Seems we're trying to get back to when we were 18 - and hitch-hiking across Europe again. This time it is snowing constantly, but we have some more money to survive then I had in 2008, for example. At that time huge 1 Euro cucumber saved my life for 2 days.
Tonight I'm stuck in the middle of snowstorm 30 km from Polish-Belorussian border.
Still don't know where we're heading to for the New Years.
Cheers everyone, I love technology and (surprise!) unexpected wi-fi spot in my room.

Friends on bicycles

I'm happy we meet from time to time - at least in Moscow, in between his Portugal and Mexico and my Jordan and Nigeria.
Vova Kumov with his bicycle project is touring the globe.

And seems that it's good timing - when Moscow has a new mayor, we might get some green adjustments to our terrible road situation.

Nigerian visa - start

That's the visa experience I've been longing for.
Am definitely tired of classic British-American-EU procedures, when u bring all the papers and get a stamp in ur passport.

3 WOW-questions from nigerian questionnaire:

- What is the color of your eyes? (options: brown, green, black, blue)
- What is the colour of your hairS? (options: black, grey, white, red)
- What's your height?

Got my appointment for 27 Dec. Called our embassy to make sure it's ok - and to know what time I have to show up.
Secretary: you know, 27th is a day off here. I'll connect you to the chancellor.
- and she did.
Chancellor: Can you come on Monday? What time? From 10 to 13. See you, sure. Any time.

wow.

Flush my blood away

Another sad story that follows the one about Elena Sadikova, Moscow State University student, example that proved that even in Moscow it's impossible to cure leukemia. In Russia we are lacking a bone marrow bank that exists, for example, in the US.

This one is worse: we don't have a united blood bank in this country.

What would this mean?

That only the main clinics have access to city blood banks; or they do have own facilities to collect blood from donors - limited, however. Always limited.
Others just purchase blood and its components from the above mentioned - or from the regions. And then they cover its transportation, conservation and lots of other expenses. Huge money flow. From one budget to another. Mind that most hospitals here are state, not private -  it's just another opportunity for money laundry.

At the same time even the main country clinics do not have facilities to conserve and keep enough amount of blood, that means, that the big part of what has been taken from donors is draining away, literally, to canalization. Sorry, guys, not enough refrigerators and bad planning.

I normally donate blood two to three times per year. Shall I better think of a federal blood bank program rather then waste 1,5 liters of my precious red liquid.

We needed a good reason for a party, so they got married

My friends Natalie and Lesha had a wedding last Friday. Their short story is ridiculous: Nat has old aristocratic last name - Oransky and Lesha wanted it so bad. That was her present, let say. They never lived together and never will, no kisses and flowers, no love story with teddy bears. But they are fun and the wedding was The Event of November, at least

Nat's dress was definitely a masterpiece. All night long in my kitchen we were trying to make a white sheet and a butter-cloth look good together, and I think we succeeded!

A bunch of flowers that we got for the bride (just for the ritual) and that I caught later on. 

 The rings were awesome and much more optimistic about what was going on than the couple

And all the guests were surviving terrible hungover after united hen and stag parties.

The wife is going for her honeymoon to Spain in a week - alone. The husband is furbishing up his flat and changing his passport to the one with Oransky last name.
After all these procedures they aim to apply for divorce.