Back to Nizhnekamsk

It was a very exciting two weeks. First St. Petersburg, then my long-awaited trip to Ukraine. Getting back into Domodedova airport felt like coming home. The airport here is light-years ahead of Kiev and Odessa, and I feel perfectly comfortable. I breeze through customs and, with two hours to kill, head for my usual airport spot, Krotscka-Kartochka, for a baked potato and a Starri Melnuuk piva, then sit down and try to finish the novel I've been reading during the waiting times on my trip. I'm about to get on my eighth flight in two weeks, with seven hotel stays in between. I'm on my last clean set of clothes (one set of laundry done n Kiev), and those are quite sweaty from the day in Kiev.
The ride from Nizhnekamsk airport to my apartment was rather interesting. The main road is closed for repairs, so we took a detour. We went through dirt roads in the middle of nowhere, and my kidneys were feeling it. For a while I thought they were going to dump me out in the boonies. When we finally got back on the main road, there was absolutely no traffic. The main road is usually busy with traffic between Nizhnekamsk and Naborezhny Chelny, but with this detour, no one seemed to want to risk their suspension. I found out the next day the road repair was necessitated by the fact that the president of Russia, Medvedev, is coming in for a visit on Saturday. The city and the job site is undergoing a major facelift in honor of his visit.