Court. I spent most of the day in Moscow pressing the case with my frozen bank account (with about usd 9500 on it).

The 1.5 year moratorium granted by the state to Rossiyski Kredit (Roskredit), the bank that keeps my money since the rouble devaluation of 1998, is over at last. Although I have the court decision, I was told to go to the court again to ask them to execute their decision.

Pictured is one of the outlets where I kept my money. This one was on the Tverskaya; now this outlet has been replaced by Impexbank, which is same as Roskredit, only on paper it doesn't owe anything to Roskredit creditors.

Russia legal establishments are exasperating: no clear information, hours of waiting in crowded unventilated corridors. Court officials wear sullen expressions, talk without taking eyes of their papers. Clients are made to feel as if they are annoying flies who distract officials from work.

First I was passed from door to door (3 offices), then waited three hours, only to be told that "the decision is not yet taken, you need to send your application to this court by post".
- What should be the form of the applications? What document shall I refer to? I enquired. (This court issued a special decision stopping all legal enforcement actions while the moratorium is in force.).
- I do not know. We're only accepting applications. You can go to a lawyer's bureau and get help there.

Then I went to the bailiff (another part of Moscow) who should enforce the court decision on my case (taken 2 years ago). They didn't have any new information, of course, they were waiting it from the same court. There at least I was told when the document was issued, so I wrote the application referring to this document asking to cancel it and resume work on pulling my money from the bank. I also posted an additional claim to the bank to return 139 dollars from my old Visa card as well. I had to wait in the post office half an hour too.

It was evening already, I bought food on the market and went home. Next day I worked in the garden with my mother.

25 April, Wednesday
Job interview. A cosmetics company called and invited me to the interview. Unfortunately, I didn't ask about the company and the job title when they called. I looked the company's name on the Internet, but didn't find much. When I called again, no one answered. Since the place was Metro Tagankaya and I needed to the Foreign Languages Library (in the same area) anyway, I put on my suite and tie and went. The weather was too hot to wear this suit. I need to buy something lighter for the summer.

It was a stupid interview actually. Although they gave a blind ad for a vacancy Personal Assistant, they started to interview me for a brand manager. "I'm sorry, but I thought you're seeking the brand manager's position", the interviewer said holding the paper with my e-mail message, in which I referred the job of Personal Assistant. Well, application was in English, but so was their job ad also! The time was just lost. I vowed to myself never again come to a job interview without clear idea about the job and the company.

Then I went to the library and the food market. I came home late: the first two trains didn't go to my station, and the third one on which I got on carried me past my village to city Domodedovo.

28 April, Saturday
My mum and I worked in the garden all three days. Today all tree planting and sand carrying have been finished. We cooked lunch together again. The weather is very warm, like in May (25 C), mostly sunny.

Another job interview. Yesterday I went to a job interview at a computer company. They had the translator's vacancy and asked me to translate a highly technical text from sight - something about programming. I didn't even try, I saw that I understood next to nothing, just separate words. I'm not eager to translate such stuff. And the man told me, from the outset, that one is expected to work 9.5 hours per day (10 - 19.30), plus frequent overtime - UNPAID! - in the evenings and weekends. All this for a salary of ... $500 per month which will be fixed at least one year. On top of that, the commuting to this company in the north Moscow would take 3 hours. That's what it means to work in a Russian company in Moscow.

Thoughts on finding a job. I'm not starving to harness myself into this slavery. If I can't make good money here, it least I need to find an interesting job. I feel that translation of technical papers is not my cup of tea. One needs to be a specialist in the field to understand what one translates, otherwise one becomes an automaton.

I had to translate a lot of this stuff at P&G, but they paid me very well. Also I saw the machines every day, so I understood in general what was going on in them. But it was very difficult at times, especially at business meetings attended by top executives when someone spoke about things going on in other workshops and productions.

Now I think I should be looking for a non-technical translation position or a teaching job (teaching Russian to foreigners).

Books

Non-fiction
Farrell, Mark British Life and Institutions - Obninsk: Chancerel (UK)/Titul (Russia), 2000; 144 p.
An excellent text about today's UK. All aspects of British society are covered, plus a cassette with live interviews. As if I'd visited Britain.

Hamm, M. Zdorovoye pitaniye s ovoshami i fruktami (Healthy nutrition with fruits and vegetables) - M, Sigma-Press, 1997, 96 p., translated to Russian.
A poorly structured and unclear book, I read it quickly. The main idea: eat lots of vegetables, fruits and foods with fibre. Food-stuffs should be varied.

Rudinshtein, M. Kak naiti vysokooplachivayemuyu rabotu s pomoshyu Internet (How to find a well-paid job using Internet) - M, 1999.; 192 p., in Russian.
A hastily written and published book, but it contains many useful addresses.

Fiction
Gardel, Jonas. Fru Björks Öden och Aventyr (Mrs. Bjork's Fate and Adventure) - Stockholm: Norstedts, 1990, 226 p.; in Swedish
Very well-written, shows the Swedish mentality and situations. But I think the main character with whom the author sympathises is too egoistic and destructive.

Film

Cinema
The Prisoner (La Captive; France-Belgium, 2000), Adam and Eve (Sweden, 2000), Life is a Construction Site (Germany).
See my impressions above, are in the body of the diary.

Russian TV
Fucking Åmål (Sweden, 1999; English title: Show Me Love).
In Sweden this film was chosen as the best in 1999. I liked it, but it's nothing extraordinary, the story of two teenage girls who discover that they love each other. Åmål is the Swedish town where the girls live. They keep complaining about living in this province (well, it the middle of Europe, between Stockholm and Göteborg, on the shore of the beautiful Vänern Lake!).