Benefit Plaza Congress Hotel Voronezh

... hope I ask a young woman in one of the offices number 5 - who says the romance has gone out of bureaucracy - if she has one. No, and though she doesn't speak English she gets the message. Incredibly kindly she fills it in for me cavalierly crossing through the sections I had previously and labouriously entered the details of camera, cloths, money etc and merely fills in the bike details and directs me towards the next hurdle ...

... mini-van with seats for at least twelve paying passengers. June 11th. A hot day, and I was in Russia. Hooray! Someone asked the foreigner (me), where he was from. I said, America. The wise-cracking bald man commented, "Rabotal protiv Soyuz." (He worked against the Union.) He later joked that I was a millionaire. The wise girl said, "Milionar v marshutke!" (As if a millionaire would be in a marshutka!) and giggled. But, our two-hour ride ...

... unserem Besuch nichts - und der aufgebrachte Pressesprecher hat alle Stellen der Stadt abtelefoniert und verboten, "mit den Deutschen zu reden!". Der Pressesprecher beschimpft er mich zur Begrüßung als "unprofessionell". Alle "professionelle" Medien, die er kennt, beraten zuerst mit der Stadtverwaltung, bevor sie jemanden um ein Interview bitten. Ich entschuldige mich ...

This place in Russia near the town of Voronezh is called Russian Palestine, because of the similar scenery and chalky soil.

Many centuries ago the nuns came here and made the caves in the soft chalky soil. That was the moment of foundation of the Convent of the Saviour.

... is an admittance that life is not perfect. And it never will be again. It is a disappointment. It is the top of a mountain you don't want to finish climbing. If one thing remains perfect, all dreams are possible. - - "Bog" and "bogaty." - God and rich. - All who believe in God are selfish? - The belief in God is the acceptance of a more-powerful being. Acceptance means "it is okay." Thus, theists think they (if men) can be rich and powerful ...

... I hoped to achieve on my trip, with estimates on how much I achieved them. enter country without a visa - 100% make a positive impact on the people - 0% work - 1% learn Russian - 68% experience the romance - 100% read the country's writers - 20% get to know today's culture - 63% learn about communist history - 3% hitchhike to Siberia - 4% explore nature - 2% The writer who I read was called Lermantov. He was chiefly a poet, but I read some of his plays. He wrote in the 19th ...

... he would often value his own well-being above the good of the community. And the belief in God is the acceptance of a more-powerful being. Acceptance means, "it is okay." Thus, theists think they (if men) can be rich and powerful, while women and poor men may allow themselves to be dominated. ... I would like to pose the theory that, if Igor, my Russia host, had cared about me, things would've been better for both of us. He'd invited me to stay with his ...

... gets there. I would like to help her with this dream. Cinnamon-haired Nadezda was the one most responsible for making my stay there nice. She introduced me to the poor family of her friend, a family made of young parents and a squeakingly-tiny three-year-old named Liza. We played chess and other games all night in their falling-apart apartment. Sharp-smiling father Zenia flew with delight to tell me joke after joke after Russian-simple ...

Shortly after I wrote last time, my clever friend Nadezda introduced me to her friend Olga. Blond, soft-haired Olga has a strawberry-pink dress, eyes so blue they could eat you, black thin-lined eyebrows, and a fuzzy gargling voice and fresh found face that nod positively. When she kissed me, her tongue was like a fat friendly whale, flopping around clumsily, moving across my lips way too fast. It was great. The romantic moments between me and the ...

(For those unfamiliar with the phrase, "You bum, you ... like my grandma!" is one of the American sports heckler's favorite taunts, up there with, "Hey, batter! Swing, batter!" It is undesirable to be said to do anything like someone's grandma, especially for a professional athlete. The taunt has made its way past the sports arena, even. Some unexperienced hecklers have been heard to mistakenly taunt, "You quilt like my grandma!" or "You ...