Foreign Correspondent: Moscow Missive 1

[I've got a friend in Russia, whom I'll introduce more properly in the near future. He's a Kentucky boy who's been working for an American company in Mother Russia for a few years. That's all you need to know for now. We'll tell more as he checks in from time to time.]

March 2005

Moscow continues to be a good place to be. I continue to look on in uncomprehending horror at the US. I had about 3 weeks there over Christmas/NewYears, and right now I've got an image in my mind of the I-5 highway, early morning, heavy fog. There are numerous heavy trucks going each direction at high rates of speed, as are innumerable passenger vehicles. Something very bad is about to happen involving immovable objects and kinetic force. And absolutely no one seems the slightest bit apprehensive, cautioned or even, you know, aware. Does that sound dire? Maybe it's not so bad as all that. Personally, I've started keeping a third of my salary in rubles as a hedge against the dollar. That may sound weird, and it's a risk of sorts, but the weak dollar is a huge subject of concern over here, and I'm wondering if I'm being too conservative.

Anyway, that's a snapshot. More later.

—Z