AUG 24, 17 .. A VISIT TO RUSSIA AND SOME MEETINGS IN SIBERIA..

After two years of on-again, off-again efforts, with a tremendous and invaluable amount of help from a friend, I received a VISA that enabled me to travel into Ulan-Ude, in Southern Siberia, North of the border with Mongolia.

I can NOT read Russian BUT, I know their cyrillic alphabet so I can 'sound out' words. 

The top words in the road sign below say.. Ulan-Ude. This is the largest of the two cities that I visited.  

A little hard for you to see, but we have arrived in Ulan-Ude, Russian Siberia.

I stayed with a Russian friend, Sergei, in his apartment.

We had a lot of fun the two of us.

I was in Ulan-Ude two nights. I spoke at two meetings in Ulan-Ude.

I had an excellent translator. It is vital for a speaker and a translator to be able to work hand-in-glove. We two worked together for both of my Ulan-Ude talks. 

The first set of photos below show the room in which I spoke my first night in Ulan-Ude.

This second set of photos show the venue I spoke at my second night in Ulan-Ude.

As I said above, I worked with the same translator in both Ulan-Ude meetings.
  

There are always 'treats' after the meeting!

I said I spoke in two cities..

When I die, I can think to myself.. 

"I gave an open talk in Gusinoozyorsk, Russian Siberia."

A hospital.

I ate my very first-ever meal in Russia in the below cafe here in Gusinoozyorsk.

In the below photo, on the right side of the photo, you can see a cashier wearing a red top.

In this very small cafe, behind the cashier, you have a fully stocked supply of liquid refreshments to assist your local Russian Siberian to pass the long winter nights.

We decided not to partake of the above liquid refreshments and settled for good, solid, basic Russian food.

Now it was Time to Stand and Deliver in Gusinoozyorsk, Russian Siberia. 

Keep in mind that I did NOT know that the Gusinoozyorsk City Fathers had assembled a group to meet with us. I did NOT know that yours truly was to stand and deliver the message. I did NOT know that this was a real, formal, meeting and that it was set for 3pm. I did NOT know this was a big deal coming down.

So I spoke to a gathering of some of the citizens of Gusinoozyorsk who are interested in A.A., what it is and its mission.

What an honor it was to 'carry the message' in Russian Siberia.

The gentleman below was the team leader for this event. After we were all finished, I asked him, "How did it go?"

"Just Great Cap!"

Goodbye, sweet dreams, Gusinoozorsk, Southern Russian Siberia. I will treasure my visit with you and with your people.

It was both an honor and a pleasure to visit Russian Siberia for a few days and to share freely of what has been freely given to me to pass on to others.