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July 01, 2005
the deluge, more upcoming travels
It's been pouring here in Moscow almost nonstop for the past few days, and in general June has been a very wet (and cold) month. I'm hoping that even though it's already July, things will be getting better very soon. I thought God made a covenant with Noah never to flood the earth again, but I'm starting to suspect He reneged.
So, why was yesterday my last English class and today my last Russian class? Because I'm going to be traveling again! I held off on announcements because I'm still making some specific plans, but they're finally coming together.
I'm taking the overnight train Sunday to Petersburg and will stay with Nadya. On Tuesday, Sarah W., a friend from library school, will arrive on her first visit to Russia and stay with us. This will also be my first (and only) visitor from the States, so I'm going to do my best to make you all feel sorry that you didn't decide to come too by telling you about all the exciting things we'll be doing. I'll be taking whatever is left of my huge box of chocolate with me for us to share in Petersburg, but at the rate Vince and I are going, there won't be much left anyway. But there needs to be at least some left, because there won't be any hot water at Nadya's for the entire time I'm there. The timeframe coincides almost perfectly with my visit. Figures.
While not playing tourguide, I hope to make a visit to the Russian National Library and give a talk or two. I've been discussing this by email with Сергей, who I met in Petersburg in March. It turns out that when his email box is over quota, his email provider (hotmail.ru) just throws out messages rather than alerting the sender that the message wasn't delivered. That's helpful. So it took us quite a long time to finally get connected. He's trying to arrange for me to offer a seminar, but, you see, in order for anyone at the Russian National Library to hold a seminar, you need to get approval from the assistant director for international relations, who will be on vacation until next week. (Is there anyone they would really turn down? Does this requirement serve any good?) And then, it turns out, many of their specialists in things digital will be on vacation for all of July. But anyway, we'll try to arrange something.
Sarah will visit for about ten days, and then on July 17, Nadya and I leave for a trek through the Schengen Zone, with stops in Helsinki, Stockholm, Paris, Rouen, and Amiens. Maybe I'll make some stops in libraries or something. Will return to Petersburg by the end of the month.
Internet access will be a bit more limited than it has been here in the Potapovskij Penthouse, so there might not be many blog postings. I hope there will be some about Sarah's visit to Petersburg, though.
Posted by kshawkin at July 1, 2005 09:45 PM