Alexander
April 10, 1996 Konstantin was still sick. Vera, an English teacher, was the interpreter. She had also been to Minnesota a few times as part of an exchange program. About 3 PM everybody stopped working and set up a long table with food and drinks, It was Alexander's birthday. Each person gave a long speech in praise of Alexander followed by a shot of vodka. Just when it looked like the vodka was about to run out, an agent would come in with two new bottles. Then more toasts. Valery's daughter, Yelena, interpreted for me. Yelena was the accountant for the firm.
Photo: Igor and Tanya
April 12, 1996 The previous day I had worked with Yelena, Vera, translating again. In the morning I was met by two agents, Igor and Tanya. Tanya made a point of having me unplug all the electrical appliances. Previously, I had noticed this concern for preventing freakish fires at the company and the St Petersburg hotel. Igor had been a navigator on commercial ships for 20 years. Work as an insurance agent was new to him, he had been learning from Tanya for the last 6 months. Tanya was the best agent KR had. She had previously been a nurse at the mental hospital they were taking me to today.
We picked up Konstantin on the way out of town. The hospital was about 30 kilometers outside of Petrozavodsk, located in the forest. A nice environment. The administrator let Tanya give her pitch to various groups of nurses at different sections of the hospital. The nurses had on old, many times mended uniforms. They told me they made about $200 a month, which was actually more than average. They paid $50 a month for a 1 bedroom apartment. One nurse bought a policy, though she could ill afford it, saying that she would have nothing left at end of month, so why not spend it on this?
Photo: Car with "boot" on
At one point I asked to use the toilet. The toilet near the doctor s office was the size of a small closet, with no wash basin, only a toilet. The toilet paper was newspaper cut into squares and wedged behind a pipe that ran up to the ceiling.
The hospital was very short on funds, many drugs and other supplies were badly needed. The hospital also treated people who were grossly overweight. The head of the department asked me to solicit US hospitals for a donation of some electronic and infomercial gadgetry that they thought they needed. She showed me a brochure. I told her the only effective way to lose weight was diet and exercise.