MAY 5, 2022 – After describing the scenery outside the train, my letter home focused on the highlight of the journey: my interaction with fellow passengers. “By living with Russians for 24 hours a day, for days on end,” I wrote, “I gained much understanding about their thinking and their way of life. I must count those encounters among the most rewarding of my entire world trip. [I met] army officers, students, children, pensioners, Communists, factory workers, clerks, and train crew. I can’t begin to describe all my Russian acquaintances, though given their charm and warmth of character, I should certainly like to. Rather, I’ll introduce you to a few of the more remarkable personalities.
“Sasha (I) – An army officer my age who’d spent eight years in the DDR (East Germany) but was being transferred to Vladivostok. He was very kind and especially friendly. He always invited me to join him for meals and insisted on sharing his cognac with me. He spoke no English but I rustled up enough German and illustrations to carry on long conversations.
“Misha and Valya – Misha , about 40, was another army officer who, with his wife, rode with me from Khabarovsk to Sverdlovsk. They were wonderfully kind and friendly, and though they spoke no English they insisted on learning. We communicated through illustrations and a Russian-English phrase book. We talked about many things, from politics to music to sports.
“Yuri – The 35-year-old chief of the train crew between Khabarovsk and Moscow. He was my most interesting contact. His grandfather had spent 12 years in a Siberian prison before the Revolution and had known Lenin personally. Yuri, himself a longtime Communist Party member, was married to an engineer-musician and had two young children. He spoke a few words of English and German, and we spent many hours together discussing history, politics, and life in the USSR. He possessed a reliable sense of humor and a warm personality. He felt very close to his family and often boasted of the musical and academic accomplishments of his son and daughter. He was well-versed in Russian history, art, and literature and was also well-acquainted with American history, literature, and cinema. We became very close friends, and as if all the souvenirs and favors he piled on me were insufficient he invited me to dinner at a fancy restaurant in Moscow. When we parted he gave me his address and asked me to write and to visit his family next time I visit Moscow.
“Sasha (II) – The carriage attendant from Khabarovsk to Moscow. He too treated me with great kindness, and in return I gave him something he’d coveted for three days—my ‘St. Patrick’s Day 5-mile Run’ green T-shirt—one of my favorites. Sasha offered me 30 roubles ($40.00 at the official exchange rate) for it—money he’d won at the card table—but after all the generosity shown to me aboard that train I could hardly expect remuneration.
“Sasha (III) – Manager of the restaurant on the Khabarovsk-Moscow train. He’d served as an English speaking guide during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, so we could communicate in English quite well He treated me to special culinary delights and insisted that I not pay. In addition, Sasha gave me several souvenirs. Although content with life in the USSR, Sasha dreamed of visiting the USA and talking with Americans.
“Zoe, Valentina, Maria, and Stacy” – shared my compartment between Ulan-Ude and Khabarovsk. Zoe and Valentina, both 22, were medical students returning to university in Vladivostok. Their friend Maria, 27, had been visiting her parents in Ulan-Ude and was returning to Vladivostok with her two-year-old daughter, Stacy. These four charming people became my very close friends. We talked for hours using pantomimes, illustrations, and my phrase book. Like most Russians I met they had a wonderful sense of humor. Stacy and I became especially close. At station stops I gave here piggy-back rides, much to her delight. Also, I fashioned a pair of puppets and together we entertained the three older women. Zoe, Valentina, and Maria shared their food with me and gave me a load of souvenirs. When we arrived in Khabarovsk at 1.00 h., they accompanied me to the platform and wished me good-bye. Each hugged and kissed me and we all were misty-eyed.
“Those were some of the more outstanding people I met,” I wrote. “There were many other Russians who smothered me with kindness and generosity. I shall not forget them.”
My next post will describe more of the substance of my conversations with Russians aboard the train . . . and what they revealed about Russia.
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© 2022 by Eric Nilsson
