My Last Siberian Post

My Siberians have spent the last week in Rexburg for the second leg of their rural Idaho tour, so I took my parents and youngest brother up a few times over the past few days to introduce my American family to my Russian family.
Here's Greg and I with some of the girls...





...And here we are with Professor Victor and more the girls.


See that guy in the white pants and black beret? That is one of the most obnoxious french people I have ever met. I was planning on repressing all of my memories in which he had leading or supporting roles, but last night I decided to change that plan and snap a photo of him. It will make it a lot easier to find and punish him later when I achieve my goal of becoming supreme ruler of the free world.
When we saw the team last night, they gave me a CD of about 150 photos Vladimir had taken last week. Good old Vladimir started taking pictures the second he climbed off the bus. Here we all are in the school lobby after the team arrived at 12 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Here I am with Marquetta, Professor Victor, and the Rotary Club lady discussing the program for the team's first performance.
Here we are in the boat during the party last Friday. I got my worst sunburn of the summer that day...but it was no wear near as awful as the burn poor professor Victor got.
This photo was taken at the luncheon where all of the teams swapped gifts with different area mayors. Here are the mayors with the costumed dancers and musicians. Here I am with the representatives from Team Siberia, the mayor of Rupert (blue shirt), another Rupert representative (yellow shirt), and some members of the other Russian group at the festival...the Cossacks.
Now that my sunburn has numbed and I have been able to sleep for more than four hours a night, I can officially say that being a team guide was a good experience. I learn a lot about Russia and other countries, about sound checks and rehearsal schedules, about repairing very old Siberian folk instruments, and about running photo exhibitions. I also learned what my limits for stress and sleep deprivation are, information that will come in very handy in the future.

Idaho International...YAWNNNN...Dance and...YAWNNNNNN.....

WARNING...This post contains photos from the last three days of the festival making it extremely long. Sorry. Thursday morning was the Youth Culture Day. My beautiful Siberians gave three wonderful interactive presentations to kids from all over the valley.
They spoke in Russian, played their instruments, and taught the kids a fun dance.
The fire alarm went off at the end of the first presentation and we all had to evacuate for a few minutes. The Siberians took the opportunity to sign some autographs.

The kid's favorite part seemed to be watching Khongr make the little wooden horse dance as he played.
Thursday afternoon...Well, that particular time period has become known as "the time we will never speak of again." The team got to tour the temple and they loved that, but everything else about that afternoon is in the process of being deeply repressed. We are going to replace those memories with this photo of my feet. See the polka dots? I wore my Crocs to the river and the sun manged to sneak through the holes to make funny little tan circles. Very funny, da?

Friday morning Marquetta went with the team on a tour of farming and irrigation sites organized and hosted by their new best friend, the honorable mayor of Rupert. A THREE HOUR FARM AND IRRIGATION SITE TOUR. AND THEY ENJOYED IT! Then we met up with the host families at the park and boat docks for a big picnic and water party.

Here are Elena and Erzhena on a boat with host mom Shawna and the driver guy.
Tatijna, Victoria, and Khongr took a ride in one of the very fast boats. Khongr was so happy with the ride that he even made a rare English comment..."High Speed!" Professor Victor swam in the river, tried out the kid's slip'n slide, rode in a boat, and even talked our boat guy into letting him drive the boat. Here he is talking to Marquetta who is representin' team Siberia in her housing director shirt.
After the boating party we had a microphone check, went to rehearsal, and then got ready for the final gala performance. Here is team Siberia selling souvenirs in the lobby.
Me and Tuyana in the lobby during the show. She had performed the night before so she was happy and care-free. I was sweaty and tired and stressed out, so please direct most of your attention to her.
Here I am with Victoria in the hall way outside our dressing room after she finished her performance.

This morning we met up to pack up and say goodbye. The team presented me with several gifts and did a blessing ceremony. Here I am with Elena, Victor and Victoria.

This is Nadejda blessing me with her horse tail thingy. She promised many years of good health, a handsome and "best husband" and many daughters with "beautiful eyes" like mine. How sweet!
This is us in the dressing room before saying goodbye.
I bought some silly hats at the dollar store but was embarrassed to give them to the team after they gave me such nice gifts. Instead, I gave the bag to Elena and told her to give them to the team after they got on the bus. We had our farewell dance and song, said goodbye for the second time, then got ready to wave goodbye as the bus drove away. The bus didn't drive away, however, instead the team got back off the bus to have their picture taken with us again in the silly hats. They had me wear one of Lena's handmade horsetail hats. Back Row: Amy (festival co-chair) Janet (festival chairperson) Wendy (host mom), Erzhena, me, Victoria, Lena, Victor, Marquetta (housing director), Sanie (host mom), Shawna (host mom)

Front Row: Mellissa (gala director/choreographer), Kristine (team USA director), Tuyana, Tatijna, Nadejda.

My Siberian Gifts: Two photo prints by Vladimir, Sounds of Siberia CD, Reindeer fur good luck thingy, Magic wishing rock from Siberian Lake, handmade nesting doll with eyes the team though resembled mine, carved key chain.

Saying goodbye to the team wasn't as hard as it could have been because I am planning on taking my folks to Rexburg to see them on Monday. All in all, being a team guide was a good experience. Both Marquetta and Wendy compared being a guide and a host to child birth...incredibly painful and inconvenient at the time, but then you forget and want to do it again. We'll see.

POST FESTIVAL ACCOUNTING:

Miles driven as team guide: 195

Blisters on right foot: 2

Blisters on left foot: 1

Foreign accents obtained: 1

Horse's tails obtained: 1

Times I participated in traditional Yakutian dances: 5

Siberian friends made: 10

Kisses from old Siberian men: 4

Kisses from young Siberian Khongr: 2

Times I misspelled "Siberia": many

Idaho International Dance and Music Festival, Day 2

So after two days of being a team guide, I have the following announcements....
1. I vill be speaking vith a Russian accent for many days. I think vith Russian accent now, Da?
2. By the end of the week, my team guide shirt will be nothing but a string of blue dye molecules held together by Fabreeze, sweat, and prayers.
3. I love my Siberians so much I may have to drive to Rexburg next week so I can see them again and introduce them to my folks.

Wednesday Report
In the Gala performances Thursday and Friday, all of the teams will participate in an opening number where they pass glow sticks down the aisles and then wave them as they walk, run, and dance up to the stage. Today, for the practice, we used plastic knives instead of glow sticks, which confused some of the performers. There are about 200 dancers here from around 9 countries who all speak different languages, so it was amazing that they all managed to learn the opening and closing numbers in such a short time. The people who run this festival are amazing!
I took Victor, Elena, Vladimir, Lena, Nadejda, and Tatijna to the Mayor's luncheon this afternoon. It was a slightly more formal event and before we went, Elena volunteered to "dress me." I turned her down and she settled for spending 20 minutes doing my makeup..."To make you look like Hollywood Movie Star, yes?" Here we are in the bathroom at the school after she finished.
At the luncheon, Victor became best friends with the Mayor of Rupert who told him all about farming and irrigation. Victor was so interested that the Mayor offered to organize a tour...of farms and irrigation sites early Friday morning. Elena insisted I come too because she says the mayor will be "a good contact" for me. To the Siberians, the Mayor is a very important, influential man. I didn't have the hear to tell them that, in this part of the state, being mayor is a part-time job. The Rupert mayor is a great guy and a good sport. During the gift exchange the girls did the same cleansing ceremony on him that they did on us last night...horse tail and all. I was really worried the burning bark and hair would set off the fire alarm, but we lucked out. After the luncheon we met up with the rest of the Siberians to practice the program with the other teams. Here is Nadejda with her amazing horsetail thing that she uses in blessing and cleansing ceremonies. Melissa is fitting her with a microphone during our first sound check.
This is Tuyana and her really big, really cool instrument getting ready for her dress rehearsal/microphone check.
Here are the girls backstage right before their dress rehearsal.

This is our group in the parade around the square today. I got to hold the sign that said "Russia" and march with our team. It was extra fun because many of my students were there to cheer me on.
After the parade, each group had seven minutes to perform. Tuyana played her big, cool instrument, then Lena, Nadejda, and Tatijna taught a dance to some kids in the audience.
I helped Sambueva and Tatijna sell souvenirs they had brought to help earn money to pay for the trip. They had some smaller versions of the horsetail thingy that Nadejda uses to do the blessings and cleansing. I wanted one, but I knew they wouldn't let me pay for it, so I snuck some money to my friend Zealanda and she bought it for me. After we finished selling, the girls gave me a carved key chain..."for Miiin-deee, Super Driver!" The event at the park was done around 7:30, so the host families took the team to go swimming and I went to go see Elizabeth. We ate snow cones and she told me about her trip to Poland. She brought me this bag (how cute!!!) and this candy bar. Both Chloe and I are very glad she is home!

Thursday is youth culture day in the morning, then we have some free time in the afternoon. We may take the team to Twin to see the temple and the waterfall, or Victor might want to practice more because the first gala performance is that night. The dress rehearsal was so amazing, I wish you could all come and see it!

Idaho International Dance and Music Festival, Day 1

Becuase I am missing the part of my brain that controls rational thought and the ability to say "no", I am serving as a "team guide" for a group of Siberian Musicians. It is pretty much an 18 hour per day job that started when they rolled into town from SLC around Midnight Monday/Tuesday. I am incharge of making sure the host families get them were they need to be on time, coordinating between the team and the festival people, making sure the team has every thing they need and that they are very, very happy.
Yesterday's schedule included a luncheon and performance for the Rotery Club, a few trips to "market" (walmart), one long trip to Radio Shack, a meeting with the head of the festival, a BBQ, and various other activities. I didn't have the time to break out my camera until the BBQ, so here are a few photos...
Victoria and Tuyana jumping... ...Vladimir, the publicity guy. All he does is take pictures...
Lena helping with a pre-dinner cleansing ceremony...
...Nadejda and Tatijna continuing the cleasning ceremony...
...Elena, the only English speaker translating...
...that is Khonger in the background. He is the only guy performer in the group...

...Lena, Elena, and Professor Victor (his new favorite English phrases are ... "Miiin-deeee come" and "Minn-deeee super driver!")...
...We learned how to do a before dinner dance and an after dinner dance...
More dancing...
When the after dinner dance had finished, Marquetta and I took Victor, Elena, Khonger, and Victoria to see the location for tomorrow's parade and performance. Then I went back to the school with Victor, Khonger, and Victoria for an 1 1/2 hour practice before making an emergency run to "market" for super glue to fix a broken instrument.
Wednesday starts nice and early with a 7:30 a.m. meeting, so I had better get dressed so I can pick up Professor Victor and Elena.