Back in Chita after a 3 year absence #3
NOVEMBER 25, 2024: I haven’t written as much as planned because my laptop quit on me several days ago. It wouldn’t have quit if I hadn’t gotten it a wee bit damp along the...
Back in Chita after a 3 year absence #2
November 18, 2024 I mentioned that picnic and hike. The picnic on Saturday afternoon was at a camp, a “baza” or base, that is part of the Chita Institute of Baikal State University. It...
Back in Chita after a three year absence #1
NOVEMBER 15 2024. Greetings from Chita! I arrived the 11th at 2am and am residing at Hotel Dauria smacked dab in the city center. It was the military hotel long ago during the Soviet...
Maslenitsa festival, March 17, 2024, at the Children’s Center “Unity”
“How Emelya met Maslenitsa” Shrovetide festivities “Shirokaya Maslenitsa” were held today on March 17 in a theatrical performance “How Emelya met Maslenitsa” at our Petrovsk – Zabaikalsky Children’s Center “Unity”. The day was filled...
A month in Chita, Nov-Dec 2021 post #3
Movie viewing; meeting my godson; Petrovsk volunteering friends; Sunday hike WATCHING SHREK Two days ago Elena organized for English students a viewing at her university of the 2001 animation, Shrek. On December 3rd there...
A month in Chita, Nov-Dec 2021, post #2
Visiting the graves of Olga Fleshler, Tanya Sukhanova and Oleg Gotlib November 26. Victor took me to visit Olga Fleshler’s grave this morning. She died in November last year. The video is of our...
A month in Chita, Nov-Dec 2021, post #1
Written November 24, updated and posted November 25 While there is little news to report about Siberian Bridges yet, you might like knowing what Chita is like on November 23, 2021, my arrival morning....
New webpage: Remembering Olga Fleshler
Our dear friend, Olga Isaakovna Fleshler, passed away on November 2, 2020 due to the Covid-19 virus and pneumonia. A page of remembrances by her friends, students and colleagues with photos is now found...
Tom in Chita 2019, No. 6: THE TROUT FARM
35 minutes from Chita on the road to Lake Arakhlei (just past the Buryat village of Ugdan) is the Turkov’s 117-hectare (289 acre) trout farm. On Sunday June 9th I had the chance to...
Tom in Chita 2019, No. 5: THE KOLOTILINS, THE JAZZ CONCERT
The day we got back from Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky after visiting the festival there I was bushed. That was June 14th. Two overnight trains two days apart, plus a lot of activities took their toll. And...
Tom in Chita 2019, No. 4: PETROVSK-ZABAIKALSKY’S DAY OF THE CITY AND DAY OF RUSSIA (JUNE 12)
Spanning the entire length of the town’s main boulevard are work units ready to march in the Day of the City parade, a very short walk around the square to their spots flanking the...
Tom in Chita 2019, NO. 3: THE DECEMBRIST FESTIVAL IN PETROVSK-ZABAIKALSKY
Decembrist Festival and Iron Mine Excursion The 3rd Decembrist Festival of Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky (pop. ~16,000, founded 1789), but the first designated as international, took place June 9-14, coinciding with the town’s “Day of the City”...
Tom in Chita 2019, No. 2: FIRST WEEK OF TEACHING
Monday morning everyone gets their English Explorers caps, shirts and their SB string bags. The entrance to Gorod Detstva, “City of Childhood” Child Development Center. The huge poster advertises the Center’s English teaching for...
Tom in Chita 2019, No. 1: MEETING ENGLISH STUDENTS
I’ve been here for two and a half weeks and had the chance to meet with several English learning groups in the past week or so. This was the main reason I came in...
Vitaly Tolochkin goes to the finals of “You’re Super!” competition for the 2nd time
May 31, 2019 update: I learned today that Vitaly did not place in this year’s competition. In the opinion of his voice teacher and our friend Olga Fleshler, the song he chose for the...
A Mother’s Day visit with the Shipleys of Chita
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY CHUCK RITCHIE On Mother’s Day weekend, three participants from the Siberian Bridges “Taste of Zabaikalye” tour of late summer 2018, Irene Duranczyk, Tom Lonergan, and I, ventured forth to Chicago...
An International Conversation Via Social Media
POST BY ALEXANDRA KOULLICK, SB VOLUNTEER Alexandra In late March, I got an email in Russian from someone (I speak Russian at home) saying that she heard about me from Olga Isaakovna Fleshler and...
Introducing our new volunteer, Alexandra Koullick
From our Spring 2019 newsletter, Chuck Ritchie reporting– Meet Alexandra (Sasha) Koullick, Siberian Bridges’ new, enthusiastic volunteer. Sasha is finishing her junior year at the Blake School in Minneapolis where she is actively involved...
Handmade Holiday Cards from Chita for US 3rd Graders
Last November, Raisa Lukashova, Head of English for City of Childhood Development Center, a private afterschool that offers supplementary English for ages 6 – 18 (and even now adults) among many other offerings, asked...
Taste of Zabaikalye 2018 Tour, No. 5: the English Language Get-Together
Chuck Ritchie (with Tom Dickinson) writes: Wednesday, August 29, Lunch with Olga and The English Language Get-Together: On this particular day we enjoyed a late lunch offered by our dear friend Olga Fleshler in...