Park Inn Voronezh

... to another window.<br><br>Thankfully, having been perfectly filled in my form is fine. <br><br>I'm sure I've mentioned the problem of not understanding Cyrillic script. It works in reverse as well. The poor Customs officer struggles to understand any of my documents but as on other occasions where there is good will everything gets resolved. And I am through in 2 hours.<br><br>The sun is out, the landscape is now more like Kent ...

... Oskol, we said, "Do svodaniya." On flat land between colossal, gray and worn apartment buildings, I walked to Yana's family's home. Thank, thank the empty, nonexistent sky for Yana! My shoes were soaked from a heavy rain, my socks blue, the palms of my feet so soggy I thought I might have gangrene, my clothes dirty, and my body out-traveled. Her apartment was comfortable, by Russian terms or tent-sleeper terms. Her father, Oleg, was a friend ...

... 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.<br><br>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.

... Love is bad, oppressive. - - Blacks were controlled with the introduction of religion, Christianity. - - If I had sex, I could never be free. I'd be lonely. - - If we abstain from sex, we might remain young and immortal. - - Gandhi's thoughts on dieting. - Fruits and berries. - - I treat girls differently than other guys. They will prefer me to them. - - Christianity must be destroyed. - Turn the churches into houses for travelers ...

... k sebe odnoi lyubit drugix ne pozvolyayut." (What's a woman? She's alone from youth, to be sold for profit, like a sacrifice, she's taken away condemned to love only herself to love others isn't allowed.) "Ya dokazu, chto v nashei pokolenye, yest xot odna dusha, v kotoroi, oskorblenye, zapav, prinosit plod." (I contend that, in our generation, there is but one soul, in which insults and (something) take hold.) Russians like to think their language sounds like birds singing ...

... was a loud big-screen tv, expensive white furniture, and an air between them that seemed to lack life. It seemed his family was trying so hard to leave their common countrymen behind that they'd forgotten there's more to life than how much you have. White, thick-bellied Igor, who wore bland polo shirts and big, square glasses and a bird nose, didn't take an interest in or listen to me nor my dreams nor my goals. When I had questions about our town, he was ...

... the German. 'I guess he must´ve caught his train." Nadezda later introduced me to her ten-year-old niece, Violeta. Nadezda has beautiful, confused-but-trying-to-be-strong eyes. Violeta´s were also blue, with a wizard´s potence. Violeta immediately came and stood in front of me. We conversed, she bravely tried her basic English from time to time, and it was big me who was intimidated by little her. She didn´t fear the silence between us. She ...

... has taught us a lot about each other's cultures. And I've become a decent Russian-language arguer and insultor. I've learned that some Russian girls really love money. They love to go out with guys who'll spend money on them, though this often entitles the guys to a certain power over them. Most girls dress very sexily. They almost always wear high heels. They often wear white or light colors (especially in the hot summer), and the fabric ...

... Other times I kiss Nadezda. If you wanted to write a poem about her, her name rhymes with "zvezda" (star). She has strong but meat-y posture, a clever mind and big light-blue eyes that both fear and intimidate, and a mouth and bottomless dimple dots that may not always be happy but are visibly so when she's talking with someone whose intelligence she respects. Lately, we've been going to the forest near my suburban home to hang ...