Dirty Power

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Friday, 09 April 2010 02:23

Have you ever been sitting around the living room in the evening, reading a book or watching something on TV, and suddenly had all the lights in the house go dim? This happens to us nearly every day in Russia, and it’s usually followed by a spike when the lights get too bright. Sometimes the spike is so strong it blows out the bulbs. Once, when we were away for a few days, I left a cell phone charger plugged in, and came home to find it completely fried from one of these surges. They usually come in waves--first dim lights, then bright, then dim again—that last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. When it happens, we rush around the house unplugging anything of value, because even surge protectors don’t always work in these cases. It’s the result of something called “dirty power:” an uneven supply of electricity caused by….something too far over my head for me to even pretend I know what I’m talking about.

The words “dirty power” describe more than just the supply of electricity in Russia.

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How to Get a Zipper Fixed in Russia

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Monday, 29 March 2010 12:22

I’ve spent the morning sorting and packing for our trip; now I’m just waiting for Tim to get back from the post office, where he’s wrangling with an officious official over the right to have a friend pick up our mail and packages while we’re gone. I wanted to use this time to write a blog entry, but really what is there to say that I haven’t beaten to death before this? You already know we’re going to Kiev; there’s much more likely to be interesting news on the other end of the trip than on this one. Then I thought, why not tell them about Tim’s broken zipper? 

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