Day 19, Thursday, July 9, 2015

Only one problem. Bed in my room was a fold-out futon and extremely uncomfortable. Got only 4 hours sleep last night, if that much. Woke up feeling like I’d been run over by a truck; very bad backache. I can’t do training like this, so I had to take some very awkward action, but was accommodated very nicely in the end by switching into child’s room.

Masha and Tanya took Felix and I to what I believe is the summer Kremlin. It is an incredible complex of buildings, and there is nothing like the multi-colored painted metal and wood, round pointed roofs and sides of buildings as there are in Moscow, probably anywhere else in the world. I really loved seeing it.

Moscow itself is huge! It’s like being in New York City or London. What amazed me is everyone dresses here just like they dress in the US or UK. You’d never even be able to tell the difference between this or any other city, except all the signs are in Russian and completely unfathomable to me, and occasionally you see a bunch of Russian police or see a unique building such as a Russian Orthodox church or a mosque.

After a very nice and much-needed long nap—I was out cold—I did another seminar here like the one I did in St. Petersburg. This session had a lot more people, about 30+. This time translating duties were shared by Lana and a very nice woman named Inna. I really love the way it slows me down. I think it went well. Rudi and Jenny had paved the way here before me. A bunch of people are intrigued and want to go further. I think that’s a wonderful thing.

We are staying about an hour away from the training venue, though, and didn’t get back until almost midnight. I’m not used to this, early to bed, early riser that I am.