New Haven – New York – Moscow – Saint Petersburg – Kunming

Many aspects of this summer have been unprecedented. For one, I have not had a healthy sleeping schedule since the weekend of graduation until my arrival in Kunming – a total of three exhausting weeks. My under-eight-hours-sleep life began with my parents’ arrival on campus and the imminent horror of having to pack all of my belongings, half of which were to be sent home with my parents, and half of which were to remain in storage. My subsequent travel across three continents did not help my sleep deprivation much.

With my graduation gown, diplomas, and several dozen books safely deposited in my parents’ suitcases, I had two nights to kill between being kicked off of Yale’s campus and flying off to Russia on tour with the Yale Russian Chorus. I decided, along with several of my suitemates, to spend them in New York, using this opportunity as one last adventure and crying session. This was, I think, my sixth time in the city this semester, but the first trip I had made this year entirely for my own pleasure. Four of the times I had been in the city previously, I was there on visa business, ferrying YRC members’ passports back and forth to allow us to go to Russia, and acquiring a Chinese visa for myself.

Continuing with the theme of unprecedented adventures, my suitemates and I visited the High Line, Bronx Zoo, MoMA, and Broadway – all of which I had intended to visit at some point, but somehow never got around to doing so these four years. Of course, the journey also included many known comforts: The quintessential American musical “Oklahoma!” being sold out, we watched my own favourite, “My Fair Lady.” We also spent our last lunch together at Columbia’s branch of Yale’s beloved Junzi.

The Russian part of my summer is documented on the Yale Russian Chorus’s Tumblr blog (https://yalerussianchorus.tumblr.com/) that I ran and posted to during our travels. It is an interesting read, but the short version is as follows: Moscow – Zaraysk – Moscow – Sergiev Posad – Moscow – Rostov – Saint Petersburg – Moscow.

To begin the Chinese part of my adventure: I arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport at half past ten in the evening, as there was no good place for me to be between then and my five thirty flight to Kunming. I wrote a sentimental blog post for the Russian Chorus Tumblr, bought some juice and pastries, and finished Gogol’s short story “The Nose,” all the while wondering why there was a direct flight between Moscow and Kunming in the first place. I found out soon enough, when hordes of Chinese tour groups descended upon the airport and paralysed all of its infrastructure.

As I prepared to spend perhaps an hour in the check-in queue, I was approached by a tall airport worker who asked me in Russian whether I was flying to Kunming. When I said yes, he asked me whether I was Ladislav Charouz, from which I surmised – correctly, as I later found out – that I was the only Slavic- or even non-Chinese-looking person on the flight. Receiving his answer, the man led me to the faster business check-in line, muttering “this will take a while” as he looked at the tourist hordes on our right.

I am still unable to say with certainty why I was afforded this luxury. The frustration of the Russian airport workers with the elderly Chinese tourists was palpable, especially as the latter were clearly unaccustomed to forming single queues in such situations. On the other hand, perhaps I was simply not part of a tour group and it was easier to handle my case singly. In any case, I could not help but remember with an ironic grin a saying my dad once told me: “Slovan všude bratra má” or “A Slav finds a brother everywhere.”     

A new employee was being trained at the business desk; I knew because among the tell-tale signs of her novicehood was the fact that she carefully inspected every single one of my visas trying to find my visa to China – it took the mysterious man three seconds to flip through my passport and point out what she was looking for. Neither of them even looked at my overweight luggage, as they were both clearly overwhelmed by the hecticness ahead.

Well, with that part of my anabasis done, I finally boarded my flight headed to Kunming. The flight was relatively peaceful and I fell asleep a couple of times – no wonder after staying awake until five thirty. At some point, an argument arose between one section of the plane and the cabin crew, as several of the travellers were feeling restless and refused to sit down during turbulences. All eyes were turned to the right window seat of aisle 37 as the flight attendant was persuading a man to stop standing.

I arrived in Kunming a day before I was expected – a necessary collateral to finding a direct flight from Moscow – and so I had to head to my provisional hotel. It was a bad sign when the taxi driver had to get out of the car to figure out the directions with some airport personnel, and the terrifying chaos was compounded when, in the middle of a street full of motorbikes, neon signs, and slightly shabby houses, neither the driver nor I could see the hotel’s name on any of the walls. After talking to several pedestrians, the driver eventually figured out that the hotel’s street sign was in fact different from the name under which I booked it.

All of this, I ask my kind reader to bear in mind, was done without any safety nets. I had not yet gotten a Chinese sim card, I did not know how to reach anyone, and if I got lost on any part of the journey, I would have had to rely on the kindness of strangers and the power of several hundred yuan in my wallet.

Getting my room was quite easy considering I did it with Chinese skills that had been rusting for about a month, and considering the fact that no one at the reception spoke any English. One staff member was apparently so shocked by my presence (and hopefully a little pleased with my Chinese), that he gifted me two mangoes while leisurely smoking a cigarette. Not having had dinner, I guzzled them down, wrote to my family and friends that I had arrived safely, and went to sleep. That was the first night in a very long time that I got a full eight hours of sleep again.

The view from my first hotel had me somewhat scared.

My taxi misadventures continued the next day, when my driver for some reason ignored her navigation and took me what seemed to me quite far away from where I needed to get. It took a lot of confused back and forth before we finally arrived on my street. Having received my room, I unpacked and went on a leisurely stroll to get lunch. I did not expect it to rain, so I hid in a fruit shop and bought a few bananas as great torrents drenched the streets. It did not stop raining until late in the evening.

The day was also an opportune day to make some plans. I sketched out both a plan of where I would like to visit in Kunming, as well as a plan for my extra-Chinese activities. I will have to dedicate a lot of time this summer to downloading and backing up materials that will be gone when my Yale email account is deleted, which is also a good opportunity to do some online housekeeping.

Visiting plan:

·       Yuantong Temple area (nearby):

-        Yuantong Temple

-        Kunming Zoo (near Yuantong)

·       Cuihu Park area (South of Yuantong):

-        Cuihu Park

·       Jinma area (South of Cuihu):

-        Jinma

-        Yongning Mosque (near Jinma)

-        Nancheng Mosque (near Jinma)

-        Yixigong Mosque (near Jinma)

-        Changle Temple/Dongsi Tower (near Jinma)

-        Xisi Tower (near Jinma)

-        Yunnan Monument to the People’s Heroes (near Jinma)

·       Yunfang Huaniao market (South of Jinma):

·       Long trips:

-        Qiongzhu Temple (far away – CET is planning a trip here)

-        Xishan (far away)

-        Jindian Park (far away)

-        Changchongshan (far away)

·       Reach out to Sun Laoshi to schedule a visit

Short task plans:

·       Download pictures from:

-        Yale Gmail

-        GroupMe

-        Facebook

·       Clean up and re-post Facebook photo albums (must first select best pictures since 2017)

·       Figure out housing for Taiwan (waiting on ICLP to publish housing)

·       Clean up the Yale Russian Chorus Tumblr (waiting on several choristers’ posts)

·       Finish my written reflections on the spring of 2019

Long task plans:

·       Work on publishing things I have written:

-        Translations

-        Book on the operas of Bedřich Smetana

-        Essay on the Vietnamese diaspora in the Czech Republic

-        Essay on Shah Naser al-Din’s visit to Vienna

·       Select my best pictures since 2017

·       Research options for the future:

-        Graduate school

-        Jobs

Regular tasks:

·       Personal growth schedule hour:

-        Monday: Translate from German

-        Tuesday: Translate from Yiddish

-        Wednesday: Read Russian

-        Thursday: Translate from Spanish

-        Friday: Translate from Chinese

·       Regale friends with wholesome content:

-        Memes every now and then

-        Updates on my life

·       Keep parents posted