6th Sept - Finally Registered Russian Visa

It has taken me a while to adjust to the 4 hour time difference in Moscow (3 hours actually but I was still working in Mongolian time when I was in Siberia). Over the last few nights I kept on waking up at 4am and not being able to get back to sleep.

When I woke up today I had more energy than I did yesterday but I just did not want to go anywhere and I was still feeling tired. Yesterday I had spent about 3-4 hours shopping for food and trying (but failing) to register my Russian Visa. All I wanted to do today was go nowhere but I still have to register my Visa! I must have spent about 20 hours over all in the 3 weeks I have been in Russia trying to find places I can register my Visa!



Asida did not get back to the house until about 2.30 today and so it meant that I could spend the morning catching up on my blog. My brain would not work yesterday as I was ill and I had no energy and so I could not face writing but today I felt much more like it and I managed to fill in many entries for Mongolia.



When Asida got back she cooked a lovely lunch of pasta, beetroot, blue cheese, mint and sesame seeds and we then headed to the Police Station to register. It took us a while to find the right place. The lady then sent us back to the Post Office to get photocopies of the papers (another 15 minute walk). This time back at the Post Office different lady was behind the counter than yesterday and while we were taking photocopies of the paperwork she said that she could register my Visa rather than us going back to the Police Station! Arrggg. No one really knows what the actual rules are for Visa registration as the rules are written in a really ambiguous way in Russian (as well as the English translation). At least this time I managed to get registered!

I was very grateful to Asida to spend so much of her time helping me do this. Even without all of the time going back and forth to the Post Office yesterday and the Police Station and Post Office today, the actual time it takes to fill in just the forms and hand them in is about 1 hour! The whole system is ridiculous.



We did not get back until about 5.30. Asida baked chocolate and courgette muffins! Ummmm :-)



Asida and Dima headed out later in the evening and I enjoyed some time relaxing and writing more diary entries. I cooked a Chinese late at night when they returned. It was nice to have the chance to cook and be normal for once :-)



We had a bottle of wine and a lovely evening chatting and listening to music. I have very much enjoyed their company and having a place to relax and just have some down time in order to get better.