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--- news_letters:first_year_russia [2026/03/19 00:43] – [Iran] night_writer
+++ news_letters:first_year_russia [2026/03/22 02:45] (current) – [Iran] night_writer
@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 ====Health====
-Due to living a mostly sedentary life in St Louis because of sickness and, education, my body was severely weakened. So, before I left St Louis, I started climbing stairs in the high rise that I lived in. This pathway back to health began with excruciation pain.
+Due to living a mostly sedentary life in St Louis because of sickness and, education, my body was severely weakened. So, before I left St Louis, I started climbing stairs in the high rise that I lived in. This pathway back to health began with excruciating pain.
 Since I've known that I would move to Russia, I've anticipated living a healthier lifestyle that an old man can have here. I don't own a car, and I rarely use public transportation, so I walk to almost every place I go. Walking the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains in Sochi has strengthened my legs and lungs. Living on the 11th floor also helps, as I almost always use the stairs. Several months ago, when I was in Krasnodar, I walked 15 miles in one day. Outside, gym equipment that looks like adult playgrounds is common in Russia. Maybe I'll work on my arms this summer. Overall, I am happy that I lived in Central Sochi for my first year in Russia. It has been an enjoyable place to live.
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 I am using it as a writing aid.
-The internet here is evolving. In 2022, the last time I was in Russia, the internet was normal. That has since changed. When I arrived in March, YouTube and Meta, which includes Facebook, were throttled. Recently, they have become blocked. Telegram, which is owned by a Russian, is now throttled. The government will completely block Telegram on April 1, 2026. The government says this will protect children from terrorists that these companies refuse to police. In Russia, they also want to protect the children from Western lasciviousness, namely Western LGBT narratives. Russia's blocking technology is said to be stronger than China's. The blocks are being met with considerable resistance, and they can be legally circumvented by logging into another network. Although this is legal to do it is not legal to advertise how to do it.
+The internet here is evolving. In 2022, the last time I was in Russia, the internet was normal. That has since changed. When I arrived in March, YouTube and Meta, which includes Facebook, were throttled. Recently, they have become blocked. Telegram, which is owned by a Russian, is now throttled. The government will completely block Telegram on April 1, 2026. The government says this will protect children from terrorists that these companies refuse to police. In Russia, they also want to protect the children from Western lasciviousness, namely Western LGBTQ narratives. Russia's blocking technology is said to be stronger than China's. The blocks are being met with considerable resistance, and they can be legally circumvented by logging into another network. Although this is legal to do it is not legal to advertise how to do it.
 The mobile internet goes down frequently due to missile and drone alerts, so I mostly depend on the house internet which almost always works. When the mobile internet is down, a few essential apps will still work. I am sure that Russia is also learning how to block Starlink internet terminals, as the CIA recently used it in Iran to organize protests to overthrow the Iranian government. The Iranian government successfully blocked the terminals.
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 I just had a 71-year-old house guest from Michigan. I call him "Biker Mike the Intelligent Biker.” I met him on Telegram in a Russian expat group and advised him about a trip to Russia. He arrived at 23:30 on January 9, 2026, at the Sochi-Adler Airport. That was two days before I thought he was coming. The next day, at 7:00, I was informed by a member of the chat group that he had been stranded all night at the airport. We just had our fourth air raid siren of the morning, and I didn't know if public transportation was running. After preparing to stay all night in Adler, I rode the bus to the Sochi Central train station. The mobile internet was off, so the bus was operating without the normal payment system. At the train station, the attendants rushed me through the gate without paying. I boarded 30 seconds before the train departed. Then I paid for my ticket. I arrived at the airport at 10:00, where I did a quick search of both levels of the terminal. At 10:45, I boarded another train to the Adler Train Station. The station was built large enough to host the 2014 Winter Olympics so it is three stories tall. To my astonishment, without mobile internet, I found a man whom I had never met before, in half an hour.
-It was obvious that Michael had his Dorthy moment when he could have said “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!” I understand that feeling well, as in 2022, I stepped outside of the Sochi terminal without a working cell phone. This prevented my translator from working, and I couldn't find anyone who spoke English. I was carrying all the money I needed to live on for a month and to buy my airplane ticket out of Russia. With the sanctions in place, the Russian money system was as it still is today cut off from the West. It was impossible to get more money. At night, I rented a capsule bed at the airport. Today, the capsules have been replaced with miniature sleeping rooms that fill up fast due to delays caused by drone activity. The fact is, there are many nights when people use blankets and mats to sleep on the hard floors, waiting for their delayed flights. So, in Michael's case, instead of a bunch of Munchkins popping out of the bushes singing follow the yellow brick road, Michael heard me calling his last name. What a surprise to him. We then waited at the food court for our train back to Central Sochi, where we rode a bus to my house. I changed his train ticket so he could leave at 9:47 the next morning.
+It was obvious that Michael had his Dorothy moment when he could have said “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!” I understand that feeling well, as in 2022, I stepped outside of the Sochi terminal without a working cell phone. This prevented my translator from working, and I couldn't find anyone who spoke English. I was carrying all the money I needed to live on for a month and to buy my airplane ticket out of Russia. With the sanctions in place, the Russian money system was as it still is today cut off from the West. It was impossible to get more money. At night, I rented a capsule bed at the airport. Today, the capsules have been replaced with miniature sleeping rooms that fill up fast due to delays caused by drone activity. The fact is, there are many nights when people use blankets and mats to sleep on the hard floors, waiting for their delayed flights. So, in Michael's case, instead of a bunch of Munchkins popping out of the bushes singing follow the yellow brick road, Michael heard me calling his last name. What a surprise to him. We then waited at the food court for our train back to Central Sochi, where we rode a bus to my house. I changed his train ticket so he could leave at 9:47 the next morning.
 Pray for Biker Mike, the carpenter. God led me to invest in him. When he was younger, he went to Bible School, where he studied counseling. He is an educated teacher and was a top speaker in Toastmasters.  I knew I would meet him months before I did.  I believe he has been called, and God wants Mike to work for Him. This will require some changes.
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 ====Iran====
-  *During Trump's first bombing of Iran in June of 2025, my friend heard the bombs close to his neighborhood. This was difficult as family and children are dear to him. He mentioned that Israel and the USA promised that children would be excluded from injury, but he soon learned that promises don't matter as bombs and missiles don't discriminate.
+During Trump's first bombing of Iran in June of 2025, my friend heard the bombs close to his neighborhood. This was difficult as family and children are dear to him. He mentioned that Israel and the USA promised that children would be excluded from injury, but he soon learned that promises don't matter as bombs and missiles don't discriminate.
   *The recent protest in Iran, like the failed and deadly Arab Spring, was coordinated using the internet. I read that the protest was similar to the one in 1979 when the Shaw of Iran was deposed, in that the merchants were involved due to high inflation. The CIA distributed Elon Musk's Starlink terminals and then coordinated the protest using the internet. Unexpectedly, the Iranian government blocked the Starlink terminals, which resulted in many deaths and the lack of protesters needed to overthrow the Iranian government, if that was even possible.  Without the internal mechanism, the USA government had to change plans.