and sister city of Seattle. Our teacher
handpicked the destinations to give us a general survey of the diversity of the
Soviet Union.
Domodedevo Airport (try saying that five times) was in the
spirit of most Soviet buildings, drab, grey, concrete and devoid of life. However,
nobody cared much about the building rather everyone wanted to compare all
their cool souvenirs they had collected along the way like old Soviet military
watches, military hats, fury Russian hats, matryoshka (nesting) dolls, Soviet
banners, posters, etc…
 |
| This photo got double exposed. However, you can still see the Il-86 we flew on |
We stepped on to the runway and standing in front of us was
a massive wide-body Soviet jet, an Ilyushin 86. After a couple of delays and
what must’ve been a 45 minute taxi to the runway we were finally airborne.
Service was basically non-existent; the stewardesses disappeared for long
periods of time only to re-appear during our descent into Tashkent. Aeroflot truly
lived up to its nickname of “The Flying Gulag (Russian prison)”.
Grateful that we had made it to Tashkent in one piece on the “Flying Gulag”, our euphoria was quickly replaced by the grueling heat that hit us! Stay tuned for the next episode of my “First Time” coming soon to a computer, mobile device, tablet screen near you! Till then, thanks for reading! Спасибо за внимание!
 |
| Domodedevo Airport 1991 |
 |
| A dog begging on Arbat Street |
 |
| A typical Soviet grocery store in Moscow, 1991 |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.