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Andrew is 7 months old now. Olesya got back to work for 5 hours a day and
meanwhile the baby stays with the nanny.
Yulia graduates in 2008 so this coming year is important and challenging for her
- graduation exams, diploma and looking for a job.
Other big event this year was our KomiArcticOil reunion in July in
St.Petersburg, river cruise to Moscow and a party there. It was as impressive
and unforgettable as our trip to Canada in 2005. If anything it was even more
uniting as we were together the whole trip - Russians and Canadians (actually it
was more international than that with Ukrainians and English there as well),
which gave us a chance to communicate a lot. I think it was a great trip, the
program was interesting, there were no unpleasant organizational issues and we
again felt like one big family with the proud last name KomiArcticOil! It was a
very emotional trip for almost all of us. I’m grateful to those who helped to
make it such a PARTY OF THE SOUL! And thank you all for coming and
participating.
Before the cruise Flora (Popova) and Don Bell, Bob and Beth Morrison went to the
Great Novgorod for a couple of days to see Sasha and Irina Samsonenko, who were
wonderfully hospitable and showed us around a lot for such a short time in their
spectacular city. We are very thankful for that. By the way they both have
temporarily moved to UAE (Dubai) and Irina has found a job in a real estate
company.
In November in Usinsk we had a traditional party to celebrate KAO birthday, over
50 people attended, and you have probably already seen the pictures from the
party. We have also brought there pictures and video from the summer trip. After
the cruise in August I went to Kursk to see Irina Demidova, Galina Kozhevnikova,
Tatiana Korobkina, Lena Rudenko who live there, Galina Degtyareva has also been
there at the time, and btw in January she leaves Novy Urengoi for good and moves
to Kursk. I have recorded their hellos to Usinsk people and this video was
greatly cheered at KAO party.
As for my work there is still so much trouble because of the continuous mess
with the supervising bodies established in the course of the administrative
reform. Open fights for power as well as carpet wars between different
authorities, landslides of paper which make us forget why we are doing it at all
- to save our environment, to bring some practical help, get a result for people
and nature! But for the authorities that hasn’t been an objective for a long
time. So working in this area gets less and less interesting and engaging, I
just don't feel that we are useful anymore for the society, concrete company and
people because we spend so much time doing useless paperwork. Nevertheless we
received even more orders this year and in June I have certified one more –
already third - lab dealing with radiology control.
In autumn we had a big problem - a pipe burst at night (our office is a former
apartment in the living premises) and all rooms were flooded 15 cm from the
floor. At least it was cold water and at least we are located on the first
floor! Still it was a huge stress for me because in a week I planned to go on a
business trip and then on vacation, so before that I had to make sure everything
gets dry (heating was turned off still), change floors, get all office equipment
started as some of it also suffered from water, and get everybody back to work
in the shortest possible time. I managed to accomplish it all, but later when I
went on vacation the stress caught up with me. Alas this year I didn’t make it
to Mexico like planned. In September my sister and I went to Italy (it was her
anniversary and we wanted to make it a special time). But this trip
unfortunately became special for a different reason - on the third day I
suffered sever abdominal pain. It was a non stop nightmare for the next three
weeks, when I got back to Moscow they failed to diagnose appendicitis, and I got
very lucky that it didn't burst. When the doctors finally diagnosed it in Usinsk
it was so bad that they couldn't operate. Now having undergone several courses
of antibiotics I'm waiting for the surgeons to allow an operation - and so I had
to cancel all trips until better times.
That's how it was for me this year.
Coming year is of the home-loving rat and it will bring us all comfort and
welfare in our homes and families. So may it be the most important and central
thing in this turbulent world - my home is my fortress and my family is my back
up.
I wish you and yours happiness and health! Nappy New Year and Merry Christmas!
With lots of love,
Tatiana Titarenko
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