![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Catching up...
Jun. 1st, 2003 10:53 amAll is quiet for now. There are no documents to translate, and no calls on the radio (though I'm waiting for a call from a Khrunichev engineer regarding the official start of vehicle fueling). So I'll just take a few moments to catch up.
There are two other launches scheduled for the time we are here. The first will be a night launch tomorrow night; that of the Mars Express, an ESA satellite. Then on the 8th, the next Progress is scheduled to launch, to provide supplies to the ISS. I have no idea whether there will be an opportunity to see these launches up close and personal, but I'm sure they will be visible. It'd be really hard to miss a rapidly rising point of light around here (especially at night!).
My room at the hotel is spacious and comfortable, even if the drawers in the bureau have seen better days (and better fit!). In addition to what you'd expect (bed, desk, etc.) the room is also equipped with a TV, a DVD player, and a refrigerator.
The shower stall in the bathroom is curious, as it is fairly small by U.S. standards. Instead of a swinging door, the stall has two sliding doors that open from a common corner. While inside, I get the definite feeling that, should I drop my soap or razor, I'd have to open one of the doors in order to have enough room to bend over and retrieve what I'd dropped.
Meals are taken in a ground floor dining room with a buffet-like serving area. Pitchers of juice are set up on each table, along with local versions of Pepsi and bottled water. The coffee is from the U.S., as I learned this morning, but something (either the water or the cream) give the java a "Russian" taste, which I personally don't mind. The French group has its own espresso machine that is set up to take prepackaged "cartridges" of coffee and dispense high-octane brew.
The fellows in charge of the dining room, Vitaly and Dmitry, work really hard to keep everyone happy, which includes cooking omlettes to order in the mornings (though it's hard to convince them not to use copious amounts of butter or oil), dispensing Russian ice cream bars, and bringing out bottles of Baltika beer.
There is a common room next to the kitchen, equipped with a large, wall-mounted television and several boxes of DVDs and video cassettes. (I stopped in last night and sat through the first few minutes of Gladiator, in French.) A game room sits next to the common room, and the major furniture there consists of a ping-ping table and a Foosball setup (although the latter is weighted down with tennis rackets).
Just inside the front door of the hotel, there are a number of bicycles, which can be used to ride "around the block." As foreigners, our movements are restricted to specified paths, one of which describes a rectangle inside of which our hotel sits. There are a number of other buildings within the rectangle, but we are restricted to only our hotel (called the "Fili"), the "Polyet" hotel (which houses Russian campaign participants) and a club (the "Proton"). I've not visited either other building, yet, though I have made use of the bicycles (for the first time in many, many moons).
It looks as if something may be materializing in the way of work (or at least there is movement in the hall). Yes, a translation.
Gotta run; more later (maybe).
Cheers...
There are two other launches scheduled for the time we are here. The first will be a night launch tomorrow night; that of the Mars Express, an ESA satellite. Then on the 8th, the next Progress is scheduled to launch, to provide supplies to the ISS. I have no idea whether there will be an opportunity to see these launches up close and personal, but I'm sure they will be visible. It'd be really hard to miss a rapidly rising point of light around here (especially at night!).
My room at the hotel is spacious and comfortable, even if the drawers in the bureau have seen better days (and better fit!). In addition to what you'd expect (bed, desk, etc.) the room is also equipped with a TV, a DVD player, and a refrigerator.
The shower stall in the bathroom is curious, as it is fairly small by U.S. standards. Instead of a swinging door, the stall has two sliding doors that open from a common corner. While inside, I get the definite feeling that, should I drop my soap or razor, I'd have to open one of the doors in order to have enough room to bend over and retrieve what I'd dropped.
Meals are taken in a ground floor dining room with a buffet-like serving area. Pitchers of juice are set up on each table, along with local versions of Pepsi and bottled water. The coffee is from the U.S., as I learned this morning, but something (either the water or the cream) give the java a "Russian" taste, which I personally don't mind. The French group has its own espresso machine that is set up to take prepackaged "cartridges" of coffee and dispense high-octane brew.
The fellows in charge of the dining room, Vitaly and Dmitry, work really hard to keep everyone happy, which includes cooking omlettes to order in the mornings (though it's hard to convince them not to use copious amounts of butter or oil), dispensing Russian ice cream bars, and bringing out bottles of Baltika beer.
There is a common room next to the kitchen, equipped with a large, wall-mounted television and several boxes of DVDs and video cassettes. (I stopped in last night and sat through the first few minutes of Gladiator, in French.) A game room sits next to the common room, and the major furniture there consists of a ping-ping table and a Foosball setup (although the latter is weighted down with tennis rackets).
Just inside the front door of the hotel, there are a number of bicycles, which can be used to ride "around the block." As foreigners, our movements are restricted to specified paths, one of which describes a rectangle inside of which our hotel sits. There are a number of other buildings within the rectangle, but we are restricted to only our hotel (called the "Fili"), the "Polyet" hotel (which houses Russian campaign participants) and a club (the "Proton"). I've not visited either other building, yet, though I have made use of the bicycles (for the first time in many, many moons).
It looks as if something may be materializing in the way of work (or at least there is movement in the hall). Yes, a translation.
Gotta run; more later (maybe).
Cheers...
