Your firewall will explode once your (formerly poor) internet connection is stablised. 

(Tip o’ the hat to Ginger.)

We’re slowly getting ourselves up-to-speed down here. But the reality is that things are not happening at anywhere near the speed we’re used to. This was something we were warned about — you need to relax and allow things to take their time. Things do not happen quickly here, and getting all bent out of shape only makes things go more slowly. (And no, totally slacking off doesn’t cause the reverse.)

For us up-tight North Americans, this is the single hardest thing to contend with. Uncertainty is the name of our game, so unknown things aren’t a problem. It’s the ability to do simple little things.

Like call each other. Hard to do when you have no phone.

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So the other day, one of my coworkers starts laughing about how there’s this video out there, two somewhat-scantily clad women with tinfoil-wrapped boxes on their heads, doing a choreographed “dance” to Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

Then it hit me.

Someone — namely these two people — had to spend a considerable amount of time creating this. Thinking up the idea, practising it, filming it (with however many takes to get through the mistakes and undoubted laughter), and editing it.

Then it really hit me.

How much of the stuff out there is a complete waste of time?

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Okay, just a general bitch about Russia.

Where the hell are all the internet cafes?? Our guides are out of date — we accept that. But do we have to traipse around every city for an hour looking for the damn things?! I mean, really, people — Russia is not that backwards, is it? Even the post offices aren’t consistent. Some have internet, some have internyet.

I can’t wait to see how hard it is in China… (we’re only in Ulaan Baatar in Mongolia, and god help us there)

Hard. Really hard.

Amy and I got here yesterday morning, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to find an internet cafe. Our hotel, Rossiya, despite being the largest hotel in Europe (which, incidentally, isn’t remotely as cool as it sounds), doesn’t have jack sqwat.

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