John the Cow

We've read that Russians are very superstitious. We didn't realize how superstitious until we met Lube.

It took us a while to figure out why Lube was so upset that the two Finnish brothers had left her homestay when they did. The night before they left, we had helped them form the Russian sentences to tell Lube what a wonderful time they had had. Photos were taken, addresses exchanged and heartfelt goodbyes spoken. So, John and I were a little confused the next morning when Lube pulled up a chair to our breakfast table, thumbed through the Russian/English dictionary to ask us if Osmo and Lassi had left because they were upset or dissatisfied?

"Of course not," we told her. "Why did she think that?"

Lube pantomined sweeping the floor and looked at us. We still didn't get it. "I swept the yard yesterday," she said pointing to each word in the dictionary. Yes, we had noticed that the yard was swept, but what did that have to do with Osmo and Lassi. Then she found the word for "Superstition" in the dictionary and it started to make sense. Apparently there is a Russian superstition that if you sweep your yard, it is a premonition that a guest will leave in the morning. So, despite all the goodbyes the night before, Lube perhaps felt that it was her tidy yard that had driven the Finns away.

John and I, not versed in the ways of the netherworld, had our own moment to test the Russian spirits. I had just finished cutting John's hair and was about to sweep the clippings off the porch when Lube ran up to me saying "No, no, not into the wind." She took the broom from me and methodically swept every crumb into a dust pan and threw them into the wood stove. I apologized for my actions. I didn't know.

Later, we thought nothing of her mother mopping the porch steps or of Lube washing the bedroom floors, although we did wonder why she hadn't waited until all her guests had left. It had rained briefly when John and I were hanging our laundry to dry and we had been forced to wait a half an hour (at which time the floor mopping began) until the rain stopped. When it did and the sun came out, Lube looked up, pointed to the sky and smiled. Later we learned from another traveler that Russians often wash the floor to change the weather.

So, with all these Russian superstitions becoming apparent, we weren't sure what to make of the naming of a new calf after John. The night before the birth, Lube and her sister had asked us what our zodiac signs were. In the morning, Lube introduced us to the newest member of her now 5-cow family, 'John'. John put his hand to his heart and said, "thankyou."

Just before we left Lube's home that morning, she set out three chairs on the porch and motioned for us to sit. It was another Russian custom. Guest should never leave without first sitting on the porch together. Five seconds of sitting apparently was enough to satify the tradition, and after just sitting down, Lube jumped up motioned that she wanted some photos with us and her mother. She put the chairs back, we took the pictures and she walked us to the bus station (a simple wooden house with no sign - how we would have found it without her is beyond me). Lube sat with us on the bus until the engine started. We all hugged each other again and waved goodbye.

We'll always remember Lube and her mother. They asked when we would be back again. "Winter?" Lube asked. Not likely, but perhaps we'll make it out to Olkhon Island again someday.