It go BOOM. Twice.
Most of you probably noticed one of the major news stories last week – North Korea’s nuclear test. BOOM. In case you missed it, here’s the short version: Monday/Tuesday (depending on what time zone you live in), North Korea conducted a nuclear test, to which the entire international community – China included, to many people’s surprise – issued strong condemnation of the country’s behavior, the UN Security Council met and tightened sanctions on the country, and the international security community (academics, experts, etc) went to town analyzing what exactly happened and the consequences.
How does this relate to my week? Well, for starters, it’s fascinating from an international security standpoint and from an international relations/policy standpoint, and the PIR Center is home to some of the experts in the field. However, the most immediate impact this test had on my life – I very quickly got over my fear of talking on the phone with Russians, since I was working the reception desk that day as various media outlets called for comments. For all the time I have spent studying Russian and living in Russia, you would think I wouldn’t dread speaking on the phone. But I do. Or at least, I dread(ed) having to field phone calls at work. Most of the conversations were some variation on (in Russian, of course):
“PIR Center, Jennifer speaking, how may I help you?”
“Hi, this is ?????? calling from ???????? can I please speak with [PIR Center expert]”
“What are you calling in regards to?”
“I would like to get some comments on the situation in North Korea for an article.”
“[PIR Center expert] is not available right now, shall I connect you with the person in charge of comments for the press?”
“Oh sure, that would be great!”
“Perfect! Now, before I do that, would you please repeat who’s calling?”
As in any situation in any country, there is proper telephone etiquette that should be followed when answering and directing phone calls, and it was about 2.5 weeks ago that I became familiar with Russian etiquette. They say practice makes perfect, in which case I should be well on my way after last Tuesday. Even if that’s optimistic, it doesn’t seem like I caused any major international incidents, and I got over my fear of speaking to Russians on the phone, so I would call it a successful day.
The other BOOM this week occured in Chelyabinsk on Friday morning. A fascinating scientific event – a meteorite came flying into Earth’s atmosphere and burned up along the way, creating a huge streak through the sky and, eventually, an explosion. The spectacular sight was accompanied by an intense boom. Some attribute the boom to the object’s supersonic speed, while others attribute it to the meteorite exploding (maybe both?). Either way, it was intense and caused a bunch of windows to break, doors to fly off their hinges, and car alarms to go crazy. Which is why I feel a little guilty being so incredibly fascinated and enjoying all the memes and jokes circulating online. However, most injuries were superficial, so I’m not losing sleep over my moral dilemma.
On the same topic, one of the good things to come out of rampant corruption in Russia is the plethora of dashboard cams that many Russians have recording constantly while driving, which therefore recorded for the benefit of all the meteorite streaking through the sky (and, in some cases, the boom that accompanied). For pictures, comments, and videos of the event, check out this link. I apologize for those of you who don’t speak Russian, but this is the best compilation of videos and pictures that I have found yet (a satisfactory solution if you want to read the site is to paste the url into Google Translate, which gives you a rough translation of the entire site). If I find something better in English, I’ll update the post :) Happy Reading/Watching!
PS – yes, there were a number of conspiracy theories flying around about whether or not it was actually a meteorite. My favorite one is, of course, that the Americans were testing a new type of weapon (in case you were wondering, the answer is No). It didn’t help that it took a while for people to recover any fragments of the meteorite. However, there is wide consensus among people around the world that this was, in fact, a meteorite.
PPS – Jon Stewart put together a great segment on the event in Chelyabinsk.
Thanks for reading, tune in next time!
