Spartans in Russia 15

September 11th, 2010: Moscow, Russia

The final day of our Russia Tour and the team was very excited for it. The volleyball portion is over and now it is just the tourist in us left. As usual we started early and we have to just to get anywhere in the chaos that is Moscow traffic. The first stop of the day was a Russian market…aka tourist trap.

There are a lot of questions in this world. One of which that comes to mind is how fly paper works. The coiled, dangling sticky strip of substance that does not replicate anything in nature is something that, apparently, is irresistible for flies. Now why would that be? Does it smell? Is it shiny or sparkly to fly eyes? Or is it one of those forbidden fruit things that’s just too tempting to resist? I think it is door number three and I ask the question because these open air markets are like fly paper for tourists. It smells (usually), there are a lot of things that are shiny ‘n sparkly and it is one of those places where you know what is about to happen, not much of it good, but yet you cannot resist going to “just see what it is.” You know you are about to spend way too much money buying things you don’t need because you talked the vendor down 20% from the asking price when we all know full well its marked up 80% from cost. Even with all of that knowledge we LOVE it and just have to get stuck to it.

As far as tourist fly paper goes, this was as good as it gets. English speaking people everywhere, completely ignorant to the allure of the place. More than willing to open up their waist belts, cleverly hidden underneath their shirts so that no one can quickly steal their stuff but they can slowly and very conspiculously show the world that they haven’t worked out or eaten well while on vacation. Of course by ‘they’ I really mean ‘we.’

This was the Russian mega market. There were four primary categories of what was for sale and each grouping was more tempting than the one before. First you had the Mafia Attire and this included fur hats, leather coats, track suits, watches & jewelry. The next level up were the old things that were being sold to westerners as antiques. Now lets be honest, aren’t antiques just old things everywhere, why is Russia any different. The difference is at this market you can buy authentic Russian old things…sorry antiques. They are much nicer than the non-authentic Russian antiques that immigrated to North America. The third category at this mega market were the things that recalled the Soviet days. This concept is amusing in that the Russian people have come so far and worked so hard to leave the communist regime behind yet they print CCCP and KGB on any and everything they think a westerner will buy. Lighters, flasks, collapsing shot glasses, shot glass sets, cigarette cases, wallets, and on and on. All with the hammer and sickle, all red and all marked up to turn a huge profit. Come to think of it, maybe this really is a sign of capitalist Russia peddling the supply of their history to the demand of the needy…sorry…greedy.

The final category and the one that dominated Spartan shopping bags were the “authentic” Russian souvaneirs. This of course was the famous Russian nesting dolls. The variety of these dolls was mind bottling. The traditional red, shiny dolls were there but so too were the blue, yellow and green ones. All of Roy G. Biv’s colours were represented in force. That wasn’t the half of it though. The themed dolls were the most entertaining. Every sports team in the world it seemed had its own nesting dolls. From the Capitals to the Yankees to Chelsea FC to the greatest franchise in the history of sport…the Green Bay Packers. As the dolls got smaller the star power represented was smaller. Aaron Rogers opened up to reveal Greg Jennings, who opened to Donald Driver who led to Ryan Grant, etc. They even had a nesting doll with the image of the unspeakable name in sports. It starts with a B the middle part is rett Fav and ends in FILTHY TRAITOR. The themes didn’t end with sports teams. These dolls were used for political statements with past presidents and prime ministers of Russia and the USA represented. There was Metallica and The Doors doll sets, Russian hockey sets. You name it and I’m sure you could find a Russian doll set to match. It was a Russian nesting doll smorgosboard.

With all that said it was a lot of fun to search for souveneirs and trinkets to bring back for friends, family and sponsors. The guys had a lot of fun searching for a little piece of Russia to bring back to Canada. Though we are bringing back so many souveneirs that we had to apply for an importer’s liscence they are not the most plentiful thing we are bringing back with us. That spot is reserved for the memories and stories that we’ve picked up along the way. Though we have tried to keep up with the stories through the blog, pictures, video, twitter and email there is really no way of fully communicating all that went on here on this tour.

A phrase we use a lot on our team is stolen from the Friday Night Lights movie and it is “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts.” The line has to do with the way in which we approach each day and each match. With eyes wide open ready to experience whatever God has in store for us. Also with hearts full of love to share with all of those we come in contact with be it friend or foe, Spartan or not, Russian or…well…Russian mostly. As far as I can tell these young Spartan men are returning to Canada with very full hearts and misty eyes which may not be as catchy but is both more accurate and indicative of their hearts’ fullness.

Go Spartans!!!