A Life Fully Lived

The group was again taken to the large Intourist Hotel, a four star hotel on the outside and a two star on the inside.

The program in Chabarowsk starts with a city tour, including the nature museum. They learn about the wild life of the area, the Siberian Tiger, the Arctic Wolf and black bear. A small group hires a boat for a cruise on the mighty Amur River.

One of the highlights is a meeting with the Soviet-German Friendship Club. The members are mainly language students and staff from the teacher's college who welcome the group in the lounge. They sit in small groups to talk or play games to help break the ice. The invitation to dance does not find much response. The Germans rather talk and learn more about the life and aspirations of their hosts.

Lena, a pretty girl in her last year of German and English instruction, is happy when she finds out Hildegard speaks English. She would like to travel when she is finished.

Time comes to leave and Lena walks Hildegard to the bus. Before they part, she asks Hildegard for her address. A few years later, we get a phone call from Seattle; Lena wants to come to Vancouver and asks if she can stay a few days with us.

The event for which all in the group had been waiting, the journey on the legendary Trans-Siberian Railroad, becomes reality. For three days, the forty people are together in close quarters and Hildegard describes in her diary her observations of the group dynamics.

Nilguen and Ilse, two social workers from Bielefeld, join Hildegard and Monika as roommates in their train compartment. These four are known as `the Feminists'. Hildegard appreciates Monika, because of her rational attitude towards life. She seems to charm almost all men she meets and even on the street men turn their heads to see who this blond woman is. There is Oppa Otto, a gentle, widely travelled, knowledgeable geologist who has an artificial lung. The `Goofy one', is a white haired big-bellied man with `diarrhea of the mouth'. Christa, a sharp- tongued older nurse who has been in Russia twice, is telling everybody how to act. Her comments are not meant to be funny but she has everyone in stitches. And there is Detlev, the tour leader, who can be serious, cynical and critical, but is mostly flippant. Then again he can be a' young kid' who endears himself to almost everyone. They are an interesting mix of people. Hildegard's compartment is a magnet for many because most of the serious discussions take place here. In addition to this, Ilse has German toilet paper, Monika candies and vodka, Nilguen chocolate and Hildegard good coffee. They are well prepared.

There is a lot of flirting going on. Some people lose their temper and self-control, others are very sensitive and polite. This experience brings out the best and worst in people. Being with them, Hildegard is reminded of Michael's observation,'Germans cannot just state facts, they always make an editorial comment'.

The train rattles along for miles across swampy land, changing to hilly country with the occasional small village. Those that are not ghost towns consist of small wooden huts. They have two or three windows across the front wall and are covered with corrugated tin roofs. Once in a while, they see a cemetery between trees. Many of her relatives died in this inhospitable land while in exile. They very likely would not have been buried in a grave with a small fence around it. Occasionally they see some people working in their garden or going to work, dressed in heavy clothing since it is still cold here. It looks like a very poor area.

After almost twenty hours of travel, the train stops at a station and the passengers have time to go out and look around or buy something. Old women wrapped in black kerchiefs offer their garden produce, boiled potatoes, canned mushrooms, salted pickles and Sauerkraut wrapped in dough pockets to passengers. They are shy and do not want to be photographed. On one of these stops, Hildegard meets Genia, a 15-year-old Russian boy. She gives him a lighter, which she had brought and was told kids appreciate them. He is surprised and his eyes light up. He is travelling on the same train and makes it a habit to walk through their compartment, wink and smile at her. Finally he gets the courage to come up to Hildegard and give her his snake ring, “a souvenir from Russia” he says. He has been holidaying in Chabarowsk and is going home to Moscow. He wants to become an engineer. Hildegard is moved by this `gift of friendship'.