NOV 10, 18 .. MY DAY TRIP TO SLYUDYANKA (СЛЮДЯНКА) RUSSIA

Saturday, November 10th, 2018.

November the 10th, 1775, the Continental Marines were established. So today is the ..

Marine Corps Birthday.

Semper Fi to the older, and to the younger, and to my peer Gyrenes

In all of my life, right up to this instant, the one single best decision of my life was to enlist in the Marine Corps.

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Before I get going here, this is how I am now addressing myself here in Russia : АЛЯСКА КАП

АЛЯСКА КАП in English is ALASKA CAP ..

Have any of you, even one of you, wondered how-on-this-good-earth I can type out words in Russian? It IS a bit-of-a-trick even when you know-the-trick. Too much to-go-into here.

In a nutshell, Google has a Character Map that one uses. The Google Character Map has over three thousand (3,000) characters. Therein is the issue : Finding the ones you want to use.

How about this dan-dandy : СЛЮДЯНКА

I won’t even bother to ask any of you to sound-it-out for me like I sometimes do.

The Russian word СЛЮДЯНКА in English means SLYUDYANKA.

And therein lies the problem. I can sound Russian words out (as I am constantly doing) but then I haven’t the proverbial clue-in-a-carload as to what on this good earth the word means.

That is to say, I don’t have a Russian vocabulary in my brain.

I am not able to insert the small red balloons into my maps anymore. But, you will see in the above map that  СЛЮДЯНКА is a city below, and to the left, or Southwest of Irkutsk on the very end of Lake Baikal.

Now here is another kicker : I wouldn’t bet one-small-Russian-10 Ruble Coin as to whether or not I actually went to СЛЮДЯНКА. I think that I did BUT .. I am not sure.

In the below map, do you all see the many other places around СЛЮДЯНКА? If you couldn’t find СЛЮДЯНКА on the above map, you will see it on the very left edge of the below map.

I might have gone to other villages on Lake Baikal that are on the lake below СЛЮДЯНКА.

The drive from, and the drive back up to, Irkutsk was a tad over 2-hours each way. It is about 100 Km (62 Miles). In the winter, it would be an extremely dangerous and treacherous road because it is a 2-lane road in the mountains with switch-backs galore. The traffic was fairly heavy and there were many MANY large, over-the-road, long-haul, trucks. The road is the main (and only) road connecting Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude.

Our driver was a wonderful, caring, attractive young lady. She was the daughter of a friend of a friend.

And?

My worst suspicions were confirmed. In the U.S. and in Russia, around-the-globe, the youth are attached to their smart phones. She drove with one hand.

Sweet. Caring. Attractive. Beautiful. She graciously helped me move my things into my new apartment after we got home.

Ah Yes. I snapped the below photos as-if I was shooting the countryside off the the right.

That My Dear was NOT what I was photographing.

She was actively  using her phone. She even Googled something and it was her music source.

And love is a stranger who’ll beckon you on,
Don’t think of the danger or the stranger is gone.

Does the below look like heavy-traffic?

I really don’t know why I didn’t gently, with compassion, reach over and move the smart phone into a position of being less of a threat to my existence.

“Oh Captain.”

Now to the Post.

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Yesterday I finalized the deal to move into another apartment. This was quite a task. Quite a chore.

But, prior to getting into the new apartment, my priority was to find a library and then print a four page word document of a Russian translation that a friend had done for me.

Симтомы, ведущие к срыву

1. САМОИЗОЛЯЦИЯ. Отсутствие работы с другими алкоголиками: Опыт показывает, что ничто так не укрепляет наш иммунитет к выпивке, как работа с другими алкоголиками! ПОМНИ, что вместе мы можем сделать то, чего не можем в одиночку. Работай со Спонсором.
2. ОТСУТСТВИЕ ИЗМЕНЕНИЙ: Изменения Должны Произойти! Мы не можем продолжать жить той же жизнью и ожидать новой, если не предпримем изменений. Изменения трудны. В них и заключается причина духовного роста. Встреться лицом к лицо со своими страхами. Страх – не конкурент веры. Страх это причина веры. НИЧЕГО НЕ ИЗМЕНИТСЯ, ЕСЛИ НИЧЕГО НЕ ИЗМЕНИТСЯ!
3. ЖАЛОСТЬ К СЕБЕ, ЛЕНЬ: «Почему со мной случаются неприятности?» «Почему я алкоголик?» «Никто не хвалит меня» Я не сорвусь. Выпивка очень далеко от моих мыслей. Многие срываются, когда их дела идут неплохо. Вы ВСЕГДА ДОЛЖНЫ БЫТЬ НАСТОРОЖЕ, ТАКЖЕ И В БЕЗМЯТЕЖНЫЕ МОМЕНТЫ. Вы больны прогрессирующим заболеванием. Ваша жизнь станет хуже, если вы сорветесь!

НЕТЕРПИЛИВОСТЬ: Ничто не случается достаточно быстро. Другие не делают то, что должны или то, что ВЫ хотите. Споры с незначительной и смехотворной точкой зрения. Необходимость быть всегда правым. 

C’mon over here and, along with me, get yourself immersed in seeing things like the above words all-day-long!

The Point : It was a real push to get up this morning, get packed to stay a night in СЛЮДЯНКА and come home to Irkutsk tomorrow on Sunday.

In the end, I could not, in good conscience, accept the gift offered to Mike and to me of a free hotel room with all meals paid for by the local members. We returned to Irkutsk this evening. Twilight to pitch-black dark. In the Mountains.

En route down to СЛЮДЯНКА ( SLYUDYANKA ) Mike was told that they had a real agenda scheduled for us. They wanted to show us the many things to see and to do and all about СЛЮДЯНКА.

I told Mike : “Mike. I am practically dead-on-my-feet. I can’t do an agenda and then do a meeting. I’ll go to our hotel and sleep. When they’ve finished showing you all the things that there are to see and to do and all about СЛЮДЯНКА then I will lead the meeting.”

We rolled into town. We got out of our car. We visited for 30-minutes-or-so with those who were there to welcome us. Then we did the deed. We had the meeting.

In all of my life I’ve never done better. Equal? Certainly. Better? I can’t do better. I love these folks. I mix and I mingle with them. I goof around with them. I engage in fun horseplay with them. Then when it’s time to Stand-And-Deliver it’s all business.

And then it was time for the beautiful young (our driver) lady to say goodnight to me, after she and Mike had busted their keisters  moving (all of this was done in the dark of a cool Siberian night) my things down the stairs at my former apartment .. loading them into her car .. and carrying them up more stairs into my new apartment. She faced me and immediately began to weep helplessly and uncontrollably and was not able to stop for awhile. When she gathered herself together, she told Mike to tell me : “I am so touched and deeply moved that you came all the way here to share your message. My mother said that what you shared has re-vitalized her and so strengthened her sobriety. How can I thank you enough?”

I started to tear-up a little. Mike? He is an emotional weeper from the get-go.

СЛЮДЯНКА.

“God. Just how do I Thank You for all of this?”

“Pass It On my Little Captain.”

This oh-so-gentle gentleman IS the elder here. He got it all started here in СЛЮДЯНКА.

Each and every major meeting, at least so far, has ended up with a mini-feast.

Out at Lake Baikal, they took us captive and DID show us some sights.

“I AM going back to СЛЮДЯНКА, hopefully with Patti.”

What a day Saturday, November the 10th, 2018 was for me.

Humbly I sign off ..

АЛЯСКА  КАП

• ← NOV 9, 18 .. HERE WE GO AGAIN .. SOME NEWS FOR ALL OF YOU .. I’M MOVING
• NOV 11, 18 .. MOVING DAY .. THE SECOND MOVING DAY →