But you're an AMERICAN! Of course you can play hockey with us!

I know that I have been quite negligent in updating during the last month, but—for what it’s worth—it is in large part due to the fact that my life has gotten busier and better in the last month. After a long wait, I have started working more regularly with the crisis center. Classes have continued to go well and I have even started attending a foreign literature class with Jen [it is pretty cool to read American literature in a foreign lit class]. I have also continued to meet interesting, kind, and welcoming Russians. But all of that will wait, because this update is dedicated to a different development: namely, my recent discovery of a women’s hockey team in Ekaterinburg.

As some of you might know, I spent all four months in Petersburg looking for a women’s hockey team without an ounce of success. Usually I couldn’t get the phrase “women’s hockey” out of my mouth before someone has responded with a harsh “Nyet!”. When I packed my suitcases in Bemidji this August, I thought long and hard about whether or not it was worth it to haul my heavy skates across the ocean and ultimately decided that it was. Well, that was most definitely the best packing decision I made this trip…

About a month ago, I was cruising the town with Alfina and Sergei when Sergei turned to me and said “Betsy, I watched our women’s hockey team play on TV last night.” I quickly asked him to clarify what “our” meant, assuming he was talking about Russia and not Ekaterinburg. When he responded with “Sverlovskaya”, I made him clarify three times that he was telling me that there was a women’s hockey team in Ekaterinburg whose games are televised. Armed with this information, I began a mad search to find the team. I asked everyone I knew, but no one had any more info about it. I started going around to the hockey stores in town and asking the employees. After asking three times at “Hockey World,” a kind soul finally told me that if I went to a different hockey store, I would find someone there who knew about the team. The next day, I went to the store, where I was introduced to Irina, who, at it happens, used to play for the Mercury [that’s the team]. She not only confirmed that the team exists, she promptly drove me to the rink, where I met with the coaches, saw the team practicing, and was invited to practice with them the next day. I agreed, but told them that I didn’t have any equipment besides skates. The coach responded with “Oh that’s okay, Irina will take care of you.” Irina asked me to meet her back at the shop later that evening. I, being the naïve American, assumed that I was meeting Irina to, you know, pick up her own gear that I would use to practice with the next day. Au contraire, we picked out a full new set of equipment. Half way through the shopping spree I timidly said to Irina “Um, when I am going to have to pay for this?”. She laughed and said “Oh, don’t worry! The club is covering this.” So let me get this straight: the club, who has never seen me play, is willing to shell out for a full set of brand new hockey equipment for a foreigner? Either the foreigner card is working even better these days or I had just sold my soul and the next several years of my life to a powerful member of the Russian mafia [it has yet to be determined, by the way, which one actually occurred].

The next day, slightly petrified and very excited, I made my way over to the rink [which, as it happens, is just a 10 minute walk from my house]. With my shiny new gear in hand, I walked into a packed locker room, the inhabitants of whom all turned to stare at me. As I got dressed from practice, I received a bit of a shock as I discovered that locker room talk in Russian, much like in English, uses its own words and phrases, very few of which I understood. Consequently, the team thinks that I speak literally no Russian and, since none of them speak English, we don’t do too much socializing. That said, they are all incredibly nice to me and don’t seem to mind the fact that I show up once a week and interrupt their practice flow.

The actual practice went pretty well, despite my being incredibly out of shape. The structure is a little different from an American practice and I quickly learned that I knew none of the necessary words for a hockey practice [puck really doesn’t get you too far]. So far I have gone to three practices and I am slowly picking up the vocabulary. Part of the difficulty [but also the coolest part] is that in Russian practices drills NEVER repeat. In other words, I have skated with this team three times and we have not once repeated a drill from an earlier practice. It makes sure that you have to think on the ice, which is awesome, but also challenging for the little foreigner…

So that’s my good news : ) I am sure there will be lots of more stories to come about the team. Expect an update about the crisis center next week, as well as some good stories about the snow, which is here to stay. Despite the bitter, extreme, frightening cold, I am so far enjoying the Russian winter.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! I’ll be celebrating by giving some 5th graders a presentation about Thanksgiving at the American Center and then having a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner with some consulate and Fulbright people. I will miss you all on the American holiday!