Ivan Ivanych!

Today we had an excursion to the town of Yelabuga, the birthplace of 19th-century landscape painter Ivan Shishkin and the deathplace of Silver Age poet Marina Tsvetaeva, who committed suicide there while in evacuation from WWII (many Russian scientists and artists, as well as institutions from the Soviet Academy of Sciences to orchestras and ballet companies, were moved from Leningrad and Moscow to cities closer to/in the Urals).

On the way there, we stopped at a rest stop, because even when Russian tour buses have bathrooms on board, the driver never lets anyone use them. When I got out of the bus to stretch my legs, I found a little tent, under which there was an assortment of lawn ornaments for sale. (Just the sort of thing one is usually looking to buy at a rest stop!) I picked up a small plaster hedgehog for 150 rubles (about five bucks), and he is now our mascot.

After much deliberation, we named him Ivan. The suggestion came from Seth, who suggested the awful pun Ivan Yozhny (this means "Ivan the Hedgehoggy," and sounds like Ivan Grozny, the Russian name for Tsar Ivan the Terrible). I can't think of a punny equivalent in English, except perhaps Ivan the Incorrigible. He does look like an incorrigible little fellow... Anyway, Ivan is also a good name because he can be called Uncle Vanya. His patronymic, we agreed, is Ivanovich, shortened to Ivanych in casual speech. You can follow the adventures of Ivan Ivanych here.

But I'll probably update to the blog when I add pictures. Not all the Yelabuga pictures are up yet, because I want to get on wi-fi before I upload more.

Leslie