How I Went Abroad For The First Time

The first time I went abroad was in the summer of 1984. I was 21 and just finished my fourth year at the University. At that time, colleges and universities in the Soviet Union had the system of degrees, which was different from the rest of the world. We did not have bachelors and masters; we just had “specialist,” and everybody had to complete five years of school to graduate (some had to complete five and a half or six).
We didn’t have “freshmen” or “juniors,” we were “first-year students,” “second-year students,” etc.

I was attending the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics of the Leningrad State University, and we had “an exchange program” with Humbolt University in East Berlin. It was only called “exchange,” it took place in summer when schools were not in session, and it was just a rare chance to get to Zagranitsa. Both the Russian group and the German group consisted of ten students, in June the Germans where visiting Leningrad, and in August we were visiting Berlin.

The competition to be a part of this group has been going on for the whole school year. Until June we would not know who exactly will go to Germany (only East Germany, of cause!)

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What I Thought About The Foreign Countries

To build on my previous post, I am thinking about our perception of foreigners back in the Soviet Union. It was not about “foreign countries,” it was not about “international tourism,” it was about “Abroad” as a noun, “Zagranitza” in Russian.

The word means “behind the border” or “over the border,” anything which lies outside the borders of your country. I never thought of it back then, but now it seems funny for me that this word exists in the Russian language.

Zagranitza was scary and exciting at the same time. And when I am trying to analyze my past thoughts and feelings, I have to agree that they were very inconsistent and conflicting.

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About Journaling

When I decided to abandon my previous blog and to focus on family history here on WordPress, some of my friends had asked me how I am going to survive without daily journaling.

At first, I didn’t think much about it. But after a while, I’ve realized that I want to continue my daily journaling, even if virtually nobody is reading. I what to write about my life for the same reason as previous generations were keeping paper diaries – for themselves to remember what was going on, and for future generations to find it out :).

One of the most important things which your journal gives to you is the ability to observe your personality transformation. Now, when I read my journal records from ten or twelve years ago, I can vividly remember how I felt and what I thought at that time.

But unfortunately, although I was journaling for extensive periods of my life, this process was not consistent. My friends resent that there is no Livejournal from the years when my children were just born, and being honest; I regret it myself:).

So one of the things I am trying to do now is to fill this gap retroactively. I am trying to recall as precise as possible, how I felt about events at the time they were happening, what were my believes, how I saw the world, and how I’ve reconciled in my head all the things I saw.

Such posts as good examples of a bitemporal framework, which is something from my professional life; I can say that they are “effective in the past, asserted now.” If you understand, what I mean:).

I Can’t Even Call It A Salad…

Healthy Cooking - Hettie's Way

I’ve chosen some vegetables from the last CSA delivery, sliced them and arranged on the plate.

Ingredients: baby spring mix, zucchini, cucumber and radishes with tzatziki sauce

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Watching The “Music Man”

On Saturday, I was at Goodman’s performance of the “Music Man.” I have a “Whenever Goodman” subscription, which means that I could choose which shows I will be attending, and how many tickets I will allocate for each. I knew that the last play of the season would be the “Music Man,” so I’ve saved the last four tickets for it, not even knowing whom I will invite.

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A Workday In The Forest Preserve

Yesterday I was collecting seeds with the Friends of Deer Grove volunteers; that’s one of the happiest things you can do in the forest preserve. And there we’ve witnessed a little miracle: a butterfly just got out of her cocoon and getting ready to start her life.

Did you know that the butterflies can’t fly when they just got out? I didn’t know that! But it turned out that they need to get their wings dry and to pump their lungs to get ready for the first flight. So here she is, working her beautiful wings.

We thought it’s a Monarch, but when I’ve posted this video on Instagram, another volunteer has commented that this is a Viceroy butterfly! Maybe I will memorize them all eventually 🙂

A bonus picture 🙂

A Couple Of Words About Myself And Biking

Unlike all normal people, I didn’t learn to bike when I was a child. Taking off the training wheels didn’t work with me, and my mom didn’t consider this skill a priority. Later, some of my friends made attempts to teach me, and I remember at least two of those. Both ended up with no success, and I was pronounced unfit for biking. I was of the same opinion on this subject; you might not believe me, but I was sure that there are two things I will never learn: to ride a bike and to take pictures. Go figure :).

When we’ve moved to the US, Boris taught all my children how to ride a bike (actually, Anna might have mastered it while still in Russia, but I can’t remember now). And then he started to teach me :). I was so afraid to start this process one more time that he suggested I use Anna’s 12-inch bike first, and I did.

Twenty years later, I can’t imagine my life without biking. In fact, during my after-surgery period, biking was the thing I’ve missed most. Since I am a very social person, I joined the Palatine Bike Club and started to participate in various bike rides in the community.

Although the Palatine Bike Club has been active for a while, until recently, Palatine was not the most bike-friendly community. Things started to change in the last couple of years, and although we are still far from Madison, WI in terms of being bike-friendly, what we have now (bike lanes, bike racks) is a huge improvement. Although I am keeping telling everybody, what we should be more like Madison 🙂

About The Biking Event, And How I broke My Bike And Fixed It

On Saturday morning we had a first Palatine Community bike ride, with the Mayor and Village officials present. Although it was extremely hot, there was no question for me, whether to show up or not. Taking the weather into account, the participation was great. The police (both the cars and bikers) were escorting our cavalcade through the whole ride and would hold the traffic when we were crossing the Northwest Highway. It was a real community event, with many people participating for the first time.

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Svekolnik – Cold Summer Soup

I make this cold soup every summer as the temperatures start to hit the 80s, and make it every week un til it cools outside. Many people are suspicious about this soup because it is pink :). But if they are brave enough to try, they love it.

My CSA deliveries have started in July and the last week’s delivery was just perfect.