reflections on russia: pt 2, the dogs of sochi

if you read any news coverage of the games, you know a lot about the "dogs of sochi" already.  my story is about the 13 newborn puppies that my friend Natalie rescued from the stadium.  they were found in and around a drain pipe, their mothers poisoned.  Natalie convinced a soft-hearted security officer to find her a box to put them in.  she took them home, and nursed them all night long (feeding them every 2 hours!), until the local vet clinic opened.  they were eventually taken to an animal rescue shelter run by LAPA, an organization created specifically to help rescue animals in sochi.  the dogs will be adopted both locally and internationally.  i donated to the fund to save them.  

here are the some of the 13 puppies at the shelter, 3 months after their rescue by Natalie:

and there is another story about my friend Cheryl, from Scotland, who rescued 2 older puppies and had them shipped to her in Glasgow.  they arrived only a couple of weeks ago, having to go thru quarantines both in Moscow and in London before they could be released to her.  here they are loving their new scottish life:

so there are some dog stories with happy endings.  and i'm glad to have been a part of two of them.  

back home: reflecting on russia pt 1

it is 4:30 am an i am sitting in the salt lake city airport.  i have been out of Russia for just over 7 weeks.  and it has taken me at least this long to try to begin to figure out how to respond to my experience.  when asked, i’ve said things like “challenging” “incredible” “amazing”  ‘life-changing” “the hardest thing i’ve ever done.”  and it was all of those things.  the thing it wasn’t, was easily capturable.   i suppose most profound experiences are not...that's what makes them profound.  i have thousands of photos.  thousands of stories.  hundreds of new facebook friends.  i’m only just beginning to figure out how to talk about my time…how i want to present it…to others, and to myself.  i wasn’t able to write this blog during the last 3-4 months i was there.  i was just too busy.  and besides, since i wasn’t allowed to talk about the show (the opening and closing ceremonies for the olympic and paralympic winter games), or my work (as a producer of all protocol segments for all 4 ceremonies), there really wasn't much to say.  i guess i could have told you about how i was only allowed a few meager appliances in the tired hotel room where i lived for three months in sochi: a kettle, a Turkish coffee maker and a toaster.  the toaster was the most amazing toaster i have ever seen…it branded smiling suns on the sides of the toast.  As if to say, “yeah, your hotel room sucks and you work 18 hours a day and are not well nourished, but isn’t it a GOOD MORNING???”  i ate that toast every day.

or, i could tell the story of my relationship with my housekeeper.  which was pretty incredible as i never met her.  we communicated thru my large, floppy stuffed elephant that i got from ikea in Moscow.  let me back up.  before we moved to sochi, a few of us stocked up on some comforting “essentials” at ikea.  we had heard the housing was less than desireable, and to keep ourselves cheered when we finally made it back to our beds each night, we bought colorful sheets, duvet covers, pillows, candles, etc.  and i bought a huge, adorable stuffed gray elephant.  he was my friend til the end.  and apparently i was not the only one who loved him.  after a couple months of my living in the ekodom hotel in Adler (the town just south of Sochi...where the stadium, and thus our housing, were located), my housekeeper started arranging my elephant in various positions on my bed, waiting for my return.  i would find him tucked under the covers with only his trunk sticking out, carefully placed on top of the blanket.  or sitting with his arms and legs crossed, as if i was past my curfew (i likely was…our 11:30pm production meetings generally ran quite late…).  i, in turn, began to place him in various positions in the mornings, to await the housekeeper.  i put him on the rug in the middle of the room, staring expectantly at the door.  or hiding under the covers, hoping to be discovered.  it was a wonderful game and one of the few things that brought a legitimate smile to my face at the end of severely long days.   sadly, try as i might, i could not fit that elephant in my luggage to come home.  it was either him, or my ski helmet.  and considering that i live in a ski town, the helmet won out.  so, i left the elephant sitting on my bed holding a note (which i wrote myself in Russian), which said: “please find me a good home.  i would like to live in sochi with a nice family.”  i’d like to think he is. 

this was one of my favorite Russian experiences.  it shows the sense of humor, love and warmth that exists just below the surface.  the surface can often seem hard, and cold and without joy.  and for some, i believe that is all probably very true.  it is a hard life in that country.  but for most, if you poke a bit, if you linger around long enough and put yourself out there, the truth comes out. 

here are some photos of my elephant: