28 June 2009 Omsk, Russia

I took the day off to do some thinking. I’ve been banging my head against the wall ever since I lost my satellite connection and the internet. It’s really difficult to look forward and navigate your way without any help. I have also been getting really hungry not being able to stay in hotels that serve breakfast every couple of days were you can get a good meal. So that’s what I’ve been sorting out today. First, I need to be able to check into small town and roadside hotels without the usual ruckus over paperwork and room keys. Second, I need to solve the issue of being able to get some food out of these endless restaurants along the highways without pointing and I’ll have what he’s eating. It kind of makes you look a little dumb. I brought along this electronic Lingo Translator. I’ve never really had much success with it and was about to drop kick it into the ditch several times but always put it back into my pocket. So I sat down with a book I had with some useful translations and tried to get the electronic translator to agree with the book. It took a couple of hours and the translations started getting better and better. Then I started checking out useful phrases that I could use at hotels to answer questions the receptionist has. I wrote them down in English and Cryllic. Things like…….Do you have a room available?…………...I would like single room for a one night!………………Can you show me the room?..................May I have the key for the room!............Do you have secure parking at the hotel? The money question has never been an issue so I didn’t bother with a phrase. Now I’m going to tackle the food issue. I went through all the vegetables, meat, eggs and bread and wrote up a list. Then I started a second page labeling it breakfast. I asked for three eggs, bacon or ham or beef, potato, bread and cheese. This all took me the better part of the afternoon. Hunger was the driving interest in getting this done. I took my breakfast list downstairs to the restaurant to try it out. I thought for sure the lady behind the counter was going to have a fit. Nope she read everything I had written down and ordered it. For the first time in about two or three days I ate a hot meal of good food. My day definitely brightened up. I asked the receptionist if she could read my hotel phrases but she couldn’t grasp that I was talking about the future, and not wanting to purchase another day at this hotel. So what I wrote I’m pretty sure she understood. I will find out at the next hotel I check into. I also planned out my route for tomorrow. I will be traveling 300 miles/650 kms on Highway M51 to Kuybyshev, Chulym, Kochenevo and Novosibirsk. It’s already past midnight and I still need to take a shower. All and all it was a pretty productive day. It’s time for bed.