Does lack of sun put you in danger?

Here's a funny piece from the Seattle Times. Quite appropriate for those of us living in Moscow. The sun is actually out this morning, and I am enjoying some blue sky while sitting at my desk. We're off to Thailand on Sunday to soak up some vitamins (and maybe some really fantastic food!)

Does our lack of sun put your health in danger?

The Northwest's dreary winters are infamous for inducing depression. But a growing body of evidence suggests it can raise your risk of cancer and increase susceptibility to other diseases, such as diabetes.

Full story: Seattle Times Full Story

Voting from Abroad

Tristan and I filled out our ballots tonight for the Washington State Presidential Primary. Even from far away, we are getting exciting, holding our breath for something different, hoping that a new President will change and influence our reputation abroad. It's an exciting moment. In the Foreign Service Community, we are often quiet about our political viewpoints which is a new position for me. The premise being that we serve no matter who the President is. I do have to say, we would be excited to serve this man as President. For me as a bi-racial person who has organized for issues of diversity and equality, Obama's candidacy is a test of our values as Americans. Do we truly believe that all are fit to serve? Can we embrace an African American man as President? Not be blind to his color or experience, but embrace what he represents for America today? Hope is alive!

Thank you, Wallis!

Thank you, Wallis for the pretty candles!
Looks like Wallis is enjoying her stay!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

And they voted . . . well sort of

Russia held Duma (like Congressional) elections yesterday. The city seemed quiet when we took an afternoon walk (it was freezing cold) during which I received a text message reminding me to vote "Vazhna dlya strani". It's important for the country.

Well, as we all expected, Putin's party came out with a significant majority. Russian friends said they weren't voting when asked because it didn't make a difference. We watched CNN International broadcast their program "Czar Putin" all weekend which was interesting but extremely slanted and failed to explain why Russians are attracted to the strength Putin provides despite the lack of freedoms. Life after the breakup of the Soviet Union was difficult to say the least. Freedom didn't bring economic prosperity here --it brought crime, hunger and low pensions. CNN just made Russians sound crazy and scary for voting for Putin.


Sergey Ponomarev / AP
Garry Kasparov holding his ballot with all the parties crossed out Sunday.

Kasparov, former chess champion and now political activist, was released from jail in time for the elections.

Here's another article from today's St. Petersburg Times (links last longer than Moscow):
Election Coverage St. Pete's
Moscow Times

New Louisiana Governor

Well, Fall is here and I am still behind on blogging. Partly because our wireless has been down for months and I used to enjoy drinking coffee, writing and watching CNN in the morning. Now, I am chained to the desk in order to write. My summer truly was wonderful and it's hard to put into words such powerful and amazing experiences.

I'm off to Vienna or BEHA as it is written in Russian on Wednesday. The other big news is that I got a job working with another embassy spouse. We both come from academia--she is a former Fulbright scholar and has worked in Executive Search for years. Now a VP for Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group, the company is expanding and hired two new Associates. It's a great job working with nonprofits in transition leading executive searches. So far I really like it and can sit at home in my PJs while working and no one knows what I'm wearing or even that I'm in Moscow! The Internet is amazing!

Well, the point of this posting was to put up a couple articles about the new governor of Louisiana who graduated from my high school, Baton Rouge Magnet High School.

New York Times
National / U.S.
Indian-American Elected Louisiana’s Governor
By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: October 21, 2007
Bobby Jindal, a conservative Republican congressman from the New Orleans suburbs, inherits a state that was suffering well before Hurricane Katrina.

The Advocate
Baton Rouge Newspaper
Jindal carries 60 parishes in landslide win

Only four years older than me, I tend to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum from him. While he has a good track record of cleaning up messes in state politics (Louisiana has plenty of them!), it has been done on the backs of programs for the poor and disadvantaged. I makes me think of life here in Russia where strength in leadership often is at the cost of equality, fairness and opportunity for all. The last time I saw him was on a plane to DC from Baton Rouge last April.

For you K-dawg! The safety of Russian airlines!

Well, I have received my first official complaint that I am a terrible blogger! I know, it's true!

This summer has been crazy--lots of traveling, adjusting and readjusting to life in Moscow and elsewhere. Sooooo, I haven't had the mental space to write like I have wanted. There are lots of drafts in the post section, but not much actually here!

Since I have been so absent, here's a funny story from our neck of the woods!

Drunk parent, crazy kid, and a flight to Moscow

Cheers,
Carolyn

The struggle continues

Education
Alabama Plan Brings Out Cry of Resegregation
By SAM DILLON
Published: September 17, 2007
After white parents complained about school crowding, authorities drew up a rezoning plan. The results: almost all of the students required to move this fall were black.

Full text of article

Summer in the US: Chicago to Texas:

I love summers! Summers in Seattle are magical and probably one of my favorite things in the entire world. This summer was one of reunions with old friends, General Assembly craziness, and an amazing week in Seattle.

Here's the first installment of my pictures. I landed in Chicago on July 10 after a long delay in Atlanta. The flight from Moscow was fine--10 hours of chatting on and off in Russian with a grandmother who was visiting her daughter in Indianapolis. If I understood the story correctly, her daughter just had a baby two weeks ago and grandma was really excited about the visit. Grandma was an accompanist for a regional orchestra in a town outside of the Moscow Oblast.

Chicago was lovely--green & lush--crashed at Jessica & Laura's (THANK YOU!). Enjoyed a surprise visit with my friend Maddie--Maddie and I played flute together in college. She kept me laughing through the tortures of my Music degree!

Then off to Indy and a two-day road trip to visit Gina in Bryan, TX. (Can anyone tell me why Holiday Inns always smell like dirty socks?) The Honda did fantastically! Lots of fun at Gina's with Clara, Scott & Lillian from High School. Gina is an amazing cook & host and it was such a treat to spend time with friends from High School. I am stunned every time I think that we graduated 14 years ago! Ahhhhhh! The blessing is that I still keep in touch with these folks so many years later.

Then I was off to Slumber Falls Camp where I worked for two summers and directed for 6! The weather was so cool and wet for that time of the year (see river pics). I was amazed at the river level and the daily downpour. It was a great treat to sleep in one of the river cabins and listen to the crickets and river roaring down the hill. Got to see old friends and favorite place in New Braunfels which was a restful treat before General Assembly.

Part II coming soon: General Assembly

Click on the photos below for larger images.

A bad Russia day

Cultural adjustment means there will be good days and bad days. I've been back in Moscow for 2 and a half weeks. This is about the time I usually hit a slump--the realities of life in Moscow hit me, the charm wears off, and no one asks anymore how your trip was.

My friend Anita and I were chatting at lunch about Russian service. When we travel outside of Russia, you are shocked when people are nice to you or the service is good. I took a friend of a friend who had just arrived out to lunch and described the restaurant as pretty good food and the service isn't bad. Translation=that's a good restaurant here in Moscow. My friend Anita remarked it's amazing what we will tolerate and pay good money for in Moscow; lowest common denominator is acceptable and anything above is a welcomed surprise. The thing to remember is that in Russia there just isn't a tradition of customer service; there was no incentive in the previous 100 years for good or friendly service.

The hard part of coming back was that my trip was really fabulous and it's hard to top that! I'll post some pictures in the coming days, but it really did fill my soul to be home, to feel independent, to see mountains and sunshine, and most importantly to be around people who know me and love me.

Safe travels . . . Carolyn

Patriotic Conceptions: Time off to Procreate

I'm back in Moscow and on the same time clock, finally! I have lots to write about from my trip to the US, but first here's a funny bit from our English language paper.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007. Issue 3721. Page 4.
Region Aims for Patriotic Conceptions
By Liza Kuznetsova
The Associated Press


The Kartuzovs driving away from the hospital in the SUV they won after being chosen from among 78 other couples.

A region best known as the birthplace of Lenin has found a novel way to fight the nation's birthrate crisis: It has declared Sept. 12 the Day of Conception and is giving couples time off from work to procreate.

The hope is for a big brood of babies exactly nine months later on Russia's national day. Couples who "give birth to a patriot" during the June 12 festivities will win money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.

Ulyanovsk, a region on the Volga River about 900 kilometers east of Moscow, has held similar contests since 2005. Since then, the number of competitors, and the number of babies born to them, has been on the rise.

Alexei Bezrukov and his wife, Yulia, won a 250,000 ruble (about $10,000) cash prize in June after she gave birth to a baby boy, Andrei. Bezrukov said patriotism wasn't their motive for having a child, their third, although the money was welcome.

"It was a patriotic atmosphere, you know when everyone is celebrating, but I wasn't thinking of anything but my son," he said. "The whole thing is great, it's great to get 250,000 rubles when you have a new baby to take care of."

Russia, with one-seventh of the Earth's land surface, has a population of 141.4 million, making it one of the most sparsely settled countries in the world. Due to a low birthrate and very high death rate, the population has been shrinking since the early 1990s.


It is now falling by almost half a percent each year. Demographic experts estimate that Russia's population could fall below 100 million by 2050.

In his state of the nation address last year, President Vladimir Putin called the demographic crisis the most acute problem facing Russia and announced a broad effort to boost the birthrate, including cash incentives to families to have more than one child.

Ulyanovsk Governor Sergei Morozov has added an element of fun to the national campaign.

When he held the first competition in 2005, 311 women signed up to take part -- and qualify for a half-day off from work. In June 2006, 46 more babies were born in Ulyanovsk's 25 hospitals than in June of the previous year, including 28 born on June 12, officials in the governor's office said.

More than 500 women signed up for the second contest, on Sept. 12 in 2006. Exactly nine months later, 78 babies, triple the region's daily average, were born. They were welcomed into the world as the national anthem was played, the officials said.

Since the campaign began, the birthrate in the region has risen steadily and is up 4.5 percent so far this year over the same period in 2006, according to the regional administration's web site.

Everyone who has a baby in an Ulyanovsk hospital on Russia Day gets some kind of prize. But the grand-prize winners are couples judged to be the fittest parents by a committee that deliberates for two weeks over the selection.

The 2007 grand prize went to Irina and Andrei Kartuzov, who received a UAZ-Patriot, an SUV made in Ulyanovsk. They told reporters that they were planning to have another child anyway when they heard about the contest.

Irina Kartuzova had to have a Caesarian section to deliver the baby and it was scheduled for June 12.

The selection committee chose the Kartuzovs from among the 78 couples because of their "respectability" and "commendable parenting" of their two older children, a spokesman for the governor said.

Other contestants won video cameras, televisions, refrigerators and washing machines.

Under the federal program, women who give birth to a second or subsequent child are to receive certificates worth 250,000 rubles, which can be used to pay for education or to improve the family's living conditions.

Monthly support payments were raised this year to 1,500 rubles (about $60) from 700 rubles.

General Assembly Highlights!

Putin's Youth Leagues

Youth Groups Created by Kremlin Serve Putin’s Cause

New York Times
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: July 8, 2007
A youth movement seeks the ideological cultivation, some say indoctrination, of the first generation to come of age in post-Soviet Russia.

Sochi and the New Turkmen Persona

It's a fascinating time to be in Russia. Sochi just won the bid for Winter Games which baffled many of us. Putin's presentation to the Olympic Committee was the first time I had ever heard him speak English. I do hope this will push Russia to deal with issues of environmental degradation and it's role in the world (maybe it will even improve customer service) as the games approach. There's much to be done.

The NY Times also had an interesting piece on the new leadership in Turkmenistan.

Seeking the Persona of New Turkmen Leader

By C. J. CHIVERS
Published: July 5, 2007
Turkmenistan’s new president holds the keys to enormous gas fields and state coffers and has promised reform.

Kyiv, Ukraine

Ukraine May-June 2007

Tristan has been in Kyiv for the past 5 weeks and finally comes back to Moscow just in time for me to leave for the states. I went for the first 2 weeks and really enjoyed Kyiv. It's more European, smaller, and slower paced than Moscow which can feel so big and overwhelming. People were a bit more friendly and patient with my language. It's Moscow-lite. Charming buildings and parks. Summers are warm (almost too hot) and lovely there. Enjoy these pictures from Kyiv.

Secretary Rice Visit: May 16, 2007

I'm finally catching up on posting old photos. These are from Secretary Rice's visit in May 2007. Relations between the US and Russia have been difficult in recent times, and she came bearing the message that we are not in a new cold war. While I (Carolyn) don't agree with many foreign policy choices of this administration, my neighbor reminded me that it's important to support strong women. Dr. Rice certainly is a strong, articulate and sharp woman and it was interesting to meet her in person.

Secretary Rice's Visit

Wallis the Kitty

I'm cat sitting for my friend who is doing language training in Tver. Her cat is really cute.

New Jerusalem Trip & Russia Day

On Tuesday June 12th, Russia Day is celebrated. Also known as Independence Day, Russian parliament formally declared its sovereignty on this day in 1990. I took a trip to Istra with some folks from the Embassy. Istra is known for the New Jerusalem Monastery, which was founded by Patriarch Nikon in 1656. It was wonderful to be out of the city and enjoy Russia Day festivities.

New Jerusalem Trip 12 June 07

Wanderlust

Thanks to FIUTS member Kim Chan for this laugh!

Things that make us chuckle!

We're in Kyiv, Ukraine for a few weeks. Tristan is on temporary duty for 6 weeks and I am here for 2 to see Kyiv and visit with friends Jennifer and Shawn from Russian language training. You can check out their Blog on life in Kyiv (www.greatdiversions.com). I can't load pictures because I am on a USAID computer, but we've been working on a list of things we find amusing about living in post-Soviet countries.

1. Beer is not really alcohol. It can be consumed any time of the day in public.
2. Correct change is always required. Cashiers always expect you to have exact change and are grumpy if you don't have it.
3. The customer is usually wrong. Customer service has come a LONG way, but still leaves something to be desired. We have found some folks, though, who defy the stereotype.
4. A stamp makes everything official. Russians are really into stamping things which makes them "official."
5. Sitting on cold, hard surfaces (metal, rocks, cement, etc) will cause sterility in women.

More to come . . .

Asian American Heritage Month

Thanks to the Asia Society for this: