It's f*cking cold here

Outside -13C. Inside +13C. That’s how we live today in Roosikrantsi. I think they really want to prepare me for Nigeria. Now we don't have electricity as well because everybody bought some cheap heaters and our very old electricity system was not OK with that. So we are sitting here in the darkness and enjoying candle light. Very romantic, but still cold.

Who are you?

Nigeria - here I come!

I just got signed some important papers and now it's really true. I am going to Nigeria in March and will stay there until the end of June. What a crazy idea?!? I will participate as a volunteer in development cooperation project which is carried out by Vision Child Youth of Africa. How dangerous it could be in Nigeria? Of course I had some this kind of thoughts. According to the Failed State Index Nigeria has the 15th place in the world. Anyway I am not going alone. I am sure it will be a great experience. There will be four Estonians and also one Swede and Italian and we all will live in one apartment together. Nigeria is not usual tourist destination. There are even not so many travel books. For example Lonely Planet doesn't have a travel guide about Nigeria. As I bought a Brand travel guide I met accidentally Kaja at the same shop. She was talking to somebody about Nigeria and in my memories I remembered that somebody called Kaja is also going to Nigeria. That was how I met first time Kaja in Apollo bookstore. Kaja and I have also a common friend Kadi.

Estonia is small, that's it. Some days ago I spoke to a friend of mine Janina. As it came out her sister was a couple of years ago also for four months in Nigeria. She told me some funny stories about that and among everything gave me some tips how to survive there. For example it is useful to wear a wedding ring to avoid some unpleasant situations.

12.06

As I have been in Moscow many times before it was not that new for me. It happened a lot during those days there. It was the Day of Russia and for this important event Russian authorities organized a concert on the Red Square. A friend of mine Sergei got somehow tickets for us. Actually it was possible only for Russians to see this concert. Tickets were available only for selected members of some organisations. As we also got those tickets we had to stay quiet during entering to the Red Square, because security control was similar as at the airports.

Unfortunately we didn’t manage to keep writing this trip diary. I was happy to meet my old friends there. Many things have changed since we met last time almost four years ago. They are working now or running successfully their own business. Some of them are getting married soon! In Moscow we met also many our friends from St. Petersburg because many of us were travelling around during last weeks in Russia.

To sum up I should say, that I had really great time in Russia and I will miss all those people I met there and also the Shevchenko dorm atmosphere.

11.06

After Kazan we were also in Nizhniy Novgorod and in Moscow. Those cities are also nice. Nizhniy Novgorod had this cosy city centre but everything which was outside the main street was absolutely not suited for tourist’s needs. It was difficult even to find a restaurant. Unhappily all the museums were on that day closed. We just hanged out and enjoyed very beautiful and sunny weather. We were really tired. Veronika thought why not to go to the hairdresser. Well, we searched long before we found one who had some free time. After Veronika’s new look we decided to go back to the train station, because our train was leaving soon. In McDonalds we got some Internet. The good thing about McDonalds in Russia – they almost always have free wlan there. Our train to from Nizhniy Novgorod to Moscow as well as from Moscow to St. Petersburg was very modern. Just like trains in Europe, with working air conditioner and with normal WC which can be used also during the stops.

10.06

We slept really well in comparison to the last night in train. Katharina got some new friends during the night: mosquitoes. I think she saved me!

After check out from the hotel we left our backpacks at reception and started with sightseeing. We went to the “bazaar” market. It was quite funny, because you can buy there almost everything. The local businessmen understood quickly that we are foreigners. They tried in every step to catch our attention and to sell something useful to us and with the best price ever. Finally we bought two small but really delicious honey jars. We could try every different honey sort they were selling and after some minutes I could not distinguish between different types of honey anymore.

In the bazaar you can buy underwear, shoes, vegetables, meat as well as second hand stuff and, old soviet goods. You have always keep in mind, that price in the bazaar is (often in not say always) negotiable. The toilets at bazaar are new but old Russian style with only a hole in the ground.

After bazaar we went to the centre and had some lunch. Veronika ate as usual her favourite Russian cold soup. We walked through the city and searched for the district where were supposed to live almost only Muslims. There were many mosques there, but usually they were just ordinary buildings with some Islamic signs. Nothing compared to the mosque in the city centre, in Kremlin. Anyway we enjoyed staying in Kazan a lot and as it later came out, that in Kazan we got our best impressions.

09.06

Being happy to be out of the train and breathing “fresh” air again, we got out of the lovely station and stood on the square trying to get some orientation with the map we had from our guide. Of course, like almost everywhere so far we were asked by many guys (more Asian types) if we would need a taxi, with a smile we said “no” and walked away towards our hotel. It took us about 20-30 minutes to find the hotel, but on our way there we already got a good impression of Kazan. It is a very clean city and we had beautiful weather, which makes a city even nicer. At the hotel we took a shower and got ready to do some sightseeing. We first visited the Kremlin with its huge mosque and the Orthodox Church as well as the residence of the president of Tatarstan and the other government buildings. Kazan is the capital of the autonomous Republic of Tatarstan. Inside the Kremlin walls everything was absolutely clean and very representative. But what was the most striking and amazed us was the huge mosque, which is the biggest mosque outside the “area” of the Islam. It was built 2005 and from the inside it amazed us, we were only allowed to go in with headscarf and long skirt, which were provided there. We also saw the Orthodox Church, which was OK, but not as amazing and imposing as the St Peter and Paul Cathedral which we saw early. This church was built in a special Russian style and is counted as the 1^st wonders in Russia among the buildings. From the entrance of the church, which is up two stairs, there is a wonderful view across Kazan. Then we walked along ул. Карла Маркса to see the Museum of Modern Art, but it closed unfortunately five minutes before we arrived. So instead we visited a small photo gallery with an exhibition of Baltic photographers. Then we went to a restaurant and had the traditional Russian and Tatarstan food. From there we wanted to walk along the Kasanka river and we came across a huge red building (later found out it was the cultural centre of Kazan) with lots of younger people sitting, talking, listening to music and hanging around it. From there we could see above the older side of Kazan. In the evening sun we walked to the hotel. At the hotel both of us fell asleep immediately on our beds. We woke up at 23h got into our jams and continued sleeping.