Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All!

Seasons Greetings to All!!! Thank you all very much for your wonderful messages of well wishing on the Vodka Awards Page. :) :) I wish you all and everyone else too, a Wonderful and Merry Christmas and a wicked New Year!!! May your presents be plentiful and may then New Year see many remarkable opportunities for each and every one of you.

In typical Christmas Fashion, Christmas Day was absolutely hectic for me too. It started early when Sveta, her mum, her friend and I left for the biggest supermarket in Europe, ASHAN. It is ENORMOUS!!! In fact it is too big. And far too busy. Navigating with a trolley requires expert skills in traffic management and patience. Needless to say, when it was time to leave, I was most grateful.

Next we jumped back in the car and navigated to the road that would lead us nearly all the way to Muranovo, a small town near to where the Sorokin family dacha resides. Passing the tree's covered with snow was a fantastic sight, the dreams of yesteryear coming true every passing seconds.

We drove, and we drove, a few minutes later, we were still driving. 20 minutes into the journey from Ashan to Dacha, we stopped to buy some snow shovels. Turns out we would need them later on. We bought 2 and already had one handy. "Was there really going to be that much snow?" I was wondering.

We continued driving. After we got near town of Muranovo, it was my turn to drive. The trusty stead was a brand new Citroen C3. I got into the drivers seat which on the left hand side. Wierd. I reach for the automatic shifter and realize that there are only 3 positions. "Reverse, Neutral and Drive" THere is also the Sportsmatic style manual shifting mode, but decided to leave that alone. Got in, belted up, adjusted a few details, and indicated to pull away from the shoulder of the road. The window wipers came on instinctly. Hmm, wrong stalk. Damn European cars. I turned the windscreen wipers off and attempted to use the correct stalk to operate the indicators. This time, they responded pleasingly. Great, i was in control again.

So I drove, and I drove, and it was good, and I was rusty, but it was good, and we got almost all of the way there, and we were going down a snow covered road with only one lane. And then it happened...

We had stumbled across a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. Turns out, the local well is quite popular. So everyone parks their cars anywhere they can and go to get water. The problem is, that in snowed under conditions (read, this particular day) there isn't enough room to do this without inconveniencing anyone. 15 minutes later, and there was progress.

We got to the dacha, left the car on the road and shifted 100 sqm of snow to park it of the road.
Their property is surrounded by a cedar fence with a gate. Unfortunately, the gate wouldn't open. The snow had build up behind the fence. Some hero would have to jump the fence. I bravely volounteered. Getting up one side of the fence wasn't very difficult. But alas, the other side of the fence was a situation of slightly different difficulty. The yard was under about 60-70cm of snow. It suddenly became clear to me exactly why we now had such a plentiful supply of shovels. We started clearing. We cleared, and we cleared, then I cleared, and cleared. It was magnificent. It was -13 degrees and I was nice and warm. :)

ANyway, to cut a long and potentially boring story short, we cleared the snow, organized firewood, activated Cold Weather Mode on the Dacha itself (ie put insulation between double windows) Had some lunch with the most divine tasting cucumber I have ever had and then left.
I drove the first part of the way have, then Sveta's mum drove the rest. I got the car bogged in snow until some lock to lock steering manipulation and expert throttle control managed to get us free. (DAMN I'm GOOD)

Then Ira went home, Sveta, her mum and I went to Sveta's sisters apartment to have Christmas Dinner (First time i've had sushi for CHristmas Dinner but a quality idea :) ) GOt home late late late, tired tired tired, collapsed, died. Not really, just slept.

It was a sensational day, lots of fun. But I do miss the traditional Australian Christmas very much. Here, it doesn't really feel like Christmas. It's simply not celebrated here.

I'm thinking of each and every one of you. As aforementioned, I wish you all the very best, a wonderful CHristmas and New Year. May all your dreams come true and all your resolutions come to fruition. Everybody be good and take care of yourselves and each other.

Merry Christmas!!!!
Happy New Year!!!!
С Новым Годом!!!!

Love from Matt

The 2005 Vodka Awards

The Official Radio Krasnaya 2005 Best Vodka Awards.

Current Standings:



1. Nemiroff Premium - ****
2. Russkiy Standart - ***1/2
3. Smirnoff Gold - ***
4. Parliament - ***
5. Stolnaya - **
6. Etalon - *

Heaven for 13 Roubles

"There's only one thing better than a Krutishka...."

If God had a favourite icecream, surely it would be this one. The one and only, always imitated, never equalled Krutishka. It hides in supermarket and Produkti freezers in it's distinct round orange wrappers. And for a mere 13 roubles, (65c Australian) you can experience this little piece of heaven.

One of the best things about Russia apart from the never ending supply of cheap DVD's is the wonderful and extensive selection of cakes, sweets, biscuits, and ice creams available. Not only is there a huge selection, but nearly everything in this selection is cheap, or cheaper than say in Australia. I would have to say you guys are missing out. :) :) Sorry to rub it in. :)

"...and that's 3 Krutishka's"

It's interesting too, some things that are available here that are also available in Australia too. You can still buy Vienetta's here for slightly cheaper than you would in Australia. Also I was interested to find that you can buy Cadbury chocolate here. However it's made in a factory in St Petersburg. I would say Australian Cadbury's is perhaps a tad better. :)

Also the following things are noticeably cheaper. Cigarettes, Beer, Vodka, Chocolate, anything thats not particularly good for you.

Anyway. I'm going to go eat a Krutishka now and go to bed. I wish you all a good evening, a good morning, and good day.

Matt.

The Metro Passenger

Its a proven fact that no matter where you go in this world, Public Transport brings all the wierdos out of the woodwork. Wierd peopl catch trains. And in Moscow, a lot of wierdos catch the Metro. People who look wierd, people who dress wierd, people who act wierd, and people who are all of the aforementioned.

I had an encounter with onesuch wierd person. So I decided to write a story while she was staring at me. Here is that story. Enjoy.

"Ever feel like someone is watching you? Ever wonder why people stand when they can sit? Who is she? Where did she come from? And why is she standing next to me? Are they reading glasses or shooting glasses she’s wearing? She’s thin framed and seems to be quite energetic. Female secret agent material. She’s still watching me, I know. So why me? Am I a threat? I’m not scared. Should I be?

Her coat is of the fur variety. She could fit an Ingram Sub machinegun complete with silencer under there. But by the look of her she is more sophisticated than that. Maybe she’s a robot. She seems to act like one. Her movements are very limited and very accurate. Her hand is close to my neck. Too close. That’s the last time I sit next to a handrail.

Her attention is diverted as the train suddenly comes out of the tunnel. The outside world becomes more interesting to her and she turns to face it. Thank God for that. I glance quickly at her. She has short blonde hair but it’s impossible to tell her age. She could be a relic of the KGB or the latest in a lineup of killing machines that aren’t supposed to exist. Either way, why me? All I did was suggest that perhaps we were being lied to….."

Everyone's A Manager!!

When I first started at Lingua.Ru, I was amazed by the shear number of students that were managers. "So what is your job? " "I'm Manager." "Wow! That’s great! So many Managers here."

It was remarkable. In fact too good that it sounded too good to be true. However as I found out later, it is true. In fact, every single employee is a Manager. Technically, Everyone in Russia is a Manager. With such a top heavy Management Structure, its surprising that the whole thing stays upright. It reminded me of the Fundamentals of Management cartoons. Where two boats were in a race. One boat had one manager yelling and 8 crew paddling. And the other boat had 8 managers, all yelling at one Crew member.

But this isn’t really the case either. Eventually it dawned on me. Supposed “Sales Managers” were in fact, “Sales Assistants”. The word “Manager” is has a somewhat different meaning in Russia. Australian “Sales Managers” organize a team of Sales People. In Russia, a Sales Manager manages sales. So everyone in a retail style shop is essentially a Sales Manager, albeit the Cashiers. They are Financial Managers. They manage money from customers’ wallets and purses into the company cash registers.

Everyone in a factory is a Production Manager and essentially “manage” their individual production stations. Even the Babushkas that clean the Metro Stations are Presentation Managers. They “manage” the presentation of the station. Why, when I started at Lingua.RU, I became a Manager of Education. I “manage” the process of Education.

It must be very demoralizing for Russians to work overseas when they are no longer referred to as “Managers”. I’m sure I will be disappointed that I am unable to retain my title as Education Manager upon my return to Australia.

Paradigm of the Temporary Society

The Soviet concept of accommodation consisted of three main rules:

It needed to be built Fast.
It needed to be built Simply.
It needed to be built Cheaply.

It was a quick fix solution. Temporary until the economy was stable enough to provide a higher quality and level of accommodation solutions in the capitol of the Soviet Union and other major cities. So the solution designed by Soviet engineers was a very simple construction of apartment buildings, consisting of concrete slabs stacked on top of each other. For a temporary solution, it was quite good and kept rain and snow off peoples heads for many years. Which turned into decades, which turned into half a century. The majority of these buildings, still stand today, and still have people living in them. Elsewhere, this building would have been declared condemned and would have been torn down. In Moscow, you can rent an apartment in such a building for around $500USD a month.

The stable economy never came. And thus, the temporary solutions still stand today. Eyesores of the Moscow skyline, grey, depressing buildings of various shapes and sizes but all built on the three main rules of Soviet Accommodation.

Around a lot of outer-metro stations are shops. In fact, not just outside metro stations, but along the streets, on street corners. These are the Kiosks that Moscow has come to love. They are everywhere, and sell everything from cigarettes and beer, to telephone cards, and lingerie. I was in awe of these kiosks from day one. What was it doing on the street? Why are the built like this?? The fact of the matter is that every one of these Kiosks can be picked up, loaded on the back of a truck, and moved to somewhere else with ten minutes notice. And then another 10 minutes later, another Kiosk can be in its place. This says a lot for the climate of business in Russia. Enjoy it while it lasts. Because everyone knows its not going to.

If its one thing that the Russians have learnt from the Japanese, its that fast turnover of cars is good for the economy. After 2-3 years, it is near impossible, or simply not “Financially Viable” to re-insure a car in Japan. So Japanese manufacturers make a lot of money when the Japanese people update their cars every year. GAZ, VAZ, IZH and the rest of the Russian manufacturers took note. Unfortunately because insurance was impossible to mess with in Russia, because most people could only afford the State insurance anyway. So in order to emulate the Japanese situation to get Russians updating their Volga’s and Zhiguli’s every 3 years, the manufacturers devised a plan whereby their cars would never live to see 3 years reliable service. The build quality of Russian cars is quite sub-standard. In fact, they don’t really meet western standards. Its remarkable that the Lada Niva even made it to Australia. (Nowadays, Chevrolet makes the Niva although still in Russia) The Zhiguli has been made for over 20 years. As mentioned in a previous post, its similar to a Datsun 1600 in appearance. Its still being made today and looks exactly the same as it did in 1970’s albeit a new grill and headlight assembly. Everynight in Domodevovskaya, there is some Russian, underneath his Zhiguli with the rear axle pulled off, fixing something. Every night, without fail. There is an entire culture here of home, or should I say, “Street Mechanics.” If there wasn’t then no one would be driving around Russian Cars. The Scrap metal merchants would be very rich.

<< To be continued….. >>

Reece, Reeba, and Restaurants

The 11th of November in 1984 was a wonderful time. I don’t remember it too well at all unfortunately. According to my calculations, I was only in my 30th day of Life. So I was about 1/12th of a Year old. I didn’t know what Australia was, and I especially didn’t know what Russia was. In fact the only thing I probably knew is that crying=attention or food. Crying was probably the only thing I knew how to do at 30 days old. Come to think of it, I can’t remember exactly what age I discovered that a country called Russia existed. Thinking back, it might have been Captain Planet. Although its called the Soviet Union in that particular cartoon. It doesn’t matter. It was certainly well after 30 days old.

On Saturday the 11th of November, 1984, in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, two proud Russian parents gave birth to another daughter, Svetlana. Over the years, the little dark-haired princess grew older. And older. And older. She turned 20 last November. This November was to be her 21st Celebration of the Anniversary of that day in 1984 where the world received another angel.

So to celebrate this anniversary, Four Russians and One Australian gathered together in one of Moscow’s best Sushi Restaurants. This is their story……

РИС и РЫБА (Pronounced “Rees ee Reiba with rolled Russian R’s) or Rice & Fish is located on the second floor of a building, in Central Moscow. With fancy views of the Moscow River and surrounding buildings, it is prime real estate. We had already made a booking, which we found was absolutely necessary as R&F was very very busy. So after informing the Manager (We will cover this term “Manager” in an upcoming Broadcast, “Being a Manager in Russia”) that we had a booking, we waited, and we waited. Past “McDonalds Waiting”, past “Russian Waiting”, and into “Soviet Union Queuing for Bread Waiting”.

Finally, a joint initiative between the “Manager” and Waitresses was able to procure a table from the seven tables that had been vacated, cleaned, and ready for service. I welcomed Sergei back to Russia. He responded with a laugh.


So we sat, ordered drinks, and then noticed that a table next to the “Sushi Train” was available. We consulted the “Manager” again. And after the second attempt, we obtained unrestricted access to Sushi. We came, we saw, we shouted, we grabbed, we ate. It was pure chaos. The plates stacked up. Sveta and I quickly devised a method of dealing with empty plates as they seemed to appear more quickly than they could be stacked. Coupled with the problem that only two people were within grabbing distance of passing sushi, and we had a very interesting and very fun evening.

I had never been to such type of Sushi Bar before. Like everything else in Moscow, the system worked at 100 miles an hour and required fast talking to work properly. For demonstrative purposes, I have included a transcript to show how this works.

Russian English
Davaj sushi! “Give me Sushi”
Kakoy "Which?”
Eta! “That one!”
Eta? “This?”
Nyet “No”
Eta? “This?”
Nyet “No”
Eta? “This?”
Da! Da!! Davaj!! Davaj!! “Yes! Yes! Give me! Give me!”

So as you can see. It is a fairly consistent system.

I ate things tonight that I wouldn’t have normally tried. And these things that I wouldn’t have normally tried, I actually enjoyed. Perhaps I am becoming more mature in my old age? Me? Mature? HAH!! But then again, think a little harder. Two points: First, this is Moscow. And Second, Stranger things have happened.
Either way, a wonderful evening was had by all who attended. Good food, good friends, good cheer. And I couldn’t help but feel a little sad when it was all over and everyone parted their separate ways. Thank you all for a sensational evening and Congratulations to my darling angel, Sveta. Happy Birthday again!!!!

Eta Prekrasniy Gorod!

Moscow is a fascinating city. Of almost indescribable beauty. And incomparable. Stalinist Architecture dominates the inner city skyline in the form of the Seven Sisters. These monolithic structures were built in the 1950’s and still stand tall today. Well Six of them stand tall. The Seventh stands only on architectural drawings. To my knowledge, it was never constructed.

Another structure that is unmistakable at night is the huge Cathedral of Christ Our Savior near Kropotkinskaya Metro Station. This structure was originally destroyed by the Soviets but eventually rebuilt again in the late 1990’s. This Cathedral is easily distinguishable by the huge gold dome atop the main structure. At each corner there are bell towers also featuring gold domes. It looks huge from kilometers away. And remarkably, it still looks huge up close. Near this Cathedral is a bridge spanning the mighty Moscow River. This typical bridge is quite spectacular in its own right. Under each arch, there is a computer controlled Multi-Colour lighting system. The lights change colour on a set program and light up the underside of the bridge. At night, it looks fantastic, and during the day, well, its switched off then.

Atop this bridge, you are completely surrounded by fantastic views and famous landmarks. Being close to the Cathedral, its no wonder that it offers a fairly good view of this structure. Look to the right, heading away from the Cathedral and you can see the Krasny Octyabr Chocolate Factory, one of the most famous chocolate factories in Russia, even during Soviet times. Look to the left, and the view of the Kremlin at night simply steals the air from your lungs. Its beautiful, its breathtaking and if you aren’t carrying your camera and tripod, you’ll be crying. I wasn’t crying. I was smiling, all the way home. As you can see for yourself, the photo’s turned out quite well.

In fact the view was so fantastic from this location, that we would visit it again the next weekend with Sveta’s friends. (Covered in Next Broadcast)

Because I’m a gentleman, I walk Miss Sorokina home each evening that we go out. One night I was walking back home. Normally there is nothing in Timiryazevskaya worth looking at (apart from Sveta J ) let alone take a picture of, so I’m normally not attentative to anything short of the absolute immediate area and people. But tonight I happened to glance to my left, and there it was, standing proudly between two apartment buildings. My God. How could I not have noticed it before now? I even knew it was there. Weeks ago, we had driven past it on the mono rail. Somehow, a 170 metre tall tower had gone completely unnoticed.

The Ostankino TV Tower is, well, very, very, very tall. In fact, it’s so tall, its usually the first building in Moscow that most people see just before they land at Sheremetyevo Airport. I fit into the “Most People” category in this case. Its tall, its well lit, and it looks, absolutely stunning. Unfortunately when I first noticed it in Timiryazevskaya, I had my camera. So I tried. And failed miserably. Without a tripod, the mission was destined for failure. Two weeks later, armed with a tripod, I came back, and remarkably, Ostankino was still standing. So I took some photos. Even from several kilometers away, the detail captured was incredible. That night, some beautiful scenes were captured. And I present them here for your viewing pleasure. Your comments please.

Matt.

Formal Apology to the Proletariat Listeners

Recently, the Director of Radio Krasnaya had an enormous guilt attack. In order to remedy this situation, he consulted some doctors of Blogological Science. Reportedly, the problems stemmed for the director’s posting habits. The main causes were that the blogs were simply too long, and as a result, time was rarely allocated to make further posts. The previous sizable posts took hours to compile. Due to the operating environment of Radio Krasnaya being in the country of Russia, it was naturally near impossible to allocate such a large amount of time to one task.

One of the specialists also mentioned that part of the reason why the Director was suffering, is because the Proles too were suffering. Without information, they were loosing faith in Radio Krasnaya and thus, were changing their own “listening” habits. Therefore, it was only natural that a new system be developed, whereby, the following issues would be addressed:

· Shorter Broadcasts would mean an increase in Broadcasts on Radio Krasnaya.
· Higher frequency of Broadcasts would mean Broadcasts are Up-To-Date.
· Higher Quantity of Broadcasts would offer greater opportunities for Proletariat comments to be added.

This new Broadcast Guidelines take effect immediately. The Director of Radio Krasnaya would to formally apologize to the loyal listeners who anxiously await each new broadcast with eager and sometimes unequivocal anticipation.

“There is no excuse we can give to justify out betrayal. There is only our loyal promise that events of this type will no longer eventuate or perpetuate within our organization. With this, we hope that the loyal listeners will have renewed faith, and the listeners who have since left will eventually return…”

The State says: “Without the Proles, there would be nothing left to control.”
Radio Krasnaya says: “Without the Proles, there would be no one left to save from the State.”

People in Glass Bridges shouldn't throw stones.

For weeks I have felt philosophical. Unfortunately for me, I have been unable to write anything philosophical to match my mood. Hmm. I could try and put some omni-present philosophical ramblings into my activities of the last two weekends, which have been a helluva lotta fun I must say.

There has been one real focus of the last two weekends. My single purpose, so to speak has been to seek out the elusive Glass Gridges. In fact, I have, together with my faithful sidekick, Princess Sveta, located three such wonders of engineering. Two weekends ago we discovered the Glass Bridge near Gorky Park.. This one is predominantly, a triangular prism, with a yellow frame. The floor is a granite/marble finish (rough) And there are areas which one can wander outside and take photos of certain landmarks such as the Buran Space Shuttle which is parked just inside Gorky Park. (My guess is that’s where it broke down, and the cosmonauts couldn’t get it started again)

But the main action is inside this bridge. There is the occasional seat, and omni-present (This is the word of the day if you haven’t already guessed.) Militsia guard. Conveniently, seeing as today is the Sabbath, they aren’t pushing for bribes. Instead, they lend themselves, and their behind to our Photo Tour of Glass Bridges 2005. The first glass bridge leaves me with an admiration for the individual(s) who designed it. My thirst for finding more had just become anti-quenched. That is to say, I wanted more. Princess Svetlana informed me that there were two other known examples of engineering wizardry located within the cities borders. So a week of hard teaching-based work, as well as much anticipation passed. Saturday came, and the hunt continued……

After trekking through the jungle, swinging from Metro Station to Metro Station, fighting our way through thick people-based vegetation and warding off dangerous creatures like Militsia and Begging Babushkas, we come to a location called Evropa Ploschad, or in angleeskiy (English) Europe Square. This square consists of a structure which has several flagpoles, all flying the colours of the various European Nations. But we ignore the square, our intentions, hopes, and dreams set searching for greener pastures. Suddenly, there it is. The second behemoth wonder of Glass-based River Crossing Structures. Aesthetically, it was identical in design to the first Bridge at Gorky Park. Same trademark Triangular Prism design. In some parts, it was even the same yellow. However there was a distinguishing feature of this particular bridge. I noticed that the design engineer has opted for a wooden floor instead of stone. Then I thought he would be shocked to see the state of it now. The varnish had all but been forcibly removed, similar to the drunk patron who had been forcibly been removed from a Slot Club (read, RSL/Pokies) near Domodedovskaya. (Not really, I didn’t see that happen, but you understand how it feels for the varnish) Either way, this bridge also had other offerings of goodness. For example, in one of the downstairs areas, there were these mushroom flavoured (or shaped) lights, one of which I fell in love with. (See the pictures) Actually, only one other offering.

So we trekked on. We knew the location of a third Glass Bridge. Independent sources told of the remarkable beauty of this last remaining unit. We were extraordinarily excited to be on the viewing end of the incredible structure. To help us maintain our composure, we called for backup in the form of Princess Sveta’s noble friends, Olga and Sergei. This would turn out to be a huge advantage later on when it came time to persuade Sveta to visit Uncle Lenin on the way to Glass Bridge No 3.

We meet our comrades in arm, and travel by Metro to the Station, Ulitsa 1905 Goda, which means Year 1905 Street. In actual fact it takes half an hour to pronounce in Russian because it is said similar to Ulitsa One Thousand, Nine Hundred and 5 Goda, which in Russian, sounds impossible to pronounce. And then we walk, and we walk. And when we tire of walking, we walk further. Across oceans, over mountains, through the fires of Mordoor, through parks full of yellow leaves, fallen and falling, until we see someone sitting on a chair. We all recognized the man. Uncle Lenin had found himself a comfortable seat in a park when king Titass (King Midas’ brother) had come along and touched him. And he had been turned into bronze ever since. Svetlana mentioned that has lap was rather worn and suggested that many had come before and taken a seat. Olga suggested that perhaps Uncle Lenin wouldn’t mind if she too took a seat. The idea seemed quite exciting for her and she boldly walked up to the Pioneer of the Revolution and took a seat. As you can see from the photo’s, the excitement is quite hard for her to contain. We take some photos, and we have to persuade her to let Uncle Lenin take his nap. She reluctantly gets off the Bolshevik.

We walk further, longer, faster. With renewed strength, we see the structure for which we searched to any end. It was gorgeous. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. Suddenly the fond memories of the two other Glass Bridges, simply melted before the searing wonder of this Bridge. It wasn’t just a bridge, it was a lifestyle choice. It was a religion. The closer we got, the grander it got. We were close enough to walk through the entry, I took a deep breath, took off my shoes, and bowed to the icon in the center of the entry hall. But, the gang delayed. There was a new Metro Station beneath this structure. Olga insisted that we see it. I obliged. I would savour this moment later.

We went down, 1, 2, 3 escalators. Through 1, 2, 3, 4 doors. Through the enchanted forest, we climbed the Faraway Tree and after beating Dick, Fanny and a Gollywog off some magic toadstools, we vowed never to eat those magic toadstools again. Actually after we went through the fourth door, we walked straight past the trap door to the Faraway Tree and straight into Delevoy Tsentr Metro Station. We pointed, admired the shiny floors, contemplated running off with a carelessly misplaced fridge, and then returned to the entry hall of the glass bridge. And then we take the plunge, and levitate up a flight of stairs to the bridge. (Those toadstools were still wearing off)

OH MY GOD. I thought I had seen it all. Last week, I had witnessed Vorob’Evy Goriy Metro Station that had been on a bridge. Now, I was seeing shops. Yes, there was an art show, a broadband and mobile service shop, a café, a slot club, a menswear shop with some really nice shirts, 2 underwear shops (for ze women) and an umbrella and travel shop. And there was glass. And lots of it. Everything I have just mentioned was on this glass bridge. The design was completely different to the previous two bridges. Where the others had opted for angular, linear design concepts, this bridge had attributes of ergonomic design principles. Sensory overload. Futuristic featurettes and double prismatic ultra violet super yield very dirty laser glass gave the bridge, that modern feel. The design was simple, yet executed so magically. The feeling of awe was second to none. It was over too quickly. We had already reached the other side of the bridge. This side was the tower side. The tower, like the bridge was ultra modern and it had a very unique clock which would have looked sensational at night. I promise to take a photo of it at night for you. I want a smaller clock like that one to mount on my wall. SO COOL.

So, there we are, we had seen the fabled Glass Bridges. I had a crazy idea of furthering our search to the rest of Europe. But that is another bed time story for another evening’s slumber. Now sleep minions of the Southern Hemisphere. It’s way past your bedtimes. Pleasant dreams to all.

Matt.

Theres no place like....

Hello all. I have come to the realization that I haven’t said anything of my flat. Poor effort on my part, I know. :) So, let me describe it to you. And for those with limited imaginations, I will post up some pictures. :)

Ok. My flat is located within an apartment building, which in turn, is located within a group of other apartment buildings. The Building 8K4 on Voronezhskaya Ulitsa (Street) is the 1970’s Soviet Style building. Of all the buildings in block 8, it is probably the best maintained.

My flat itself is a two bedroom job with floor boards in every room except for the bathroom and the toilet, which have tiled floors. In Soviet style apartments, usually one bedroom is roughly twice the size of the other. My flat mate arrived the day before I did, and taxed the large room. The large room with, the couches, and the balcony. The smaller room was mine. So my room. Single bed with an ugly quilt. (I’m off to Ikea this weekend) A desk (hahha. The big room has an uncomfortably low table to use as a desk), Two brilliant shelving units, one with a lockable section. A nice rug on the floor which covers the floor boards, more books than I have time to read (all in Russian), about 200 hundred editions of various interior design magazines. And drawers full of various items belonging to the woman who previously lived in this flat.

As you walk in to the flat, you enter a room that connects you to every other room in the house. In this room there are cupboards hiding jackets and classical music on CD, and drawers with old shoes and boots. Also found a chest full of glassware the other day. Our first dinner party is in the works :) Take off to the left of this room, you find our fridge. Next to the fridge are the doors into the Bathroom and the Toilet, (Yes, they are actually separate rooms) And the door into the kitchen. The Kitchen has three chairs around a basic table. The stove is electric and has the oven section directly beneath it (same unit) There’s a kettle, be it, an old and unsafe to use kettle. There’s a sink with some ridiculous plastic mesh thing on the bottom (Still haven’t worked it out) Cupboards are full of crockery but the utensil drawer has 2 knives, 5 forks, and 1 tablespoon and 4 teaspoons. (Ikea again, this weekend)

The toilet is interesting to say the least. The size of the room itself is only just a bit smaller than the average Aussie room of the same purpose. But the toilet unit itself is slightly different. Slightly more disturbing. I’m not sure of the thought processes that were going on when this toilet was designed. But lets just say that anything that falls, doesn’t fall very far. And when the unit is flushed, the slate is wiped clean. It’s very uncomfortable being that close to one’s refuse. Even if that refuse is one’s own.

The bathroom has the traditional Russian style shower. The bathtub and the snakey hose shower head that can be hand held, or held by a bracket to act like a western shower. To avoid getting water everywhere, I usually take the handheld approach. The bathroom also contains our washing machine. From what I understand, we lucked out where this particular feature was concerned. Apparently the other teachers have had to hire washing machines. Perhaps we should start hiring out ours?? :)

Hmm, that really sums up the apartment. I’ll post a few pictures when the opportunity arises. On the whole, I like it. It has nearly everything I could want, it’s fairly well maintained, and it is fairly comfortable. I wouldn’t mind a couch and a balcony though. :)

Matt.

Red Square Tour 2005

Today I went to Red Square for the second time, only this time, I brought my camera along. I promise to write more at a later stage. But I thought that I picture would speak 1000 words. And several photos would count for several thousand words. Enjoy. Looking forward to speaking to you all soon.

Matt.

Cars, Cars Glorious Cars!!!

The one thing that has amazed me with Moscow is that while so many people catch the Metro, an extraordinary amount still enjoy getting stuck in horrendous traffic. It’s no problem if you are a black BMW with a blue strobe light on your roof. Somehow, it’s like Moses parting the red sea when these guys come through. The traffic is bumper to bumper, yet the motorists find a way to let the VIP’s pass through. Impossible it seems, yet, they pull it off. Makes me wonder what kind of penalty exists for people who won’t, or perhaps can’t move out of the way when these Government dudes honk their ridiculous sounding buzzer. (I promise you, it does sound ridiculous)

There is only two main rules for cars on the road in Moscow. It either has to be Russian, or German. In fact about 95% of cars I have seen in Moscow have fallen into this category. The other 5% is usually a combination of Japanese and American vehicles. I would say almost 4% of that 5% would be comprised of late model Hummer H2’s. There seems to be quite a few of them around. And they are HUGE!!.

By far the most common car on the road in Russia is the Lada 2107. Although there are several different year models on the road, they are all almost identical. The only difference is usually in the headlights and tail lights, and how rusted they are. The body shape is that of a small sedan (Think Datto 1600) or sometimes a wagon. But they are everywhere!!! Everyone either owns one, or has owned one, or knows at least three people that own one. Guaranteed, you will see no less than 30 in one day, even if you are only outside for 10 minutes a day. They are an inescapable part of daily Russian life. And if you don’t accept their existence, you will have nightmares about them. They come in 1.5l and 1.6l guises and are available in several different colours and trim packages, all guaranteed to fade within a year of purchase.

To its advantage, the Lada 2107 will keep running and running and running, long after the Duracell bunny has collapsed of exhaustion.

Most common of the German cars would have to be the BMW. There are many late model BMW’s, mostly 5 & 7 series cruising around Moscow. Most of these are black and can be found cruising up and down Tverskaya St. The ones with blue strobes usually force and honk their way through traffic. The others just sit patiently, wasting fuel.

Which brings us to the next question. If all you are doing in traffic in Moscow, is sitting still waiting for 600,000 other cars to move before you have to, does it matter whether you are in a Lada 2107 or a BMW 7 Series? It probably does. But either way, any fuel that is burnt without actually moving you anywhere is a waste. And I would guarantee that more time is spent, thinking about moving, that actual movement. I think the Metro costs close to 20c a day. For the whole day. To any station. Sure, it doesn’t have the same leather seats as a 7 series. But my god, it moves quicker than a 7 series. Nothing stops the Metro. Not even God himself.

Oh yes cars. On my first night here, just before I got hassled by the militsia, I heard a wonderful sound. It was bliss, music to my ears. The high, unstable idle of an RB26 powered vehicle. I look over and there it is. It’s twin tail lights staring back at me. An R32 GTR was stuck between a Lada and Mercedes. Hell yeah. The imports have landed. It was such a wonderful thing to see.
One car that I really like here is the G-Class Mercedes 4WD’s. To many people, they are ugly and boxy. I just so happens, I like ugly and boxy, CARS. I owned a XF. Boxy has a place in my heart. :) But yes, G-Class. Looks nice, goes nice, is nice. I want one. I wouldn’t mind sitting in traffic, if I was sitting in a G-Class. :)

Bread, we have, Vodka, we have, Time, We Don't have...

Don’t ask me how I found the Metro Station the next day. But I found it. Domodedovskaya Metro Station is the second last station on the Zamoskveretskaya Line. Or the Green Line. Every Metro Station has a theme of some description. In the case of Domodedovskaya, it is the Airport of Domodedovo. A newer airport in southern Moscow. The walls of the station are decorated with plaques of Aircraft. But there are about 6 different entrances and exits to this station. Ending up aboveground at different parts of the street. Very confusing. A is most aspects of the Metro until you get used to them. But finding it relied on instincts. Instincts that told me that the middle aged woman in the red leather jacket would be heading to that station. So I followed. Around apartment buildings, across roads, past Kiosk’s and finally to a sign marked with a red M. Metro. Bingo. She walked right passed the entrance to the metro. Ah well. At least I found it!!!

Down the stairs, passed the Kiosks in the underground part. (You will find them in all but a few Metro Stations. Usually they sell snacks, jewelry and pirate DVD’s.) And then to the doors of the station itself. I walk through and see the automatic gates. I pull out the metro pass I was given last night. I realized I till didn’t now how the damn thing worked. I tried inserting it into the slot on the post. No didn’t fit. I remembered vaguely that this kind of card was electronic. I also noticed on the top of the post, there was a yellow circle. I touched the card’s face to the orange circle, the light turned green, and I walked through. “I am so good! I am so good!” Waited for the train. But not for long. There is train every couple of minutes at any given Metro station. Jump in, doors close. I was completely un prepared for the next bit.

The train took off. But not the tame way. The driver must have put his foot straight down. The train lurched forwards. I’m sure my lack of balance at that point in time didn’t go unnoticed. The train accelerated, faster, and faster. Past the speed that the Met in Melbourne operates. Past the speed of a Japanese Bullet Train. When the train reached light speed, it felt like it was going to shake itself to pieces. But then it started to slow down. And then, the opposite of what happened the first time happened. The driver jammed on the brakes. Balance was reduced again. People noticed again. Right. Now there will be no more surprises. I know these guys drive like lunatics. I should have made the connection immediately anyway. Idiot.

To get to Borovitskaya Metro Station which is the closest station to BKC head office, one needs to change trains at Ohkotny Ryad Metro Station. Usually this is a lot easier if you actually disembark the train at Ohkotny Ryad. But seeing as on this particular occasion, I missed the Station, I had to do a lot of walking. I had set aside the time for getting lot anyway. So may as well walk. So I got off the train and started to walk around. Aimlessly. I give up and pulled out the map Svetlana had given to me last night. On paper it made perfect sense. Turn left here, go straight ahead here, turn left again here, the Kremlin is there, and BKC is here. Unfortunately Starovagankovsky Perelouk was not marked on this map. Well in actual fact, the street was, just not its name. So I had just about used up all the time I had to get there without being late, I then realized where I was, and where I had to get to. I started to Run.

Turns out, I made it on time. Also turns out that someone was sent to pick me up. To my apartment on Voronezhskaya. What about what the lady said last night?? Hmm weird. Met some of the other BKC teachers, signed the updated contract. Met Mark who is going to be my ADOS at Lingua.RU And also met Sergei who is the Director of Lingua.RU. Sergei, Mark and I traveled from BKC to Lingu.RU which is a short Metro ride to Kitai Gorod Station. Lingua.RU faces a beautiful park in which a few days later, Svetlana and I would find ourselves in.

Lingua.RU is on the fourth floor of the building of this address. I was instantly impressed by the school. Our tour of the school was quick to establish in my mind that this school was a very professional outfit. The rooms were a teacher’s dream. Round tables, comfortable chairs, whiteboard, tape player. Everything that could be required, (except later I found that working whiteboard markers would be more difficult to procure than a cure for ugliness.)

At the time that I am writing this, I have been here already for nearly two weeks. Tomorrow (Wednesday) it will be two weeks exactly. Honestly, it feels like longer. It really does. So many rides on the Metro already. So many trips into Lingua.RU. Quite a few lessons. Yet, at the same time, I’m still struggling for the time to do things like get blog entries posted (although this is a combination of failures including time management and insufficient access to services required. Hopefully today I’ll get another internet card. (It seems the only thing that isn’t prepaid here is living itself, wait a few years though..)

I’m starting to live with the mentality now that this is my home. And for all intents and purposes, it is my home. Whether or not I understand the place as well as what I did Melbourne, is irrelevant. It took me 20 years to understand Melbourne and how it worked. A natural progression. Moscow is very different. Different mentalities exist. Different people carrying on different conversations. Most of which are completely foreign to my ears. My car is several thousand miles away. Driving is now a distant second. My passion for cars is now limited to what other people get to drive. Something that I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about, only because the time afforded to me to think of such things is limited. It reminds me of something I heard in Enemy at the Gates. “Bread we have, Vodka we have. Time, we don’t have.” That’s what it feels like now…

Matt.

The post you have all been waiting for...

Hello All!! I know you have all been holding your breath for this one. Its taken a week. BUt finally, its here. Its yours to read. Bear in mind that I have much more to write. Much more to tell you. But time is of the essence. And this essence costs more roubles than I have to spend. So enjoy what I have written thus far. And hold your breath again for more exciting instalments.

Matt.

I really should be typing this tomorrow. Yes, really. But perhaps if I do, my initial impressions might be lost. I have a lot to say. I have seen lots. I have been many many places in a very short amount of time. I have absorbed so many changes. And all with only 5 hours sleep over a period of 3 days. I could probably go home, wiser already. But I am looking forwards to spending more time here. If someone asked me to sum up Moscow in one word, I would tell them not to be so daft. One word, whatever word could do this place no justice. It is a remarkable, beautiful, and mysterious city. Everything that I see here, I expected. But that didn’t change the fact that from the fact that I was in awe of everything I saw. Even the simplest details were enough. This place is truly amazing. And so different to anything I have ever experienced. Which is part of the reason I had decided to do this in the first place.

The only logical place to begin would be at the start. So for a change, I’ll do the logical thing and start from Hong Kong. This follows on from when I finished my last blog entry. I wandered around for a while. And I made a few observations. Firstly, in Hong Kong International, there are at least four of every shop. And they all seem to be owned by Nuance Watson. Perhaps they should add an ‘S’ and it becomes Nusance Watson. I’m sure Mr or Mrs Watson won’t mind. They are probably making more money than god. I also managed to find a Starbucks. So I purchased a Mocha Frappechino. Much to my disgust, the tall size left a lot more Frappechino to be desired.

Anyway, I took it back to my seat in the lounge near gate 31 where SU596 was to depart from. Half an hour later. The aircraft gets to the terminal. A further half an hour later, we board the aircraft. Very similar to the Qantas aircraft from Melbourne to Honk Kong in terms of layout. And once again I had to pass through business class in order to get to Prole Class. I think they do this on purpose. Some kind of psychological game where maybe next time you will pay the asking price and go Business Class. And plus their bags of goodies tend to be better stocked than us Proles. (How much more is business class again??? J )

Almost identical setup on this Aeroflot 767 to the QANTAS A330 but only Three seats in the centre Row. And there were no television screens in the back of the seats. However there were Television screens located on the roof, on each side of the aircraft, and up the front of the Prole Class section. Much to both my delight, and disgust, the screens only displayed Where the aircraft was on a map, how fast it was going, how high it was flying, what time it was in Moscow, How long we had been flying for, and minutes to arrival. No movies, no entertainment. Just good old information. This was going to be a long flight. And it was a long flight. It was in the last half of the flight, that I began to feel extremely nervous. Actually hoping the flight would go longer. I wasn’t nervouse because of the flying itself. The chances of even an Aeroflot dropping out of the sky after all the events of the previous weeks, were pretty close to NIL. The nerves of an encounter, for which I had waited for so long, and due to happen with the next few hours. I nodded into a deep doze at one stage. I thought I must have been dreaming, about both the flights, and about Hong Kong. No it wasn’t, I was in an airliner, I had been to Hong Kong. And Moscow was only a few hours out.

Seeing as I checked in pretty early, I had the advantage of being put closer to the front of the plane, and being able to choose whether I had a window seat or not. Yay. Window seat it is. And much to my delight, the delay on food that was experienced on QANTAS was nonexistent on AeroFlot. We wouldn’t be running out of Continental Breakfast today. J I must say, the Aeroflot food was also very good in comparison to QANTAS. And It made me come to my first conclusion about Russian Food. The Russians are such sweet tooths!!! Everything is so much sweeter than it is back home. Even bread. Especially bread. I would also discover this later..

Anyway, the plane started to descend into Moscow. Although couldn’t really see much because there was some very menacing rain clouds blocking the view. But just as we came out underneath them and lined up for the runway, I saw my first landmark. The Ostankino TV Tower was clearly visable, and my God, It was massive!! So Tall!!. Look downwards again, the trees are getting closer, the tarmac starts and then the painted lines, The wheels touch down, the flaps go up, the thrust is reversed, and slows down quickly to a more safer speed. Aeroflot Flight SU596 is on the ground at Sheremetyevo II airport. The Russian contingent aboard applauds the skill of the pilot. I join in.

Everyone disembarks the aircraft, in a semi organized fashion and proceeds through several doors around the circumference of the air terminal. Until finally we reach Passport Control. It takes ages. The Asian Tourists in front of me in the line had forgotten to fill out their Migration Cards on the flight. They went over to bench where they were located and went to reclaim their place in the line. The older Australian ladies also ahead of me in the line advised that it wasn’t a possibility for them to get away with that. I doubt they would have finished them in time anyway, even at the speed that the Border Guard who was servicing our line was processing each entrant. I was in a bit of a hurry as well. I needed to go to the toilet, Badly. It was my turn. I walked up to the Border Guard. She was fairly young. “Dobriy Dyen”(Good Day) And then I realized where I made my first mistake. She started talking to me in rapid Russian. Oops. “Err. Err. Ya ne panimayoo. Mne Russkiy plohka!” (I don’t undertand. My Russian is bad) She smiled but said nothing more. Stamp stamp stamp. All done. Now where is that toilet. I find it. Use it, and try and get out of there as quickly as possible.

I find the baggage carousels. But none of them has SU596 on it. It turns they wouldn’t for another 20 mins. So anyway. I decided to ring Svetlana. “Hello I’m here. Just waiting for my baggage.” There are these big screens at Sheremetyevo Airport. With cameras attached to them. The people waiting in the baggage and customs can see the people waiting for them, just outside this area. After a couple of minutes of confusion we could see each other. The baggage came through. I then decided to read a customs declaration just to make sure I wasn’t carrying anything questionable. The Earrings!! There was a section for Precious Gemstones in any for. I filled one in, took my baggage to the declaration point and showed it to the lady was well as the earrings. She looked for a couple of seconds before shuffling me off to the Nothing to Declare line. Righteo!! Thanks for that. Get through the rather lax security at Customs. (I don’t think this Border Guard even wanted me to put my bags through the x-ray machine. I did anyway. Because the guy ahead of me did. I came out of customs, and immediately was hassled whether I wanted I taxi. I already had a ride. I just needed to find it.

Svetlana and her friends were standing nearby. Introductions were made. Sergei and Olga were providing the transport. We had to make a quick stop off before we left the airport. There was a machine very similar to the old 20c Coin games at Lunar Park. Only this machine had even more money in it and even less chance of winning. A bit more of a look around reveals these rooms that have slot machines in it. Through later observation, I would discover that the Old One Armed Bandits are everywhere in Moscow. Near Stations, In Airports, In Corner stores. Everywhere. And there is always someone using them. Free market economy gone crazy.

We get in the car. Which I immediately notice has no steering wheel on the right side. I look bewildered, Svetlana notices and questions. I reply simply that everything is on the wrong side. She insists jokingly that everything is on the correct side. :) We get onto the motorway, which is no easy task. There is no arrows or lights to stop main traffic. You have to merge in where possible. All discretion is care of the drivers. There are no traffic directions to intervene. But what if there is confusion I ask myself. Even in Australia, if someone gets confused with what another driver is going to attempt, then there is usually some kind of accident. Above all, everyone is driving on the wrong side of the road, which is weird in itself for someone who has been driving in another country. We stop to get petrol. Sergei goes in and pays the attendant, then comes out to fill up the car. We get going again. Traffic is horrible as we join the motorway again. I think it was Leningradsky Prospekt. Maybe. Anyway. I hear sirens. I look to the lanes heading in the other direction. There is a Militsia Lada 2103, followed by a black 7 Series BMW with a Blue Strobe light on top, followed by a black ZIL Limousine, Followed by another 7 Series with blue strobe, and another Militsia Lada. They take the outside lane, and all the cars seem to pile out of the way to avoid holding up this convoy. From memory this happens twice more with differing vehicles.

The traffic slows down to a crawl. We go down Tverskaya which is one of the main streets of Moscow. Mercedes, BMW, Hummers, everywhere. Expensive shops, expensive apartments. Tverskaya is a beautiful street. And if your wallet is big enough, you can share some of it. As an English Teacher, I can only look at it and think, Wow.

We get lost, then we find ourselves again. I see the Kremlin for the first time. On this particular stretch of road, there are innumerable quality imported vehicles, all black with blue strobe lights. Government vehicles of some description. They are everywhere, cutting through traffic, blue strobes, never turned off. Lucky bastards.

Starovagankovsky Perelouk is a small street just up from the Kremlin. It’s the home to BKC International House administration office in Moscow. I go and meet a few of the administration staff, some of which I dealt with throughout the recruitment and visa application process. Another lady gives me some new sheets, keys, a metro pass and a phone card and a few maps. “Well seeing as you found your way here, instead of sending someone to pick you up, tomorrow you can catch Metro.” ‘Err. Ok. I’ll do that”

Go back to street level, get back in car, have some of this sweet slice type, err, thingamajigger. (Don’t know the name of it.) Anyway get moving again, well, we try to anyway. The traffic is still horrible this time of night. It’s a slow journey until we get to somewhere near Avtozovodskaya, Still have plenty of distance to cover. We go to take off from a set of lights. The car stalls. And doesn’t start again. Simply refuses to turn over. Sergei and Olga start making phone calls to other potential rides. I start to feel even more guilty than I did when we were stuck in traffic. Great, now I’ve killed someone’s car. Goodo. We wait. And wait. Suddenly headlights appear, and stop in front of our car. Oh great. Our ride is here. Or not. The car is a Lada 2103. It has lights on the top. Two uniformed men get out. Oh great. I know who they are. The Muscovites each have their paperwork checked. And then ask to check mine. My passport comes out. “Avia Bilyet?” enquires the officer. Svetlana asks him why he wishes to see my airline ticket. I am curious too. He insists, so I have to get into the back of the car, into my bag to get it for him. I find it, he inspects it. Hands it back with my passport. No bribes required. I have only been here for a few hours and already I have been hassled by the Militsia. (Although I haven’t been hassled since)

Stas arrives in his car, and Svetlana and I ride with him. Olga and Sergei catch the Metro Home. The car stays where it died. After further driving, we make it to the apartment building. Its now 11:30pm. I am wrecked. Beyond wrecked. Svetlana and I exchange some presents and she goes home. I struggle to my bed and collapse into it. Tomorrow I have to leave at 9:00am. I have to go to BKC head office where I will start my Orientation. I’m here. I’m half dead. But I’m here. I made it. I tried desperately to sleep, trying to set aside everything I had seen and experienced. Eventually, pure exhaustion set in and I slept.
End of Blog Entry

Footnote
You other Aussies have no idea what you are missing out on in terms of Vodka. I have tried just one sample of the enormous selection available here in Moscow (Russkiy Standart) Oh my god. There is vodka. And then there is real VODKA.

Da Svidanya!!

PS. I just read a previous post. I think I told you all to have sweet dreams. And when you wake up, to follow them. I implore you to do this. Because then, and only then will you find happiness of the kind that I have now. Please people. If you love someone. Tell them today. And then tell them every day.

Reporting to you live from Hong Kong!!

Well, after the long flight, i come to rest in this cosy little transit lounge at Hong Kong International Airport. With very comfy red and gold fabric seats. And they were comfy!! Well anyway, I pull my laptop out and fire her up. Check out the available wireless networks. Much to my delight, there are about 5 open networks which flash up. HOWEVER. Much to my disbelief and disgust, they all want circa $40 for one hour of access!!! I didn't even bother to check whether that was US or Australian dollars. Its was still a blatant ripoff. And they're was no way.

But then, as if by chance, I see these Samsung E-Lounge Terminals. Computers set up that any Average Joe can type on. For added convenience, the keys are in English as well as Chinese (THANKYOU!!!) And it seems to offer unrestricted access to the internet. And very quick too!! So a Blogging I went.

The flight from Melbourne to Hong Kong?? Interesting. Boarded plane through business class, eyes light up. :) Friendly QANTAS flight attendant looks over my boarding pass and tell me to keep walking. The three rows of 2 seats turns into three rows with two seats on either side and four seats in the centre. Hopes for a comfortable flight are dashed.

Find my row. Number 55 (Blog Interrupted by Announcement at Hong Kong on PA - What in Gods Name is she SAYING!!! Voice repeats message (Well it's possibly the same message) In English but in a voice that has a slight Irish Accent. Blog Continues......)

Row 55, Seat B, Seat B is an Aisle Seat. The advantage is there is plenty of leg room for the right leg, not so generous for the left. But nowhere to rest my head, accept for the Head Rest. (Remembers to ask for a Window Seat on Aeroflot) The man to my left in Seat A is a Chinese gentleman who looked like he fit the bill of the bad guys on the old skool Chinese Martial Arts movies. Not sinister looking at all. Much to my surprise, he was not talkative. The most I got out of him all flight was a nod. No words, A nod. Anyway, I went to put my Overheaad luggage in the locker marked 55. Like it was going to fit in there!!! It clearly wasn't. I checked out 56. Plenty of real estate, In she goes.

Watched Sin City. Jessica Alba!!! Oh my god!! How nice!! Storyline?? There was one. But a lot of killing happening and for no apparent reason. Bruce Willis? Gets shot more in one scene than he does in all of the Die Hard Movies put together, and lives. What a machine!! What a blatant suspension of disbelief. I can't watch the end, the movie has lost me at the end of the third subplot, when the Orange guy appears, I turn it off.

House of Flying Daggers. Predominantly Chinese Martial Arts Film. Combin elements of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, add in some brilliant cinematography and the same old love scenes, and you have it. Very enjoyable. The Martial Arts scenes are sensational. And quite a few of them too although we normally always crave more. Worth seeing if you can get a copy.

By the time I finished watching both, it was about 2:30am Hong Kong time. 4 1/2 to 5 hours to go. There were no other movies worth watching. Both the news features weren't working. The music was Shithouse, well by my standards. Somehow, the remaining time passed, I watched the sunrise. I couldn't have the continental breakfast I was so desperately favouring over the Hot Breakfast which was given to me. They ran out apparently. There seemd to be no general rule of distributing the meals, except for, serve Matt last. And the Nodding gentleman sitting next to me in Seat A. In fact, anyone in the 50's that was A, B, C or D got shafted. For Supper and Breakfast. So theres a handy hint for the aspiring traveller. If you're hungry, get as close to the front of the plane as you can. Otherwise you will miss out on the continental breakfast. The Hot Breakfast didn't take my fancy. The Scrambled eggs didn't look like scrambled eggs, therefore they weren't eaten. The bacon, didn't take like bacon, but it was the most edible thing, and I was hungry. The sausage (i hope thats what it was) tasted not like what a sausage, or anthing like a sausage should taste, so the sample piece was eaten, (with much reluctance, the rest, sent packing.

I got to watch the sunrise today. It was beautiful what I saw. About 4 square centimetres of it. :) :)

On descent, got to see water, and fishing boats, both of which got closer than was comfortable. When the water disappeared and the tarmac of HK International appeared, i was most relieved.

Part One of the Journey Complete...

To be continued.........



LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Matt.

"....I'm 6 feet from the edge and I'm thinkin, Maybe 6 feet, aint so far now..."

I must say, I am impressed with the Russian Embassy in Canberra. Very impressed. I was expecting delays. I was expected errors to be found in my own documents. I was dreading the worst when they called me the day after my application had been sent to them. "Hello. This is Andrey from the Russian Embassy in Canberra." This is about the time when my heart started to skip beats. What was wrong??? What had I forgotten??

"You forgot to enclose a self addressed envelope. Where did you want us to send your Visa??"
*Heart resumes normal function now*
Mail arrives next day. Here is my passport with a new addition stuck onto one of the pages.
"РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ ВИЗА"
There is a god :) I wondered who he had bribed to push procedures through this fast. Then I remembered. It had cost me some God-awful amount to get it ready in time. But this close, I wasn't taking any chances.

It would appear that there isn't much that can stop me now. :) I know better than to say there is Nothing that can stop me. But between me and you, thats secretly what I am thinking. Sssshhhhhh! :)

So jumping on a plane on Tuesday is now a real possibility. In fact, its not just a possibility. It is in fact going to happen. I've come a long way from the idea, a bare concept. I've found a way to get where I want to go, and stay there, for pretty much as long as I want. A way to support myself while I'm over there. And as far as I am concerned, a better way to do what I want to do does not exist. ANd if it does, its certainly not available to an 'Average Joe' like me.

Everything is pretty much organized too. WHich is really good. I am having a fairly relaxed day today. Well, if you can call working on computers, relaxing. I wouldn't be if it weren't a refreshing change from what I normally do. And plus, the computer has been behaving itself and following all my instructions which does help things. Albeit being incredibly slow.

Maybe by the time I come back from Russia, it will be finished thinking about whether it is going to boot or not.......

Find this guy a name!!

Mr Paintbrush drawing needs a name. If you can provide one, he would be more than grateful. Possibly even indebted to you.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have really nothing to say. Actually I would be telling a lie to say that. :)

All I have to say is YAY!Y!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!! YAY! YAY!!!!!!! YAYness!!!!

"The seconds ticked by, Inspiration refused to be tempted by Butter Menthols.

It took some time to even come up with a title for this post. Even now i'm not convinced I like it. Well its gonna have to do for now. So what to talk about?? Perhaps the obvious would be a good place to start....

15 Days!!!! Russia is 15 days out now!!! A little over a fortnight separates me from the most incredible and crazy thing I have done. In 15 days, my world will change in more ways I can currently comprehend, except for ugly and blatant realities. But change also in exciting and beneficial ways.

I am in my final week of work in Australia now. The first day is over, there are four more to go. (As you can see, I am big on statistics and numbers, as well as the blatantly obvious) Must say it has been fun thus far. I expect the other days to be on par with this one.

There seems to be a large area missed out on in between this post and the last. Quite a lot of important things have happened since then. Which is why it is so ludicrous that it has been this long since a post has been made. Forgive me!!! I promise lots of photos and Moscow gossip to ease the sufferring I have caused. Who am I kidding, no one is reading anyway. :) :)

For those who are interested, here are the events that have paved the way for things to come:

• I applied for several jobs within Moscow for a position as ESL Teacher
• I received knockbacks or no response at all from all except one
• This one academy offered an interview and then a postion with one of their offices in central Moscow (After much stress on my part and other close companions)(And a frantic call to Moscow at 11:30pm on a Friday Evening)
• I got an airline ticket booked for the 11th August which departed Melbourne to Hong Kong, and then Hong Kong to Moscow.
• I got a Passport (In a damn hurry as Aeroflot wanted it's details)
• I had a celebratory party with my closest friends and family.
• I recieved news that my letter of invitation was going to arrive, after the date I was supposed to leave (the 11th of August)
• I rebooked my flight for the 30th August to allow enough time to recieve the letter of invitation to arrive and to get a visa from the Russian consulate,
• Currently waiting for the Letter of Invitation to arrive so that visa can be processed.

So there is quite a lot have happened, and gone unmentioned. Its probably because so much has happened that it has gone undocumented. Or at least that is a mrginally decent excuse. Probably not though. Shut up and let me sleep!!!

Ok all. I'm signing off this post and promise to write more, on a more frequent basis. :) :)
I'm going nigh nighs. Sweet dreams everyone. And when you wake up. Make sure you follow them.

Matt

Does Anyone Know What This Is???

Err. The first person to give an explanation as to what in God's name this is, gets 50 points. I don't know what it is. This photo was taken at sunset in Melbourne on 25th of June, 2005. It looks like something falling from the sky, burning. But what would take 5 minutes to fall, while still leaving a trail of fire behind it?? Answers please!!!!!

Buy My CD's On Ebay!!!!

So many wonderful Albums and Compilations to choose from!!! Or bid on them all!!!! Going cheap, and all going within the next few days!!! Bid now or forever be without classic and quality tunes. Why download when you can have original CD's? All lovingly taken care of and pampered. Booklets, Inserts and CD's all in top notch condition. Bid now and help a brother out. :) :) :)

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Oh my god, its only 54 Days to go!!!

Every day I tend to go through this ritual. MSN signs itself in whenever I turn on my computer and load Windows. And then my nickname comes up, "delxaAU - xx days and counting...." An instant reminder that it needs to be updated, ie xx = xx - 1. Today I updated xx from 55 to 54. And then suddenly it struck me like a metal ruler to the back of the head.... It only seems like yesterday I started counting from 64. The ten days had passed in the blink of an eye. Gone!! Swallowed by the constant forwards motion of time. And Time wasn't slowing down for anyone, nor to let anyone off this rollercoaster. Holy Shit!!!!

Don't get me wrong. I am terribly excited to be going. I have been looking forwards to this for such a long time. It has been the only thing I have been thinking about for such a long time. But sweet Jesus am I ready for this?? Speaking of reassuring anecdotes, a collegue from work sends her greetings from the UK where she has been for a week now. And also requests that we come and get her and take her home!! Homesick already!!! What about me?? I am going for a year!! That is 52 weeks!!!!!!!!! That is 365 days!!! (366 on a leap year) I'm sure I will like it there and I am so enthralled at the idea of living somewhere that is so different to where I live in so many different ways. Experiencing a new way of life, a new city, new people. But I have never been away from my parents for more than 14 days. I have never been out of the country (unless you count Tasmania :) ) And now I am going for a year. No wonder my mother cried when I finally bought my airline ticket.

This is going to be hardest thing that I have ever done. ANd probably the hardest thing that I will ever do. ANd I don't recall letting on to anyone that I felt like this. That I was this afraid. That I was human. The feelings that I have are excitement, and fear, and the confusion that comes with having two contrasting emotions. Maybe I just wanted everyone to be excited for me. And perhaps that was too much to expect. Becuase the same people will sad when I leave.

So what am I counting down to? Its 54 days until I jump on a plane. Its 54 days until a dream that has been in the making for years comes true. Its 54 days until my life changes forever. Its 54 days until I have to say my goodbyes to my beautiful family for one year. Its 55 days until I finally get to meet the girl of my dreams, the source of my innermost happiness, and experience the moments which will make all my worries and fear be cast away.

Falling.....

I fall..
Through time, I fall.
Through confusion, I fall
Through loneliness, I fall
Through darkness, I fall
Through silence, I fall
Through myself, I fall

The sun catches me.
The water around my feet catches me
The notes of a piano catch me
The sound of your voice catches me
The touch of your skin catches me
The light of your being catches me
You catch me.

Matthew Bell

Melbourne City - 21-05-05

About that time again 'ey chaps??? Righteo!

It would appear is though it has been far too long in between posts. Especially considering I promised to broadcast every day. HOWEVER. I also promised I would broadcast from Moscow. And as yet, I have not offically gotten to Moscow yet. So the proles must continue to exercise patience. You will all know when I am there. And that will be soon enough.

"The peninsula lay before me, the millions of lights laid out before me like a starfield that had fallen from the skies. The only sound to be heard was a light wind, brushing past me. The scent of the sea, faint but still unmistakable. Out on the water, bouys flashed intermittently, almost like the water was sparkling itelf as light was reflected off it.

The scene was perfect. Beauty and serenity were both present. Yet there was something else, undeniably present. Loneliness. She was not here with me. The peninsula, the lights, the moment all still meaningful, but also indicators to the fact that she was not here to share it with me."

Arthur's Seat, Melbourne, Australia -14 May 2005