Windows to Russia

Six years ago I would have written something about the Olympics. But after seeing the truth about them and the money spent and the political games played with them. I really no longer care if there is an Olympics or not. That is my thinking’s over a cup of wonderful coffee, this morning…

I am writing this article because people are bothering me about why I am silent about the Olympics? I get all the regular bull about how Russia sucks and stuff like that and I get the bull about how I am embarrassed by Russia…

No not really, because it seems to me that while Russia seems to have a lack of final drive for the gold, they are really gathering lots of silver and bronze. So I think they are doing fine and am proud of them. I just think that the Olympics has become a farce…

My awakening toward the Olympics began in 1996 during the Olympics at Atlanta, Georgia…

I was responsible to feed a huge portion of Olympic personnel and athletes. Now I was not the only one who did this, but I remember we exceeded a quarter million meals, that encompassed meals on site, meals delivered and carry out meals…

I remember that I had clearance to get behind the scenes and I got to watch the political issues happening first hand. I remember how they destroyed the poor areas of Atlanta in the name of the Olympics. In fact I had several workers that talked to me about what happened to them as the Olympics was redesigning the Atlanta area…

It was an eye opener for me and would have been more of an eye opener, except I worked twenty hours a day for months trying to get ready and to feed unbelievable meals to a country size crowd of people…

It set the seeds in place though for my future thinking’s on the Olympics…

That set my sights on the money spent on the Olympics and by the time I have watched the money being spent on the Sochi Olympics for 2014 and see what shape Russia is in, then I look at the money being wasted on what amounts to literally nothing of importance. I realized after this farce we call the London 2012 Olympics, that governments should not even be allowed to be part of the Olympics…

The Olympics should be nothing but a amateur sports event and private money backs the Olympics. There should have been one huge island somewhere made into a permanent Olympic island and that is where the Summer Olympics is held every time. The same goes for Winter Olympics also…

It should be a private enterprise and driven by private money. If there is no interest then there will be no Olympics. No athlete gets paid, because everyone does it for the love of the sport. The only money paid to them is money to get to the Olympics and money for food and basic necessities…

But then I believe that all sports should be amateur and only amateur. I have believed that since I was younger and I watched baseball teams go on strike. I realized then that money was the only factor and they could careless about the fans…

No hero’s in sports…

No I do not have the answers at all about the Olympics, but I do know when I see a wrong and it is wrong when millions and millions starve everyday and we prefer to spend billions on Olympics and trillions on wars…

Oh don’t say that wars and Olympics are not the same…

When we have to roof mount missile defense systems because we are worried that someone will attack the games, then we have reached a point that war and the Olympics has become one and together…

When Georgia waits until the 2008 Olympics in China to attack South Ossetia, then war and Olympics is the same…

It will only get worse from here on out. Do expect major issues in the 2014 Olympics. The West is still pissed off by Putin getting that sewed up and it would have been better for Russia to have never tried to get the Winter Olympics in 2014…

So that is why I do not write about the Olympics, or any sports hardly for that matter. Sports are too politicized and monetized for my interests…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This morning I got up early and hit the bus stop as 30 of us tried to squeeze onto a small bus. I was the last one into the sardine can and 20 minutes later, after 10 more stops and a dozen more people squeezed into a seriously over crowded small bus, we made it to the metro…

I grabbed a sausage McMuffin with egg and cheese and a coffee and fought my way into the metro station. It took 15 minutes to get to the doors of the metro station and the McMuffin was gone before that point. I tossed the wrapper into a burning trash can by the door of the Metro (A normal cigarette fire!). Then waddled my way with hundreds of others to the station insides. I sat on a bench and studied the trains coming and going. I finished my coffee as I figured out which is the best car to try to squeeze onto. For really a sardine can has more room than a train car on this metro station…

I finally attacked the first car and squeezed into a spot near the door. It worked and in seven stops I was at the train station…

Then comes the escalator from hell! There is three escalators in the tunnel leading to the surface. One was bringing people down to the train and two taking people out to the surface. We had a line almost to the back of the station platform and that was with two escalators going…

Then the escalator lady from hell decided to close off one escalator leading to the surface and we all squeezed into one escalator to the surface at that point. I guess that we were getting somewhere to fast and the escalator lady from hell decided to slow us down… 🙂

She got back into her little cubical with her ear phones and TV set. She put on the ear phones and ignored our waves of happiness in her direction. I assume that her cubical is bullet proof and bomb proof, how else could she survive doing something as stupid as turning off a whole escalator in the middle of rush hour traffic…

I finally made it to the top of the escalator and we people who just wanted to get outside, found twenty people trying to hand out opposition propaganda and then as a last blockade, 6 sleeping bums laying the doorway and we all had to step over them! Kinda like a speed bump for a car. Once we broke into the fresh air, we found hundreds of guys sitting all over the steps of the Metro and they were busy drinking beer and coffee. They were also to busy to move and got grouchy, because we wanted through…

So I made sure that I caused a few spillages of drinks amongst the crowd of idiots on the steps. I took it as a job well done when I got coffee and beer on by shoes… 🙂

Now the train station was in sight and a ticket soon to be in my hand. I got into the International ticket line and after 20 minutes of watching the ensuing arguments about tickets take place. It was my turn to battle the ticket lady. This is where I play the dumb American to the hilt…

I am so dumb I do not even know the world for NO! I want cheap and more cheap. I want to get to Moscow and I want lower bench. Now I know my seats and in a train, the odd numbers are lower seats and the even numbers are upper berths. I do not want an upper…

So when the ticket lady expressed that nothing was available and that I was out of luck. I stood there and looked stupid. Now that is not a hard thing to do for I am American you know…

Then she tries to sell me on the expensive tickets! You know first class and second class tickets. With the price of these tickets, I could fly a jet back to Moscow…

Oops, Once again I am too stupid and do not understand anything but cheap cheap cheap…

Finally she finds a cheap ticket! Seat 33 on a slow train to Moscow. About 15 hours, but cheap…

I grab it and see that it is the last low seat available to leave on the 13th and not pay an arm and a leg, plus your first born. A week away and the seats are sold out…

I smiled and got my ticket and felt like I had just defeated the most powerful foe on earth. I won the battle and was ecstatic to call Sveta and tell her I was successful and will leave on the 13th…

Then as I left the train station! I was hit with the reality that I had to reverse all that I said above about the Metro. For it had gotten much busier and now I had to go back to my room…

I smiled at the world and said to myself, “That is why I love Ukraine!”

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

As Sveta and I went to the train station the other day as I left Russia, I spotted something new and unique as we entered the first train station near our home…

I asked Sveta to take some pictures as I would not be back for awhile. This is some of what she sent me…

It is a milk machine! I have never seen a machine like this before. I have discovered that they are becoming normal in Russia. I am curious about the milk that they serve…

I see it is 50 rubles per liter and 5 rubles for a container to put it in. That seems to be way high in price to me. I buy milk all the time for 25 to 30 rubles per liter…

This price is in line with the fresh raw milk that I get in Russia. Raw milk runs 50 rubles per liter many times. If this is raw milk then it might be worth it…

Sveta and I will try it out when I get back and I will let everyone know what I think…

Here is the main website for the milk…

http://a-moloko.ru/

This is the page of their automated machines…

http://a-moloko.ru/machines/

Now how cool is that? Get your milk on the street corner! I see gold vending machines, soda vending machines, candy vending machines and the other day I saw a jewelry vending machine, but never something as perishable as milk. Now we have milk vending machines…

Looks like one day we will vend everything from a machine…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: Thanks Sveta for sending me the pictures… 🙂

Tomorrow I will spend the day trying to get a train ticket back home to Russia. It is not an easy task in Kiev and they will try to rip me off as they always try to do. There never seems to be enough seats to go from Kiev to Moscow. There is always a ton of seats from Moscow to Kiev, but never vice versa…

That is my thinking’s, as I sip a great cup of coffee, this morning…

It is never easy and always an adventure. They always try to give the most expensive tickets to people first and you have to dig to get the cheapest tickets that you can. You also have to watch out that they will try to put you in a top bunk, even when there is tons of lower bunks. I only travel bottom bunk and I have had to argue many times over the seat I want…

I will leave early tomorrow and hopefully all will go well and smooth…

In Moscow it is easy to get a ticket and it is all done by Internet. No hassles and no arguing. Here in Kiev I only seem to find outsourced ticket sales and they want a fortune for first class. I want cheap cheap cheap and no class… 🙂

I take my own food and water. I want the normal life people, not the rich life train riders…

Sveta says that she is being shown almost full trains come back to Moscow on the 13th. I will then try the 14th if the 13th is full. That will be the fun of the struggle to get tickets. I know that they have tickets available. There is always several empty seats on every train that I have ridden and I have ridden many trains in Russia and Ukraine…

Speaking of trains: The news was announced yesturday that the Russian Rail Service is trying to get all long distances trains to be available with WiFi…

Now that is just plain cool. Life just gets better and better as I travel Russia…

🙂

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: MOSCOW, August 4 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian Railways Company plans to start offering Wi-Fi Internet on long-distance trains shortly. The company’s Vice President Mikhail Akulov said “this task has been set to the Federal Passenger Company (a subsidiary of Russian Railways) and we will solve it.” “We are using solutions that will allow us to offer this service on a broader scale on long-distance trains,” he said. Wi-Fi Internet is now available on some deluxe commuter trains, Sapsan high-speed trains, and on Express and Krasnaya Strela express trains that run between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The UN passes a non-binding resolution that has nothing about what the opposition should do to help the situation in Syria. The resolution puts all blame on the Syrian government and does not even question the opposition in its role in causing all these issues in Syria…

The resolution went like this: The USA dictated the resolution and Saudi Arabia took the notes as a good little partner and presented what it was told to present…

Now this is non binding but from what I see in the Western press, it is a resolution and another resolution that China and Russia did not support. You know those damn communist countries called Russia and China?

So it is as basic as it gets and point blank, we have no legitimacy at all. We in the West refuse to work to have both sides work together and that is that…

It is black and white, it is as simple as it gets, it is one sided and it is morally wrong…

But it is what the USA government wants and that is that…

I hate to tell America this, but we really need to be watching over our shoulders. The saturation point of world tolerance for American bull crap is reaching the limits…

I know, I hear it everyday and I live out of the media prison that Americans are sheltered by…

I like this saying about bullies…

“Life is a fight, but not everyone’s a fighter. Otherwise, bullies would be an endangered species.” ― Andrew Vachss

America the bully is lucky so far. One day someone will give her a real black eye and everyone else will turn their back as the bully lies there whining. Bullies have no friends, just people who are scared of them. Once they are proven to be beatable, then the yellow streaks dispensary as many a bully has disappeared…

Oh! A little tidbit of information: All bullies think they are unbeatable and will proclaim that they are, but one day every bully gets that black eye, from someone half their size…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The “March of Millions” in Russia just lost its backbone and it all has to do with the proven fact that extremists are behind the “March of Millions…”

Western backed political parties are simply not the communist way and after it has been proven that Western money is behind all the uprising in Russia, Fair Russia and the Communist party has politely pushed aside radical groups that do not have anything good for Russia, except the demise of Russia…

The Communist want their protests to center around NATO and the World Trade Organization and other such destructive Western driven agendas…

This is a smart move by the Communists and many others, its time to concentrate on the real issues here, and let the extremists, who are hell bent on destruction as now called foreign agents be increasingly isolated and demoralized. People want an evolving, improved and strong Russia. The Communists are laying out their plans and that is exactly what is needed, they may need to evolve themselves into something more favorable to gain chances with the electorate in Russia. However, that is a sincere journey that they have to take on their own, if they want to represent a genuine alternative to what is in power now. Their other alternative is to be used by the destructive forces and then be thrown away as they get used as useful fools. But they seem (hopefully) way to smart to let that happen…

I have been waiting for this too happen, as I remember stating that we seem to be having conflicting forces trying to coincide together at these rallies. The rallies always were mismanaged and unorganized. You had two distinct feelings going on at the rallies and never a unified feeling…

Now you understand why, but you may not like the fact that the Communist saw the writing on the wall…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Coffee and peace…

After 4 days in Ukraine and putting up with a hotel that is borderline okay! I have settled into a beautiful one room flat, at almost half the cost. For less money I get hot water, WiFi, air-conditioning and peace and quiet…

I am near the river for nice strolls in the evening and early morning. The area is very familiar to me and so it is home away from home…

The photo is the balcony that I sat this morning and drank coffee. I thought the plants were a great touch and it made me worry about my plants that I have at home. I just love plants and to me they make a place so much better…

So today I am going to write several chapters each to my books, as the conditions are very correct for me to expand my talents and let my imagination go wild. While writing is easy (Though not always grammar accurate in my case!). Writing is based upon mood, if I am a bad mood the Windows to Russia is written easily and if I am in a good mood, then other things are written easily. I say only write what you are in the mood for…

So today I am in a good/bad mood… 🙂

I found out that my Sweety in Moscow is feeling a little under the weather and that upsets me because I am not there to help. It makes it rough when you have to leave and be separated for no reasons, except government issues. Sveta and I think that we have finally worked out, or at least working on worked out, about finalizing my Temporary Residency Permit. Then that will lead to the Permanent Residency Permit. All in good time…

I guess I will end with interesting thinking’s…

My thoughts while sipping that cup of delicious coffee this morning were about how everyone loves to try to explain how they do not like you with labels…

Many labels I know about, but most labels that are used in my presence, make me do research just to discover what the people are using these labels fore and why they are using them…

I am called and have been called over the last few months:

Anti-Semitic, Fourth Column, Nazi, Ashkenazi, Anti-Gay,fundamentalist, delusional, Semitic, a perfectionist, idealist, realist, extremist, terrorist, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, pessimist, pacifist, narcissistic, optimist, racist, liberal, homophobic, jerk, stupid, pro-life, pro-choice, two-bit punk, and loud-mouth, anti-American, anti-world, anti-Russian and even called stubborn, controlling, uncooperative, nosey, sarcastic and last but not least of this group, I have been called polite, helpful, patient, trustworthy and loyal…

I have been called a lot more but I think you get the drift. I step on toes and people like to label to make themselves feel better and then many times I help and am labeled as such…

Simple examples: I am trustworthy because people from America many times have relied upon me to deal with tons of money for transactions for them. Many times I get nothing in return except a thank you. I am hated because I will tell you what I think and if I think that you are stupid, then I will tell you, sometimes over your head, but I will tell you…

If I think you are a troll and a government responser idiot, then I will treat you as such and remove your ability to communicate. For I do not have time to communicate with people that have a lack of understanding of the world, as it crumbles into the dust from whence it came from…

But I have come to a destinate conclusion! I am well rounded and able to provoke a wide spectrum of emotions from people. For they either love me or hate me and either way, I have succeeded and gotten you to communicate within yourself and caused a specialized reaction, that should at least give you a inkling of who you are…

Have a nice day!

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Photo above is the sight that you see on a Russian train. The train is nothing but feet and more feet! This last train trip was very quiet and nice. While it was a little too hot for my taste, the train riders where a wonderful group of people and everyone was literally smoke free and no beer or vodka. It was plain good. I just had to take the picture of the feet… 🙂

The picture above is another trait of Ukraine and Russia that I love. You can buy beef, pork or Chicken almost anywhere. This stand was amongst a group of tents near the Metro station where I go to the Russian consulate at. You do not have any choice but to walk through the tents, because they are right on the sidewalk and blocking the way. They are strategically placed as to make you walk in a weave back and forth to get to any of the stores along the way. Or in my case to the consulate…

What a wonderful world this is and I always remember back to the old days in America, when my Grandma and I would walk downtown Kansas City and I would eat home made Tamales wrapped in the corn husk and she would buy 10 pounds of ground beef, that was ground in front of us on the street corner. They use to let me turn the crank handle on the grinder…

My how times have changed from my past…

The photo above is a pet peeve of mine! Nothing irritates me more than some idiot disturbing my walk with a horn honk for me to get out of the way as I walk down the sidewalk. No not the street, but the sidewalk…

One thing about Ukraine that is worse than Russia, is the idiots that drive on the sidewalk and Russians are just plain stupid when it comes to sidewalk driving. I never thought anyone could surpass Russian sidewalk driving, but Ukraine takes the cake…

This guy in the car on the picture was trying to bypass the stop light and he drove as you see through the market that we were all walking through to get somewhere. As you can see in the picture that it is right at the Metro station (Big green M!) and he was honking all the way…

Ukraine people are so use to it that they do not react at all. They just walk around the sidewalk racers and hardly even glance at them. I still have too much American blood in me and I get perturbed at them… 🙂

That is it for today and the sun is hidden behind clouds today and I hope it stays that way. Much cooler and I will try to get some writing on my book done while I am here. I move to a flat tomorrow! It has climate control and WiFi, so I will be “In Like Flint…”

Have a good day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I have talked about the expanding differences between Russia and America. While at one time years ago, America and Russia where much more closely aligned in thoughts and thinking’s…

So this morning over a cup of coffee, I have been doing some thinking’s of my own…

Like I have said in the past. Russia is progressively trying to make things better and still keep freedoms and liberties unaffected…

Keep your shoes on at the airport, carry that bottle of water aboard that jet, respect people as humans and importance and now a new one on the list! Allow people to own handguns in Russia…

Yes the big issue right now is handgun ownership in Russia…

While you in America are staring down the wrong end of the gun barrel and looking at a vastly increasing militarized police force in most towns and big cities. Russia is down sizing the police force, removing Road Cop stations, training police to be more friendly and working on gun ownership issues in the State Duma…

I find it interesting that in America, they are going to force women to feed their babies, how New York says they should feed them, what size soft drink you can have, do you get salt or not on your food, armored tanks for even the small town USA and to top it all off, the drones have started to fly and unless you express about it now, drones will be the future of Americans, just like it is in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places. This is just a sampling of what is happening in America…

Now while Russia has a bunch of stupid things that they try to express on people! You will find that Russians are much more inclined to break the rules and laws. In fact to a Russian a law is to be broken or what fun is life… 🙂

I have gathered that information and have implemented it into my own self now and have now realized that the thought processes of a Russian is pretty accurate and respectable…

Everyday now I see a widening rift between the new America and the new Russia. Russia is really becoming the old America and America is becoming the old Russia. That should bother Americans and it should make Russians happy…

One last thought!

I can say with honesty that I will never pay another bribe in Russia. The system has changed that much and it has changed for the better. Nothing I do anymore requires a bribe and I sure would not offer a bribe. Oh yes, Russians still believe in giving gifts of candy to people to help promote a expedient delivery of a working process, but that is like giving an apple to the teacher to make the day better…

I also can say that my latest escapade with dealing with an American entity fell to bribery to accomplish what I needed to get done. That is all I will say, as it was a high official and I still need to get things done for now in America. But those days are ending and I will be very glad, because I despise a two faced entity and America is as two faced as it comes…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I am sipping a cup of coffee and looking out the window 19 stories high in the sky. I am in a hotel called Tурист. Or basically Tourist is how it is pronounced. The breakfast program is a wonderful buffet and the place is okay! I have yet to have hot water and they say that due to Kiev being so hot, that they do not feel that it is necessary to heat the water. So sorry “Charlie…”

I have found traveling the CIS countries that little things like having hot water does not matter most of the time. I have water and that is good enough. Yes really that is good enough and quit complaining…

I am looking for a room to rent due to the fact that I will be in Kiev until the 13th of August, 2012! I am looking for a place with WiFi and hot water! Did I just complain again?

I am putting together an article and it will be what I went through to get a visa. Things have changed and yet still things have not changed. That is Russia for you and looks like it will be Russia for you, for ever…

The article will be only about an American getting a visa in Kiev, Ukraine for the Russian Federation. It seems that every consulate does different things and that is that. Did I say, “That is Russia for you?”

So that article is coming in the next few days…

Well gee whiz, I seem to have gotten off track and so now lets get to the title. English in Ukraine…

Traveling the metro in Kiev is now an English world delight! All the signage (Repeat all the Signage!) in the metro has English included now. Then the trains all tell you in English that the door is closing and what side the doors will open at the station. I felt like I had entered a different city. Why even the McDonald’s had a sign that said, “Need English help? Just ask?”

So I tried them out! I said “English!” They immediately pulled out a English menu and a young lady came running and pronounced that she spoke English and would take my order. As I was ordering, she was beaming from ear to ear and you could tell that she was queen of the moment. But when I answered, “Spasiba Net” (Means Thank you No!) to her question about sauce for french fries. She frowned at me and I then quickly said, “Sorry, no thank you!” Then she smiled again and I stuck to English, as to not degrade her job status… 🙂

I have been back twice and she came running the second time, when she saw me! Now that is service and I find the McDonald’s in Ukraine to be a very professional group of businesses…

McDonald’s also own McFoxy Chicken and you will find the same quality there also. In fact you will find McFoxy is cheaper. Today I had a wonderful meal. I had a salad, drink, french fries and a sandwich, all for 35 grivna. That is about 4 dollars or so! It was definitely a full meal deal and very good to boot…

So since I am here stuck in Kiev again, just like I was a year ago at this time. I will try to find something fun to do…

Oh I read an article that America and Russia now have signed all kinds of new visa agreements and “what knots!” Now I know that this all means that visa stuff is really going to get messed up and I feel sorry for the consulate here in Kiev. They have had so many changes already and I know that now there is many more…

The days are gone when it was so simple, easy and fast to get a visa! I remember the old days and I could get here on a Monday and leave the same day with a visa in hand. One day service has become weeks and who knows what it will become when all the new rules are implemented? I wish they would just get rid of the damn visa, but I know for a fact that America is against visa free. Russia does not care about visa free with America and that is what Russia really wants. I guess America is afraid everyone will leave and not come back. I know I would… 🙂

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…