From 2021 to 2022, my sister Zoë and her husband Ryno worked as teachers in Vietnam. Last year, they wanted a change of country – and colder weather – so they moved to Kazan, Tatarstan, in Russia. My mother visited them last year, and she returned with wonderful stories of how she experienced the country. ‘Next time, you must go with me,’ she said. That next time came much quicker than we had anticipated.
This year, my mom & I were able to visit them for two glorious weeks. And my mom was right; Kazan is truly a magnificent experience.
A special thanks to my sister, her husband, and their marvelous one-year-old boy, Judah, for the magnificent experiences that we had together from the 7th until the 23rd of July, 2024.
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Airports & Travelling
Has it really been seven years since I last traveled overseas? I’ve been overseas six times: the US three times, Israel, Prague, and England. I never even thought of going to Russia. In South Africa, when I mention that I’m going to Russia, they ask, ‘But what about the war…?’ I reply with the same answer my sister always gives: ‘The war is not in Russia; it’s in Ukraine.’ But still, I am a bit nervous. Blame it on Hollywood and media propaganda. Images of KGB, Putin, communism, terrorists, Ukraine, and zero human rights come to mind when I think of Russia. It can’t be that bad… especially if my mom loved it so much, right? And my sister has been living there for the past year with no hassles – so far.
It’s Sunday afternoon, and my mom and I leave our home in Jeffrey’s Bay and drive one hour to Port Elizabeth. After checking in at the airport, we depart at 14:10. We then board our international flight at 19:10. It’s going to take a few days to get to Kazan: 8 hours flight to Dubai, then hanging around the airport for 11 hours, finally board the 20:00 flight to Russia. Another 5 hours later, and we will arrive in Kazan.
I notice two major changes since I last flew in 2017: airplanes no longer forbid cellphone signal disruptions. In fact, you can even buy WI-FI data on-air now. The other change? My left ear is in considerable pain every time I’m on a plane taking flight. This has never happened to me before, and I wouldn’t say I like it AT ALL. It really hurts, and even if I blow my nose every five minutes, it just won’t pop open. Why is this happening to me?!
At the Dubai airport, we switch over way too soon from international departures to domestic departures. Now we are among the locals of the Middle East. That side of the airport is crammed and there are not enough toilets. Even worse: the local men are incredibly rude and offensive towards my mom and me. I’m not sure I would ever want to live in the Middle East…
Finally, it’s 12:10 Monday morning and we are in Kazan, Tartarstan. But first, we have to make it past Customs. The first time my mom was here, she had all the necessary papers and they still took her aside and interrogated her in a room.
This time around we have the same papers again, and then more. Proof of our return tickets, my sister & her husband’s work contracts, my sister’s marriage certificate (which shows that her maiden name is the same as ours), and a copy of my sister’s Visa. I even printed a demonstration of my cochlear implant, as well as a translated description of what exactly a cochlear implant is, just in case they think it’s something else entirely. We hope we have our bases covered. My mom goes through first… and they don’t even look at our documents. All they want is proof of my sister’s residence. ‘Oh no, we don’t have that…’ I say wide-eyed to my mom. The one thing we don’t have, they want. Thankfully, they still let her go through. Then it’s my turn. The lady looks at my passport photo and asks me to pull back my fringe. She stares at my eyebrows for a long time, and then with a satisfied look, she lets me pass through as well.
We are both relieved. Ryno – my brother-in-law – is waiting outside for us. Now we have to book a taxi, which is pretty common for the expacts but not for my mom & I. We easily get one, but then the driver says she can only take two bags (we have four). So we wait for another taxi, and a young Uzbekistan driver is keen to help us. He manages to get all four bags, plus the three of us, into his car.
Finally, we arrive at our destination. We have one more hassle to overcome: our accommodation is an apartment, and this apartment has four flights of stairs that we need to climb first (there are no elevators). Ryno takes the two heaviest bags, I take one, and my mom the other one. We huff and puff till we reach the fourth floor. My sister opens the door and she comments, ‘You look extremely tired.’ Yep, you bet we’re tired. My mom and I get into our beds, and we immediately fall asleep. I sleep so deep that when I wake up in the morning, I don’t know where I am and I can’t remember any of the dreams I dreamt throughout the night.
Camokats & The Waterfront
It’s Tuesday morning, and it’s seven a.m. My mom & I are still extremely tired, but we can’t wait to see little Judah and spend some time with him, as well as Zoë & Ryno. So we get up and get dressed. My sister makes us a special Russian breakfast called the Friendship porridge, which can be mixed with honey and apricot pieces. It tastes like rice and mielie pap mixed. I decide that I like it.
The best way to beat jet lag is to go outside, so we get ready and walk down the four flights of stairs. It’s extremely hot outside. We are in the middle of the Russian summer, and I can already feel the sun is closer to my skin here than in South Africa (is that possible at all? That the way the equator turns and the sun is positioned, that the sun might be closer to Russia than SA? I don’t know).
My sister books electric scooters for us, which the Russians call camokats, and off we go. It’s extremely scary at first, for you have to balance really well. But after a while, it gets really fun. We go off a hill and arrive at the Kremlin Embankment, also known as The Waterfront, which is less than five minutes from the apartment. There are hundreds of people walking up and down, families with children, some of them also riding scooters.
It’s white Russians everywhere; I don’t see a single person of colour. I find it an odd and unusual sight. The Valga River is gorgeous, and there are numerous things you can do. ‘In the winter, the lake is frozen solid,’ my sister tells me. ‘Everyone skates on the Valga River, which is hard to believe for those of us who are not used to it in South Africa.’ Hard to believe, indeed. We spend the morning riding the kiddie’s train with Judah, and he also goes on the merry-go-round.
BC Academy & Pizza Picnic
The next day, we go to Zoë & Ryno’s school to hand in our passports to the administration so that they could be submitted according to governmental regulations. We will get it back after a few days, of course. My sister shows us her old and new classrooms, as well as Ryno’s classrooms. There is a wall with framed photos of them both, and they look incredibly stylish and professional. We meet the staff, as well as the new headmaster. She invites us for tea in the cafeteria; she speaks English really well, and she is kind in her conversation as she asks us questions. I am touched by her hospitality and the way she receives us.
In the afternoon, we go to Black Lake and Judah feeds bread to the ducks and birds. Ryno orders pizza for us, and we have a delicious picnic under the trees next to the lake. I teach Judah how to ‘hug trees’, and he likes it so much that he wants to hug every single tree. I am coming to notice that this little guy is extremely intelligent and loves exploring and learning new things. He is a great buddy to have, and I enjoy him so much.
Pilaf Restaurant & City Sightseeing Bus
Late Thursday morning, we go to a mall and eat the most delicious food at Pilaf, an Uzbekistan restaurant. The waiter brings us English menus, and she understands English a little bit. There’s an amazing playground for Judah, and it’s made with steel so the adults can also climb and crawl around in it with Judah. The food is absolutely divine. We share our food and we marvel at the quality and flavor of the food. Uzbekistan has a strong influence on Russia; it now makes sense why there are sculptures and pictures all around of camels and the desert.
In the afternoon, we take the City Sightseeing Bus and get a proper look at Kazan. It astonishes me to see how well-kept the city is. Statues of famous componists, poets, and writers, children playing, and men going off to war are all stationed all around the city. Parks and forests are situated around them and dedicated to them. There’s the Ekiyat Puppet Theatre, Tatarskiy Ballet Theatre, Tartar State Opera, and so much more. Arts and culture is an important value to this city, and it shows.
Afterward, we have a quick coffee and snack at a Smorodinna, but things get lost in translation with the Russian menu. Thankfully, my sister has a Google Translate app on her phone, where you can take a photo and then it translates everything. However, it’s not always 100% accurate due to local dialects and slang. We order waffles but get croissants instead. We have to make do, and it’s still delicious.
Victory Park & Swan Lake Ballet
It’s Friday, and the morning is off to a rough start. In the chaos of ordering a taxi, driving to Victory Park, and getting out of the taxi, Zoë forgot her phone in the car. The moment the taxi drove away, my sister realized her phone was gone. But it was already too late, for now, my sister had no way of contacting the taxi driver. A kind stranger allowed us to use his phone’s hotspot so that my sister could contact Ryno through my phone. To no avail were they able to locate and contact the taxi driver. It is a devastating thing to lose a phone, especially one that had all my sister’s photos of Judah ever since he was born. She never backed them up, and now it is lost forever. Ryno joins us at Victory Park, and we walk around viewing the army tanks and airplanes. Then we go home, not feeling so great after what happened with Zoë’s phone.
In the evening, our spirits are lifted a little when we get ready for the Swan Lake Ballet. We are incredibly excited, for Zoë has been to the ballet a couple of times now and told us all about it. My sister and I did ballet in our high school years, as well as my mom. We understand and appreciate the effort, sacrifice, and discipline it takes to dance en pointe. Dressed to the nines, we arrive at the theatre, and meet Reema there (she is Judah’s nanny). The theatre is like nothing we’ve seen before. There’s also an orchestra, and soon the lights go dark and the music starts. We are enthralled by the stage design, the art production, the dancers, the costumes, the music, everything. Going to the ballet in Russia is an absolute highlight of our trip thus far.
Kazan Circus & Donald Trump
My mom and I think that nothing can top the ballet experience until we go to the circus the very following day. ‘The circus?’ I say to my sister. ‘Like, in a tent?’ ‘No, they take the circus very seriously here,’ my sister explains. Turns out, there’s a permanent building shaped like a flying saucer, and it hosts various circus acts throughout the year. They rotate performers, acts, and animals; it’s never the same thing twice and it’s highly professional. We arrive at the colossal building, and it’s packed with families and people of all ages. We buy popcorn and drinks, and we have VIP seats on the balcony (My sister has a contact at school that provides these tickets for her).
The stage’s foundation is filled with water and throughout the show, water works are displayed like fireworks and fountains. It is absolutely breathtaking, and the next act somehow manages to top the previous act. Afterward, we chat about our favorite acts and there’s so many to choose from. Eventually, we unanimously agree that the Russian Swings was our absolute favorite. I Google this afterward, for I have never in my life seen anything like this before. It’s a combination of ballet, gymnastics, and showmanship, and it blew us away.
I am so inspired by all these performances. I say to my mom, ‘We don’t have any excuses anymore. When we get back home, we have to start focusing and get to work.’
On Sunday morning, my mom and I are bone tired and still recovering from the three flights we had to take to get to Kazan. My sister wants to go to the park, but we ask to be excused and spend the morning packing out, organizing our stuff in the room, and watching Kris Vallotton’s sermon at Bethel Church.
The night before (or was it early morning?) there had been an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life, and it’s interesting to hear about the two prophecies that foresaw this happening to Trump…
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Read the second part of my travel diary HERE.
