So much has happened in the last week and i can't remember what i wrote about last time, so if i start retelling stories, I'm sorry. But if you know anything about me, you'll know that I constantly retell stories anyway! Friday evening, I went out with my host brother, his girlfriend, and his friend Maksim. We went downtown and had coffee at a cafe, and then walked around. Nothing exciting but still fun.
Saturday, however, was incredible! Our group went to this town outside Astrakhan' called Altynzhar. It is a Kazakh town, and we went to this museum complex that was built near the tomb of the most famous Kazakh composer, Kurmangazy. His tomb was beautiful! It is white marble and has the typical Muslim round dome that ends in a point. On the outside there were floral carvings into the marble, and above the wooden door was a carving of a winged horse. Inside were colorful floral mosaics. The land around the tomb looks exactly like Texas! It's very strange. It looks like the drive between Austin and Waco. Haha! After we walked around the tomb, we walked through the museum and learned about Kurmangazy and Kazakh history in the Astrakhan' area. Then, we went outside and then into a yurt. This was awesome! A yurt is the traditional tent Kazakhs live in. Before we went in, we washed our hands and took off our shoes. Inside there were dozens of carpets and colorful fabric hung everywhere. There were tables covered in food! We sat on the ground and ate lunch for like 2 hours, and there were these women singing and playing on this Kazakh guitar, and then they were dancing and made some of us get up and dance with them (including me)! It was the best lunch I've had in a while.
Sunday I went to church at this Orthodox church near my university that I can't remember the name. It was Orthodox Pentecost and the church was so packed with people that it was at least 90 degrees inside. But it was a beautiful church. Someone told me it was the only church in Astrakhan' that was allowed to function as a church under the Soviet Union. Other churches were turned into museums or bus stations or cafeterias for workers. You can definitely see the remnants of the Soviet era more in Astrakhan and other smaller cities than in St. Petersburg. My family, for example, only has positive things to say about the USSR. They tell me about how much better their lives were then, which I can believe. The former Soviet republics have suffered tremendously in the past 17 years and there's still a long road to recovery. All the wealth of the country went straight into the pockets of business men who are known here as oligarchs after the state lost control of the wealth. It's a very sad and difficult situation, and provencial towns get far far less resources from Moscow and the private sector than do places that go boost tourism. There are abandonned train tracks everywhere in Astrakhan' that road has just been built over, and former factories were turned into apartment buildings. Downtown is very nice, but outside of that it's very decrepit.
This week we went to a play at a small black box theater. I enjoyed the play, but there was no air conditioning in the small room packed with people, so the girl I was sitting next to and I took turns fanning eachother with the program. We all died. This weekend we are going to the city of Volgograd north of Astrakhan'. It used to be called Stalingrad and was the turning point in WWII for Russia. More soldiers died in Volgograd than anywhere else in the war. It is Russia's pride. If you've seen the movie Enemy at the Gates, the city they were fighting in was Stalingrad/Volgograd. I'm very excited! There is an enormous war memorial there of Mother Russia calling her soldiers to battle with one hand and pointing her sword toward Germany. I've heard it's amazing. Unfortunately, I can't upload pictures, so maybe I'll email a bunch when I get back. Hope everything is well with you all!

Ross