Say it in Russian

I noticed the cover of the book and knew it was one of the titles in the series "------ for Dummies". Opening and looking over the diagrams, charts and math I knew it was a Six Sigma book. Getting the Russian translation from my friend born in St. Petersburg (Russia) though was somewhat enlightening. The translation of the cover reads "Six Sigma for Cattle". Wouldn't pass the politcal-correctness committee back home but works for me :)

Dawn over Kupol

Dawn breaks over Kupol to clear skies but the coldest temperatures of my stay at -37C with a 5-10 meter per second wind.

Utility Vehicle

Being slowly phased out due to poor reliability and lack of parts, this Russian stalwart has see many years of service around the area. Looking like a plump VW Bus, I saw many versions of this model around the mine and Magadan.

Where in the World is Dad?

Many of my geographically challenged female readers from Texas whose husbands have birthdays this week have asked, "Where are you cousin?", so I am posting a picture---not that I would call out any of my devoted followers by name :) It is actually a good question and I actually had previously created this picture for my own children when they asked where I was going to be the next few weeks. One of the young trio asked why I just didn't go to the left but weather delays this time of the year make travel through Alaska a dicey affair. The route shown is about 25 hours of air travel over several days depending on the airline schedules.

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Superbowl Monday

Nothing culminates the end of a football season like a Monday morning Superbowl party above the Arctic Circle. In the photo, the food has begun to arrive from the kitchens and placed on the tables in the Solstice Cafe. The Green Bay leaning crowd is strategically arranging their seats for talking smack to the one guy who has the courage to say he is Steeler fan. Most importantly though, the satellite signal beaming the game from an Alaskan affiliate is a good one today with the mostly clear weather.

The spread included many types of finger foods--chicken wings, pizza, nachos & cheese, meat platters, etc. I believe the fine folks running the kitchen googled in "Superbowl party food" and created the great menu from the search results. The crowd for the game included about a dozen folks who actually care and understand the game of American football, plus a few of our Russian friends who were curious about what all the excitment was about.

Brisk Morning Walk

Nothing gets the blood pumping like a walk to work in -25C weather. Multiple doors along the "Arctic Corridor" allow the more adventurous (or naive) to walk along the packed snow and ice until their ears freeze.

Frosted Flags

No, the flags are not frozen though they might look like it. The few days before the photo was taken the local weather was cloudy, windy and an occasional icy snow. The result is the snow packed onto the flagpoles...and most everything out in the wind.

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High Noon

A quick photo on the way to lunch shows the harsh mid-day sun relentlessly beating down on the arid landscape. Dawn and dusk are long affairs here that last for hours before and after the sun giving a surreal grey-blue glow to anything outside.

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Tastes Like Chicken

Some of my blog followers have asked, "So how's the food there?". The photo is fairly typical though I wasn't really on-board with the skewered mystery meat until it actually tasted like chicken---of course I have no idea what cat/dog/rat/wolverine taste like. If we had been a bit closer to a town I might have chosen another entrée :) Really, the only thing that might be truly different is the salads. Lettuce does not do well in frosty climates so cabbage is substituted along with other cold-hardy veggies. Soups, meats, vegetables, fruits and bread are all good stuff. I did have to get use to drinking whole milk again until I figured out how to water it down a little.

Day 10--A Cloudless Sun-Shiny Day

Dawn bring a cloudless sky over Siberia with cooler temperatures dropping into 30s overnight---the minus 30s of course :) The weather had been cloudy, a bit of snow and windy for the past week so the sun shining is a big change. A few more containers have arrived as the supply chain cranks up the deliveries.

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Hitting the Club Scene in Kupol

The newest (and only) club in Kupol opened the other night. The Solstice Cafe is a place to get away from the crowds, the rat race here at the mine and listen to local music talent hoping to score a contract with a major label. An RSVP affair on night one, we will see if it catches on with the eclectic international crowd. I would imagine once the Wi-fi gets installed there will be a small crowd here regardless if there is music.

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We're Saved!!!

The first supply trucks of the season line up outside to be off-loaded. 2,100 of the containers and another 1,000 container equivalents will be delivered over the next few months before the man-made ice road turns to slush. Getting the needed supplies is a year-round job for the supply teams to source, purchase and deliver by container ship to port city of Pevek, located north of the mine of the Arctic Ocean. The containers are staged for delivery at the port and once the road is completed a race begins to get them delivered to the mine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pevek

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Frosty Frames

While the interior of my room can get quite toasty, the aluminum framed windows (double insulated) conduct enough of the cold temperatures outside to begin freezing up on the interior. While it looks bad, a small fan given to me by the staff and the low humidity allows the ice to sublimate (turn into a gas) and thereby bypass the liquid state for the most part. Of course the window is still frozen very much shut from the outside!!

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A Couple of Russian Foxes

Walking back from lunch I caught a bit of movement out of one of the windows, had my camera handy just in case I did see something out a window (William Shatner I'm not), managed to get it out and on video to capture this pair of Arctic Foxes.

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Rebranded

I guess the term "diet" didn't sell well in the Russian language and has been replaced.....lots of little differences like this throughout the store though the shop clerk thought I was a bit different too :)

A "Moon Pie" by any other name

Walking through a small shop in my travels I came across a classic southern favorite gone global.

Kupol International

Kupol's airport has all the features you'd expect in a modern, well-run aerodrome.


Waiting for your bag to appear in Baggage Claim

The obligatory walk through the terminal

And of course waiting in line at Customs

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Bus Ride to Kupol

I'm sitting near the back of the turboprop aircraft that I rode to the mine site. Everything about the trip was very similar to a bus trip--the number of people, the way you got your ticket and how some of the luggage was stowed.

Look, it's a kupol!

Sitting inside the toasty confines of the mine administrative offices, the geographical structure that gave the mine its name stands out, literally. The Kupol mine is named for the unusually pointed rock formation in an area of mostly small rolling mountains. It was a balmy -25C and about noon when the photo was taken.

(Might need to do a little translation on the kupol page)

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupol

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31 Flavors Around the World

One of the many food shops in the Domodedovo airport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baskin-Robbins

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And now we can say it in Russian :)

Browsing through the Domodedovo airport just outside of Moscow I came across a very familiar name. I wonder if these guys deliver in rain, sleet and snow also?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domodedovo_International_Airport

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A Couple of "Careless" Birds

A pair of Tu-154 passenger jets lie mothballed just off the main runway at the Sokol airport near Magadan. The aircraft was the backbone of the Soviet airline industry for many years with features that allowed landing on unimproved runways. Nicknamed "Careless" by NATO, the aircraft have been involved in about 1 major incident a year since they first started flying and due to noise regulations many have been sidelined like this pair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu-154

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokol_Airport

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Cultural Differences

Gee, my first thoughts when I saw this was that my hands would feel so much softer using Fairy soap than the harsh dish soaps of the competitors. While I'm sure it contains the same ingredients, and perhaps made by the same company, it probably wouldn't be a big seller in the states :)

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First Light Kissing the Kolyma Mountains

Things look a bit cold a few hundred miles out from Magadan. The mountains are up to just over a mile high with obvious rivers and lakes (albeit frozen right now) spotted throughout. Winter is 7-8 months long here!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolyma

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The main terminal at Magadan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokol_Airport

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SMP Bank sponsored this walkway to the plane this evening:)

We're not in Kansas anymore.....

The Neighbors