Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
think-tank advising Mikhail Gorbachev. Ivan's father had been chair of the board
of academic directors of the entire academy. Although Nina and Ivan had estab-
lished their own lives independent of their families, and while much had changed
in Akademgorodok since the fall of the Soviet Union, the week we spent there gave
us a glimpse into the astonishing world of power and privilege that had been the
domain of the Soviet elite.
We had come into contact with Nina through the Internet; she was one of the
handful of people who had responded to the thousands of e-mails Tim had sent to
Russian schools from Finland. Dismayed at the quality of primary and secondary
language education in Novosibirsk, she had thrown in her university post to teach
English at her daughters' school and had become a well-known local activist and
advocate for education reform. She'd invited us to stay at her flat and had arranged
for us to speak to as many English students as she could schedule into a week. We
were, of course, more than happy to do so.
We had arrived late. Due to Bruce's funeral and the delay in Omsk, we had
reached Novosibirsk after the end of school term. Despite her best efforts, Nina had
only managed to arrange for a few groups of students to meet with us. We visited
several schools in different corners of the city and spent a fascinating morning talk-
ing to bright-eyed kids in a public orphanage, but apart from that, the rest of the
week was our own.
Every day we'd take the bus thirty kilometres through the suburbs then ride the
subway into the bustling heart of the city. The days were hot and sunny and people
were out in force. I spent many hours on the Net, catching up with Nat, while Tim
searched the city's many sports shops, in vain, for a replacement gear changer.
With nearly two million people, Novosibirsk is the biggest city in Siberia. Tim
saw thousands of imported western bikes, but did not manage to find anyone who
stocked spare parts. In the end, we resorted to removing the three-speed gear-
changer from Ivan's old racing bike and bolting it onto Tim's. It wasn't much, but
with mountainous terrain ahead, at least he had a few gears.
———
We left Novosibirsk after a week; we were both glad to get back on the road. As
we slipped back into our familiar routine, I realised that I'd actually been missing
some of the things that Tim loved about the journey.
At first, I'd felt indifferent to Tim's beloved taiga forest. The tall, pencil-straight
pines, spruces and birches looked sickeningly monotonous. One camp site seemed
to be as good as another. As reluctant as I'd been, Tim had finally taught me a little
