- Please wait for some time. All beds are occupied, but we will see what we can do.
...
High temperature, terrible cough, headache, already spoilt nerves. The doctors will tell me in a few days that I have left sided pneumonia.
...
- We have only one bed available. Please follow me.
And we are going... to a men's unit.
- Hey, what's that all about? - asked I.
- This is a women's ward, don't worry.
The only bed available is next to the bed of a very old white-haired woman in late 70-s. The steel divider, also white, makes no difference, its just a crossbar, 2 santimeters wide.
- Should I share this pretty nice king size bed with this old lady? No way!
The hall smells with not that fresh men and their clothes including socks. I go back to the intersection between men and women.
The closest bench to the intersection is full of women, they are talking while looking my way.
In a minute one woman peels from the group, comes up to me and says:
- My daughter picks me up in about half an hour. If you wait, you can take my place.
I am guided to a room to see a normal bed, without any neighbours. When going out to the room, I look at the door. It says: Ward #507.
A brand new story for me has just begun.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Russian Breakfast: Part One
Today I cooked fried eggs. To say frankly, there is no traditional Russian breakfast but we have several dishes that may be called traditional breakfast dishes.
To make my version which I call "anti-stress" fried eggs you will need the following plus 1 spoonful of refined olive oil.
So I take 5 quail eggs, 5 cherry tomatoes, a little piece of onion and 1 sausage.
After short preparation this plate breaks into two work areas.
Onion - {lu:k}
It is the first one to be thrown onto the pan with hot olive oil. Onion, as well as garlic, keeps healty vitamins in the olive oil from fading away. Mediterranean cuisine hit the spot.
Sausage - {sosiska} - the stress is on the second syllable
Goes after the onion in 2 or 3 minutes.
Tomatoes - {pomidor} - singular - the stress is on the last syllable
Accompany the sausage.
Quail eggs - {perepelinoe yaitso} - singular - 1. the stress is on the fourth syllable; 2. the stress is on the last syllable
Some people don't wash eggs. I always do. And break eggs into a plate to make sure that there are no shell pieces.
I choose quail eggs as they contain more vitamins than chicken ones: B1 and B2, K and Fe.
Dietologists say that ideally you need to eat 2 portions a week to be healthy.
I stir all eggs together and pour the mixture onto the pan in 2-3 minutes after sausage+tomatoes.
A little bit of salt and here we go.
This breakfast contains a lot of stress-resistant vitamins that we really need to save the nerves.
I am taking pictures "as is". They are not that fancy as in cook books, but they are real.
P.S. Sometimes when I don't have time to cook in the morning, I just warm up what was left from dinner. I am flexible.
To make my version which I call "anti-stress" fried eggs you will need the following plus 1 spoonful of refined olive oil.
So I take 5 quail eggs, 5 cherry tomatoes, a little piece of onion and 1 sausage.
After short preparation this plate breaks into two work areas.
Onion - {lu:k}
It is the first one to be thrown onto the pan with hot olive oil. Onion, as well as garlic, keeps healty vitamins in the olive oil from fading away. Mediterranean cuisine hit the spot.
Sausage - {sosiska} - the stress is on the second syllable
Goes after the onion in 2 or 3 minutes.
Tomatoes - {pomidor} - singular - the stress is on the last syllable
Accompany the sausage.
Quail eggs - {perepelinoe yaitso} - singular - 1. the stress is on the fourth syllable; 2. the stress is on the last syllable
Some people don't wash eggs. I always do. And break eggs into a plate to make sure that there are no shell pieces.
I choose quail eggs as they contain more vitamins than chicken ones: B1 and B2, K and Fe.
Dietologists say that ideally you need to eat 2 portions a week to be healthy.
I stir all eggs together and pour the mixture onto the pan in 2-3 minutes after sausage+tomatoes.
A little bit of salt and here we go.
I am taking pictures "as is". They are not that fancy as in cook books, but they are real.
P.S. Sometimes when I don't have time to cook in the morning, I just warm up what was left from dinner. I am flexible.
Generation 28-24
I like the North American stuff. I like drinking coffee from paper cups with platic covers and I like stir sticks. I drive an American car. I like American coffee-bakery-burger-sandwich chains in Russian environment. They make it cosier.
I am 26. My generation (28-24) is very flexible. We are the Soviet kids. When I was going to the second grade, the Union collapsed. Wind of changes started blowing every day, and it still does. We saw how the cyber space was born in Russia. Our parents bought us computers almost immediately after they appeared in the Russian market and we taught out parents how to use internet. We were technically reborn with the appearance of cell phones, bluetooth and wi-fi. We saw our parents coping with another collapse - of the Russian ruble. We were there when the happy city turned into the crying city. We were there many times.
We are flexible. We don't like the Soviet reality and Soviet features of character in our people. We like dynamics. We don't like lies and we don't like lying. We don't like idols and we are looking for the God who is alive. We hate rules and plans and no one can tell us that we are bad because our hearts are beating. It may seem that we are too airy, but we are just looking for true ourselves, true life and true relationships.
Our parents had to get used to the new world. Sometimes it seems to me that some younger people try to find the truth as though they hate themselves. There is another group of elder ones which I call a "lost generation". They were finishing school when they started living in the Russian Federation. They so much wanted to be independent and begin a new life that they created a Russian version of the so called "American dream". They were ping ponging between different alcohol drinks and different partners trying to find something real or become the rulers of the world. Our grandparents think that we are rude and harsh and doesn't know what to do in life. They do not understand that we are working hard, some of us are getting the second higher education. They worked mostly from 8 am to 5 pm, had equal salaries for similar positions, the career ladder was the same for the whole country. Don't worry, be happy.
There are times when we think that there is no power and no wish to go on. Too many changes. We feel as if we are about to crack into pieces. And no one understands. We are difficult to communicate with. We are difficult to live with. We are different.
Would be interesting to know: What do all other generations think about us?
I am 26. My generation (28-24) is very flexible. We are the Soviet kids. When I was going to the second grade, the Union collapsed. Wind of changes started blowing every day, and it still does. We saw how the cyber space was born in Russia. Our parents bought us computers almost immediately after they appeared in the Russian market and we taught out parents how to use internet. We were technically reborn with the appearance of cell phones, bluetooth and wi-fi. We saw our parents coping with another collapse - of the Russian ruble. We were there when the happy city turned into the crying city. We were there many times.
We are flexible. We don't like the Soviet reality and Soviet features of character in our people. We like dynamics. We don't like lies and we don't like lying. We don't like idols and we are looking for the God who is alive. We hate rules and plans and no one can tell us that we are bad because our hearts are beating. It may seem that we are too airy, but we are just looking for true ourselves, true life and true relationships.
Our parents had to get used to the new world. Sometimes it seems to me that some younger people try to find the truth as though they hate themselves. There is another group of elder ones which I call a "lost generation". They were finishing school when they started living in the Russian Federation. They so much wanted to be independent and begin a new life that they created a Russian version of the so called "American dream". They were ping ponging between different alcohol drinks and different partners trying to find something real or become the rulers of the world. Our grandparents think that we are rude and harsh and doesn't know what to do in life. They do not understand that we are working hard, some of us are getting the second higher education. They worked mostly from 8 am to 5 pm, had equal salaries for similar positions, the career ladder was the same for the whole country. Don't worry, be happy.
There are times when we think that there is no power and no wish to go on. Too many changes. We feel as if we are about to crack into pieces. And no one understands. We are difficult to communicate with. We are difficult to live with. We are different.
Would be interesting to know: What do all other generations think about us?
Friday, April 16, 2010
Moscow is in the air
I don't like travel guide books. They give mere facts and pictures of historical and public places for tourists. When you come to the place, you want to find exactly what was shown in the picture or was written about. And most commonly the tourist places are really of no interest and underestimated sites are marvellous. As a result you feel annoyed and unhappy.You didn't meet you own expectations.
There is another thing why I don't like guide books. Usually when I arrive to a place, the most important thing for me is the first portion of air I breathe in. Each city and town smells differently.
Moscow smells of Russian forest - mixture of fir trees, birch trees, pine trees, aspens and oaks. This smell is desperate in its freshness and melancholy. But not negative.
When you get out of the taxi you took at the airport close to the centre of the city, this air changes for the smell of exhaust gases. Don't worry, you will get used to it in two-three days.
What is impossible to forget and find a substitution for - is a smell of a Moscow night. Sweet, fresh, with odour of wet asphalt and road dust at the same time, tempting and also desperate, but in its freedom. The most of it you can smell on a fine summer night from 10 pm to about 3 or 4 am.
You feel that the city loves you and you start loving it, you can do everything you want and you will be successful, you feel as you are about to spread your arms to the sky, stand on your fingertips and fly.
In the morning this mysterious atmosphere fades away and you start hating the city and maybe yourself. Congratulations! This is a true sign that you fell in love with Moscow.
There is another thing why I don't like guide books. Usually when I arrive to a place, the most important thing for me is the first portion of air I breathe in. Each city and town smells differently.
Moscow smells of Russian forest - mixture of fir trees, birch trees, pine trees, aspens and oaks. This smell is desperate in its freshness and melancholy. But not negative.
When you get out of the taxi you took at the airport close to the centre of the city, this air changes for the smell of exhaust gases. Don't worry, you will get used to it in two-three days.
What is impossible to forget and find a substitution for - is a smell of a Moscow night. Sweet, fresh, with odour of wet asphalt and road dust at the same time, tempting and also desperate, but in its freedom. The most of it you can smell on a fine summer night from 10 pm to about 3 or 4 am.
You feel that the city loves you and you start loving it, you can do everything you want and you will be successful, you feel as you are about to spread your arms to the sky, stand on your fingertips and fly.
In the morning this mysterious atmosphere fades away and you start hating the city and maybe yourself. Congratulations! This is a true sign that you fell in love with Moscow.
Jogging street
My car showed +6C this morning.
Pretty chilly outside, but still not the worst case for April. The sun is shinning, no fog and smog - a good point for happiness nowadays.
A jogging woman in late 40s with headphones in her ears crossed the street when I was making out of the small yard in front of our block of apartments to the avenue. She was pursuing a young girl in pink-and-grey hoody and jogging pants. From the opposite direction another woman was running.
What a jogging street I live at.
Pretty chilly outside, but still not the worst case for April. The sun is shinning, no fog and smog - a good point for happiness nowadays.
A jogging woman in late 40s with headphones in her ears crossed the street when I was making out of the small yard in front of our block of apartments to the avenue. She was pursuing a young girl in pink-and-grey hoody and jogging pants. From the opposite direction another woman was running.
What a jogging street I live at.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Moscow traffic jams - rush hours round the clock
After I changed my job from a starting newspaper journalist to a marketing coordinator four years ago, I ended up sitting at the office all eight-hour work day long in front of corporate mailbox breaking up for team meetings and phone calls.
It was quite a surprise for me that there are huge traffic jams happening in the centre of Moscow at daytime. Ring roads I could have understood.
When I was heading back from the trade show back to the office at 1 pm. I chose this timing on purpose - to miss the traffic. Traffic jams wise it was quite a tricky route. The exhibition centre Crocus Expo is located at the outskirts of Moscow a few hundred meters from the Ring Road. And our office is twenty minutes walk from the Red Square.
It was quite a surprise for me that there are huge traffic jams happening in the centre of Moscow at daytime. Ring roads I could have understood.
When I was heading back from the trade show back to the office at 1 pm. I chose this timing on purpose - to miss the traffic. Traffic jams wise it was quite a tricky route. The exhibition centre Crocus Expo is located at the outskirts of Moscow a few hundred meters from the Ring Road. And our office is twenty minutes walk from the Red Square.
Suprisingly for me, I got stuck at the middle of Kutuzovsky Prospect. It took me almost forty minutes to cross the New Arbat Street. Normally you can make it in 5 minutes.
I do not know who all these people are but the traffic jam at lunchtime was even worse than in usual rush hours: 7.30-10.00 am and 5.00-9.00 pm. No way! Will sit at the office...
And this is how it looked like today at 5.05 pm at the Bolshoy Kamenny Most (Bridge). The Kremlin is on the right hand side. A few meters away.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
True love for a lifetime
Suddenly I thought: What do I know about current Moscow and what is going on here? Not much. Pretty unforgivable for a true Moscovite who, moreover, loves the city. Thanks to my work and usual day-to-day problems.
And I decided to explore and share. And in the interim tell you about my vision of life in Moscow.
Why in English and not in Russian?
Russian people have more opportunities. They know the language. They can come to Moscow on their own and not get lost. They may find out what is going on from daily news. They know what is going on and are able to form their own opinion based on facts.
You probably do not have all that but have been dreaming to get to know the Russian capital from the one who knows.
And if you come to Moscow, you may be sure about one thing only: no matter what, you will fall in love with it. Even if you are not going drop everything to come and leave here.
Dedicated to those who have fallen in love with Moscow but cannot be here.
Find out what a travel guide is not telling or showing.
And I decided to explore and share. And in the interim tell you about my vision of life in Moscow.
Why in English and not in Russian?
Russian people have more opportunities. They know the language. They can come to Moscow on their own and not get lost. They may find out what is going on from daily news. They know what is going on and are able to form their own opinion based on facts.
You probably do not have all that but have been dreaming to get to know the Russian capital from the one who knows.
And if you come to Moscow, you may be sure about one thing only: no matter what, you will fall in love with it. Even if you are not going drop everything to come and leave here.
Dedicated to those who have fallen in love with Moscow but cannot be here.
Find out what a travel guide is not telling or showing.
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