Hotel Yar Voronezh

... are copied even though, like the seasoned traveller that I am, I have copies! I buy my insurance and head for the last office.There are three windows and it is anybodys guess who should go to who. There are the usual gaggle of hopefuls. Most are missing documents or copies so have to rush off to get them while we wait patiently. Just as I get to the front of the queue the window is slammed and the blind dropped so we move ...

... a jolly one. I felt a little overmatched, speaking and joking in Russian, while pinned up against the window, but these were good people, so I spoke to the student about literature, and pretended to dance when Russian pop music that everyone hated played. During our two-hour ride, the infamous "militsia" (police) stopped us two times and asked to see some of our documents (including mine). They were apparently looking for a villain. In ...

16.00 Uhr. Wir sind noch gar nicht abgefahren, aber die kleine Stadt steht schon Kopf: Deutsches Fernsehen kommt! Eine Lokaljournalistin, die ich gebeten habe, für uns zwei Interviews zu organisieren, hat in einem Krankenhaus angerufen, wo die Alkoholopfer liegen. Die Chefärztin meinte, sie darf nicht ohne Genehmigung der Stadtverwaltung reden. Die Stadtverwaltung wusste aber ...

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.

... women may allow themselves to be dominated? - - Where is the love for humanity? - - Why don't we make "now" better? - - There should be a revolution in the schools. - The desks should be turned over. - The old teaching ways should be burnt. - Read what we want, not what we're told to. - - Maybe I should say what's on my mind. - - We should allow only short and weak men to reproduce, strong and athletic women, so the genders will be equalized ...

... I think, and his characters were wealthy, passionate, and mortally emotional. He seemed to want to present the theme that we should care about others. Here are some of my favorite quotes from his characters: "Chto nyne zenshina? Sozdanie bez voli, igrushka dlya strastei - il prixotei drugix!" (What's a woman today? A creature without will, a toy for the passions and desires of others!) "Chto zenshina? Eyo ot yunosti samoi v prodazu vigodam, kak zertvu, uvirayut, vinyat v ...

... when I came to Russia, but, then, upon seeing I wasn't like he expected me to be, he seemed to resent that invitation. He did help me out with a lot. This included: a place to stay and food for seven weeks; Russian films I could watch; and the occasional Russian-language conversation; and a few other things. Engineer Igor was one of those rare beneficiaries of the new capitalism. He lived in one of the exorbitantly large and art-less houses of the rich. In the ...

... joke. Poor Nadezda had to translate them all for me. Here´s one: "A high-ranking German official goes to the cabinet in his office and opens it, only to find the most-famous Russian spy standing there. "'What are you doing here?' asks the German. "'I´m waiting for my train,' says the spy. "'Oh,' says the German, and he returns to his desk. A moment later, he gets up and returns to the cabinet, only to find the spy no longer there. "'Hmm ...

... girls, Nadezda and dark-haired Elina, have all but disappeared. We're very different from each other. Nowadays, we mostly argue. Elina thinks I'm a "durak" (fool) and a "rebenok" (baby), because I think sex is bad. I think she's a "durak" and "rebenok", because she's always lived with her mom. The girls say I'm selfish. I say they're selfish. They think I should spend a lot of money on them. (Of course, I never do - ha ha!) Our stressful ...

... this a pie!? You bake like my grandma!" The natural response to such shoddy taunts, of course, is, "You heckle like my grandma!") So, in Russia, sometimes I kiss Elina. Her laughing-in-the-grass chocolate eyes, her small mouth that opens like a hole in space, her weak powdered-skin biceps, her ninth-century aristocratic narrow clavicles, her long inky-dark hair that crawls and swirls and flies around as shiny and soft as a new stuffed ...