Teens recall Soviet hospitality

Breakfast in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, was laid out on the table by 9 a.m. The morning meal usually consisted of vegetables, sardines, caviar, sausage, cheese, hot tea and bread.

Jeff Jacobs of Orono said his Soviet family told him caviar would protect him from radiation. Apparently the Soviets use to test nuclear bombs nearby. Whether a valid statement or not, Jacobs enjoyed the fish eggs and took extra helpings.

“They didn’t listen to you when you were full,” remarked Rachel Faust of Winterport. “They’d keep feeding you and feeding you.” Jacobs and Faust soon learned the Russian word “todium,” which means “full.”

Jacobs, 17, Faust, 18, and about 20 Japanese students spent five weeks this summer experiencing the Soviet Union through a program sponsored by American Field Service’s Intercultural Programs. Four of the five weeks were spent sharing cultures with students and families in Kazakhstan, a Soviet republic located in central Asia. Before returning home, program participants toured Moscow for three days.

Kazakhstan is the second largest republic in the Soviet Union. Kazakhs are the indigenous inhabitants of the land, where Islam is the predominate religion.

While in the republic, participants lived for three weeks at a camp. Each student also spent one week living with a Kazakh family in Alma Ata, the republic’s capital city, about 20 minutes from the camp by car. The city has a population of 1.2 million people.

Alma Ata means “father of apples.” Situated in the southern part of Kazakhstan and at the foot of the Zailiski Al-Tau Mountains, the city is legendary for its apple orchards.

According to Faust and Jacobs, the days there were warm and the nights cool; foliage was similar to that found in Maine.

Program information pamphlets instructed the students what to pack in their suitcases: T-shirts and shorts for the warmer weather, and trousers, sweaters and a coat for the colder evenings.

While riding the subway in Moscow, an elderly and intoxicated man sitting next to Jacobs pulled on the American’s shorts and pointed to his trousers, indicating Jacobs should be wearing similar clothing.

“Older people are very traditional and they don’t wear shorts,” Jacobs said. Younger Soviets frequently wore shorts, but they, too, were criticized by their elders.

Jacobs said most people’s clothing was made of wool or polyester. “A lot of times they can’t buy what fits them,” he added, as a variety of sizes was not available in most stores.

While learning their own survival techniques, which prescribed patience, Jacobs and Faust adapted to the Kazakh way of life, or way of coping. “In the Soviet Union things go wrong often,” Faust said, “and it’s something you have to get use to and learn to live with.

“Nothing was ever dependable,” she continued. Often stores and museums didn’t seem to have business hours. “You had to go and hope it was open.”

Further, shelves were sporadically stocked with products, added Jacobs. One day there would be plenty of cakes, next day there were none; one day there would be cans of Pepsi Cola and pounds of cheese, next day there were none.

“Everything was inexpensive, but there was nothing to buy,” said Faust. Product quality was poor and when there was something worth buying, the queue went out the shop’s door. Consequently, students in the program didn’t spend much money.

But there was always bread.

“We lived on bread and hot tea,” Jacobs said. Hot soup was a common dish, also. He explained that the drinking water was unhealthy so families had to prepare meals which called for boiled water, such as soup and tea. There was never any ice.

One lunch time in Alma Ata, Faust went with her Kazakh roommate, Daria, 15, to a local restaurant, where she ate horse meat. Kazakh friends lunching with them told Faust that horse was a traditional dish. “Actually, it was pretty good,” she said.

A restaurant would prepare one or two dishes daily, Faust continued, and those would be served to the customers. “It isn’t like you’d get a menu and decide what you wanted,” she added.