Happy to see daddy, the big boy himself

Hello! It's been almost two months since my last post. I've had the greatest of intentions to update more regularly, but you know how it goes.

In late October, Anya and Lev took off to visit the grandparents in Ukraine, leaving me to fend for myself. Fending for myself meant sleeping a lot and travelling a lot. I managed to find 3 weekends of surfing (Wales, Cornwall and western Ireland) and a couple of very interesting work trips to Portugal and Russia.

St. Basil's, completed in 1561

My trip to Russia was a whirlwind of flights and airports, but well worth it for the experience. I was invited to Kazan, Russia to speak at an international tourism forum. There, I was treated by the local government as a VIP the whole way - a really nice way to go, of course. I was able to spend most of a day wandering around Moscow, before heading east to the frozen heartland of Russia.

Red Squar

Upon landing in Kazan, which is literally on the edge of Siberia, a 1.5 hour flight east from Moscow, we embarked on the tarmac and started to load into a bus to the terminal.

Brrrr. Flying into Kazan/Siberia

Listening closely, I caught someone calling my name in Russian.


Assuming the worst, that I was in some sort of bureaucratic trouble, I made myself known. It turns out, they wanted to whisk me away in a private car and into the VIP hall of the airport! Someone fetched my bag and escorted me to a taxi and then the 5* hotel where I was to stay.

The rest of my time in Kazan was much the same as I was accompanied by an interpreter, asked to give a toast at the closing banquet and  dined at the center table with the minister of tourism, deputy minister, etc. Not bad! One could almost let this treatment go to one's head! Not me, of course, I'm just sayin'.

a feast at the VIP table

Despite my free wheelin' days of surf, VIP status and long nights of uninterupted sleep, I missed Lev and Anya dearly. Especially Lev, when I realized that his three weeks away from me constituted nearly a third of his entire life to this point. I was thrilled when I picked them up from the airport and my eyes were wet as I held up my son and saw how much he'd grown.

synagogue, Kazan

Today we are off to a friend's house to celebrate a slightly delayed Thanksgiving with friends...and family! My cousin, Ryan, has been doing some research at Oxford for the past few weeks and the timing worked nicely as he's gotten to join us for a couple of days and have some turkey with loved ones.

To all, a very very happy Thanksgiving. All the best from London.

Chillin' @ the Google office, Moscow