Tania's Travel Diary

La Buca di Ripetta, Rome

2010-09-10T22:44:00.005+10:00

Finally I am back to my blog writing... After a long break (half a year is a long time!) I am back to travelling and eating in the restaurants. What if not food is the most inspiring topic, and what offers better food choices than Italy?

Here I am, writing about the most memorable food place in our last trip.

We found this restaurant in the most unlikely place - the very heart of Rome: filled with tourists, souvernires, fashion labels and terrible places, which are called restaurants but they don't really serve food. They serve poorely looking immitation of food and charge top prices for it, knowing that a visitor won't find anything better.

Wrong! We found the most elegant food in the most accomodating environment just a few meters from Piazza del Poppolo, or - to be more accurate - between Piazza del Poppolo and the Academy of Fine Arts on Via di Ripetta.

From the night when we discovered this place we ate there every night - there just could not be anything better in the walking distance from the place where lived. We had some typical Italian dishes such as Insalata Caprese or Parma ham with melon, but we had some surprises as well - and how tasty it was. Have you ever tried pear raviolies? I - who does not like sweet food in general - tried it once and had it all the time ever since! So yummy!

Presentation was always typical Italian, which means - unusual, elegant, appealing and inspiring: whether it was an assorted starter or a traditional desert such as a tiramisu.

It was not really cheap, but it was good! Well, what is cheap in a heart of Rome? Everything is expencive and normally bad - so La Buca was the best find in our recent trip to Rome!

Кенгуру в Кубэ Педи

2010-02-06T16:07:00.006+11:00

Мы не планировали останавливаться в Кубэ Педи. До того как мы туда приехали я даже не знала что это место существует. Я представления не имела что мы можем делать в крохотном городке посреди пустыни и не возражала продолжить наше путешествие не задерживаясь в городке. Песчаная буря и гроза (каково сочетание природных стихий?) заставили нас поменять планы. Наша остановка в Кубэ Педи продолжалась 3 дня, и нам было совсем не скучно!

Самые замечательные воспоминания я вынесла из посещения Галереи Джозефины - и самые неожиданные, к тому же!

В одном из многочисленных туристических мест я нашла листовку с расписанием кормёжки кенгурят в Галерее Джозефины. Дважды в день - в 12 часов и в 5 часов вечера - галерея открывает двери любителям животных.

То что началось несколько лет назад как акт милосердия (Джозефин и её муж Терри подобрали кенгурёнка из кармана погибшей на дороге матери) превратилось в миссию. Их двор превращён в игровую площадку для кенгурят, а их дом превращён в кенгуриные ясли.

Все малыши прошли через грустный этап потери матери - в результате дрожных столкновений или охоты, ведь аборигены до сих пор охотятся на свой ужин как и сотни лет назад. Некоторые кенгурята - если бы они могли говорить - рассказали бы поистине страшные истории как на них охотились орлы и ели их кусочек за кусочком, или как их атаковали дикие собаки...

Теперь же, резвясь с другими кенгурятами на дворе, окружённом высоким забором, будучи накормленными и ухоженными этими двумя замечательными людьми, кенгурята опять превращаются в малышей: прыгают, борются, дерутся, попрошайничают вкусности, добиваются внимания взрослых, требуют подать им бутылку с молоком “сейчас же” и отбиваются от попыток их “мамы” Джозефин помыть их - ну совсем как дети.

Малыши такие мягкие, такие пушистые... Глаза у них такие большие и прекрасные... Где ещё можно обнять, погладить и покормить кенгуру в такой домашней обстановке? Ну где ещё можно подержать такой свёрточек?

Kangaroos in Coober Pedy

2010-02-06T14:09:00.010+11:00

We did not plan to stay in Coober Pedy long. Before we got there I even did not know that the place exists. I had no idea what we can do in a tiny town in a middle of a desert and would not mind to move on as soon as possible. A sand storm and a thunder storm (what a combination!) changed our mind. Our stop in Coober Pedy lasted 3 days, and it was not boring!

The most remarkable experience I had in Josephine's gallery - and the most unexpected one!

In one of the numerous touristic places we found a leaflet about feeding times for baby kangaroos in Josephine's Gallery. Twice a day - at 12 and 5pm - the gallery opens its doors for animal lovers...

This is Josephine herself with some of her babies. What began as an act of compassion (years ago Josephine and Terry, her husband, picked a baby kangaroo which they found in a pouch of a dead mother on the road) became a mission. Their backyard is transformed into a play ground for baby kangaroos which are brought to them from all over the place. Their home is transformed into a kangaroo kinder garden.

All babies went through a sad story of loosing their mother due to a road accident or hunting (Aboriginal people shoot them for dinner just as they did hundreds of years ago). Some of the babies have really tragic stories to tell, if they could. Some had being hunted by eagles and were eaten alive - piece by piece, some were attacked by the dogs...

Now, in the fenced backyard, surrounded by other kangaroos to

play with, fed and looked after by these 2 wonderful people, the little kangaroos become babies again: they skip,

they fight, they play, they beg for treats and seek attention, they demand their milk bottle "right now" and

prefer to avoid their "mom Josephine's" attempt to groom them - just like little children.

The babies are so soft, so fluffy... Their eyes are so big and beautiful.

Where else it is possible to hug, to pet, to feed a kangaroo in an intimate environment, face to face? Where else it is possible to handle a tiny bundle like this one?

It is definitely one of the most attractive places I visited in Australia in 15 years of my life here. The gallery is on the main street which is Hutchinson street 131-133

Their phone os +61 8 86725931 and they are looking for some helping hands in exchange for accommodation.

It is a link to a video about my visit to Josephine's Gallery in Coober Pedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iFwGWSUtTY

Tex and Bundy. Video from Tathra Beach Tourist Park

2010-02-06T13:51:00.002+11:00

Про мотоциклы, Текса и Банди

2010-02-06T13:22:00.006+11:00

Во время нашего путешествия по Австралии мы остановились на ночь в Туристическом Парке Пляжа Татра что недалеко от Биги к югу от Сиднея.

Это хороший караван парк с несколькими выходами прямо на красивый и большой пляж (большей частью пустой, что делает его ещё более привлекательным).

Однако самым интересным событием была встреча с Тексом и Банди.

Прежде всего наше внимание привлекло громное количество мотоциклов в парке. Потом мы узнали что клуб Сузуки празднует юбилей одной из моделей мотоцикла Сузуки и делают пробег в её честь. Пробег начинался в Татре.

Потом наше внимание было привлечено мотоциклом, покрытом отпечатками собачих лап, и с портретом собаки в мотоциклетных очках впереди. Номер мотоцикла был: Собачка. Потом мы заметили владельца мотоцикла, а точнее - обоих владельцев: гражданина в полном мотоциклетном (то есть кожанном) одеянии и голубого кеттле дога (австралийская порода) в точно таком же одеянии. В своих кожаных куртках, мотоциклетных очках и головных повязках они были похожи друг на друга как близнецы. Так мы познакомились с собакой Банди, которая гонает на мотоциклах с 3-месячного возраста и любит это не меньше её друга Текса.

Мы также узнали, что Банди и Текс являются неустанными тружениками для благотворительных организаций, и что Банди хорошо известна не только в Австралии, но и за границей.

Я могу только добавить, что это честь - познакомиться с такими выдающимися характерами как Банди и Текс. Однако, будучи сама совсем не выдающейся, я не хочу чтобы мой щенок Симба заразилась такими же амбициями. Она была под большим впечатлением от собаки-мотоциклистки, и даже сделала поползновения повторить подвиг её старшей подруги. Когда мы расстались с Банди, я прочитала лекцию о вреде вождения мотоциклов для моей Симбы, и теперь мне только остаётся надеяться что она слушала. В конце концов, дерзость и стремление прорваться к звёздам очень заразительны.

В моей английской версии этой статьи есть полный “послужной список” всех достижений и подвигов Текса и Банди.

Tex and Bundy, the motocyclists

2010-02-06T11:33:00.007+11:00

While travelling across Australia we stopped overnight in Tathra Beach Tourist Park not far from Bega, south of Sydney. It is a good camp site with a few exits right on a big and very good beach (mostly empty, which is a bonus).

However, the best event of that overnight stay was a meeting with Tex and Bundy.
First, our attention was drawn to а huge number of motorcycles in the park.

As we found out a Suzuki Club celebrated anniversary of some model of a Suzuki motorbike.
Then our attention was drawn to a bike covered with multiple paw prints and with a portrait of a dog on the front. Later we spotted the owner of the bike, or to be more accurate - 2 owners: a gentlemen in a proper motorcyclist's leather attire and a blue healer in the same type of outfit. They looked nearly like twins in their leather jackets, goggles and bandanas.

Then we learnt from them about a story of Bundy the dog, who rides motorbikes since the age of 3 months and loves it as much as her friend Tex.

We also learnt that Bundy and Tex are restless charity workers and that Bundy is well known not only in Australia, but around the world.

I can only add that it was a privilege to make acquaintances with such exceptional characters. But being an ordinary person myself I would not want my dog Simba to acquire the same ambitions. She was deeply interested in a motorbike riding dog, and showed some inclinations to try the same. After that meeting I gave Simba a lecture about all dangers of riding bikes - motor or not - and now I have to hope that she listened.

After all, boldness and reklessness as well as thriving for stardom are very attractive.

This is Tex' and Bundy's record:

Simba's travelling adventures

2009-12-28T19:33:00.000+11:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Trip to Birds' Island. Antigua.

2009-08-14T18:36:00.003+10:00

It was a wonderful easy day, with a wonderful crew on Wadadli Cat catamaran and a stunning setting: the sun, the wind, the beaches and the warm water, fish and birds... I had to record it. Days like this one do not happen often.

A full version is published on my YouTube page.

Это был такой замечательный день, с не менее замечательной командой и не менее замечательным окружением: солнце, ветер, пляжи и тёплое море, рыбы и птицы... Такой день заслуживает быть занесённым в архивы. Такие дни случаются не часто.

Полная версия этого видео опубликована в YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW0--ttXM1A

Green Monkey Reserve, Barbados

2009-07-30T07:28:00.003+10:00

Green monkeys are fed at 1 pm every day. All other animals come along. Watching this big friendly bunch at their family dinner is a real treat.

Каждый день в час пополудни зелёных обезьян кормят. Все остальные животные тоже присоединяются (на халяву) и вся эта дружная компания располагается вокруг "семейного" стола. Наблюдать их - одно удовольствие.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/Barbados#

Sex on a pavement - Секс на мостовой (Green monkey reserve, Barbados)

2009-07-30T07:02:00.005+10:00

An excursion with Adventureland to the Green Monkey Reserve was a fantastic experience for many reasons. One of them was an opportunity to be just a few cm away (or close - it depends how you look at it) from various animals. Turtles were among them. Hundreds of them (and most of them were horny) were roaming around (in the forest, on the pass ways, in the water... They made incredible noise and obstructed our way on every step. They demanded attention - and they got it.

Экскурсия с компанией Адвенчалэнд в Парк Зелёных Обезьян оказалась абсолютно замечательной - по многим причинам. Во первых, мы узнали много нового, во вторых - наш гид был умница и юморист, а самое главное - мы пообщались со многими животными букрально лицом к лицу. Черепахи (довольно большие) были среди тех животных. Сотни если не тысячи черепах ползали по лесу, по дорожкам, возились в воде - и почти все хотели большой и горячей любви. В этих поисках они преграждали нам путь постоянно. Они хотели, чтобы мы на них обратили внимание. Так мы и сделали.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/Barbados#

New transport - Segways

2009-07-29T14:29:00.007+10:00

I have observed a peculiar new transport I have not seen in Australia yet. I saw it in both Americas.

I recorded this video in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The fact that tourist guides run tours on those things (I have no idea how to call them) shows that they are easy to operate and do not require special training. What a great idea! I would love to try one of those.

I was told they are called "segways".

This video was recorded in one of the Disney Theme parks. These guys work on the parking lot organizing new arrivals. These wonderful small machines save them a lot of walking.

Я увидела новый вид транспорта, который я ещё не видела в Австралии. Я видела это в обеих Америках.
Одно видео было записано в Пуэрто Рико, где гид вела экскурсию по городу на этих машинках. Из этого наблюдения я делаю вывод что ими легко управлять и особого обучения не нужно.

Другую сценку я записала в Эпкот центре в Орландо, Флорида. Эти люди работают на парковке и машинки позволяют им экономить на ходьбе.

Food in Puerto Rico. Richie's Cafe in Rio Mar.

2009-07-19T13:16:00.007+10:00

Out of all dining experiences this one will be memorable for a different reason... It is the only dining place I will remember not so much for its food (not bad at all!) but predominantly for its fantastic ambience.

First of all, if you visit a country try to eat local food. Richie's Cafe serves Puerto Rican menu, so it is an educational experience. Most dishes are deep fried - absolutely not my taste, but once in a life time I showed some flexibility and tried it. And did not regret it.

Local produce comes in combination with a breathtaking view and excellent service.

Service included more than just knowledgeable and friendly waiter: when we made "not a perfect" choice of dishes our waiter treated us with his own selection of small bites at the cafe's expence. When a barman heard that Chris likes Russian vodka he treated Chris with a shot of vodka, also "on house".

Richie - the owner - was there all the time greeting people, chatting with them, creating homely atmosphere. By the way, he also does the vallet parking and driving customers to the nearest hotel, which is Rio Mar Beach resort in Rio Grande, not far from the famous El Yunque national forest. When a storm came and it started bucketing down (oh, yes, we experienced a real tropical storm - a sort of mini-hurricane, while we were there) - Richie was there mopping the floor. Modesty and ability to work hard always make a strong impression on me.

I don't know what is their secret, but they know in this cafe how to make people feel good, relaxed and happy.
If we ever come back to Puerto Rico Richie's Cafe will be in our list of things to do!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/PuertoRico#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/SanJuanPuertoRico#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/ElYunqueNationalForestPuertoRico#

About food in Puerto Rico. Tijuana's Bar and Grill.

2009-07-19T11:05:00.006+10:00

It is well known that there is no worst place to look for food than a place popular with tourists. The owners of restaurants in proximity of highly visited attractions (Del Duomo in Florence, The Ark de Triumph in Paris, The Opera House in Sydney etc) do not worry about their customers never coming back, because they don't come back anyway regardless of the chef's efforts, and normally customers get a dreadful meal at a rip-off price just for the happiness to see a great sample of architecture with a bad sample of food.

Today we experienced an exemption. Right next to the cruise ship pier in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is one of the most overcrowded places in Puerto Rico, where a few thousand tourists leave the cruise ships and board them a few times a week may be, there is a small Mexican place Tijuana’s Bar and Grill. Surprise, surprise. The food was simple but very good, the service was good, the prices were good…

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/PuertoRico#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/SanJuanPuertoRico#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/ElYunqueNationalForestPuertoRico#

Burgers are popular in Buenos-Aires

2009-07-17T11:18:00.004+10:00

Argentina is known all over the world as a beef country. (Ok, Australians may contest the statement - but the reputation still belongs to Argentina). Meat (with a lot of fat) is everywhere.
Love for meat is developed in people sinse early childhood - I belive in it. I always thought that a family plays the most sigificant role in forming a person's taste.
In Argentina industry took propaganda in their hands.

This is a pack of jelly lollies in a form of a hamburger. It is just a matter putting salad leves, cheese, and other components of the burger in the right sequence.

Funny, in Puerto Rico we saw jelly hot dogs...

What do you think about it?

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/AngelsOfBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/BuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/PlazaDeMayoBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/CaballitaBuenosAires#

A few observations about the nature of racism... Comparison of Brazil and the USA

2009-07-17T11:14:00.003+10:00

Education from books is irreplaceable. We cannot experience everything or to learn everything from the first hands. We heavily rely on written information and we hope that people who wrote it were responsible. Most likely, they are. But everything in this world is not about the facts, but mostly about our perception and interpretation. Sometimes life experiences present the role of perception in a new light and compromise education we’ve got already.

San Salvador da Bahia made some interesting corrections to my perception of Protestant and Catholic churches. Living in a country with a strong Protestant (Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, The Seventh Adventist) presence I had an impression that a Catholic church was a conservative and non-flexible form of Christianity which had to give way to more progressive Christian schools which relied on self-control and human values more than Catholics, and Christians realised the faults of Catholicism half a millennium ago. I had an impression that Catholics are brain washed people without a choice and a right for common sense. Some of the statements by the popes (about abortions, for example) make them sound senseless and narrow minded if not to say stupid. New Christian teachings do not have to be “true” (the number of them indicate that there cannot be so many truths) but they seemed to be more “people oriented”, more individualised, with a person being a centre point. This point of view undertook a drastic revision in Bahia.

I was pleasantly surprised with the absence of racism or any indicators of ethnic problems. It seems in Anglo-Saxon countries it is a common “issue”. Americans are deeply involved in sorting out who is guilty in doing what and who has which responsibility in resolving ethnic “issues”. Australians cannot stop arguing about Aboriginal “issues”. Ethnic “issues” in India are even beyond comprehension. New Zealanders had “issues” with Maoris. When it was mostly resolved we started talking about them (New Zealanders) as some kind of social miracle workers. Is not it a normal thing for people to live in peace with each other? Apparently not… Brazil is a pleasant exemption.

While in Brazil I kept asking about this phenomenon. Every Brazilian person I talked to about this matter agreed that there are social problems in the country, but there is no racism. The explanations which were given made me re-think some parts of history. Shortly, the theory is that Catholic religion is responsible for peace between ethnic groups and optimism of Brazilian people.

Latin America was under control by Catholic Church of Spanish and Portuguese empires, while Northern America was predominantly under the control of Protestants. Both Americas were slave societies with majority of foreign black population, some local Indian population and a very small population of white masters. But non-white population was treated differently in Roman and Anglo-Saxon parts of Americas and it made all the difference. According to the Brazilians, Catholic masters requested work to be done during the day time, but did not impose many limitations on slaves after work hours. Slaves could speak their native languages, sing songs of their motherland, and perform traditional rituals, if they did not contradict Spanish and Portuguese law.
In Northern America Protestants were deeply concerned about saving the souls of their black slaves. At no time they were allowed to speak their own languages, to modify prayers and religious rituals, to sing “strange” songs, to keep their traditions. A mission of “Westernising” of the slaves was as important as the labour they had to do.
Latin American (Brazilian in particular) slaves had a chance to compromise between their ancestors’ believes and their masters’ believes. They invented a hybrid religion which pacified various discrepancies between Christianity and paganism; it was named “condoble” and it is still alive and popular among Brazilians. They retained a big portion of their African folklore, some African habits, food and music. Most of it is not authentic any more. Habits and things transform with time, but they keep serving as a cultural cushion, giving black population a sense of identity and self-worth.
African population of the English-speaking Northern America did not keep links with their African past (apart from a few places such as Jamaica). People found themselves uprooted. It reduced their cultural and historical worth, made them feel uneasy with themselves, with the society and with white people who did it to them. They say it formed a sense of despair and a need for revenge. I am not an expert on this issue, but I guess if a school curriculum in Pennsylvania includes such subject as “History of African-American population of the USA” it indicates that a country is split very deep. May be all schools in America have the same type of subjects to study? It indicates that Americans do not perceive themselves as one nation. Actually, the fact that Americans of all races so often talk about being democratic and non-racists, and how much they value other ethnic groups and etc, etc, etc… is an indirect evidence that the topic is painful and burning.
Indian population in Latin America was present in church communities, Indian orphans were raised in monasteries and convents. Catholic missions in Latin America are well known. What about Protestant missions - I cannot recall anything about Indian orphans being educated or Protestant priests putting much effort into Indians. Maybe they never were interested?

The fact that there is a tension between black and white population of the USA cannot be doubted. Where does it come from – is a very difficult question. One thing is clear – it is not a normal situation.

Our guide Nilze told us that during the trip to the USA she discovered that “black people really hate white people”. She was talking about it with a genuine surprise and disapproval. I don’t know if observations like this one spill a lot of light on the African-Americans, but it definitely serves as evidence that ethnic/racial relationships can be different.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/ColoursOfSanSalvadorDaBahia#

African flavour of San Salvador da Bahia

2009-07-15T23:47:00.002+10:00

I have never been to Africa, but San Salvador is as close to being purely African as it can be. The dominance of black faces is over helming. The presence of African culture is so strong that all other cultures fade away in a shade. Self indulgence in this culture is a total bliss.

First impressions are visual – and they instantly link Bahia to Africa. Even if a woman is not dressed as a “real Bahiana” the local “bahiana style” is still detectable: broad dresses, colourful bead necklaces and – of course – a broad sweet smile from ear to ear. If you see somewhere traditional (authentic) Bahianas – usually they are sellers of acaraju – they wear long and enormously full skirts and turban like head wear. It looks startlingly different and absolutely cute. In combination with the smiles and food they serve they are the most accommodating ingredient of a “Bahia life style”. It does not apply to “Bahianas” who sell their smiles to the tourists for a high price. They flock around the old city, block pedestrian part of the road while pestering foreigners from the cruise ships for money. I am not sure they represent a true Bahia spirit.

Another feature of San Salvador which is not to be missed is capoeira dancers. They practice on the streets and can be spotted from afar. Actually, if there is a group of capoeira boys somewhere around you would not be able to miss them. They definitely draw everybody’s attention. I am not sure if it is a dance, actually. There is music, of course: where in Brazil something happens without music? What about movements – they are so technical, so acrobatic and so fast that spectators sometimes cannot follow the speed of the dancers. Bodies just fly and twist and jump under the most unexpected angles, weapons clash, teeth grunt – and spectators are left breathless and flabbergasted. Only professional dancers and acrobats can imagine how much time and effort goes into the training. People like me – book mice – will never have a clue… Those boys train all day long – while performing – and getting paid for their efforts. Of course, there are capoeira shows in Salvador, quite a few of them. Such spectacular opportunity for a commercial enterprise was not overlooked. Shows can be managed by people unfamiliar with entertainment therefore shows can be very plain and basic, but capoeira itself will keep spectators deeply engaged and entertained.

They say that capoeira came from Africa. Back in the “Golden days” of cacao plantations black slaves practiced sport movements and fighting techniques in a hope that one day they will escape. Those who escaped practiced them because their survival depended on it. Being Africans, they could not do anything without music, and musical rhythms became embedded into an intricate framework of military exercises and eventually exercises transformed into a dance. The length and intensity of exercises are mindboggling and breathtaking. The skills cannot be faked. If one cannot perform up to a standard he will be killed during the show, probably, - or will drop off instantly.

Quite often exercising happens in public parks or on the beach. These capoeira boys become an attraction of the beaches and parks. Their muscular bodies (predominantly black or brown, but not necessarily) is a pleasure to an eye and many hours can be spent somewhere in a shade of a palm tree while watching those boys having fun.

Colourful ribbons is another visual feature of San Salvador. Those small silky ribbons of bright pretty colours are everywhere for sale, and in use by nearly every body: collections of ribbons can be seen tired up on rare view mirrors in the cars, on wrists of people, on handbags, on necklaces, colourful stripes are printed on dresses, sarongs and beach towels…The colourful ribbons stand for condoble, local religion.
This religion – just like capoeira - was invented by black slaves a few hundred of years ago. When they were brought from Africa and Christianity was imposed upon them by their Portuguese masters, the slaves hid their worship of pagan gods of the remote motherland behind the obedient worship of Christian idols: Jesus, Madonna and others. Jesus acquired a new name – a name of the African counterpart, as well as all other Christian deities… With African names those Christian images (or characters) acquired some peculiar non-Christian qualities, the stories from the Holy Bible got mixed up with the African legends and myths. A new religious mutant was born. It was named “condoble”.

Multiple gods of this religion have their unique names and functions. They are colour-coded. Any follower of condoble can select which gods are to worship more, which ones are of that person’s patrons, those colours will be chosen for a bunch of ribbons to decorate things. The ribbons indicate how popular this religion is in the area, how many devoted followers take sacred rituals seriously. A few brief conversations here and there proved our observations to be right. One of our guides told us that he came from a non-religious background but at the age of 14 he “had a call” and joined a capoeira group and a condoble church. I suspect that capoeira could play a leading role in this “call”, but it does not change the fact that a well educated and mature man is still a devotee of a pagan Parthenon… Read books by Amadu – and it is exactly what you will find in his heroes: condoble myths and gods are not separable from daily routine, they communicate with people frequently, condoble superstitions rule business and private life. It sounds similar to medieval Europe even if (I assume) modern Brazilians are educated (at least within a high school level) and should not be buying fairy tale as easily as our ancestors but it seems – they do.

The outcome is a colourful, unusual city with a unique culture of its own, with colours of its own and a very recognisable image… I loved these people, I loved this city.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/ColoursOfSanSalvadorDaBahia#

A few notes about San Salvador da Bahia

2009-07-12T03:41:00.001+10:00

This name - San Salvador da Bahia - used to sound as a sweet dream. Every part of it was exotic, starting with the length of the name and its geographical location and ending with a colourful chain of characters from the books of Jorje Amado. He was the one who created this Bahia dream in a first place.

I was about 13-14, when I read “The Sand Dunes’ Captains”, a book about teenagers of my age – with a totally different life. I got addicted to the writer and his book characters in an instant. I was captivated by the sand beaches and palm trees (a heavenly dream for somebody who lived in Siberia with 8 months winter and 2 months of summer in a good year). I was fascinated with black faces of the Amado’s heroes; I was 16 when I saw a young African man in Moscow for the very first time and I instantly thought that he was the most beautiful man I have ever seen – no doubt, Amado played a role in it. I was imagining condoble rituals, music of the carnivals and the taste of acaraju. In my mind I walked the poor streets of a lower city, had my evening promenades along the city harbour, recognised the shops and restaurants and knew people by face.
But in my wildest dreams I would never imagined that I will actually see it for real…

There is a poem by Silva Kaputikyan “Don’t face your first love”- Не встречайтесь с первою любовью. It is a wise advice. Nothing can compete with our imagination and our first strong attachments. My dream was dead and buried as soon as we left the airport: there were no recognisable huts and cabins – instead there were high rises of the outer “sleeping” suburbs. They were modern, colourful and reasonably well maintained. People in those apartment blocks could not worship Yemanja: there is no room for the African goddess of sea and love in standard concrete and steel apartments. There was something I expected though: a lot of sun, unbearable heat, palm trees, purple shadows on the streets and exotic flowers. There were small shops with big bunches of fruit hanging on the walls and very cheap meals (unfortunately, bad meals). There were black faces. There was a beautiful coastal line. A compatibility with my dream ended there.

San Salvador broke my heart. Especially, the old city: the city of past, the city of history, the city of plantation owners’ glory, the city of African traditions and wild characters of the books by Amado. It seems it is all gone with a wind. The rare remnants of history are meant to attract tourists: a few restored churches here and there (some are splendid), an odd old building (such as Portuguese Library) managed to survive the city decline, a couple of cobble stone streets are cleaned and painted to allocate local merchandise for passing cruise ships and a big blue building houses Jorje Amado museum.

Step one street further - and face the horror of reality living in the “yesterday”. Black from rot and crumbled down without maintenance, the old city is pitiful, scary, sad and ugly.
It is ugly, despite the leftovers of the intricate plaster work on the 17 – 18 century facades, elaborate fencing and old parks here and there. It is pitiful because of the lonely facades of buildings which are no more. It is scary because of the drunks and persistent salesmen. It is sad because of the over helming poverty and lack of maintenance.

The city of Old Sailors and Dona Flor disintegrated… became history.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/ColoursOfSanSalvadorDaBahia#

Project Tomar in Puerto du Forte, Brazil

2009-06-20T19:17:00.002+10:00

Chichiko

2009-06-20T18:59:00.006+10:00

We met Chichiko in one of the coastal restaurants in San Salvador da Bahia.
He seemed to be happy...

Portela Samba School rehearsal

2009-06-20T18:14:00.003+10:00

Portela is one of many samba schools in Rio. They have rehearsals on Tuesdays. The rehearsals happen in a huge stadium with a building in the middle. The dancers walk around the building for 3-4-5 hours. All participants are equally welcome% old and young, fat and slim, ugly and pretty, talented and not really.
It is an experience of mass-madness and belonging to the group more than anything else.
All those people who live locally, come once a week to become a part of the community. Old friends meet, kids play with kids, boys meet girls... It is a busy evening

Водопады Игуазу

2009-01-01T19:42:00.001+11:00

Я побывала во многих странах, повидала много прекрасных мест по всему миру. Игуазу превосходит всё, что я когда-нибудь видела.

Есть впечатляющие и прекрастные точки на этой планете, но я не могу припомнить такую невероятную концентрацию природной красоты, такую насыщенность, такую щедрость природы! Обычно нужно приложить усилия и потратить время, чтобы достичь чудо природы, чтобы дойти до него от ворот национального парка – или что там ещё...

Парк Йосимити в Калифорнии был прекрасный, но это была как бы «обыкновенная» красота, без особого разнообразия растительности и животного мира, довольно монотонная красота – нам пришлось проехать не менее часа от подножия горы до вершины вдоль всё тех же однообразных сосен, до Glacier Point – и там уже мы замерли с открытым ртом и бьющимся сердцем перед величием и мощью природы.

Горы в Швейцарии очень впечатляющие и необыкновенно красивые, но это тоже своего рода монотонная, повторяющаяся красота. Алатау возле Алматы тоже исключительно красивые! Горы вообще впечатляют меня очень сильно.

Я видела красивые водопады в Южном Китае и на Филипинах, впрочем также как и здесь, в Австралии, - у нас тут есть очень красивые водопады, и даже в наших окрестностях есть на что посмотреть.

12 Апостолов произвели на меня очень сильное впечатление.
Но – опять-таки – это одно место, пусть очень большое, но столько времени нужно, чтобы туда добраться, потом ты посмотришь-посмотришь – и нужно возвращаться.

Водопады Игуазу самые нескучные и самые бесконечные. Всё время что-нибудь происходит: в воде, в лесу, в воздухе. Воздух густой от бабочек всех размеров, форм и расцветок. Звуки жизни ошеломительные: постоянно вокруг меня что-то пело, свистело, кричало, шуршало, орало дурным голосом, рычало, гавкало, плескалось, хрустело... Даже если не видно, кто там в кустах, то всё равно знаешь, что ты здесь не один, что всё живёт на полную катушку...
И водопады – большие и маленькие, очень высокие и совсем миниатюрные, широкие реки, бегущие по камням, и крохотные лужи, примостившиеся там и сям, и неописуемая мощь и напор воды больших водопадов.

Игуазу – это место, которое нужно посетить хотя бы раз в жизни. Ах, какое место!

По разнообразию и богатству я могу сравнить с Игуазу лишь одно место: остров Фрейзер в Квинсланде, Австралия. Там тоже сочетается необыкновенное богатсво и разнообразие природы: бесконечные пляжи божественной красоты, постоянно изменяющийся ландшафт, полный сюрпризов, и изобилие жизни: все эти дельфины, морские коровы, птицы, рыбы, динго, пауки... Невыразимо прекрасное место.

Туры в Бразилии

2009-01-01T17:46:00.000+11:00

Несколько коротких заметок о турах в Бразилии... Я думаю, они заслуживают внимания. Мы поучаствовали в бразильских турах на мировом уровне и в абсолютно бездарных.

Не берите тур в большом автобусе на весь день в Рио-де-Жанейро! Они – эти туры - не стоят беспокойства и денег, которые вы на них потратите. Чем больше людей участвует, тем больше беспокойства. Гид собирает группу из 40 человек из соседствующих отелей в течении приблизительно 3х часов (из 11 часов, которые написаны в рекламе про этот дневной тур). Туристы автобус не ждут обычно, в том числе и Западные туристы, которые в своих собственных странах отличаются пунктуальностью. Мы тоже превратились в недисциплинированных туристов, которых нужно было ждать. Это было вызвано безалаберным отношением агенсв и их сотрудников к информации. Туристу могут сказать, что он должен прийти в 9, а автобус приедет в 8. Туристу могут сказать что тур будет во вторник, тогда как тур сос тоится в понедельник.... Никогда нельзя быть уверенным что информация верна, пока гид и автобус не появятся на пороге гостиницы. Автобус ждёт каждого туриста, который не пришёл, и это занимает вечность!!!

Другой недостаток – дорожное движение. Рио разделён горой и соединён туннелем с одной полосой в обоих направлениях. 7 миллионов человек ездят каждый день из конца в конец города и пробки начинают формироваться уже с 7 утра и до 10 утра. Вечером история повторяется приблизительно с 3.30 до 6-7 часов вечера. Нет никакой возможности избежать пробки, свернуть никуда невозможно, и автобус будет плестись в очереди в туннель ещё 2-3 часа. Утренняя пробка не играет роли для тура, потому что к тому времени, когда все туристы соберутся, пробка уже рассосётся. А вот после обеда... экскурсия разрекламированная как 11-часовая превратится в 5-часовую с 3 часами сбора туристов и 2-3 часа ожилания в пробке. Мы не продумали возможность нашего собственного тура по Рио с использованием городского транспорта, но наверняка это было бы куда приятней и дешевле. Метро в Рио очень хорошее, хотя и дороже чем в Буэнос-Айресе. Предостаточно такси, конечно, но такси тоже застрянет в той же самой пробке.

Ещё один недостаток большой экскурсии – языки. В большом автобусе(а иногда и в маленьком!) соберутся туристы из Бразилии, Латинской Америки и из других стран. Поэтому экскурсии ведутся на трёх языках одновременно: португальском, испанском и английском. Английский – не самый популярный и нужный язык в Бразилии, поэтому гиды могут знать его очень плохо и комментарии будут коротенькими или никакими. И вообще – в целом – никто, кроме администратора отеля, не говорит по-английски, а вот испанский очень популярен и даже капелька испанского помогает лучше чем очень хороший английский. Наши уроки испанского очень даже оправдали себя в ресторанах и на улицах Бразилии. Даже люди, которые забирали нас из аэропортов или отвозили нас в аэропорты, не говорили по-английски ни одного слова. Хотя, нам попалось два гида с исключительным английским: во время тура в фавелы и тура в Пуэрто ду Форте в Баийе.

Маленькие экскурсии намного уютнее и дружелюбнее. Ими мы наслаждались от души.

Taking tours in Brazil

2009-01-01T17:03:00.001+11:00

A few short notes about taking tours in Brazil… I found it quite remarkable. We had experiences ranging from world class excellent to the most disastrous.

Don’t take a day tour in a big bus in Rio-de-Janeiro! It does not worth a trouble and money paid for it. The more people involved, the more trouble you will get. It takes around 3 hours (out of your 11 hour tour) to collect 40 people from different hotels, even if the hotels are located on the same street or very near. The tourists are never on time, including Western tourists, who are usually quite punctual in their own countries. At some point (actually a few times!) we became the same disorganised tourists who do not come on time. It is caused by very poore/leasurely communication. A tourist can be told to come at 9 while the bus comes at 8. A tourist can be told to come on Tuesday but the tour is on Monday… You never know that the information is correct until the guide and the bus turn up at the hotel. The bus waits for all tourists who did not turn up, and it takes ages!!!

Another set back is traffic. Rio is divided by the mountain and connected by one tunnel with a single line each way. 7 million people commute from one side to another and traffic jams start building up since 7am to 10 am. In the afternoon the story repeats itself from about 3.30 pm till 6-7pm. There is no way to escape the traffic jam, nowhere to go – the bus will spend other 2-3 hours in a queue. The morning traffic jam does not affect the tours, because the jam is long gone by the time all tourists are collected. But in the afternoon… 11 hour excursion cuts back to actual 5 hour excursion and 6 hours of waiting. We have not investigated a possibility to do the same tour on our own using public transport, but probably it would be much cheaper and more pleasurable. The subway is excellent in Rio, though it is a bit more expensive than the Argentinean subway. Taxis are readily available, but they will stack in the same traffic jam.

Another set back of a big excursion is languages. A big bus (as well as some small ones as well) collects Brazilian, Latin American and International tourists, and the guides run the show in 3 languages at once: Spanish, Portuguese and English. English is not the most popular language and comments can be very limited if any. And – in general – nobody speaks English apart from hotel receptionists, but Spanish is well spread and even very basic Spanish is better than nothing. Our lessons of Spanish were justified and helped us a lot in restaurants and on the streets of Brazil. Even people who picked us from the airports or took us to the airports did not speak a word of English. However, we met a couple of guides with exceptionally good English: one in Rio and 1 in Bahia.

Small excursion groups are cosier and friendlier. Our trip to Favelas was exceptionally good, as well as individual tours we had in Bahia.

Favela Rosinha, Rio de Janeiro

2008-12-14T06:41:00.003+11:00

Iguazu Falls

2008-12-13T13:20:00.003+11:00

I have been to many countries; I have seen many beautiful spots all over the world. Iguazu beats everything I have seen before.
There are spots as impressive and as beautiful, but I cannot recall such incredible concentration of natural beauty, such density, such abundance! Usually it takes time and effort to get from a gate of a national park to the point of interest. Yosemite Park is big and beautiful, but it is an ordinary kind of beauty, without too many animals and wild life in general, quite monotonous – we drove for more than an hour from the bottom of the mountain to the Glacier Point – and then it was: Wow!
Mountains in Switzerland are impressive and beautiful, but also sort of monotonously the same. Mountains in Kazakhstan (around Almaty) from my childhood memory were stunning and beautiful. Mountains do impress me.
I have seen beautiful waterfalls in Southern China and Philippines, as well as in Australia – we have a few pretty ones.
We have many beautiful spots in Australia. 12 apostles made a strong impression on me.
But again – it is one spot, grand but one, and it takes some time to get there, then you look at it and go back…
Iguazu is never boring and waterfalls seem to be endless. There is always something happening: in the water, in the forest, in the air. Air is thick with millions of butterflies of all sizes and shapes and colours. The sounds of life are overwhelming. Something always sings, screams, barks, roars, crushes through the bushes, whistles… And waterfalls – big and small, very high and quite miniature, wide rivers and tiny puddles, rushing through the rocks with an incredible power and force.
It is a place to see at least once in a life time. I would say: Iguazu is the must!

In this respect Fraser Island (a place of a totally different kind) can compete with Iguazu falls: endless beaches of divine beauty and tranquillity, ever-changing scenery is full of surprises, everything is full of life – and beautiful, unspeakably beautiful.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/IguazuWaterfallsArgentinaBrazil#

Favelas of Rio-de-Janeiro

2008-12-13T09:47:00.004+11:00

Favelas of Latin America are some sort of a legend. It is one of those scary things that nobody saw but everybody talks about it and fears it. It is a kind of urban legend. Favelas – or Viji – are in Buenos Aires as well. We asked our friends from Buenos Aires to take as to one of them for a drive and heard from them, that we may drive in, but no certainty that we will drive out. That people in those slams are thieves, drug dealers, steal electricity from honest people and they are lazy and never work, even if there are plenty of jobs and opportunities. Our Brazilian guide repeated those statements word for word as a common opinion among Brazilians. Our day tour guide from a different tour agency told us that she never saw a Favela from inside and that she is not planning to.

I have to admit that the trip to Favelas was one of the best excursions I ever had, in terms of understanding culture of the country, its sociological, political and economical circumstances.

Favelas began appearing on a big scale in late 50ties when big numbers of people started shifting to big cities searching for jobs. They all came from impoverished areas. They had nothing, or not enough to establish themselves in the city, but they had to live somewhere. They started living on the public land, building houses there. The government pretended that it did not see anything, because seeing a problem means looking for a solution. Nobody wanted to bother about those migrants, so people were left to their own devices. There was no electricity or water in those areas, no garbage collection. There were not addresses even, so people could not vote (which is compulsory in Brazil) and without voting (or actually without a certificate that they participated in a voting) they could not apply for any government support (for example for families with many children), could not apply for a study in public university (which is free to all citizens of Brazil who vote), even could not receive letters or open a bank account. On all accounts they were deprived most of the rights guaranteed by the Brazilian constitution.

98% of the people living in Favelas work in the city like everybody else and do the cheapest jobs because most of them have no education. Some of them turn to crime and begging (approximately 2%) and drug cartels quite often play an important role in governing the Favelas – not in every Favela, but in many. There is one good thing about drug lords in Favelas: no crime happens in Favelas, because drug dealers do not want police to come into the Favela. And police does not go there – they prefer to milk the rich drug buyers leaving Favelas with a dope. The government did not go there either. Till very recently all those people lived without water, electricity and any services. Some Favelas are small. We saw Casa Canoa with population of 2500. Some Favelas are huge. Favela Rosinha – the biggest in Brazil, or maybe even in Latin America – has a population of approximately 200,000 (nobody knows for sure). Can you imagine 200,000 people living without water, electricity and sewage, and garbage collection? This filth was ignored for decades. Now the problem is huge: Rosinha has one narrow street which is full of all those people and traffic in all directions and garbage trucks try to go 3 times a day trying to pick up garbage but they don’t succeed, as we witnessed.

The most ironic part of this comedy of tragic mistakes made by the government is that richest suburbs and Favelas share the same streets: one side is rich, another side is a slum. Rosinha grew right under the noses of politicians, living in one of the most prestigious areas of Rio, where every floor of the apartment block occupies the whole floor and cost around 2 millions. The government had rights for the forests on the slopes of the hills, and those slopes house Favelas nowadays. The views from the roofs of Favelas are the best in Rio. In every other city of the world those hills would be the most prestigious real estate, in Rio it belongs to the most deprived ones.

Of course, people cannot live without some basic things. Cooking and hitting water for various needs are some of them, and it requires electricity. People started stealing electricity from other users, who had addresses and could receive bills for electricity. It created a lot of tension between those who lived in Favelas and those who did not.

Casa Canoa tries to break away from the poverty. We saw their school (or to be more accurate: educational assistance centre, where teachers are trying to fix mistakes of the poor public system, to give a chance to those children from the slums to enter universities, and they succeed. There are 70 university students in that small Favela. It is a promising initiative and we were glad to help a little bit. We are bringing back wit us to Australia a painting of Favela made by the children of this centre. It will be a sad reminder about injustice and misfortune some people go through, and we never experienced it. We are blessed by some reason and have to grateful, we were not born to a life in Favelas.

Iguazu Falls, Devil's Passage

2008-12-10T11:40:00.003+11:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/IguazuWaterfallsArgentinaBrazil#

Iguazu Waterfalls, Overview

2008-12-10T11:03:00.004+11:00

Meeting on Plaza Mayor, Buenos Aires

2008-12-06T07:12:00.004+11:00

Tango in Recoleta

2008-12-03T12:39:00.004+11:00

Traffic in Buenos Aires (Russian version)

2008-12-03T02:15:00.004+11:00

С детства я слышала и читала шутки о двух аргентинских вещах: футболе и вождении машины. Будучи абсолютно незнакомой с футболом я, разумеется не могу судить о состоянии футбольной лихорадки в Аргентине. Наверняка, она есть: второй вопрос, который задают практически все таксисты «Вы любите футбол» (само собой разумеется что первый вопрос «а откуда вы») и все киоски для туристов полны маек футбольных команд и всяких футбольных безделушек – я предполагаю, что всё это пользуется спросом. Они любят даже автралийское рагби, чего я вообще понять не могу. Впрочем, я никогда не могла понять людей, которые вкладывают всю свою энергию в погоню за мячом (любого размера и формы)...

Что касается езды на машине... это любопытное занятие. Не такое уж страшное, как я себе представляла, однако всё-таки довольно эмоциональное занятие. На улицах порядок (не такой как в Австралии, но всё-таки есть...) – просто это очень либеральный порядок. Это своего рода шарада для всех вовлечённых в это дело: и для водителей, и для пешеходов. Машины поворачивают в любую сторону с любой полосы (на перекрёстках нет указателей с какой полосы куда повернуть) – от этого весь процесс становится очень «интересным», так как водители и пешеходы должны догадаться кто куда поедет. Езда здесь медленная из-за постоянных заторов (вполне понятных) и из-за вежливости водителей: я дважды неправильно «угадала» и застряла посреди массивного движения посреди дороги, но ни один водитель не разозлился, не ругался, все улыбались и терпеливо ждали пока я выберусь на тротуар. Это не значит, что улицы в Буэнос Айресе безопасны, особенно на больших «авенидах» с интенсивным потоком машин.

«Либеральные» правила потенциально опасны. В первые же дни мы увидели два дорожных происшествия, в оба были вовлечены мотоциклисты и оба были вызваны беспорядочными попытками водителей обогнать кого-то на дороге и «срезать углы» (наперез движению машин) и как мы все знаем, мотоциклисты самые «невидимые» на дороге, поэтому их постоянно сбивают. В обоих случаях виновные водители и не подумали остановиться, однако полицейские и медики реагировали мгновенно. Первая авария вообще произошла прямо в нескольких метрах от гаишника, и скорая помощь была на месте в буквальном смысле через несколько секунд, они как из воздуха возникли! Как мы узнали от друзей, живущих здесь, Буэнос Айрес держит мировое первенство по количеству смертельных исходов в дорожно-транспортных происшествиях. Это грустный рекорд, конечно, но я могу в это поверить.

Здесь есть очень много старых машин, которые не допустили бы к езде на публичных дорогах во многих странах, а здесь они в порядке вещей (в России таких тоже полно). Ремни безопасности были введены совсем недавно и только для передних сидений. Всякий раз, когда я сажусь здесь в машину, я чуствую себя неудобно оттого что нечего . Ещё одна проблема, связанная со старыми машинами, это загрязнение воздуха. Машины играют в этом главную роль, так как – если верить нашим друзьям – здесь нет промышленности, которая бы отравляла воздух.

После всех этих критических замечаний, мне бы хотелось добавить что есть и хорошие стороны в местном транспорте: публичный транспорт здесь такой что многие «богатые» страны (такие как Австралия и США) могли бы здесь поучиться. Я видела очень доступный и эффективный публичный транспорт в Китае, намного лучше чем в Австралии. Метро – самый эффективный и надёжный способ передвижения по городу (как и во всём мире), но поддерживается здешнее метро в куда лучшем состоянии чем в Нью Йорке, и поезда ходят куда чаще чем в Сиднее. Линия А, которой мы пользуемся, самая старая, а потому наименее привлекательная, с самыми старыми вагонами. Новые линии метро выглядят настолько лучше чем американские или австралийские подземки, с художественными на стенах и полу (хотя до московского метро всё равно не дотягиевает, конечно). Глядя на здешние станции можно спорить о художественном качестве работ, о выборе красок, но одно абсолютно ясно: государство предоставляет аргентинским художникам много возможностей заработать, иможно только посожалеть, что американское и австралийское правительство слишком «бедны», чтобы обеспечить такую роскошь для своих пассажиров.

Ещё одна особенность: Мадонны. Они везде: на станциях метро, рынках – иногда в самых неожиданных местах. Я с удивлением наблюдала, как люди, бегущие с поезда на поезд в час пик, не забывали прикоснуться к Мадонне, прочитать на бегу молитву. Они очень нужны и любимы, эти Мадонны.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/AngelsOfBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/BuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/PlazaDeMayoBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/CaballitaBuenosAires#

Traffic in Buenos Aires (English version)

2008-12-03T02:10:00.004+11:00

Since childhood I heard and read jokes about two things in Argentina: football and driving. Being absolutely unaware what football is about I obviously cannot judge the state of the football fever in this country. Probably, it is present: the second question all taxi drivers ask is “do you like football” (after the obvious first question “where are you from”) and all kiosks for tourists are full or football T-shirts and various football trinkets – I assume, there is a demand for it. They love even Australian rugby league which I cannot comprehend at all. But – well – I never understood anything about people who put all their energy in chasing a ball (of any size and shape)…
What about driving… it is peculiar. Not as scary as I imagined, but nonetheless it is an emotional experience. There is some order on the streets (not as much as in Australia, but there is …) – just it is a liberal order. It is a sort of a charade for everybody involved: pedestrians and drivers alike. Cars turn any way from any line (there is no marking on cross roads who turns were and from which line) – it makes it “interesting”, because other drivers and pedestrians have to guess who drives in which direction. The driving is slow due to constant congestions on the streets and due to a courtesy of drivers: I have “guessed wrong” a couple of times and stack in the middle of the busy traffic, but all drivers were understanding, smiling, there were no abusive comments and gestures even if I was definitely guilty. It does not mean that streets in Buenos Aires are safe, especially on big “avenidas” with heavy traffic.

“Liberal” regulations on the streets are potentially dangerous. In a first few days here we witnessed 2 road accidents: both involved motorcycle riders and both were caused by the chaotic attempts of drivers to overtake each other and to “cut corners” (across traffic) and motorcyclists are the least visible as we all know and they get knocked down frequently. The guilty drivers did not stop to help in neither case, but policemen and ambulance were efficient and reacted immediately. In the first accident the event occurred right in front of a policeman and medical help was available literally a few seconds after the accident: paramedics appeared from a thin air. As we learnt from our friends living here Buenos Aires is a city of the highest fatalities on the roads in the world. It is a sad record, but I believe it can be correct.

There are many old cars which would not be allowed on the road in many countries, but they are common on the streets of Buenos Aires. Sit belts were introduced to Argentina very recently and only for the front. Every time when I sit in a car here I feel uncomfortable because there is nothing to buckle up. Another problem connected to those old cars is pollution. They are the major source of pollution as – according to our friends – there are no industries around here to cause the problem.

After saying it all I have to add that there is something very good about transport here: the public service is excellent is excellent and many rich countries could learn a lot here. The same applies to many countries looked upon by Australia, USA or alike. I observed excellent and very affordable transport in China, much better than Australia. Subway is the fastest and the most reliable way of moving around the city (as everywhere), but the level of maintenance is so much better than in New York and frequency of trains is so much better than in Sydney. The line A of the subway (Subte) which we use here is the oldest therefore the least impressive, with the oldest cars. New lines look so much better than Australian or American subways, with artwork on the walls and floors. It is possible to argue about the quality of the art work and about the choice of colours, but one thing is clear: Argentinean artists have plenty of commissions from the government, and it is pity that Australian or American governments cannot afford such luxury as art for passengers.
One more peculiarity: Madonnas. They are everywhere: metro stations, markets – in the most unusual places sometimes. I was surprised to see how many passengers rushing from one train to another do not forget to touch the shrine, to say a prayer while running. They are much loved and needed, those Madonnas.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/AngelsOfBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/BuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/PlazaDeMayoBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/CaballitaBuenosAires#

Orgy in The Botanical Garden in Buenos Aires

2008-12-03T01:34:00.002+11:00

Another day in Buenos Aires - Ещё один день в Буэнос Айресе

2008-11-28T09:26:00.004+11:00

First impression can be memorable but not always right…
I have some corrections to make to my first post.

To start with: there are beggars here. Not as many as in some other places and countries (less than in some rich countries) but I have spotted quite a few.

One thing, which I found unexplainable, is the incredibly high prices for everything. If I have to believe my friends who live here, about 80 percent of the population are poor, but the prices in local supermarkets are about equal to Australian prices or higher. White good are unspeakably expensive. Have I complained about high prices in Australia? I take all my words back. It can be so much worse! We had to buy a new fan for the apartment, because the owner’s fan went “funny”. It would cost us about $20Au somewhere in Bunning’s or K-Mart. We checked prices for fans in different stores and could not believe our eyes – the cheapest ones are about 3-5 times more expensive than in Australia. The same applies to all other items: appliances, electronics. Clothing and textile products are about the same price as in Australia. I am flabbergasted how people can afford things here! Vast majority of the population has very little wages in comparison with Australians, surely they cannot afford a dinner at the restaurant for 100 pesos -around $50Au - (an average price for 2 people, we were told) if a person gets 1000 pesos a month, or 2000, or even 3000 – it is still way too expensive. Even mineral water is 2-3 times more expensive than in Australian supermarkets. How can it be? It looks illogical.
In China, Thailand, Vietnam I always could see a shop for a rich man and a shop for poor man. Each social group had an appropriate financial option. There is no option for a poor man in Argentina. It is strange! I will have to work on it – and I will try to figure out what is the secret.

One thing is definitely cheaper – real estate. My former collegue bought her one room apartment for $30,000US. No way an apartment in Sydney – however small and remote – would cost that little/ Electricity and other daily facilities cost less here, but I wonder if cheaper real estate, gas and water outweigh severely overpriced daily grocery bills.

Another thing I learnt by now – centre of Buenos Aires is magnificent!!! It looks like Paris but so much more lovelier. Paris is way too formal and grand, Buenos Aires is a Paris of dreams where people are happier, colours are brighter and jacarandas shade their purple petals creating a fairy-tale atmosphere. Ah, if only we had in Australia buildings of such beauty and in such numbers – our jacarandas look so much more spectacular, bigger, brighter!!! Alas – we don’t! Old Buenos Aires provides a beautiful combination of antiquity and tropics. I have appreciated a value of long history in Buenos Aires, because Argentina and Australia are quite comparable: both are colonies, both are warm countries with similar climatic conditions, both have European ancestry, but Australia has a short history of dependence. We shook British influence way too soon to acquire a bigger number of ties with Europe, therefore our oldest cities are more or less “faceless”, or their faces are very new… Opera House is stunning and fascinating, but not romantic, nostalgic, magic… Shadows of the past do not hide its secrets, ghosts do not roam its stairs, myths do not supplement the facts about it…
I am falling in love with colonial Buenos Aires…

Первое впечатление может быть очень памятным, однако не обязательно аккуратным и правильным... Я уже могу подкорректировать некоторые из моих первых замечаний.

Прежде всего, здесь есть попрошайки. Не так много, как в некоторых других странах (в том числе очень даже преуспевающих), но я заметила несколько.

Одну вещь я нахожу практически необъяснимой: исключительно высокие цены на всё! Если верить моим друзьям, живущим в Аргентине, около 80% населения живут в бедности, но цены в супермаркетах и магазинах примерно равны с австралийскими или даже выше. Домашнее оборудование необыкновенно дорого. Жаловалась ли я когда-нибудь на наши австралийские цены? Я беру все свои слова обратно. Цены могут быть куда хуже! Нам нужно было купить новый вентилятор для этой квартиры, потому что хозяйский вентилятор начал «куролесить» и мы решили не рисковать. В Австралии это обошлось бы нам в долларов 20 (наших). Мы проверили цены здесь в нескольких магазинах и не могли поверить собственным глазам: самые дешёвые были приблизительно в 3-5 раз дороже, чем в Австралии. То же самое относится к телевизорам, холодильникам, электронике и т.д. Одежда и вещи из ткани стоят приблизительно так же как в Австралии. Я не понимаю, как люди могут что-нибудь купить здесь. Большинство людей имеют такие маленькие зарплаты по сравнению с австралийскими, что они, конечно, не могут позволить себе ужин в ресторане за 100 песо – около 50 наших долларов – (нормальная цена за ужин для двух человек, как нам сказали), если этот человек получает 1000 песо в месяц, или 2000, или даже 3000 – всё равно очень дорого! Даже минеральная вода в 2-3 раза дороже чем в наших супермаркетах! Как так может быть? Это нелогично! В Китае, Таиланде, Вьетнаме я всегда находила магазины для богатых и магазины для бедных. Любая социальная группа имеет возможность купить всё необходимое в пределах своих финансовых возможностей! В Аргентине у бедного человека нет возможностей! Это так странно! Я ещё над этим поработаю – и постараюсь понять, в чём тут секрет.

Одна вещь здесь точно дешевле, чем у нас – это недвижимость. Моя бывшая коллега купила свою однокомнатную квартиру в Буэнос Айресе за 30000 американских долларов. Да ни за что вы не найдёте в Сиднее квартиру за такую цену – какой бы маленькой и удалённой не была эта квартира! Электричество и тому подобные услуги стоят здесь меньше, но я не уверена, что более дешёвые услуги и жильё перевешивают неимоверные ежедневные траты на еду и предметы первой необходимости.

Ещё одну вещь я поняла здесь – центр Буэнос Айреса восхитителен!!! Он похож на Париж, но только намного милее! Париж слишком напыщенный и формальный, Буэнос Айрес – как Париж во сне, где люди счастливее, краски ярче и джакарэнды осыпают мостовые своими лиловыми лепестками, создавая сказочную атмосферу. Ах, если бы мы имели в Австралии здания такой красоты и в таком количестве! Наши джакарэнды куда более впечатляющие, куда больше, ярче! Увы, старых зданий у нас нет! Старый Буэнос Айрес предоставляет прекрасную комбинацию старины и тропиков. Я оценила значение длинной истории здесь в Буэнос Айресе, потому что Австралию и Аргентину легко сравнивать: обе страны - бывшие колонии, обе – тёплые страны с похожими климатическими условиями, обе имеют европейские корни, но Австралия имеет более короткую историю зависимости. Мы отряхнули Британское влияние слишком быстро, не набрав большое количество связей с Европой, и от этого наши города более-менее «безликие», или имеют очень новые лица...

Конечно, Опера Хауз – здание поразительное и потрясающее, но не романтичное, в нём нет ностальгии и магии... Тени прошлого не прячут его секретов, призраки не бегают по его лестницам, мифы не перемешиваются с фактами...

Я влюбилась в колониальный Буэнос Айрес...

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/AngelsOfBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/BuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/PlazaDeMayoBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/CaballitaBuenosAires#

Meeting on Plaza de Mayo

2008-11-28T08:59:00.002+11:00

Finally, after so many years of political peace and quite I have observed a demonstration!
Not a violent one, but still a real one!
Apparently, demonstrations happen nearly every day on Plaza de Mayo (it is quite something if people feel like demonstrating every day!!!) and we happened to bump into one of them. The plaza is very picturesque and historical: there is a lot to see and enjoy there, until it suddenly transformed into some kind of wave of flags and screaming people, and the wave twisted and swirled to the centre of the plaza, in the shade of ancient palm trees. We had no idea what the demonstration was about, but things were serious. As soon as some red and white-and-blue flags appeared, police appeared as well. I would say magically appeared, nearly instantly. They were ready for a serious event: with transparent bullet-proof shields, rubber sticks, bullet-proof cars with water – guns… There were many of them: cars and policemen. They all looked quite casual and relaxed, while speakers were spilling beans over something important.
It looked quite disturbing: not the people attending the meeting, or the police, for that matter, but the discrepancy between people screaming about something, which obviously bothered them, and the police (government), getting ready to do its job, not listening to the people, but silencing them.

We did not wait for the climax… but I had a feeling that if I knew the cause of the event I well could end up in that crowd with a flag and a megaphone… or, I am bullshitting myself?

Наконец-то, после стольких лет политического спокойствия и я бы даже сказала безразличия, я наблюдала политическую демонстрацию! Беспорядков не было, но всё равно это был протест!
Как оказалось, демонстрации случаются на Рлазе де Майо почти каждый день (это уже само по себе заслуживает внимания, что люди хотят «демонстрировать» каждый день!!!) и мы наткнулись на одну из них. Сама плаза очень красивая и полна истории. Там есть много чегго интересного и на что полюбоваться, пока она вдруг не покрылась волной флагов и орущих в мегафоны людей. Волна изгибалась пока не закрутилась в центре плазы в тени старинных гигантских пальм. Мы не имеем представления о чём была демонстрация, но всё выглядело очень серьёзно. Как только красные и бело-голубые флаги появились, полиция тоже появилась на сцене. Я бы даже сказала – магически появилась, практически мгновенно. Полицейские были готовы к серьёзной работе: у них были прозрачные пуленепробиваемые щиты, резиновые дубинки, бронемашины с водяными пушками... Их было много: и машин, и полицейских. Они выглядели довольно обыкновенно и спокойно, пока митингующие разорялись по поводу чего-то важного.
Всё это выглядело ненормально: не люди, пришедшие на митинг, и даже не полиция, пришедшия их разгонять, а различие между людьми, кричащими о чём-то явно важном для них, и государством в лице полиции, спокойно готовящееся заткнуть им рот вместо того, чтобы выслушать их.

Мы не ждали развязки... но мне кажется, если бы я знала причину митинга, я вполне могла бы оказаться в этой толпе, с флагом и мегафоном... или я себе льщу?

How to paint a building in Argentina - Как покрасить здание в Аргентине

2008-11-28T08:51:00.001+11:00

Have you ever woke up in the morning on the 24th floor of a residential building because somebody was chatting outside your window?
I have to admit, it is a weird feeling. Our first morning in Argentina began with sounds of some human movement and talk outside of our window and balcony, which at first seemed to be a continuation of a dream of some kind. It was not a dream… 2 guys were hanging above our balcony on a rope with buckets attached to them and chatted.
We noticed those ropes from the beginning, and we even were told that some maintenance work will be done, but it did not register that a normal human being can simply claim to the 25th floor on a rope to do some work. Believe it or not, it is what they do here. There was a thicker rope in the middle (not really thick though) and 2 slimmer ropes on the sides (pretty slim, I would say) and the guys were claiming up and down those slim ropes and the thick one was a sort of insurance rope (scaffolding of some kind!). Look at the photos – I did not make it up!
Chris started talking to them. One guy happened to be very talkative – in Spanish, of course. He happened to be from Paraguay and worked in many countries; including Germany and England (no German or English language skills were acquired).
We observed these 2 guys working for 2 days: in the first day they painted concrete parts of the balconies, today they painted metal balustrades with white. The ropes are still hanging outside. It seems tomorrow they will be removed and placed above the next raw of balconies and all this climbing will continue.
I would like to know if they have any Trade Unions in Argentina and any concept of occupational health and safety.

Вам когда-нибудь приходилось проснуться на 24-ом этаже жилого здания оттого что кто-то болтает у вас под окном?
Я должна признаться, что это странное чуство! Наше первое утро в Аргентине началось с того что кто-то двигался и болтал где-то за окном и балконом. Сначала это всё казалось продолжением какого-то сна. Но это был не сон... 2 парня висели над нашим балконом на верёвке, к поясам были привязаны вёдра, и они болтали.
Мы заметили эти верёвки с самого начала, и нам даже объяснили, что ведутся ремонтные работы, но это как-то не задержалось в нашем сознании. Нам даже и в голову не могло прийти, что обыкновенный человек может запросто залезть на 25-й этаж по верёвке, чтобы проделать какую-то работу. Хотите верьте, хотите нет, но именно это они здесь и делают. Там была одна верёвка потолще – посередине (однако не очень толстая), и две верёвки потоньше (я бы даже сказала – довольно тонкие) и и эти парни лезли вверх и вниз по этим верёвкам, и средняя толстая верёвка служила своего рода страховкой. Посмотрите на фотографии – я не придумываю!
Крис начал с ними разговаривать. Один из парней оказался очень даже разговорчивым – на испанском, конечно! Он оказался из Парагвая, и ему довелось работать во многих странах, включая Германию и Англию (хотя никаких навыков немецкого или английского он не приобрёл).

Мы наблюдали за этими парнями два дня: в первый они покрасили бетонные части балконов в серый цвет, на второй – железные перила – в белый цвет. Верёвки до сих пор висят снаружи. Видимо, завтра их переместят на следующий ряд балконов и это лазание по верёвке продолжится.
Интересно, есть у ли них хоть какие-нибудь профсоюзы и хоть какое-то представление о безопасности работников во время исполнения служебных обязанностей?

First day in Argentina

2008-11-26T12:09:00.003+11:00

Finally, we are here. It is a first day, but I cannot wait to put a few words together. After all, it is my first day in Latin America.
First of all, a few good words for QANTAS: despite all the latest troubles reported by the media the flight was more or less impeccable. It was absolutely packed, there were many disabled passengers and passengers with little children, who made boarding a bit slow, but overall impression was very good: the pilot was good, the food was good, the service was good, the movies were good and in huge numbers - and in 13 or so hours we landed comfortably in Buenos-Aires. It is not really a city of “good airs” as it was named initially, but quite a polluted one, and we observed a smoke of a fire on the horizon in a residential area, as well as some burnt apartments in big apartment blocks along the road (due to pure electrical work or something else?), however my first impression was not a bad one. The suburbs closest to the airport were really impoverished, but by the time we reached Caballita, where we will reside for the rest of our stay, the level of poverty reduced dramatically. We did not see people sleeping on the street or begging.
We have not seen the centre yet, but Caballita is no different to any other big city: Seoul, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Hochiminh. There is no much European flavour (which was expected after all reference books and guides I have read – maybe it will be more obvious in the centre?), but there is no Latino flavour as well. It is a cosmopolitan city which could be located anywhere in the world.
We stay in an apartment of my former colleague Valentina. Her daughter Svetlana and Svetlana’s husband met us in the airport. Svetlana speaks Spanish and Russian. Her husband speaks Spanish and understands English a bit. I speak Russian and understand Spanish a bit. Chris speaks English and Spanish a bit. I worried how are we going to manage with our 3 imperfect languages? So far it went quite well.
The task number one to do some shopping – little bits of pieces. My first impression – Argentina is nowhere near as cheap as some people write and `tell. Prices in a supermarket are about the same as in Australia – but alcohol is cheap, very cheap! Our first dinner also did not happen to be very cheap (around $150.00AU) but very good, and included 3 starters to share, 3 main dishes (Chris ordered 2 – to try salmon and beef), 2 deserts, a big bottle of beer Stella Artois (nearly 1 litre), 2 bottles of water and a bottle of excellent wine malbec (a bit more forceful than shiraz), which is a local grape, we don’t have it in Australia. And on top of everything I received a kiss from “el camarero guapo”/a handsome waiter. What else a girl can dream of? I was also pleasantly surprised that I could understand most of the menu and could understand our waiter and even communicated with him! As you may imagine, I am very proud of myself and - Thank you, Pimsleur! And our menu served as a Spanish text book as well.
During the dinner we observed an unusual party (for Australia, anyway). There was a big group of women celebrating something and at some pint the celebration transformed into a shopping spree. A lady came with some garments and all women were choosing items, laughed a lot, had a lot of fun trying things on. It made our dinner even more entertaining.

* * * *

Наконец-то, мы здесь. Это наш первый день, но я не могу ждать – уж очень хочется поделиться первыми впечатлениями. В конце концов, я в Латинской Америке впервые!

Прежде всего хочу сказать несколько добрых слов о QANTAS: несмотря на все проблемы расписанные во всех красках средствами массовой информации в последнее время полёт был более-менее безукоризненный. Рейс был забит до отказа, было много поссажиров с детьми и инвалидов, что сделало погрузку очень медленной, но в целом впечатление осталось очень хорошее: пилот был хороший, еда – хорошая, обслуживание – хорошее, фильмы были тоже хорошие и их было много – и приблизительно через 15 часов мы спокойно приземлились в Буэнос Айресе. На самом деле это уже не город «хороших воздухов» как его назвали изначально, а довольно загазованный, и мы видели пожар на горизонте в одном из жилых районов, а также мы видели несколько сожжённых квартир в высоких домах (то ли из-за проблем с электропроводкой, или ещё по каким-то причинам), однако первое впечатление от города было совсем неплохим.

Районы, расположенные близко к аэропорту, были по настоящему бедные, но пока мы достигли район Кабайита (Кабаджита по-аргентински), где мы будем жить все 3 недели, бедность отступила. Мы не видели попрошаек и людей, живущих на улице.

Мы ещё не были в центре, но Кабайита не отличается от всех больших городов мира: Сеул, Шенджен, Гонк Конг, Хошимин. Я не заметила «европейского привкуса», обещанного многочисленными книгами и статьями, прочитанными перед приездом сюда
(может быть, в центре это будет более заметно?), но здесь нет и «латинского» привкуса. Этот город мог бы находиться на любом континенте.

Мы остановились в квартире моей бывшей коллеги Валентины. Её дочь Светлана и Светланин муж Виктор встретили нас в аэропорту. Света говорит по-русски и по-испански. Её муж говорит по-испански и понимает по-английски немного. Я говорю по-русски и по-английски, и понимаю чуть-чуть по-испански. Крис говорит по-английски и немного по-испански. Я очень беспокоилась как мы разберёмся с помощью наших 3-х несовершенных языков. Пока у нас всё получается неплохо.

Первая забота была сделать кое-какие покупки. Моё первое впечатление – Аргентина не такая уж дешёвая страна как я слышала и читала. Цены в супермаркете были практически такие же как в Австралии – но алкоголь был дешёвый, очень дешёвый! Наш первый ужин тоже был не очень дешёвый (около 150 автралийских долларов), но это был очень хороший ужин, который включал 3 закуски на нас двоих, 3 главных блюда (Крис заказал 2 – хотел попробовать и лосося и мясо), 2 десерта, одну большую бутылку бельгийского пива Стелла Артуа (почти литровую), 2 бутылки вина и бутылку отличного вина мальбек (слегка покрепче чем привычный шираз) – это местный виноград, в Европе и Австралии мы такое вино не знаем. И помимо всего прочего я получила в награду поцелуй от нашего «эль камареро гуапо»/симпатичного официанта. Ну что ещё девочкам нужно? Для меня было приятным сюрпризом, что я могла понять в принципе почти всё меню, и понимала нашего официанта и даже общалась с ним! Как вы можете себе представить, я ужасно горжусь собой, и – Спасибо мистеру Пимслеру с его замечательными курсами иностранных языков. К тому же наше меню послужило нам как учебник испанского!

Во время ужина мы наблюдали очень необычную вечеринку (для Австралии необычную). В ресторане была большая группа женщин, отмечавших какую-то оказию. В какой-то момент ужин превратился в модный парад и базар. Какая-то дама пришла с большущей сумкой и начала раскладывать пред женщинами одежду. Они всё это примеряли, выбирали, обсуждали... было много смеха и судя по всему, вечеринка ужалась на славу. Зрелище этой мини-ярмарки сделало наш ужин ещё интересней.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/AngelsOfBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/BuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/PlazaDeMayoBuenosAires#

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/CaballitaBuenosAires#

Correspondence with Sherida - Переписка с Шеридой

2008-11-07T12:25:00.001+11:00

Как-то так получилось, что после моей поездки в Соединённые штаты, у меня завязалась оживлённая дискуссия с одной из моих американских друзей по переписке о наблюдениях, которые я сделала в её стране и потом поместила в этот блог, и по поводу которых ей хотелось дать комментарии.
Конечно, лучше всего поместить всю переписку без купюр, но где мне взять столько времени, чтобы перевести это всё? Однако и не поделиться идеями Шериды было бы несправедливо, тем более с моими не-англоговорящими друзьями. Сколько раз я слышала от моих друзей, никогда не бывавших в США, довольно радикальные высказывания. А были ли у них возможности выслушать простых американцев, познакомиться с их точкой зрения? Мне кажется, что вряд ли...

* * *

I have been looking at my area with 'new' eyes. Wondering what someone not from America would think of this or that. I found it interesting that you referenced all the flags...is that something germane to the US?? Don't other countries have their flags prominently displayed in various locations?? If you were to drive down our street...you would see the American flag flying from many homes. We have one beside the front door...the pole is attached to the trim. I've flown one for years and years but after 9-11 more flags began to appear. Some homes even have flag poles in the front yard. Your photos and mention of the flags piqued my curiosity!

Я стала смотреть на наши места «новыми» глазами. Спрашивая себя, что не-американец подумал бы об этом. Твои замечания о флагах мне кажутся очень интересными... неужели это так типично для США? Разве в других странах их флаги не расположены в различных видных местах? Если бы ты проехала вдоль по улице здесь... ты бы увидела американские флаги, развивающиеся над многими домами. У нас тоже есть один перед входной дверью... флагшток приделан к карнизу. Мой флаг развивался над домом уже много-много лет, но после 11 сентября стало появляться больше флагов. Перед некоторыми домами есть настоящие большие . Твои фотографии и замечания по поводу флагов разбудили моё любобытство!

I hesitate to speak in generalities but it cannot be avoided...just remember every country has its anarchists so there would probably be those who would disagree with what I'm about to say. In America...the flag represents the country not the government. I have flown the flag for more years than I can remember because I love America...even when it wasn't "cool" to be patriotic...my flag flew. Perhaps its the history of the flag that generates a different feeling...perhaps its because we've never experienced a sudden and huge change in our flag. Whatever the reason...the flag is America itself. Americans who burn our flag may do so out of hatred for the government but among many...including myself...it is seen as an insult to the country...not the government. However...when 'foreigners' burn "her" we know it is a sign of hatred for our government. Here we say people fought and died for the flag. The flag represents our way of life...not our government's policies. We may disagree with our government...and right now Congress has about a 10% approval rating...much lower than even President Bush's rating...but we love our flag and country.

Мне не хотелось бы говорить в общем, но этого нельзя избежать... помни, каждая страна имеет своих анархистов, так что, возможно, будут такие кто не согласится с тем, что я собираюсь сказать. В Америке... флаг представляет страну, а не правительство. Мой флаг развивался я уже даже и не помню сколько лет, потому что я люблю Америку... даже когда патриотизм не был «в моде»... мой флаг развивался. Возможно, это история самого флага порождает в людях (имеется в виду, разных стран – Т.Е.) разные чуства... возможно, это потому что мы никогда не пережили внезапные и огромные изменения в нашем флаге. Какой бы ни была причина... флаг – это сама Америка. Американцы, которые жгут американский флаг, могут делать это от ненависти к правительству, но многие... включая меня... видят это как оскорбление стране, а не государству. Однако, когда иностранцы жгут «его», мы знаем, что это знак ненависти к нашему государству. Здесь мы гоаорим что люди боролись и умирали за наше знямя. Флаг является символом нашего образа жизни... а не действий нашего государства. Мы можем не соглашаться с нашим правительством... и в данный момент (это было написано в сентябре 2008 – Т.Е.) наш конгресс имеет не более 10% поддержки населения.... это даже ниже, чем уровень поддержки президента Буша... но мы любим наш флаг и нашу страну.

Our flag flies at federal...state...county...and local government buildings...schools and libraries... firehouses...police stations...cemeteries...and most anywhere people gather. Businesses and private homes fly the flag.

Наш флаг развивается над федеральными... штатовыми... провинциальными... и местными государственными зданиями, школами и библиотеками... пожарными станциями.. полицейскими станциями... кладбищами... и практически везде, где собираются люди. Предприятия и частные дома развевают флаги.

The events of 9-11...while frightening and indeed made us feel a vulnerability the country probably had not felt since Pearl Harbor...it also awakened a strong element of patriotism that had been swept under the rug for awhile. From that terrible situation...we united as a country...even if only briefly...and showed the world we were still Americans first and foremost. After Vietnam...patriotism was not as strong as it once was. Being under attack...we responded in a way that surprised many...especially our enemies. We may bicker and fight among ourselves but there is a family dynamic here. There will always be squabbles in a family...and they can become knock-down-dragged-out ones! But...let an outsider make a comment about a family member and the family rallies to protect and defend the assaulted member. Regardless of political affiliation...we stand together in times of trouble. Ah...we are a strange breed and I can only imagine how "nutty" we must look to the world.

События 11 сентября ... несмотря на то что они были пугающими и действительно дали нам почуствовать что мы уязвимыми, как мы себя не чуствовали со времён Перл Харбор... они также разбудили очень сильное чуство патриотизма, которое прежде пылилось под ковриком. После тех ужасных событий... мы объединились как страна... даже если это только временно... и показали всему миру что мы прежде всего американцы. После Вьетнама... патриотизм уже не был силён как некогда. Будучи атакованы... мы ответили таким образом что удивили многих... особенно наших врагов. Мы можем драться и кусаться между собой, но это семейное дело. В семье всегда будут раздоры... и они могут оказаться разрушительными! Но... лишь пусть посторонний скажет что-нибудь об одном члене семьи – и вся семья поднимется в протесте и защитит обиженного родственника. В независимости от политической оиентации... мы встанем плечом к плечу в трудные времена. Ах... мы - странное племя, и я могу только догадываться, какими «сумашедшими» мы должны казаться всему миру.

Now...please do not let my explanation cause you to believe I see America as the be-all-end-all of the world. There are many ways of doing things and I respect other traditions and some other forms of governments. I do...however...believe that the people should be free to choose.

А сейчас... пожалуйста, мои объяснения не должны вселить в тебя веру, что я вижу Америку как начало всего-конец всего мира. Всегда есть много способов делать что-то, и я уважаю другие традиции и некоторые другие формы управления. Однако... я верю, что все люди должны иметь право выбора.

My thought...how are we ever going to learn if we don't share ideas and at least try to understand each other?? I deeply believe that when it comes right down to it...as people...we're all the same. Shakespeare 'said' it best...if you prick us...do we not bleed? Governments are born out of necessity...I disagree with mine at times...strongly support it at other times...but there is a historical quote I always think about...my country may she always be right...but my country right or wrong. Doesn't that apply to the 'average' person wherever he/she calls home??

Моя идея... как мы собираемся учиться если мы не разделяем идей, или по крайней мере не пытаемся понять друг жруга? Я глубоко верю, что когда доходит до самого низа... до нас, людей... мы все одинаковые. Шекспир сказал лучше всех... если уколоть нас... разве у кого-то из нас не потечёт кровь? Государства были созданы из необходимости... я не соглашаюсь с моим время от времени... но есть историческое высказывание, о котором я всегда думаю... пусть моя страна всегда будет права... но права она или нет – она всё равно моя страна. Разве это не относится к «обыкновенному» человеку, где бы он/она не жил/а?

Please do stress that much is my opinion...although some of my opinions are shared by others...and that I was speaking of the American flag. The "Hammer and Sickle" of the USSR...to me...denoted communism. I do associate flags with certain governments based upon the history of the flag as it relates to the treatment of its people.

Пожалуйста, подчеркни, что это моё мнение... хотя другие люди разделяют многие из моих мнений... особенно, когда я говорила про американский флаг. «Серп и молот» Советского Союза... для меня... символ коммунизма. Я ассоциирую флаги с определёнными государствами, судя по истории флага и как по ому как там относились к людям.

My first experience with the...then...USSR...came from hiding under my desk at school. Amazingly...this was to protect us from air raid attacks and nuclear weapons! I remember seeing Khrushchev on TV pounding his shoe on the desk at the UN. There were lessons in history class about Lenin and Stalin and the Cold War was in full-swing. It was a frightening time for a child. In the 9th grade...I would have been about 14 years old...we read War and Peace in our English class and began studying Catherine the Great and Peter the Great...among others...in our history class. I became fascinated with the rich history of Russia. As I matured...I read Solzhenitsyn and Dostoevsky.... their emphasis on people won my heart and was instrumental in my beginning to look at the people in a country rather than the government.

Моё первое знакомство с ... тогда.... Советским Союзом ... началось с того что мы прятались под партами в школе. Удивительно... это было для того чтобы спасти нас от воздушных атак и ядерного оружия! Я помню Хрущёва на нашем телевидении, стучавшего его туфлёй по столу в ООН. Были уроки в классе истории о Ленине и Сталине, и холодная война была в полном разгаре. Это было пугающее время для ребёнка. В 9ом классе.... мне тогда было около 14 лет... я прочитала «Войну и Мир» в нашем классе английского языка, и начала изучать Екатерину Великую и Петра Великого ... помимо прочих... в нашем классе истории. Я была очарована богатой историей России. Когда я повзрослела... я прочитала Солженицына и Достоевского... Их внимание к людям покорило моё сердце и было существенным в развитии моего внимания прежде всего к людям, а не государствам.

I think success in Iraq refers to the decrease in violence and the return of the country to its people. However...history will have to make the final determination. I am reminded of the expression...those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It appears Saddam was a Hitler in the making. We already know what he did to the Kurds and those who did not follow the Islam sect he mandated. The mass graves that have been discovered are proof of his policies. Perhaps had he remained unchecked...the world would have been in worse shape. Edmund Burke wrote: All this is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.

Я думаю, успех в Ираке прежде всего относится к уменьшению жестокости, и в возврате страны её людям. Однако... история расставит все точки над i. И мне напомнили высказывание... те кто не изучали историю повторят её. Как выяснилось, Саддам был на пути превращения в Гитлера. Мы уже знаем что он сделал с курдами, и стеми кто не следовал его Исламской секте. Массовые захоронения были найдены и они доказательства его убеждений. Возможно, если бы его не проверили вовремя... мир был бы сейчас в худшем состоянии.
Эдмунд Бёрк написал: Чтобы дьявол победил хорошим людям нужно просто ничего не делать.

* * *
I printed your entry about the roads and American cars to read as my husband... and I were driving into Indiana to see our youngest son. How fascinating to read your descriptions as we were on the interstates! I laughed at the comment about Americans taking their homes with them! Those huge RV's are amazing...although with gas prices as high as they are now...I have no idea how people can afford to drive them...let alone buy them. But...they say that for large families...it's still cheaper than hotel and restaurant costs when traveling. Guess I'll take their word for it!

Я отпечатала твой рассказ о дорогах в Америке и американских машинах чтобы прочитать их моему мужу когда мы с ним поехали в Индиану увидеться с нашим младшим сыном. Как интересно было читать твои описания пока мы пересекали один штат за другим. Меня рассмешило твоё замечание что американцы берут их дома с собой! Эти огромные караваны изумительны... хотя с нынешними высокими ценами на бензин... я представить себе не могу как люди могут себе позволить ездить в таких машинах. Но... говорят что для больших семей это всё равно дешевле чем гостиница и ресторан во время путешествия. Кажется, мне придётся довериться их мнению.

Многоточия, в основном, принадлежат Шериде. Я сохранила её стиль письма. Я старалась переводить дословно, и когда это было невозможно, я старалась передать смысл как можно более аккуратно.

Dining in New York

2008-09-08T16:53:00.005+10:00

The USA is known for good quality food. This restaurant Don Veitia is a very good classical restaurant and a good value for money. It is not very cheap, but for the quality they offer it is the most affordable restaurant in their league. They have an excellent menue, a good selection of wines, wonderful service and highly edible food.
It is an impeccable place.

If you have a lot of money and want to have something really different for dinner, something really memorable! - Ninja is a good place to go.
This Japanese cave is located in a boring highrise building in Manhatten - you would never guess that you will have to watch every step carefully because all sorts of dangers are awaiting your arrival (dangers are real, but not lethal - unless you have a weak heart!).
Depending on you choice of food you may have to use a sword to get your meal, you will try to fish your food out of smoke which fills your cell etc. The service was impecable and our waiter was a lot of fun (a man to die for!).
The only downside - it is expensive. I heard Russian language from a few "cells" which means "new Russians" spend their money there. It is not a restaurant from my league, but I am glad we tried it!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/NewYork#

Two sides of the coin - hotels in the USA

2008-09-08T16:23:00.004+10:00

The best hotel experience in terms of value for money. It is a small old fashioned place, but the room was big and clean, and it looked pleasant. The bed was excellent, the bed linen too. Plumbing was perfect, Internet connection was faultless and free of charge, the service was good and the breakfast too. It all costs $68US during a school holiday period. If you know a better deal let me know!

The worst place we saw in the USA was a motel in Gorda, Big Sur. this place is a total disgrace to American hospitality industry: dirty old room with a lock which does not work properly (neighbours helped us and opened our door with their key!), with no fridge or a TV set, no Internet, with leaking shower which did not let me sleep all night. All these "luxury" casts $275.00 plus taxes.
They sell petrol there for $6.99 per gallon while other places were selling it for $4.99.
The food in the restaurant was very expensive but not edible which is an extreme rarity in the USA. I hardly can imagine a worse place to stay.
To be fare, it was the only horrible place we encountered.
In general, hotels are wonderful and service is very good.

New York

2008-09-04T22:02:00.001+10:00

Well, we are back home, and the weather is just as it was before we left – rainy and dull, and I am happy to entertain myself with memories of New York. The weather was perfect there: sunny but not too hot, if cool then it was not cold, the sun was all over the sky most of the time and being outside was pleasurable without limits.

My first intention was to write: I love New York.
But my second thought is: I love Manhattan.

We’ve seen a glimpse of Brooklyn and Staten Island – it was not very appealing. Brooklyn was like an endless penitentiary with all those dull brick buildings without a trace of architectural imagination. An occasional beach or a park does not change the rule: it looks depressing. The Staten Island was even more depressing despite being suburbia, because of the neglect and poor maintenance visible all over the place. The amount of closed businesses, deserted shopping centres, littered streets and parks – all together it was a sad picture. Even if there was an occasional new residential development here and there (and some of them did not look cheap at all) but the uniformity of those developments (hundreds or even thousands of identical buildings are doomed to look depressing) and the neglect outside the fence of that development made an unfavourable impression. I would not want to live in a dump like this even if I personally lived in a palace. By the way, there were some very nice houses there, some reasonably old, and interesting, but an overall impression was negative.

Manhattan was the biggest surprise of all. It has an uncountable number of skyscrapers, nonetheless, it is not a concrete jungle like Hong Kong, where all interesting things are hidden inside and there is really nothing to do outside the building. Manhattan has its charm, it has plenty of sun, it is a pleasure to walk on the street and many things happen on the street while you are walking. There is a nice human touch to it. I loved being there.

It happened to be a very safe place. At no point we felt uncomfortable or threatened. We never observed anything remotely criminal.
It happened to be quite a green place. Despite skyscrapers they managed to keep quite a few gardens around there and many streets are quite green. Maybe to somebody on the 40th floor the number of trees downstairs is irrelevant, but for those who walk on the street it is a pleasure.

There were some things which did not appeal to me. Even more: I don’t understand why they happen, or how the government allows certain things to happen.

One of the incomprehensible things is a very poor level of maintenance of public property. There are parks, and they are planned generously, and they are used a lot by the residents, but why don’t they look pretty? There are no nice pedestrian ways with occasional mosaics, lovely designs, a sculpture or a gazebo here and there, a BBQ place? Why gravel is not topped up so the road looks like an abandon provincial driveway? Why it is not sealed as most roads are? Why the grass is not mowed? Why there are no litter boxes along the way?

Oh, the litter boxes! I missed them in America. It is so difficult to find one in some places. I was constantly carrying some litter with me, because there were no ways to dispose it. It explains an abnormal amount of litter nearly everywhere. I understand that there is an objective difficulty in removing tons of litter from Manhattan streets, but I don’t understand why they did not solve the problem yet (where is famous American ingenuity?). And why not to put a few hundred extra litter boxes along the streets?

New York subway was, probably, the brightest example of this problem. It is a great subway: works well (as well as Moscow metro - believe it or not!). It is safe, cheap!!! (US$25 per week – no zone divisions as they do it in Sydney- one ticket for the whole metropolitan area!) and it is reliable.
Why was it planned to be so small, crowded and hot? Why it is not maintained? It is clean, I have to say, but it is not painted, it is not decorated, it is not degreased, rust is not removed, it is patched up like an old boot… it looks really neglected. It would be highly unfair to compare New York subway with Moscow Metro, but it does not match even our very casual Sydney Metropolitan service. How can it be? New York supposes to be so much richer than Sydney!

Apart from these very brief observations of neglect of public property, I had an impression that New York is a lovely city, New Yorkers are good people, and I would not mind to live in a city like this, definitely during summer months.

I am sure, as a tourist I had quite superficial impressions. There were some visual impressions which stroke me as nearly surreal. For example, American schools – they look like penitentiaries: bob-wired, with barred windows… even a preschool looked this way!
There were quite a few homeless beggars on the streets (less than I expected).

There are problems in the country where children and teachers spent a lot of time in a prison. There are problems if so many people end up on the street…
I have not dealt with those problems, I personally was not affected by them – and maybe, it is to the best. I prefer to think of New York and America as a place I like…

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/NewYork#

Американцы... Ответ моим многочисленным друзьям, удивлённым выбором места отдыха

2008-08-31T10:31:00.002+10:00

Когда я сообщила своим друзьям, что мы собираемся в Америку на отдых, я получила много недоумённых ответов: «Почему Америка?», «Я бы туда не поехала...», «Это безумная страна!!!», «Лично мне Америка не нравится», «Вы что, не могли найти ничего лучше?» и т.д.

Я много думала об этом в последние несколько недель...
Если кто-нибудь спросил бы меня в июне, хочу ли я провести отпуск в Америке, я бы однозначно ответила: «Конечно, нет!». А в августе я уже была здесь. Крис привёз меня в Америку. Это был его выбор места отдыха.
К данному моменту некоторые из моих мыслей по поводу того что я здесь увидела уже оформились и я могу сложить мои наблюдения в нечто связное...

Уже давно я поняла на своём опыте одну простую истину: легко не любить то чего не знаешь.
Что я знала о Китае до того как я туда приехала? Наше австралийское телевидение постоянно показывало документальные фильмы о том как страдает бедный китайский народ, одетый во всё серое, от отсутствия человеческих прав и свобод, и как они мечтают о нашей западной демократии. Приехала я туда и увидела, что всё что я знаю о стране – это враньё и глупости: есть люди одетые в серое, но есть и много людей одетых во всё разноцветное, и зачастую в очень даже дорогое (мне с моей австралийской учительской зарплатой не по карману), есть человеческие права, также как и нарушения этих прав (как во всяком другом обществе), и подавляющему большинству людей Запад до лампочки, потому что они до сих пор думают – как и тысячу лет назад – что Китай – это центр вселенной (и кажется, скоро так и будет – всё к тому идёт).
Я влюбилась в эту страну как только я встретила людей этой страны (до безумия трудолюбивых, дипломатичных до вранья, любителей потанцевать, поиграть, поболтать, и конечно – поесть до отвала вкуснейшей в мире еды). Я влюбилась в эту страну, когда прикоснулась к обычной повседневной жизни Китая: не идеальной, не беспросветной – обыкновенной жизни, такой же как и везде на этой планете.

Что мы знаем про Америку помимо её правительства и его агрессивной международной политики?
.
Те, кто говорят по-английски достаточно хорошо, чтобы понимать что и как говорит президент Буш, смеются над ним.

Конечно же, мы все знаем Голливуд с его неправдоподобными сказками. Некоторые из них очень даже хорошие, некоторые – абсолютная ерунда, но всё это – не жизнь, а форма искуства, котрую не нужно путать с реальностью.
Однако Голливует влияет на наше восприятие Америки очень сильно.

Конечно, я слыхала про Лас Вегас и видела рекламные огни в многочисленных фильмах и журналах, но ведь это тоже фальшивый город, который вряд ли отражает обычную жизнь в США, но каким-т образом игровая столица мира нам знакома больше чем среднестатистический американец.

Я пытаюсь порыться в моей памяти поглубже, чтобы вспомнить всё, что я когда-либо узнала про Америку из всевозможных источников: уроков географии и истории, американской классической литературы, карманных любовных романов, журналов, искусства – и о чём бы я не подумала, мне хочется задать вопрос: а какое это имеет отношение к современной повседневной жизни обычных американцев?
Кто судит о месте только по карте?
Каким образом можно узнать о русской жизни по клипам Аллы Пугачёвой?
Каkим образом Теодор Драйзер помогает понять современную Америку? Это всё равно что судить о современных русских по Достоевскому.
Короче говоря, каким бы качественным ни был источник информации, он мне не кажется достаточно достоверным...

Разумеется, я встречалась в своей жизни с американцами: всегда случайно, чаще всего мимолётно, иногда – более регулярно, и даже довелось жить с одним американцем в одной квартире почти полгода. В результате этих встреч я тоже набралась впечатлений, конечно. В памяти остаются «традиционно» американские моменты (и я слышала много подтверждений моим наблюдениям от других людей). Кто не помнит американские истории о том что « в Америке горы выше, поля шире, деревья и здания выше, и даже небо синее чем где бы то ни было ещё...»? Все испытавают раздражение от этих историй, и так и хочется сказать американцу: ну и катись назад в свою замечательную Америку, где всё лучше! У меня всегда язык чесался...

Всё это американское бахвальство не очень-то помогает любить их.
С другой стороны, даже после очень кратковременного пребывания в Америке я не могу не предположить, что во многом они правы: в стране такого размера найдётся место и для высоких гор, и для необъятных полей, и для поразительных небоскрёбов. И вообще, всё кажется здесь больше.
Видела я необъятные поля, в Казахстане, например. Да и в России, и в Австралии у нас нет проблем с пространством.
Видела я и потрясающие небоскрёбы: в Китае, в Малазии, в Гонк Конге. Да и у нас в Австралии есть интересные архитекторы, есть на что посмотреть. А вот высоких гор у нас нет. И в Малазии. И в Гонк Конге.
А у американцев есть всё! И есть у них причины бахвалиться.
Значит ли это, что они плохие люди лишь оттого что что не умеют прикидываться золушками?

Реальность, как всегда оказалась непохожей на то что я ожидала увидеть.

Прежде всего, люди очень дружелюбны. Разумеется, приходиться делать скидки на дорожное движение в часы пик (там трудно оставаться дружелюбным...), на жизнь в большом городе таком как Нью Йорк, где все живут на бегу и физически не имеют время на дружелюбие (как будто Москва, Пекин или Сидней дружелюбнее!!! Ха-ха!)
Но вот выйдет американец из машины, закончит бегать по делам – и превращается в нормального дружелюбного человека, с которым и поболтать приятно, и совет он даст хороший без задних мыслей, и посмеяться с ним можно, и большинство из них осуждают внешнюю политику государства (как будто государства когда-то слушались своего населения!), и оптимизмом можно зарядиться.

Да, конечно, Америка терроризирует весь мир чтобы их американское население имело самое дешёвое топливо (и другие блага), и американцы этим пользуются. Но ведь Россия делает тоже самое (впрочем, как и все другие страны). Американцы пытаются сманить Грузию в НАТО чтобы предотвратить возможную зависимость от России в будущем. Россия этого не позволит, потому что если Америка и Европа будут зависеть от русских ресурсов русское население будет процветать и любить своё правительство. Эта формула была известна ещё с античности.
Для чего римляне завоёвывали мир? Чтобы можно было грабить колонии и обеспечивать высокий уровень жизни в Риме! Вы знаете, что в древнем Риме было очень высокое социальное обеспечение (по тем временам) и каждый римский гражданин каждый день получал вино и 5-10 буханок хлеба (в зависимости от благосостояния государства в тот момент. Кстати, хлебные булки были меньше наших). В принципе, римляне могли бы и не работать, и всё равно не умерли бы с голоду. А то что галлы и кельты умирали как мухи под римским надзором, так ведь римляне своё государство об этом не просили и наверняка осуждали. Но бесплатный хлеб всё-таки брали.

Не любить американцев за действия их правительства также нерезонно, как ненавидеть русских за войну в Чечне или в Грузии.

Американцы – народ ориентированный на обслуживание. Для русских, которые про хорошее обслуживание ещё ничего не знают (я в этом в прошлом году убедилась), только тот факт что обслуживание есть (по сравнению с Советскими временами когда его вообще не было) уже греет душу. Американцы имеют такое обслуживание, что оно заслуживает особого внимания.
Я в разных странах побывала (кстати, и живу я в стране, которая у всего мира на хорошем счету по этой части), а благодаря Крису мне довелось также попробовать роскоши пяти-звёздочных отелей и самых изысканных ресторанов, так что есть что сравнивать.
Китай – тоже страна с высоким обслуживанием: за большие деньги можно купить роскошное обслуживание, но и за маленькие деньги можно получить кучу удовольствия. Однако и надуть могут, и гостиница может оказаться очень грязной. В общем, нужно знать как выбирать. Западная Европа имеет хорошее обслуживание, но и там нужно держать ухо востро и знать как выбирать. А можно наткнуться и на открытую грубость и высокомерие. В этом отношении, Франция мне особенно памятна, хоть и пробыла я там даже меньше чем в Америке.

В Америке наткнуться на грубость нельзя (вот если только сам напросишься на грубость!). В стране с 300 миллионами людей есть много желающих предложить услуги, впрочем также как и потенциальных заказчиков. Фокус в том, как удержать этих потенциальных заказчиков, как сманить их у соперников? Я увидела свободную конкуренцию в огромном государстве – и плоды этой конкуренции. Каждый старается предложить как можно больше за ту же плату: порции огромных размеров, качество отменное - практически всегда и везде – даже в самой Богом забытой глухомани (мы и в таких местах бывали), улыбки и любая помощь без дополнительной оплаты: куда-то позвонить, найти какие-то сведения, договориться о путёвках – будут сидеть, копаться, искать, договариваться не ожидая никакого вознаграждения. В Нью Йорке без типов (подачек) не обойтись, на то он и Нью Йорк, но за пределами больших городов люди стараются угодить заказчикам от чистого сердца. Очень приятно, должна признаться. Лучше чем в Австралии или где бы то ни было ещё.

Потрясло меня и огромное количество иммигрантов. Такое ощущение, что прирождённые американцы теряются в разноязыкой и разноцветной толпе. Только в глухой провинции нам довелось увидеть «чистую» Америку с большим количеством людей родившихся и выросших в этой стране. Уж на что мы в Австралии считаем себя многонациональной страной иммигрантов, мы не идём ни в какое сравнение с Америкой. Индусы, китайцы, несметное количество людей из Латинской Америки, и – к моему изумлению – неимоверное количество русских. Куда бы я не пошла – не поехала – я слышала русскую речь: в национальных парках, в казино в Лас Вегасе, покупатели в магазинах говорили по русски, прохожие на улицах больших и малых городов, обслуживающий персонал отелей, музеев и магазинов узнавал мой акцент и переходил на русский, на случай если мне проще говорить по-русски. Впрочем, русскоязычному человеку может быть довольно трудно выучить английский язык, если его заносит в русскую среду и все нужды там можно удовлетворить на русском языке. Брайтон Бич предоставляет такую возможность. Я об этом месте много слышала, конечно, и вот довелось посмотреть, наконец. Оказалось, это гетто: довольно грязное, довольно бедное, и исключительно русскоговорящее. Случайный американец - инородное тело, потму что всё равно он ничего там не понимает. Никто не говорит по-английски. Тот, кого занесло на Брайтон Бич даже не нуждается в английском – живут как будто из России не уезжали: русское телевидение, пельмени, русские сплетни...

Я уезжаю из Америки с приятными воспоминаниями о потрясающей природе (особенно озеро Моно и Йосимити Парк (ударение на си)) и очень приятных людях. Будем надеяться, это не последняя моя поездка в США. Вот разберусь с уборкой дома (за месяц грязи и пыли набралось, да и стирки) – и переведу некоторые из моих статей на английском, написанных в Америке.

View From The Empire Building

2008-08-26T12:22:00.004+10:00

Cycling in New York

2008-08-26T11:37:00.002+10:00

Times Square at night

2008-08-25T14:02:00.003+10:00

Food in America

2008-08-24T09:12:00.000+10:00

There is nothing more memorable than what our senses perceive: colours, sounds, smells, tastes…. All of them are combined in food, and who does not remember cuisine of the country he (or she) visited? I remember food of all countries I have been to…

America has an “Australian” flavour. I would not say I spotted many significant differences between our cuisines; however, there are some specific elements…

First of all, food is mostly of a really good quality... We had a couple of disappointments along the way, but predominantly food is well prepared and all produce is of a high quality (better than in Australia – in average. I don’t know what the secret is, but even strawberries and tomatoes have much more taste than Aussie produce. Actually, maybe, I know: probably, in Australia there is a lot of hydroponic produce, but here, in California, we saw huge strawberry plantations - traditional, on the ground).
Chris complains that American food lacks refinement, which is true: quite often served meals are simplistic in their approach, but we – as Australians - should not complain, because elaborate and interesting cooking is not common in Australia either. By the way, simplistic approach in cooking is typical for Russia as well, but our Russian food is plain on top of everything.
Shortly, I did not suffer from the lack of refinement in American food, and Americans compensate simplicity of cooking with portions of incredible sizes.

You have to see their portions!
Even in good restaurants they are big (much bigger than European or even Australian size), but in some chip fast food places (fish and chips or burger type, such as In-n-out Burger) portions are fit to feed an elephant. Once we were surprised with European sizes of portions in one of the restaurants, but that particular restaurant had a big number of European customers, which could affect their approach to sizes of serves (but we were disappointed – it felt as if we did not get expected value for money, even if the restaurant was excellent). Even Japanese restaurants serve big portiones. Can they be still called Japanese? I got used to thing that Japanese culture is all about balance, elegance and moderation. In America Japanese developed a fusion style, where everything is big, with ketchup and Tabasco, but tasty nonetheless.
McDonalds has their recognisable sizes of meals (probably, traditional all over the world), but other fast food places try to offer as much “value for money” as possible, that it becomes insane in some instances. No human being can possibly consume such amount of food, - but some Americans do (I saw it). On the other hand, many people don’t, and some amounts of food end up in a trash bin. Such a waste of food!

After saying it all about sizes of portions I must add that the number of obese people is not as overwhelming as it is in Australia.
Two countries argue which one is the fattest nation, but Americans did not strike me as a fat nation. We’ve seen a few scarily obese people, but average numbers of people with “normal” weight are more positive in America. Maybe, we went to “slim” areas, maybe fat people here sit at home – we did not spot too many of them. May be, after all, a lot of food is not responsible for getting fat? I have no right to generalize - I am just stating an observation.

They eat a lot of sweets here. Often even bread with lunch is sweet. They call it a “roll”, but in fact it looks like a ban, and it tastes like a sweet ban. On the other hand – I had the best imaginable bread here, in America. I loved it so much more than even French bread. It only proves my previous statement that they love their food here and can do it well. Their bread is good!!! One just has to look for it. In Australia I tried some good bread occasionally, but Australians are not into nice breads, in general (after 13 years living there I can make this statement).

From time to time I get confused with their language. As I mentioned, they call a ban “a roll”. Do you know what they mean by “cordial”? – a mixed alcoholic drink! “Sodas” are soft drinks in general, and “Deli” sells milk-shakes and salads. But apart from the linguistic differences, all dishes are highly recognisable.

One very positive side of America: they know how to make Margarita. In Australia it is such a problem to get a descent Margarita! America is a heaven for Margarita lovers like me. In Las Vegas they serve Margaritas for 99 cents! And of course, the size is nowhere near I would expect in Australia; it is a quadruple size! It was one in a life time opportunity to become drunk with my favourite drink, but – bad luck – we never had time to stop for a Margarita! Bugger!

Another peculiar thing here is wines. They have a good selection of wines from all over the world here, and of course, a lot of Californian wine on offer. I found Californian wines weak after Australia, and went for Aussie and Kiwi wines, and guess what? All the best wines from Down Under are the cheapest wines on the local market (results of the clad) so I was happy.

One horrible thing about America I cannot (and don’t want!) to hide: they know little about tea. Hotels even don’t offer kettles. Not a single hotel we stayed in had a kettle! They have coffee making machines instead. Many of them even don’t have tea bags on offer. Even if they put a tea bag next to coffee bags (Oh! You have to see a selection of coffees they have in their hotel rooms – it is a paradise for coffee lovers!), try to make a descent cup of tea with a coffee maker!!! What a sacrilege!!!
Tea is of a bad quality, as well. I did not see any familiar brands here such as Dilmah, Lipton, Twinings, only some local brands (Once I saw Tetley). By the way, when it comes to shoes, suitcases, cars etc – we have identical stuff on offer on both continents, but it does not apply to teas!
Even in cafes they don’t know how to make tea! What they offer is hardly drinkable! They bring luke warm water in a mug and then give you a choice of tea bags! We tried to talk to a few of waitresses if there was a chance to make a better cup of tea, but it was impossible: they even don’t have boiled water on the premises; they offered to boil it in a microwave!!! It was beyond belief! Every tea bag has a clear instruction how tea should be made, but nobody cares here!!!
For a tea addict like me it is a tragedy and I am suffering without my 3 or 4 or 5 cups of tea a day.

A few thoughts about America

2008-08-23T12:24:00.001+10:00

When I informed my friends about going to America for a holiday, I received so many non-enthusiastic responses: “Why America?” “ I would not go there…”” It is a crazy country!” “Personally I don’t like the USA”, “Could not you find something better?” etc.

I have been thinking about it a lot in the last couple of weeks. If somebody asked me 3 weeks ago: would you like to have holiday in America, I would instantly answered “Of course, not”. Chris brought me up here. It was his choice of a holiday destination.
Now I want to put a few thoughts together about this event…

One thing I learnt long time ago: it is easy to dislike something you don’t know.
What did I know about China before I went there? Our TV always showed documentaries about grey poor people deprived of all human rights and longing for Western democracy. I went there – and everything I knew happened to be prejudice and bull shit: there were grey people as well colourful, there were poor people as well as very rich and many people in between, there were human rights as well as inequality, and most people did not give a damn about the West because for them China is still a centre of the Universe (and it seems, it is going to be this way soon).
I fell in love with China as soon as I learnt about real people and real life there: not perfect, not evil – just normal life as everywhere else on this planet.

What do we know about America apart from its government and its aggressive and bias international policies?

Those who speak English well enough to understand President Bush laugh at him.

Of course, we know Hollywood with its fantasy blah-blah. Some of it is good, some of it is trash, but it is not life – it is a form of art which should not be confused with reality.
Hollywood affects our perception a lot and spoils a lot!

We all saw ads of Las Vegas, which is also a fake city with very distant relation to reality but somehow it reflects on our perception of Americans in general.

I am trying to stretch my memory to recall everything I have learnt about America from various sources: pocket size romance books, American literature, art, - what does it have to do with reality?
How Theodore Dreiser defines modern USA? He is just as irrelevant to modern times as Dostoevsky to modern Russians…

Of course, during my lifetime there were accidental meetings with Americans which also left some impressions (and I am sure many people had similar experiences).
Who does not remember stories about: “the mountains which are taller in America, fields are bigger, trees and buildings are taller, sky is bluer than anywhere else”? Did not you feel annoyed by those stories and wished to tell them: go back to your wonderful country where everything is the best? I did.
All this American boasting does not really help to like them. On the other hand: it seems that they are right till certain degree and everything seems to be bigger here: it is an American obsession to have everything big. Well, they have room for big things in this spacious country. Does it make them bad?

Well, it is enough thinking for one day. There will be more impressions to absorb and more thoughts to think.

Driving in America

2008-08-23T11:56:00.000+10:00

We spent 2 weeks driving in Nevada and California. This time is sufficient to make a few brief observations.

First of all, how beautiful their roads are! How well maintained and wide they are. Even in a desert all roads were excellent (no unsealed roads except some riding fun tracks). Even in declining and poor areas (by the way, we did not see many of such areas) roads were so much better than in Lismore. We observed plenty of road work sites and saw various stages of road building. After seeing this I can say for sure that the Lismore council goes for cheap solutions (we observed road building around Modanville and saw how it was done) and the result is obvious. Bad Lismore roads are memorable to everyone who drove there once.
Americans take their roads very seriously and the result is marvellous. I know that Australian population of less than 20 million provides for building roads in the country of the size of the USA (where they have something like 300 million people) and Australia is a country with good roads in comparison with Russia, for example. However, I believe, if our councils stop looking for shortcuts in road building we will benefit much more and at the end it will cost less.
Shortly, I was impressed by the roads.

How many huge roads they have! A road can have 6-7-8 lines one way. It is impressive and depressing at the same time. All lines are full, all roads are full. I had an impression that there is no off-pick traffic on American highways. Every line is choko-block, even in a desert. Only twisted tourist drives have easier traffic conditions. Looking at the amount of cars I understand why this country bullies the whole world in order to get as much petrol as possible. This country will be in chaos if they cannot drive.

I am surprised with the amount of driving people should do to get somewhere. All cities we saw so far (Los Angeles, San-Francisco, Las Vegas and some smaller places along the Western Coast) are overstretched. Americans prefer to live in individual houses than in apartments. It is typical for Australia too, and our suburbs are endless, just like here, in America. However, our suburbs have shopping centres, which are quite compact and if you park a car somewhere close to the shopping centre, than you can do your shopping on foot quite comfortably. In America shopping centres are stretched so far, and distances between buildings are so unreasonably big that walking does not make sense. It is more sensible to drive from one part of the shopping centre to another. Everything is spacious here. On one hand it looks relaxing. On another hand – it is impractical, and costly. Countries with compact residential tendencies such as Russia or China have an advantage. Councils have an easier job to provide for the population, maintenance is chipper. Well, living cheaply is not on American agenda. They spend generously, and unnecessarily, on their cities.

By the way, Americans spend a lot on their cars (I don’t mean petrol). They buy big cars, which are costly, and eat a lot of petrol, which is also costly. And they have ugly cars! I mean really ugly: huge, square, disproportional. This type of cars is popular, which means there should be some good qualities in them, but why not to design them? Don’t hey care? We spotted many huge campo vans: I never saw anything like this. The sizes are monstrous, basically a size of a house, which illustrates another observation I made here: Americans love their comfort very much. They would love to leave house without leaving it. They take it with them, probably, quite literally. When I watched American movies about going on camping tour/fishing weekend (Honey, I shrank our kids and alike) it always seemed to be a comedy element. Now I start thinking that it is actually quite realistic.

They have different road rules. It is not surprising – every country has own ideas how to drive well, but what a foreign driver should do on the road? It could be a good idea to have leaflets with road rules info somewhere on the border, so tourists can learn a little. Some situations are confusing and in 2 weeks we have not resolved them. For example, on the crossroad no car has a priority; all 3 or 4 sides have a “full stop” line and sign. How do they know which one has to go first, if all drivers come to the intersection at the same time? I think our way is more safe and comprehensive…

On the other hand, Americans have very few speed cameras in comparison with Australia, but many more road policemen on duty. I found it is so much better and relaxing. Australian police leaves an impression of money making machine more than a traffic control aid. American police does what police suppose to do: controls traffic and secondly, gives tickets, probably. I was always a believer, that seen a policeman on the road is so much more effective than receiving a letter with a fine 2-3 weeks later.

To finalise my observations: everything is good on American roads and travelling can be quite pleasant, but I would not want to do it myself – too much stress in a busy traffic and too many stressed drivers, especially in the cities (just like everywhere else in the world, I guess).
In New York we will have a chance to learn about public transport system.

San Francisco

2008-08-19T02:43:00.001+10:00

Why it is always the case that some essential moments are never mentioned in books, booklets and movies (San Francisco is so popular that it appears in all sorts of sources of information so frequently, nonetheless…)?

I would never guess that San Francisco is a cold city, but it is!
How cold it is here in comparison with the rest of California!
In one hour we drove from 36 degrees on the plains of California to 20 degrees in San Francisco.
From a monthly guide to SF in our hotel room I learnt that August here is “like the dawn of a new day. Cool summer temperatures begin to subside this month as warm weather rolls in and fog lifts by the afternoon”.
I am not sure I can say that cool temperatures subside when they reach 20 degrees in summer, and restaurants on the streets burn gas burners for their patrons, otherwise being on the street is unbearable.
By the way, last week they had 15 degrees max during the day! According to the local, the better month suppose to be September. One month a year fog sort of lifts above the city and you can see the sun. For the rest of the year, hot air from Sierra meets cold air from the ocean here. As a result it is always foggy and cold here!
Who calls it “summer”? It is worse than in Siberia!!! When we travelled in Siberia last year we had 30+ degrees for the whole week. Here they are happy to have 20 and call it “warm”! It is equal to our winter in the Northern Rivers. We meant to escape our winter but in SF we came back to the same winter environment, but even worse in some ways. It is so windy, that I could not continue our first expedition to China Town; I had to buy a fleece, otherwise I would die on the streets of SF. I caught a cold anyway and now I have a blocked nose.

And the fog, of course! I never knew that this city sank into a fog cloud. In the movies it is always sunny in SF, clear sky and people are dressed for a beach outing. What a fog they have here! The most remarkable fog ever! It covers tops of high buildings as if they are mountains and it moves so fast that I felt that the whole street floated with it. I have never seen before clouds shooting through the roof tops like missiles (nearly).

And the bridge! The one which suppose to be famous is invisible due to the fog, and another one, which is not famous even if it is a copy (sort of) of the Golden Gate bridge is grey!

Famous China Town in San Francisco was our first destination! Visually it is less impressive than Sydney China Town: the gates look insignificant, there is no well designed street as it is in Sydney, or even in Brisbane for that matter. Australian China Towns were designed quite recently, according to the modern ideas of beauty and comfort, that’s why they have a strong element of fake decorative purpose. SF China Town formed well before anybody thought of comfort for pedestrians, and this place is authentic, especially in contents. I would love to shop here! I am afraid no airline will tolerate excessive luggage…

Apart from China Town there are many entertaining things in this city. Outside the CBD – designed in 1970s therefore boring and full of copies of Twin World Towers: square and rectangular – and well before sleeping suburbs full of monotonous residential developments there is a band of old residential suburbs built well before modern regulations. They keep flavours of the past, full of architectural and topographical surprises and excesses, pretty and charming. In between there are streets of busy cafes and restaurants, small shops and old churches, sex industry streets and well designed gardens. This is the best of San Francisco with international and historical flavours. We would be happy to spend more time there, but alas… it is time to go.

We will remember busy streets, fat seagulls, sleepy and horny sea lions on the Pier 39, practically invisible in the fog Golden Gate Bridge (we will remember that we hardly could see it!!!), twisted and steep streets, the magnificent collections of the Modern Art Museum and Asian Art Museum, cold winds along the streets and strange optical effects on the water and in the air…

San Francisco is a city to remember, and to visit, but, please, get dressed for a cold weather

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/SanFrancisco

Clouds in San Francisco

2008-08-17T13:51:00.003+10:00

Pay attention to the strange optical effect in the clouds: the pyramid makes an impression in the sky. San Francisco is full of strange optical effects and illusions.

Glacier Point View, Yosemite Park, California

2008-08-17T13:45:00.002+10:00

Pot Hole Dome, Yosemite Park

2008-08-17T13:38:00.002+10:00

Yosemite Park, California

2008-08-17T13:28:00.002+10:00

Eastern Sierra, California

2008-08-17T13:23:00.001+10:00

California offers so much more to a human eye than Nevada!

Even the Death Valley was prettier than Nevada desert. Despite its ugly title the Death Valley had a variety of shapes and sizes of hills and mountains, sand dunes, salt lakes… It was more entertaining than Nevada desert.

But what a variety of climatic conditions and living environments California offers!

After the Death Valley with its desert environment we visited Mammoth Lakes District. I instantly felt at home. Who could imagine that California offers Siberian scenery? I expected Canada to be very similar to Siberia, but California???
Rivers and lakes with rocky beds and crystal clear and icy cold water, rocky mountains with pine trees, cliffs and occasional sandy beaches, modest flowers among grass, squirrels on the trees – it is all so familiar from childhood. It is exactly what Mammoth Lakes are. The only pleasant difference is absence of mosquitoes. Whatever the reason is – there were no mosquitoes whatsoever, while in Siberia mosquito plague is one of the worst problems in summer. Apart from this, the picture is basically identical!

Also we saw Mono Lake, which happened to be the most surreal landscape, one of the most memorable I’ve seen so far (and definitely it will be always one of the most memorable images of America for me), despite quite a modest vegetation around it. It is a combination of snow white and crow black islands among gentle blue-purple-pink waters of the lake, banks, sky and mountains on the horizon.

And of course, we visited Yosemite Park, which is made of rocks and pine trees, but rocks of an incredible size and pines of an incredible size!!! It is another memorable impression of America. What a gigantic playground of Nature! It is a good place to learn how insignificant we are in comparison with the forces of Nature. When you see a huge mountain broken apart like a plastic toy you ought to reflect upon a few questions, feelings, sensations… What a depth, what a space! It is one of the most beautiful places on this planet which are the must to see…

We saw endless hills with dried yellow grass just like in Victoria; we saw fruit and corn plantations which are so huge in size that can be compared with Bundaberg sugar and macadamia plantations. I have not noticed along the way any petite farm like ours; everything is huge!

I saw here mountains visually quite similar to mountains in Switzerland and Kazakhstan.

And coastal line offers quite a tropical environment, as I remember from Los Angeles.

What else will I see in this colourful state?

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/YosemiteParkCalifornia

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/MammothLakesDistrictCalifornia

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/EasternSierraAndLakeMono

Mono Lake, California, August 2008

2008-08-17T13:12:00.002+10:00

Santa Monica Beach, August 2008

2008-08-17T12:58:00.002+10:00

Grand Canyon

2008-08-14T13:50:00.000+10:00

When we talk about icons we hardly can avoid banal statements…
I will try to avoid all well known things bout Grand Canyon… actually, what I knew was mostly visual images from movies about America, like Thelma and Louise, Westerns etc…
By the way, somehow images of Vinnetu the Apache Chief (for those who remembers “Indian” movies from Eastern Germany in the 60s and 70s), those images also blended into my ideas about Grand Canyon. Shortly speaking, when it comes to icons we know little truth and a lot of myths about the subjects.
Great Canyon happened to be what I expected it to be, and not quite the same.
One thing I have learned over the years of travelling – knowing nothing before you see the thing is the best thing.
I expected something absolutely spectacular, but what I found was a lot of rocks. May be I have been spoilt by seeing some spectacular and huge rock formations in Kazakhstan, Switzerland, China and in Kakadu Park (Australia). There are many breathtaking and beautiful mountains on this planet…
Great Canyon is also breathtaking, but mostly by the sheer size of it. Kakadu Park is sort of more petite, if such adjective can be applicable to such a massive cluster of rocks; however, Kakadu had colours and a variety of rock formations as well as vegetation and wild life to enhance the picture. Great Canyon is great, but with a limited palette and very modest vegetation to entertain human eyes. I cannot understand what all those Indians and sheriffs from American Westerns did in this deserted and hostile place. Well, of course, I know – gold kept them there. They say that gold and silver mines still operate in that area, but no gold would keep me there. The place was hot that I think it is one of the entrances to hell…
Nonetheless, I took a few photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/GrandCanyon

Las Vegas

2008-08-13T15:17:00.001+10:00

Everybody knows that Americans love show business, and they are very good at show business. Also everybody knows that Las Vegas is a show and gambling capital of the world, and Hollywood is a dream making capital of the world (together with Bollywood).

By the way, we even did not plan to stay in Las Vegas. Our original plan was to drive through to Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, in a high holyday season as now there were no accommodation available anywhere in Nevada except Las Vegas, so we had to stay there.
Everything I ever heard about Las Vegas is correct: it is exactly what I thought it is. There is no point to repeat all the same stuff about glamour, glitter and sin.
There was something I have never realised, however.

Las Vegas is a city of fakes, poor style fakes of a very good quality and on an incredible scale.
Nearly every building is a fake image of something: an African village, a Venetian palazzo, a tropical island, a pyramid, an Ancient Roman palace or even New York or Paris CBD, with all the appropriate clichés and attributes of the theme. Funny enough, nobody cares about a purity of style: an Italian baroque Bellagio has Chinese lions at the entrance; Caesar’s palace has a title written in Greek fonts, etc… The Venetia Palazzo is the most stylish, probably, more or less strictly keeping late Renaissance and Baroque style.
On the other hand everything is of a magnificent quality: the materials are the best (marbles, silks, sculptures…), the artists are the best (producing art in all imaginable styles with perfection), technology involved is mind boggling (coloured fountain shows, moving sculptures, canals running through the buildings)…
Do I sound like everybody else before me by now?..
As much as I despise fakes of any kind and treat it as a cheap kitch, I have to take my hat off in honour of all those artists who invested into this city’s dazzling madness. Las Vegas offers fakes of an outstanding artistic quality (as well as real crap, forgive me my French, as some would say), art which is on a borderline with masterpieces, or actually masterpieces, original in all respects. I hope my photo album reflects my feelings till certain degree.
One downside which cannot be overturned by the impressive scale of attractions is gambling and smoking. They come together, they are inevitable. The city stinks from a cigarette smoke, because everybody who gambles – smokes, and everybody in Las Vegas gambles (Chris and myself happened to be a rare exemption).

Visiting a couple of shows in Las Vegas and Universal Studios in Hollywood also revealed something about America: if they entertain – they do it properly. Every detail is thought through, the skills are incredible, no effort spared – and the result is always at least good, and sometimes excellent beyond imagination. From time to time I watch American shows on TV – no comparison to a real thing. TV robs a show on depth and colour and real life pulse. I have enjoyed the quality and professionalism of what I’ve seen in the last few days…

Photo album http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/LasVegas

Nevada Desert

2008-08-13T15:15:00.001+10:00

As always – there is something I’ve learnt about the place and expected certain things, and as always – there is something no book ever mentioned…
I won’t repeat what I expected from Nevada – it can be read in books, articles, Internet.
What surprised me is that Nevada desert is really a desert. It is practically dead. We drove about 100 kms there and Chris spotted once a dead rat on a side of the road. I did not see it. As a matter of fact, I did not spot even a single fly. When you walk in an Australian desert (we drove from Adelaide to Lismore through Broken Hill in February 2008) there is always something happening: some animal will skip or crawl by, scavengers eat road kill, colours of the desert change, some twisters pop up here and there… Our drive in Nevada was quite uneventful in this respect. We saw some military equipment because a huge portion of the state is occupied by an air force military base and some crazy people (soldiers???) jogging in 42 degree hit.
From time to time a shop was popping up in a desert (instead of a twister), some odd pottery shop, or garden sculpture/outdoor features shop. They were huge and beautiful, well equipped and well stocked: thousands of pots of all sizes are under the open sky in a middle of a desert, or armies of garden lights of all sizes and designs… I cannot imagine who would go to a shop like this, hours of drive from any civilisation, to buy a pot or a garden light…
Also there were some odd beautiful hotels and casinos appearing in the mist of a desert like a mirage of some kind, maybe for those who cannot wait till Vegas and has an urge to start gambling right now…
What about the desert itself, I would not call memorable…
Chris would disagree with me (he finds this desert beautiful and interesting) but I believe there are much more beautiful deserts on this planet. Colours can be brighter, flora can have more variety, fauna was not present at all….

One thought occurred to me while we were driving: how Leonardo da Vinci could recreate in his mind Nevada desert? He could not possibly know about it, but the landscape in Mona Lisa is so strikingly similar to Nevada desert (apart from the shape of the mountains, maybe), especially in the mood and colour scheme. If you ever saw Mona Lisa you got an impression about Nevada desert.

Photo album http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/NevadaDesert

Our First Day in the USA

2008-08-09T17:36:00.003+10:00

First surprises in America + photoalbum http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/LosAngeles

Surprise one:
Have you heard that the USA is practicing democracy? That’s what I’ve learned from a world wide media citing uncountable statements of the American government and citizens. Well, it is well known: don’t believe everything you read in papers…
I learnt my first American lesson in the plane, because – technically speaking – it was an American ground because it was operated by an American company and had an American crew (even if we bought a ticket with Qantas – it is a common situation nowadays: you buy a ticket with one company and end up with another).
A few people were queuing to a toilet as it always happen, and each toilet had its own queue, as always. At some point a hostess came to us and told us that “according to an American law forming groups of three and more is illegal therefore we have to dissolve”. We – three passengers - startled a bit at this statement, and I could not help myself and asked her how we suppose to dissolve if the toilet is here and it is what we need. Her answer was: I don’t know how you suppose to dissolve but it is my duty to deliver American law to you.

OK, most likely she was in a bad mood (or maybe a bully by nature) and formulated her statement badly. Most likely, she simply wanted us not to block the traffic in the aisle. However, I have learnt something new: there is a law in America about forming groups of three and more people in public places.
Surprise, surprise… I would never imagine.

Surprise two:
Have you heard that the USA is a country of tips; that you have to tip everybody for every service provided? I heard it from every single person who travelled to the USA. I remember my initial “shock introduction” to tipping somewhere in Europe, Belgium or Holland. I was leaving a toilet which I thought to be public (sorry about another “toilet story” but essentials are more memorable than everything else) and was confronted by a gentleman who demanded a tip. He happened to be a cleaner in that toilet – and I happened to be a slow thinker – so we had a memorable dialogue about the importance of a reward for toilet cleaners (which does not make sense to me – Australia has the best toilets in the world without paying tips to cleaners). Coming from a country where tips do not really exist (I mean Australia and Russia, actually) I could not grasp this concept, not on the spot, anyway, but emotionally I was ready for tips in America…

When we landed in Los Angeles we expected to find a representative of the car rental company from which we rented a car (that was the agreement) – but nobody waited for us. Imagine our feelings at the time: not a single coin of local currency in our pockets, not knowing where ATMs and phones are in the building, a need to call the company to find out what is going on… Of course, it is all doable, but it is an unpleasant and unnecessary stress after a long and delayed flight.
Miraculously there was a gentleman in the airport who happened to be a “helper”. He did not have a uniform, did work at any help desk, but wondered around the place looking for “lost” passengers. His was a real “helper”: found a phone number of the company, called them from his mobile, waited for our situation to be resolved and the company driver to pick us from the airport, showed us everything we had to know or needed and stayed with us until we safely departed in our rented car. We had a nice chat, learnt a few things from him, and when it was time to say “good buy” we wanted to reward him – but he refused.
I think it is a great initiative of the airport administration – a very effective and personal service – and absolutely free. Surprise, surprise… I would never imagine.

Surprise three:

Is not it true that Los Angeles is one of the biggest cities in the world? Does not it mean that it has to be a modern and busy mega polis?
We drove through many suburbs and town centres of Los Angeles – it looks mostly quite provincial, in many ways just like Australia: green leafy streets full of light, shade and flowers, immaculately maintained gardens (as well less immaculately maintained), one-two-three storey buildings, casual and relax life style (anyway, it is how it looks).
Is not it a surprise?
What is definitely different – the style of buildings: a lot of Spanish- Mexican themes, many imitations of styles of the past: baroque, gothic – a lot of it on a grand scale… And the palm trees – they are so toll!!! I’ve never seen anything in the botanical world as toll as these palm trees!

Another surprise was – how easy we went through the customs. There are rumours about strict custom’s control on the border in the USA – we have not experienced it at all!

One thing is definitely as I heard about it – the smog. It is as bad as the smog in China. Pity!

The first steps of our journey to the USA

2008-07-26T20:01:00.005+10:00

It is July, mid winter in Northern Rivers. We are cold and dreaming of a way out of this cold misery. Chris found a solution - going to America, while it is summer there and winter here.

Now we are collecting travelling tips. We will need any advise we can get, because it always helps, and because we had enough frustration already even if we started planning our trip just a few days ago.
America reserves a huge potential for excitement, but for frustration as well: too many places to see, too many things to do, too many hotels to choose from, to many cars on offer... really, it is insane. If you want a hotel in Sydney you may get 20-30-40 hotels, 100 the most (actually, I have doubts that we have so many). It makes it quite easy to choose.
In every place we plan to visit in America there are thousands of hotels to choose from - how to choose?
I have to admit - I am quite lucky. Chris is a great manager and he spends a lot of time dealing with planning and booking. I am here only in a small advisory role. After all, Chris has been to the USA and knows where to go and what to see.

Chris keeps telling me that we will have a very relaxing holiday staying for a few days here and there, and staying in New York for 7 days! I know that for him 7 days in one place is way too long, but let's hope New York has plenty of attractions for those 7 days. By the way, we experienced our first disappointment with New York. Already! New York (or Broadway, to be precise) is known as a capital of shows. We tried to book something but - bad lack! Everything is very old and seen many times, or for little children, and most of it also was seen before, and some of them have so bad reviews, that we would be unwise to try to prove all those critics wrong. It well can be that New York is a bit sleepy during summer holidays, but I am disappointed with this city already. Did not they know that I am coming and love musicals?

So we did not book anything. However, we found 2 shows of Cirque du Solieil in Las Vegas. We may be lucky to see one of them. That's right: we are going to Las Vegas (I always thought that it was far from Los Angeles, but Chris believes that driving up and down is a piece of cake). Besides we will see Great Canion, Tijuana, San Diego, a few national parks, as well as Mammoth Lake, San Francisco etc.
I MUST see Santa Barbara for myself. "Santa Barbara" serial was on Russian TV for a couple of years when I left for Australia. I knew one Russian lady who ordered her parents to record Santa Barbara for her in Russia and to send it to her so she could watch it in Australia. It was a big event once.
Back then, when the show was on, we had a feeling that we know half of the local population in Santa Barbara. It is quite funny, actually... I wonder if I still may see some familiar faces? (I am joking)

I have heard about ever changing scenery of America. Australia is the same in this respect, and it is one of the things I love about Australia: the variety of landscapes available. I travelled with Trans Siberian Express from Beijing to my home town and I discovered that from the moment the train left Far East behind (something like one day train trip) there was nothing changing in Siberian scenery. 4 days of the same pine trees, the same plain, the same architecture. Australia does not offer interesting architecture either, but the rest is overwhelming. I hope, America won't disappoint me either.

I wish we were gone already. Our forecast predicts that we will have temperature below zero at nights for a week (at least). Las year we had once minus nine!!! We were not here - we travelled in Russia last winter (Russian summer). Our neighbour told us, because as all farmers he pays attention to rainfall and temperature.
We live in a subtropical area and out plantation is subtropical. That frosts were devastating. We had many trees suffering from a frostbite, and many of them did not recover at all. The frost was especially heavy along the creek in the galley, and this creek runs through the whole property. Two-three meters up the slope - and the trees had not suffered from any frost. It is heartbreaking, and nothing could be done about it... it is why instead of looking at it (and suffer from it as well - it is very cold here at night) it is better just go somewhere nice and warm.

Let's see, what will happen...