Our Trip to Russia, 2005, A. and LUBA JOHNSTON

From MemoryArchive

Who:S. A. & LUBA JOHNSTON
What: OUR TRIP TO RUSSIA
When: JULY, 2005
Where: THE URALS, mainly

When Luba and I arrived at her younger daughter's small apartment in Magnitogorsk, I noted as absent: toaster, hot water (pipes for apt complex being replaced), screens on windows air-conditioner, friendly &/or involved neighbors, phone directory for the city's residents (but this is Russia!), drying rack for dishes, peanut butter, shower curtain for bathtub, Murphy bed (an invention to save floor space for other uses), animal control (none in evidence), wheelchair access.

I would have liked to have seen: more available parking within the apartment complex, deposits on glass bottles to help encourage recycling, safety net, e. g. nursing homes

…Although there was: microwave oven, gas stove, living room tripled as dining room and 2nd bedroom, one male kitten -- Oscar, full-size curtains (though too few windows), kitchen basin for washing dishes, widows (fellow residents) who wanted to charge Sonya for water that we, her guests, consumed, plenty of moths and some crane flies at night (no screens), people scrounging for glass bottles to recycle for cash, 220-volt electric current, refrigerator/freezer, one double bed, 3 upholstered chairs (they weren't ordinary “furniture” but the type which could be made into cots for sleeping) , urban traffic: cars going 20 mph; cars going 45 in spurts, a high density of shoppers in some stores women's fashion: pointy shoes with straps, stray animals, unexpectedly high cost of food, two TVs & one VCR, Internet cafés

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 – departure date from Spokane

I had my doubts Luba and I would have the Breeze packed by the departure time which I had optimally calculated as 8:30 a.m.. We took five bags (3 for check-in at the airports, 2 carry-ons). [Dang, I actually did leave my (medication) in Spokane. I'm writing this thought in Magnitogorsk -- I have only enough for 1.5 more days... if I don't find the prescription bottle.] One errand: drop off the audio book by Robert Parker. Then, head westward on I-90.

Yesterday/Tuesday, I had vacuumed the Breeze, replenished the antifreeze with Sierra brand (!) plus windshield wiper fluid and cleaned the windows.

It rained lightly as we hit the road, recorded as 8:40 a.m. good road conditions all the way. Used about 4/5ths of a tank of gas. Lacking a Tacoma street map, I still managed to drive straight to Evonne's house located on a golf course fairway. She was a fine hostess and served dinner to us and our dear octogenarian friend,Wes T. (82). The hot dish was vegetarian, and I found it quite tasty.

When I spoke with Hildegard S. by phone from Tacoma, she said that on the day we met in May 1989, she noticed I had nice legs. I hadn't known that before. It's nice that I do now.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Part Two -- Departure to Moscow.

We awoke at Evonne's house. She was wonderful to have us stay overnight. Sort of like a friend's B & B. After a hot breakfast, she took us past the renovated Narrows Bridge, and then off to the bus terminal, located downtown. I noted changes to the familiar in the area. We said our goodbyes; she would be meeting our plane on its return in two weeks. Almost immediately, we were able to board an airport shuttle. After a couple stops along the freeway, we were dropped off almost on top of the Aeroflot counter. That made it very convenient for us to check in our three bags. (We kept two carry-ons.) One concern was now out-of-the-way. Such was my anxiety over the anticipated homeland security rigmarole I took a Xanax. (Note: I had been boycotting all airlines since 9/11 -- United Airlines shares the blame for the hijackings -- they proved to be the weak link.) However, taking off my shoes was about the worst of it.

We waited 2 more hours to board the Aeroflot flight to Moscow -- the Boeing 767 was almost packed. Smoking is now prohibited and there were even smoke alarms in the toilets -- a welcome change from our experience in 2001! I'm sure I'd never flown 590 mph before this trip. Something I'll remember: A real-time map told us progress toward destination, airspeed, outside temperature and time to arrival. The two of us had three seats to ourselves -- much appreciated. There was a free inflight movie. At midnight, we were still enroute.

Part 3 – We Go Through Customs Change Planes

Landing at Shermetyevo Airport was super-smooth. (Later, passengers on the domestic flight to Magnitogorsk broke out in applause when the plane landed safely. Quite a contrast between the international and the domestic sides of the Russian travel industry.) The pilot has informed us of time and temperature in Moscow. We note it's now Friday, July 1. In preparation for going through Customs, we each made a declaration regarding cash and goods carried into the country, but no one asked for it. There was the check-in with our passports, and that was perfunctory. Curious.

Friday, July 1, 2005 (Moscow date) Concluding thoughts.

Having taken off on the Boeing 767 Thursday at nearly 5 p.m., but we'd headed east and north over the Pole. Happily, I now know Moscow is closer than I thought: about 5400 miles from SeaTac going the Polar route. More surprisingly, the trip was entirely in daylight -- a quirk of being so far north, I believe. We arrived in under 11 hours. I was in awe of the relatively short distance we needed to travel by going close to the Pole: about 5400 miles. Flying eastward, we landed at the Moscow airport at 2 p.m., approximately the same hour when we took off. However, we had advanced a full day on the calendar.

After landing in Moscow, we needed a change of airport in order to board the departing/connecting flight to Magnitogorsk (900 air-miles ESE of Moscow). We cabbed it to the nearest domestic airport (cost, $50), and then Luba found that would not help us get to Magnitorgorsk after all. Not to repeat the mistake of skipping a critical phone call, Luba got the needed information. Luba also purchased tickets good for a departure from yet another domestic airport. These guaranteed our seating.

Oh, those crazy taxi drivers! The Russian autobahn? Weaving in and out at times – open-road speed as high as 140 kph / 84 mph. No airbag in front of me in the front passenger seat; the driver not even bothering with his shoulder harness. I was in culture shock. The taxi was a Lada -- a lightweight 4-door, old and unattractive Fiat model. The driver's zipping into breaks in traffic: scary! --The ride cost $50 for two people with luggage, one airport to another. The exchange rate is roughly 27 rubles to the dollar these days and stable.

With Luba's blood pressure undoubtedly going up, we cabbed it to two airports in the course of just three hours (another $50 expense). During all this uncertainty, we were under awful time pressure. Checking in our three bags one more time, we didn't have long to wait. Great relief!

[Consequence Avoided #1: Had we missed every flight to Magnitogorsk that Friday we would have had to stay overnight in Moscow, and we had made no such arrangements. Stopping off at some expensive Moscow hotel ($300/night isn't exceptionally high) simply wouldn't have fit in our budget, already stretched.]

Beginning at 11:30 p.m., a smaller jet took us eastward to Magnitogorsk in 2.5 hours. But with time zone changes, we actually landed at 4 a.m. local time, Saturday, July 2.

Sonia is beautiful! She's now a dyed blond with brown eyes, about 5'8" and 27 years old. Vanya is nearly 8, a soon-to-be second-grader, energetic, dark hair and has a front baby tooth missing.

Saturday, July 2, 2005 (now 30 hours since our departure from SeaTac)

We had very little sleep since leaving Tacoma (Thursday morning). We were frazzled!

Upon our arrival at Sonya's apartment, we meet the last of its residents: Oscar, a mostly white cat with some black. Vanya is obviously excited to have the kittenish Oscar as part of their household. Oscar is very wound up for a lap cat. -- We are going to be sleeping on a type of chair that converts into a cot – dual-purpose of necessity.

In the afternoon, we went walking to nearby shops and passed numerous kiosks. It's the biggest day of the week for weddings, apparently. Slava's daughter was one of the brides. We didn't catch sight of her. I well remember the Memorial to the Great War from our 2001 trip. What is depicted there are two giant figures, one soldier holding aloft a huge broadsword and the other a defense worker helping to support it. Luba and I agreed the figures were cast in bronze. It doesn't matter that Russia is no longer the USSR, for they have physically extended the Memorial since our visit to include several thousand names of young and not-so-young men who perished. They've added plaques commemorating Heroes of the Soviet Union. My cynical thought is that this is the state's way of trying to impress the citizenry that so much sacrifice was needed and justified. The truth being, untold numbers of Soviet soldiers were used as cannon fodder by their generals.

Sunday, July 3, 2005

A large concern is: my (medication) was left in Spokane, and I've run out by day's end.

No church for us. It was mentioned, though. Also, the sight of a minaret is new. The Muslim population has shot up from my 1994 visit. Many men with darker faces, Asian features, black hair. Some women with head scarves. The sight of so many elderly selling produce while sitting on stools outdoors in the marketplace distresses me. Examples of their produce for sale: a liter of strawberries or a sack of potatoes, or black sunflower seeds -- all to supplement their pitifully small pensions. For the most part, they don't converse with one another and rarely with passersby. Aching boredom under a hot sun! It's no place to read a book; this is not the generation to be listening to music via headphones. They could sit there for hours without making a sale. This strikes me as a terrible waste and an indictment of the Russian leadership and the oligarchy which tolerate such high poverty.

Bizarre: Luba went to the indoor food market and bought an item for 18R, 10 kopeks. However, she lacked the 10 kopecks, a tiny coin. The agreeable cashier told her, "OK, please bring it tomorrow." Now, one ruble is worth < four cents, making 10 kopeks worth 1/10 of four cents. Go figure. -- Luba bought sunglasses for me at a kiosk for another 18R (roughly, 70 cents). They appear to be polarized -- nice.

The city reaps tax revenue from cigarettes and alcohol. Hardly a surprise, then, for one to see a kiosk open 24/6. Small but visible portions of (younger) women smoke. Unlike men (who don't realize how pathetic they look), women do not carry bottles of beer in public and drink from them.

I've brought gifts from our home for the Magnitogorsk English Club members, as Luba suggested: about 20 paperback mysteries in English. It was a very good thing for me, too. Sonia has no cable TV, ergo no US network news. Hence, I average reading a novel every day. So far... Pastime -- a Spencer novel by Robert Parker; The Vendetta Defense by Lisa Scottoline; Blackout -- an aviation thriller illustrating a deadly laser by John Nance; The Brethren by John Grisham about 3 judges in prison... and others.

Sonya's neighborhood at night is a bit frightening to me. Worse, crossing these broad streets in daylight feels like making a dash across a NASCAR track during a race. Some cars sprint at over 40 mph with pedestrians present. Parents hold their children's hands. In the middle of many of the major streets are the tram tracks, so pedestrians have to watch out for trams on the move as well.

Monday, July 4, 2005

Note: this is the first Fourth I've ever spent outside the USA and I feel strange. Significantly, it's (Luba's)Aunt Nina's 83rd birthday today. (The party was a family affair, and I did not attend.) She's in frail health, and it could be her last. [On July 4, 2007, she celebrated yet another birthday.] At any rate, Luba will never be present at another of her birthday parties – other priorities.

Two critical matters to tend to today: obtaining some (medication) for me (may be impossible), and effecting my "registration" at OVIR (rather like the INS), an action with a deadline -- one Luba takes most seriously. She's responsible to assist the "foreigner".

My "registration" at OVIR has become an ordeal, especially for Luba. The authorities made it compulsory for Sonya, as the owner of the apartment where I'm staying, to take her propeska [internal passport; nothing comparable in USA] to them for inspection. Unluckily, there's no closure for Sonya on Monday, for she holds a full-time job. What is needed is a stamp on my visa from the apartment complex president, a volunteer official. She manages to locate him Monday evening. Nevertheless, it could have gone badly if the babushkas hadn't browbeaten the reluctant fellow. OVIR's directive to Sonya: return on Tuesday, 2-3 p.m. only!

Late in the day, hot water flowed once more from the taps in Sonia's apartment. Yeah! Replacing the hot-water pipes somewhere in the system took the workers two weeks, and there was no hot water for any of the affected apartments during that time.

Luba took me to an Internet café. (90 minutes, about $1.50US.) I used the Pentium machine to check my email and find out what's happening in the outside world. For example, I learned Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is retiring. A huge struggle over her replacement is bound to ensue. John Bolton won't get approved in the U.S. Senate, but George Bush may make an interim appointment to the UN post.

The disruptions in our trip caused by the bureaucratic (OVIR) regulations and the ensuing rigmarole have driven poor Luba almost to distraction.

An interesting resolution to my prescription problem: Luba saw a prescribing pharmacist, female, and explained my difficulty. She was quite understanding and sold Luba a 60-day supply of my tablets at low cost. I am relieved to have it now as I avoid even a day of doing without. In a(n improbable) worst-case scenario, Luba would have begged some doctor's receptionist for an appointment. However, as a foreigner I wouldn't rate an “urgent” appointment. Hence, tough luck!

Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Sunday, when Sonia, Luba, Vanya and I were out walking, this foolish 63-year-old challenged him to a 50-meter sprint. Well, I tried too hard and pulled a groin muscle, again in my right leg. Today, all I did was try to kick a fish head (!) off the sidewalk soccer-style, and I strained it some more. Quite painful as well as limiting my activity.

The very nice-looking automatic Seiko wristwatch I bought for Luba on eBay last year was apparently flawed and never kept good time. She stopped wearing it. Today, she bought another Japanese brand of watch (battery-powered) for 300R, about $12US. (It carried a Russian 1-year warranty.) She got the wristband resized. The same woman made my Fossil wristband smaller as well -- no more slipping underneath my wrist.

Sonia's smallish freezer needed defrosting, which Luba managed. (I suggested a hot iron.)

Found out the US space probe hit its target, a comment some hundreds of millions of miles away, on the Fourth, causing a crater an the asteroid, as intended. The Hubble telescope had focused on it at this time of the collision. -- Lack of US news is unpleasant for me. I'm too shut off. No English-language newspaper to be found in all of Magnitogorsk! I gladly settle for an issue of Moscow Times, the business daily in English to be found easily in Moscow.

Wednesday, July 6, 2005

I'm not sleeping through the night. I'm awake at two a.m., then read a novel or write in my journal for two hours or more. Back to sleep on the cot, then, for three more hours.

At the Internet café, I e-mailed Evonne in Tacoma. Only one or two of my arrivivg e-mails made for interesting reading. On the Spokesman Review newspaper's Web site: Mayor Jim West scandal is still hot news.

Vladimir, Vanya's biological father, has agreed to confer with Luba regarding the son's expected immigration to the US in 2006. I'd like to see Vanya go to St. George's School. That's where both Lynne and step-daughter Cathie graduated in the 1980s. By all accounts, the father's very manipulative.

It was a week ago we drove to Tacoma. We are far, far away from home. I miss our life in Spokane and our two cats.

Luba & I have been walking some distances. Of course, I'm not in shape. I dashed a distance of 20 feet to avoid a driver bearing down on me, and came up limping slightly. Damn groin injury! Worse, that area of my leg shows significant bruising.

Luba: this drink is too sweet. Grapefruit juice; maybe you'll like it, Steve. Me (sipping): it certainly is sweet. However, it's pineapple juice. -- I feel I have to question her when the word chosen doesn't fit, and that bogs down our conversations.

I priced a (new and supposedly affordable) Pentium II at a computer shop which does custom assembly. It was about $320 or 8300 rubles. There was no operating system option included, such as Windows XP (which it could run, though minimally).

I'm done reading a fifth novel -- Lawrence Block's The Canceled Czech (Evan Tanner, 1960s CIA-type guy). I'm now immersed in his When the Sacred Ginmill Closes.

There's no car to provide us with a tour of the city. A taxi ride reveals little (the cabbie never talks to me). The traffic is beyond nerve-racking, and the streets are potholed or cracked.

Thursday, July 7, 2005

The big item on today's schedule is the English Club meeting later at 5:30 p.m.

I picked up the Lawrence Block novel Even the Wicked immediately after finishing his novel When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes. (A thought by Lawrence Block: Desire and adultery -- one is written on water, the other is carved in stone.) -- I believe that makes seven novels I've read on the trip.

My groin muscle has... tightened. I intend to do very little walking today.

Luba went with her half-sister Larissa and her husband Mark to visit the graves of the sisters' mother and brother ($$names$$). She seemed to be helped through her grief by the visit. They had to weed the grave site -- it was badly overgrown.

There was rain today, making sleeping more comfortable.

I'm still struck by the homeless boy (as Luba had to explain to me) who concealed himself in the shrubbery. She took it as a fact of life. I, of course, wanted to see the boy cared for.

Alexandr, a friend of Sonya's, brought over his DVD player and his modest collection of DVD movies in English. Luba's friend from childhood, Valentina, brought her niece Natalie and her granddaughter Anna to the apartment, and the five of us, then, sat down and watched "Hitch" with Will Smith and in English. All seemed to like it. Alexandr's DVD collection included four Nicolas Cage thrillers on a single DVD. The movie pirates managed that feat by eliminating all language-versions other than Russian.

Friday, July 8, 2005

[No entries]

Saturday, July 9, 2005

A few words about Magnitorgorsk (pop. 400,000): it has few provisions/attractions for tourists. It now boasts three hotels, two co-located restaurants plus a third restaurant/bakery (where the English Club meets).

On my first visit to this industrial city in 1994, I was pleasantly surprised that pollution was remarkably lower than National Geographic had earlier reported. Cause: 90% of the heavy industry (referring to metals production) had been abruptly shut down in 1993. Several tens of thousands were laid off as well. Today, unemployment/poverty/low birthrate/lack of a safety net are quite evident. Newshound that I am, Thanks to the Internet, I was only a day late in learning of the bombing in London, the progress of Hurricane Dennis or details of the Karl Rove controversy; such is the almost total absence of news reported in English.

Saturday, July 9, 2005

After all the walking yesterday, I am content to sit and read. Luba has gotten postcards and envelopes for me to mail, so I compose the draft of what I might write to friends back home.

It's disconcerting to see I'll have no novels left to read on the way back. -- I'm heartened by the idea of "just four more breakfasts," then we start the trip for home – a surprisingly happy prospect.

There are arrangements made by phone to go to Bannoye Lake where there are a ski resort and year-round hotel. Putin vacations nearby. Sergei, Sonya's friend, picks up the four of us at the apartment. We leave almost immediately, at two, I forgot to take sunglasses or swallow a Xanax for the car trip (no centerline, no airbag; autos with powerful engines passing us going over 80 mph/135kph; and a driver indifferent to the commonsense use of his shoulder harness), so I'm left feeling anxious. Sasha/Alexandr (he loaned the DVD player to us), his pregnant wife and Sonya's former live-in lover meet us. Another 10 miles or so, and we're at the resort. But first, we enjoy an enclosed gondola ride to the top of the ski lift, where the impressive conference center Putin uses is also located. Sergei's considerate and rides up with us, providing us with a photographer for times Luba and I pose together. We could see up to seven lakes in the vicinity. Luba claims there's an underground river connects two or more of the lakes.

(Naturally, I'm taking a novel along on the excursion. I'm finishing Excavation by James Rollins and starting This Far No Further by John Wessel.)

Our group of 7 adults and kids went up to the hotel room 206 for conversation and a snack. Too few chairs, so I went into the corridor and read the novel. Luba asks me to rejoin the group for a walk along the edge of the lake. We saw expensive condos (which would be 30 miles from one's job in Magnitogorsk), a conference center, boat ramp, a forest of birch trees (Luba's favorites) and paved paths; there were inflatable piers. An enclosed swimming area looked inviting, though the water's on the chilly side. --By the time Sergei drove us back, I had more respect for his driving skills after getting to know him a little better.

A Visa card is useless this far from Moscow. So I voice concern when Luba tells me she/we are down to $400US in 100's. (Luba discovered that the bank found one of the new-design $100US bank notes to be “unacceptable”, saying there was a 1/8" tear on one edge.) These funds must last us until we board the flight to SeaTac. Our return tickets crossing the Atlantic are purchased. All we must do now is keep track of them. We'll have a one-night layover in Moscow Luba has arranged through her daughter Anastassia.

Saturday continued...

Our final trip to Magnitogorsk is proving very fulfilling. We flew in daylight all the way to Moscow on a Boeing 767. We left the same day, arriving in Magnitogorsk around 4 a.m. local time Saturday. Our total distance traveled was 6400 air miles. We will leave after lunch for an upscale lakeside resort where the daughter's friends have a rented room.

Without having set foot in a church we have seen seven wedding parties. Lots of outdoor picture posing.

Highlights: the first mosque and minaret Luba and I have ever seen is nearly completed. Such is the number of Muslims who have moved here. That might have boosted the local population beyond the last census figure of 415,000. But poverty, worsening life expectancy, and low birth rate forced the trend downward instead. -- An inside view of the recently enlarged Russian Orthodox Church with its several dozen icons. No seating for services! -- "Star Wars" (dubbed in Russian) is showing at the local cinema.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Sleeping and reading in the morning, for me.

A progressive dinner at the apartment of Larissa and Mark; dessert at the apartment of Anna, Luba's niece.

Also present: Anna's son Vladic, who demonstrated his impressive skill at the piano at age 9.

Monday, July 11, 2005

I wrote the following email to my daughter: Dearest Lynne -- I'm remembering how, in 2001 Luba and I took a Polish Airlines flight from Chicago to Moscow. Well, that marks the shortest distance you and I have been from one another since 1997. From where I write this, in Magnitogorsk, to Carbondale is the greatest physical distance there's ever been between us.

I'm here at the end of an 11-day stay in Russia Luba and her daughter Sonya have made possible. I witness that mother and daughter get along well together. They know the value of maintaining a relationship in good order.

Sonya indicated she had difficulty choosing suitable men in her life. Yet she can't support a child and herself on the 5,000R ($200) per month her full-time office job pays. A year or so ago her boyfriend lived here and took up the financial slack. They've since split up, and now Luba sends Sonya money monthly. Few children or people in their old age in Magnitogorsk live above poverty-level. Food takes a much larger portion of income here than is generally the case in the US.

Meanwhile, we're thankful Sonya has resisted remarriage, which would close the door to immigrating. I expect to play matchmaker for her... and now also for Anna, Luba's niece: attractive, 43, but speaks no English; her son Vladic, 9, will begin English studies in September. Certainly, Anna will assist him in his studies to one another's benefit. -- Back home I could use help in finding two good American husbands. [I apparently ran out of time to finish a number of entries.]

Monday, July 11, 2005

Another day for Sonya at her job; Luba and I babysat Vanya. Internet Cafe one last time

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Vanya is seven. Luba and I came to the realization today that Vanya's paternal grandparents (Communist Party members still, in 2005) are poisoning his mind against choosing to ever join his mother Sonya in America. We know little of what he has been told. We have little idea how to fight back. Regardless, we agree their behavior is insidious. The two examples we've heard (albeit secondhand): Sonya is a bad mother, a bad person; America is riddled with crime, so much so it is too dangerous(!) for Vanya to live there. (Apparently, the paternal grandparents assert that Russia is crime-free, by comparison.)

Soon we will again be 6000 miles away from Vanya, whereas the other grandparents see and talk to him frequently. He is easily influenced.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Slava's generosity and Luba's emotional look at the past -- Ala Nicalovena & Eugen's grave site. My goodbye to Slava; he spoke again of his appreciation for my gift of mystery novels to the English Club. One last currency exchange. My insecurity when Luba must spend the 50R notes I've been carrying in order to have some feeling of security when I'm out in public. Luba's anxious search for an important misplaced document -- the confirmation of our flight to SeaTac with details of departure time. Luba's Herculean task of repacking; and eliminating one piece of luggage in the process. Final shopping, picture taking and picture processing.

Missing days: Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Goodbyes at the airport

The return domestic flight to Moscow on a UTair jet

Thursday, July 14, 2005 ** Disaster Averted **

Catching our flight home should have been a cinch since we already had paid reservations on Aeroflot to SeaTac Friday afternoon. Admission: Luba was somewhat lax in that she knew there was a discrepancy in the listed departure time, her travel confirmation versus the tickets. She planned for us to arrive at Shermetyevo three hours in advance of our departure at 4:35 p.m. As it was, we made it to the lobby promptly at 2 p. m. Had it not been for a flight delay, the plane could have left as scheduled by 2:40 p. m. Peculiarly, there was no crowd at the Aeroflot departure desk. Heck, everyone else had been cleared for boarding and most had already found their seating. We were so late we weren't allowed to check two pieces of luggage (quite cumbersome), but had to drag them after us up to the point we actually entered the plane. We also had ordinary carry-on luggage. Luba struggled to gain approval for our boarding citing as one argument that "this American" had had food poisoning (and still had!) that delayed our arrival. (She wasn't about to claim she thought we were on schedule.) A male supervisor who was told of our dilemma reportedly commented, "That's their problem." Aeroflot's counterargument conveyed to Luba was that the flight was full, no available seats: they had sold our seats and filled them. Next, we were misdirected to a queue at departure point #21; then an official directed us down the hall/corridor to #13. I was proud of Luba and that she was willing to push to the front of the line and argue at the counter our urgent need to board. Then, the wonderful news the departure was delayed at least 30 minutes. Luba was offered two seats but with the proviso that they weren't adjacent. It eased our minds that both seats were in Business Class.

So now we were in the plane, with someone else was in charge of our luggage, thankfully. Luba was assigned to Seat 2B and I was directed to Seat 3G. Boohoo. A very nice American business traveler with the window seat next to mine volunteered to switch seats with Luba once he was aware we had been separated. That was accomplished so quickly that we were seated together, in plush seats with generous legroom, even before the Boeing 767 took off. (Keep in mind, due to feeling ill, I would be trying to sleep and the additional legroom made that far easier. We might have ended up in coach, separated, with me getting very little TLC.)

Those hours I was awake, I certainly appreciated the electronic “movie box” offered to everyone in Business Class. The small screen could be placed on one's lap and -- angled properly -- the passenger could see and hear recent American-made full-length movies in English. Alternatively, Luba watched a couple of Russian-made movies. This was a substantial improvement over our experience in coach flying in the opposite direction wherein the movie shown was American, but one that had been dubbed in Russian. That had detracted significantly from the experience for me.

Consequence Avoided #2: What dreadful and long-lasting consequences would have occurred if Aeroflot authorities were unwilling to go with the "extra mile". The Aeroflot authorities had in mind a simple Plan B: Luba and I would take a later flight. Later would not have meant Thursday or Friday: they had no direct flights to SeaTac those days of the week. But, hang the inconvenience of it all; forget about the extra expense. My visa expired that very day, July 14! Either I got out of the country promptly or I was in violation of the law! Recalling the official with the "that's their problem" anti--consumer attitude, I am thankful beyond words matters worked out as they did.

Friday, July 15, 2005 – A Summing Up

What did it feel like to be back on the ground and in the US once more? Despite feeling sickly, I was very relieved that our trip abroad has ended. In 2001, Russia was touted as being a budding democracy. Bush and Putin were friends. In this was prior to 9/11. This time, I went there convinced that Russia had become a dictatorship, and I expected to see a different Russia this time. My worst fears worked remotely realized. Still, immense wealth is concentrated in a few families (the oligarchs), and then there are the millions who toil and whose lifestyles don't remotely resemble our upper-middle-class. Soviet communism provided a safety net; 21st-century Russia plainly does not. While in Russia, I saw ample evidence for the idea ordinary Russians demand too little... of government... of society. In many ways, I would rather have spent those 11 days in the “nicer” Russia I witnessed in 2001.