Night shift [by Anna]

so, the lady who is normally here during the nights is off to Pipa and i've taken over the night watch. the reception is facing out to our street - Rua Das Dunas, or the Dune Street. during the day we have a very good overview of the street from here. during the night, you're in the spot-light, as it's pitch-dark outside. during the night the cows and donkeys start walking in the street and the toads come in the house for the cat-food.

it's the first time i put on long pants - not cos it's cold, it's 1 a.m. and still +29, but because of the mosquitoes. they are smaller and less mean here than in Europe - you're only itchy for a short while. still, i prefer to feel hot, than to be eaten up.

at out end of the village it's pretty quiet, but there is always a party somewhere - it's a resort after all. we try to stick to going out only on Fridays and Saturdays - that is our meager attempt at having at least some kind of a routine. having your own business means there are no week-days or week-ends anymore, every day is a Monday. on the brighter side, if you decide that today the most important task is to work on the tan, no one will tell you otherwise!

today one Swiss guest asked Marina - so you've been here for a MONTH?? aren't you dead-bored? we laughed a bit about it. i guest boredom is a very relative term. Jeri is certainly not like any other place. i still adore Moscow and cherish Paris, and Oslo will always be in my heart. but here there is a different pace, there is a different feel to it, different things matter. it's more down to Earth if you wish. i guess at the bottom-line it all comes down to personal priorities and life-style choices. what will i choose, how long will i stay? we'll see.

oh yeah, and i did run into the same Swiss guy later today. he told me he'd been around and loved the place, and could easily imagine staying long...

This day 10 years ago [by Marina]

CNN has been showing reports on 9/11 during the whole day today.
Most of the people like to remember what exactly they have been doing on that day.

As for me, right after work I walked from the 8th of March Street to the Star Travel Agency office at Sokol metro station in order to book my flight to France. I was going to spend my holidays with Anna in Antibes and then Paris.

In the travel agency the TV was on, and as I waited for my turn to talk to the travel agent, I started staring at the screen trying to figure out what was on - a strange documentary, or a movie...? Naturally, it took me time to believe, that what I was watching was a real time CNN report, and the second airplane crashed into one of the towers just seconds before it was my turn to book the flight to Nice.

The teenage looking trainee who was helping me to buy the ticket made a grim joke: "Are you sure you wanna take risk to fly these days?" I asked him to pay attention to the booking system and stop looking at the TV screen all the time.

It didn't help much. A few days later, in the airport I found out that he forgot to confirm my seat, and I had to be the last passenger to take the airplane from Moscow to Nice, but the trip was worth the stress. I will never forget those holidays and all that happened. Those 4 weeks didn't change my life too much, but they changed who I was.

And as for the flights... I had to change the date for my return flight for a few days later, by the way. It was too hard to leave Paris. Many people know why ;-)