HB COLD

Petrozavodsk, Russia was much better than I thought it would be. I admit that I had no idea what to expect, except that the people who spoke of Petroskoi (the Finnish name of the city) did so with an attitude that screamed warning sign. I knew that no matter what the city was like, it was going to be hell getting there and back. I was certainly right about the trip back, but the trip there was a lot of fun.

We approached the Russian border a little over an hour after setting out from Joensuu, so we got there at like 11am, but had to set our clocks ahead an hour at the border crossing, which means that the border crossing really took 3.5 hours instead of the 2.5 that it actually took. I was told that we were very lucky this time and we should be so lucky when we cross the border going the other way. The line of trucks and cars waiting to get into Finland backed this theory up, but the beer and cider and vodka that was purchased at the border helped everyone to forget this little annoying fact. Remember, I was traveling with a bus filled with bands, including death metal band, Scorngrain. I was easily one of the least drunk people on the bus, and for the entire trip as well. Not to be confused with my colleague, Markku (everyone in Finland is either named Markku or Juha) who drank like a fish, but was a good person to be traveling with. I didn't realize until we were on the bus that he and I would be sharing a room. After a few sentances we both offered a clue into our sleeping patterns, specifically that we both snore a little when we drink. The earplugs I had purchased for the concert would come in handy after all.

For some, the party started immediately after we crossed the border. I took a nap. It was not a good nap. The seats on the bus were designed for small women which meant I had to cram against the window, but this proved impossible. Once we crossed the border, everything about the roads changed and they changed for the absolute worst. They were full of choppy ice and snow that was pushed to the sides of the road which then decreased the size of the road to one lane in way too many places. We were on the bus for another 9 hours, but it went by quickly enough and before anyone knew it, we were in Kivatch, the cafe where we would eat 7 times in 3 days. This place was the local hangout, it was packed at all hours of the day and night and even when we arrived for breakfast (blintzes) the next morning there were a couple of kids sleeping at their table.

Note. there are only three pics with this post, but more will follow.

Man that cafe was smokey. Everyone was smoking and ventilation was nowhere to be found. We went to the opening of the Fm club, but for some reason I kept calling it 24 and was just about to write down 24 until I remembered that I was getting it wrong all weekend long. It was a nice little place, filled with Russian kids and a bus load of Finns. I got the feeling that the Finns have a horrible reputation as travelers in Russia. Similar to the reputation of American kids in Mexico, all tack and no taste and it showed on the local's faces. They were not too happy that there club had just been invaded, but nothing bad happeded at all. Could be that they always have a scowl on their faces, because I did not encounter a single unfriendly Russian. Quite the opposite, everyone I met over the weekend - aside from one bandmember from the death metal band (he was just too drunk and obnoxious too often to be liked) - was really friendly. Especially some of the Russian bands, they were real good kids, and they were definitely kids.

The next morning (Friday) we were ready for a full day of formalities. Director of the Finnish Russian theatre - Sergey Pronin - was a nice and charmingly weird little guy who had a lot of good ideas about cooperation in the future. Markku and I were not sure how this meeting would unfold and we thought that this would be a nice warm up for a meeting with the Minister of Culture. Yet this meeting went very, very well. I would give it a 98 on a scale of 100. The translator we brought along, Outi, was superb and a really nice girl to boot. She was with us pretty much the whole time while in Russia and this could be one of the reasons why things went so smoothly, because she was always around when things were about to get confusing. She saved everyone a lot of aggravation.

We concluded our meeting with Sergey and walked right to the Ministry of Culture for our next meeting. They were right next to each other, so the fact that it was blazing snow and cold didn't matter that much. Now the meeting with the beauracrats was good, but certainly not as good as the first meeting. I would give it a 93, because we did accomplish all that we set out to accomplish and then some, but it was just a little stiff. This impression would change later that night, when back at the Fm club we took a table in the back room only to find ourselves sitting next to the Minister and Deputy Minister who were in the process of getting tanked.

I started this a little too late, so I'll try to finish tomorrow, when I will have more pictures to show, but in the meantime here are 3. The first is the Finnish side of the Russian border. The second picture is of a trolley bus and the third is a statue on the lake near the city center.

This was one of many sculptures along the lake of Petrozavodsk. The local girls were laughing at me for taking this picture. I only wish I got there in the morning so that the shadow would not have been so large. And I wish I had taken my camera.

This is a trolley bus - a bus that runs like a trolley car, but is a bus. The buses were more like vans - very small, crowded and foggy.

Finnish side of the Russian border - no cameras

I gotta tell you, packing for this trip is a trip in and of itself. It's like a weird combination of business and camping. I've got my good clothes - wool pants, black sweater and a blazer - but then I also have toilet paper, towels, anti-bacteria pills and 3,030 rubles. I got a bag full of sandwiches, some Skittles and choclotate for the bus ride there and a couple of presents for the Minister of Culture.

I have to buy some earplugs tomorrow morning because, after all, we going there because of a rock concert, where such bands as Scorngrain will be shouting and screaming and doing so to some very loud heavy metal (I have Bob Marley on the stereo right now).

I've been told that, since we are a bus filled with bands and musicians that the border crossing will be extra thorough and the fact that I am an American means that it will not only be a thorough search, but a long one too.

I also received a few more slices of wisdom - if you see a toilet, use it - if you can eat, eat.

Don't drink the water. If you get water at a restaurant, ask for the bottle so you can make sure they haven't recycled the bottled water. Bring your own toilet paper and tissue paper. Don't bring your bank card. Make copies of your passport. Don't wear the backstage pass on the outside of your clothes. Don't go out alone at night.

This is going to be a great trip.

I am a little bit more pleased about it because we now have meetings with the Minister of Culture for the region as well as with the director of the National Theatre. These came along at the last possible minute and have really saved the trip. Otherwise, for no reason whatsoever, I would be traveling in a bus for 10 hours with heavy metal bands on our way to a poor Russian town, where it seems as if you cannot even leave the hotel, in order to listen to music I don't like, to be around a bunch of people I don't know and to be in a town that nobody wants to be in.

This is going to be a great trip.

We just met with our translator, who speaks fluent Finnish, English and Russian, and we discussed the goals of the trip. Pretty simple stuff, just be nice and make friends with the Ministers. She's looking at this trip as a nice little vacation. A vacation to Siberia, but a vacation nevertheless. So for a minute things began to look up in the whole trip to Russia department. But then I tell her that there is only one rule: we must take it easy on Thursday night because we have important meetings on Friday morning. She then tells us her only rule: she will not serve as a translator to prostitutes. Because she has been on too many of these "official" trips where the guys in charge ask her to ask the girls how much they charge.

This is going to be a great trip.

It's been getting lighter and lighter lately, sometimes staying light until after 5, and this is a promising development. It's still cold as balls, but at least the sun is out. Although today we learned a lesson. Turns out even though it is bright outside, that's all it is, bright. We only have 2 full months of winter left. By mid-April the snow will be melting and the ski pants will be in the closet, the sunglasses will come out and the smell of saunas will be in the air, but until then it will still be very very cold for another 6-8 weeks.

I'll be traveling to Russia this week. A ten hour bus ride with a bunch of musicians to Pertozavodsk in the Russian Karelia (we live in the Finnish Karelia), then a couple of meetings with city and county officials, then a heavy metal rock concert for 2 days and then another 10 hour bus ride with a bunch of musicians. This is going to be one strange week. When I tell people that I am going to Russia - which is not a big deal to the Finns - they all ask me if it will be my first time and when I tell them yes, they all smile, nod, pat me on the shoulder and tell me to have fun. I have no idea what to expect, but whatever will be there will probably be pretty weird. Maybe even moreso considering the crew I will be making the trip with. Come to think of it, I would rather do a bunch of laundry and clean the house then spend 20 hours on a bus,

One more thing about Berlin. I am so sick of Gummy Bears right now I may have ruined what was once a very delightful relationship. On my way out of town I stopped into the airport shop and got some "Original" gummy bears. Well, they taste a lot like the unoriginal and now I have too many of them and they are not going away anytime soon. Man, I am sick of those little bastards.

On a lighter note, and I do mean lighter, the sun came out today and it is still bright out even now - at 5:10 pm. This is cause to celebrate.

I've been trying to think of a way in which to describe the city of Berlin and I think I have settled on a couple of options. The first is that Berlin is a city that probably looks a lot better in the summer time. The second is that I will not be visiting Berlin in the summer to find out. Traveling on the company's dime is one thing, but with my own cash, no thanks. The food was lousy, the city was cold, and not just the temperature and I also caught a nasty cold while there. However, I would gladly return to Berlin for the Berlinale - or film festival. From that angle, Berlin was a really welcoming and productive place to be. Also, the beer wasn't bad.

Speaking of beer, I am simply amazed at the amount of partying that must be done while at these festivals. Every night, well afternoon, there was a happy-hour, followed by a beer tasting, followed by another happy-hour, where the object of the game is to get as many invitations to late night parties as possible. And then repeat the process over and over and over again, until you arrive back home and vow never to behave like that again. Except of course for the Monday meeting with Markku where more beer is required.

Fortunately, I was sick and so I stayed in the hotel more often than not, trying to get rid of the head cold that would not leave me alone. The remedy for this problem was simple Finnish logic - hit the sauna, then the pool and then drink some beer. Strange as it may sound, this worked brilliantly.

It rained every day we were in Berlin except one and on that day I was able to run around the city. I took a couple of pictures, ate some Greek food in the Turkish village and then found myself back in the sauna in preparation for the night's activities.

I have a couple of weeks until the trip to Russia which should be as painful as a 10 hour bus ride in a bus filled with smelly rock musicians can possibly be. I need a good book and some nose plugs.

Yup, another Super Bowl Sunday, except that it is Monday at present. The game starts in just about 10 minutes, so 12:30 am Monday morning, the absolute perfect time for the game to begin. My plan is to stay up and watch the first half-hour, hoping that the game will be decided and then I can rest easy. Not that I won't rest easy with the Super Bowl verdict undetermined, I'm just saying that if the game winds up being a classic, like last year's, I would rather watch it than read about it. Maybe I will wake up at 5am for the ending of the game. Like I said, it's the perfect time to watch the game. I think there are a couple of Americans at the University who will be watching the game at a bar in town, but since the buses aren't running and I would have to be riding my bike at this hour, through this weather, just seems nuts.

Although today was warm and the sun came out for a couple of hours and that was a refreshing break. It really has been rare to see the sun these days, but today it was out and the weather was warm and this is a mixed blessing. The warmer weather means that the packed, but soft snow turns to packed hard and slippery ice. This makes walking a pain in the ass. I mean every step, and if you want to stop walking, you have to begin the slow down a few steps before coming to a complete halt, otherwise you can slip. There is also a large amount of packed, soft snow that sits on top of the roofs, which are all built sloping down so the snow can slide off and not collapse the roof. This makes sense, but when a tidal wave comes sliding off of roof, you do not want to be anywhere near it. That is the only image that came into my head when I saw a wave of snow fall off our roof, over our balcony and onto the piles of snow already on the ground. Some people here park their car right where the snow is destined to fall. I have no idea what they must be thinking.

Well, the game is about to come on. No commercials, which is too bad.

Oh, one last update. The filmmaker Markku who I meet every Monday (with whom I meet) just won the Finnish Oscar or Jussi for best director and his film won best picture. If he is back in J-town tomorrow there will be a celebration.

Things are getting curiousor and curiousor here at the Film Commission. There is dissension amongst the ranks and I have been recruited for the possible mutiny. Of course my position is a little more on the outside than the others. I do my own thing and no one bothers me while I do it. The goals and objectives I have set out to achieve are more nationally based than regionally, so I run in a different circle professionally. However, on the local front there is a fire brewing and this fire will soon be out of control. I will keep things as vague as possible, but the film commission project will see its financing come to an end at the end of the year, which means that there must be a plan of action that will either gain further financing, or local financing. Either way, a large change is looming and this has created a certain tension. And this change is still a long way off - 10 months so. I have predicted a volcano of sorts for the months leading up to the summer vacation and then an out and out tornado of a time for this fall. Hopefully I will be viewing it from a distance, but it will come and it will be messy.