Декабрь 20, 2004
...
Plans continue to firm. I appear to have secured the agreement of our training group to provide a guy for our Vladivostok dealer from Feb 21 - Mar 11 '05. That puts my trip into the frame of:
Arrive Moscow or S-Peterburg - weekend of Feb 5-6 (probably the evening on 2/5, since I'll try to get my 'usual' flight out on Friday)
Moscow; S-Peteburg; Yekaterinburg; possibly Khabarovsk from Feb 5-19
holding trainer's hand in Vladivostok - Feb 19/20-Feb 25/26/27
Brisbane; Cairns; possibly Townsville - Feb 27/28-Mar4/5
Dates (obviously) are not set in stone yet. I'll be coordinating with С П and М Ч probably through the first half of January.
Arrive Moscow or S-Peterburg - weekend of Feb 5-6 (probably the evening on 2/5, since I'll try to get my 'usual' flight out on Friday)
Moscow; S-Peteburg; Yekaterinburg; possibly Khabarovsk from Feb 5-19
holding trainer's hand in Vladivostok - Feb 19/20-Feb 25/26/27
Brisbane; Cairns; possibly Townsville - Feb 27/28-Mar4/5
Dates (obviously) are not set in stone yet. I'll be coordinating with С П and М Ч probably through the first half of January.
Декабрь 07, 2004
Life Support
Just felt bad about letting this thing go fallow for so long.
I convinced the bosses to pay for a term of Russian class, which is just wrapped up (and heading to finals on Thursday). Unlikely I'll get the same approval for the second term, since I plan to be pretty severely out for much of February, and perhaps some of March. Plans have yet to congeal, but as it stands, I'll do two weeks or so swinging through Russia, end up in Vladivostok (in a different hotel, I certainly hope!) and stay there for a week to meet The Company's hapless trainer and help him acclimate himself. Then on to Oz for a week, perhaps a bit more, to see a bit of the country outside the Brisbane/Wacol/Noosa/Toowoomba area (bigger than it looks on the globe).
The whole 'acclimation week' comes as a result of The Company's first stab at sending a trainer overseas in almost a decade. The poor guy they/we sent to Saint-Peterburg for three was was, frankly, not suited to international travel. Talking with him upon his return, I learned that he went through a sort of sustained, functioning freak-out from pretty much the moment he got to Pulkovo. Thank goodness there were no real problems while he was there. Anyway, even though the training came off passably well, I've elected to immunize my reputation a bit by making sure to be present and holding the hand (if necessary) of whoever draws the training department's short straw next time around. That means a week of more or less leisure in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg (and perhaps Moscow, though I'm coming to doubt that) -- not really two of my favorite cities, but we'll see what comes of it.
As before, more detail as things fall further into place.
I convinced the bosses to pay for a term of Russian class, which is just wrapped up (and heading to finals on Thursday). Unlikely I'll get the same approval for the second term, since I plan to be pretty severely out for much of February, and perhaps some of March. Plans have yet to congeal, but as it stands, I'll do two weeks or so swinging through Russia, end up in Vladivostok (in a different hotel, I certainly hope!) and stay there for a week to meet The Company's hapless trainer and help him acclimate himself. Then on to Oz for a week, perhaps a bit more, to see a bit of the country outside the Brisbane/Wacol/Noosa/Toowoomba area (bigger than it looks on the globe).
The whole 'acclimation week' comes as a result of The Company's first stab at sending a trainer overseas in almost a decade. The poor guy they/we sent to Saint-Peterburg for three was was, frankly, not suited to international travel. Talking with him upon his return, I learned that he went through a sort of sustained, functioning freak-out from pretty much the moment he got to Pulkovo. Thank goodness there were no real problems while he was there. Anyway, even though the training came off passably well, I've elected to immunize my reputation a bit by making sure to be present and holding the hand (if necessary) of whoever draws the training department's short straw next time around. That means a week of more or less leisure in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg (and perhaps Moscow, though I'm coming to doubt that) -- not really two of my favorite cities, but we'll see what comes of it.
As before, more detail as things fall further into place.
