Russian friends

We have the opportunity to spend parts of our island break with friends. Natasha and Oleg, our friends from Colorado via Russia, came last night. We have travelled with them several times exploring both Russia and the U.S. and it is always a pleasure to spend time sharing stories of our very different life experiences. With their extended family in both the U.S. and Russia there are always new developments and things do work a bit differently depending on the country. Last night while we were standing around the communal barbecue grills going through the usual "where are you from" routine, Oleg introduced himself as being from Volgograd. I have to admit that got peoples attention. Oleg saw the reaction and corrected himself to say Stalingrad (the earlier name) as I suppose he assumed this might be more familiar. I explained Oleg now lives in Colorado Springs, but the impression that folks might have met a Russian vacationing in Hawaii may make a better story back in Duluth.

Having friends from different places gives you a different impression of the world than you might get from the television alone. We were in Russia (Cindy several times) before I started this travel blog, but I can offer some pictures from our visit.