At last, I bid farewell to Kiev (for a while). I already had a Lonely Planet guide for India shipped, but in the end I am going to Cuba.
Plane ticket to Cuba was not as straightforward as usual. I will fly charter for the first time, because there were no acceptable regular flights available.
But first, I will have an opportunity to revisit Moscow (I wish the opportunity were not in the heat season..)
There are couple of pending things to mention and one of them is that my noble colleague Wojtek, at the moment also known as bromba, is currently carelessly traveling around the world. Together with his beloved Kate, at the moment also known as a small mongol (??).
They have a blog (but in Polish) and post pictures from time to time and in general make me think that traveling around the world might not be a bad idea.
With this, I am finally done with photos from 2007:
I cannot help but feel (also from the photos) that traveling this year was different than before. While previously it was a joy in itself, now I couldn’t fully separate it from the things I was dealing with through the year.
A mistake most likely, since I need careless wandering to reset myself, and I missed this last year. Of course some people have greater problems so no reason to complain.
It’s nearly new year and I decided that maybe it’s high time to post the photos from Russia, which date back to last January. Here they are:
http://www.owczarek.com.pl/blog/index.php?pagename=gallery&spgmGal=2007-01%20Russia
It’s a pain to write captions after such a long period of time.
I regret that I didn’t take photos of the things I actually remember the most, like hostel in St Pet, the area where I lived in Moscow or people I met. It never occurs to take photos in such common situation and later it is regrettable.
I plan to move this page from interia hosting, where nothing works, including wordpress, to progreso, where everything works fine. Then I will be able to move also to zenphoto and have some decent gallery.
The photos from Mexico and Paris are still pending..
I came back from Lviv yesterday. We were attending jobs fairs in the city.
Key lesson from the event: in Ukraine, technical universities, like one where fairs took place, often do without heating. Inside it is only slightly warmer that outside and people go around in coats.
Result: I am sick and one of my ears have not recovered yet from the pressure stress test on the plane and tomorrow I go to a concert.
On a different topic, even though recruitment potential seems promising, technical people in Lviv have serious problems with English. In fact even linguistics students had problems with English, which is quite ironic.
I got somehow used to Moscow, but I also feel good about some change. So, this week, back to Kiev.
I wonder if it changed much since last time.
I got used to having to explain my travelling style preferences, including in particular that for staying in hostels instead of more civilized premises. But this accidental piece by Sarah gives me some background on what people might expect from hostels:
I assumed hostels were full of obnoxious 20-somethings trying to one-up each other with tales of their travels. They?d go out drinking and talking about how great they were until 2 a.m. when they?d come crashing into the dorm room, slamming doors, turning on lights, playing bongo drums and vomiting over the side of the bunk bed.
On the other hand, one of the travellers in the St Pet, namely the historian travelling with a big teddy bear with sun glasses, complained of backpackers being lazy with hostels and going straight to the ones recommended by Lonely Planet even if they overpay a lot. They don’t care to check place around the corner. Not at all in backpacking spirit, he said.
Maybe it’s true that hostels are losing they charm nowadays. Sarah’s disappointing experience would support this observation.
It turned out my fears were completely unfounded. We stayed at three different hostels and each one of them was clean, comfortable and quiet. Our roommates were lovely young women who were all in bed way before midnight. And not a bongo drum in sight!
Can’t wait to give Mexico hostels a try.
My driver is related to owner of the hostel. He is finishing his studies. We talk politics all way. In Russian, which is a bit challenging.
- I took part in the demonstration first of May, you know
- What were you demonstrating for?
- For improving workers rights
- Do you think your rights need improvement?
Then some discussion about state of worker?s rights.
- My institute is one of the most politically active in Russia. Current FSB chief is our graduate.
And he mentions second important guy that I forgot. But not Putin I think.
- And also Dudaev.
- What, Dudaev also graduated your university?
- No, we helped to kill Dudaev.
Russians could not trace Dudaev?s phone, because his conversations were too short. But one guy from the Institute developed an improved algorithm, and they traced him and bombed him.
- The guy then moved to work at FSB. I think he works there still.
- In Poland there are not so many secret services, you know. Of course some exists, but I never knew anyone working for them, like you do
- The services of Poland are very active. Poland is geopolitically very active.
Maybe our foreign policy is underestimated at home. It seems appreciated in the East.
I feel like resting after walking couple of days, but I’m so glad I got to see this city. It is so different Russia than one of Moscow. In fact, Piter could easily make it to my list of favorite big cities.
And the hostel experience is so refreshing, as usual. One night partying, second night talking about classical music and watching strange Russian animation movies.
Today Ermitage; same league as Metropolitan Museum of arts to me.
And tomorrow, flyback.
Dunno for how long still, but starting to wonder.
Favorite Beethoven piece currently (if anything, Moscow time is about discovering Beethoven): 17th piano sonata “Der Sturm”, movement 3.
Maybe it was not the best day. Weather: cold and no sun. Made buildings stand for themselves, will all the graffiti and poor design. The early capitalism plastic artifacts, like Solpols, were even more disgusting than usual. Also people, because it is Eastern, might have been subject to natural negative selection, and that’s why pedestrians on the street were the ones who have no better place to spend their time.
Regardless the reason, the city looked quite ugly and the encounters were unpleasant. I couldn’t help but think if I wouldn’t feel better at Warsaw already, at least as far as lonely walking is concerned.
Leaving aside the crazy and still ongoing Russian experience - I cannot help but notice that it is getting warmer and more urgent to think about some vacation.
Surely enough there is a classical Mexico option linked to the training thing. And I don’t forget about Japan, to follow the asian route.
But what about horse trip in Kirghistan? Or Uzbekistan, can’t tell the difference yet. A Russian colleague inspired me with very nice photos from there. Seems like a great way to combine both horse riding and beautiful mountains in one adventure.
In here for good. And the real winter just started. Our fearless leader, as some called him, got stucked till tomorrow; even though it’s actually because of weather in Warsaw I believe.
Rammstein Moskau:
Moskau
???, ???, ???!
Moskau
????????!
??????? ??? ????,
????? ?????? ????.
Now there will more time to visit the most beautiful city of the world.
This week, it was time to go to the Ukraine. It’s been a year.
The purpose was to have a one hour meeting, however, the planes are a mess, and it could not be avoided to spend a night in the city. Also, there were no places on direct flights (I presume), so we had to make it through Vienna.
At least the flight to Vienna was nice.
This time we even manage to have a couple of hours trip through Kiev, thanks to kindness of our hosts.
I’m actually back already, but there is no time for anything. The period before Christmas is rather hectic.
Bartlomiej Owczarek is a management consultant in a strategy practice of an international company.
He lives in Warsaw, Poland.
Recently I use nozbe for "Getting things done". It allows to get tasks out of your mind, just like a calendar allows to be at ease about appointments.
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