My Russian Tale

by Tlholohelo Mojakisane (South Africa)

A leap into the unknown Russia

In 2014 I was granted an international scholarship to go study in Russia. The only country I have ever traveled to at that time was Lesotho, a small landlocked country in South Africa. I am South African and traveling to Lesotho is really not fascinating because the two countries are practically the same. I packed my bags heading not only to a different country that I have never been to but I was also going to a continent that was foreign to me. I had my own little reserved expectations about Russia, a month before traveling I did my research and the main thing that kept on popping up was the extreme weather conditions. My excitement was driven by so many factors but the one which stood out had to be being on a plane for the first time in my life. Growing up my father always told me stories of being on a plane and how you can see the clouds which made everything on the ground disappear. He served at the military in South Africa during the apartheid era and when apartheid ended those soldiers lost their jobs. My parents had plans of taking my little brother and me on a trip that required taking a plane but due to their responsibilities, they had to postpone many times. The day finally came for me to board the plane but first I had to go to the airport, I live about an hour and 45 minutes away from the airport and left my house three hours before my flight. I had not received any traveling advice prior. On my way to the airport, I was stuck in traffic for thirty minutes, because I was offered a scholarship I left with a group of other students who were awarded the same scholarship. I finally arrived at the airport with my phone buzzing of calls from the scholarship coordinator, people were already checking in and there was fear that my flight might leave me behind. I was not bothered because I was not aware that a flight would leave a person in my mind a plane never leaves without all its passengers despite all the movies I have watched and have seen people being left behind. I made it just in time to check-in, bid my family goodbye and ran as fast as I could to the broader gate and of cause asking for direction. In September it is already cold in Russia, the leaves have started to change into autumn leaves and it rains a lot. When we landed early in the morning and I was immediately greeted by the hostile staff at the migrant service, the lady who was helping me looked at my passport and back at me for about five times and then called her colleague to confirm if the person on the passport was me. After that long process, I was finally able to go through and see this country that I have been anticipating for months. The first thing I noticed was the strange alphabets that I could not even recognize than I saw the old buildings and was disappointed because I thought everything in Europe was modern. My greatest shock of all was releasing that English was not largely used in Russia, questions started running through my mind. It immediately became clear that I had to prioritize learning Russian if I wanted to survive in the country. After a few months had passed I had already settled in and of cause battling with the Russian language but I had met a friend who was good in the language and was willing to assist me. In December my dream of living in a country that snowed came true I was ready to have my first “white” Christmas. I soon realized that not everything you see in the movies should be desired, the cold temperature that came with snow was nothing those movies could have prepared me for. Not even the jackets I came with were able to protect me from that cold that I have never experienced before. My journey continued with me learning the language, making new friends and discovering the country