From Beetroot Soup to Minus 40 weather: Ben's Russian Adventure

Speaker 1

[00.00.00]

For instance, when I was in Yaroslavl and we had, you know, a really lots of snow. Snow that was so bad that public transport and the roads were just unusable. But it's not as if they send snowplows out. It's not as if, you know, the army would have to come out and deal with it. It would just be an army of old ladies, um, probably in their 60s, who'd just come out with, you know, rates and shovels and just be. 6:00 in the morning just clearing the road. Hello, and welcome to one off Travel Stories. I'm your host, Andrew Towers Turner. Here. Each episode, I chat with someone about one of their favorite travel stories, that one story they told countless times to friends and family around the dinner table. Today we're joined by Ben Novick. Ben is an intrepid traveler with a love of languages, dabbling in Russian, Spanish, French, German. On top of his native English.

Speaker 2

[00.00.51]

actually there for a year in: 2012

Speaker 1

[00.01.19]

Hello. Thank you for having me,

Speaker 2

[00.01.20]

Andrew. Yeah, a pleasure, a pleasure. Glad to have you on. Excited to talk to you today. And then hear, hear your story. Um, before we jump into that, you know, I, I know you like traveling, and you're just, uh, constantly planning your next trip. Uh, you tend to do, like, multi leg, many stop trips when it's as much as you can with a full time job. So I'd love to know. Um, where did it all start? How did you how did you sort of get into, uh, into traveling?

Speaker 1

[00.01.51]

ck stroll. But it was then in: 2022

Speaker 2

[00.03.24]

Well, getting the chance to, uh, do a rail trip with your sibling, um, is amazing. I think anyone with a sibling. I just think about rail trip around Europe, too. It's such a classic. Uh, such a classic way to do it. Especially if you can get one of those, I don't know. Do they still have euro? Like a euro pass? Sort of. They

Speaker 1

[00.03.43]

do. I think for Americans or maybe North Americans, it's called year rail. But for Europeans it's Interrail. It used to be a case, and I'd always suggest people do it before the age of 25, because that's when it's cheaper. Yeah. Whereas it used to get more expensive. But now I think they've hooked into 27. So anybody under the age of 27 should do it. I've encouraged folks to do it. And they've been all over Europe. They've been um, because sometimes they even do just like single country passes. So you could maybe just pay like €70 or so and then spend ten days just railing around Italy. Yeah. Um, but we actually did the multi-country one. It was ten days, um, of travel around Central Europe. Um, and I loved it. Loved it. We didn't want it. No, I didn't actually as well. I mean, of course, you know, I was very excited to get back to my own bed after sleeping in stations on trains and the old hostel as well. But, you know, that was all part of the fun.

Speaker 2

[00.04.36]

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Um, you mentioned something. Uh, languages. Um, I know, uh, actually, I know vaguely. I don't actually know all the all the languages you do speak, or at least, um, have some knowledge of. But what what started that?

Speaker 1

[00.04.53]

I spoke French must have been: 2017

Speaker 2

[00.06.03]

Yeah, yeah, it

Speaker 1

[00.06.04]

was fun while it lasted.

Speaker 2

[00.06.07]

That's a lot of languages at school, actually, though, that's

Speaker 1

[00.06.10]

what it is. Yeah. And I guess another language I'd add is Ben, which of course is my own language really, which, you know, so if you can understand, um, when the jokes come out, then you can just laugh, Be polite.

Speaker 2

[00.06.22]

That's the language of humor. Um. Oh, absolutely. Did you learn, uh, Serbian growing up?

Speaker 1

[00.06.29]

Never know. Um, unfortunately, my dad never learns it as well, because my dad only had one Serbian parent. My grandma was English, so my dad grew up speaking English at home. But nonetheless, I would say that when I was in Belgrade, I did try speaking Russian. And occasionally it worked. But then other times when they responded in Serbian, it didn't work. So it was probably a bit of a one way system. They do overlap quite a bit. A lot of Eastern European languages do overlap. Um, and that can definitely make it easier to learn one Eastern European language if you're fluent in another. But again, um, I never really got around to learning Serbian. Right.

Speaker 2

[00.07.06]

But you do. I would imagine no Cyrillic. Correct? Yes,

Speaker 1

[00.07.11]

correct. So I can certainly read a lot of these in European languages. I mean, knowing Russian, I can read Ukrainian. But then I imagine if someone speaks Ukrainian to me, I wouldn't be able to understand them because Ukrainian itself, I'd probably say it's more aligned with Polish than it is with Russian, even if it does use the Cyrillic alphabet.

Speaker 2

[00.07.28]

Huh. That's interesting. Yeah. I mean, um, I speak French, my Spanish is okay, conversational, but I feel like I can read Italian. It was, um, I, I ended up in Romania, um, traveling, uh, a few summers ago, and, like, just didn't really realize it was romantic language. And, um. Until I got there and I was like, oh, well, this is so nice. I can kind of figure out what's going on everywhere. So, um, I imagine and it might not be. I imagine it's sort of like that if you, uh, know Russian and know the Cyrillic language, but you can correct me if I'm wrong, I

Speaker 1

[00.08.04]

believe. So. I think Bulgarian and Russian may have a lot of overlaps, from what I understand. Um, but then, of course, you do get Macedonian, for example. I mean, you even do get some Turkic languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet as well. So I think that would be I mean, I don't know any Turkic languages, anything like Uzbek or Kazakh, um, for instance, as well. They probably have more in common with Turkish, yet they use the Cyrillic alphabet. So that would be interesting to hear. Um, I can't see myself having any success learning them.

Speaker 2

[00.08.36]

Well, I've enjoyed this language sidebar, but I don't know if the listeners will be, uh, or want to go to sleep now as well.

Speaker 1

[00.08.44]

I mean, you've probably just lost 5 million subscribers or. Yeah.

Speaker 2

[00.08.47]

Um, but that being said, uh, pretty good segue. I know you mentioned speaking Russian, and today you're going to tell us a story about your time in Russia. But before we jump right into that, I'd love to get some, you know, quick, get us started with some background. Um, what year is it? Uh, why why are you going to Russia? Um, yeah. Anything that you think would be relevant.

Speaker 1

[00.09.14]

position I found myself in in: 2012

Speaker 2

[00.10.05]

didn't know that I covered all that good stuff, but, yeah. That's nice. Well,

Speaker 1

[00.10.09]

yeah, they did actually. It was very generous of them, of course. Um, but the one option that I was thinking I was on about splitting my year, which is also very common, I wanted to spend my second semester in Saint Petersburg, in Russia, and then I wanted to spend my first semester originally in Germany. Um, just doing, uh, some sort of work experience as well. I didn't really want to spend it in a university, but as you can imagine, like as a 20 year old, I mean, in this day and age, it's really difficult to get a job. So you can imagine actually, you know, being an underqualified 20 year old weedy students, obviously just trying to, you know, um, find some sort of work experience in a foreign country was about as impossible as it could be in order to secure something like that. I didn't really realize until trying it that you had to essentially have a very close relative who had their own business and was willing to put you up for a few months or so. So I went to one of my Spanish professors for help, and. He actually advised me, which was brilliant advice which is actually spent your whole year in Russia because I'd studied German and Spanish at school as well, and my Russian was really far behind. And so he said, you know, you can spend your summers. At the time, Britain was in the EU, so there was unlimited options of actually spending time there so I could spend my summers in Germany and Spain if I wanted to. Um, and then spend your full year in Russia. It's an opportunity and it will get your Russian better. And I will admit, it wasn't until I actually got there I realized how bad my Russian was. So this was actually probably one of the best advice I got.

Speaker 2

[00.11.38]

There's great advice, actually, I, I don't think I asked this, but, um, I guess like German, Spanish, French like that all makes sense. What was the Russian connection? Because of Serbia? Like, why did you start studying Russian? Yeah, it probably was like because of my Eastern European heritage. Um, obviously, you know, my Serbian grandfather as well. And also I loved growing up watching like, James Bond movies, spy thrillers as well. Um, and I knew that, you know, just thinking about the career, too, that, you know, Russian as a language would be a very useful language to have, um, wealth of possibilities, whether it be business opportunities or whether it be, you know, careers in the United Nations where Russian is one of the main languages. And I guess there was also a personal interest as well. I'd always been fascinated by the country, fascinated by Eastern Europe in general. And obviously, you know, the geopolitical side of it, the historical side of it. Um, also, it's worth pointing out Russia has fascinating, you know, literary literature. Um,

Speaker 1

[00.12.38]

and a lot of people were very interested in that. However, I mean, it's not really something I dived into too much until I started studying the language.

Speaker 2

[00.12.47]

Gotcha. So just generally a broad interest. Okay. Sounds good. Yeah.

Speaker 1

[00.12.52]

Yeah. Sorry to disappoint. I mean, I'm not saying something specific, like the bleeding, abortion, the ballet, but that

Speaker 2

[00.12.58]

is a fantastic answer. And probably if you want to learn a language, you should make sure you you like there's you know a lot about the differences of like across the board of the culture. So no, no, that that checks out with my experiences as well. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, so yeah, just going back to what I was saying, I mean, it wasn't really until I got there, I realized how bad my Russian was. But of course, I've come to, you know, my experience there in a moment. So I'll just build up to, you know, the nerve wrecking experience I had just in the build up, really, to going to Russia. It kind of reminds me of like when you're on a roller coaster and you're at that 90 degrees going up and then you know there's going to be a huge drop in a moment. It's like tension really as well. Yeah, it's because also the like I said earlier as well, it was easy to get into Europe, um, mainland Europe for the most part in those days because Britain was in the European Union, no visas required, whereas there was a big Visa process involved. It involved lots of paperwork as well. One of those standard application forms that obviously, you know, most countries do have, um, but and also an invitation from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was probably one of the most terrifying pieces of paper I think I've ever seen in my life. Um, because it was very how it was written as well, and just invitation and capital letters, which didn't really look inviting, ironically enough. And I think what also made it, um, a bit scary was just before all my friends were telling me, oh, don't die out there. It's so dangerous. Um, you know, trying not to get killed. I thought, I'm just

Speaker 1

[00.14.31]

going to two cities. One was Yaroslavl, another was Saint Petersburg. It's not like I was going to be, you know, dropped into the middle of Siberia in the heart of winter. You know, I mean, surrounded by a load of wolves I had to run away from. I mean, it was just simply, you know, studying abroad for two semesters. Yeah. I mean, God, that would have been an experience, though.

Speaker 2

[00.14.51]

Um, that being said, it sounds like. So you were. You were still sort of nervous. Nervous to get there.

Speaker 1

[00.14.58]

Definitely nervous to get there. Yeah. I mean, of course I, you know, I knew myself. It wasn't the experience that my friends thought I was going to have. You know, being surrounded by wolves inside there and coming back as, I don't know, man with a fur hat and four jackets on or so and a big beard, it was just simply going to be studying abroad. So I was just going to try and treat it like any study abroad that anybody was going to have. And plus it wasn't like I was by myself. You know, there was somebody else from my university that was out there, lots of other British students that were out there too, and another Norwegian students as well, who I did become very good friends with and got to travel around the country with as well. So yeah, despite, you know, the anxiety, I was eventually off. Um, and little did I know that the plane meal that I had, um, when I was flying out there, was actually probably the last decent meal I was going to have for a very long time because I ended up leaving, which. Yeah, well, I ended up living with an old lady, um, in my first semester as well. And I kid you not, I don't know what was worse. Her English or a cooking. Um, because she provided, you know, two meals a day, you know, breakfast and dinner as well. And she couldn't speak any English. So you can imagine how terrible her cooking was.

Speaker 2

[00.16.10]

I don't know, the English aren't exactly known for their cooking, but

Speaker 1

[00.16.13]

we're not. But again, we don't give beetroot soup every night. Um, or if that's what you can call it anyway, beetroot soup. And then, you know, some sour cream thrown in and, you know, if you slices or crusts of bread to go with it as well. So it wasn't exactly the most appetizing meal. And I do remember complaining to my dad about having beetroot soup so much. And it was just before Christmas. I got back to the UK for Christmas holidays after my first semester, and so I think he saw the funny side of it, and then ended up wrapping up some beetroot in some wrapping paper and giving it to me for Christmas. That's great. Happy? Yeah it was happy Christmas from babushka was actually. Yeah, the message on it. So I thought well at least he saw the funny side of it. But yeah, that was certainly it was living with her, I'd say in general was certainly a very interesting experience. I mean, of course it was great for my Russian because she couldn't speak any English. So I was thrown into the deep end there and all I could do was improve. And she, you know, ridiculed me as well, essentially about having such poor Russian. But that just made me want to do better, you know, really made me want to speak more. And all I could do was learn. I do recall as well that she definitely had some strange gift ideas, for that matter. Um, she was I got some decent ones, which are some teacup holders. So this is quite common in Russia, and it used to be very common in the Soviet Union, where they'd have some small holders with handles on, and then you'd put a glass in and it was essentially like a portable teacup. People would take them on trains when they're traveling. People would take them on holidays, or people would just have them, um, you know, for social purposes as well. So I got two of these as well. But I feel sorry for the guy who was before me because he was essentially given a portrait of Joseph Stalin. So, so all I can say really was just, you know, thank God I wasn't born a year earlier because I think that would be an interesting thing to explain to customs when I got back to the UK.

Speaker 2

[00.18.08]

Um, so wait, when you arrived? Hmm? Is that when? She gives. Like is that when she gave you a gift, was that or was it when you were? It

Speaker 1

[00.18.18]

now, dressing like it was the: 1980

Speaker 2

[00.19.12]

Wow. Okay, wait. I'm loving the description of it. So, um, you flew. Did you say it was the Yaroslav

Speaker 1

[00.19.19]

Yaroslavl was my first semester, which is like four hours from Moscow and is also known for its churches. It's probably got more Orthodox churches out of any Russian city per capita. I'd say this is four hours. East. Southeast. Northeast. Northeast? Literally. Yeah. Northeast of Moscow. It's typically dubbed as, you know, a suburb of Moscow. But it definitely isn't a suburb of Moscow. It's just four hours would obviously get you across Washington state for the most part, whereas obviously four hours in Russia is probably, you know, not that far from Moscow. Right in the grand view.

Speaker 2

[00.19.56]

Mhm. Russia is huge. So they're probably like yeah every four hours. It's a suburb you know.

Speaker 1

[00.20.01]

Yeah. That's I think why they do call it the, the suburb for the most part maybe a suburb of Moscow is anything like right out to Siberia. Who knows.

Speaker 2

[00.20.09]

Okay. Um so you land directly there. Um, and I like, head to this, as you said, very Soviet style apartment. Mhm. Meet your new, uh, housemate. Um, I, like, are you feeling, uh, more nervous? Less nervous. How are you? How are you doing? Are you regretting your decision or. Well, I definitely wasn't

Speaker 1

[00.20.35]

hat was probably built in the: 1960

Speaker 2

[00.21.17]

Nice. So, uh. Yeah. You're in Yaroslavl. You're in your apartment. What's next?

Speaker 1

[00.21.24]

So I guess really just, um, exploring the city. I ended up going to Moscow as well. Um, which, you know, was good. How? I ended up taking just a train down to Moscow. I even, um, was studying for the most part as well. Um, it got down to -40 degrees in the winter, which, I mean, we don't even need to say whether it's Celsius or Fahrenheit, because that's where the two meet. So that's definitely easier for all the viewers, of course. And I'd say, really, I spent the first few months in the level just like trying to focus on, you know, really adapting, really trying to improve my Russian for the most part. It was so cold. It was just like covered in snow and there wasn't really much to do. Um, there wasn't really opportunities to go and explore outside of the city. So I really just stayed put for the most part, really. And just like, tried to, you know, socialize as much as possible with, um, you know, some of the locals really try to improve my Russian, um, you know, try to. Train my palate into getting used to borsch and other soups that I was given, or whatever food that I was, you know, presented with. Uh, questionable as it may be. And then really, um, going as Volgograd was also something I'd wanted to do for a while. I was really captivated by the historical elements of it. Of course, it played a pivotal role in, you know, World War Two. Um, and also just stunned, uh, expecting it to be a really old city. But it wasn't at all. It was very Stalinist architecture. It was very, um, very modern in comparison to what I expected, because the whole city had just been completely obliterated during the war. So going there as well and just seeing all this was a surprise, even though I did see what was debated. You know, it's up for debate, but the tallest statue in the world, which is Mummy Kurgan. Um, the Russians claim it's their tallest statue in the world. Um, but the Chinese, I think, claim that they've got a Buddha statue, which is even bigger. So

Speaker 2

[00.23.19]

it's a big statue. I'm sure it was quite large, though, you know, but it's

Speaker 1

[00.23.22]

definitely a bit bigger than me, so. Yeah, I'll give you that. I mean, I'll credit them for that for sure.

Speaker 2

[00.23.26]

Still probably very impressive. You know, either way. Yeah.

Speaker 1

[00.23.29]

I'd definitely say as well, um, like, you know. As I got accustomed to the food when I was over there. Um, one thing that my host has the ICA, as they called, um, definitely presented me with was a bottle of vodka with the root still in as well, which is something I'd never seen before. The vodka I was accustomed to was like Smirnoff, which we had in the UK or Russian Standard. But obviously you can imagine vodka is like the national drink over there. And this homemade vodka was, she claims that, you know, she'd made it herself from her dacha, um, which I'd never seen before. But, you know, it definitely was a

Speaker 2

[00.24.03]

strong country. Countryside. Yeah, that was

Speaker 1

[00.24.06]

like a country house. A lot of Russians have them, and they just use them to grow vegetables. It's like, I guess, their retreat from the city. Um, yeah. So it had a root in it as well, which was just floating around for a screaming help me. And, you know, I just had a shot of the stuff and well, it was strong.

Speaker 2

[00.24.23]

Was it, was it potato vodka or was it another root vegetable that she made out of?

Speaker 1

[00.24.28]

I can assume it's potato vodka, but it could be anything, really. No, I mean,

Speaker 2

[00.24.35]

that's kind of fun.

Speaker 1

[00.24.36]

It was definitely interesting. Yes. Um, but yeah, obviously. Then after my first semester, I. Then I moved on to Saint Petersburg, which I absolutely loved. And, you know, that was, um, you know, a remarkable experience. It was still very cold. It was February. Then I moved on over there. I was actually also living with an old lady, but she wasn't as intense as the other one. I guess I was probably more confident because my Russian was of a much better standard. And also, I mean, she actually didn't just chuck me in a spare bedroom with, you know, a really uncomfortable bed. I basically was given my own the what was the living room with a TV of my own. And I also had access to sports one, which was unlimited Premier League football matches. You could watch all the formula one, you could watch as well, and actually not feeling like I was, you know, cut off from the rest of the world because Saint Petersburg definitely was a more, uh, more modern city as well. And a very cultural one, for that matter.

Speaker 2

[00.25.34]

Yeah. I've always wanted to go. Hopefully I get to go someday. I have this view I'm curious of. Like both of the ladies that you lived with, uh, how how patient were they with your, like, Russian learning in general? I have, like, a stereotypical view, but I'm curious

Speaker 1

[00.25.53]

how you think your stereotypical view probably matches the reality, which was not very patient at all. It was difficult. And it did get me a bit disheartened because I felt that, you know, I just couldn't really communicate when I first got there because my Russian was bad. I didn't know how to answer to some of the questions. I kept misunderstanding a lot. And I will say as time went on, I still made mistakes, but I definitely felt more confident and I definitely could have a conversation as time went on. So it certainly helped. It did. But yeah, I mean, they're not really known for being very patient. And you can imagine actually that they you know, they definitely weren't patient with my Russian. But nonetheless, um, you know, I persevered and it's really what got me to. Improve if they just kept saying I was doing great all the time, even though I blatantly wasn't

Speaker 2

[00.26.38]

just positive. That's nice.

Speaker 1

[00.26.40]

Yeah. I mean, if they were saying that, then of course then I don't really know that they'd be lying and I'd be given false hope.

Speaker 2

[00.26.46]

Um, you know, you spent a good amount of time there. Do you have any highlights or lowlights that that stick out in your mind?

Speaker 1

[00.26.56]

Yeah, the highlights obviously were the people that I met, um, over there. Um, because, you know, I'd never really met Russians before. Um, you know, even though Britain does have a sizable Russian population, I'd never really, you know, socialised or really met Russians. So I think meeting the people was really nice because I do love. This is one of the things I do love about my travel is being able to meet people around the world. Um, you know, being able to learn about people as well. And, you know, how they grew up compared to how I grew up, for example. And so that was really one of the highlights as well. And I will say, when Saint Petersburg got warmer, the White Nights started to happen. That was also something quite remarkable. It was just so great how I could just walk home at 3:00 in the morning and then just, you know, it'd be light outside as well. It's it never got dark, which also made sleeping difficult, but it was still just like something I'd never seen before.

Speaker 2

[00.27.50]

So does Saint Saint Petersburg far enough north that the sun doesn't set.

Speaker 1

[00.27.55]

Oh, it's. Yeah, definitely in the wind. In the summertime, it is so far north that the sun just doesn't set. I'd say like at 3:00 in the morning, when it should be pitch black. The sky's probably pinkish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Horizon white and pink. Yeah, yeah. Um, I guess one uncomfortable experience I probably did have over there was, um, just after I got to Saint Petersburg, um, I was lost. I'd just been out with some friends as well, and I was trying to walk home because the subway had closed. It was probably like 1:00 in the morning or so. I went to a gas station just to ask, um, the person at the gas station now how I get to my address, which I knew at the time. And then there was, um, somebody else also just like paying for their gas, who was, um, stood next to me as well and said, you know, oh, that street, I think I know it. Yes. Just interrupting the conversation. And then he just walked off. And then I carried on walking down the road thinking, I'm sure this is the way, uh, even though it did start to look a bit rural, I was actually living on an island, which is the Vasilevsky Island in Saint Petersburg at the time. I mean, it's not exactly a remote desert island. It's more just like an island within Saint Petersburg. The city.

Speaker 2

[00.29.03]

Um, wait, did that did you say it? And that guy said, I think I know where it is and then just didn't tell you. Is that right? Yeah.

Speaker 1

[00.29.09]

Basically, he just walked away and just. I don't know where it is, but don't worry. He comes back in a moment, okay? Okay. Because. I then continue to walk, and then a dark windowed SUV just pulls up alongside me and it's him again and his wife's driving. He's in the front and said, oh, that's street. Yes, get in. And so then I get into the back of the car, just being so desperate to get home because it's -30 something degrees Celsius. And I just thought it's freezing. Okay. My options here, I just had to go with it as well, which now I look back and think, you know, that's only the thing a stupid 20 year old wouldn't do. And he was nice. Him and his wife were just chatting to me about like, you know, what I was doing here, you know, standard KGB interrogation style questions. You know, what I was doing here? And you know how long I was here for. And this

Speaker 2

[00.29.55]

was all in Russian, I take it.

Speaker 1

[00.29.56]

Yeah. It was. It was all in Russian. They couldn't speak English. Well, I mean, I only spoke to them in Russian anyway, so I'm not sure how good their English was. And they could have been from Toronto as far as I'm concerned. And it wasn't really until the nerves started to kick in as I the car ends up slowing down and we passed like a cemetery. But then afterwards when they shake my hand and tell me actually, okay, this is your house. And then I realized actually the apartment block was actually next to a cemetery, so they did take me home. And that was just such a relief, but I wouldn't recommend doing it, to be honest.

Speaker 2

[00.30.32]

I mean, other than the fact that it was night and kind of sketchy. That's nice of them. You know, it was very

Speaker 1

[00.30.39]

, Uber wasn't a thing back in: 2012

Speaker 2

[00.31.24]

I mean, um,

Speaker 1

[00.31.27]

I've been in -30 Celsius. It's it's not fun. You don't, you know, you're not gonna last that long outside if if you don't have the right stuff on. Um, just kind of funny that the guy was like, I know where that is. And then, like, left. And then he

Speaker 2

[00.31.45]

showed up again. He's like, I remember. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1

[00.31.49]

And I guess when I got home as well, I remembered as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I opened the door and found my old, um, you know, the old lady that was hosting me, just laughing at me as I walked in, confused and concerned. And, you know, I think by then it was like 6:00 in the morning and she was having breakfast, but I just wanted to go to sleep.

Speaker 2

[00.32.07]

I was it was super late. So. Yeah.

Speaker 1

[00.32.09]

And I guess, um, the other scary thing about Russia in general, which I was warned about beforehand, was the police. Now, I think my professor, actually, when he gave us all the talk as well and told us, like, you know, about Russia and the risks, as he himself has spent his year abroad out there probably 20 years prior. Uh, he said, you know, you need to be careful of the police and, you know, you can't just carry a photocopy of your passport. You actually need to carry a proper version of your passport because he actually didn't carry his passport, was detained by the police and was in a Russian prison for three hours. Um, so it was very good advice and I obviously I made sure that I carried my passport everywhere I went, um, because I didn't want to take the risk and. I think the Russians themselves actually even fed the police, for that matter, because they were. I often saw them stopping people, particularly young men as well, and pulling them aside and asking them for documents. Um, so whether it be obviously people from other countries who, you know, they want to check, you know, their paperwork to make sure that they had legal status to be in Russia, or whether it be, you know, young men who were potentially draft dodging and probably looks around 18 or 19 as well and should be doing military service, but had somehow got out and just simply, you know, run away from, you know, conscription.

Speaker 2

[00.33.25]

Were you, uh, were you ever stopped?

Speaker 1

[00.33.28]

Never by the police, but by metro security? All the time. I don't know what it is they had against me, but they'd always pulled me aside, like, check my bags, make me go through metal detectors as well, and then just let me go. And then the police would just salute as I walked past them. Um, so they never really had a problem with me specifically, but yeah, Metro security as well, I think.

Speaker 2

[00.33.49]

Did they check your passport? No

Speaker 1

[00.33.51]

they didn't. I don't think they have the authority to do so. They just checked my bags and then just patted me down or made me go through some metal detector. And even if the metal detector went off because I had, like, keys and, you know, wallet in my pockets, then, you know, they still let me go. So I thought, what's the point in this

Speaker 2

[00.34.07]

suspicious character band? Yeah.

Speaker 1

[00.34.09]

But one thing I was going to say is how, um, Russians themselves, of course, they were suspicious because I remember at university in my when we were discussing, you know, what would you do in a situation if your house were burgled? I mean, you and I would obviously call the police, but then our professor just looked at me and said, wait, why on earth would you call the police if your house were burgled? I thought, well, I'm sorry, I didn't realise that the Ghostbusters were a thing in Russia. I mean, who am I supposed to call here? I mean, but it's just that level of distrust. And I think the fear that they have of police really as well, that puts people off, I think getting the police involved, which then does, you know, obviously raise other questions, but I don't want to make this whole podcast episode just about Russian police.

Speaker 2

[00.34.50]

It's an interesting part of life there. So, um. Yeah, fascinating. Well, I

Speaker 1

[00.34.57]

mean, I'm not sure really if that, you know, fear or, you know, distrust of the police actually makes Russians more independent because I do find they're fiercely independent as individuals. Right. You know, very much so. Head screwed on, very confident, you know, in that regard. And I always thought maybe it's because a lot of men do military service. Maybe it's just how they are brought up. Perhaps. But at the same time, I just think they're a culture of people that just really get stuck in they, you know, never really complain. They always, you know, really just keep their heads, heads down and just, you know, soldier on with whatever problems that, you know, they encounter. For instance, as well, when I was in Yaroslavl and we had, you know, a. Really? Lots of snow. Snow that was so bad that public transport and the roads were just unusable. But it's not as if they send snowplows out. It's not as if, you know, the army would have to come out and deal with it. It would just be an army of old ladies, um, probably in their 60s. They'd just come out with, you know, rates and shovels and just be. 6:00 in the morning just clearing the roads. And I thought, gosh, I mean, that's not going to be me when I'm that age.

Speaker 2

[00.36.02]

The image, the image that you're painting is, is just, just I don't know, there's something about it but would make like a good, good, good make a great documentary. The army of old ladies out there to shovel. It's it's it's a great workout. It's a tough workout. Um. Oh.

Speaker 1

[00.36.19]

It was. They were probably in better shape than I was at that time as well.

Speaker 2

[00.36.22]

Well, um, you you you were in for the end of it. So you were for your second half. You were in Saint Petersburg before going back. How did this whole adventure wrap up for you? How did you feel at the end of it?

Speaker 1

[00.36.39]

k since, because this was mid: 2013

Speaker 2

[00.38.14]

Yeah. You're very lucky to have gotten there when you did. And realistically, how is your, uh. How's your Russian today? Yes, I still am able to talk to Russians as well. I still have Russian friends I do speak to, which is nice, but unfortunately I don't really get the opportunity to speak Russian as much as I would like. Um, and I'm not using your podcast, as you know, to try to advertise a potential, you know, Russian language meetup. If there is one in Seattle, I'd love to join it as well. And actually, you know, try to befriend more Russians. Um, if any of them are listening, you know, please subscribe. You know, it's a brilliant podcast. This, um, I've just got you have a few million subscribers. Oh, well, thanks, but actually, I

Speaker 1

[00.38.55]

mean, there are lots in Seattle. I do even walk down the street as well. And, you know, I do hear Russian being spoken, but I'm not sure if they are Russian, Belarusian, uh, Kazakh or from another former Soviet country. But I definitely think it's something I'd like to get involved in. I'd like to be able to connect more with Russians and hopefully, you know, reminisce on the good times, which, you know, you and I are doing now.

Speaker 2

[00.39.15]

You shared. Well, I appreciate it. I mean, so interesting, um, some lovely little tidbits there from your time in Russia, I, I yeah, it's yeah, it's it's a fascinating place. Um, before we wrap up, anything, anything travel. What's, uh, what's in your future travel wise?

Speaker 1

[00.39.34]

So, um, I just got back from Asia about six weeks ago, which was fantastic. Um, of course, I only was there for two and a half weeks, and I ended up seeing so much. So it was very go, go, go. It was, um, I started in the Philippines, was just there for a couple of days and then did Bali and swung by Kuala Lumpur for a day, and then Thailand for a week, and then Japan on the way back to Seattle. So all of that in two and a half weeks was intense. Um, and I did think it was

Speaker 2

[00.40.01]

going to be my last year on a break. Now, is that what I'm feeling?

Speaker 1

[00.40.05]

Uh, well, I'm on a break from an intense trip, but not a break from Asia, because I just found that they are actually going to be opening up 30 days of visa free travel to China for Brits and Canadians, actually, for that matter. So I'm hopefully going to do a trip to China at some point. So I'm just trying to figure out when. Uh, so I definitely love to see a fair bit of China. Um, I'm not sure where exactly, but definitely bookmarks in a few places. Reading a Lonely Planet book on China right now, hoping to like, maybe learn a bit of Chinese as well, for that matter. And once the journey happens, I look forward to it very much. It's a country that I've always been interested in and always wanted to see.

Speaker 2

[00.40.45]

Amazing. Uh, I share that. I share that, uh, well, I'm on the same page as you there. Well, um, Ben, thanks so much for for coming on and telling a story about Russia. Um, I hope you know, someone's listening, and they. And they reach out for to to tell you about the Seattle Russian sort of hang out, and you can practice a little bit and get your Russian back to full power.

Speaker 1

[00.41.10]

Yeah, of course, I'll check the comments.

Speaker 2

[00.41.13]

I, uh, again, thanks for coming on.

Speaker 1

[00.41.16]

Yeah, thank you for having me, Andrew. Really enjoyed this experience. Thank you.

Speaker 2

[00.41.20]

Yeah. Of course. Uh, enjoy the rest of your evening.

Speaker 1

[00.41.23]

Thank you. You too. A big thank you to Ben for coming on the podcast and sharing his stories from his time in Russia. So fascinating to learn a little bit about the culture and just day to day life, which is a little bit of a switch out from our usual. And of course, shout out to those babushka getting up at six in the morning to shovel snow after big snowstorms. Wow. Just amazing.

Speaker 2

[00.41.52]

Uh, as always, if you've got a story that you'd love to share, please reach out. You can find me at one off Travel stories.com.