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Dear everyone, it has been a while since I used this blog. The first stories go about four years back. Just as I mentioned in the latest blogs (that seem to have disappeared) of my travels (and what everybody is always telling each other): time flies like crazy.

Via this blog I want to tell you a little about my internship so far in Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia, Russia near Lake Baikal. As nowadays nobody ever seems to have time, the pieces of text I have written all have a convenient title, so you can decide yourself what to read. Of course I would advise to read everything…

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is truly unique. ‘Every lake is unique silly’ I hear you think. That is probably true, but not every lake is the oldest and deepest in the world, and Lake Baikal is. The lake is larger than Belgium and contains in total over 20% of all fresh surface water on our planet(!). Just wanted to throw this information at you first, so you have a bit better understanding of the context.

Internship

As final part of my study I have to write a thesis and do an internship. So that is the reason I am in Siberia. I was looking for possible places to go, found an opportunity here and thought: well, why not? My internship is about the quality of the Selenga River, which is responsible for 50% of the inflow of Lake Baikal. In my second week here, I went on a big fieldtrip in which we covered 3000km in a typical Russian van and on some boats. No better way to start, the surroundings are absolutely stunning. During the trip we took samples from various rivers and on the lake. The last weeks were not as exciting, but still good: mainly reading background information. In the coming week we (my supervisor here and I) will agree on the further focus of the internship. In the beginning of October there will be another big fieldtrip, so something to look forward to. Maybe you’ll read the results and specific focus of the internship later in another blog, but I can’t make promises…

Russian Language

Since the total length of my stay here will be a little less than 5 months, I decided it to be necessary to at least attempt to speak a little Russian in the end. Especially since in this part of the world the people that speak (any) English cannot be found in large numbers. It is in no means an easy language (maybe except for the absence of articles). In the 8 days of the fieldtrip my colleagues taught me many words, I forgot even more… They sometimes put here consonants in an order that you think ‘okay, I remember my teacher in primary school saying we don’t put these consonants together, as there is no way of pronouncing that’. So here I am trying to prove those teachers wrong, but so far I still think they were kind of right. Anyways, this week I have started some courses and, who knows, maybe I will be able to have a small conversation before I leave.

Daily Life

There is much to say about daily life here, but I won’t write down everything. If you want to know about it in more detail, you should go to Buryatia yourself. First of all, the daily expenses (an essential question for the Dutch). Due to the Western sanctions the Rubble is worth only about half of what it was a couple of years ago. This means everything here is pretty cheap, especially the groceries and transport. About transport, almost every day I take the tram. It is an old line, yet for the 15p (i.e. 20-25c) one cannot complain. One person walks around to collect the money, in rush hour it appears like an impossible job, but somehow she (in 95% of the cases this person is a woman) seems to manage.

As for food, the local favourite is Buuza. This is a Buryatian dish: steamed meat in dough. According to an American man who is already here for 8 years, the two questions that Buryats (when mastering the English language, what only a handful do, despite the fact that they start learning that at the age of 10) will always ask: ‘Have you been to Baikal?’ and ‘Have you tried Buuza?’ Although I haven’t been here that long, I have been asked these questions as well more than once.

Then there are the plenty of canteens that offer various Russian dishes. For groceries I usually go to the supermarket, yet fruits and veggies I often buy from people on the street. Heaps of people here have a summerhouse. Not like in Europe for holidays, but instead to work more. Here they grow their own crops that they then sell just somewhere out on the street (if there are regulation for this, I haven’t heard about it yet).

Buryatia

I’ve mentioned the name Buryatia now a couple of times. Why? Well, since it is not completely the same as Russia. Like most countries, Russia is divided in several regions. The Republic of Buryatia is one of these regions (it is actually a region within Siberia). Ethnic Russians make up about 2/3 of the populations and Buryats about 1/3 (no idea as what ‘mixed’ people are counted). Buryats are distant relatives of the Mongolians, what you can see. Their large presence makes the republic the Buddhist centre of Russia. This Buddhism is combined with Shamanism. There are many significant places along the roads and in nature with prayer flags and where in Buryat tradition small amounts of money, food and vodka are offered to the spirits. The mix of Russians and Buryatians makes the republic, according to some of the people I’ve spoken with, really tolerant, especially for Russian standards.

People

So far I’ve met a great deal of people who have helped me with all kind of things or with who I just can have some nice conversations. My supervisor, her daughter and the woman responsible for international relations made sure I could settle here in a good way. Via the institute I met some good people and during a Summer School (called BaikalSS, a name we would never consider in Europe) I encountered some Russians trying to learn the English and German language. Although not easy, in half English, half German and with a few Russian words we managed quite well.

I Can Keep On Going

For every part I could’ve written at least twice as much and I can think of a few other parts (like a trip to Irkutsk and Olkhon Island with Marleen who was here) that I left unmentioned and might deserve some attention… Nevertheless, I have decided to knit an end to this blog. Now it is still fun to read (and write) all. If there is something you are curious about, just ask! If not, then I am still glad you made it to the end. Thanks for reading and see ya!

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PS I just realized I haven’t mentioned the weather, even though the title is Siberian Summer. Well, despite a few days of rain I would say the weather has been great so far. Really warm and sunny (even now in September). I’ll just have to wait and see what the winter will have in petto for me.