Train ride from St Petersburg to Volgograd

Up until this point, I hadn’t experienced much in the way of culture shock. I had my first experience with language barriers on the train.  The traveling time was a little over 30 hours. It was the end of august, so it was hot and there was no air conditioning in our cabins. The cabins in my section of the train or “cheap seats” were about the size of a walk in closet. There were four cushioned platforms that served as benches and our beds. Anyway the cabin was full. There was me, Ryan and two Russian guys, neither  spoke English. This is where things become awkward. I was in a hot tiny room with three other guys. Ryan and I didn’t speak Russian and our cabin mates didn’t speak English. Here I was face to face with an old man, I had my little phrase book out and I was trying to figure out what to say to him. I left the room for dinner and came back a couple of hours later for bed. The next morning he offered Ryan and I coffee. I learned quickly that there are ways around language barriers. For one thing there is body language, things such as pointing and making gestures was reminiscent of a game of charades. I felt dumb communicating like this, but it was effective. The old man’s name was Yuri, that afternoon into evening though the charades- like conversation and the help of my phrasebook I learned that he was on a fishing trip and was heading to the Volgograd region.The last night on the train was probably the most fun, a large group of other guests and staff congreagated into our room. It is one expirience i won't forget. 

                                                         Some of the group in our cabin. Yuri is the Man in front of me with the white tank top.