NOV 26, 18 .. AND .. WE’RE OFF AND RUNNING .. ON THE ROAD AGAIN
As I completed yesterday’s Post, at the very bottom I wrote ..
Mike and I have been invited to carry-the-message to Kyzyl where there is no program.* No literature.* No members.* No meetings.* Nothing.* One lady that Mike knows wants to know more.
Kyzyl, population 110,000, is the Capital City of the Tuva Republic, in the Russian Federation. There are two flights per week from Irkutsk to Kyzyl. There also is the train and then an 8-hour bus ride. I MUCH prefer to fly.
More to follow on this.
I really feel that I am exactly where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing, at least at this stage of my life!
* Now, a day later, I’m hearing that YES INDEED there ARE members, and groups and meetings in Kyzyl but they do need literature. So what do I really know and who do I believe?
Our air flight West to Kyzyl (Ka Zill) reservation has now been made and paid for. We head West for Kyzyl (Ka Zill) this Friday the 30th of November.
“Yes Captain we now know about Irkutsk and Kyzyl (Ka Zill), but what about Abakan and Krasnoyarsk that we also see on the above map?”
“These two cities are now-in-the-mix.” We’ve been invited to each of them in addition to Kyzyl (Ka Zill)!
Don’t you all just Love it .. Kyzyl .. NOT a vowel to be seen. All consonants. Mike told me that we don’t have the correct sounds in English to properly pronounce Kyzyl and that Ka Zill will be the best I can do.
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THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION*
* “Why Oh Why did you spend well over three hours on this project Captain? No one is going to read it.”
“In the final analysis, I did this both for myself as well as for each and every single Russian citizen that I have met and that I am going to meet. I owe it to myself and I owe it to them to be as knowledgeable as I possibly can be about this amazing and history-rich nation. 90% of the people that I meet and that I see on the street look like we of the European culture look. Both they and a lot of us are all descended from this same European culture. We share common ancestors with them. Their ancestors remained in Europe. Ours left and emigrated to other countries of the World.”
Post Script : It could be that right now, at this moment, as a result of writing this Post, I may know more about the Russian Federation than maybe 75% of the people on-the-street know about it.
I’d like to attempt to explain here just how immensely complicated the Russian Federation is.
You can’t tell the players here without your very own scorecard.
Have a look-see :
The United States is comprised of 50-states. Yes the states do have sub-entities (Counties, Townships, Cities ..) but basically our political and administrative entities are our 50-states.
The Russian Federation is comprised of Republics, Krais, Oblasts, Federal Cities, an Autonomous Oblast and Autonomous Okrugs. I think (but I won’t bet-on-it) these add up to 85 individual political and administrative entities.
I will get to the names-in-red further below. For now just notice them.
Republics
Adygea, Altai, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Chechnya, Chuvashia Crimea, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Karelia, Khakassia, Komi, Mari, El Mordovia, North Ossetia-Alania, Sakha, Tatarstan, Tuva, Udmurtia.
Krais
Altai, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Primorsky, Stavropol, Zabaykalsky.
Oblasts
Amur, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhny, Novgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Oryol, Penza, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan, Sakhalin, Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk, Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl.
Federal cities
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol.
Autonomous oblast
Jewish
Autonomous okrugs
Chukotka, Khanty-Mansi, Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets.
Now to the above names-in-red. These are cities (Abakan, Kyzyl, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk) and entities that I am now familiar with, or that I am going to soon become familiar with.
Republics : Khakassia is the Republic in which the city of Abakan is located. I plan to visit Abakan its Capital City.
Republics : Tuva is the Russian Republic in which the city of Kyzyl is located. I am going to visit Kyzyl its Capital City.
Krais : The administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krais is the City of Krasnoyarsk, again a city that I may visit.
Oblasts : The administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast is the City of Irkutsk. You’ve all been reading and hearing about Irkutsk for a month now.
Officers and Enlisted. Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and Girls ..
No human being can possibly have an intimate knowledge of all of the bits and pieces which now make up / constitute The Russian Federation, the largest country (in terms of land area) on the Planet Earth and the 9th largest in terms of population.
I just awoke ( and I am NOT kidding here! ) out of a sound sleep troubled by the below issue that my own mind brought up :
“Stop the printing press! Captain I have a question?” /sign me/ Your Mind
“Sure! What is your question?”
“I have closely studied and examined the above 85 individual political and administrative entities. One name that you are constantly mentioning is not there Captain. No where do I see the name : Siberia / Siberian or-if-you-will Сибирь / Cибирский.”
So out-and-off I have just run ( to Google and to Wikipedia) to research this troubling-to-me yet interesting and important question.
Siberia / Siberian .. Сибирь / сибирский .. Is one of the eight federal districts in the Russian Federation.
The federal districts (Russian: федера́льные округа́, federalnyye okruga) are groupings of the federal subjects of Russia. Federal districts are not provisioned by the Constitution of Russia and are not the constituent units of the country, but exist purely for the convenience of operation and governing by federal government agencies. Each district includes several federal subjects and each federal district has a presidential envoy titled a Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District.
“Get it?” ..
“Got it!” ..
“Good!”
“But ..”
“This-is-it for now! NO buts are allowed. I’m finished!”
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In addition to purchasing our tickets for our Friday flight to Kyzyl (Ka Zill), and spending hours on this Post, what else did I do today?
I purchased yet another 55-cent loaf of Russian Black Bread.
I will pretty much be on-the-run the rest of this week.
Over and Out. This Post has just about done-me-in.
Your Captain .. K a п ..
Do some of you agree with my above Post Script.
4 thoughts on “NOV 26, 18 .. AND .. WE’RE OFF AND RUNNING .. ON THE ROAD AGAIN”
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Whew! This was QUITE a lot to wrap my head around. Russia is a very complicated, intensely formulated country with all of its various levels of indentifying different areas and how they function. Again, Whew! You really are getting an education as well as an incredible experience. I had to go searching for the P.S. you referred to at the end of your post, but did find it and agree with it. This looks like it WILL be a very busy week for you, preparing for this next trip and making the trip. What a gift Dr. Mike is!! Hugs. Patti
I felt like the Post Script belonged up at the beginning so that is where I put it. Then made reference to it at the end. Yes this was QUITE a lot to get together indeed. But I learned so very much. I don’t understand all of the sub-divisions and their radically differing names. Republics are fine. A word we relate to Oblasts. Krais. Autonomous Okrugs. What are Federal Cities doing in a national division of administrative entities. Like New York City and Chicago and Los Angeles rank up there with states.
Bottom Line : I sure learned a lot. And the intensity of individual administrative entities rests in the West side of the Russian Federation.
Over And Out .. For Now .. With Love .. Cap
Perhaps the “y” is sometimes a vowel in RUssiana,. as it is in English?
Good giref. Russian as it is in English.