Russia Bye Bye

The bags are packed. Will be picked up soon and driven to the airport for a flight to Copenhagen, continuing with a jump to Göteborg and finally bus to Jönköping.

This month has been absolutely amazing and one of the best times of our lifes. We were expecting an awesome journey but the result exceeds our wildest expectations. Thank you everybody who we have met for making this such an extraordinary experience. Your hospitality and friendships will always be remembered.

Best Regards,

The GSE Team through Anders

Final full day in Russia

So, the end is approaching. Today was our final full day in Russia. St Petersburg didn’t show its best face with heavy rains in the morning. However we very firmly determined to go to Peterhof, a huge castle and park complex created by Peter the Great. No bad weather would stop us.
Said and done, we boarded the speed boat which takes you there in approximately 30 minutes. It was definitely the right decision to go their despite the weather.


This place is absurd. The amount of fountains, springs, castles etc is absolutely astonishing. The weather was actually not that bad and thanks to the weather the place was not as crowded as usual. We spent some hours strolling around in the parks.
After lunch the sun actually broke through. When going back we discovered that the canals in the town where closed due to a military parade so we had to go back by bus and metro.


Once back in town we had some late lunch and then continued on with some free time for the team to go shopping. We realized that this was actually the only time we have had since the trip started to go to some shops. Crazy.

The 28th of May is the anniversary of St Petersburg so the evening was full with open air concerts and a very vivid street life. We sat down on the terrace of a restaurant, had some beers and debriefed ourselves of this amazing trip. The sun was on, the beer was cold, the streets crowded and life was all in all pretty good. A very worthy final day of a great month was coming to its end.

Best Regards,

Anders

Second day in St Petersburg.

We spent the morning being awed at the marvellous treasures of the Hermitage, such as the unforgettable paintings by da Vinci and Cranach. This is surely one of the greatest museums in the world.

After this we were invited to a private school in the outskirts of the city where we were shown the facilities and given a wholesome lunch. In the afternoon we went for a stroll through the old parts of the city, for instance passing by the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood that bears some resemblance to the St Basil's Cathedral at the Red Square in Moscow.

In the evening we had the opportunity to go to a jazz concert with David Golochekin.
Best Regards
Christian

First day in St Petersburg

After another pleasant night on a Russian train we arrived to St Petersburg where we immediately were taken off to sight-seeing. At first we went to the famous Peter & Paul Fortress and paid a visit to the tsars of past times, admired the spire and got familiar with the St Petersburg weather. A little later we were shown a monument where previous Swedish visitors (invaders) have left an impression in the shape of a snake under the hoof of Peter the Great´s horse.

The sight-seeing was concluded by us being impressed by the lavish St Isaac´s Cathedral and its fantastic mosaics.

After this introduction to St Petersburg we were ready to make a presentation of ourselves and Sweden at the Rotary Club "White Nights". The food and company were memorable.

Best Regards

Charlotte

Professional visit: Primary Care in Ivanova

The Russian health care organization is a little bit different from the Swedish and today I had the possibility to visit the comparison to the Swedish Primary Care Unit. The clinic covered a region of 54.000 inhabitants and had about 30 general doctors and about two doctors in each speciality (such as neurology, gynecology and cardiology). The clinic took care of all types of diagnosis and also minor traumas. The doctor commented the high rates of hip fractures, the problem with osteoporosis among women and preventive measures. Physiotherapy is always the doctors decision and is often used. Unfortunately I didn´t have the chance to experience the Rehabilitation Unit though, because of reconstruction work.



Best Regards

Charlotte

Textile Museum and university visits

You cannot stay in Ivanova, the city of textile, without visiting the Textile Museum. We received a detailed tour with good help from some talented English students. We learnt more about the textile production in the region and the block printing tradition that was indeed a difficult handicraft. The museum itself was a very special building. It used to belong to one of the textile magnates in Ivanova and had some interesting architecture.


We also met some students in one of the universities and we had some time for discussing different questions, for example our impressions of Russia, the Swedish school system and our traditions.


After a farewell dinner it was time to go the train station. Now we are heading for St Petersburg, our last stop before returning to Sweden.

Best Regards

Charlotte

Ivanovo 24th of May

On Tuesday we had some time to rest in the morning. Alexander picked us up about 11 AM and we went to have some breakfast. At 12 AM We went to the Ivanovo textile fare a very large building with close to a hundred small shops for different textiles garments etc.

After that we visited the sowing factory of Elena. Her company Carusell makes clothes beddings etc. for new-born children. She employs around 50 people and has one factory and three shops. The company also distributes to other clients around the region.

Then we went to Ruslan’s pasta factory Bostis. The factory was now taking a pause in production due to high material and low end product prices. This usually varied over the year and a production stop was not strange. Ruslan is currently looking for new machines in China to build a fully automated production line with low manual labour.

After a short rest we went to the Opera. Christan’s host-mother Vera is one of the best and most merited opera singers in Russia. She has won several international prices. This was her first performance in the Ivanovo region for a very long time (She has been involved in local politics etc.) so there was a very big crowd and the opera performance was a smashing success.

We then met up with some new friends we have met here in Ivanovo and had a great dinner followed by some bowling. Anders showed some real talent and won the series with 50 points to the second runner up.

//Oskar