Russian Blog
This is a blog by JustRussian about learning Russian. You will find useful tips for learning Russian, Russian courses available in London, information about Russian culture and links to websites with information for students of Russian.
Broadening Horizons
By Vlada 29 September 08
actually, by Dmitry Matchin, Vlada’s colleague –
telling you more about things you may be interested to know but won’t learn in a Russian course.
When foreigners think of Russia, the first places that spring to mind are, of course, Moscow and St. Petersburg. If you come from Russia, you will be taken, almost axiomatically, to be from one or the other. If that is not the case, you will have to explain painstakingly where your city or town is. And although the great capital cities (St. Petersburg was the capital from its foundation until 1918, and is now commonly and deservedly regarded as Russia’s cultural capital) account for almost 10% of Russia’s total population, this seems unfair. Russia, by far the largest country in the world, cannot possibly be exhaustively represented by its glamorous western cities. If you want to see Russia, you need to stretch your horizons.
Take Siberia, for instance – Russia’s vast, freezing hinterland, synonymous with exile, banishment and imprisonment. There are bears walking free in the streets of Siberian cities. There is no civilisation there. There is no escape. In other words, Siberia is inhospitable and dangerous. And that is exactly why you should go there – because most of that is just mythology. The claim about bears alone should make you incredulous. And, of course, you know that the exile history of Siberia is just that – history.
Siberia is, indeed, virtually endless. Stretching eastwards from the Ural Mountains (the natural border between Europe and Asia) to the Pacific Ocean, and southwards from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of Kazakhstan, it occupies almost 80% of Russia’s total territory. Desert, steppe, forest, taiga, tundra are the words that can all be applied to Siberia. Its rivers rank among the longest and most rapid in the world. Lake Baikal, in south Siberia, is the world’s deepest lake: as the largest reservoir of fresh water on earth, it has more water than the American Great Lakes combined.
This enormous expanse of land, vegetation and water makes it doubly difficult to choose where to go in Siberia. I suggest you go somewhere with a characteristic human imprint. Civilisation, although widely dispersed, is certainly not non-existent. The third largest city in Russia, Novosibirsk, is in Siberia. But Novosibirsk is quite young and, frankly, quite ugly. With its pretensions to size (which seem ludicrous when you compare it to Moscow) and its industrial aspirations of the Soviet era, it has no face of its own – like any other Soviet-like city or town. You should go somewhere with more history and more elegance. For example, Tomsk.
Only 5 hours by bus or train from Novosibirsk (in Russian terms, a very short journey), Tomsk is located almost in the geographical centre of Russia, in south-west Siberia. It was founded in 1604, which makes it precisely 101 years older than St. Petersburg. Therefore, Tomsk does have a unique feel to it. Its wooden architecture is truly incredible (many people still live in old wooden houses), and it has quite a number of fine specimens of 19th-century architecture as well.
The climate in Siberia is, of course, not mild. In winter, it can be as cold as minus 50 degrees centigrade in Tomsk, but this is very rare. I have experienced such extreme colds, and, since I am still alive, clearly they are not lethal – the most important thing is to put on as many layers of clothing as possible. When it is that cold, it is always incredibly still and the air is ringing with clarity. Usually, winter temperatures vary from minus 5 to minus 25. When it snows – and it snows a lot in Siberia – it is always quite warm and incredibly beautiful. In England, I always miss snow. Summers in Siberia are very warm, sometimes very hot. A rainy summer can be quite cool, too.
The most incredible thing about Tomsk, though, is its people. Despite its real age, Tomsk is a very young town in spirit. Out of half a million Tomskovites, almost 100,000 (20%) are students. It is not surprising when you realise that there are 6(!) state universities in Tomsk, Tomsk State University being the oldest and most prestigious in Siberia. It was founded by Emperor Alexander II in 1878. It opened 10 years later and has since been the centre of academic excellence behind the Urals. It is for this reason that Tomsk has been dubbed The Athens of Siberia. This vibrancy of youth makes Tomsk a dynamic and forward-looking place. Most citizens in Tomsk are highly educated and cultured. This also makes Tomsk a very liberal and tolerant place. For example, there is, by and large, no homophobia – Tomsk has one of the highest percentages of openly gay young people in Russia. All these things considered, it is understandable why Tomsk is becoming more and more attractive to foreigners. More and more people from the west and China come to Tomsk to learn Russian – there is, in fact, a real boom. There are also many Americans and Britons who teach English there because there is always a great demand for knowledge and modernity in Tomsk.
If you want to learn more about Russia and Russians, why not defy the stereotypes? Take a deep breath and set foot in Siberia. And when you are there, visit, above all places, Tomsk. I promise you: it is simply impossible not to fall in love with the Siberian Athens.
Dmitry Matchin, a freelance Russian tutor, is a graduate of Tomsk University in Siberia and Oxford University in the UK