Don't upset the people who feed you!

I have a small story I would like to share with you all. A girl from the international office showed me where the ATM was on campus and since I didn't know the value of rubles I just chose the highest value which was 4000 rubles (about 100 euro) Not a lot of money but they where paid out in 4 bills of 1000 rubles. Next stop was the canteen where I could get something to eat for students price. And I asked Xenia if it was alright to pay with a 1.000 RR bill? Yes a lot of students does that, she replied "and besides - you don't have a choice" she added. When I got to the desk the value of my tray was a surprisingly low value of 63rr (=1,5 euro)and I pulled out my 1000 rubles and the sad looking face behind the desk turned quickly into an unhappy and irritated face. She angrily found my change and slapped them on my tray. I promised that I would never do it again and that I was very sorry for the inconvenience, she didn't reply to that but I hope I get to buy food there again.

Later I have found out that in general people prefer that I pay in exact money. They do not like to give change and I don't really understand why. Even small amounts of change seem to irritate them.

I am finally there!

I am in Moscow. This is my first day. Please have patience with me, because I still don't have my computer and all my documents. I also do not have access to my e-mail account, but I am working on that. That means that I will not be able to write emails nor check mail yet. I'll keep you all informed in this blog.

Visa

I finally got my visa. That means that I do not have to worry anymore about that. I have allready got two appointments in Moscow. Thursday in the first week I will pick up my computer at Danfoss Moscow and the following week I will meet with Elena at Grundfos Moskow.

This is a test of uploads of picturs

The weight of a snowflake

Yesterday I received my invitation and I immediately send it to the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen. I have paid a little extra to get the visa in just one week, which means I will be able to depart as planned. The lesson learned: patience!

I have just finished a book about synchronicity and I can recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about life and self-development.

President Bush has just left to Scotland after celebrating his birthday in Denmark. Today the G8 summit starts in Scotland where great decisions about the future of the World will be made. There is great focus on the mortality among children of the third world. Will they change the World at this meeting? I cannot help thinking about the evil things people are capable of doing to eachother. The past few months I have read quite a bit about concentration camps in Hitlers Germany and Stalins Soviet Union. They are topics that show up often in the litterature about postmodern theories and they also did in Jaworski's book about sychronicity. This book is extremely interesting and I have learnt a lot about life reading it. The book ends with a small story that I would like to pass on to you:

Two birds are sitting on a slender branch of a tree in winter:

"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a coal-mouse asked a wild dove.

"Nothing more than nothing," was the answer.

"In that case, I must tell you a marvelous story," the coal-mouse said.

"I sat on the branch of a fir, close to its trunk, when it began to snow - not heavily, not in a raging blizzard - no, just like in a dream, without a wound and without any violence. Since I did not have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3.741.952. When the 3.741.953rd dropped onto the branch, nothing more than nothing, as you say - the branch broke off."

Having said that, the coal-mouse flew away.

The dove, since Noah's time an authority on the matter, thought about the story for awhile, and finally said to herself, "Perhaps there is only one person's voice lacking for peace to come to the world."