Kuterem, Russia?

[Killer-B]

Holy smokes, Killer-B! If you two ever get married and moved with her to Bishop, CA; she'd definitely suffer a serious culture shock! Input overload...

Why Bishop, CA? I think ANY place is gonna be overload... LOL... I guess my first tip-off should have been, in her bio she said she liked 'shooting'... Not hunting, just guns LOL - I think I can fit that bill in CO

[Vaughn]

That's some bus route Vaughn!! Wow...

My mistake, and a dumb one at that. I went to sleep last night wondering why the route would be so roundabout. Then it dawned on me. I had been on that particular site long ago checking out a bus route across the Urals, and had locked in "Пермь" as a transfer stop.
Hey, check out this youtube video, Neftekamsk bird's eye view. Fairly big compared to the outlying villages.....  I cannot spot a downtown center, though, the houses and apartment buildings dominate the film.

[OlgaH]

Neftekamsk is the nearest (22 km) city to Kuterem village. Ask your girlfriend to meet you in Heftekamsk.  Maybe she can meet you in Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan. You can spend some time in Ufa and see the city. I think she also should know the easiest way for you to get to Neftekamsk. Have you asked her?

To Neftekams you can get by bus from Ufa or Perm.

Aeroflot has flights to Perm and Ufa
http://www.aeroflot.ru/cms/en/booking

[Killer-B]

Thanks again Vaughn - Been so focused on Kuterem, didn't even think to look closer at Нефтекамска...  This is ALLOT larger than what I'd envisioned based on the pix I'd seen of the Hotels there (Kama BTW, is a river that flows nearby, hence the hotel name I'd assume) -  She's doing some teacher training there, so I actually feel allot better having seen this now...

Pretty cool video - thanks for digging that up (I am passing on all these links to her so she knows I'm doing my 'homework' ) Cheers for that...

@OlgaH - Thanks to you too for the additional info ... very helpful. As mentioned up-thread (I know there's allot of my blah blah here to take in ) - but I did kinda mention this - or Vaughn did - us meeting in Ufa...

This is our first meeting, and I can tell she's pretty protected by family - so I just don't know really (yet) if papa will approve? -- We are working thru another issue right now, something I may ask about here later, if it doesn't go the way I think it may go... TBD!

At least I know she goes from Kuterem to Neftekams daily, so that's a relief

Thanks everyone - and Happy Thanksgiving for those in the States!

KB

PS: Anyone ever flown Turkish Air? I can bypass Moscow and Aeroflot Olga if I fly them from I believe Istanbul to Ufa direct... DEN/CHI/INSTANBUL/UFA - $1750 - 23 hours

[Killer-B]

Then again, I can fly Aeroflot JFK/MOSCOW/UFA for $800?? Wow!

[mendeleyev]

Killer, nice that Aeroflot is Skyteam so if frequent flyer points are something you manage it is easy to use your Delta (or other Skyteam carrier) award miles number when booking the flight to collect the points for your domestic Skyteam account.

Many European carriers "cheat" frequent flyers (Air France and KLM among the worst) by giving all points on a domestic flight but limiting international routes to 1/3 of the actual mileage traveled. In fact, if Delta or another Skyteam carrier is important to you, it may be to your advantage to have your US carrier book and ticket the flight. You'd still fly on Aeroflot as codeshare partners can write tickets for each other and that would assure you 100% of the miles.

I do the same thing with Delta-KLM-Aeroflot back and forth to Moscow. KLM usually has the best price but skimps on international award mileage. I call Delta and have them book me with the KLM price and schedule (shared by their partners anyway) and results in getting the price/schedule from KLM and 100% of the award miles with Delta since they write the ticket.

[Vaughn]

Perhaps the largest album of Kuterem yet - mostly younger folks, from the
group calling itself Кутерем - Это Мы !
http://vkontakte.ru/club855772#/album-855772_7806376

[Killer-B]

Sorry I've not posted for awhile - But for those still interested or wondering about my little adventure, here's an update of sorts....

She has agreed to meet in Ufa, (she suggested it really) and is riding the bus down there alone (6 hours?) - She has a friend there as well, who I guess she'll hang with - Lots to do in Ufa really (arts, sport, food, music) So, am excited about this part of the journey - She then wants to escort me back on the bus to Kuterem (area)... Guess I'll stay in Neftek...  Still haven't gotten a quote back from the online booking - but have loads of time yet...

Part of the reason I've not posted for awhile - is that we hit a small rough patch, and had a bit of a 'misunderstanding'... and it took us a few weeks of communiques to get all that sorted... As I said earlier here in this thread, that I had some questions I may pose to the group here.... I think that time is getting closer...

BTW - Someone had suggested skiing as an activity - Turns out she's not a fan LOL   She hates winter - Says her region is 1 of the 10 coldest in all of Russia - plus she's all of 42kgs - so can't say I blame her for loving the warmth of summer...

Anyway - We were discussing the upcoming holiday and her name/surname this morning.... and its origin from (if I've translated that properly) staroslovyanskogo / старословянского ?? - Yet I can't find much about what that means exactly - Anyone? (I do see it without the "o" on the end - but even then - its usage does not make much sense to me)....

Sorry this is so scattered and dull - I'm trying to think what I wish to ask publicly here - So much we've covered in just a few short months...

Anyone have a link for flights from Ukraine to Ufa - and thoughts about what would be best if I chose this route?

2 opinion questions - The site/agency we met thru - she was kinda shocked that I took an interest in her... She really grilled me hard upfront, to see if I was serious or not - as she's not your typical "front page" kind of girl - Anyway, we've been kinda throwing out 'what if' type questions - and much to my surprise (or dismay) she recently stated that she has to finishing her medical training before she'd be willing to move abroad... Says she does not wish to burden the family or husband... I found this both decent and honorable - and refreshing - yet - she still has like 28 months of training left... I asked about studying abroad? - she completely shot down that idea - and I can understand why with the language and cultural differences - But I also tried to softly explain, that her degree there, may not be worth as much, here... No response to that 'concern' either -

So the question is - Would you guys wait? or would you move on...?

Obviously there's no shortage of great and wonderful women over there - but this one ticks all my boxes - and we have a pretty decent rapport going... and growing... But I am anxious to start a family - and with the whole visa thing - just not sure if I'm up for waiting 2-3 more years? Time is on her side ... not mine sadly

Other question - is that I've practically had to beg her for post address, phone and something else simple that I can't recall now (was a massive red flag for me) - This is actually part of the 'misunderstanding' we had... But of course, when she did not answer me (was totally silent about it) - I started to wonder if she was playing me (hate to use the word scammer) - but you just never know...  But what I was really thinking (or the more I thought about it) - was that I thought maybe she didn't want me to come to Kuterem, and this was her way of letting me down easy or 'just being nice' -or- Maybe she didn't want me to meet her family? - Reasons? - I dunno.... or - maybe she had a BF or something - (the mind runs wild when you're left to speculate LOL) - Anyway - I finally pressed on her hard for all this last week - and she explained that she does want me to meet her family - and she would be happy for my arrival (she still can't believe that I'm doing this LOL) I think she is just a bit surprised that someone took interest in her -and- has booked a flight... Bit freaked out I think? As for the post address stuff - she basically said, "I do not want you to send me anything"... "Card or letter, this is fine"... "but nothing more"... She knows what this trip is going to cost me (not from me - but guess she's researched it some) -- So, all that said- is this the 'traditional Russian woman' and her frugality coming to the surface - or am I just being thick here?

Well, think that's enough fodder for one day

TIA for any advice...

KB

EDIT: FYI - she did give me her mailing address.... So now my question is, with Christmas coming, do I honor her wishes to only send a card? or would she be upset if I sent something small as a token to her and her family?

[Killer-B]

Perhaps the largest album of Kuterem yet - mostly younger folks, from the
group calling itself Кутерем - Это Мы !
http://vkontakte.ru/club855772#/album-855772_7806376

This is awesome Vaughn - somehow I missed this before - Am gonna send her this link ask about it - Too cool! Thanks!

[mendeleyev]

старословянского is her "family name?"

Did you spell it correctly?

A one letter change, старославянского, would make this "Old Church Slavonic" the language of the Orthodox liturgy.

Note: The last 3 letters representing the suffix "ogo" are pronounced as "ova" or even "ava" depending on stress and because of a rule regarding consonant clusters. In this case regarding old church Slavonic it will sound to your ears as "ava" at the end. In fact, the first o (старослaвянского) is also spoken as an "ah" because it is an unstressed o.

But before anyone goes and labels her a scammer, do some clarifying with her. Depending on her English skills she may be trying to explain about her "saint name" which is an Orthodox tradition on how "first names" are given.(More misunderstandings and so-called scammer sites are filled with bizarre and just flat out bogus info because of language difficulties than anything else.)

Just so you know, ask about her family name and not surname. It is the same thing but depending on her language skills could lead to a misunderstanding. Family name is фамилия ('familiya') and that is a term that she will understand without question.

(Edit: Sorry that everything has turned to bold. I have highlighted and undone the B for bold but it somehow remains. My apologies.)

[Killer-B]

старословянского is her "family name?"

Did you spell it correctly?

A one letter change, старославянского, would make this "Old Church Slavonic" the language of the Orthodox liturgy.

Note: The last 3 letters representing the suffix "ogo" are pronounced as "ova" or even "ava" depending on stress and because of a rule regarding consonant clusters. In this case regarding old church Slavonic it will sound to your ears as "ava" at the end. In fact, the first o (старослaвянского) is also spoken as an "ah" because it is an unstressed o.

But before anyone goes and labels her a scammer, do some clarifying with her. Depending on her English skills she may be trying to explain about her "saint name" which is an Orthodox tradition on how "first names" are given.(More misunderstandings and so-called scammer sites are filled with bizarre and just flat out bogus info because of language difficulties than anything else.)

Just so you know, ask about her family name and not surname. It is the same thing but depending on her language skills could lead to a misunderstanding. Family name is фамилия ('familiya') and that is a term that she will understand without question.

(Edit: Sorry that everything has turned to bold. I have highlighted and undone the B for bold but it somehow remains. My apologies.)

Thanks Mendeleyev -

Sorry, no, старословянского is not her family name -

However, you did remarkably well deducing the rest... You actually hit our conversation squarely on the head - sorry I wasn't more clear before - But we were indeed talking about both her first name (Lubov)  and family name.... She went into great detail about it... as well as the origin of her (family) name, and that it was where the whole старослaвянского mystery came in - Guess I left that 'origin' part out - sorry

I've made note of "фамилия" and will ask her about that as well...

Got my daily Russian lesson! very cool!

Cheers,

KB

PS: you had a ['b'] in your 4th paragraph and at the end another ['/b'] and that is what caused the bold

[JR]

Woot - Getting excited now

KB

About the trip or her ????
And pole dancing is in the heart...not the location.

[mendeleyev]

Любовь. Nice, it means "love." Don't press to shorten it until she signals permission, but a nice nickname is "Luba." It is the name of a favourite Aunt in our family.

As for Любовь, you have a "Veh" (в) at the end of a word so you'll convert that to an "f" sound. But because it has a 'soft sign' (ь) next to it, remember to convert it softly.

[Killer-B]

About the trip or her ????
And pole dancing is in the heart...not the location.

LOL - I suppose - but maybe, someday, you all will see... this gal is about as sheltered and innocent as they come.... Throwback to the 50's.... Her fave songs (she emails me MP3's) are old Russian War Songs...  (yikes!)  She hates pop and modern Russian music... Think that tells us allot right there... scary? LOL Her fave contemporary is Phil Collins - so I can live with that

I'm excited about her - We gotta see about the age and 'time' thing mentioned before... After reading up on Ufa, am happy to meet her there first... at least they have running hot water Am stoked about the trip in itself... She sent me 2 links this a.m. - One for my horoscope (naturally) - and says I'm a pretty decent bloke -- and then some NG link on Russia - Think she's trying to prepare me for any 'shock' LOL

http://touristmaker.ru/%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F/

[Killer-B]

Любовь. Nice, it means "love." Don't press to shorten it until she signals permission, but a nice nickname is "Luba." It is the name of a favourite Aunt in our family.

As for Любовь, you have a "Veh" (в) at the end of a word so you'll convert that to an "f" sound. But because it has a 'soft sign' (ь) next to it, remember to convert it softly.

Yes, I understand about the proper-ness of it all... but honestly, she introduced herself as "Люба" - and that's all I've ever known... So have to assume she's OK with it...

[JR]

LOL - I suppose - but maybe, someday, you all will see... this gal is about as sheltered and innocent as they come.... Throwback to the 50's.... Her fave songs (she emails me MP3's) are old Russian War Songs...  (yikes!)  She hates pop and modern Russian music... Think that tells us allot right there... scary? LOL Her fave contemporary is Phil Collins - so I can live with that

I'm excited about her - We gotta see about the age and 'time' thing mentioned before... After reading up on Ufa, am happy to meet her there first... at least they have running hot water Am stoked about the trip in itself... She sent me 2 links this a.m. - One for my horoscope (naturally) - and says I'm a pretty decent bloke -- and then some NG link on Russia - Think she's trying to prepare me for any 'shock' LOL

http://touristmaker.ru/%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F/

With an internet connection and a web cam you don't have to have a club))) You know her better than anyone here so it's up to you to make the call, I am sure she is very decent and I hope your trip is everything you want it to be. Kudos to you for putting forth the energy and time to make the meeting happen.

[Kuna]

Killer B,

This sounds great!!!  What an adventure.

How is your planning going???  Have a missed anything?  I just picked up on this thread tonight and now I'm dying to hear about ever step of your trip.

Good luck!

[Killer-B]

Thanks Kuna - She's been unusually 'quiet' here as of late... Dunno if it's work or studies or what? Plans for RU are on target.... Really do like this gal - but if she's losing interest - well - then it's off to Barnaul .... Don't get me wrong, this trip would be an awesome adventure - and am really looking forward to it - It's just the sporadic 'stop/start' stuff is starting to do my head in   We'll see...!

Happy Holidays everyone -

KB

[Kuna]

Thanks Kuna - She's been unusually 'quiet' here as of late... Dunno if it's work or studies or what? Plans for RU are on target.... Really do like this gal - but if she's losing interest - well - then it's off to Barnaul .... Don't get me wrong, this trip would be an awesome adventure - and am really looking forward to it - It's just the sporadic 'stop/start' stuff is starting to do my head in   We'll see...!

Happy Holidays everyone -

KB

It's easy to be impatient KB...  when learning about eachother via email/skype/etc there is still something missing - the reality...  I think that's why we end up wanting more and more and more - whereas in reality, life goes on.

I think back now at some "frustration" I felt when writing to my wife (WMV1 or 2) and other girls would write longer emails more often - but over time none seemed as interesting as my wife.

Example is my wife's first email to me.  I had written a very carefully worded email - personalised of course (not a form letter).  Her response came about a week later and all she wrote was, "Please send your photos."

I wrote another nice personalised response and waited a few days again until an email arrived which said, "Why do you have a Ukrainian last name."

hahahahaha...  I was thinking to myself, "This could take FOREVER!"   

I must admit the correspondence improved - but she just didn't like writing emails (still doesn't, even in Russian) and was genuinely busy with work commitments.

Life goes on while the waiting drives all of us (I'm sure) a little crazy...

There's no guarantees about what will happen with "your girl" but if you have the right attitude (which is sounds like you do) then you can at least be guaranteed of a great adventure!

I'll be watching this thread eagerly for updates!

Kuna

p.s.  One GREAT thing about your trip is that you can be THE PERSON who can finally update the whole world with photos of Kuterem via the web.

I hope you have a good camera and a BIG memory stick because 6.9 BILLION of us are counting on YOU!

[mendeleyev]

Kuna,

In full agreement with you but would suggest one potential re-thinking on the big memory stick.

Given the tensions and anti-Westernism now in Russia, I'm using multiple memory cards, switched daily, and with almost daily uploads to off-site photo storage to protect myself should inquisitive officials decide to hold my camera and/or laptop. It is also a good protection of photos in case of camera loss or theft.

I fully agree about the 6.9 billion, too! 

[acrzybear]

Kuna,

In full agreement with you but would suggest one potential re-thinking on the big memory stick.

Given the tensions and anti-Westernism now in Russia, I'm using multiple memory cards, switched daily, and with almost daily uploads to off-site photo storage to protect myself should inquisitive officials decide to hold my camera and/or laptop. It is also a good protection of photos in case of camera loss or theft.

Ahh the 1st amendment Russian style 
I remember an old joke;
 What is the difference between The Soviet Union and The United States? In the U.S.A you can always find a party, in the USSR the party will always find you.
 

[Killer-B]

Hey guys -

Thanks for the support and laughs (the 'party' joke was brill) -

@Kuna - I appreciate your words... I did drop her a short "wtf" type note just before Christmas, and she wrote back straight-away saying she was waiting on my reply - Humph - Sadly, I went thru our last round of mails, and it was indeed my turn LOL - Doh!  So it was on me... self-inflicted wound... It's much like your scenario - I get others expressing interest and who write longer notes - but this one seems more interested - and interesting... The 'usual stuff' that most would latch on to ... she completely blows past all that.... she's more into heart and soul stuff.... (not like puppy love) not even romantic - but very methodical - very respectful - I'm finding allot of my questions she won't or doesn't answer b/c she doesn't wish to 'pump herself up'.... or want to offend me - or cross any lines... Truly old school stuff here - (yet, not 'old' LOL) and must confess I'm lapping up every word of it.... it's just the downtime between notes that is doing my head in - 

I have a Canon DSLR that I've been saving for - that I just picked up for myself (gotta love xmas as an excuse) - and plan on documenting the entire trip ... For those worried about 'losing' stuff, I've been using Eye-Fi for my F1 races - dumps everything straight to my server... read more about it here:  http://www.eye.fi/ - so that saves allot of worry... I'd highly recommend it for those that are true shutterbugs -

Nice to know I have the world on my shoulders here LOL - 6.9 billion aye? I'll do my best

Speaking of the back-forty of Kuterem - @Vaughn - You'll be interested to know, that I shared that VKontakt link with Luba, and when I asked her about it and if that was her region, this was her reply: (my crappy translation - but hopefully you'll get the gist) (either way, she got a kick out of that - and bravo for digging that up for me - You made me look like a bloody hero!)

This is a reference to a "group" (community) in one of the popular Russian web-sites. It's funny that most of the photos, which are placed in an album of this group are quite old and has been very interesting to see them. Almost all the people (the photos) I know. Since the photographs about 5 years (+/-), I can say exactly what they were pupils of the school where I studied. They now for 24 years (+) and everything is changed. =))) Thanks for the link. =)
[/color]

So thanks for that -- FWIW -- I'm doing the WMV1-2 thing too... Have another that ticks all the boxes in Barnaul - but we're nowhere near as far along as this one is.... So we'll see eh?

Enough of my blabbing for tonight... Just counted all the Apple Wi-Fi devices that all my relatives and family have hanging off my ONE poor little router - Drum roll please.... 23 iPods, iPads, Macs, Apple TV's, Printers and so on... Shame Mr. Jobs didn't hang around a few more months - Would've made a mint off me and my relatives this Christmas alone LOL -

Night all -

KB[/i]

[mendeleyev]

Killer, I love that Eye-Fi link. Thanks!

[Killer-B]

Killer, I love that Eye-Fi link. Thanks!

Glad to help! Really does work well and saves time

[Vaughn]

Speaking of the back-forty of Kuterem - @Vaughn - You'll be interested to know, that I shared that VKontakt link with Luba...... she got a kick out of that - and bravo for digging that up for me - You made me look like a bloody hero!)

Twas my pleasure to have stumbled onto that one. I've been away again, several weeks - but was pleased today to catch up and find things have progressed. What I find interesting about this journey of yours are the sheer remoteness of her home (with respect to ease of accessibility - which it's not) and more importantly, the character face of her person and personality as perceived by you, KB. She's definitely not a cookie-cutter FSU lady and I find that intriguing. Apparently so do you, LOL.   
 
Time will tell.