Yep still here in Vladivostok!

OMG, 6 months without a posting! Well you all probably think that life here in Vlad has become somewhat mundane and therefore Nic and Nastya have dropped into a routine where nothing of interest happens. On the contrary, life over the last 6 months has been one of complete turmoil. Life has been flat out like a lizard drinking, in and out of the country, high tea with my now close friends the officials of UFMS (Federal Migration Service Organisation) and a social calender that would make Paris Hilton or Ksenya Sobchak green with envy!

The stories are endless and it is a shame I haven't kept the journal up to date. One good thing however, is that some of the past experiences have been so epic that they've left a permanent scar in my memories. Particularly the trouble over my dreaded visa!!!

I know visa regulations all over the world are messed up and as baffling as Georgia's Mikheil Sakaashvili's tie eating fetish, but now I can truly appreciate the beauty that is Russia's never ending bureaucracy.

After getting back from Australia in early August, with a brand spanking new 3 month Work visa in my hot little hands, I was told from Moscow that the extension process was a formality and the visa issue was now easy as pie. This is the point where all foreigners should stand and take note!!! Words like "don't worry", "everything will be OK" and "it's as easy as pie" translate to s$#t is about to hit the fan! Now it's easy, when someone says "Nic, don't worry" I worry. But it has taken a year and a half to let this cultural displacement sink in. So, as my 3 month working visa came to a close I find out that it is not just a formality to extend it and that Moscow's word on the matter is not binding. "The Primorsky Krai has it's own edict on the extension procedure!" The result being once again, in the space of two months, I would have to leave the country and apply for yet another visa.

And so in on the 22ND of September off to Seoul I went with a new invitation letter and the hope that the Russian Consulate would grant me a new visa. Well it was a success, and like all things in Russia they somehow manage to work themselves out. The reasons are often blurred and dubious but the end result is a green light and all is fine for the next three months at least.