Month: augustus 2009

August 2. The bucket and the well.

A lazy sunday. I wake up insanely late in the house of incredibly hospitable Maria and her mother, after good dreams about getting water at the well. They have well in the garden which they actually use for their drinking water. It is the first time I have ever taken water from a well, ...
August 1. Two extremes.

August begins in a Moscow appartment, overlooking the city from the 17th floor. I travel outside of the city today, and feel like Pushkin traveling to the estates of his father and mother. My original plan was to visit Vladimir, but it is too late for that. So instead I buy a ticket to ...
July 31. Seven Trips.

I go out when my couch surfer goes to work and get back home when she is back too. I write in my favorite coffee place, caffeine doesn't make up for flawed inspiration, then I buy myself a cellphone and call my friend Ann. We meet in front of a shopping mall and I ...
July 30. Moscow.
Early arrival in Moscow Kazanskaya station. Walk around that station looking for the internet. O how dependent I have made myself. Don't swear. Buy a cup of hot water and sit for a moment outside the station building in the drizzling rain, observing three women putting a raincover on a pram. See the long line ...
July 28. Hitchhiking #3.
Back in Europe. We try to catch a ride to Samara, Kazan, or all the way to Moscow. It has been enough for me. The 23-year old I am hitching with naturally takes the lead and decides what we do without asking me. I like him, but there is something missing. Why do I care? ...
July 27. Hitchhiking #2.
Victor has been robbed. They took 2000 dollar from him, he tells us. Now he is on his way to Novosibirsk and beyond to see his family. He travels with an electric guitar and "on the road" is a nice book if you travel by thumb and I pay for his coffee that is cheap ...
July 26. Hitchhiking #1.
Morning. I try to make coffee but forget the water. Sorry. Then we say goodbye to Vera, who has been a formidable host. Then we go hitchhiking. Getting out of Novosibirsk takes a while, we take a wrong train, wait for a minibus that takes us to the highway direction Omsk. Some hours we stand ...
July 25. Stalked!
A day in Novosibirsk. We hang out in the park, take photographs of this far-out metropole, and I retreat in the travelers café again to write I don't remember what. As long as what you do is spirited, there are some gods that want you to do it, they say. They? No, alright, I say ...