When it was time to move on to Novosibirsk, we took another train trip on through the Siberian countryside. The landscape was littered with colorful wooden houses tucked away in the birch trees. We arrived mid morning and were greeted by Sasha, the GSE Team Leader from Russia. We spent the first day getting to know our host families and completed the evening with a welcome party with traditional Russian cuisine. Our week was eventful and the weather was absolutely perfect, even hot at times.
Saturday went on a tour of the Baltika Brewery factory and of course had a beer tasting. Drew was in heaven and feeling his German roots! That evening we were treated to tickets to an amazing ballet “Bayaderka”, a tale of love and tragedy with stunning sets and exquisite costumes. This was the highlight of Nikki’s week and certainly something to check off the bucket list...Russian Ballet in Russia...check!
Sunday morning Drew and Joe went to a Russian Orthodox service at at very beautiful cathedral and then met up with the rest of the team for an architectural tour of the city. Novosibirsk is certainly one of the greenest cities we’ve been to and, like all the other cities, is spotted with war memorials honoring Russian soldiers. Following our tour, we were off to the Zoo. Mark, our resident team hunter, was in heaven and loved being 3 feet away from a real Siberian Bear. Although he would have preferred being 3 feed away from a notorious “boronduke”, the Siberian Chipmunk. This little critter has eluded him the entire trip and only Joe has actually seen one. The zoo was beautiful and shaded with tall trees and an abundance of rare animals.
Monday morning we toured the TrainMuseum followed by a tour of the Chistaya Voda (Water) Factory. We were all impressed with the cleanliness and efficiency of the facility. After lunch we were allowed to visit the Siberian Geology Institute Museum and the Russian Nuclear Physics Institute. They scanned our passports and provided us a guide to take us through the Particle Collider and to see the facility. That evening we were joined by our host families at a club owned by one of the Russian GSE team members. There we enjoyed a variety of piano tunes played by a local musician...what a treat!
The remainder of the week was filled with city excursions, Rotaract presentations, museums and professional days. We gave our final Novosibirsk presentation at our going away party which was a nice change of pace being out of our suits in a more casual environment. Like all the other cities, we were sad to say goodbye and will miss the warmth the Siberian people have given us.
Our final presentation was at the District Conference. It was different from all our other presentations, as we highlighted our journey through Siberia and all the funny and inspiring stories along the way. It was so great being with such a large group of Rotarians representing such a massive amount of territory. Yesterday we took a tour of Vladovostock and it’s beautiful oceanside memorials and cathedrals. Now we are all packed up and headed to the airport for our final leg of the trip and headed home. Words can not express how grateful we are for this opportunity. It has thought all of us the meaning of friendship and the importance of embracing all cultures. Thank you Rotary and all the friends and families that have helped us along the way. We will never forget this trip and can’t wait to share our experience with everyone when we return.
Spaciba balshoy...thank you so much!
The 2010 District 6960 GSE Team,
Joe, Drew, Mark and Nikki
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