Adrift

Despite what the image this blog may convey, I'm not actually an alcoholic. Many, if not most, of my entries have been made while I'...

Dacha

The Russian dacha has no real direct translation into English. Part cottage, part country-home, part mini-farm, the dacha can only best be...

Canadian Men

Canadian men have a good reputation in Russia for being honest, practical, handsome, strong and even stoic. The image of the proud Mountie s...

Brings Out The A**hole In Me

Life in Moscow is so much more different than life in Mytischi. Although Mytischi is a suburb of Moscow and the bustling metropolis is acces...

US Lend-Lease

Russian history books today teach children that Russia fought the war against Hitler alone; that the west did nothing and that only Russian ...

The Lights Are On But Nobody's Home

A month ago the company I work for moved me from my cool and comfortable apartment in Mytischi to a stinking hot and uncomfortable apartment...

British Columbia

Once a person spends a bit of time in the west coast Canadian province of British Columbia (called "BC" by locals for ease sake), ...

The Heat Is On

40 C degree weather (104 F). No rain. Humidity. No wind. A hazy, burning sun. Hot concrete. Millions of cars. No air conditioners. No relief...

Russian Jokes

Russians have a fantastically dark and sarcastic sense of humour, with an almost fatalist spice that allows them to make fun of themselves, ...

Moscow Spring

Because I like making such amateurish music videos, I put together some footage I captured throughout the spring in Moscow and coupled them ...

ZAGS & Dave's ESL Cafe Get It Stuck To

In my previous less-than-eloquent post I railed against the stupidity of ZAGS bureaucrats and demanded that I have a new stupid bureaucrat t...

ZAGS

Getting married in Russia is a time-consuming and incredibly frustrating process, thanks to the complete idiocy and disorganization of the i...

A Near-Death Experience

The weather in Moscow is hot. It is friggin' hot and tops 40 degrees centigrade with the humidity. Unlike the rest of the world, Russian...