Roger Holzheimer: Blog

 
another chapter of spontaneous drivel as we begin to go "out with the old and in with the new".  
 seems at a certain age a stubbornness refuses to allow you to believe that the "old" has been kicked to the curb as yesterday's news and the "new" has become, well, the "new".  memories seem to manifest themselves and are viewed over time in the style of the period in which they happened.  are they black and white like my memory of the beatles on the ed sullivan show, are they "colorized" after the fact like water-colors as ted turner did with so many old movies, or are they viewed in brilliant 3D (no special glasses required)?  do they begin with the  5 4 3 2 1 countdown of old movies, movies which always had the dot or the x in the upper right corner which told the projectionist it was time to change reels, or do they pop onto the screen giving you the opportunity to view in small or large screen, original format or letter-box?  however they manifest [...]

Happy Thanksgiving from "beautiful downtown Rostov, Russian Federation". Doesn't matter if you are in The States we all have a lot to be thankful for. When I look at the job market in the good ol' US of A I am pretty damn thankful I have had the opportunity to work overseas but also include some "guitar playing time" here. A little early but last night we celebrated Thanksgiving here. Around the table we were represented by Holland, Slovakia, the UK, Germany, Cuba, Canada, and of course America. Having that many countries represented, breaking bread, telling stories, and just damn enjoying each other's company made me very thankful for all the journeys I have taken which led me here to meet such wonderful people. We didn't solve any of the world's problems or even any of our individual ones for that matter, but it did show what a very, very small world it has become. It also shows the world is just a lot people and too much of the time governments just get in the damn way . . . . But I [...]

ahh my friends . . . .  many of you have sent messages to ask if all was okay with me.  i realized in looking back that i haven't bothered you with a newsletter since june, and here it is october already.  so, yes . . . .  i am alive and well, still in rostov-on-don russia.  in fact it will be a year and a half in just a few more days.  actually i thought i may be heading back to the usa this month but now it appears the next time i step foot on the soil of my motherland will be at christmas.  thanks for checking up on me.

my short nine day stay in the united states in may and june for the purpose of acquiring my long term russian visa turned into three weeks, then four weeks, then five weeks . . . .  i finally got back to work on the fourth of july (and there was no celebration . . .  oh yeah, it is russia).  being home with my incredible family always makes it hard to leave, particularly when the stay is a long one.  when i read [...]

well, here it is the fourth of june and it has been a long time since reaching out to you, my friends.  and of course i know you all missed my musings . . . .  
 
so, since march, where have i been, what have i done?  i had the entire month of march and half of april to spend time in the ural area of russia as well as western siberia.  what an experience.  living out of a suitcase for five and a half weeks staying in hotels, some modern, some out of the '40's. nothing like working all day, catching a train at 8 pm, 11 pm, or even 1 am for another journey through parts unknown to arrive in another city previously unknown to me. take a quick nap and or shower, then off to work.  as i said in my last message, i visited ekaterinburg, nizhni tagil, magnitogorsk, chelyabinsk, kurgan, surgut, tyumen, perm, nizhnivartosk, and some other towns and villages.  once again, i believe i have seen in the past year more of russia than most americans (or russians [...]

 . . . . out like a lamb.  I hope your March hasn't started out too leonine, and if it has, well, Spring "should" be on the way, so just grin . . . .  The winter weather in Rostov-on-Don was really just about cold, not much snow.  Even my time spent in Siberia was snowy only one or two days.  Go figure.  Now, let's see what the weather will be like during my next journey into the heart of Russia.  Tomorrow morning I leave for Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg) for what will be a five week traipse through cities, towns, and villages.  I will be seeing the cities of Surgut, Perm, Nizhni Tagil, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, and Nizhnevartovsk and I am sure I will see a lot of towns and villages as I pass through on trains and cars or fly over on planes.  My trip to Vladivostok was postponed for this extended trip to the Ural area, a large expanse highlighted by the Ural Mountains.  It lies both in European Russia and Asian Russia extending from [...]