"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea - massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it."Gene Spafford
|
| |
Kyrenia: The Jewel of Northern Cyprus
With 340 days of sunshine a year and the perfect Mediterranean climate it's no wonder thousands of visitors flock to Cyprus every year to escape the sometimes less forgiving Northern European climate. Northern Cyprus has all of the prerequisites for the ...
Our Greek Isle
Our Island, ParosAs one reads the guide books or browses the travel sites it is easy to become confused about the character of the Cycladic island of Paros, Greece. Because it has more ferry traffic than any other island --due to being between Athens and ...
Petersburg, Alaska, Cruise Into The Heart Of The Alaskan Wilderness With Alaskan Sea Adventures
Petersburg, Alaska, Cruise Into The Heart Of The Alaskan Wilderness With Alaskan Sea Adventures Presented By USA Travel Magazine From captivating wild and sea life to Alaska's world famous King salmon fishing; Alaska offers travelers endless adventures ...
|
|
|
| |
In this continuing series, we cover my move from San Diego to Chita, Siberia to be a professor at Chita State Technical University. We pick up the story outside the airport in Khabarovsk, Russia.
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is an amazing city. Museums with works from Picasso, Rembrandt and other masters. A bustling downtown area with cafes, a lively music scene and architectural triumphs. Then again, maybe not. We were far more interested in finding a hotel with hot water and never ventured into the city.
Outside of the airport, we were a bit flummoxed by the fact there appeared to be no taxis. We quickly learned that practically any Russian with a car is also a taxi for hire. After 5 minutes of egging each other on, Grae made taxi arrangements and we were off. Apparently taking in out disheveled appearance after 3 days of traveling, our driver suggested the Intourist hotel. We readily agreed.
During communism, Intourist hotels were set up for exclusive use by foreigners. Ours was fairly nice and, importantly, had showers with copious amounts of hot water. You can see a picture of it at http://www.lodging.ru/hotels/intouristkhab.asp. After having returned to humanity with one of the best showers of my life, it was time to brush up on my Russian skills.
I am a huge fan of ice hockey. During the eighties and nineties, many of the best players were Russians. In interviews, they almost always talked about
learning English by watching television. If it worked for them, it would work for me. Not exactly.
As Grae showered, I flipped through the eight available channels. Sitcoms were a non-starter, but I eventually found a news channel. I see the images. I know what the images are. I hear the words being spoken by the reporters. I have absolutely no idea of what words go with what images. Okay, let’s back up. What words do they use over and over? Damn, do they have to talk so fast? After 30 minutes, I have learned nothing, nada, zippo. My respect for Russians playing in the NHL has never been higher.
Might as well sleep on it. Yes, day three of the trip was finally done. My original prediction of a 2-day trip was out the window. Still, we were in Russia, so how much longer could it take? Pull out a map and take a look at the country. It is twice the size of the U.S.
Next – When Stairs Attack…
|
|
|
|
|
|
November fishing producing impressive resultsKennebec Journal, ME - 8 hours agoOften enough, fishing-and-hunting bulletin boards on the Internet are freewheeling train wrecks that hold a similar allure to trashy tabloids at ... |
Flick FishingCNET News, CA - 12 hours agoFully animated "living" environments combine with intuitive real-life controls to create the best fishing game available for any mobile device! ... |
|
