Russia

Moscow

1996 • Boris Yeltsin's reelection was the background music during six months in a still staggering, post-Soviet Russia. Stayed the entire time with Jon and Arline, and worked at the Moscow Times as a copyeditor and at Reebok Russia as an English teacher. Even with two jobs and no rent, I came back to the U.S. deep in the hole. Highest cost of living I've ever experienced. Yeltsin disappeared in the final stretch of the campaign—suffering either a massive heart attack or a stroke—yet that drunken old clown still managed to win by a huge margin. Most people just rolled their eyes at the whole thing, because democracy and free-market enterprise hang on Russia like an ill-fitting suit. 

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