Too cold to go out - Harden the #!#! up!

Ok sure, the weather is cold! I think I've made that quite clear. However, what you probably don't know, is what happens to all the people when the mercury drops into the bowels of the thermometer. Empty streets, images of an Arctic ghost town, desolate frozen town squares, well this couldn't be further from the truth. I know it is hard to believe for all you Cheimaphobic
Brisbaneites, who refuse to set foot outside, when those "wicked" westerlies push the temperature down to a city stopping 12 degrees. However, here in Vlad, be it +12 or -22 the show just never stops. That fact that you just happen to forget your gloves and are starting to experience the early stages of frost bite, is absolutely no excuse for not meeting up with mates for a beer in the park. (That's right guys, drinking in public is allowed and for young guys as common as going to the pub back home.) Every night of the week as I walk home from the car park, youngsters cram the park benches, gather closely in the outside entrances to buildings or just lean up against an ice solid wall and pop the top off a couple. Actually right now outside my window there are a group of teens huddling together and enjoying a very, very cold ale. The fact that it's -22 doesn't seem to effect them.

Using my friend Sasha's favorite adjective it is Vonderful. Constant movement and activity, no matter if your in the centre or in the suburbs, you are guaranteed to see the locals out and about. Walking, hitchhiking, drinking, selling roadside goods, the streets are a continual buzz of activity regardless of the weather.

It's always such a shock going back home to find the streets so deserted, void of any human. Even driving to work through the Valley in the early hours of the morning (workdays) I wouldn't see a sole walking up Brunswick St. Russian cities are like ant farms of pedestrian activity, regardless of time, weather or even if there is a footpath. Why would you jump in the car, in order to get to your local, when you can walk. A little lesson many of our obese country men and women should take note off. Come to think of it I don't remember the last obese Russian I saw. Is there a link between all the walking these guys do and the shape of the average Russian. Well it certainly isn't because they are watching what they eat and drink! That just wouldn't be living.

Even the dogs are oblivious to the weather, check out this little fella!

Granted, he is wearing a coat and booties!

Bolezn' (Sick)

Have been completely out of action for the last week. Came down with a pretty fierce cold and with the weather being so atrocious the recovery has taken longer that expected. No taking a little stroll out side and sitting in the sun to help get over those winter chills.

What a whinge!

Actually I haven't had Internet access for the last week as we forgot to pay for our telephone bill.
Not sure when it'll be put back on.
This posting is being done in haste at EF after my final class of Friday the 25th.
Wow tomorrow is Aussie Day- We are planning our own celebrations so I'll keep you up to date with what happens.

Anyway I've had enough of work so I am out of here. Don't worry I 've got so many impressions to inform you all about, just need a little time.

New Year's Celebrations

The plan in theory sounded great. A leisurely drive out to a quaint Russian village (Tavrechanka), where the four of us would join two other couples in order to meet the new year. We had checked out the Dacha the week prior and found it to be more than accommodating. Plenty of room to sleep up to 10 couples, all the important amenities (including an indoor dunny - very important at this time of year) and a pechka (Russian oven) that kept the internal temperature at a cosy 24 degrees. Great we thought, no need for all those extra clothes.
How wrong we were! To start with, the supposed leisurely drive out into the country was more like a scene from "Star Wars", where Han Solo (me) guides the Millennium Falcon (the Honda) at break neck speeds around the flying meteors ( pot holes, black ice, snow mounds and of course other drivers). Interestingly, Vladivostok locals, once leaving the confounds of the city, go through a miraculous transformation. They metamorphosis into Michael Schumacher! This insane trait coupled with the weather and the state of the roads makes any road trip around Vlad about as leisurely as World War Three.

Once we arrived at the Dacha we stepped out into a cool -20 degree snow covered countryside. "Quick" I told the guys "get inside!" Me being the seasoned veteran of Russian winters (lol), felt it my duty to singlehandedly haul everyone's luggage through the snow and into the dacha. Besides once inside it would be nice and warm. Well so I THOUGHT!

Inside the thermometer read -5 and the pechka had already been on for the last 2 hours! Visions of freezing to death flashed through our minds. We hadn't counted on this, what were we to do?

"Don't worry, old Russian tradition, we drink vodka" Sasha trembled. He was right, apart from its many other uses (eg, sterilization, antifreeze and a cure for almost all ailments), vodka also will ward off the hash Russian winter.

Drinking, dancing and continual stoking of the pechka pushed the thermometer up steadily throughout the night, so that at midnight when we were ready to watch the president's speech and let the fireworks off, the temp showed a manageable 15 degrees.

We weren't going to freeze after all, maybe pass out due to excessive eating and drinking, but defiantly not freeze.

Look out Tavrechanka the Aussie's are here!

Vodka - the cure for any ailment!

Even Santa was busting a few moves to keep warm. Hang on, is that really Santa?

Dan - cold, drunk or a bit of both?

They've Gone and I'm Back!

Today at 3pm Kate and Dan Left Vladivostok for Brisbane Australia. What a massive couple of weeks. Freezing temperatures, scoldingly hot Banyas, insanely dangerous driving, cheap shopping, mammoth amounts of food and of course vodka, vodka, vodka were just some of the experiences the two have taken away. The last two weeks have been jam packed and only now, after the guys have left, can I sit down and begin to retell the trials, tribulations and hilarities of New Year's and the rest of Kate and Dan's holiday.


However, before I begin to retell the last two weeks here are a couple of photos of the guys enjoying themselves in Vladivostok!

Dan and I frolicking in the snow.

Nas and Kate BBQing in -20 degrees.

Hey presto - I'm a fairy!

Santa sandwich?

If a picture speaks 1000 words, you can see I've got some writing a head of me. We had the time of our lives and now all that is left are the memories. Guys I'm missing you already, but don't worry I'll do my best to document the adventure.