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Dear fellow travelers,
I think that people probably come to Kitezh for many
reasons. Some folks want to learn Russian, other folks want to ‘work with
children’, and some people reach the end of their university education and
just feel like seeing the world, but doing something worthwhile at the same
time. It’s all-good.
Whatever your reason, I’m sure you will learn a lot about
yourself and maybe even about Russian people.
My wife and I spent 2 ½ months here from 26th February to 7th
March 2002.
Here is some advice to help you retain your sanity and have
a good time here.
But first, what do I mean by have a good time?
Well, we were busy right from the start, teaching English and sharing our
modest abilities. We offered hospitality by Tamara and her daughter, Masha,
graciously and cheerfully gave up her room for us. There were times when we felt like we were not being told
what was happening. At one point we
had a question about money, which is invariably a difficult topic.
The main thing about our money question was that we talked about it as
soon as it arose and by communicating we were able to understand each other.
This helped us to just get on with things.
The people at Kitezh are friendly. They are interested and interesting.
Some short pieces of advice based on my brief experience.
- Drink
tea and enjoy it.
- If
you have some hopes of learning Russian then bring a good dictionary with
you (good means big - A good
dictionary has at least 80,000 words, don’t settle for anything less.
Believe me, it is worth the hassle of lugging around a big dictionary and
paying the extra ten pounds or fifteen dollars when you buy it) There is a
wealth of Russian literature at Kitezh but very little in the way of Russian
textbooks for foreigners. So you will probably want to bring a good Russian
grammar book (that is if you are into grammar!).
- Find
a way of relaxing that enables you to temporarily take some mental time out
from Kitezh. For instance, read an English language book. Take a walk. Or
listen to music.
- You
will find something to whinge
about at Kitezh. Something or someone will annoy you at some time - It may
be the food, it may be the comparative lack of resources, it may even be the
way kids don’t seem motivated in the lessons.
And if you are here with some other English speakers you may find
some comfort and sitting around and whinging to them.
Fine. But try to find a balance between making constructive criticism
in your mind and cultivating a negative attitude. (see #3 above)
- If
you want something, ask for it. And if you don’t get it, ask again.
Don’t worry if you think your request is unreasonable. Leave that
for them to decide.
- If
you want to visit someone and haven’t invited you over to their house –
invite yourself.
- Don’t
be afraid to say no. Seriously,
especially to the little kids.
- Bring
two pairs of slippers if it is possible. (One pair for the dining hall and
one pair for the school.) Three would be even better. In winter, go to the
market in Baryatino and buy some woolen socks to put over your socks if you
can’t be bothered carrying slippers around.
- When
you go to the telephone exchange to call home. Tell the lady behind the screen the name of the country
(you will need to say this in Russian), and how long you want to call for.
She will ask you if you want her to dial the number for you or if you
want to use a card and do it yourself. I recommend that you just say
‘Kartom’ which means that you want to use the card. She will tell you
the price and give you a card. You
put the card into the machine, dial 8 and then the country code etc.
Now when the person on the other end picks up the phone, you press
the button called ‘ответ’ (bottom right
hand corner). If you don’t do this, the phone will cut out. So, in summary
– name of country, how long for, ‘kartom’, remember to press the
button.
- If
you are a light sleeper or can’t get to sleep when there is noise late at
night, bring some earplugs or some sleeping pills or something.
- It
seems to me that (Russian) folks have come to live at Kitezh for a variety
of reasons. Some because they believe in the idea of a community for
children, or because they are impressed by the ideas and person of Dimitry
Morosov. Others, it seems, have
come because it offers them the chance of a better life than what they had
elsewhere, It might be worth keeping this in mind before launching into any
great spiels or conversations about how you see the world and why community
is so fantastic etc.
- You
don’t have to sit at the ‘adults’ table in the dining hall if you
don’t want to.
- Try
not to get frustrated with the boys when they play football and take ages to
pick the teams and get started.
- If
you are not happy with where you are living or something about your living
conditions, don’t hesitate to tell someone about.
-Stuart Manderson
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