Germany                       Wolfen-Nord                   10 June 2024


   The feeling of home.  Such a strange and long-forgotten sensation!
   Could it be that I can finally afford such a luxury in this ever-
   changing world as returning home?  Yes, now I can.  Now, finally, I
   can.  At the beginning of the month, I finally completed my move from
   a temporary to a permanent flat.  My seventh move in the past two
   years.  I'm still living in Wolfen, only the neighbourhood has
   changed.  It was Krondorf, now it's Nord.  The very same Nord I wrote
   about in my previous note about Wolfen.

   In the last century, factory workers who produced photographic film
   lived here.  Colour photographic film, by the way, was invented here
   in Wolfen.  I even bought myself some colour and black-and-white film
   as a souvenir, which, I admit, is quite difficult to come by these
   days.  It's a rare commodity, indeed.  It feels unusual to live in a
   flat with such history and to realise that there's a small chance the
   person who lived here before may have been involved in creating the
   film I bought.

   Actually, I think if you get a film camera and load it with "Original
   Wolfen" film, then take a walk around the city, take photos, and
   develop them, an unprepared viewer might not immediately guess the
   year they were taken.  Of course, this requires making sure that
   various shops like Penny, EDEKA, and the like don't sneak into the
   frame.  It turned out to be such a spontaneous and unplanned journey
   into the past.  And it's great.  Et c'est follement romantique.

   Since I wrote the last note about Wolfen, quite a few interesting and
   significant events have occurred, but the most important one, I
   believe, is the successful evacuation of my brother from Russia.
   Yes, after a long time, I finally managed to get him out of Russia to
   Sakartvelo, where he now lives with my mum, whom I moved there last
   year.  He has taken a liking to Tbilisi.  Naturally.  His visit to
   the capital coincided with the protests, so he got a taste of some
   tear gas.  But that's so much fun!

   In reality, I am very glad that I managed to get my entire family out
   of Russia because ever since I managed to escape last year, I
   couldn't shake the feeling that the state might take my family
   members hostage.  At the very least, I was very worried about the
   constant police visits to my mum.  It's possible that after her
   departure, these guys might have started to harass my brother, which
   I certainly didn't want.  Now I can breathe a sigh of relief and
   fully focus on myself and my life.

   My move was quick and swift, but more importantly, completely
   unexpected.  This, of course, hit my financial situation hard, once
   again plunging me into debt, but I regret nothing, honestly!  Even
   though I have to sleep on a mattress on the floor for now.  And my
   only furniture is a table and four chairs.  The table, by the way,
   was dragged with a friend (thanks, Timofey!) for almost a kilometre
   and a half in a heavy downpour, and then we heroically hauled it up
   to the fifth floor.  Or fourth, if you count from zero, as is
   customary in Germany.

   All this does not sadden me in the least; on the contrary, it makes
   me happy, invigorates and inspires me.  Yes, I don't have a bed, but
   I have managed to buy flowers for my home, which I can now take care
   of, just as I once took care of the flowers in my garden, from which
   the Russian Federation separated me.  The temporary lack of comfort
   is easily compensated by the feeling of home.  Perhaps one day I will
   have the happy opportunity to visit my home in Ozyory again as the
   war ends, and the government falls.  Perhaps.  But now my home is
   here, in Wolfen-Nord, not in Ozyory.  And finding this home opens a
   new chapter in my life.  A chapter yet to be written.





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